CH 83

My appetite surpasses the barrier.

-Don’t think about meat

-This is strictly confidential

. . . . Yes. Yes, I agree.

It’s not a perfect solution at all.

Well, it was late at night when we were discussing it, and I couldn’t even confirm whether the magic beasts would appear.

Verification and details were carried over to after the next day, and we disbanded.

And today. . .

“Let’s have a pork party!”

“Oh!”

The location is the knights’ kitchen.

Familiar with my shout, everyone in the first group raised their fists to the ceiling.

. . . . Look. First of all, put aside the difficult things and have a meal.

Since the morning, I’ve been cleaning up the places I couldn’t because it was dark, so I haven’t been able to verify the magic beasts yet.

Now it’s time to get ready for lunch.

By the way, the commander was busy with reports, his eyes were dead, and he was moving his hands while staring into the void.

Everyone is tired because they have been working hard since yesterday. And pigs contain vitamin B1 for fatigue.

“Shina-sama. Here’s the black pig.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Hurst-san, who controlled everyone who was excited, showed me the ingredients.

On the wooden desk is a beautiful chunk of meat.

Yes. I had the black pigs dismantled immediately.

Everyone in the knight order has the atmosphere of a hunter, and they are good at dismantling.

“It’s the shoulder part that Shina-sama asked me to do.”

“Waah. . . it looks so delicious. . .”

The pink flesh is moist and shiny, with white fat running through it.

When the moderate amount of fat is cooked through, it should ooze out.

“Thank you, black pig. . .”

It looks delicious.

“Shina-san! I made lard!”

Ryleigh-kun looks at me as I thank the pig with round eyes and shows me the contents of the pot.

It was the circular pot that I used when I made the ingredients for the bread gratin, and now it was full of half-hardened white fat.

Yes! Speaking of pork, it’s lard!

Pigs are animals that have a lot of subcutaneous fat, and we don’t eat all of it.

When the meat is processed into food, the unnecessary parts are removed, but lard can be extracted from the fat.

“Thank you, Ryleigh-kun.”

“Just like Shina-san asked me, I just cut the back fat into small pieces and stir-fried the fat with water, so it was easy!”

“Wasn’t it difficult because there was a lot of it?”

“Uh-huh! I mainly checked the heat, and Zez-san did the mixing, so it’s fine.”

“That’s right. Thank you, Zezgard-san.”

“. . . I don’t really care about this.”

Zezgard-san spit that out.

But it’s okay. Yes. I know, I know. . .

The key to making lard is to keep it from burning.

And the lard they made was pure white and not burnt at all.

In order to make such a large amount of lard, Ryleigh-kun’s heat control is important, but it must have been difficult to mix it.

Trying to complete the given mission again today. . . Fufun Rush. . .

“Hey! Those eyes!”

When I look at him with warm eyes, Fufun Rush. . . Ma-kun. . . Zezgard-san rushes in.

He’s still very perceptive.

“Um, Shina-san. Can I help you too. . . ?”

“Of course!”

When I was looking with warm eyes, I heard a timid voice next to me.

Looking over, I saw Shizuku-chan wearing a light blue apron. Her outfit isn’t a fancy dress either, it’s a dress like yesterday.

Cute. Too cute.

“The apron looks really good on you. Ryleigh-kun, you prepared it for her, didn’t you?”

“Yeah! It looks like my brother had an apron that matches mine. I didn’t know about it yesterday, but I found out this morning. Saying it was a waste, he left it unused in the locked trunk. . .”

‘It’s disgusting, isn’t it?’ Ryleigh-kun said with eyes that seemed to be looking at trash for a moment.

“My brother didn’t seem to have any intention of using it, and a light blue frilled apron doesn’t suit him, so I thought it would suit the Saint-sama.”

“Yeah. It’s really cute.”

Did Thruster-san carry a matching frilled apron with a small size to match Ryleigh-kun?

Scary. I’m afraid.

Let’s not think about it anymore.

As for the apron, I’d rather have Shizuku-chan use it than have Thruster-san hold onto it. Absolutely.

“Shizuku-chan, aren’t you tired of hearing what we just said?”

I never thought that this cute light blue frilled apron would hide some kind of scary back story. . .

I thought Shizuku-chan would feel bad after hearing Ryleigh-kun’s story, but Shizuku-chan shook her head.

“Um. . . Shina-san told me that I was cute.”

Shizuku-chan blushes and smiles softly.

Cute. Too cute. The scariness of the apron? I don’t know about it.

Thruster-san is holding back the special squad as usual, so he won’t show up here.

“Let’s start cooking!”

“Yes!”

When I raise my voice to blow off the disgust at Thruster-san, everyone in the first group raises their fist towards the ceiling again.

This time, Ryleigh-kun raised his fist together, and Shizuku-chan timidly raised her fist a little too.

Hurst-san nodded firmly, and Zezgard-san spit out his agreement.

After confirming each reply, I announce the division of cooking work.

“Then, everyone in the first group, please make bread crumbs.”

“Bread crumbs?”

“It’s a finely ground bread. You can do it by grating or crushing hardened bread. I think you can do it like grating cheese. . .”

“Whew! Understood! Can I call for you again after we prepare the bread and tools?”

“Yes, please.”

This time I plan to use the usual big round bread as bread crumbs.

There are cooking utensils here that can turn lumps of cheese into grated cheese, so I think you can use them to make it.

Garez-san, the leader of the first group, seems to understand the simple explanation, and prepares bread and tools while giving instructions to the group members.

If they do it together for a little while later, it seems that they will soon learn how to make bread crumbs.

“I want Hurst-san to cut the pork to this thickness.”

I move in front of the meat, tell the thickness with my thumb and index finger, and ask.

The thickness is approximately 2 cm.

“Understood.”

When I told Hurst-san about the thickness, Hurst-san put a knife into the lump of meat.

. . . . Yes. Thank you, Hurst-san. You cut the meat very accurately and quickly into 2 cm thick slices. It’s no longer a machine. It’s a meat slicer.

“Also, I would like to ask Ryleigh-kun and Zezgard-san to scratch the muscle.”

“Scratch?”

Ryleigh-kun tilted his head at my words.

I nodded yes, and then put the 2 cm thick meat that Hurst-san had cut for me on the cutting board.

“It’s the meat that Hurst-san cut, but between this fat and lean meat, I want you to make a cut with a kitchen knife.”

While explaining, I actually put the kitchen knife into the meat.

“This way, when the pork is cooked, it won’t warp or shrink.”

“Yes, I understand!”

Ryleigh-kun nodded brightly, so I said yes and handed over the knife.

Zezgard-san was watching the process firmly, even though he showed no interest.

“Hmm. . . that’s what you do.”

And then he mutters softly.

Yes. Above all, it seems to have been conveyed properly.

Zezgard-san will be able to handle it dexterously.

So.

“Then, Shizuku-chan, can I have you go with me to the kitchen?”

“Yes.”

Shizuku-chan understood, nodding.

Then, while watching everyone working, she secretly whispered to me.

“. . . Um, Shina-san, are you really going to make that?”

“Yeah. This time, we fought against the magic beasts and won.”

Yes! Speaking of bread crumbs and pork shoulder loin, it’s that!

. . .I won! I won! Lunch is tonkatsu!

Tonkatsu is breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. It can also be used as a base for other dishes. And now I’m hungry.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!