Published at 20th of November 2020 09:25:03 PM
Chapter 18.3: 18.3
Translator: SFBaka
That was amazing! The flame arrow released by Cleria wasn’t a normal one, but something with a homing feature added in . I can’t believe Cleria managed to do that!
Nah, that’s a bit rude of me . I’m sure she managed to achieve it through her meditation earlier to solidify her image . That’s pretty impressive . I didn’t even think of doing that . Seems I was unknowingly bound by common sense as well before I noticed . I’ll have to learn from this experience .
Beck was surprised when Cleria suddenly cast a spell and stopped the carriage . Cleria and I went down the carriage and retrieved the rabbit . It was a nice, round and plump rabbit . Rabbit meat was quite gamey, so I’ll have to drain its blood right away .
Beck and Thor again made a huge fuss . Cleria was again keeping her “cool and collected” act . Her lips were twitching in a half-smile though . Anyway, we got ourselves some dinner!
The carriage drove on until it was close to evening, and Beck finally stopped when we arrived at a place that looked like the camping spot he mentioned earlier . It was a clearing right next to the highway . There was a small stream of water trickling down from a rock wall nearby, forming a pool below . This seemed to be a good place to camp for people who can’t use magic to create their own water .
“Let’s rest here for the night . There’s no other place to set up camp out here,” Beck suggested .
“Alright . I’ll go and prepare then . Keep a lookout, Ria . ”
“Understood . ”
Collecting firewood for the bonfire was easy because we were in the middle of the mountains . I’m gonna go collect some more . I managed to finish the task without much issue .
“What kind of food did you pack, Beck?”
Let’s check the food items out for the time being .
“All the food’s in this bag . ”
I was handed a rather large bag . It was packed quite full . The items were dried meat, lots of bread, potos, the salad leaves called “sappa”, other assorted vegetables, salt and dried herbs .
There was no problem with the amount . But I wanted to avoid using preserved food as much as possible .
“Are you going to cook, Alan-san?” Thor asked as he drew near . Beck was busy unloading some of the luggage .
“Yeah . I like cooking a lot . If you guys are okay with it, allow me to prepare tonight’s dinner . ”
“Then I’ll help out as well . Shall I start preparing the rabbit? The folks back home said I had quite the knack for it . ”
“That sounds great . I’ll leave that to you then . ”
Tonight’s menu was rabbit meat stir-fried with potos and other assorted veggies as well as rabbit meat sandwiches . I’d like to eat the bread before it hardens up after all .
I’ll use up all the rabbit meat . If there would be some leftovers, I’ll just save them for breakfast tomorrow .
Let’s start by washing the vegetables . Thor had already started butchering the rabbit . Looks like he wasn’t kidding when he said he was good at it .
“How do you want me to cut the meat?”
“Slice them as small enough to be eaten in one bite . I’m planning to let you guys finish it all tonight . ”
Rabbit meat’s almost entirely of the red variety . Therefore, there’s no meaning to separate it into various parts .
“Amazing! It’s gonna be a feast tonight as well . I never imagined I’d get to eat a lot of meat again so soon!”
I also helped with cutting up the meat, because the rabbit was fairly large . I wonder if this is enough to satisfy Cleria’s appetite .
I put the meat in a large pot and seasoned it . The seasonings I used were plenty of garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper . Since rabbit meat had a strong smell, I had to use plenty of flavorings to counteract it .
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“Where do you want me to put the fur, Alan-san?”
“Isn’t it fine if you just throw the fur?”
“Eh, but that’s such a waste . This is such a fine rabbit’s fur . You can definitely sell it for some money . Well, it might not sell for very much though . ”
Nah, no thank you . I don’t know how to prepare fur after all .
“Then I’ll just give it to you, Thor . ”
“Great! Thank you very much!”
I wanted us to have dinner early, but Beck requested a sword practice session . Thor also joined in as well .
“Can I ask you to teach them the basics, Ria? I’ll leave them to you . ”
The two young men seemed to be in agreement . Looks like they were really impressed by Cleria’s performance today . Cleria didn’t seem against teaching them as well . She nodded in agreement and made a stance .
The two young men had prepared their own wooden swords . Cleria first taught them about the proper way of gripping one’s sword . The sword practice session continued for about an hour . Looks like their sword handling skills did improve a bit compared to before .
Since it was getting dark now, I guess it’s time to have dinner . The meat should have already absorbed plenty of flavor from the seasonings .
The two young men raised a cheer after Cleria lit up the makeshift outdoor hearth that was already pre-made and placed in the middle of the clearing with fire magic .
I first fried the potos in a large frying pan brought by Beck . After frying it for some time, I put in the meat next .
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When the meat started to brown, I proceeded to add the other vegetables . I want to preserve the crisp texture of the veggies after all . With this, the dish is complete .
I served a large helping of the dish on a large wooden plate brought out by Beck . It turned out a lot more than I expected . Alright folks, dig in!
Everyone placed some of the food on each of their plates . I proceeded to heat up the bread which has been cut up into two halves on the frying pan .
The three of them stared curiously at what I was doing . After the bread got slightly burnt at the edges, I removed them from the pan immediately . They’ve managed to soak up plenty of oil and were looking great .
I placed some sappa leaves on the warmed bread and poured plenty of meat in between . With this, the rabbit meat sandwich is complete . I placed a sandwich on each of our plates .
Oops . I nearly forgot to boil some water for the tea as well .
Alright! Let’s get to eating! I’ll start with the stir-fried meat . Yep, it’s tasty . Rabbit meat is also a type of red meat like the Big Boar’s, so it was plenty delicious .
A large amount of garlic, herbs, and pepper managed to eliminate the gamey smell of the meat . Looks like marinating the meat with them managed to do the trick .
Next is the sandwiches; a combination of lightly toasted fluffy bread which soaked up plenty of flavorful oil from the frying pan, crispy sappa leaves and tasty stir-fried meat . It was, of course, delicious .
Everyone else ate like crazy . Looks like they really liked the dishes .
Looks like even Cleria didn’t manage to finish the food this time around . A good amount of stir-fried meat remained . Let’s have it for breakfast tomorrow .
I made some after-meal green tea from the leaves Zack packed with him .
“Man! That was delicious, Alan!”
“Did you use a lot of salt and pepper? It’s my first time eating such a fancy dish!” Thor inquired .
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Yeah . It seems salt and pepper were valuable commodities . Speaking of which, they didn’t use much pepper in the village’s food, so the taste was a bit on the lighter side .
“Yeah . I’m glad you guys liked it . ”
“Course we did . That was great! Why don’t you open a shop when you get to the city?”
“Cooking’s just my hobby . I don’t want it to be my main occupation . ”
“Okay . But can you continue cooking for us during the trip?”
“That’s fine, I don’t mind . ”
“Aw yeah!”
Beck and Thor loudly cheered . It’s already well into the night . Shall we go to bed now so we can wake up early tomorrow?
“Go ahead and rest up, you two . We’ll keep watch . ”
“But…”
“It’s fine . We’re your escorts anyway . We’re just doing our job . ”
“Understood . Thanks . ”
I told Cleria I’d be able to detect if something is amiss and wake up using my magic, so she proceeded to sleep without worries as well .
With this, the first day of our journey ended without much trouble .