Volume 1 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3 Monster Meat Taste Better

Translator: Skythewood

Editor: Hiiro

Morning for the 《Scarlet Lynx》 wasn't special, and the members would come around 7am to eat breakfast. The one responsible for cooking had to get up even earlier. For Yak who grew up on a farm, getting up at 6am would be enough time to prepare breakfast. It was a piece of cake for him, since he had to get up at 4am to help up with farmwork back home.

And so, Yak got up at 6am and headed to the dining hall… That was his plan, but he thought about Yuri, and made a detour to his room. He was worried that the newcomer couldn't get up so early… Because he had seen his fair share of problematic seniors.

「Yuri, are you up?」

「Oh, Yak, morning.」

「Morning, did you sleep well?」

「Yes, I slept soundly. I was worried that I won't be able to wake up, but fortunately, my biological clock is working fine～」

Yuri said with a smile, and Yak agreed with him cheerfully. He didn't know what a 「biological clock」 was, but he didn't intend to ask. He learned yesterday that Yuri was a foreigner who got transported here from a trap.

But Yuri was sincerely happy that he could get up. He was from modern j.a.pan, and he wasn't sure if he could wake up in an environment without alarm clocks. Luckily, his biological clock still worked. Yuri commutes to school via trains since young, and his body still remembered that he had to wake up around 6am.

They walked to the kitchen together. The other members were still asleep, so they didn't talk along the way and took care to tread lightly. Once they reached the kitchen, Yuri opened the fridge and took out a large bowl.

「Yuri, did you make this yesterday?」

「Yes, I think this will be a nice change of pace.」

Yak took stock of the bread, milk and eggs delivered in the morning, and put them away properly. The bread delivered was different every day, and might be toast or bread roll. Today's bread was bread roll, which was to Yak's liking, since if it was toast, he would need to slice them.

Yuri took out the bowl of dark liquid, which wasn't anything special, just hard boiled egg placed inside a mixture of soy sauce and wine, a simplified version of ramen egg. Normally, the eggs need to be soaked in a variety of spices to season it. However, Yuri's Kugimiya family will just soak the eggs in the soy sauce mixture overnight, which is surprisingly simple.

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His main concern is the lack of many of the ingredients, and messing up the marinating sauce. His family will just add some ready made ramen sauce out of convenience, and that sauce already contains all sort of seasoning. Yuri also tried using ponzu vinegar soy sauce, which has a refres.h.i.+ng and nice taste too. However, he didn't have anything other than soy sauce and wine. And it isn't cooking wine either, but something that has a fragrance close to sake that he found in the storeroom… After all, he really didn't want to make eggs with grape wine.

「Uwah, the eggs have turned brown.」

「I hope the taste has seeped in.」

As the hard boiled eggs rolled onto the plate, Yak who has only seen white eggs couldn't help frowning. Yuri could tell from the color that it has been well seasoned. He took a smaller egg and cut it in half, and the inside looked well seasoned too.

「Here, Yak, try some.」

「Huh? Okay.」

Yuri chewed on the hard boiled egg, and Yak couldn't bring himself to say that it didn't look like food, and ate his half. Hard boiled eggs are usually dry and bland, but since it was easy to make, Yak would often cook them. When he brought this up yesterday, Yuri suggested that they could 「put in a little more effort」.

The eggs absorbed the taste of soy sauce, giving it a unique flavor. Yak was rather surprised, he thought only the color has changed, and never expect the flavor to be so wonderful. He couldn't help wolfing it down.

And there was another surprise.

「The yolk is so soft!」

「Yes, this is ramen egg with runny yolk.」

「How!? How did you make the yolk so smooth!?」

「Just don't cook it for too long.」

「Are you serious!?」

Yak has never eaten a hard boiled egg that is so smooth and delicious. Aside from the taste of soy sauce, the yolk was runny too, it was the first time he ate such a delectable egg.

Yuri took out normal hard boiled eggs from another plate… He was worried that some people might not want to eat his ramen eggs, so he prepared normal ones, although the yolks were runny too. Yuri heard they always ate hard boiled eggs, so having runny yolk would be a nice change of pace. Besides, Yuri belonged to the runny yolk faction.

These eggs weren't marinated in soy sauce, but he still soaked them in salt water overnight… By soaking them in salt water, the saltiness would be just right. This was a trick from his mother, so Yuri didn't have to sprinkle salt on his eggs in his lunchbox.

「I'm sorry that breakfast is just bread, milk and egg.」

「... It can't be helped, Yuri, we don't have any other ingredients.」

「Yes, that's why I want to change up the hard boiled eggs with runny yolk and seasoned eggs.」

Yak looked to the distance with a resigned face, and Yuri smiled awkwardly in response. A chef couldn't do anything without ingredients, and there weren't any leftovers from last night's kakiage, croquette and cream soup… After Ari ate his share, a battle broke out over the leftovers. Yuri just continued frying food with a smile, but the riot was already on a level of a festival.

Hence, the only ingredients they had were the freshly delivered bread, milk, eggs and their large stash of potatoes. Yuri started peeling the potatoes, while Yak boiled the water with a large dose of salt as instructed by Yuri.

「...Yuri, what are you cooking?」

「The dishes are too bland, so I salt boiled potato.」

「You are steaming them?」

「No, we will boil them. It can be eaten directly by seasoning it with salt, right?」

Yuri said with a smile, and Yak opened his eyes wide in surprise. The idea of boiling the potato with salt never occurred to him before. He only knew potatoes could be steamed or grilled. He had no idea what boiling it with salt meant, and was shocked after tasting it. The slightly salty potato was soft and tender, and incredibly delicious.

They then lay out the goods at the counter close to the dining hall. The food would usually be placed on the counter on the kitchen side, but Yuri was planning a buffet breakfast today. He didn't know how much each of them would eat, so he thought it would be better for them to help themselves.

Breakfast was white and brown hard boil eggs with runny yolk, huge numbers of salt boiled potato, and a fresh batch of toast bread. The milk was stored in the refrigerator for now, and they would pour some for anyone who wanted some. And so, breakfast was ready.

They had a quick breakfast before the morning crowd arrives. Yak was surprised when he ate the salted egg too, and Yuri respond with a smile. They ate the potato, two types of eggs, bread and milk.

And then...

「Yuri, can I have another egg!?」

「Everyone can only eat one of each type of egg.」

「Please, Yuri! That coffee coloured egg is really yummy!」

「That will deprive someone else of an egg, so give it up. But you can have all the potato and milk you want.」

Yuri said with a smile, and the guy who was tactfully turned down left dejectedly. When Yak saw that, he thought「As I expected」. Even though Yuri didn't think much of it, the runny yolk eggs were incredibly delicious. Normally, the members would make a 「... hard boiled egg again」 face, but today, they were wolfing it down. Many of them dislike the coffee colored egg at the start, but Yuri said 「please try both」 and placed it on their plates. After they ate it, there were many return customers… But no one manage to eat one more egg.

There were plenty of eggs, but Yuri couldn't make seasoned eggs on the spot, since it would take time to season them.So Yuri could only recommend the unlimited supply of potato, bread and milk. He refused to budge no matter what the others say, because he hoped everyone would have the chance to try one.

Yak and the others were shocked by how firm Yuri was, and he wouldn't relent no matter how hard they tried. He was always so gentle, so his adamant stance was a surprise.

… Actually, Yuri could fend off all those asking for seconds because he had similar experiences when distributing lunch at school.

The elementary school Yuri attended provided lunch, and students on duty would collect and distribute the dishes. A battle would erupt at lunch, and no matter how much the bullies demanded more food, Yuri would bravely turn them down by saying 「there won't be enough for the others, so no.」 Only during moments like this would the entire cla.s.s think of Yuri as a hero.

Another member bites the dust after Yuri rejected him with a smile, and he returned dejectedly to his table. But one man was trying both runny yolk eggs calmly. And that was Brooke.

Given how sumptuous dinner last night was, he was certain that breakfast would be delectable too. So he asked about the number of eggs, and nodded when he learned each member could only get one of each. He cut each egg in half to try them, and enjoyed it. As an adventurer, this level of foresight was a given… Which meant those who were making a racket because they couldn't get seconds were still apprentices.

Yuri never thought just serving seasoned eggs and salted eggs (both with runny yolks) would be so well received.

After the breakfast rush hour was over, Yuri and Yak went out to replenish their food stock. They had run out of ingredients, and had to procure more. When Ari gave them the money for groceries, Yuri only made one request.

He wanted to buy seasoning and spices.

Ari frowned after hearing that, but he knew that they only had the bare minimum of seasoning in the kitchen, and agreed. The condition was that Yak had to decide on where to buy groceries, since Yuri had no idea about the prices of goods… Ari already labeled the carefree Yuri as 「out of touch with mundane matters」, which wasn't wrong either. Yuri didn't know the common sense of this world.

So the money and choice of shops would be decided by Yak, and Yuri had no objections. With the sling bag Ari gave him on his shoulder, Yuri followed behind Yak. This was a magic bag used to procure groceries. Simply put, this was a magical bag that could hold much more things than it looks.

Magic bags were valuable items, but most adventurers had one each. The capabilities of the bags varies, and were either made by alchemist, or drop items from dungeons, which made Yuri think 「as expected of a fantasy world」. However, this wasn't a magical world he imagined, since humans and monsters used skills instead of magic.

Yuri was a little disappointed by this, but this world had magic items made from magic stones with different affinity, such as the heater in the baths and kitchen stoves. And these were made by alchemist or blacksmiths… And the term 「magic」 was used in this world as they had fairy tales featuring magic too. As no one could use magic, wizards only appeared in legends.

Yuri felt this world was on par with the technologically advanced j.a.pan, just that their natural resource were magic stones── a shallow conclusion he came up with. He wasn't interested in deep topics, just knowing there were convenient tools was good enough for him.

… Since Yuri was a Seeker who possesses the 【G.o.d Eye】, he could find as many of such tools as he wished, but he wasn't aware of that.

By the way, their residence was in the lower mid tier of the capital. This wasn't referring to the geographical location, but the economic cla.s.s. Yak was familiar with the city, and Yuri kept asking him questions. Yak was happy about a newbie joining after him, and wasn't annoyed by the relentless questions, answering them all happily.

The adventurers area of activities were close to the Main gate of the capital Drahern, so they could a.s.sist in the city's defence should there be any emergencies. It also keeps the ruffians from dubious origins further away from normal citizens and the buildings in the city. The citizens of Drahern and the adventurers were on good terms… But some countries label all adventurers as delinquents and gangsters.

Today, Yak brought Yuri to a market with economical prices. The crowded and rowdy scene reminded Yuri of a shopping district. There were shopfronts, tents, and even push carts, and everyone shouting energetically to promote their own wares, which felt just like an authentic traditional shopping district to Yuri.

「It's best to shop at this market.」

「Is that so? Didn't you mention there are many stalls over there too?」

「... That's true, but it's more expensive there. But they have all sorts of wares.」

「Oh, so that place is more suitable for the rich and businessmen, and the goods are pricer?」

「Correct.」

Which was why Yak didn't feel either place was good or bad, just that the treasure hunter Clan《Scarlet Lynx》 didn't really splurge, so they wouldn't go out of their way to an expensive shop… Which was the consensus of all the members, except for Yak's problematic apprentice seniors.

That's why Yak usually frequents the more economical market.

「Oh, it's the boy from Ari's place! Grocery shopping today too? We just got a fresh batch of delicious meat.」

「Hey, isn't that Yak? How about some cheese today? We have b.u.t.ter too.」

「Yak, the seasonal vegetable just came in, have a look!」

「Long time no see, Yak. I just brought in my goods, take a look at our fishes.」

Everyone wanted to chat with Yak, who was quite popular with the stall owners. That was because they all knew he was a serious apprentice from the 《Scarlet Lynx》. This market was a great place for commoners, and having a good relations.h.i.+p with the stall owners gave plenty of perks. Be it extra gifts or discounts, there's no reason not to get on their good side.

So Yak introduced Yuri as the newbie who just joined the 《Scarlet Lynx》 to all the stall owners he visited, highlighting his outstanding culinary skills and great use of ingredients. Yuri denied that, but everyone just thought Yuri was being humble and was friendly to him.

When they heard about Yuri's cooking skills and great use of ingredients, their eyes changed.

All businessmen want their wares to be put to good use, but Yuri seemed unaware of the gazes on him. He just picks out the ingredients without any reservation, and as he didn't know the pricing in this world, he would pick the better products out of similarly priced items.

He could do so because of his skill, 【G.o.d Eye】. Appraising was a professional skill that one could make a living from, and the highest level of appraising skills was the 【G.o.d Eye】. Yuri just needed to look carefully to understand the condition of the goods without even touching them. So Yuri just kept picking the best ingredients, which surprised the stall owners.

… As mentioned before, Yuri didn't pay the surprise of others any mind.

After shopping at a few stalls, Yak asked Yuri as if he had just remembered something. During this time, Yuri was comparing two cabbages of similar sizes.

「Yuri, do you have an eye for picking things?」

「Huh?」

「Well, because you will always pick out the good stuff that even surprises the stall owners.」

「Oh, that's because I'm an appraiser. Excuse me, I would like this cabbage.」

「Ehh?」

Yuri answered off handedly, and pointed at the cabbage on his right. The stall owner laughed intriguely at that. The two cabbages seem identical, and Yuri chose the one that had a better colour. Even an expert would find it hard to discern such a minute difference.

At this moment, Yak was completely petrified. That seemed to hit him really hard, and he stiffly uttered 「Appraiser?」... Which was only natural.

Appraising was a rare skill in this world. Not only was the ratio of people with this skill is low, there were many advantages in having appraisal. Nothing much could be done if their level was low, but the higher their level, the more things they could see. And this wasn't limited to detecting traps and appraising treasures.

For example, if an unknown poison was found, someone with a high appraisal level could tell what effect the poison would cause, a.n.a.lyze it, and find out the composition of the poison. After knowing what it was, they could deal with it. So people with appraisal cla.s.s skills were highly sought after.

Those with low level appraisal skills were 「Appraisers」.

The next higher level appraisal skills was 「Master Appraiser」.

「Truth Appraiser」 have and even higher appraisal skill 【Magic Eye】.

There were just three cla.s.ses, but their effects were vastly different. Very few Master Appraisers could become Truth Appraisers. It was possible to obtain 【Magic Eye】 through hard work, but only a few manage to get it after refining their appraisal skills and raising their levels. Ninety percent of all Truth Appraisers were born with the 【Magic Eye】 skill, which shows how valuable a skill it was.

… Yuri completely ignored Yak after dropping that bomb, and continued browsing the vegetables without being fazed.

Yuri was in charge of picking the vegetables, and Yak would only settle the bill at the end. But Yak was petrified right now, so Yuri had no choice but to take the purse from Yak and looked inside.

There were small copper coins, copper coins, small silver coins, and silver coins. In this world, there were also gold and platinum coins, but normal people seldom used gold coins, and only the rich and n.o.bles would use platinum coins. Hence, the highest value coin in the purse Ari gave them was silver coin.

One small copper coin was one Gordes, a copper coin was ten Gordes. A small silver coin was equivalent to a hundred Gordes, while a silver had a value of a thousand Gordes. Gordes was the currency of this world, with the short form G. Yuri thought this world was really convenient since the currency and language was the same everywhere. He didn't know if this different world was bigger or smaller than earth, but things would be much easier if there was just one language and currency.

After Yuri paid the price stated by the stall owner, he looked at a small copper coin curiously, which activated his skills. He saw the Basic Information that gave a detailed explanation:

── Small copper coin.

Currency equivalent to one Gordes, the most common form of money seen by commoners.

Circular in shape, the coin has the emblem of the G.o.d of Commerce Ludo (A vertical line through a diamond).

One Gordes was equivalent to ten yen, and is similar in size to a j.a.panese ten yen coin.

「... Hmm?」

There seem to be some unnecessary details right at the end, but Yuri wasn't really bothered by that, and roughly understood the price difference between here and j.a.pan after reading the explanation. He needed to multiply the Gordes by ten to convert it to yen, giving him an idea of the price. That cabbage cost 150 Gordes, or 1,500 yen, what a surprise.

But this place was different from j.a.pan. Since Yuri was using the money from here to procure goods, he decided not to mind the details. Thinking about such difficult things weren't his mission.

「Yak, let's go to the next stall.」

Yuri stuffed the vegetable into his magic bag, then shakes the petrified Yak to revive him. Yak finally snapped out of it, but his jaw was still slack from shock. He looked at Yuri, sighed in resignation, and brought Yuri to the next stall.

「...Yak, are all these monster meat?」

「Hmm? Yes, the tasty ones are monster meat, of course.」

「... I see.」

Yuri asked after seeing the meat on sale at the butcher shop, and Yak replied calmly. The butcher had a face that seemed to say 「that's only common sense」. It might seem strange to Yuri, but this was the norm in this world.

There were a huge variety of meat laid out on the table, while poultry, beef and horse meat were tucked away in a corner. They were astonis.h.i.+ngly cheap, at just one tenth that of monster meat. At this price, he felt the meat either taste horrible or have some sort of problem.

「What are the meat in that corner?」

「Hmm? They're from butchered lifestocks. It's sold here, but I don't recommend it, the taste is quite nasty.」

「It taste nasty!?」

Yuri said in shock. He felt chicken and beef would taste better than monster meat, so why was this happening? Yuri's mind was filled with question marks.

… But this was a given fact in this world, there wasn't any industry that specialize in rearing livestock for food. Yuri didn't know, but monster meat was edible in this world, so no one wanted raise livestock for food, and run the risk of them being attacked by monsters or wild beasts.

Then why was there livestock meat at the butcher?

Simply put, livestock that had lost their productivity would be slaughtered and sent here. Bulls too weak to rake the fields, cows that couldn't produce milk, chicken that stopped laying eggs and horses that couldn't pull carts would be slaughtered and sold for cheap at the market… And the impoverished people would buy these cheap meat despite their taste.

… The minced meat Yuri used to make croquette last night were livestock meat, and didn't taste good. And the reason was the senior apprentice wasting too much money, and Yak had no choice but to buy a little livestock meat to save money… And those seniors used up those livestock meat splendidly, so there weren't any left when it was Yak's turn to cook.

「...Yak, which ones taste good?」

「Don't ask me, ask the stall owner.」

「But the stall owner will definitely say everything taste good.」

「Aside from the livestock meat, none of my goods taste bad.」

「See?」

「... Yeah.」

The stall owner laughed heartily after hearing Yuri say that. The owner might be stating a fact, but Yuri needed recommendations since he didn't know any of the ingredients, and what the owner said was of no help at all. Yak then told Yuri about each of these meat with a wry smile. He was really a thoughtful lad.

While Yak was explaining, Yuri appraised the meat.

「This is viper meat, it doesn't have any stench, and has a refres.h.i.+ng taste.」

「If there isn't any stench, we can use light seasoning...」

── Viper meat

Meat from a Viper monster's torso, not much of a stench, refres.h.i.+ng taste, popular with women.

Doesn't have much fats, suitable for cooking, a common ingredient.

The texture is similar to chicken breast or fillet.

Like before, at the very end of a screen was an explanation that only made sense to Yuri. After seeing that, Yuri decided to appraise the meat while Yak was explaining, so he could imagine the taste. If not, he would have no idea what dishes they could be used in, and he would hesitate in buying them.

「This is Orc meat, some parts are very fatty, and it is good for grilling or boiling.」

「Oh, so it's an all purpose meat.」

──Orc meat

Meat from the monster Orc, different cuts have different values. It is easy to cook and well received.

Men prefer the fattier cuts, while women prefer the leaner ones. Both are tender after they are cooked thoroughly.

It tastes no different from j.a.panese pork, and the texture corresponds to the different pork cuts too.

Orcs were demi-humans with the face of a pig, so Orc meat being similar to pork was no surprise. However, equivalating the bipedal Orc with pigs left a disquieting taste in Yuri's mind. But since the taste is similar to pork, he knew how to cook them. There were plenty of ways to cook pork, so he added them to the procurement list… And they seem quite cheap too.

「This is Bison meat, known for its fatty meat, but the leaner part is tasty too. It taste wonderful if you grill a thick slice of it!」

「... So Bison steak is delicious? I don't really like fatty meat, so I will use a wire mesh to grill it.」

──Bison meat

Meat from the monster Bison, a lot of fatty parts, and the lean meat has lots of fats too.

It is usually cut in thick slices and grilled into steaks, and premium meat is called marbled frost.

It's expensive, but is relatively tastier, and commoners will splurge on them when they want to enjoy.

Similar to j.a.panese beef, the texture is the same as the average beef available on the j.a.panese market.

As Yuri suspected, Bison meat was like beef, but that wasn't important. Yuri sympathized with the Bison thinking that it was mean to call them average. His mind started to wander, since Bison was at the level of average beef, then there must be premium Bison meat that was as good as premium beef.

There were many ways to cook beef, and most youngsters likes to eat them too. However, Bison was more expensive than Orc, so Yuri decided to take his time to deliberate. Meat was too important.

「Oh, there's Big Frog meat here. Shopkeep, where did you get them?」

「I heard there are plenty of Big Frogs showing up in a swamp nearby, and the adventurer guild sold this batch to me.」

「Yuri, Big Frog are similar to viper, but the taste is stronger. It is also very cheap, so I highly recommend them!」

「A refres.h.i.+ng and stronger taste… so Big Frogs are just frogs, huh.」

Yuri mumbled under his breath. He never tried frog meat before, but a TV show mentioned it taste like chicken, and could be fried whole. Yuri decided to check with his appraisal.

──Big Frog meat

Meat from the monster Big Frog, found in the swamps, it has a simple and refres.h.i.+ng taste.

The refres.h.i.+ng taste of the Big Frog is popular with women, and also beloved by people of all ages because of its tastiness.

The price would drop when found in large quant.i.ty, and well-liked by commoners.

The texture is similar to chicken thigh meat.

Viper was chicken breast, and Big Frog was chicken thigh. He had no idea why snake and frog monsters taste like chicken, but the meat on display here does look like chicken meat… There were parts that look similar to a frog leg, which made him avert his gaze in a panic.

There were other types of meat, but they all seem too expensive, so Yuri skipped over them. Yak only told Yuri about the meat normally used by commoners, as he never tried the high quality meat before and had no idea how they were.

That make sense, Yuri thought. Yuri never tried j.a.panese black cattle wagyu sirloin beef steak before, and its price tag had lots more zeroes at the end than normal. He knew of Berks.h.i.+re pigs, but never ate any either. He did have Herb pork before though… which means, there was meat he had heard of but never tried before, and couldn't talk about them. So it was fine to skip them for today.

「Can you give me these four types of meat for now? Equal portions for each type… Yak, how much meat do you usually buy?」

「Well… We will buy more when we run out, so we usually don't buy too much...」

「Yak...」

「Or rather, my budget is limited whenever I go grocery shopping, so I always buy Big Frogs when there is an oversupply, cheap viper, or give up and settle on livestock meat.」

「... It must be hard on you.」

Yak muttered as he looked into the distance, and Yuri patted his head. The shopkeep also used his big hands to gently ruffle Yak's hair. Yak's suffering was plain for everyone to see… which was why they would always give him a better deal, they sure were kind.

… He did everything he could to be thrifty, but his foolish seniors would shop for groceries at expensive shops, wasting his efforts.

Reality was cruel.

But things should be getting better now, since Yuri would be in charge of the meals. Yuri didn't want to be a treasure hunter, and was only staying in the 《Scarlet Lynx》 to learn common sense and get a place to lodge in. Ari wanted to supervise and take care of him too, so Yuri wouldn't spend time training like the other apprentices or go adventuring. His job was to cook meals and clean up the place.

And the problematic and clumsy senior apprentice would be working under Yuri now. Ari asked Yuri to teach the apprentice how to cook and make use of the ingredients, so they would have to start from picking out the ingredients and buying them. Yuri wasn't familiar with grocery shopping yet, but once he does, there wouldn't be any more wastage of money or ingredients anymore.

...Girlish boys might have girly hobbies, but he wasn't the type that was filled with sparkly hopes and dreams. Strictly speaking, he was closer to the house husband type… Somehow, he knew lots of tricks from housewives and grannies, and would never buy things on impulse or permit such things from happening.

If Yuri was in charge of finance, he would be engrossed with making cheap and tasty meals. Actually, he was already showing signs of that right now. He would choose the largest of similarly priced vegetables, and take the best quality meat── all thanks to his appraisal skills.

「Yak, let's make a simple and delicious lunch with these meat.」

「... A simple and delicious meat dish?」