Chapter 39
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39
The last piece of jerky was hung in the yard.
“…”
Gio clapped his hands together, dusting them off.
“It’s practically a field of meat.”
“Kuu-ruk.”
“Your dad agrees. It’s a beautiful sight.”
Not that he had turned all the meat into jerky. Trusting the forest where ingredients never spoiled, he had stored several prime cuts of raw meat in the ice storage. As for the rest…
“I should make sausages with the leftover meat, or find some other way to preserve it.”
The System had said the effect would trigger as long as it was ‘sun-dried processed meat.’ So, while he had sliced the meat, marinated it, and hung it out like dried fish, he had intentionally used only the most tender cuts to make it easier to chew later.
Now it was time to deal with the scraps left over from making the jerky.
“I intentionally separated the intestines and stomach to get rid of any gaminess, so we can start using them soon.”
He hadn’t given all the deer’s innards to the water birds. He had set aside the rope-like intestines and the stomach, which bore clear evidence of the deer’s hearty appetite. Since he had removed anything that smelled and soaked them in a puree of apples, lemons, and onions, there shouldn’t be any unpleasant odor to worry about.
“And as far as I know, we have plenty of meat left over, too.”
“Kuu-ru-ru.”
“Since I’m still clumsy at butchering… there are a lot of minced pieces. They’ll be perfect for making sausages.”
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to use them for soup, but hadn’t the System specified ‘sun-dried processed meat’ to enhance the effects of the Tree-Horned Deer? Rather than drying the scraps individually, it seemed far more effective to pack them into sausages and hang them up. Besides, it was an excellent way to preserve leftover meat.
“We can use the remaining bones and meat to boil soup later,” he decided.
“Kuu-ru-ru-ru-ru!”
Honey rejoiced at the thought of a rich bone broth.
“Now, the key question is how to season it.”
“Oink.”
“A pig?”
“Kuu-ru.”
“Right.” He wondered if Honey had finally accepted his identity. “While we’re at it, I’d like to look for some unique spices…”
Even a brief glance showed that this cabin forest was quite vast. Gio always went to the same places, so there were bound to be many areas and fruits he hadn’t seen yet.
“Shall we go on an adventure for the first time in a while?”
“Kkuk-kkuk-kkuk.”
“Of course I’m taking you.”
Recalling how Honey had aggressively devoured the deer’s innards, Gio felt incredibly reassured.
The animals native to this forest might be friendly to me, but there’s no guarantee that animals from other dimensions will be. It’s scary, so I must bring Honey along.
Yes, Gio was terrified.
“No matter how I think about it, invasive species are too much.”
“Kkuk…?”
“If a deer with metal horns and hooves went wild, I’m confident I’d die in ten seconds.”
“Kkoong-kkoong…”
“Please protect your fragile dad.”
So, as for what spice they were looking for and where they should go…
“Once we start moving, won’t we figure it out?”
Having reached that clear conclusion, Gio put on his cloak. Even though he wore it whenever he ventured a bit far, the cloak remained perfectly clean.
I should upgrade this later, too.
He felt like he had already had that thought over fifty times. Usually, when you think like that, you never actually get around to doing it.
“…”
“Kuu-ru…”
“I’ll do it someday.”
Carrying his basket as usual, Gio set his top priority.
“I hope we can find new spices or sauces. There must be unique ingredients that only exist in a fantasy world like this. Like Lulupu or Mangdung Fruit…”
He was thinking of things like pepper, salt, or sugar.
“Relying on the cabin has its limits.”
The basic ingredients and spices in the cabin’s cupboards and pantry were fully stocked. However, he didn’t know how long they would last or if they would automatically refill once they ran out.
“Rather than going through the hassle of drawing them one by one later, it’s better to prepare in advance.”
“Kuu-ru-ru.”
“Especially salt, which is essential for survival…”
Since the water in the water bird lake was salty, he might be able to get salt if he could somehow evaporate it.
I haven’t tried it yet, but it shouldn’t be impossible.
Gio suddenly muttered, “It would be nice if a dairy cow or a chicken fell from somewhere.” He was even wishing for livestock. “Then we could get milk and eggs whenever we want.”
“Kuu-ru-ru-ru?”
“You…? Aren’t you male?”
He had no basis for it, but he had always assumed Honey was male. Could he lay eggs?
“Were you a daughter instead of a son?”
“Kkoong.”
“Ah, so not that.”
“Kkoong-kkoong.”
“…Oh…”
It seemed he had no gender.
“Amazing.”
Then again, seeing how the water birds in the lake multiplied by splitting their eggs like amoebas, mating didn’t seem necessary.
Gio nodded. “It’s too much trouble to think about it deeply, so let’s just say you’re my son. Agree?”
“Kuu-ruk.”
“Great.”
Gio was briefly terrified by his own limitless abilities, but he felt at ease again upon realizing that the only thing he would ever create with this power was baked potatoes anyway.
“There’s no way a harmless person like me could be a creature that threatens world peace.”
“…”
“Agree with me right now, Honey. Your dad is a harmless creature.”
Honey refused to agree to the very end.
“How resolute.”
Honey was someone who could say no when it was no.
The cabin forest was very cool. A refreshing breeze blew when they stepped into the shade, and when they were in the sun, a cozy warmth, like blankets hung out in spring, wrapped around them. Wandering around without any particular purpose had a pleasant, picnic-like charm.
“Ah.”
As he walked aimlessly, Gio finally found a decent harvest.
“I think this is edible.”
“Kuu-ru-ruk.”
“Right? The scent is unique, too…”
It was a plant with small, transparent, tetrahedral fruits hanging in rows like lily of the valley.
Milky Way Mary
>
A flower characterized by its transparent fruits and black stem. It was named ‘Milky Way Mary’ after its first discoverer, Mary, and its unique appearance. Eleven fruits grow per plant. It is slightly toxic if eaten raw, but if dried and hardened, it can be used as a spice with a spicy and pungent aroma.
“…”
First discoverer?
There was a first discoverer named Mary?
This information suddenly expanded the world. Didn’t it mean that the plants, or even animals, growing here might exist in some other dimension?
“So this ecosystem wasn’t created solely by my imagination.”
“Kuu-ruk?”
“No, I’m not in a bad mood.”
It was just a bit funny how strangely vast the world-building was.
“Good heavens. Where on earth have I been dropped?” he wondered. “Life really is a rollercoaster.”
Alchemy Method: Dipping it in the sap of the Dorong-dorong Tree neutralizes the toxicity and stops it from drying. If stored in a canned form and later ground with the wings of a Forest Butterfly to make small pills, it becomes an excellent fatigue recovery agent. Store in a dark place away from sunlight.
The System also provided the Alchemy Method, but he wasn’t very interested. Gio focused solely on its taste and aroma.
“So it’s basically pepper, right?”
Fatigue recovery agents meant nothing to him.
Delighted to have found a spice after so long, Gio quickly plucked the fruits of the ‘Milky Way Mary.’ Since they were already fully ripe, they fell off in clusters with just a light tap.
“I should remember this place.”
Gathering more than a handful of the fruits, Gio stood up straight and muttered, “I guess this is a Milky Way colony.”
The flowerbed, sparkling with countless small, transparent fruits, was too beautiful to keep to himself. Perhaps because the forest was so dark, the transparency of the fruits stood out even more, making them look truly like the Milky Way.
“It would look even better in the evening.”
“Kuu-ru…”
“Anyway, that’s the pepper sorted.” He sniffed them, but they didn’t smell like anything right now. “…Does the scent only come out once they’re dried?”
Just like the Mangdung Fruit.
I wonder what kind of spiciness it is.
It was described as a spicy and pungent aroma, but he couldn’t tell exactly what that would feel like.
“It might not be pepper, but more like a small, hot chili pepper.”
“Kuu-ru-ru?”
“Or maybe it’s similar to Sichuan peppercorns? But those are more numbing than spicy… Well, I’ll have to dry them myself first to see what kind of dishes they’ll go with.”
The small fruits sparkled like transparent beads, but they were fragile and rustled as if made of thin plastic. Inside, he could feel a firm flesh rather than a hollow shell, but they seemed like they would squash easily.
“And these get hard when dried.”
It was a fascinating plant that looked like it belonged in a fairy tale, appearance and all.
“I should try using them when I grill meat.”
Feeling a sense of fulfillment in life, Gio cradled the basket carefully in his arms. He heard that pepper was once treated almost like gold on Earth, and that was exactly how he felt right now.
“I wonder if there are any other spices around?”
“Kuu-ru?”
“After all, making it with just pepper would be too bland.”
“Kkuk.”
“Let’s go a bit deeper.”
Sausages could be made in so many different ways.
“First, meat and fat are the basic ingredients.”
He had already separated and prepared these parts. To prevent them from spoiling, he had placed them in a cool storage room and covered them with a large cloth. Once all the other ingredients were gathered, he planned to start mincing the meat.
Although the butchered meat didn’t have any gamey smell this time, he needed other spices to bring out its umami. Making sausages with just salt, pepper, and meat was too boring.
“A proper sausage must have a deep aroma and flavor.”
Fortunately, he had already found ‘Milky Way Mary,’ which would serve as both chili and pepper.
“But this alone isn’t enough.”
The fun part of making sausages was that the taste and aroma changed dramatically depending on what herbs and spices you put inside. Although Milky Way Mary, which presumably smelled like a mix of chili and pepper, would make a decent sausage on its own…
“Let’s keep going for now.”
“Kuu-ru-ru-ru.”
“You have to let me know if any dangerous animals pop out.”
As Honey’s parent, Gio instinctively knew that this round water bird was by no means weak. Though Honey was small and precious, he served as a reliable bodyguard.
Walking through the forest, Gio continued his lecture. “There are important conditions for making delicious cured meat.”
“First, adjusting the amount of salt according to the storage period and climate.”
“It might sound pointless in a forest like this where ingredients don’t rot…”
“Kkuk?”
“If there’s too much salt in cured meat, it lasts longer but becomes hard to use in cooking. On the other hand, if you put too little salt, the curing process won’t work properly and the meat will spoil.”
“Kkoong-kkoong-kkoong…”
“Yeah, it’s a hassle.”
And that was what made it fun. Every complex recipe in the world possessed a fatal charm that stimulated Gio’s sense of challenge.
“The temperature in this forest is moderately mild, and since it’s cured well, it’s great that we don’t have to worry about the meat spoiling. I don’t really like overly salty jerky or sausages anyway.”
“Kuu-ruk…”
“If it’s too salty, you can’t eat much of it. It fills you up too quickly.”
“Kkuk.”
“I knew you’d agree with me.”
Father and son confirmed their mutual trust.
“And second, drying it according to its purpose.”
“Sniff?”
It was a reaction that roughly translated to, Does cured meat even have different purposes?
“Not all sausages are the same.” He was truly happy that having his son by his side meant he didn’t have to talk to himself. This was why people needed friends. “Naturally, the longer you dry it, the tougher the meat gets, so there are many varieties.”
“Kuu-ru-ru…”
“Sure, you’ll eat anything, but think about it from a human’s perspective.”
There were more types of recipes in the world than there were people.
“There are sausages you eat fresh, and there are sausages you dry completely until they’re hard before cooking.”
Usually, the former is boiled or grilled, while the latter is boiled like fresh sausage or even steamed.
“Fresh sausages overflow with juice with just a little heat, but completely dried sausages don’t. Since nobody wants to chew on a rock-hard sausage, they try to replenish the missing moisture inside somehow… I suppose that’s how it goes.”
And third.
“This is the most important part. Taste and aroma.”
“Kuu-ru-ru-ru-ru.”
Honey agreed vehemently.
“What a gourmet.”
In fact, Gio believed this made up 99.9% of what made a sausage great.
“Your dad hates tasteless food.”
“Snort.”
Honey agreed vehemently once again.
“So, since we’re making it, I want to do a good job this time too.”
Depending on the type of sausage, the form of the ingredients changed slightly.
“There are endless ways to make sausages. If you want a clean, mild meat flavor, you just add a little salt and a tiny bit of spice to mask any gamey smell. If you want a stimulating side dish, you can add spices that have a sharp aroma and a pungent kick.”
“Kkoong…”
“If you want to experience a wider variety of flavors, you can add vegetables as well as spices. Of course, it’s a bit difficult if the vegetables release too much water… but in my experience, if you salt them and squeeze out all the moisture before adding them, it prevents water or mold from forming inside the sausage.”
Gio’s eyes gleamed as he imagined the sausages he would make.
“I’m starting to crave something spicy, so I’d like to find some spices or vegetables that can give my tongue a fiery kick. When making that kind of sausage, adding ingredients with a slightly bitter taste makes the flavor richer. Of course, if you add too much, you’ll end up with a culinary disaster…”
Gio’s self-esteem was far too high to worry about such things.
“There’s no way someone with the soul of an amazing artist like me would make such a mistake. Just trust me.”
“Kuu-ruk?”
“…Are you worried the spicy food won’t suit your palate? True, it might be too stimulating for a bird.” Gio nodded. “Then I should make some mild sausages too. It’s the same when making those; if you want a richer flavor, you can add ingredients with a mild, gentle aroma. Lightly scented herbs would be good.”
“…”
“But I still want something stimulating. How about we make one spicy batch and one really salty batch? I hope we can find ingredients that pair well with spices like Milky Way Mary or ginger.”
“…”
At Honey’s bright, questioning gaze that seemed to ask, Can you really do that?, Gio nodded confidently.
“There’s nothing your dad can’t do.”
What wouldn’t he do to eat something delicious? Gio was confident.
Just then, something caught his eye.
Crying Hem
>
Unrefined Crying Hem has a deep teal color and a spicy taste and aroma. Washing it in water mixed with sugar and the sap of the Dorong-dorong Tree neutralizes its toxicity.
“What a perfect explanation.”