CH 21

The color looked good! What joy was it to be able to use this much meat in such a luxurious way!

The only costs were the potions and a fire magic stone, and not to mention the ingredients were locally sourced! We only had labor costs to cover!

Huh? Was this considered being independent and working to get food…?

Let’s think about that later. Being self-sufficient should count as being independent!

However, even though I leveled up, I was still only at level 2. I had to raise my level to that of a regular woman’s for the sake of my independence.

The sun began setting, so it was time for dinner.

I placed the usual pot of rice and a pot of today’s side dish on the table.

Everybody was free to get seconds. I served a small amount of each to start off.

「On today’s menu, we have rice with stir-fried eggplant, and for the main dish, we have pork kakuni made from the pig everybody worked hard to catch!」

Ah, it wasn’t a pig but a boar. Well, it’s close enough.

「This is meat, right? Kirika has never seen meat that wasn’t grilled or put into stew before. 」

「Me too. I’ve tried lots of dishes, but this is the first time seeing this.」

「Let’s dig in! Uwah, it’s so soft.」

Kurtz-kun pierced the kakuni vigorously with his fork. He must had been expecting the meat to be tough, because the fork pierced through the soft meat without resistance and hit the plate.

「Kurtz, what do you need to do before eating?」

Bryce-kun stopped from taking a bite.

「Oh right. Status open. Okay. Now, time to eat.」

Kurtz-kun took a bite, and his eyes widened.

「So good!」

That’s good to hear. It made me happiest when people tell me my food tastes good.

Kirika-chan and Bryce-kun ate the kakuni as well, and looked like they enjoyed it. I also took a bite.

Even so, I never thought I would be eating kakuni with a knife and fork.

I wanted chopsticks. Maybe I should look for some tree branches to use…

「Ah, I’m so glad. The potions went well with the food.」

The kakuni boiled to a softness that could be described as a melting goodness. The ginger and spring onion washed out the gameyness of the meat.

I could taste the sweetness of the soy sauce, and a hint of it lingered in the air.

Sake, soy sauce, ginger, sugar… This was the kakuni I knew.

The ingredients used today were the pale yellow pity potion (sake), the black pity potion (soy sauce), and the ginger ale-like winning potion (ginger and sugar). I was glad that nothing went wrong.

「Uwah!」

As I thought that, Kurtz-kun suddenly yelled out loud.

「I got buffs again. This time it’s for defense and HP. Also, my HP is recovering way faster than before.」

「Status open… You’re right. The winning potion recovers our HP, and the others…」

I smiled at Bryce-kun, who looked like he was going deep into thought.

「Let’s think about it later and enjoy the meal while it’s still hot.」

「Kirika wants seconds!」

Kirika-chan got seconds for both the kakuni and rice.

「Me too!」

As we had a peaceful meal around the dining table, a loud noise sounded through the hut. Someone had slammed open the front door.

「Everyone, are you okay?!」

Rofas-san appeared with his hair disheveled and had a ghastly expression on his face.

「Ah, it’s Rofas-san.」

「Huh? You’re here already? Aren’t you early?」

Both Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun said with their mouths full of food.

I had to teach them not to do that later. You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full.

「Did something happen? Did bandits appear?」

B-bandits?!

I got chills down my spine when Bryce-kun said that.