Cooking with Wild Game (LN) Volume 1 Chapter 3

Apprentice chef in a different world

Translator: Skythewood

Editor: Deus ex-Machina

Part 1

「… Maybe you’re the incarnation of disaster.」

After she tied her hair, dressed herself and put on her cape with a smooth move, she made that comment.

「I’m honoured by your words, but what makes you say that my lady?」

「Giant Madarama snakes won’t appear at the foot of the mountain normally, but one got washed to this place by the river. The sun have not yet reached above our heads, and a Kiba beast was already roaming in the woods and even attacked us. What a series of ill fortune.」

Oh I see.

By the way, there were more than two ill fortune. You had yet to marry, but I saw your naked body. I wanted to retort that, but I didn’t want to die, so I held my peace.

My judgement seemed to be on point.

Because when Ai Fa saw me fell silent, her expression changed, as if she regretted what she said.

「… It was unexpected, but I was still careless to not notice that Madarama. And you did save me — I want to thank you for that.」

Ai Fa lowered her head a little, but her eyes were looking up at me as she fidgeted with the necklace on her chest. She said in a soft voice that was barely audible to humans and said: 「… Thank you.」

Her actions were just like that of a child.

My heart raced for some reason and I replied stiffly:

「It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I should be the one saying that, I didn’t notice the Kiba beast that was so close to me. You saved me… Thank you.」

As long as Ai Fa got her spirits back, nothing else matters.

If that snake killed Ai Fa… I feel like dying just thinking about that.

「No matter what, this is still a Kiba beast. Let’s deal with it while it is fresh.」

The head of the Kiba beast was smashed by Ai Fa, and it was still lying by my feet while spasming.

Compared to the Kiba beast I ran into yesterday, this one was smaller. But it was still about 150 cm long and 70 kg heavy. It had huge horns and tusks, but Ai Fa defeated it in just one blow.

「That’s true, let’s cut off it’s leg first.」 Ai Fa raised her blade, but I stopped her in a hurry.

「Wait wait, before dismembering it, we need to bleed it out first. Don’t just cut it up so suddenly.」

「Bleed it out… What do you mean?」

「What!? You have never bleed them out before? No wonder their meat stinks so much!」

Ai Fa had a face of complete bewilderment when she heard my yell.

Yup, I love her bewildered look the most. For the people of Forest’s Edge, this was a huge problem.

「Let me tell you then. The reason why meat stinks, is because of the blood. By bleeding them out, the Kiba beast’s meat will not be so pungent.」

「… I don’t understand what you’re saying. Wouldn’t the blood flow out during dismemberment?」

「You can’t get it all out that way… Now isn’t the time to discuss this leisurely. It will be too late if the Kiba beast’s heart stop pumping. Hey, I will explain later, lend me your knife.」

Ai Fa handed me her knife with a face full of doubt. The Kiba beast was down on the ground on its side. I bent down behind it.

Well then — Despite acting all professional, I had only seen the members of the hunter hobbyist group perform exsanguination before. And I wasn’t sure if the internal makeup of the Kiba beast was similar to a boar, everything was dependent on luck.

The position of a boar’s artery and organs are similar to that of a human.

Recalling the words the hunter said, I leaned onto the huge body of the Kiba beast.

I aimed the blade at the point where the Kiba beast’s thick neck connected with its chest.

And stabbed in one go.

Blood — Only a few drops came out.

It failed.

Well, things usually won’t be so smooth.

With no other choice, I slid the knife slowly down its chest.

I just need to cut the carotid artery or the aorta.

As I struggled against the Kiba beast’s tough hide and inched my blade forward — fresh blood finally flowed out.

I pulled out the knife in a hurry, and more darkish red fluid gushed out.

If I didn’t wound the heart directly, then it probably… worked.

「The heart is an organ that will circulate blood around the entire body. By cutting a large artery and not hurting the heart, we can bleed the beast out efficiently.」

Hence, it would be better to slit the carotid artery, but it was risky. If I hurt the throat or breathing organs, the Kiba beast would suffocate to death, and its heart would stop pumping.

「It is actually better to hang it from a tree, but lifting this fellow would be a lot of work. This should be enough!」

As she didn’t reply, I turned my head back and found Ai Fa with a confused expression.

「… We’re just bringing the meat on its legs back, why do we need to bleed out its entire body?」

「Hmm?」

「If we bring back a Kiba beast of this size, the meat would spoil before we can even finish. Large families would bring an entire Kiba beast back in order to skin its hide, but everyone else will usually just take the legs.」

「Leaving such a delicacy is such a waste!」

「If we leave the rest of the carca.s.s here, the Manto that only eat rotting meat and other beasts would finish it. If we bring it home and it rots before we can finish it, that will be a graver sin.」

「I see, then there’s no problem. But why bring back the leg meat? Thigh meat aren’t bad, but there are many other parts that are more delectable.」

「That’s not true. Kiba meat is very pungent, and its hind leg doesn’t taste as strong.」

I understand now. If they didn’t know about bloodletting, then the torso would indeed be more pungent than the limbs. After all, its veins would be cut when they take the legs, and a lot of blood would flow out.

Even so, after spending eighty years hunting Kiba beasts for a living, they must be really crude to not even consider draining the Kiba’s blood. Since the meat taste bad, they should spend more effort to make it more delectable. Such greed and ambition was the reason why the food culture of humans could develop so rapidly.

As I was thinking about all that, the blood stop flowing.

The Kiba beast that was spasming had completely stopped.

It was dead.

I offered it a prayer in my heart.

The fur of the Kiba beast was covered in mud, gra.s.s and its own feces. After I cleaned it with water from the river, I turned to Ai Fa:

「Okay, time for the next step… Erm, can I insist on my own view and bring it back whole?」

「Do what you want, just don’t damage the Horns and Tusks.」

Ai Fa showed a complicated expression, not sure if she should be excited or not care at all, and just shrugged.

I ignored her reaction and stabbed the knife into the Kiba beast’s belly.

This knife was sharper than the one I used during the farm experience camp. Careful not to cut too deep, I carved open the Kiba’s stomach.

In order to extract its organs.

This wasn’t hard, but there was one point to take note of. That was to not cut the large intestines, gall and bladder which had a horrible stench. If the stench from these organs got onto the meat, it would render the blood letting meaningless.

I cut into the diaphragm with my blade and started taking out the organs.

First were the small and large intestines.

Next were the guts, liver, pancreas, lungs and heart.

I extracted them one at a time easily.

The Kiba beast’s body structure was not much different from a boar.

After emptying its upper torso cavity, the hardest part awaited me in the lower cavity. Its bladder.

I moved my knife cautiously, careful not to break that organ.

… Hmm?

There was an organ I had never seen before beneath the bladder.

Was it an organ unique to the Kiba beast?

I carefully cut off that organ.

The oval organs were huge, with one on either side and felt really solid.

… Ah.

These were probably its t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e.

The one I dismembered before was female, so it didn’t have such an organ.

I placed the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es on a boulder to show my respect.

And the extraction of the organs came to an end.

I turned back and Ai Fa still had a look of surprise.

「This looks just like the ritual performed by the rumoured voodoo priests. Is this process necessary for the sake of eating meat?」

「It is. But I can’t perform the next step here. We need to find a way to bring it back like this… how can we do this?」

Ai Fa sighed, and disappeared into the woods after saying  「wait right here.」

While she was gone, I used the river water to wash the Kiba beast’s empty cavity.

Fortunately, there wasn’t creatures like leeches here. The Kiba beast’s body temperature was falling, so if they were here, they would probably jumped onto me since my temperature was higher.

「Here, use this.」

After about five minutes later, Ai Fa came back. In her hands were a long wooden stick that was about my height.

The stick had a deep colour, looked really straight and there were signs of branches being cut from its surface everywhere. It was about the thickness of my wrist.

「This is Krilee tree. It’s hard and won’t break easily.」

「Alright. How do we use it to carry the Kiba?」

Ai Fa bent forward quietly and took out the ropes from the inside of her cape. She then tied the limbs of the Kiba beast onto the Krilee tree.

「I see now! Your movements are really practiced.」

「I’m just imitating others. The men from large clans would use this method to bring home an entire Kiba beast to skin their hide.」

「Okay. Aifa, don’t you need to tan hides too? The cape on you is made from the Kiba beast’s hide too, right?」

「Tanning hides requires effort from a lot of people, and that’s women’s work.」

「You’re a woman too.」 I didn’t say it out loud, but I was probably showing it on my face, so Ai Fa stiffened her face as if I was annoying.

「I can buy tanned hides with the Kiba’s tusks. So, instead of wasting time tanning the hides, it is wiser to hunt Kiba beasts. In the first place, I will starve if I don’t hunt Kiba beasts… Also, there’s no one at home to tan the hide with me. You got any problems with that?」

「I have no problems of course. I’m just thinking… You said that tanning hides is the task of women, and hunting Kiba beast is the job of men?」

「Of course. Women won’t hunt Kiba beast.」

「B-But you’re a woman.」

In the end, I still slipped my tongue.

Ai Fa looked away unhappily and started tying the Kiba’s forelegs.

「I might be a woman, but I’m also the head of the Fa House. My father taught me how to make a living by hunting Kiba beasts, so I could support myself.」

「I see.」

But what kind of emotions did Ai Fa’s late father harbour when he taught his daughter the skills to 《hunt Kiba》?

That night when Ai Fa’s father pa.s.sed away, she offended Diga Tsun, who had authority in the settlement, and was ostracized the next day.

And so, Ai Fa lived by herself without relying on anyone. Thanks to the skills to hunt Kiba imparted to her by her father, she didn’t fall into despair! Did her father foresee his daughter being ostracized after his death? That was unlikely.

Don’t… Don’t need to think too much about this.

I was the same, my old man taught me how to cook since I was young. He even encouraged me to find something more interesting than cooking. Every parent would want their children to learn more skills.

But she...

Unlike me, she probably didn’t have a choice.

She could only make a living by hunting Kiba beasts like a man.

Even though she was such a beautiful and gentle girl—

「… Hey you, why are you looking at me with weird eyes.」

Ai Fa said as she stood up slowly.

A fire was burning in her cat-like eyes, and her brown cheeks were blus.h.i.+ng a little.

「Listen up, you commited a grave taboo. You can’t complain even if I gouge out your eyes. I’m only not pursuing the matter on the account of you saving me from my desperate situation. Don’t get the wrong idea, or you will suffer one day.」

「What?」

I tilted my head and denied frantically.

「I-I’m not thinking about your naked body! Just who do you think I am? I had already buried this in the deepest part of my mind, but you are making me remember again!」

「Shut up! You want me to cut off your tongue before I gouge out your eyes?」

「Sigh, just let it go, it’s r.e.t.a.r.ded! We are all set, right? Let’s bring it with us!」

To flee from the fuming Ai Fa, I bend my waist in front of the Kiba.

The pile of organs entered my field of vision.

「I would like to cook these, but we don’t have a refrigerator. And with my skills right now, I couldn’t handle these organs.」

「… Are you serious?」

「Of course, aside from it’s grunts, every part of the Kiba beast can be eaten.」

This proverb should be talking about pigs, not boars. But no biggie.

After putting the front of the stick onto my shoulders, I could feel an astonis.h.i.+ng weight.

As expected of something on the level of 70 kg,

「If you complain about being tired mid way, I will leave you behind.」

Ai Fa picked up the rear end of the stick deftly, and the weight on my shoulders lightened slightly.

「I will work hard for the sake of a delicious meal. What about you, is your body fine after going through that unfortunate incident?」

「Shut up! Don’t bring that up again!」

Hmm, did that incident scarred Ai Fa more than I expected?

Even though her skills in 《hunting Kiba》 could rival a man, she was still a girl going through p.u.b.erty. Leaving the taboo aside, she would naturally feel embarra.s.sed.

Leaving that aside for now, I would need to do the preparations for a delicious dinner soon.

「Let’s go! I will cook something delicious to reward you for the hards.h.i.+p you suffered today, look forward to it!」

Part 2

A few hours later, inside Ai Fa’s place.

「Alright! Let’s get started!」

I stood before the large body of the Kiba beast and yelled. Ai Fa sat cross legged and leaned against the wall, muttering 「whatever」 unhappily.

She probably wasn’t unhappy and was just tired. Actually, I felt exhausted too.

First, carrying that Kiba beast back home from the river was already a demanding task. After that, we had to complete our original job — collecting pico leaves and firewood, and returned to the river bank.

No further mishaps happened after that, but it was almost noon when we finished.

Which means to say we had been working diligently from morning to noon, aside from that deadly duel with the giant Madarama snake episode in the middle.

Our schedule for noon was supposed to be hunting Kiba beast, and there wasn’t any other pressing tasks at hand. Hence, I could start dealing with the Kiba beast we encountered in the morning.

Ai Fa started the fire in the stove as I requested. After finis.h.i.+ng her task, she sat down heavily and munched on some jerky, her expression saying very clearly that 「what happens next is none of my business」.

After peeking at Ai Fa, I raised the knife she loan me.

As bloodletting was done and the organs were extracted, the next step would of course be 「skinning」.

There was a broken door in the store room, so I used it as my working platform. As there wasn’t any furniture that looked like a table in the house, I had no choice but to sit on the floor and proceed. I turned the belly side of the Kiba to face up, and placed the wood I prepared beforehand on either side to steady its posture.

I started with its hind leg first.

Using the knife, I went one circle around the ankles of its trotters, and cut from the inside of its leg up to its stomach.

Next, I slice the skin off its meat, removing its hide.

Hmm, it had plenty of fats.

The fats between the meat and the skin was about 1.5 cm thick.

Appraising it as an ingredient, the condition was excellent, but it also made the job more difficult. For animals with less fats such as deer, skinning could be done faster.

But this was for the sake of enjoying a delicious meal. I turned my knife and stripped away the hide quickly. I tried my best to not cut into the skin and not remove the fats.

The meat on both hind legs were finally unveiled.

The thigh meat covered by snow white fats bulged out under the stripped hide. This was an interesting sight.

At this time, the blade of the knife turned rather dull.

It was covered with sticky fats.

I dipped the blade into the boiling water inside the iron pot to dissolve the fats.

This was the reason why skinning couldn’t be done in the wild.

The house was filled with the thick scent of blood and meat.

After wiping the knife with the cloth Ai Fa gave me, I continued with my work.

Using the same method, I skinned the fore legs.

It might sound easy, but it actually took me an hour.

But this was just the beginning. After finis.h.i.+ng the limbs, it was time to deal with the torso.

Since I already gutted the Kiba beast, I started working from the cut I already made.

Similar to how I skinned the limbs, I slit the blade between hide and meat, then peel away the hide as I cut.

However, the surface area of the torso was much bigger than the limbs. The fats made the handle slippery, so my hold was less firm than before, making it harder to strip away the hide.

In that case, I had to make holes at the edge of the hide for my fingers to grip onto.

Because the hide was very thick, it wouldn’t tear easily even if I pull at it with all my might.

I repeatedly clean off the fats on the blade as I peel away the hide.

When the right half of the Kiba beast was finally stripped clean, I was already covered in sweat.

My body told me that about two and a half hours had pa.s.sed. The light s.h.i.+ning in through the window was still bright.

「Phew. Time for a break.」

I placed the knife beside the head of the Kiba and sat down on the rug exhausted.

I looked back at the family head — Ai Fa, who was showing a shocked expression as expected.

Her eyes were wide open which looked really child-like. It felt healing just looking at her.

Because she always had a fierce expression, the difference felt really wonderful.

「…Asuta, your hands sure are nimble.」

「Yes, but only when I’m cooking.」

「And you are really serious in your work.」

「Yes, but only when I’m cooking.」

「… There’s no need for such troublesome procedures. Kiba meat can be eaten after cooking it. Why are you putting in so much effort for such unnecessary work?」

Her words didn’t upset me, I wasn’t that narrow minded.

And so, I replied to her in a mature manner: 「I just like to eat delicious food, and cooking them for others to eat.」

I would ask her to judge if this was an exercise in futility after she had tasted my dishes.

「Alright, time to continue.」

I thought of something while I was resting.

Before skinning the left half of the torso, I needed to do one more thing.

To cut off the Kiba’s head.

It had many organs on its head, such as the eyes, mouth and nose.

Hence, it was hard to skin.

So I had to chop off its head, it would be easier to deal with the head separately from the body.

And so, I started the preparations to cut off its neck.

This Kiba’s skull was smashed in, dying in a horrible way. After thinking in my heart 「I will make you delicious」, I stabbed the knife into its jaw.

The Kiba beast’s carca.s.s was stiffening gradually, compared to the time I bled it out, it felt much harder.

And when I cut it open, a large amount of blood gushed out.

This couldn’t be helped. Even though I drained its blood earlier, that didn’t mean all the blood was gone. Furthermore, I didn’t have any experience before this. I was just an apprentice chef who was working haphazardly from my memory three years ago.

A seventeen years old apprentice chef who tried dismembering a boar just one time. The only tool I had was just a hunting knife, no work station and I had to p.r.o.ne on the ground and work hard in cutting off the Kiba’s neck.

Not just Ai Fa, anyone who saw me like this would probably laugh.

But I was happy.

Despite being covered in sweat and animal blood, I could feel that I was alive.

If they heard what I just thought, some people might think I have some sort of fetish. But the fact was, I hate lunatics who dismember animals just for the fun of it, and not for the sake of eating them.

I like cooking.

I had grown up watching the back of my father. When I entered primary school, I was already helping out in the restaurant. Maybe I didn’t choose this path out of my own conviction, and maybe I was just walking on a path someone else paved for me. But even so, I have no complaints.

And then, my dad’s catch phrase was 「go find something more interesting than cooking」.

「If you can’t find any, then it can’t be helped. You will have to take over the family business.」 My old man would say with a smile. He made me attend high school because he was worried about this.

However, I spent all my time in the kitchen.

Cooking was so interesting, so why would I need to go out of my way to find another hobby? I couldn’t understand the need for that.

I spent all my days cooking dishes that would impress my dad.

I really love cooking.

「Phew, this is tiring.」

When I cut the Kiba beast’s neck halfway, I poured out a lot water from the water flask to drink.

As I was drenched in sweat, even lukewarm water tasted great.

Time to continue.

The back of the knife was jagged, probably used to cut the Kiba’s tusks and horns. I used it to cut its collar bone.

And so, I cut off the rest of the parts and that head fell onto the broken door.

After a groan, I only skinned the parts I needed, and took the meat around and neck and cheeks.

Other parts could be eaten too, and the tongue was also enticing, but I could only cook these ingredients. If I knew, I would have asked the hunters to explain more thoroughly.

Next, I skinned the left half of the torso, flipped the Kiba over and peeled off the hide on its back.

The skinning was finally complete.

There were holes all over the place, but the I managed to peel off the entire hide beneath the neck.

Because this Kiba was 150 cm long and about 70 kg, spreading out the entire hide looked impressive.

The body of the Kiba beast was covered in fats, a looked like a huge lump of white meat.

A lump of white meat that was missing the head.

It was impossible to tell what animal it was like this.

This was also an impressive sight.

But I didn’t have time to indulge myself in this. It was finally time for the final steps.

After the skinning was done, the last task would be 「dismembering」.

I laid the bare body of the Kiba beast on its back once again, and stabbed into the inside of the hip joint.

I cut into the joint between the hip and the hind leg. After reaching a certain point, I twisted the joint in the opposite direction. With a dull crack, the joints between the pelvic bone and femur became visible.

The unveiled bare bones looked white and beautiful.

I sliced off the rest of the muscles and tendons, then pulled in the other direction, and the meat started coming off.

The right hind leg was cut off after I run the blade across the joint.

It was a huge piece of thigh meat, about 10 kg heavy.

After the right hind leg, I worked on the left hind leg.

After the left foreleg, I worked on the right foreleg.

The forelegs weren’t connected to a complicated joint like the pelvic bone, and could be removed after cutting through the ligaments.

It was time for the final climax.

I didn’t know how much time have pa.s.sed, but the sun was turning a shade of orange.

It had been four to five hours since I started this project.

「… Oh right. Ai Fa, where is the saw?」

It had been a while since I looked at Ai Fa. When I turned towards her, it was a pity that she didn’t show a confused expression.

Or rather, the moment I turned back, she was looking back blankly, and didn’t show her usual face.

「Were you sleeping? Sorry for waking you up.」

「I’m not sleeping! Who will sleep when the sky is still so bright!」

If that was so, why was she so angry? Ai Fa stood up with a pout, and disappeared behind a door.

She went into the room in the middle. That should be the place where the utensils and kitchen wares were stored.

When Ai Fa walked out from the room, she was holding a saw with a blade about 30 cm long. If this saw was kept inside a sheath, it would look just like a sword. I could only tell it was a saw if it was drawn out.

The saw was about 5 cm thick and 5mm wide. I had never seen such a thick saw before. But it should be fine, since the people of Forest’s Edge used it to build their stylish houses.

「After I finish this, the job will be done for today. Wait for me a while more.」

I told Ai Fa that after receiving the saw from her. She turned her head away with a hmmp, and didn’t answer me.

I really don’t get women.

Anyway, I disinfected the saw with the boiling water in the iron pot.

This was the climax of the dismembering, 「vertical cut」.

I will be sawing the backbone in half.

Not top and down halves, but left and right halves.

The carca.s.s would then be split into the left and right half. This was 「splitting」.

After doing this, I would be able to dismember the rest easily… This was something I learned directly from the hunters.

This animal was huge, so it would be best to use an electric saw. But it couldn’t be help since there wasn’t even electricity here. No matter how physically strenuous it was, I had to accept it.

And so, I started my work.

As expected, this was the most strenuous part.

I worked hard with my saw in hand, and regretted my actions. No matter how difficult it was, I should have hung the carca.s.s up before starting, it would have made this task much easier.

The saw was sharp and performed perfectly. If I was a weekend carpentry hobbyist, this would probably be a piece of cake.

But I didn’t have such a hobby and fell into a tough battle. The fats on the backbone was very slippery, and sawing it in half was unbelievably difficult.

I would dissolve the fats on the saw with hot water from time to time, and took several breaks — I took at least an hour to finish the work. I kept separating bones from meat, picking out the back bone sawed off by me. I pulled out the ribs one at a time, and the waist was mostly meat so I just need to cut it off.

And finally —

「… It’s done!」 After yelling that, I laid down with my limbs spread out, then stood up immediately.

The job was finished, but I still needed to take care of the aftermath.

「Well then, it took so much work to cut the meat, I have to prevent it from spoiling and cure it with Pico leaves immediately.」

With Ai Fa’s a.s.sistance, I marinated the mountain of meat with spices.

From the 70 kg Kiba, I cut out more than 40 kg, but less than 50 kg of meat. For an apprentice chef that’s not a professional yet, this was great results.

「Ahhh, I’m beat! I can’t raise my hands!」

I could finally lay down sprawled out on the ground.

The light s.h.i.+ning into the room was that of an evening setting sun.

From noon to evening, I worked for five to six hours. From my estimate, the time difference wasn’t too big. A day in this world should be around 24 hours. I thought blankly as I laid down exhausted.

「… Hey, how are you going to deal with all this?」

I turned my head when I heard someone talking, and Ai Fa was standing beside the stove with her feet wide apart.

On the broken door beside her feet was a large hide folded in half, a head with its cheeks carved out and a pile of bones.

「Oh right. It’s a pity, but we can only throw the bones away… How do you usually deal with the hide? Even if you only take the legs, you will still peel it off, right?」

「I will strip off the fats on it and throw away the rest.」

「So you will throw it away, what a waste. The other families tans hide, right? Can you give it to them?」

「… If they get involved with me, that means antagonizing the Tsun clan. No one will offend the Tsun clan for the sake of some hide.」

「Tchh, such narrow minded people… Ah, fats can be used as fuel, right? How do you strip it off?」

I wanted to prop myself up when I said that, but Ai Fa stopped me coldly from getting up.

「Asking an exhausted person to help will just be trouble for me. Just lie down.」

「But…」

「My job is to strip the fats and collect the tusks and horns. Your job is to prepare dinner. Rest now before that.」

Her tone was cold, but her words made me grateful.

I had been working since morning, and I was literally exhausted now.

To be honest, my eyelids felt really heavy since a while ago.

I couldn’t even tell if I said out loud「you are really gentle」, and doze off into my dreams as if I was knocked out.

Part 3

When I opened my eyes, it was already dark.

Ai Fa lit the light stand with fire from the stove, and threw a sharp glare my way.

「You’re finally up. If you slept any longer, I would have thrown water on you.」

「Don’t go that far… How long did I sleep?」

Ai Fa tilted her head in silence and threw firewood into the stove.

Maybe the people of Forest’s Edge didn’t have the habit of demarcating time. They work when the sun rises and sleep when the sun sets, which was probably the unspoken rule of their routines.

「I threw the remains of the Kiba beast into the valley and spend some time was.h.i.+ng the board… I’m getting hungry.」

「Understood. Then it’s my turn to work.」

Splitting work this way wasn’t too bad, and I walked happily to the food store.

Six fake onions.

Four fake potatoes.

And one Kiba hind leg was placed on what looks like a rubber tree leaf.

It goes without saying that this wasn’t the preserved Kiba meat from before, but meat from the one I slaughtered earlier.

By right, I should use the preserved meat first, but I want Ai Fa to experience the joy of tasty food as soon as possible, and how delicious my cooking could be. So I ask her to let me use the freshly prepared meat.

「Are these vegetables the standard portion for one day?」

I wasn’t sure if she understood what 「standard portion」 means, but Ai Fa simply answered 「We will die if we only eat meat.」

If humans didn’t eat a balanced diet, they would fall ill.

However, I had not studied how to deal with these vegetables yet.

Nevermind, I will just give my best shot.

I washed the board used as a pot cover with water, then placed the Kiba meat on top of it.

And then — I picked up the Santoku knife from 『Tsurumi restaurant』.

This knife was a symbol of my old man’s soul.

Grabbing the black handle, I drew it out from the plain white sheath to reveal its steel body.

The blade was 21 cm long. Despite over two decades of usage, the carefully crafted blade didn’t warp at all. On the blade was the words 『Tsurumi restaurant』.

Dad, I will be using this.

I placed the blade on the Kiba meat.

Compared to aged pork, this meat was hard. The Santoku knife — sinked into the meat without any resistance.

I was filled with joy when I looked at the sharp blade, but my movement was steady when I carved the meat off the bones.

Although white fats covered the surface of the meat, the inside of the thigh was a deep red.

In order to keep the blade from touching the bone, I kept a generous distance. After carving out the meat, I sliced it as thin as possible.

The texture of the meat might be hard, it was still raw meat in the end and couldn’t be sliced too thinly. At my current skill level, 7 or 8 mm was the limit. This thickness should be just nice for a hot pot.

After cutting out around 500 grams, I placed the rest of the meat back into the storage room. I just need to to carve out the remaining meat on this large femur, and it would be enough for the two of us to eat.

「Right, I forgot to ask you one important thing. Ai Fa, is there any other ingredients or seasonings in this house?」

Ai Fa was observing my every move quietly, but she raised her head in surprise.

「If you eat Kiba, aria and poitan, you won’t fall sick.」

「Yes, but there is another scent on your body. I can’t tell if it is a flower, fruit or herb, but you’re using something else, right?」

When she heard me say that, Ai Fa’s cheeks turned red.

「Asuta, I wanted to tell you since yesterday, don’t say things like 「you smell nice」, it’s weird.」

「It’s not a big deal. Telling someone that they smell nice is a compliment.」

「… But I can’t take it if I almost get eaten!」

Ai Fa pressed the left side of her neck with her palm and stood up with a start.

That bite mark was still there. I felt a little embarra.s.sed.

Ai Fa then disappeared into the food store with crude steps. She then returned with something strange in hand.

It was a round pot with a huge lid, and a fake rubber tree leaf that had been curled up into a ball.