CH 51

「No, it’s impossible.」

Bryce-kun destroyed some boulders like it was natural.

Magic is amazing. No, Rofas-san’s sword skills are great too.

But wait, I… I’m trying really hard to become an adventurer…

…Can I ever get to level ten… My dreams of owning a refrigerator…

I dragged myself back into the hut, and saw that Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun were holding a sword.

Woah, both of them are doing special training too?!

「I was talking to Kirika about handling the boar that Rofas-san caught for us.」

「Oh, I see. Okay. Bryce-kun and Rofas-san won’t be here starting tomorrow anyway…」

When I took a closer look, I saw that they weren’t a sword but a knife. Knife…

Ah, they don’t use kitchen knives, they use a regular knife. I see. You can use them to butcher the things you catch immediately after. I guess adventurers don’t walk around carrying kitchen knives.

I can still get Bryce-kun to teach me how to do it.

I… Yes, I have to work harder.

I brought the memo pad I used before and followed Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun.

「Um, we’re done draining the blood. Now we have to remove the skin while it’s hanging…」

Huh? It’s hung up? Doesn’t that mean you have to be a certain height to reach the top? Isn’t that hard for Kirika-chan?

Last time, Bryce-kun lead the operation, so I worked really hard to take a bunch of notes. It was difficult to watch the process though…

I can’t leave things to only Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun, so I have to keep my eyes wide open. When I did that though, I suddenly ran into a wall.

This… I just noticed that since I am the tallest, I have to be the one to remove the skin, otherwise the other two can’t proceed with the rest of the butchering…

That’s impossible for me. I’m sorry.

It’s still too much for me…

I heard my husband’s voice in my head again.

See. What do you mean you can work? 

…Uu.

How shameful.

The only thing I can do for these children is cook, how shameful.

…Cooking.

I can peel the skins off of potatoes, carrots, and apples. I’m good at handling squid too. I can even skin chicken.

But doing it to a boar’s skin is…

「Hey, I just found out about this recently, but it turns out you can skin an animal in the same way as a tomato.」

Suddenly, I thought about a conversation I had with my friend when we were in college.

「You boil the tomatoes before removing the skin, right? When you remove an animal’s skin, you use hot water. You use water at a temperature of about 63 degrees Celcius to keep the meat from boiling.」

「But the water won’t boil at 63 degrees.」

「Well, I don’t know really know the details. I’ve heard that you boil chickens at 70 degrees to remove the feathers, so maybe the temperature is around that point?」

「Wait, why do you know all of these?」

「My boyfriend right now, he’s interested in matagi (*1). He went to a wild game cooking lesson because he admired them.」

My friend showed me a picture of her boyfriend posing with a peace sign in front of a table, where an animal laid across.

Peeling by boiling…

Remove the skin by pouring hot water over it…

If the boar is on a table, then even Kurtz-kun and Kirika-chan should be able to do it.

「Bryce-kun, Rofas-san, please help us!」

I tried calling over the two of them who were still training.

However, they were too focused on doing their own thing, so they didn’t hear me.

「Bryce-kun, Rofas-san!」

I raised my voice so much it became raspy, but they still didn’t hear me. Distance might be a factor as well…

I’m afraid of getting any closer, in case they make a mistake and their attack sends me flying.

Kirika-chan began walking towards the two of them.

「Don’t go, it’s too dangerous!」

I panicked and tried to stop her.

「Rofas-san, Bryce-oniichan, if you don’t help out, no food for you!」

Kirika-chan yelled. Rofas-san immediately stopped what he was doing.

「I- I’ll help! What do you need me to do?」

Rofas-san ran over to us like the wind.

「Ah, sorry. That’s right, I promised to deal with the boar later.」

Bryce-kun looked at the hanging boar and apologized.

「Um, actually, there’s something I want to try. My friend told me about it a long time ago.」

「What is it? What do you need us to do for you?」

「I’ll try my best to help.」

Although I appreciate their help, even though it felt like they were competing… I felt quite the pressure.

The two of them are that afraid of not getting food…