Book 17 Chapter 13
Episode 110
Now, on the continent of Akrad, only a few interlude stories remain from what happened on the way to the Blue City <Terbenople>.
They were mostly insignificant things, but some of them were quite meaningful.
Among them, of course, was his first labyrinth exploration.
“Lin, take a look at this for a second.”
Rista beckoned him over.
When he approached, he saw a wolf’s carcass, horribly mutilated and left abandoned.
“Was it driven out of its pack? Doesn’t look like a human did this.”
Kies, who was perched on a tree branch, sipping from a gourd, wiggled his index finger.
“What? Are you saying this is the work of a monster?”
[(ㅇ-ㅇ)…]
“This is the Bellisor Grand River area, so people pass through here a lot. You’re not saying a monster would appear here, are you?”
[└(-ㅅ-)┘]
“Agh, you! Express shrugging your shoulders yourself! You make Serwebon do everything! Do you want to get hit? Is that it?”
[(ㅠㅅㅠ);;;]
Fride approached Rista, a pipe in his mouth.
“I swear, I don’t know how he understands what speechless opponents say.”
Rista smiled brightly in agreement. Lin squatted down, examined the wolf carcass closely, and then said,
“This… it hasn’t been dead long. The carcass hasn’t even rotted.”
“That means…!”
“It means it can be eaten.”
Rista’s and Fride’s faces simultaneously turned pale.
“No, no. There’s a village nearby! We can go there to eat. Take your hands off it right now.”
“Th-that’s right, Lin! A monster touched it, so it’s a bit… unsavory to eat, isn’t it! It might have been corrupted or something!”
“Corruption? Is the hero really believing such a superstition? This seems a bit controversial.”
The North is an area with many wolves, and as conflicts between wolves and humans were frequent, methods for consuming their by-products as food also greatly developed.
“In other words, I’ll be in charge of this cooking.”
“Ah, don’t do it!”
“Characteristic of the strongest mage: does not listen to commands from humans weaker than themselves.”
This bastard… Fride wanted to determine who was superior right here and now to clearly establish the pecking order, but Rista was staring at him with wide, furious eyes, so he suppressed his anger.
“Oh, really? Then you cook here. We’re leaving. Cook by yourself and eat it all by yourself.”
However, an unexpected wild card appeared: it was the Sun Parrot Pipi, perched on his shoulder.
“Pipi, not going, not going, going to eat.”
“What? No! You’ll get sick if you eat it!”
“Not sick, not sick, Pipi eats.”
As if Pipi was determined to firmly prove its will, it left Fride’s shoulder and tried to land on Lin’s head! Sval defended against it!
“Kyugyung, kyu kyukyukyung. Kyukyu kyugyung (This is my private seat. Sharing is difficult)!”
“Move, move, move.”
Just as Sval’s punch and Pipi’s kick were about to clash again, Rista smiled brightly! Instantly, Pipi and Sval became harmonious and shared the seat amicably!
“There are several ways to cook wolf meat in the North, but the dish the gorillas of the Magic Tower liked best was smoked roast.”
What’s important is the wood to be used for smoking!
The smoking method’s taste is more heavily influenced by the type and quality of wood used to produce the smoke than by the quality of the meat itself, making it suitable for tough, muscular meats like wolf.
But it was Kies, seasoned by a hunter’s life, who clicked his tongue as if to scold Lin’s judgment.
“?!!”
What a master!
Removing tendons and fat with a knife in an instant, then skewering only the meat into bite-sized pieces, was truly a first-class hand movement!
“No, this isn’t skewers! Smoked roast tastes better eaten individually, piece by piece!”
[(★-★)V]
“Are you saying you want to compete? Good, conveniently there are two judges whose brains haven’t been tainted by regional discrimination, so let’s determine who’s superior here.”
Does the saying that position makes the man apply even to small creatures?!
Pipi’s and Sval’s expressions, wearing judge armbands, weren’t just strict, solemn, and serious; they felt arrogant.
Kies, who chose plain skewers, finished his dish first and presented it to the judges.
“Looks ordinary, ordinary, are you underestimating us, us, us?”
[(ㄴ-ㄴ);;;]
“Kyugyung, kyugyung!”
What an abuse of power!
But the moment they took a bite, the expressions of the two small creatures changed drastically! It was like a heavenly harmony!
The melody singing on their tongues repeated three syllables in a row! Delicious, delicious, delicious!
“Don’t make a winning face already. The match is just beginning.”
Next, Chef Lin’s serve!
Unlike Kies, who competed purely on taste, the smoked roasts placed on Lin’s mess kit each had an eyeball on top!
This was prepared as a dramatic device: as Lin burst the eyeball’s inner membrane with a toothpick, white fluid flowed out, covering the meat! Insanely disgusting!
“Kyaoooooo!”
It was then.
A monster attacked Lin, who was confidently walking towards the judges with the mess kit!
Since he was holding the mess kit with both hands, reacting with magic was impossible!
“Ah, no! My ambitious creation!”
The monster snatched the falling dish from Lin’s hands with its jaws, seeming as if it would swallow the entire mess kit… but then it spat it out and painfully retched.
“…”
In that instant, an Osarius Rosary began to rotate dazzlingly in Lin’s left hand, whose face had turned cold, creating a powerful flow of energy.
“Secret Technique, Cerebral Hemorrhage.”
Fride, understanding the current situation, hastily flew over and smacked Lin’s head with his pipe.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Are you going to blow away the entire area?!!”
“Let go of me!!! That guy is an evil that shouldn’t exist in this world!!!!!”
“He’s probably the benefactor who made you face the reality of your cooking! A dish that even a monster can’t eat, Kahahahahat!!! My goodness, oh my, oh dear!!!!!”
Then, something that flew in from somewhere with a tearing sound split the monster’s body cleanly in two along its spine.
It was a Windmill Boomerang!
What appeared where the boomerang returned after obliterating its target was Hunter Juicy, who had become acquainted with the hero’s party during the Hosen Kingdom incident!
“Ah, Shrine Maiden? So it was you after all! I’m Juicy!”