Volume 1 - Chapter 18 – THREATENING SIGNS (1/2)

After two days, Hanna had become completely accustomed to 『Mint』, and was now able to gallop with the limiter released.

Speaking of Jin, because it would be too hard to make one Golem for each house, he created 5 communal Horse Golems. At that time, there wasn’t enough materials from mining, but thanks to Jin’s exclusive Horse Golem 『Koma』, he finished it all in a day needless to say.

「Jin, this horse is great」

「It’s good that we don’t have to feed them 」

「Wow, more than that, their strength is really powerful. Also rather than a normal horse, there are 5 of these」

In any case, the reputation of the Horse Golems was good. By the way, their names are 『Ein』『Zwei』『Drei』『Quatre』『Cinq』. 1, 2 and 3 in German. And 4 and 5 in French.

Jin’s naming sense seemed to be particular about 3 characters… let’s not say anymore about it. ⚑

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Rock and the others came back. In a week of mountain hunting, they literally brought back a mountain of game. Of course, Gen was carrying it.

「Welcome back, Dear.」

「Welcome back Tou-chan」

「You guys, welcome back. Did you get hurt?」

「Ou, I’m back. Mario, did you grow a little taller?」

「You’re a fool Dear, he wouldn’t change in just a week」

For the first time in a week, the families happily welcomed them back. And they then left the luggage, immediately going to the hot springs to wash away sweat and dirt.

That night they had a large feast of meat. People gathered to Rock’s house and he told them his stories. Of course Jin was also invited.

「Jeez, we sure caught a lot. After going down to the bottom of the valley and waiting, a herd of mountain deer came. It was pretty simple to shoot them. The difficult part was skinning the leather and removing the organs」

「Didn’t any dangerous beasts come out?」

「Aa. Only once, a forest bear had come, but it went back after filling itself from eating some mackerel」

Although grilled meat with a bit of salt was a simple thing, the meat was still exceptional after one week had passed.

「If there’s this much dried meat, it’s plenty enough to last one winter」

「Wouldn’t smoking it be good too?」

When Jin suggested that,

「Smoking? What is that?」

he was asked back.

「Smoking is where you burn wood chips, and then use the smoke from it to dry the meat」

「Hou, is that also a method from Jin’s hometown?」

「You could say that」

「Isn’t it fine? We have plenty of meat, so let’s try that smoking」

So they immediately tried it out the next day. Using the Kueri Tree they cut down from the forest of trees. He had heard that when Spring comes, this tree turns into a white flower blooming tree, 「Is this tree like a sakura tree?」 Jin had thought and decided to test it with this tree.

The result.

It turned out well.

Originally the method of smoking wasn’t to difficult in itself. Because the concept was just burning wood for smoke rather than a flame, then using the heat and smoke to dry the meat.

Having rubbed the smoked meat in salt, they ate the meat right there.

「This is delicious. It makes me want to drink some alcohol」

「You drank plenty yesterday, so no you don’t!」

Such an argument was exchanged and most of the meat was smoked.

In the crowd, Rock was only one with a glum look. Having noticed it, Jin approached Rock and called out to him.

「Rock-san, what are you brooding about?」

「Jin huh? I had a bad feeling for how much mountain deer we caught, I was thinking about that」

「So, did you think of anything?」

「Aa. I thought of several things」

Thereupon Jin gave him some advice.

「At these times, if you let someone hear it, then there’ll be more ideas to settle it」

「I see. Then, can I have you listen?」

「What’s wrong?」