CH 33

Development of Hunting Ground

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

“Okay, here’s where I’m seeing it for the first time.”

Coming to my usual hunting ground, I head to a certain spot as soon as possible.

On the way there, I hunted five Dashboas that had attacked me, drained their blood to keep them fresh, and put them in my magic bag.

The purpose of this time was to explore a new hunting ground.

I earned money by delivering Dashboa materials to the guild, but I suspect that this trend would eventually disappear.

Although there was an added value in the form of the materials I delivered, once a certain amount of demand was fulfilled, the supply would be greater and the price itself would settle down to the market price.

At that time, it would be troublesome to rush to find other sources of income, so I decided to find the next way to earn money from now on.

So, in order to find a new way to earn money, I chose to explore the forest where the Wild Dashboa appeared.

Looking at the place where I fought the Wild Dashboa last time, it seemed to have succeeded in escaping from the pit I had created, so it must still be alive somewhere.

“That big pig, I’m going to finish it off…….”

However, even if I were to kill it, I would probably not be able to bring it back with me, since the combined load capacity of the two magic bags I currently carry was 150 kilograms.

Even the lesser grizzly I fought in the past was a huge beast, probably weighing 200 kilograms. Since the Wild Dashboa was even larger this time, I would have to get a magic bag weighing 200 kilograms to bring it back with me.

“Well, that’s about it. Let us now begin the exploration of the forest!”

I declared this to no one in particular and entered the forest.

This time, the forest wasn’t similar to the thicket forest in Laresta, but rather a dense, overgrown forest with many trees.

However, it didn’t feel gloomy, and the sunlight was reaching into the forest moderately, so it was relatively cozy.

As I proceeded, alert to my surroundings, I quickly discovered the blessings of the forest.

“These mushrooms are edible, and I believe the grass growing over there is used to make medicine.”

I didn’t realize there was such an abundance of material as soon as I entered……. This is a good start. Very good indeed!

As I was gathering mushrooms under the guise of exploring the forest with such thoughts in my mind, there was a response to my presence detection.

When I paused my foraging and concentrated on the signs coming toward me, it appeared.

“A wolf…….well, that’s pretty common for a monster in the middle of the forest.”

“Grrrrrr……”

What appeared were three wolf-type monsters, each a meter and a half long.

I used the appraisal to find out their names and found that they were called [Forest Wolves]. …..Yeah, that’s exactly what they are.

The strength itself wasn’t that strong, with an average status of E+ at best.

Its rank was E, and it seemed to be the type of monster that could show its true value only when it was grouped.

It had a slightly greenish fur color, and its eyes glared at me sharply, and it was still growling as if it was threatening me.

It undoubtedly had its eyes set on me as its prey, and its murderous intent was real. An ordinary novice adventurer would have cowered in fear at the sight of it.

“Is your meat, delicious?”

“Grrr…”

“Oh well, I’ll know it when I eat it. So, nice to meet you. And good-bye. [Aquaball]!”

Using the Aquaball strategy, which was effective against beasts, the three wolves were instantly transformed into motionless corpses.

This method was very convenient, as it allowed me to obtain the materials unscathed and without any resistance from them.

I checked the surroundings to see if any other monsters had come close, but there was no sign of them, so I decided to continue the process of draining the blood from the wolves.

However, since the area was in a forest that was not well ventilated this time, wind magic was used in combination to disperse the scent of blood so that it would not spread.

The process of draining the blood from the three beasts was finished quickly, and I put two of them in my magic bag and dismantled the other one.

The materials that could be taken from a wolf-type monster were the same as those from a Dashboa, fur, bones, fangs, and meat, but I had a feeling that the quality of the magic stone that could be taken from a wolf was higher.

Perhaps this was because forest wolves ranked higher than dashboas. For the record, dashboa had the lowest rank, F.

After getting the meat, I wanted to start cooking, but there was a problem. I was in the middle of the forest.

If I cooked the wolf meat using a fire, there was a possibility that the fire would spread to the forest. Environmental destruction wouldn’t be a good thing.

“All right, then, let’s do a little bit of land leveling in this area.”

To prevent the spread of fire to the forest, an appropriate area should be leveled using earth magic.

The area where the grass was growing was hardened with soil so that it would not be a problem to make a bonfire. The size of the area was roughly two meters square, which wasn’t very large.

Now that the environment for cooking was ready, I started cooking immediately.

I picked up sticks that had fallen all over the place as firewood and used fire magic to ignite the fire.

Considering that the meat was from a carnivorous beast and therefore too tough to eat, the meat was prepared by beating it with the belly of a knife that was used to dismantle it.

Then, to prevent the meat from becoming tough when grilled, a small incision was made in the meat.

The meat was then put on a skewer made of a wooden stick and placed near the fire to wait for the meat to cook.

When the meat was cooked through, sprinkle a pinch or two of salt on top of the meat.

This finishing touch, the moment when the salt was applied, might be my favorite part of the cooking process. I had no particular reason for it, but I guess it somehow fits my taste.

“Now, it’s done. Let’s eat it right away. …… Itadakimasu. Hmu!”

The meat in my mouth was tender and I was able to bite through it, although I wasn’t sure if it was thanks to the preparation or if it was originally that way. Every time I chewed, the flavor of the meat spread into my mouth, and my tongue, brain, and all of my body rejoiced at the deliciousness of it.

Despite being a carnivorous beast, it had no distinctive animal smell and tasted similar to the horse or deer meat I had eaten in a previous life.

The seasoning was simple, just salt, but the meat was fresh because it was disassembled immediately after being hunted, and it was truly delicious.

“I need another.”

The meat I grilled to try was soon gone, so I continued to grill and eat more.

I was not a glutton in my previous life, but I was able to eat a lot in this life, perhaps because I was at an age when I was in the prime of my life.

About three kilograms of meat disappeared into my stomach, leaving me feeling full and happy.

”Fuu, It was a good meal. I’m satisfied…….”

One of the good things about being reborn in this world was that the food was surprisingly tasty.

This might be because the ingredients themselves do not contain chemicals or other substances that could harm the body, and most of them came from natural sources, allowing people to enjoy the taste of the ingredients themselves.

However, because the food culture was not developed like that of the Earth, proper cooking methods were not widely spread, and seasonings were limited to salt, pepper, and a few spices, making it difficult to add variations to the flavors.

“When I have a stable base of livelihood, I’ll have to make it. Soy sauce and miso, then mayonnaise and ketchup.”

As it was standard in novels about reincarnation and otherworldly transfers, it was natural to try to express the taste of the original world’s cuisine over here.

However, I also understood that it would be best not to share that with the people around me.

In this less civilized world, even a single recipe for a dish could be considered an asset, and it was not uncommon for a high price to be attached to that recipe.

Especially for highly skilled cooks, recipes that they created themselves were rarely made public and were treated as secrets to be handed down from master to apprentice, which was one of the reasons why the recipes were not widely available.

In any case, if the knowledge of an unknown recipe were to spread, there would always be someone in power who would try to obtain it, so if people want to spread such techniques, they should only do so after they obtained the means to compete with those in power.

However, I wasn’t interested in that kind of thing, so I was going to cook just enough for myself to eat and enjoy it.

“Now that things are settled down, let’s go hunting for some wolves…….”

Before I knew it, I felt like my objective had shifted from exploring new hunting grounds to hunting forest wolves, but be that as it might, I continued deeper into the forest.