I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

who I am? where am I? What am I doing?

Three questions like these came to Rico's mind, and then she found the answers.

Her name is Rico, she is 12 years old, and she is an apprentice Red Flute Cave Explorer. She currently lives in the Belchero Orphanage and her wish is to become a White Flute.

Now she... has been kidnapped!! Uh... although she has been kidnapped, the person who kidnapped her, called "Miss Yuu," makes Riko feel strange. If it's a kidnapping, at least they would tie the kidnapped person's hands and feet and seal their mouth with something, right?

But she was just innocently stuffed into a sack and did nothing. Didn't Miss Youyou know that shouting for help wouldn't get anyone to rescue her?

Did Miss Youyou forget to gag herself or forget to knock herself unconscious?

With this question in mind, Riko said to Yuhaka, who was carrying a sack containing her own contents:

"Um...Miss Youyou, right?"

Hearing the little girl in the sack behind her call her name, Youyou turned around and looked at the sack, saying:

"Nani...des?"

After hearing Yuhaka's reply, Riko's tense mood immediately relaxed. After all, no one would say anything to the person they kidnapped, right?

"Um, why did Miss Youyou put me in a... sack??"

Faced with Riko's question, the simple-minded Yuhaka honestly answered Riko, saying:

"Youyou, I want to take you back..."

Hearing Yuhaka's words, Riko was stunned for a moment. She didn't know why Miss Yuhaka wanted to take her back. However, Riko, who had a vivid imagination, suddenly remembered that Yuhaka's skills when she fought those thugs were incredibly strong. It was understandable that she could hunt small animals like carpet rats and bamboo bears in the dangerous environment of the third and fourth levels.

However... Riko thought about it carefully and realized that she had never heard any rumors about a little girl wearing a cat headgear before, and the rumors about Yuhaka only started to spread after more than ten days. Thinking about it this way, Riko might think that Miss Yuhaka is from outside the island.

But why is Miss Youyou wearing that funny-looking cat headgear?

Regarding this question, Riko, with her vivid imagination, thought that Yuhaka definitely didn't want others to know his identity. And there are generally two types of people who don't want their identities to be known: one is a wanted criminal, and the other is a famous person.

Miss Youyou is definitely not the former. There's no way a wanted criminal could be so young. Miss Youyou is probably a foreign noblewoman or princess or something. After all, when Youhaka replied to her just now, he spoke in segments, so he must not be familiar with their country's language or something.

Moreover, those thugs might actually be people sent by Miss Youyou's country to capture her and take her back in disguise. After all, when I watched Youhaka fight those thugs earlier, he didn't kill them at all! One of them was just knocked unconscious by a single punch, while the others seemed to have been hit by throwing knives coated with paralyzing toxins, and none of them were hit in any vital areas.

——————The scene shifts to the town of Os, in the giant cave————————

The head of security in charge of the town of Oss scratched his head, looking at the five corpses lying on the ground, and said with some trouble:

Who were these people? What was their cause of death?

The adjutant, standing to the side, looked at the chief of guards and said:

“Sir, I know these people. They are some of the best pickpockets and thieves from the slums. They have been imprisoned several times, but they were released after a short time because the crimes were all very simple thefts.”

The adjutant then flipped through the report and continued to the chief of guards:

"As for the cause of death... the burly man died from massive bleeding caused by multiple internal organ ruptures, while the others who were thinner died from suffocation due to respiratory distress caused by neurotoxins."

Then the adjutant handed a metal plate to the chief of guards and said:

"These weapons were what caused the deaths of those thugs."

The head guard saw that the weapon on the metal plate was the paralyzing spiky scales that Yuhaka had just used against the thugs. Looking at the red powder next to the black paralyzing spiky scales, the head guard said:

"Then what are these murder weapons?"

"It's chili powder, sir."

"what???"

———————Back to Ehaka and Riko, who was being carried around———————

Thinking about it this way, maybe Miss Youyou brought me along to protect me. Those people pretending to be thugs to capture Miss Youyou must have discovered her presence. If I don't go with Miss Youyou now, I might be killed to silence me. Even if I'm not silenced, I might be hung up and tortured to reveal Miss Youyou's whereabouts.

Why is the punishment I envisioned just a naked penis?!

"Don't worry! Miss Youyou, I'll keep your secret! I absolutely won't..."

Riko, who had been stuffed into the sack by Yuhaka, said this to Yuhaka. Faced with Riko's words, Yuhaka looked confused and blinked his eyes, then hummed in agreement. After all, Yuhaka felt that what Riko had just said did not seem like a lie.

Riko also took this opportunity to introduce herself to Yuhaka, saying:

"Um, Miss Yu-Yu, my name is Riko, and I'm an apprentice Red Flute Cave Explorer. May I call you Yu-Yu?"

Yuhaka nodded upon hearing Riko's words, but then, remembering that Riko couldn't see him, he said to her:

"Yes, Riko..."

Upon hearing Yuhaka's answer, Riko exclaimed excitedly:

"Then please take care of me from now on, Yu-Yu-chan! By the way! Yu-Yu-chan!"

Then, remembering something, Riko said to Yuhaka, who was carrying her on her back:

"Where are we going now?"

Yuhaka, carrying a sack containing Riko, arrived at the shore with its own deep-groove insect tunnel and said:

"Go back to the secret base, and then, cook a meal!"

Upon hearing Yuhaka's words, Riko clapped her hands excitedly and said:

"Oh—! A secret base! This looks interesting!"

"Ok?"

When asked about Riko, Yuhaka simply tilted his head and continued leading her through the Deep Slot Worm Path to the vicinity of Nanachi's house. Afterward, Yuhaka returned to Nanachi's house with the sack containing Riko.

"Yeah, you're back. You seem to have brought back quite a lot of things today."

At home, Nanachi took the slightly heavy sack from Yuhaka's back, opened it, and said:

"Let's see what good stuff we have..."

Nanachi opened the sack and was speechless when she saw Riko looking at her curiously inside. With a calm expression, she put the sack back on, took a deep breath, and then—

"Ughh ...

Chapter 33 [Squid Rice Wrap (Part 1)]

At Nanachi's secret base on the fourth level of the Abyss.

"Ugh—!!"

Nanachi was making a sound like a groundhog, scratching her face with an "OwO?" look on her face. Yuhaka shook her shoulders and said:

"Why did you bring back a Red Flute cave explorer apprentice?! Didn't you go to buy ingredients?! Why did you bring back a little girl?!"

After removing the Elytra headgear, Yuhaka bit her finger and thought for a moment before saying to Nanachi with a serious expression:

"Hmm... Riko, she smells like someone who cooks!"

"What kind of ridiculous reason is that?! Besides, you can cook, right?! Why did you have to drag a little girl down with you?"

Riko, peeking out from a nearby sack, watched Nanachi and Yuhaka playfully fighting with a bright, sparkling expression.

What is this? An unknown orcish creature?? It looks so interesting!

But Nanachi's next words made Riko's eyes light up, almost as if she were about to become a true hero and kill with her eyes (eye beam cannon).

"This is the Abyss! How can a little kid go up here? And this is the fourth level of the Abyss! Ascending here will cause excruciating pain all over the body and blood to flow from all seven orifices! How could this kid possibly withstand it!"

Upon hearing Nanachi's words, Riko jumped out of the sack and quickly came to Nanachi and Yuhaka's side, looking at them with an excited expression, and said:

"What?! Is this the [Giants' Cup] on the fourth level of the Abyss?!"

Nanachi was startled by Riko's sudden appearance, and instinctively answered Riko's question:

"Yeah...yes, that's right."

Upon hearing Nanachi's answer, Riko's face lit up with an excited smile, her nostrils practically flaring with breath. Riko grabbed Nanachi's furry hands and said to her:

"Hey! Fluffy-chan! What race are you? And why are you on the fourth level of the Abyss!? Did Yuu-chan go up there to gather information about the Giant Cave Town of Os or something..."

Faced with Riko bombarding her with a series of nonsensical questions and even trying to sneakily inquire about her taste, Nanachi pressed a hand against Riko's forehead to prevent the breathing Riko from getting closer, then turned to look at Yuhaka with a startled expression and said:

"Youyou! Quick, help us pull this guy away! This guy's not right in the head! Um! Don't smell my hands!"

Seeing Riko and Nanachi playfully fighting, Yuhaka also joined in sucking Nanachi's breath.

"What? You're sniffing me too?! Ugh! You can't sniff there?!"

——————Riko and Yuhaka absorb Nanagi——————

"Mmm..."

Nanachi lay on the small round table in the living room (which Yuhaka bought in Os Town) looking like she had been played with and ruined, while Midi was lying on top of Nanachi, making whimpering noises.

Meanwhile, Riko, looking apologetic, scratched the back of her head and said to Nanachi:

"Sorry, sorry, Nanachi-chan, I got a little out of control after hearing about the Abyss, hehe~"

After saying that, Riko looked at Yuhaka, who was cooking in the kitchen, with a curious expression and said:

"By the way, how did Yu-Yu-chan bring me to the fourth level of the Abyss? The depth from here to the town of Os, the Great Cave, is 7000 to 12000 meters."

Rico stroked her chin, looking thoughtful, and said:

"And I remember that Youyou only had about ten minutes with me, and she clearly brought me here on foot. What's going on?"

Faced with this problem, Riko couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she tried. Unless she jumped down from Os Town, it was impossible to walk to the fourth level of the Abyss in just over ten minutes. Besides, the great fault line at the third level of the Abyss couldn't be solved by walking.

In response to Riko's question, Yuhaka simply made a gesture with his hands as if digging for something and said to Riko:

"Dig a hole!"

"Eh?"

After hearing what Yuhaka said, Riko still looked confused, most likely because she didn't understand what Yuhaka meant by "digging holes".

However, compared to Riko's confusion, Yuhaka was currently preparing for today's food. In front of Yuhaka were several squid. Yuhaka picked up the squid heads and pulled them off. Then, Yuhaka removed the transparent bones from the squid's body. Finally, Yuhaka peeled off the membrane on the surface of the squid.

After Yuhaka had completely processed the squid, he applied cooking wine and salt to the squid and rubbed it evenly to remove the fishy smell.

After taking care of the above, Yuhaka began preparing for the next step.

Yuhaka used some ingredients to make Origami Grandma's special barbecue sauce. Because one ingredient was missing, Yuhaka tried to use a unique ingredient from the Abyss as a substitute, namely the seed of the Hundred-Year Fragrance, which is known as the "King of Seasonings".

The Hundred-Year Fragrance, also known as the "Indomitable Flower," is named for its strong vitality and undemanding blooming location. These flowers can be found almost everywhere in the Abyss, making them a symbol of the town of Os, the Great Cavern. A large number of Hundred-Year Fragrances are also planted in the town, contributing to its aesthetic appeal.

Moreover, both the roots and the fruit are easily obtained in the Abyss, so they are often used as food and spices.

After preparing the barbecue sauce with Grandma Origami's special origami sauce, Yuhaka stuck out her little tongue and secretly licked it. Finding that the taste was much better than she had imagined, Yuhaka happily wagged her big tail and then began preparing something else.