The Ultimate Yakitori (4)
The forest in the early hours, still wet with morning dew.
A pair of yellow eyes—the kind only a cat possesses—stared, wide and unblinking, at their target.
Then Ruri's body shot forward.
Flutter—!
"Kyaaak, cock-a-doodle-doo!!! Cluck-cluck."
"Heh heh. Got you, nya. Hold still, nya!"
The wild chicken, still half-asleep and sluggish in its movements, never stood a chance. Ruri scooped it up with ease and dropped it into her sack.
It looked a little different from the ones she'd caught before. Maybe she could hope for a silver coin this time? Already her purse felt heavier.
"Damn it, it's heading that way!"
"Oh. I'll get it!"
"Hey, we already caught that one."
She wasn't the only one out here chasing wild chickens, but it hardly mattered. The commission posted by that black-haired human chef, Kang Jinwoo, was generous enough to go around. Even if today's thirty slips were all filled, you could just keep the bird alive and turn it in tomorrow.
Strange-looking things, too—and cooking wasn't exactly a high-paying trade. Jinwoo had put in a request to buy each new breed of chicken for one silver, and duplicates for fifty copper. For the effort involved, the reward was almost excessive, and the guild's adventurers had thrown themselves into chicken-hunting with everything they had.
One more and that's two silver...!
Assuming an ordinary adventurer lived tightly, a week's expenses came to about eighty copper. Ruri was roughing it at a campsite cheaper than any inn, so hers ran even lower. Two silver, by her measure, would cover roughly two and a half weeks of living. For a beastkin adventurer who could barely land a proper commission, that sum was precious beyond words.
Sniff, sniff—
Ruri put the catfolk's keen nose to full use.
Chicken smell coming from over there, nya...
The scorn and persecution beastkin adventurers used to endure were old news now. Ruri of the catfolk drove herself harder, hunting by wild instinct alone.
Sizzle—
For the past few days, the moment I clocked out I was pulling a second shift at the campsite.
"Three copper. This really all it takes?"
"Of course. The piece that's ready now is... a chicken tender. Give it a try and tell me what you think."
A burly male adventurer dropped three copper coins into the basket beside me. They vanished into the heap already piled there, and I handed him a skewer of chicken tender.
Chomp—
He tore through it in a single wild bite, then spoke.
"Mm! Not gamey at all—the meat aroma's rich. Juicy and tender, too. I always figured chicken was chicken, but I was wrong!"
"Thank you for the review. Come back tomorrow."
"You bet I will. Who knew a meat skewer could taste this good. Guess chefs aren't around for nothing."
He laughed, big and hearty, and left. There wasn't a breath of room to rest.
"Here! Give me one too."
"Yes, sir. Oh, you're in luck. This is bonjiri... that is, the tail-meat skewer."
"Huh? Tail meat? Hmm..."
"Just try it. If it's no good, I'll give you your money back."
"Well, if you put it that way. Let's have a taste."
Crunch, crunch—!
A man who looked a bit older bit into the bonjiri skewer with open reluctance. They also call it the tail skewer: it isn't a hard-worked muscle, so the meat stays tender, and the chicken's fat is concentrated there more thickly than anywhere else—a delicacy among delicacies. Only one piece comes off a single bird, which makes it rather rare. And once you fall for bonjiri, you can't look for anything else. A nutty richness entirely different from thigh or neck.
"Oh—ohhh! The richness of the chicken fat, how deep it runs. The more you chew this tender meat, the oil never dries up."
"Listen to this man's tasting notes. That's one hell of a review."
"So the refund wasn't just talk. That was delicious."
Smacking his lips, the man stepped out of the campsite.
A mysterious crowd was cutting across the wide grounds, and the line ran straight to the charcoal station I'd set up beside the communal kitchen. People had been eyeing the skewers when Ruri and I ate them, so I'd scaled things up a little—I just hadn't expected the response to be this good.
Didn't you all say you hated grilled meat skewers? Guess not.
"Nnngh, almost my turn. Thank goodness there are still skewers left...!"
"Damn it. Please, just let there be enough until me!!"
"I went hunting yesterday and grilled some myself, but it didn't taste anything like this..."
Food, as it turns out, isn't eaten with the tongue alone. There is a devastating power in the smell of chicken skewers grilled just right over charcoal, and that smell—prejudice against meat skewers be damned—was what had drawn this whole crowd together.
"Nyaa. Busy again today, nya. Is there any left for me, nya?"
"Oh, Ruri. I set some aside, so let's eat together once I close up."
"Good, nya! I'll be waiting, nya."
Ruri had turned up in the middle of my frantic grilling, and I'd kept a few skewers back for her. I needed to taste them myself, and she was the first connection I'd made at this campsite—being cold about it would have felt wrong. Nobody piped up to ask why I wasn't selling that stock too, or why that one woman adventurer got special treatment. This medieval fantasy world was still romantic enough that the old we're all one of us spirit held sway, and people simply weren't that sensitive about such things.
I filled out the day's sales, banked the charcoal, and headed for Ruri's tent. By the time I finished, the sun was already sinking, so lately I'd been telling Eilenna to go ahead and eat dinner without me. I was filling my stomach here while I judged the skewers.
"Good work, nya. Sit here, nya!"
"No. I'll sit across from you."
"It's fine, so sit next to me, nya!!"
Grab—!
Ruri seized my arm and hauled me down beside her by force. A few days of eating together had loosened our speech, but the distance between us felt awfully close.
Nuzzle—
Like now. Sit next to her and she'd tickle my thigh with her tail every single time, then sneak her head against my shoulder. We were perched half inside the tent, where the people outside couldn't see, so she'd taken her hat off too. Her soft cat ears brushed my shoulder in a way that sent a shiver through me.
"Hey. I said you're too close."
"What's close, nya? Catfolk always play with their friends like this, nya!"
"That's catfolk. I'm human..."
"We're friends anyway, aren't we, nya!"
Talking did nothing, so I'd started letting it go. Figuring I ought to just eat the skewers already, I picked one up.
Mm. A thigh skewer is always the right call.
Today's bird was a wild breed from this world. The name was... Haudan, was it? The breed was unfamiliar, but the flavor sat close to the ones I'd eaten all my life.
Chew, chew—
Thigh meat, and still it boasted a sturdy grain and a satisfying chew. Juices burst out the longer I worked it, a satisfaction so complete I wished the chewing could go on forever. The greatest charm of strongly wild meat is the bite itself, and the carnivorous instinct that rises with it. The aroma was deep enough to make me feel, for a moment, like I'd become a beast. I savored the thigh skewer the way a wolf gnaws a whole chicken, working it down to nothing.
Had Ruri just gone through the same sequence? She chewed and swallowed an identical thigh skewer with a look of pure rapture on her face. Then, all at once, a strange engine-like sound began to rise from her chest.
Wait. This is that thing. The... purr?
"Prrrrrr..."
"Ru—Ruri? You okay?"
"I can't hold it anymore, nya!!"
Pounce—!
Before I could so much as raise a hand, Ruri bit down on my forearm. She didn't bite all that hard, but her fangs were sharper than any human's, and the pain snapped me wide awake.
"Ow, shit! Let go!"
"Grrrrr, prrrrr!"
"Let go! I said let go! Hey—you're not letting go?"
I shook my arm every which way. Ruri only followed with her head and clung on, stubborn as anything.
Ha... I didn't want to do this. No choice.
The tail that had been wrapped so naturally around my thigh—I grabbed it, rough and without ceremony.
And then.
Stroke, stroke-stroke—!
No mercy. None at all. I ran my hand over that tail without a shred of restraint.
"Heh—heeeeeeeek!!!"
"Whew. Finally let go."
Only then did Ruri jump and release my forearm. No wound, but a faint red mark had been left behind.
Twitch, twitch—!
She was trembling in fits, like a cat with a shorted circuit. Mouth half open, eyes gone glassy—she'd taken a point-blank tail shot, plain and simple. Should've stopped while it was still reasonable. I didn't have a choice either.
"U—ughhh! Heek...!"
"Right... I'm going. Enjoy the food. Yeah."
"Nya. Nyaaa..."
I left Ruri's share of the skewers and got out of the campsite. That was my late-afternoon routine. Right after I clocked out of the academy stall, it was a different story.
"Lady Eilenna, I'm heading out. Please go ahead and eat dinner!"
"W—wait!"
Same as always, I left the mansion the moment work ended. The reason for the rush was simple: a great many people had been waiting on me since early morning.
Clatter—
I ran without a pause and burst through the doors of the adventurer guild. Charging noisily into a den of fierce, rough adventurers was, under ordinary circumstances, a perfect way to pick a fight and get beaten for it. That did not apply to me now.
"The client's here!!"
"Check fast. I caught two of a new kind!"
"All right, everyone settle down. Line up like usual, please."
I took the commotion in hand with practiced ease and sat at the desk that had been set out for me. The crowds had been so relentless for days that the guild had temporarily prepared a spot. And just as I had the day before yesterday, and yesterday, I checked the results of the commission.
"Here! The feathers are like a spotted puppy—white, with black hairs dotted all through."
"Hoh... definitely a breed I haven't seen. Do you happen to know the name?"
"Oddly appetizing name, that. Here's two silver."
"Mokki-yahoo!!"
The adventurer who'd brought in a new breed let out a victory cry and took the silver. After him they kept coming, showing me their chickens while I sorted duplicates from firsts and handed over the pay.
"One's a duplicate, but the other's a breed I haven't seen. Here—one silver and fifty copper."
"Yeah, thanks, brother!"
"Next, please!"
I was in the middle of that strict sorting when—
"J-Jinwoo...? What are you doing here?"
"Eh."
Eilenna, appearing out of nowhere, was staring at me in open shock.
After I'd paid out every commission for the day, I explained things to Eilenna in the kitchen of the communal campsite.
"So... to make the ultimate yakitori, you were out looking for all kinds of chickens? You even posted a commission at the adventurer guild?"
"Yes. And I've been grilling skewers from those chickens here—tasting them, and earning a bit of pocket money while I'm at it...!"
"Haa, honestly. It's a strange thing to be doing, but... at least it isn't dangerous. I was worried."
"Worried? Why?"
"Well, your clothes smell like a stray ca— hmm. It's nothing. I just worry because I don't know what you're running around doing!"
Eilenna cut herself off mid-sentence and corrected course in a hurry. Something about my clothes, it had sounded like. Well, I wasn't sure what she meant, and Eilenna always worried too much. I was grateful she thought of me, but I wasn't a child. I answered as if it were nothing.
"Don't worry. Sir Arthur feels the same way you do, and Brunok isn't thrilled about it either, so don't I have to go out and prove it myself?"
"You do talk well, I'll give you that."
Even so, this little enterprise ended today. The week I'd promised was nearly up, and I'd already gathered more than enough data. I set the charcoal station with practiced hands and laid out the skewers. Eilenna didn't know much about handling meat, so she only stood there staring at me, blank. For my part, I didn't want her help here on top of everything—she was already worn thin by the academy business.
"Jinwoo, is today the last day, nya?"
"Ruri, you're here. Yeah. The festival's coming up soon."
"Hnya... feels a little disappointing, nya."
"What's there to be disappointed about? Come by during the festival. I'll give you a discount."
"A discount! Good, nya. Can I nuzzle you then, too, nya?"
"What? What did that woman just say, Jinwoo?"
Ruri had dropped by while I was setting up, and somewhere in the back-and-forth that line had slipped out. It was a remark ripe for misunderstanding, and Eilenna's mood went cold.
Not as a figure of speech. Literally.
Hisssss...
Ice spirits gathered around her, freezing the moisture out of the air. Ice-spirit arts weren't even her main craft—what power was she suddenly drawing on to do that? I spoke before the misunderstanding could grow any larger.
"No. It isn't anything strange... I told her I didn't like it."
"You told her. And?"
"She kept forcibly rubbing her head... against my shoulder. That's really all it was. Nothing dangerous happened."
"Nyaa? Nothing dangerous, nya? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to rub my sensitive spot that hard, nya? I really thought I was going to lose my mind, nya."
"Ah, shit."
A fire that had been burning frighteningly enough on its own. Ruri dumped a barrel of oil on it, then upended a bucket of water for good measure. Pour water on an oil fire and you get an explosion. The words she'd just spat out were terrorism on exactly that scale.
Crack—!
This went past frost rising off frozen moisture. Behind Eilenna, razor-edged icicles began to lift into the air, one after another.
"Now that I look, the smell is the same, too. You filthy she-cat... eyeing Jinwoo?"
"Filthy, nya?! Do you have any idea how cleanly I groom my fur before you say something like that, nya? You pointy-ears!"
"Wh—what? Pointy-ears? You are really asking for it."
Ah. I was screwed. Explaining wasn't going to touch this. There was no stopping it now.
Hoping the repair bill for the communal kitchen wouldn't come out too steep... I solemnly braced myself for the chaos about to unfold.