Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 37
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 37
Lion minced the flesh without hesitation and dropped the seeds into the boiling water.
Meanwhile, he had to clean the crayfish…
‘I heard you’re supposed to dispatch a crayfish in one go.’
He’d heard that their nerves lingered, and they felt pain.
Even if it wasn’t true, it left an unpleasant feeling, so it had to be done properly.
Lion set his knife and stabbed cleanly into the crayfish’s head to drain the blood.
Draining the blood was the only way to suppress the fishy taste.
Next, he separated the body and dropped the head and legs into boiling water to simmer into broth, then seasoned it.
“Oh.”
The broth began to infuse faster than he’d expected.
“Now, then…”
Lion retrieved the flour that had been sleeping in his inventory and kneaded it.
He’d swiped it from the family kitchen when he made cookies—perfect timing.
“Noodle soup? No. Hand-torn noodles, just like the original plan.”
Once the powdery flour mixed with water and became a suitably firm dough, he slammed it hard against the cutting board to add chewiness and then set it aside for a while.
“Dough’s done. Next…”
He trimmed the baby mushrooms he’d gathered in the forest and boiled them thoroughly, then cooked the reserved crayfish bodies in the boiling water.
It was a bit rustic, but perhaps because the crayfish were so large, the dish already began to look like a very appetizing seafood stew.
‘That’s not all.’
He tore the nicely stretched dough thinly, as if ripping it, and tossed it nonchalantly into the water.
When the starch from the flour blended into the rich broth, turning it a milky and appetizing color, hunger surged over him.
“Almost done.”
He coaxed himself, and finally heaped on a generous pile of crown daisies and brought it all to a boil…!
[Labyrinth Seafood Hand-Torn Noodle Soup (★★)]
-The distinctive savor of the seafood has infused beautifully, creating a soup dish whose mild yet deep flavor is superb.
-The profound taste of the Labyrinth Spicy Berry and its seeds has elevated the dish’s completeness.
-Judging by the depth of flavor achieved with so few ingredients, the cook’s skill appears considerable.
Lion ladled a generous serving of the hand-torn noodle soup into a bowl.
The piping hot steam wafting up made it look incredibly delicious.
“As expected, you have to start with the broth when it comes to hand-torn noodle soup.”
Lion scooped up the milky broth with his spoon and carefully slurped it down.
“Ahh.”
The taste of the hand-torn noodle soup, his first in a long while, was spectacular.
First, this hot broth!
Without letting it cool, he swallowed, letting it warm his esophagus, and it felt as if all the grease inside him was being cleansed away.
After a few more spoonfuls of broth, Lion finally scooped up the noodles, blew on them, and popped them into his mouth.
Chew, chew!
The thick and thin pieces of hand-torn dough delivered distinct textures, harmonizing inside his mouth.
‘Yes. This is the true taste of hand-torn noodles!’
Machine-extruded dough lacks this lumpy, rough quality, so its flavor is inferior.
You have to tear it casually by hand like this, long strips, to enjoy the varied and excellent texture.
The mushrooms and crown daisies that came along with the noodles were also enlivening the texture, which might otherwise have been bland.
On top of that, the new savory richness created by the fragrant vegetable juices and broth blending together was a delicacy that only those who had tasted it could understand.
“Now, shall I try the crayfish?”
Lion took out the nicely red-cooked crayfish body and carefully peeled the shell.
The thick meat, akin to a lobster’s, separated cleanly from the shell and revealed its plump form.
“This is insane.”
Just looking at it stirred his appetite.
Lion thrust his fork deep into the thick meat and took a big bite.
“Wow…!”
The resistance he’d first felt through the fork reached his teeth, and it was almost ecstatic.
And why was the meat so sweet?
The texture felt like chewy lobster or raw shrimp, but the meat was sweet and carried the flavor of a blue crab.
No wonder the broth was so delicious!
One bite of crayfish. One bite of hand-torn noodle.
When his throat grew tight, he drank the broth, and when it felt greasy, he refreshed his palate with crown daisies.
Only after eating that way for a long while did Lion set his spoon down.
“That was truly delicious.”
He thought it might be the best meal he’d ever made and eaten himself.
Lion patted his full stomach and leaned lazily back in his chair.
A blood-sugar spike and a nap right now would be the ultimate happiness, but…
“Get up.”
Once the sun started going down, there was nothing to be done in the forest.
So he had to move diligently while it hung at its zenith.
Lion re-entered the forest.
This time he walked a bit deeper and looked around.
“I’m sure I saw a decent tree right around here.”
Ah, there it was.
[Labyrinth Tree]
-A tree with few leaves or branches. Small in size but soft, and it has a pleasant scent.
-Despite being a tree, it’s waterproof!
-It looks like you could make many things from this.
[Use: Woodworking]
[☞You cannot view the recipe because the Woodworking talent has not been unlocked.]
What Lion had found was a small tree, just the right size.
At this size, even if it fell, it didn’t seem like he’d get badly hurt.
The top priority inside the labyrinth was to avoid injury, so he had to be careful.
But it was honestly pretty tough to live without any tools, so Lion made a decision.
He was going to make his own tools out of wood.
And if an item of a decently high grade came out, he planned to sell it at the Shilling Shop.
‘That’s why I bought it, for a day like this.’
Lion gazed at the tool set in his inventory, which he’d purchased after emptying nearly his entire fortune.
[Basic Carpentry and Woodworking Set]
-50,000 Shillings
-A set prepared by some woodworking artisan for beginners wanting to get into woodworking.
-It doesn’t contain any incredible equipment.
-But it does have all the basics.
The rest of the description held no real merit, but at least since it claimed a woodworking artisan personally assembled the set, it seemed to have enough value.
And in practice, it was quite user-friendly, as though they’d given due consideration to a beginner.
This axe, especially…
[Cut the side the tree will fall toward into a V-shape.]
It came with a guide, just like the Artisan’s Repair Set!
Of course, it didn’t tell him exactly where to aim or how to swing down, but that alone was enough.
An artisan’s know-how!
That was quite important in axe work.
‘It’s not about brute force.’
Ah, of course, if he were the owner of Sword-Master-level strength, he could probably just chop it down in a single strike without a second thought…
Anyway, as the owner of a body so frail he had to use his wits, he had no choice.
First, Lion enthusiastically cut a notch into the side the tree was going to fall toward.
Though the tree was clearly small, it took quite a long time.
Thwack! Thwok!
Only after many, many swings of the axe did he barely manage to gouge a notch about thirty degrees deep.
And now he moved to the opposite side and sawed a semicircular cut a little higher than the notch.
This created a gap to drive in a wedge.
Still, perhaps because the saw was sturdy, the semicircular part was resolved quickly.
Lion fitted a wedge into the gap and struck it with a hammer.
Whereupon, tilt.
Crack— BOOM!
With a rather fearsome sound, the tree toppled over.
[Acquired 55 Labyrinth Wood (Small).]
[Acquired 25 Labyrinth Wood (Medium).]
[Acquired 10 Labyrinth Wood (Large).]
Even though the tree was quite small—just a little taller than Lion himself—a substantial amount of material had been gathered.
“Phew.”
Lion used the saw to cut the tree into manageable chunks, stored them in his inventory, and prepared to head back.
But then…
“Was there a path there?”
In the spot where the tree had fallen, there was a hut.
What was a hut doing in this labyrinth?
“…Should I go see?”
Lion moved his feet without hesitation.
When he arrived, the hut, which had been exquisitely hidden among the trees and grass, revealed its form.
It was… quite ordinary.
What’s more, the inside was completely empty except for a bed, which actually made it feel less suspicious.
[By the authority of the Library Labyrinth’s owner, you may now use the ‘Hut.’]
“Can I use it?”
[Everything here is your property.]
…This was pretty great.
There were several reasons he’d invested a large sum to obtain the woodworking set.
On a small scale, for chopsticks, and on a large scale, for a house.
Sleeping rough for a month straight was a bit much, so he’d wanted to at least build a wooden platform.
‘…Wait!’
The library’s owner could check out anything.
Did that mean he could also move this hut to his base camp?
“Can you move this house?”
[It is possible.]
Nice!
He’d cut down a tree and gotten a house in return.
‘Living in this place for a month just got a lot easier.’
Since all he had to do was make the items to use inside the house!
[Shall I execute it immediately?]
“Wait a sec.”
Lion ran back, excited, to his base camp.
Then, with his sickle and hand hoe, he cut away the weeds and grass to prepare a spot for the hut to be installed.
“Install it right here!”
[A slight loud noise and time will be required.]
…A loud noise?
[5]
[4]
[3…]
Lion instinctively covered his ears with both hands.
Come to think of it, the tree had made a tremendous sound when it fell.
In that case, the sound of a house being moved…
[2]
[1]
KWA-BOOM!
One week into living in the labyrinth.
Lion had acquired a house.
“…First, shall we move in?”
Lion immediately gathered his luggage and set it up inside the hut.
And finally, he organized the firewood he’d collected so far and the lumber he’d obtained today outside the hut, and it started to look surprisingly like someone’s lived-in home.
What’s more, he got all that done and the sun was still up!
“Now then, shall I really craft some daily necessities?”
He took out his woodworking knife and plane and began producing the needed tools, one by one.
First, from the chopsticks he’d been missing to a variety of bowls!
Perhaps because there were so many things he’d wanted, a whole flood of items poured out that, though a bit blunt in shape, were quite usable in their own right.
[Ugly Wooden Bowl]
-Ugly, but the soup won’t leak.
Of course, at first, the ‘ugly’ series came out.
The ugly chopsticks, in fact, couldn’t even manage to pick up a berry, let alone anything else, and were demoted to firewood.
[Plain Wooden Plate]
-It looks somewhat decent.
[Usable Chopsticks]
-Chopsticks that are neither too thick nor too thin.
-Well-balanced.
[The creativity to quickly produce diverse works! A new talent awakens!]
[New Talent: Woodworking]
[Woodworking Proficiency has reached Apprentice Lv.1.]
Just like that, he passed ‘plain’ and reached a ‘usable’ level, and only then did tools of a standard that ordinary people would use emerge from Lion’s hands.
Honestly, for life in the labyrinth, this level was more than enough.
But hadn’t Lion seen it?
There was a possibility that items rated one star or above would sell!
Of course, he couldn’t know what items the Shilling Shop wanted.
It seemed they didn’t buy just any one-star item.
But at least they seemed to buy things that looked aesthetically pleasing.
Since he’d sold the crown daisy flowers that way, too.
If so, then there was a high probability they’d buy what Lion was making now.
It was, in fact…
[Labyrinth Wood Flowerpot (★)]
-A unique flowerpot made of wood. It’s beautiful, but can it really be used as a flowerpot?
-Selling price: from 1,000 Shillings.
A flowerpot to display the crown daisy flowers.