CH 18

I went to grab the pot I was keeping warm. I removed the lid to check the inside. It seemed like it kept warm the entire time, which was good.

I placed the pot on the kitchen counter, and prepared some plates.

「Eh? What’s this?」

Kirika-chan helped me bring the plates to the dining table.

「This dish is supposed to have meat in it, but sadly we don’t have any meat. This is a meatless nikujaga.」

「Nikujaga?」

I figured a nikujaga dish without meat would just be potato stew, but well, I seasoned it and put other ingredients in, so it wasn’t only potatoes.

Once everybody took a seat, Kurtz-kun said 「status open.」

Everybody else followed along and checked their status before eating.

「It’s so good!」

Kurtz-kun shouted before he even chewed.

「Wah, this is sweet. You used soy sauce, didn’t you? I thought that soy sauce is salty, but this dish is sweet.」

「Fufu, that’s because of this. Thanks to the mirin, the food tastes a little sweeter.」

I showed the children one of the potions with the pale yellow liquid.

「Ah, that’s the bad pale yellow potion! Is that seasoning too?!」

Kirika-chan shouted in amazement.

「Kurtz, check your status.」

Bryce-kun said. Kurtz-kun opened his status again.

「My defense is +10, and my attack is +10 too.」

「I see, mine is the same…… The buff values only appeared after we ate. There’s no doubt about. These dishes are giving us positive buff values. 」

「Hee, really? Wait, let’s talk about this later. The food won’t taste good if it gets cold, so eat up while it’s still hot. For the fish, you can pour some soy sauce on top before eating it. Oh, that’s right. Vinegar soy sauce might be good as well. What goes well with vinegar soy sauce… Gyoza, I guess. I wonder if I can make them. I have garlic chives and cabbage, so I can make vegetable gyoza. The flavor might be a bit bland, but still. I’ll make some gyoza tomorrow!」

I set aside some vinegar soy sauce to use for tomorrow, and poured some soy sauce on top of my fish to eat.

I placed a chunk on top of some rice and took a bite.

「Ahh, it’s so good. Freshly cooked rice and soy sauce has such a nice smell too. The flavor of the fish is light, but its meat has a good sweetness to it. This is the best. 」

「Mhm, it’s yummy!」

「I didn’t know vegetables could taste this good. We better take good care of the field.」

Kurtz-kun said while nodding as he ate the carrots and onions.

「It’s unfortunate. Soon I won’t be able to have such delicious meals anymore…」

Bryce-kun muttered.

「Eh?」

Everybody looked at Bryce-kun.

「I reached level 10 today. Once Rofas-san comes by, I’ll be graduating.」

Kirika-chan closed her mouth tightly and frowned.

Kurtz-kun looked down for a moment, but quickly lifted his head.

「In that case, we have to celebrate!」

Kurtz-kun forced a smile through his sad feelings.

「That’s right! We’ll have to make something to celebrate! In that case, I really want some meat.」

「Hey, since we already gathered so many potions today, let’s do the same thing tomorrow and get the potions quickly. Then we can go hunting! Kirika is level 4 now, so Kirika can hunt too!」

Hunting?

「That’s right. Instead of fighting slimes all the time, we should go hunting sometimes to train.」

Bryce-kun nodded in agreement.

「That’s true. Let’s go to the forest tomorrow to go hunting. All of us should prepare after we finish eating.」

「By hunting, you mean we go and catch animals like birds, rabbits, boars, and deers, right…?」

I know I was the one who said I wanted meat, and I know this should be obvious, but…

「I’m sorry, everyone, but I don’t exactly know… how to butcher wild animals.」

What came after draining the blood? Weren’t there a lot of steps necessary before we can get some edible meat, like removing the internal organs and skinning? I might be able to figure it out for birds, but still, I have no confidence!

「That’s okay, I can do it.」

Bryce-kun said and laughed.

Uu. He might look like a child, but for a moment, he sounded like a dependable adult.

「Thank you, but…」

If Bryce-kun was leaving soon, I need to think about what we could do in the future…

「If you’d like, I can teach you how to do it.」

Please do!

「Me too, me too! It’s not necessary for dungeons, but as an adventurer, I should learn how to butcher animals, right?」

「Ahh, then Kirika too!」