Chapter 39

The last strip of jerky was hung in the yard.

"..."

Jio clapped.

"It's practically a field of meat."

"Gurgle."

"Dad agrees too. It's a beautiful sight."

That did not mean he had turned all the meat into jerky.

He trusted the forest where ingredients did not spoil, so he put a few pieces of raw meat into the ice storage, and also...

"I should turn the leftover meat into sausages or store it."

The system had said it would gain an effect if it was "processed meat dried in the sun."

So for now, he had marinated sliced meat in seasoning and hung it out like dried fish, but he had deliberately used only the tender cuts so it would be easier to eat later.

Now it was time to deal with the scraps left over after making jerky.

"I separated the intestines and stomach on purpose and got rid of the smell, so they should be usable soon."

He had not given all of the deer's organs to the waterbirds.

He had set aside the intestines, which stretched out long like rope, and the stomach, which was full of traces that made it very clear the deer had eaten a great deal.

He had removed everything that smelled and soaked them in water ground with apples, lemons, and onions, so he should not have to suffer over any strange odors.

"As far as I know, there's plenty of meat left too."

"Gurrrrrgle."

"I'm still clumsy at butchering... so there are a lot of broken-up pieces of meat. I think they'll be perfect for making sausages."

It would not be bad to use them for soup either, but hadn't the system told him to make them in the form of "sun-dried processed meat" if he wanted to increase the effects of the tree-antlered deer?

Rather than dry all the little scraps one by one, it seemed more efficient to lump them together into sausages and hang them out.

It was also one of the excellent ways to store leftover scraps of meat.

"Let's make soup with the remaining bones and meat later."

"Gurrrrrrrgle!"

It seemed fine to make bone broth in advance too.

"Then the important question now is how to season it."

Honey rejoiced.

"Oink."

"A pig?"

"Grr."

"All right."

It seemed he had finally acknowledged his own identity.

"Since we're at it, I'd like to look for some unusual spices..."

Even from a rough glance, this cabin forest was quite vast.

The places Jio went were always the same, and there were surely many places and fruits he had yet to see.

"Should we go exploring for the first time in a while?"

"Thump, thump, thump."

"Of course I'm taking you with me."

When he recalled how Honey had combatively devoured the deer's organs, he could not feel more reassured.

'The animals of this forest may be friendly to me... but there's no guarantee animals that crossed over from other dimensions will be the same. That's scary, so I absolutely have to take Honey.'

That was right. Jio was scared.

"No matter how I think about it, an invasive species was too much."

"Grrk...?"

"If a deer with metal horns and hooves went wild, I'm confident I'd die in ten seconds."

"Grumble..."

"Protect your fragile dad."

So where did he need to go now to find what kind of spice?

"If I start moving first, maybe I'll think of something I want to do."

Having reached that clear conclusion, Jio rummaged around and took out his cloak to put it on.

Even though he wore it whenever he thought he was going a little far, the cloak was still perfectly clean.

'I'll upgrade this later too.'

He felt as if he had already thought that more than fifty times.

When that happened, people usually never touched it.

"..."

"Grr..."

"I'll do it someday."

As usual, Jio also took a basket with him and set his top priority.

"I'd like to get some new spices or sauces. There have to be unique ingredients that only appear in fantasy worlds like this. Like Rurupu or Mangdung Fruit..."

For example, things like pepper, salt, and sugar.

"There are limits to relying on the cabin."

The cabin cupboards and storage were filled with basic ingredients and spices.

But he did not know how long those would last, and he did not know if they would automatically refill like they had at first when he used them all up.

"It's better to prepare in advance than have it become troublesome later because I have to draw everything one by one."

"Grrgle."

"Especially things like salt are essential for living..."

The water in the waterbird lake was salty, so if he tried evaporating it somehow, salt might come out.

'I haven't tried it yet, but it shouldn't be impossible.'

Jio suddenly muttered.

"It might be nice if a dairy cow or a chicken dropped in from somewhere."

He was even wishing for livestock now.

"Then I'd be able to get milk or eggs whenever I wanted."

"Gurrrrr?"

"You... weren't you male?"

He had no basis for it, but he had thought Honey was male. Could he lay eggs?

"Were you not my son, but my daughter?"

"Grunt."

"Ah, that's not it."

"Grunt, grunt."

"... Oh..."

Apparently, Honey had no sex.

"That's amazing."

Then again, when he looked at the lake's waterbirds, which increased their numbers by splitting eggs like some kind of amoeba, there did not seem to be any particular need for a process like mating.

Jio nodded.

"It's too annoying to think about deeply, so let's just say you're my son. Do you agree?"

"Grrk."

"Good."

For a moment, Jio almost grew frightened of his own boundless ability, but when he realized that the only thing he would make with that ability was roasted potatoes, he became comfortable again.

"There's no way someone as harmless as me is a creature that threatens world peace."

"..."

"Affirm that at once, Honey. Dad is a harmless living being."

Honey did not affirm it to the end.

"How firm of you."

Honey could say no when the answer was no.

The cabin forest was very cool.

When they entered the shade, a cool breeze blew, and when they were under the sunlight, warm air wrapped around the two of them like a blanket hung out in spring.

Even walking around without any particular goal had a pleasant refinement to it, like going on a picnic.

"Ah."

As Jio walked along at random like that, he finally found a decent harvest.

"I think this is edible."

"Gurrrgle."

"Right? The scent is unique too..."

It was a plant with small, transparent tetrahedral fruits dangling in rows like lily-of-the-valley flowers.

"..."

The first discoverer?

'There was a first discoverer named Mary?'

It was information that dramatically expanded the worldview.

Did that not mean the plants growing here, and perhaps even the animals, might exist in some other dimension too?

"So this ecosystem wasn't made from my imagination alone."

"Grrk?"

"No, I'm not upset."

It was just a little funny how strangely broad the worldbuilding was.

"Heavens above."

Where on earth had he fallen?

"Life really is a roller coaster."

The system also informed him of the Elixir Refining Method, but he was not very interested.

Jio focused only on its taste and aroma.

"So it's pepper, right?"

He did not care about recovery from fatigue or whatever else.

Delighted by the existence of a spice he had found for the first time in a while, Jio quickly picked the fruits of the "Milky Way Mary."

Because the fruits were already fully ripe, when he tapped them, they promptly pattered down.

"I should remember this."

After gathering more than a handful of fruit, Jio straightened his back and muttered.

"This must be the Milky Way colony."

The flower bed, where countless small, transparent fruits glittered, was beautiful enough that it felt like a waste to look at it alone.

Perhaps because the forest was so dark, the transparency of the fruits stood out even more, and they truly looked like the Milky Way.

"It'd be even more amazing to see at night."

"Grrr..."

"Anyway, pepper is taken care of."

Sniff, sniff. He smelled them, but there was no scent right now.

"... Is it structured so the scent comes out when it's dried?"

Like the Mangdung Fruit.

'What kind of spiciness will it be?'

It was said to have a spicy and pungent aroma, but he could not tell exactly what kind of feeling that meant.

"It might not be pepper, but more like a small hot chili pepper."

"Gurrr?"

"Or will it be similar to Sichuan peppercorns? But Sichuan peppercorns are closer to numbing than spicy... I guess I'll only know what dishes I can use it in after drying it myself first."

The little fruits glittered like transparent beads, but they were weak and rustled as if they were made of thin plastic.

Inside, he could feel flesh that was firmer than the skin... but it seemed like it would be crushed easily.

"And this gets hard when dried."

It was fascinating vegetation that could have come out of a fairy tale.

Its appearance too.

"I'll try using it when grilling meat."

Feeling the reward of living, Jio carefully hugged the basket to his chest.

In the Earth's past, pepper had been treated almost like gold, and that was exactly how Jio felt now.

"I wonder if there are any other spices somewhere."

"Grr?"

"Even so, it would be too boring to make it with only pepper."

"Thump."

"Let's go a little deeper."

Sausages could be made in all sorts of ways.

"First, meat and fat are the basic preparations."

He had already prepared that part by dividing it by cut.

In case it somehow spoiled, he had placed it in a cool storage room and covered it with a large cloth.

Once he gathered all the other preparations, he intended to start mincing the meat then.

The meat he had butchered this time had no gamy smell, but he needed other spices that would enhance the savoriness.

It would be far too uninteresting to make sausages simply with salt, pepper, and meat.

"As a rule, sausages should have deep aroma and flavor."

Fortunately, he had already found "Milky Way Mary," which would serve as both chili pepper and black pepper.

"But this alone isn't enough."

The fun of making sausages lay precisely in the way their taste and aroma changed distinctly depending on what herbs and spices were added to the filling.

A decent sausage would probably come out with only Milky Way Mary, which he assumed had a scent that mixed chili pepper and black pepper, but...

"Let's keep going for now."

"Gurrrgle."

"If a dangerous animal jumps out, you have to tell me."

Jio, who could be called Honey's parent, instinctively knew that this round little waterbird was not weak at all.

Honey was small and precious, but even though he looked like this, he was serving as a reliable bodyguard.

As they walked through the forest, Jio continued speaking.

"There are important conditions for making delicious cured meat."

First, adjusting the amount of salt to suit the storage period and climate.

"In a forest like this, where the ingredients themselves don't rot, this might sound pointless..."

"Thump?"

"If too much salt goes into cured meat, you can store it for a long time, but it becomes difficult to use in cooking. But if you put in too little salt, the curing itself doesn't work properly, and the meat spoils."

"Grunt, grunt, grunt..."

"Yes, it's troublesome."

And that was what made it fun.

Every fussy cooking method in the world had a fatal charm that stimulated Jio's spirit of challenge.

"The temperature in this forest is moderately mild, but I think it's really nice that as long as the curing goes well, there's no need to worry about the meat spoiling. I don't like jerky or sausages that are too salty anyway."

"Gurrrgle..."

"If it's too salty, you can't eat a lot. You get full quickly."

"Thump."

"I knew you would agree with my opinion too."

The father and son confirmed their trust in each other.

"And second. Drying it according to use."

"Sniff?"

It was roughly a reaction of, "Cured meat has uses too?"

"Sausages aren't all the same."

With one son beside him, he did not have to talk to himself, and he found that fact quite happy.

This was why people needed friends.

"Since it's only natural that meat gets tougher the longer you dry it, there are many different kinds."

"Gurrru..."

"Sure, you'll eat anything, but think about the human point of view too."

There were more types of cooking methods in the world than there were people.

"There are sausages you eat while they're still fresh, and there are sausages you completely harden and then cook before eating."

The former were usually boiled or grilled, while the latter could be boiled like fresh sausage or sometimes steamed.

"With fresh sausage, the juices basically overflow once it gets heat, but fully dried sausage doesn't do that. Nobody wants to chew on a hard sausage, so people try somehow to add back the moisture it's lacking inside... or at least, that's what I think."

And third.

"This is the most important one. Taste and aroma."

"Gurrrrrrgle."

Honey agreed fiercely.

"What a gourmet."

In truth, he believed this made up 99.9 percent of the conditions for an excellent sausage.

"Dad hates things that taste bad."

"Snort."

Honey fiercely agreed this time too.

"So if I'm making it anyway, I want to make it well this time too."

Depending on the type of sausage, the form of the ingredients that went inside differed a little.

"There are countless ways to make sausages. If you want to eat clean-tasting meat, you just add a little salt and only a small amount of spices, enough to remove any off smells. If you need a stimulating side dish, you can add spices that make the aroma sharp and the tongue tingle."

"Grumble..."

"If you want to taste a wider variety of flavors, you can add vegetables, not just spices. Of course, it's a little difficult if they're vegetables that release too much water... but in my experience, if you salt them and draw out all the moisture before adding them in, no water or mold forms inside the sausage, which is nice."

Jio rolled his eyes around, imagining the sausages he would make.

"I've been wanting to eat something spicy soon, so if there are spices or vegetables that can heat my tongue up, I'd like to find them and take them back. When making a sausage like that, if you add an ingredient that gives a slightly bitter taste, the flavor becomes richer. Of course, if you add too much, you'll create some bizarre food..."

Jio's self-esteem was too high for him to be anxious about that kind of thing.

"There's no way I, with the soul of an incredible artist, would make that kind of mistake. Just trust me."

"Gurrrgle?"

"... Are you worried spicy things won't suit your mouth? True, it might be too stimulating for a bird."

Jio nodded.

"Then I should make a clean-tasting sausage too after all. It's the same when making that kind of sausage. If you want a richer flavor, you add ingredients with a gentle, mild aroma. Herbs with a light scent would be good."

"..."

"But I still want to eat something stimulating. How about I make one spicy sausage and one really salty sausage? It'd be nice if there were ingredients that paired well with spices like Milky Way Mary or ginger."

"..."

At Honey's bright, round-eyed gaze that seemed to say, "Can you really do that?" Jio proudly nodded.

"There's nothing Dad can't do."

What couldn't he do if it meant eating something delicious?

Jio was confident.

Then a decent item came into his sight.

"What an absolutely perfect explanation."