I was reincarnated as bait for the summoned hero
The adorable trio—two beasts and one bird—defeated the lake serpent, which splendidly dropped some meat.
However, it was only a 10-kilogram portion, about one-third the size of the special variant they had hunted last time.
“The magic stone is on the smaller side too. Well, it’s still a rare water-element magic stone, so we should be able to sell it for a good price.”
Ignoring the two disappointed beasts and the one crestfallen bird, I checked the other dropped items.
Besides the magic stone and meat, a short sword had also dropped. Upon appraisal, it turned out to be a magic weapon—a water-element magic item.
“What should we do with this? Should Shella use it?”
“Pii!? Pichichichichi!”
“Yeah, I have no idea what that means.”
I do have the [Universal Language Comprehension] skill, but unfortunately, it doesn’t cover bird speech.
As I stood there, puzzled with the short sword in hand, the small dragon translated for me.
“She says she doesn’t need it. She wants to sell everything except the meat to cover food expenses. Smart thinking.”
“Is that okay? This seems like a pretty good dagger.”
“The water attribute probably isn’t a good match for her.”
“Oh, right. Shella is a wind-elemental phantom beast.”
In that case, it wasn’t a bad decision.
Neither the dragon nor the cat fairy, Ketsey, used short swords, so selling it for income was the right call.
(We do have a lot of food expenses, after all…)
Even with the secured meat, there were plenty of other costs.
Rei’s original form was a massive dragon, which meant his appetite was enormous.
Shella, despite her delicate and graceful appearance, had a surprisingly voracious appetite.
Even Ketsey, a cat fairy the size of a kitten, ate more than one would expect.
Rei’s appetite was understandable, but the other two? It was a mystery where all that food went.
The main dish was always meat, but they also devoured a considerable amount of staple foods.
Bread, rice, noodles—they kept asking for seconds of everything.
They were in awe of the softness of white bread, stunned by the variety of filled breads, and when it came to sweet buns, they practically worshipped them.
“Rei even declared that he’s going to try every single type of cup noodles…”
Combining the selection from 100-yen stores and convenience stores, there were a staggering number of cup noodles available.
Ramen, yakisoba, udon, soba, pasta—the variety was immense.
And they consumed three of each type.
“Some of those brand-collab cup noodles are pretty expensive too…”
This could spiral out of control, and it was terrifying.
To me, cup noodles were something you enjoyed occasionally. I couldn’t understand their obsession. It was honestly scary.
Of course, they also loved snacks.
Even after finishing their meals, they moved on to potato chips, chocolate, candy, gummies, Ramune, and Pocky, polishing off one after another.
Shella, smiling, even followed up with a request: “I’d like some dessert.”
(After eating all that, you still want dessert!?)
But I knew better than to argue.
If I did, they’d just pull the “dessert goes in a separate stomach” excuse.
I had taken care of my cousin before—I knew how this worked.
(Say one thing, and they’ll hit you back with ten more…)
Feeling overwhelmed, I gave in and used summoning magic to bulk-buy convenience store sweets through online shopping.
Needless to say, I was disheartened when I later checked my points balance.
At the very least, I should be grateful that they were offering to cover food costs with today’s drop items.
“If only I could get paid in points instead of regular currency…”
With a sigh, I suddenly realized something.
While I couldn’t convert items obtained from magic beasts slain by Rei and Shella into points, items obtained by Ketsey—who had a master-servant contract with me—could be converted.
“We all attacked at the same time this time, so maybe…?”
After getting everyone’s approval, I stored the lake serpent’s magic stone in my [Item Box].
Checking my status screen—
“It worked! I converted it into points! If Ketsey participates in the attack, we can turn drop items into points…”
“That’s good to know. In that case, we’ll be covering our food expenses with item sales from now on.”
That was exactly what I wanted. Even if my points had dwindled, I could earn them back by grinding in the dungeon for a while.
After all, I had the strongest dragon on my side!
(…Even if he’s just a tiny dragon right now.)
But small or not, a golden dragon was still powerful.
If I rode on him during travel, I could even cut down dungeon exploration time.
“Rei, I’m counting on you!”
When I spoke to the tiny dragon perched on my shoulder, he nodded confidently.
“Leave it to me! Just make sure to get us some good food, Tohma .”
◆◇◆
With that, after swiftly taking control of the lakeside field, we made our way through the dungeon toward the floors where we could earn more.
We dashed through the cave field at a fast pace, but for the forest and plains fields, I rode on Rei’s back, which had returned to its original size.
Since we couldn’t let other adventurers see the dragon, we made use of the [Conceal] and [Stealth] skills to disappear from sight and took a leisurely aerial stroll.
Shella, having discovered the joy of attacking in her Shimaenaga (long-tailed tit) form, was nestled in my chest pocket during the flight. She looked so small and cute.
As for Ketsey, she was in her usual spot—sitting on my shoulder, forming a neat little curl. She, too, was undeniably adorable.
“Mm. I remember that this floor has a big beast.”
Rei, who had previously cleared the Anheim Dungeon, shared the information.
The “big beast” he referred to was a magic beast or monster that likely had valuable items to sell.
He also told us about locations where special variants or floor bosses—who often drop magic items—could be found, which was incredibly helpful.
Even with the same [Presence Detection] skill, Rei’s golden dragon version had far superior abilities.
Rei elegantly descended toward the location of the potentially profitable magic beasts. It’s truly remarkable how, despite his enormous size, he could land silently.
“Looks like it’s a High Orc settlement.”
“They’ve increased in number, and it seems a King has been born. If left unchecked, there might be a flood of them.”
“Got it. We’ll wipe out every last one of them.”
“Nyaa.”
“Pii.”
It seemed the High Orc King had cunningly hidden deeper into the dungeon.
To distract adventurers, it likely sent a group of dozens to harass the settlement. It appeared to have higher intelligence compared to Goblins or Orc Kings. Perhaps it could use skills or magic.
“Hmm… There are at least three hundred of them, just from what the [Presence Detection] skill has picked up.”
“Three hundred and twenty-six. That’s how many are in the settlement. The rest are scattered in distant areas.”
“Probably a group under the King’s orders. Are there any adventurers nearby?”
“There are none.”
“Good.”
I considered the strategy of picking them off one by one, but taking too long might result in other adventurers showing up to assist. It would be better to use a large-scale magic to take them out all at once.
“Ah… By the way, Rei, can you hold back a bit? I was thinking of using a mid-level area-wide magic to wipe out the entire settlement.”
“Hold back… I know the words, yes?”
The small dragon nodded in a way that was both cute and frustrating, but the next words were unsettling.
“I don’t know how to hold back.”
“Ah, so you don’t know… I figured as much…”
If Rei were to use area-wide magic, it would probably obliterate not just this floor, but the entire dungeon.
As curious as I was about the sheer destructive power of his magic, I didn’t want to risk my life out of curiosity, so I decided to keep Rei out of it this time.
“Shella, Ketsey, and I will take care of the High Orc King and the settlement.”
I realized yesterday that Shella, in her Shimaenaga form, was stronger with magic than when in her human form. Her magic power increased almost tenfold.
I wasn’t sure if this was due to her being a phantom beast, but for the sake of leveling up, I wanted her help with this settlement annihilation.
Using fire magic would be difficult, as cleaning up afterward would be a hassle.
Instead, I decided to use Shella’s wind magic to summon a tornado and ask Ketsey to use one of her elemental spells—snow and ice magic.
“What about you, Tohma ?”
With a grin, I looked up at the golden dragon soaring high above us.
“I’ll use my special magic.”
