These Are Ours. Don't Even Think About Stealing Them~! / What Kind of Life Were We Living Before?

Mog lightly snapped his fingers and smiled as well.

He had just been thinking that his stock of [Plant Mutagen] was running low, and there was still no guarantee of food in the days ahead.

Yet these two had delivered themselves right to his doorstep, bringing him new [Commissions].

That meant he would have quite a bit more stock on hand.

"But there's a problem right now~~~"

Mog raised his head and listened to the movement around them.

"You two were talking a little loudly just now. It seems quite a few people heard you."

Huh?!!

Phinks and Uvogin both pricked up their ears. Sure enough, they could vaguely hear footsteps heading their way.

There were even noisy voices calling out things like, "What's that smell?!"

"It smells so good! Is the Church cooking new food?!"

"No, it seems to be coming from around the Church!!"

"Hurry up and take a look! Maybe there's something left over!!"

Quite a few voices like that were already drifting over.

"Looks like we've attracted some people too."

Mog spread his hands slightly. "We can only retreat for now."

"But doesn't that food need plants like trees to appear?"

Machi, who had also finished her seafood fried rice, reminded them, "Other than here, unless we go to the outskirts, there doesn't seem to be anywhere with trees..."

"There's a rotten tree at Feitan's place."

Phinks immediately cut in. "Feitan uses it as a step stool. It's just right for him to stand on and look a little higher..."

Thud!!

A fist suddenly struck Phinks in the waist.

"Too much talk."

Feitan, whose height only reached Phinks's waist, spoke for the first time since arriving.

As for Feitan's height, there was no need to mention it.

Even more than a decade later, he would only grow to 155 centimeters at most.

It could be called his eternal pain.

Only a companion like Phinks, who had gone through life and death with him, could thoughtlessly bring up Feitan's height like that.

If it had been anyone else, Feitan would have long since picked a fight with them.

But now that they had a suitable destination, everyone could head there.

And in the future, they would no longer have to sneak over to the outskirts of the Church.

It would save them from causing such a huge commotion again. It was neither convenient nor safe.

Once they had made their decision, the group immediately took action.

Before formally leaving, Mog raised his head and smiled at the glass window of a certain room in the Church.

Only then did he follow Phinks and Feitan toward their home.

"Just now... did that person notice us?"

Little Pakunoda, who was in the screening room, noticed Mog's smile before he left and could not help asking in surprise.

She had not been mistaken. The direction of Mog's gaze had been toward them.

"I read in a book before that people are very sensitive to gazes directed at them."

Little Chrollo did not think much of it. "We've been watching him from here for so long. He must have noticed already."

As he spoke, a curved smile appeared on his lips.

"He seems like an interesting person too. I really want to find a chance to get to know him."

After Mog and the others left, quite a few people gathered beneath the tree where Mog's group had been.

Everyone who arrived caught the rich fragrance lingering in the air.

One after another, they wore deeply intoxicated and greedy expressions.

"Hiss~!!"

Some even took a deep breath, wanting to inhale every trace of that scent into their noses.

Such behavior immediately drew angry glares from the others.

Some people even believed there had originally been delicious food here, and that whoever had arrived first had secretly hidden it away.

With all sorts of reasons flying around, the group that had gathered there began arguing and even fighting.

Well, in Meteor City, there was never any shortage of conflict.

Leaving aside Little Chrollo's curiosity about Mog, and leaving aside those people's meaningless fight.

Mog, Uvogin, and Machi smoothly followed Phinks and Feitan to Feitan's house.

Although Uvogin was very unhappy with Phinks right now, he was still more than willing to seize the chance to snatch food from them~~~

Feitan's house was not large, and its exterior was just as shabby as Mog's little house.

But the inside had more to it than Mog's place.

At the very least, aside from a bed, it had a simple table and chairs, as well as a small cabinet for storing things.

Though they were just as shabby.

Still, they had been scavenged from a garbage heap. There was no point being picky. Having them at all was good enough.

Mog's attention, meanwhile, was focused on the rotten little tree inside Feitan's home.

Fortunately, [Plant Mutagen] only required the target to be a plant. It did not specifically require it to be alive or dead.

Mog immediately took out two more doses of [Mutagen] and loaded them into syringes.

Now that he had Phinks's commission, his stock had become much more plentiful.

Pfft.

He inserted the syringe into the tree again, while Phinks and Feitan's gazes shifted from curiosity to shock.

It sprouted and swelled, blossoming and bearing fruit.

A huge black coconut formed before their eyes.

"So this is how you get your food..."

Phinks muttered, seeming so stunned that he had lost focus.

Feitan said nothing, but his originally narrowed eyes were now nearly as wide as they could go.

He watched the second black coconut come into being, as if trying to see through the entire process and understand exactly how it had happened.

But all their shock and confusion vanished when the lid of the black coconut opened.

Crunch.

The rich fragrance entered their nostrils and stimulated their central nervous systems.

In an instant, both of them shuddered.

What shock, what curiosity, what confusion—at that moment, it all disappeared without a trace.

All that remained was a deep desire for the bowl of food before them.

One serving was pork cutlet rice piled high with a thick pork chop, while the other was steaming fried noodles filled with bean sprouts, shredded meat, and greens.

Two foods they had never seen before sat right in front of them, making their throats bob uncontrollably.

Even Uvogin and Machi, who had already eaten, could not stop their mouths from watering.

And when he saw the food, Uvogin's expression gradually turned subtle.

"Aha! These are ours, so don't even think about stealing them~!!"

Before Uvogin could make a move, Phinks seemed to have noticed his intentions in advance and immediately carried both servings far away.

"Don't think I don't know what kind of crooked idea you bastard is plotting!!"

Phinks glared fiercely at Uvogin. "Your eyes and your drool already gave you away!!"

"Hm? Was it that obvious?"

Unable to achieve his goal, Uvogin regretfully wiped the corner of his mouth.

After that wipe, there really was quite a lot of drool.

What Kind of Life Had They Been Living Before?

"These two guys clearly came later just to mooch food, yet they're still acting so arrogant..."

Unable to get any food, Uvogin smacked his lips and muttered to himself.

His words were full of envy and jealousy as he watched Phinks and Feitan stuffing their faces.

The two of them turned a deaf ear to Uvogin's muttering. The fragrance had left them completely dazed.

They bit into the thick, crispy, golden fried pork cutlet without making a sound.

Then there were the fragrant bean sprouts mixed with fried noodles, picked up with chopsticks and slurped into their mouths.

With their minds focused solely on eating, Phinks and Feitan finally understood the joy Uvogin and Machi had felt earlier.

"That was satisfying~"

After swallowing the last bite of food, Phinks let out a long breath: