Salt, Pepper, and a Warm Tail
The things I needed to find were a water source and cooking utensils. That turned out to be easy. When I stepped into the half-destroyed houses, I found plenty of cooking tools. The water supply worked normally too. Even though the village was in ruins, the infrastructure seemed to have been preserved. It was only the surface that had been broken. They must have left it intact in case of future restoration. After all, this was a dangerous area, so ordinary people wouldn't come here anyway. This wasn't the only village around; there were probably others connected nearby. Maybe that was why the water that came out looked clean.
"Let's rinse the blood off these and fill a pot with some water."
I let the water run to drain the blood and gave the outside a light wash. Then I filled a large pot to the brim and brought it over to Miya.
"Hold this up for me. Yeah, like that. Good girl. Be careful not to splash."
"Yeees~"
I had Miya lift the limbs while I poured water over them to clean them more thoroughly. The visible debris was gone now. Still, there might be some left behind, so I washed each piece carefully by hand. The flesh looked noticeably cleaner. Once the blood was gone, it really just looked like oversized chicken.
"Mm. Looks good. I'll go grab the cooking tools, so why don't you head over first?"
"No, I'll wait for you."
"Alright."
I left Miya behind and returned from the ruined house with the cooking utensils. Then we headed to the campfire together.
"Miya, can you chop that into pieces small enough to fit in the pot and put them in?"
"Okay!"
The pot I'd found was quite large, but even so, one of those limbs looked like it would never fit. The arms and legs had to be at least a meter long. That's why I asked Miya to cut them up. Since we'd already washed them with water, she was extra careful not to dirty them while chopping. I placed one of the chunks on a cutting board and started preparing it. Maybe because it was already dead, the meat sliced easily. I'd been ready to ask Miya for help if it didn't, but luckily it wasn't necessary.
After separating just the flesh, I set up the grill I'd found over the fire and placed the pieces on it one by one.
Sizzle—
The heat was strong, so moisture evaporated immediately with a delicious sound. But too much of the meat was touching the flames. If I left it like this, the outside would burn while the inside stayed raw. That would be a disaster. But for me, it wasn't a problem at all. I was surprisingly good at controlling fire.
"I need to raise the grill a bit. Miya, could you do that?"
"Sure!"
Having someone as strong as Miya made adjustments easy. She just used her strength to drive the support poles deeper into the ground. That way, we could grill the meat at a proper distance.
The meat cooked quickly thanks to the right size and heat. I took a small bite of the nicely browned piece.
"Mm... It's a little bland. Miya, try some."
"Okay! Nom! Mmm! It's delicious!!! There's no burnt taste, the outside is chewy and the inside is moist!!! It's seriously!!! So good!!! The best thing I've ever eaten in my life!!!"
Given how it looked, it tasted exactly like chicken. More precisely, somewhere between thigh and breast meat. Mild, chewy, and tender. It was a bit bland without seasoning, but still perfectly edible. And yet Miya was devouring it like it was the most amazing thing ever. Her status window showed her satisfaction level had shot up dramatically, so it wasn't just flattery.
Well... compared to grass porridge or tree bark, this must taste like heaven.
Still, she'd been wandering around outside for a while. It felt a little strange that she was so moved by something this wild.
"Miya, how did you usually cook before?"
"Cook? I just roasted it over a fire!"
"And you scraped off the burnt parts?"
"Yep!"
"What about your companions...?"
"Ah, that..."
Miya glanced back and forth between me and the grilled meat as she explained. Among the snow leopard tribe, beastmen in general were popular as slaves. Because of that, she'd been targeted quite often, so living peacefully had been difficult. Still, since she was on the stronger side, she hadn't been in real danger. She spoke calmly about it. To summarize, for ten years after running away from home, she'd lived while fighting off people trying to kidnap her.
"That must have been really hard..."
Even someone as introverted as me could get along well with people if we clicked. Especially with someone this pretty and cute. From our conversation, I could tell Miya had an honest, transparent personality who couldn't lie. She wouldn't have brought up running away if I hadn't asked, but it had slipped out unconsciously before she changed the subject. If every action had been an act, that would have been truly chilling.
"It's a bit bland for me, so I think I'll add some seasoning."
"Seasoning?"
"Yeah. Unfortunately, all I have nearby is salt and pepper, but it's better than nothing."
"Whoa! Salt and pepper?! You're using those luxury goods?!"
At my words, Miya's plump, fluffy tail shot straight up toward the sky. The image of a lord brought to mind the Middle Ages, and in the Middle Ages, salt and pepper were considered luxuries. It seemed that in the world Miya came from, that impression wasn't just an image—it was reality.
"Hmm. It looks like you were summoned from another world, but unlike there, salt and pepper aren't luxuries in our world."
"Whaaaat?!"
Summoned beings came from all sorts of worlds. Gates and dungeons appeared everywhere, revealing monsters and traces of civilizations. People living in the modern era had guessed that other worlds existed. The Summon Inhabitant skill had simply confirmed it.
Honestly, other worlds? Of course I was a little curious. But from what Miya said, it sounded like the Middle Ages or even worse. Having grown used to modern comforts, I had zero desire to visit.
Anyway, I seasoned the well-grilled Sea Grok meat with salt and pepper. White and black grains sprinkled over the sizzling meat. If you added a savory, slightly spicy kick to the texture that sat between chicken breast and thigh? There was no way it could taste bad. Plus, I was pretty confident in my seasoning. Even if I just threw it on roughly, I could avoid making it too salty or too spicy. This time too, it had probably turned out just right.
On top of that, I gave the already fully cooked meat a light char on the surface. This would make the outside crispy and add even better texture.
"Mmm! Definitely better! Here, Miya, you try."
"Thank you so much! Nom! Mmmmmm..."
When I took a bite of the finished meat, it really was delicious. The outside was crispy, the inside chewy and moist, with a tender texture that pulled apart along the grain. The seasoning was exactly as I'd imagined—perfectly balanced between salty and spicy. I handed it to Miya, who had been watching with desperate eyes. After one bite, her eyes welled up with tears.
"Good, right?"
"Hahh... hyaaah...!"
"Sorry, I have no idea what you're saying. Finish eating first and then tell me."
"Nyangnyang... It's really delicious...!!!"
I'd always gotten good reactions when I cooked for the few close friends I had, since my cooking skills were decent. It had felt pretty satisfying. But seeing a beauty like Miya tearing up over food I'd made—even if it was a bit embarrassing to call it proper cooking—gave me a completely different level of joy. It made me feel like some kind of chef. My shoulders unconsciously squared with pride.
"It's a shame. If I had other seasonings, I could've made it even better."
"Y-you could make it even more delicious than this?!"
"Miya... your speech."
"Slurp... Hehe... It's already incredibly delicious though? You can make it even better? Were you a royal chef or something, my lord?"
"Cooking is just a hobby for me. I've heard I have good hands for it, but I'm not a professionally trained chef."
"Whaaat~! You cook this well without even learning?! That's amazing!!!"
This snow leopard was too cute. Her appearance was icy cold, but her behavior was incredibly adorable. The gap was strangely charming. I'd been kicked out of my job and was about to be thrown out of the house I'd lived in for so long, and all I'd felt was irritation. I hadn't wanted to do anything in particular; I'd just lived because I was alive. But seeing Miya made me realize how much of a luxury that had been.
I want to make Miya even happier.
It wasn't just because she was pretty. Well, that was part of it. But Miya had endured a painful life with such brightness. That radiance was dazzling. Of course she probably had her dark moments too. But she'd held on much more firmly than I ever had. Miya had left home because she was starving and facing a real threat of death. Compared to that, I'd just whined about getting fired and losing my one-room apartment.
A house? I can just build one here.
I hadn't purchased this land. They probably wouldn't have sold it anyway. But so what? It was already under the influence of my territory declaration. So it was my land. Stories of powerful hunters reclaiming monster-infested areas and claiming the land were common enough. I could just do the same.
Of course, hunter laws existed now. The government might protest. But right now the country was busy trying to hold everything together. They'd have to find me first, and they weren't paying much attention to this remote southern tip of Namhae. If they did discover me and tried to push with force, I could push back with force too. Right now I only had Miya, but she was strong. She could probably handle anyone in the top hundred rankings with ease. And I had the Summon Inhabitant skill. No territory would have just one inhabitant. There would definitely be more.
Of course, they wouldn't all be as strong as Miya. But the power would build up steadily. Once that power accumulated, even the handful of rankers the nation could gather probably wouldn't be able to stop it. Busy rankers wouldn't all come together just because the government asked—they weren't crazy.
Therefore, Summon Inhabitant.
The remaining cooldown time for Summon Inhabitant is 6 hours and 40 minutes.
I checked the time on my phone. It was 5:20 PM. Six hours and forty minutes from now would be exactly midnight. It seemed the Summon Inhabitant skill could only be used once per day.
"My lord? What are you thinking about so hard?"
"I was thinking about what to do going forward. And you can speak casually to me."
"Is that really okay...?"
"Yeah. I want to get closer to you, Miya."
"Whoa! Got it! I mean, okay! I'll speak casually!!!"
Miya hopped over to my side. At the same time, a soft, warm, fluffy sensation wrapped around my waist. When I looked, her tail was curled around me.
"Your tail is really warm."
"Hehe~ Right~? If I hug my tail while sleeping in the snow, it's super warm!"
"Oh... Oh? Speaking of sleeping... a house...!"
The word "sleep" made me realize something. It was already afternoon. In January, the days were short. The sky was already growing dark. Soon it would be completely black. Sleeping outside in the middle of winter with nothing but our bodies? That was absolutely not something I could do.
"House?"
"We need a place to rest."
"It's warm here, so can't we just lie down anywhere?"
"What about sleep?"
"It's fine to just sleep!"
"You're really strong, Miya..."
Miya looked completely confused. Well, she was the kind of iron-willed person who could sleep hugging her tail in a snowfield. Korea's winter probably felt warm to her.
"Sniff sniff. Ah, it's going to snow soon. I'll be fine, but a normal human like you, my lord, would have a hard time."
"You can tell that? And calling me 'my lord' feels so distant. Just use my name."
"Okay! Kim Minsoo!"
"Kim is my family name. My given name is Minsoo."
"Minsoo?"
"Yeah. Minsoo."
"Hee~ You have a family name? Oh! That's right, you're a lord. So Minsoo really is a noble?"
"Um... well, just think of it that way."
Listening to Miya, I suddenly felt the air grow sharply colder. Not the temperature on the thermometer, but that bone-chilling cold below freezing. If the ground felt like this, the sky would be even colder. Dark clouds were covering the already dimming sky. Just as Miya said, it looked like snow would fall soon. I casually brushed off her misunderstanding that I was a noble. There were more urgent matters right now.
"I need to build a place to shelter from the snow first."
"I'll help!"
"Thanks."
Miya had survived alone in the wild. She could probably build a simple shelter without much trouble. I relied on Miya's skills. It only took a few minutes for that expectation to be completely shattered.