CH 19

The following day, with everybody’s hard work, we somehow managed to capture a small boar.

「Are you okay?」

Bryce-kun patted my back gently.

「S-sorry…」

Bryce-kun had explained to everyone how to butcher the boar. Kurtz-kun and Kirika-chan were clumsy, but they both tried their best to learn.

Me though, I threw up.

It was embarrassing.

「There’s no reason to apologize, is there? There are things that I can’t do, just like how there are things you can’t either, like butchering. That’s why we help each other out.」

「That’s right, the dungeon rules say that we should help each other!」

Mm, thank you, but still, I’m sorry about my unsightly actions.

My husband’s voice rang through my head. 「You can’t even do things a child can? See, it’s just as I said. There’s no way you can find a job and work.」

「Sorry, and thank you. But still, I would like to learn how to do it. I might throw up again, but I still want to try my best.」

「In that case, Kurtz, Kirika, make sure you learn it well now. When I’m gone, you have to teach Yuuri-san, okay?」

I had brought along some paper, ink, and a pen to write down Bryce-kun’s instructions. Some of the instructions were「Check the fur when you peel it off, then…」and「The edible parts are…」Even though I knew how to prepare butchered meat with a knife, I couldn’t do it when the animal itself was still intact, alive just moments ago…

The only thing I could do was to get use to it little by little.

The paper I had was drier and shaped strangely compared to the ones in Japan. Not to mention, the edges were rolled up slightly, and they didn’t seem to be valuable in anyway, so I asked Bryce-kun if it was okay to use them. Although we could communicate and I could read the words on my status, when Bryce-kun saw what I was writing down, he asked me if I was writing in the language of my hometown. It seemed like written Japanese wasn’t recognized in this world. That meant I would have to ask them how to write in their language eventually.

Although the boar was small, it had a lot of meat.

We have to preserve the meat we can’t finish so it won’t go bad.

Bryce-kun explained how to dry meat. While Kurtz-kun and Kirika-chan had hands-on experience, I took notes.

No, now that the boar was reduced to only its meat, I should be able to do it too, but if Bryce-kun was leaving soon, I had to at least note down the instructions.

Once Bryce-kun finished explaining, I stopped writing notes and thought about the next step, which was using the meat to cook with.

Meat, huh? Grilling it would be the quick and easy way of preparing it, but…

I didn’t have salt or pepper. In that case, what if I grilled it with soy sauce? That makes it teriyaki-style.

Chicken would go well with teriyaki, but pork… well, technically it was a boar, but still. Pork with teriyaki is a little…

What I had with me was cooking sake, mirin, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Now that I thought about it, what did potions taste like? Of all the potions so far, I have never tried the actual one that healed HP.

「I’m going to stop by the field!」

The field hadn’t been taken care of, so it was overgrown with weeds. Since the field was quite large, I had to walk around to see if I could find anything to use.

I decided against making gyoza with chives and cabbage for today. Instead, I looked for a certain something.

「I found them! Spring onions!」

I’m so happy! I love spring onions… Except the children might not like them as much…

If only there was garlic and ginger too. I wonder if there was any pepper growing here too… After finding the spring onion, I continued to search for other vegetables with excitement, but found nothing.

That’s too bad.

I descended from the field, bringing the spring onions and some eggplants with me. I really wanted some sugar, but since they were considered high class seasoning in this world, I have to go without them… Hmm, was it reckless of me to make something with only these?

When I got to the entrance of the hut, I saw that there were some chunks of meat hanging over an open flame, and the children tying the other chunks with vine to hang them.

Ahh, they were still full of energy, while I was completely exhausted after hunting, puking, and climbing up and down a rocky mountain. To be fair though, I did wander around a forest looking for an animal to capture.

…O-oh, that’s right.

「Status open.」

My HP was at 4/15.

Fuoh. Since I leveled up, my base HP increased from 10 to 15. Still, I only have 4 HP left…

It’ll recover if I take a break, but…

I looked at the children as they worked. I felt terrible slacking off by myself.

My husband’s voice echoed in my head; 「You worked outside despite having no stamina at all?」God, be quiet already!

My stamina should improve, just slowly. I had 15 HP now! If I continued to work hard as an adventurer, my stamina would surely go up!

That’s right!

I went back to my room and grabbed a potion.

I was curious about the taste, and whether it really had healing effects.

I popped the lid off and drank it.

「…!」

What is this?!

It was some sort of carbonated drink.