The Bridge Between Islands

The only problem was that Bogildo, the island across from Nohwado, wasn't part of my territory yet. That meant my residents couldn't cross over because of the invisible wall blocking the way.

The problem solved itself in an instant. All that remained now was the battle. I wasn't worried about the fighting itself. The real issue would be the cleanup afterward.

“Mino, could you take care of those five over there first and bring them back?”

“If it’s what you wish, Hyung-nim, I’ll do even the impossible!”

“You can refuse if it’s actually impossible. Just go catch those for me first.”

“Yes sir!”

At my words, Mino strode out lightly. He broke into a run at the middle of the broken bridge and leaped straight across. The bridge known as the Bogil Bridge was 620 meters long. Right now, more than half of it was missing, leaving over 300 meters of empty space in the middle. Yet he cleared that distance with a single bound and a leap.

“That’s so cool...”

All I could see was a white afterimage, like a white meteor shooting into the sky before crashing back down. That white meteor tore straight through the orcs that had been staring in this direction. The time between his jump from the bridge and finishing off the orcs was less than a second—literally a blink of an eye.

“But how are we supposed to move them?”

Mino had killed eight Sea Orcs. Weight wasn’t an issue, but even carrying two at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a time would mean at least four trips. My concerns turned out to be pointless. Mino simply grabbed a Sea Orc by the leg and hurled it. Naturally, the corpse drew a perfect arc through the air toward us. After eight swift throws, Mino came running back, leaped across the broken bridge, and landed neatly beside me. He was so skilled with his body that not a single speck of dust rose from the impact. Then he caught the falling corpses one by one and set them down beside us.

“Oh… so that’s one way to do it.”

“Haha! I’ve brought them just as you asked, Hyung-nim.”

“While you’re at it, could you help a little more?”

“Yes!!!”

I asked Mino to drain the blood from the corpses. He said it was easy, pulled up some nearby weeds, sliced the necks of the carcasses with the edge of his hand, and hung them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠upside down beneath the bridge. The sight of eight Sea Orcs dangling upside down with blood pouring out in streams… wasn’t something I particularly wanted to describe.

“At that size, leaving them like this for four or five hours should drain most of the blood.”

“That takes quite a while, huh?”

“Can’t be helped with bodies this big.”

“Hmm… It’d be faster to ask Asne for this.”

I told Mino to wait a moment and called Asne over. She had already stepped out in front of the house as if she’d been expecting me, so it didn’t take long.

“Asne, could you drain the blood from these?”

“It’s a simple task.”

With a horizontal wave of her hand, the hanging corpses plunged into the sea. I saw Mino flinch in surprise, but I raised a hand to stop him. In that moment, Asne flicked her fingers, and the sea where the bodies had fallen turned a deep crimson.

“Whoa…”

A gasp of awe escaped from the startled Mino. I felt the same. If the sea had turned that red, an incredible amount of blood must have poured out in an instant. Asne flicked her fingers again, and the corpses rose back out of the water.

“All done.”

Asne had finished a job that would have taken four to five hours in nature in under a minute. I thanked her, then asked Mino to begin butchering the meat by parts. Even though I’d only ever eaten it before, this was my first time butchering, so I relied on the internet for guidance. Since I wasn’t a professional, I cut the pieces fairly large. The butchered parts were divided into pork neck, loin, ribs, pork belly, forelegs, and hind legs.

For reference, barnacles like those on the Sea Troll had been attached to the skin, but Asne said they weren’t poisonous. So I neatly sliced off the skin near the barnacles and set those parts aside. The cuts listed on the internet were detailed, but since orcs looked different from pigs, I couldn’t separate any special parts. Still, it was more than enough. After all, what I was going to make were dishes I already knew how to cook.

“The neck ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and belly can be used for grilling right away, so leave those. The loin works for curry or tonkatsu… but since everyone can help with the prep, I’ll leave that too. The ribs need to be marinated in pork rib sauce and grilled, so I should start with those. The forelegs are good for boiled pork, and the hind legs for stir-fry, so there’s no need to do anything complicated with them.”

In truth, I had never actually cooked pork ribs myself. I’d only ever gone to barbecue restaurants and grilled them there. But I had the internet. I quickly whipped up several different marinades using various recipes. At that point, I called over everyone who seemed interested so we could do it together. The more people who could cook, the better. Strangely, when I said only those interested should come, everyone showed up. Since the population of the territory would only grow from now on, it was good for everyone to learn. So we all worked together.

“Alright, first we’ll make the marinade for these ribs…!”

I prepared several different recipes from the internet and let the ribs marinate. The easiest one, for reference, was simply using store-bought sauce. In the end, I marinated them using five different recipes excluding the store-bought one.

“Oh, now that I think about it, these guys are amphibious, right? I wonder if the meat will be too salty?”

It would take a while for the marinade to soak in. This wasn’t something even Asne could speed up, so while we waited, I suddenly remembered that these creatures lived in the sea. I decided to slice up some of the neck and belly meat—which didn’t need any special preparation for grilling—and cook them right away.

“Oh… it feels like it’s been lightly salted.”

“Minsoo! This is incredibly delicious! Pork belly? It’s savory, salty, chewy, and just absolutely the best!!!”

“My lord, I prefer this neck meat. It’s a bit more tender.”

“My lord~ I like the neck meat too! Can you grill more?”

“Ugh… Lei and I have different tastes… My lord, may I have some more pork belly grilled?”

If we divided things even more precisely, we could figure out everyone’s exact preferences, but with only two options right now, the groups split clearly. The pork belly fans were Miya and Ruin. The neck meat fans were Asne and Lei.

“Hyung-nim! I had no idea orc meat could taste this good in my entire life…!”

“Waaah… How can you make it taste this good, Brother? You’ll teach us lots more cooking from now on, right?”

The Snow Leopard tribe had apparently hunted orcs before. They said there was another species called Snow Orcs in the snowy mountains, and they had hunted and eaten those. However, since they didn’t know how to properly drain the blood, the meat had a strong gamey smell. On top of that, they had to travel quite far to hunt them, so they didn’t eat them often. They sighed, saying that if they had known a method this delicious, they would have hunted them frequently.

Since we were already at it, I bought some ssam vegetables so we could eat the meat properly wrapped. As we ate, I started craving rice, so I bought some instant rice to heat up and serve as well. Everyone’s reactions were extremely positive. With so many people, the eight carcasses’ worth of neck and belly meat disappeared in no time. So we moved on to the other dishes.

The quickest thing to prepare was the stir-fry. I made it often enough that I could just season it roughly and give it a quick stir in the pan. However, since the base was gochujang and chili powder, many people found it too spicy. When I tried a soy sauce base instead, it turned out a bit too salty. Since it made everyone crave rice even more, I decided to cook some proper rice and bought several large pots. It was my first time using a big pot, so I scorched it a little, but it wasn’t too bad. It was just right for making some scorched rice to snack on.

“Haa… Minsoo! This thing called rice grows from grass, but it goes so perfectly with meat!!!”

“Yeah, there are rice paddies in the plains over there. We can grow it there too.”

“Ho? Hyung-nim, you can cultivate this rice?”

“It takes a lot of effort, but it should be possible.”

If we cleaned up the ruined fields, we could start farming right away. Of course, since none of us had ever done proper farming before, we’d have to go through some trial and error. But the Snow Leopards’ eyes sparkled with excitement. They said home-grown crops always tasted better. After all, in the extreme environment of the snowy mountains, they had to grow their own grass just to make porridge. Everyone was full of confidence.

So I showed them the plains on Nohwado. After looking around for a bit, they declared it would be very easy and immediately started clearing the weeds. Their speed was on another level.

“It’s like multiple white meteors…!”

The time it took for the Snow Leopards—who left only afterimages—to clear that vast plain was just one hour. They worked faster than heavy machinery. The only downside was that it was still January, so there wasn’t much more we could do. I had estimated it would take about a month to prepare the paddies, but I never imagined they’d finish in an hour.

“For now, we’ll just maintain it and start planting in late February. Let’s wait until then.”

During that time, I could just buy food from the market, so there was no risk of running out of supplies. Once we planted in late February and started harvesting, at least the cost of rice would be covered. Right now, the only things that made money were monsters, and once we wiped them all out, there would be nothing left. Thinking about the future like this seemed like a good idea.

“Or maybe I should raise those orcs?”

Orcs had incredible reproductive rates. It hadn’t even been a few days, yet there were already over 150 of them. That was definitely promising. If I could raise them myself? We could eat the meat, and maybe even duplicate the magic stones? It might be dangerous if I mismanaged them, but what could orcs possibly do against our residents? If it didn’t work out, I could just give up. There was nothing to lose.

“There are probably about fifty babies among them. Should we spare just those and take care of the rest?”

“Hyung-nim, just leave it to me!”

At my words, several white meteors swept across Bogildo, and the cleanup ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was finished in under an hour. The hundred-plus Sea Orc corpses were all hanging from the bridge, blood draining from them. There were still other parts left to process, so I decided to take it slow. If we ran out, I could just ask Asne again.

“Kweeeek…”

And then there were the fifty-one baby Sea Orcs we had captured. They were called babies, but they were already about a meter tall. They were huddled up, clearly terrified of the Snow Leopards. I decided I would need to think carefully about how to raise them.