Chapter 732: Reversal

[Force-Feeding]

Thinking about it.

There was one part of this skill I felt a little sorry about.

Because I had been using it in all kinds of distorted ways, its essence had been somewhat forgotten.

But originally, this skill had a different true purpose.

'For patients.'

Patients who could not consume something normally.

It was a power meant to forcibly inject calories into such people.

On top of that.

[Health Food]

Another skill overlapped with it.

A unique cooking method that prioritized health over flavor.

Because of that, the strengthening effects through cooking tended to be quite reduced, but this too.

'Was also for patients.'

Moreover.

Among the lines contained in this [Health Food], there was this one.

[The eater’s health recovers in proportion to the quality of the dish.]

Recovery of the eater’s health.

And.

Here, there was no restriction saying it could only heal a certain type of target.

In other words.

Whether the other party was an organic lifeform that ate ordinary meals.

Or a plant that photosynthesized.

Or an inorganic object that did not eat.

Or a being that used a substance that did not exist in this world as its energy source.

This power works.

A power that supplied nutrition to any dying life without discrimination.

And a power that guaranteed a minimum level of health to a dying life.

That was why it was for patients.

That was the essence of those two skills.

Sssrrrk......

It was not a guy I could trust completely yet.

That was why what I fed it was a dish I had made relatively long ago.

Even so.

{......This is.}

Well.

Who do you think made it?

{Full...... stomach......?}

When it came to filling the belly of one dying patient.

It was more than enough.

***

The energy that had been flickering uneasily as if it might go out at any moment.

That energy.

FWAAAAASH......!

Suddenly regained vitality.

It was no longer a faint mist, but an energy that recovered its strength firmly, like a round solid.

It had originally been a fairly powerful being.

Only, it had lost that power due to its wounds.

And what mattered most in a patient’s recovery was nothing other than healthy nutritional intake.

It had lacked the nutrition needed to recover from those wounds.

But now that nutrition had been supplied.

{This is.......}

The being beyond the energy rose.

{Cooking.}

What had it felt from my cooking?

It stood there blankly, as if seized by some strange sentiment.

“......It’s nice that you’re savoring the taste and all.”

Unfortunately.

This was not cooking made for flavor, but health food made for a patient.

Then what it needed to show me was not it savoring the taste.

“You need to start moving now.”

{......So I do.}

It had to be the sight of it running around with a recovered body.

CLANG, CLANG......!

The chancellor was engaged in a fierce battle against the five zombies.

A tremendous number of wounds had already settled across that corpse’s body.

SPOT!

And at last.

The slime-shaped monster bound the chancellor’s limbs.

The final blow from that giant was about to head toward the bound chancellor......

At that very moment.

FWAAAAASH!

That ashen-gray energy.

Swept past in front of the chancellor.

CRUMBLE.

-.......

The giant’s corpse looked down at its own arm.

The fist that should have finished the chancellor off.

That fist had now vanished without a trace.

-Traitor.

“Prince.......”

And so.

The battle entered another phase.

FWAAAAASH!

The energy of the prince, whose strength had returned, swept across the battlefield once again.

Those five zombies seemed puzzled as to why the prince’s power had returned.

But they accepted the situation in an instant and began responding.

'I guess I should fight with them too.'

I had restored the prince, but before those five were strengthened, the prince had only been fighting them evenly.

Even with the chancellor there too, there was a high chance those two alone would not be enough.

I did not like the idea of fighting alongside zombies, but I should join in too.......

'......Huh?'

Thinking that.

I gripped my knife and tried to move my feet, but.......

At the sight unfolding before my eyes, I had no choice but to stop.

Because.

-Betray...... er......!

The two zombies I had naturally assumed would be at a disadvantage.

......No.

The prince’s side was overwhelming the enemies.

***

BOOOOOM......

The first to fall.

Was the giant’s corpse, which was on the slower side and could not evade the prince’s attack.

Sssrk.

The next to fall.

Was the ghost that had been flying around in spirit form.

THUD.

The monster with the lower body of a snake.

Rolled across the floor with its upper body gone.

'......Strong.'

I had supplemented its nutrition to some extent.

Even so, I had thought the prince’s side would be at a disadvantage.

But the scene unfolding before my eyes was the exact opposite.

The moment that prince joined in.

The five zombies were being swept away helplessly, unable to put up any proper resistance.

As I watched that sight, I thought.

'It was probably in a serious state of malnutrition to begin with.'

When it fought the five zombies up in the sky.

Even then, when I had already thought it was strong, the prince probably had not been in normal condition.

It had shown that much power even in that state.

So now that its nutrition had been replenished, it would naturally be even stronger.

'......No, but.'

That reason must certainly have had an effect.

But how should I put it?

'This isn’t on a level that can be explained by that alone.'

A person who, due to malnutrition, could only exert fifty percent of that person’s original strength.

By resolving that malnutrition, you could make that person exert twice the strength.

But even that had a limit.

If that person suddenly exerted three or four times the strength.

Then there was a high chance there was a reason besides nutrition.

If I had to guess at something.

'......The effect of my cooking?'

Well.

Who do you think made it?

The effect would be impressive.

But.

'This dish was health food.'

Dishes made as health food focused on recovering the target’s health, so their flavor was worse.

And the effect of my cooking was greatly influenced by that flavor.

That meant effects other than health were greatly reduced.

On top of that, it was not even a latest dish I had made with all my sincerity.

It was a careless dish I had made back when I was much weaker than I was now.

It should not have been a dish capable of causing that level of stat enhancement......

BOOOOOM......

As I wondered about that.

And watched with that question in mind.

-......Traitor.

The final zombie fell.

The five zombies had been rendered incapable of combat.

Their minds conveyed their will in a blunt tone.

-Whatever path you chose after abandoning your kin.

-Know that it will never end well.

Drop.

The zombies’ heads snapped down.

They were parasites that moved by using corpses as hosts.

A second death had come to those corpses.

Looking at the corpses of those kin.

{......I did not abandon them.}

The prince answered bitterly.

And with those words as the last.

Srrk......

Even that prince’s body.

Collapsed down to the floor.

***

The nutrition supplementation through my cooking.

Its effect had been fully displayed in that battle just now.

Because it had allowed a being that had looked as if it were about to die to continue fighting like that.

But.

'As expected. It was impossible to fully fill the calories of a being that uses that much power.'

If I had fed it a better dish, it might have been possible.

But because I fed it a relatively weaker dish just in case.

With that battle as the end, even the calories I had supplemented had been used up, and it had crashed to the floor.

“P-Prince.......”

Toward that prince.

The goblin chancellor dragged its exhausted body closer.

“A-are...... you all right......?”

{I am fine. More importantly, what is the state of the other kin?}

“D-do not...... worry. Those who follow...... the prince’s orders...... all, all of them...... as commanded...... preserved their bodies...... intact.......”

{That is a relief.}

And.

After checking the prince’s condition like that, the goblin.

Turned its head.

“H-human. To, you...... I express...... my thanks.”

“.......”

“Thanks to...... you...... we overcame...... a great c-crisis. How, ever.”

Then.

It looked at me and said.

“Do, do not...... come any...... closer than that.”

Srrk.

The chancellor said that while gripping its worn dagger.

It was difficult to read emotion from a corpse-like face, but that movement clearly carried wariness.

It was holding a weapon despite saying it was grateful.

At a glance, it might have been a situation that felt insolent.

But in truth, I did not feel anything in particular at that sight.

Because.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“.......”

I was the one who had already.

Been moving toward it while gripping my knife first.

An immense mutual slaughter between zombies.

That battle had ended with this for now.

There was a high chance the invading side still had more forces left, but even so, it was certain they had taken major damage.

If they had invaded our territory instead of carrying out this mutual slaughter here, we would definitely have suffered severe losses.

The fact that the zombies’ forces had taken major damage here was a fairly large benefit for me.

And that was not all.

'The prince has also weakened.'

Not only the invading side, but the defending side too.

This prince was also in a greatly weakened state after that battle.

The same went for that goblin chancellor.

Meanwhile.

[The command word has been lifted.]

[The curse has been lifted.]

All the debuffs I had received from the battle against those five zombies had been resolved.

In other words.

'If I fight now...... this is pretty doable, isn’t it?'

A monster with power at the beginning of the navy rank.

And a monster far stronger than that.

This was a chance to deal with both at once without much expenditure.

I felt bad saying this to those guys.

But I was not foolish enough to just let a chance like that pass.

“......How, dare.”

Maybe it had read my thoughts.

The goblin chancellor became furious and tightened its grip on the knife.

If anything, the one in slightly more moderate condition was that thing.

It must be thinking it had to protect the prince.

But as I watched it, I thought.

'I’ve already seen your fighting a few times.'

If it had been an opponent I was facing for the first time, I might have been flustered.

But I had already seen that thing’s fighting...... and seen it fighting with everything it had, at that.

As long as I had grasped what kind of battle the opponent fought, I could respond.

The method to break through it was already settled in my head.

If that thing drew its knife, I intended to respond immediately as well, but.

{Stop, chancellor.}

“Prince......!”

The one who stopped the chancellor’s movement.

Was none other than the prince being protected by that chancellor.

{I can feel it. If his first thought had been to eliminate us, he would have acted first while we were talking.}

“Th-that is.”

{It is the same now. He is gripping his knife, yet he does not swing it...... which means there is some other reason he is prioritizing.}

At those words.

I shrugged and said.

“Well, that’s roughly right.”

Just as that thing said.

Naturally, if I intended to fight, it would be better for me to launch the first attack.

“You said it yourselves.”

The reason I still had not swung my weapon was.......

Well, honestly.

It was not because I was prioritizing some other reason.

“You wanted conversation and a deal.”

{.......}

It was because those things.

Had acted that way until now too.

'When I said I wouldn’t make the recipe trade.'

Right before that invasion began.

When it heard my refusal.

The prince had been in a situation where it could have threatened me with force.

But even then.

-I will offer additional conditions.

Far from using force.

That thing had shown that it was trying to continue the conversation somehow.

What was that saying again?

You return what you receive, or something like that.

'Since that side gave me room for conversation, I’m just returning the same.'

There was no rule saying.

That phrase only had to be used in bad situations.

“Instead, I’d like you to understand that the situation has changed a little.”

Now.

It was time to talk again.

“The hostages are gone.”

And instead.......

“It looks like the power is on my side now.”

{.......}

A conversation.

Where the favorable and unfavorable positions had clearly been reversed.