Short chapter, and not much convoluted sentences.
Do comment if there are any glaring mistake.
100% accuracy not guaranteed. Read at your own risk.
It was delicious
Simply by hunting during morning hours, I obtained four pieces of silver coins as a reward. The breakdown was, 2 silver pieces for the standard reward plus 2 additional pieces for delivering it in good condition. a.s.suming the average reward for a single E rank hunting request as 3 silver coins, its just a bit above the average. The monthly rent for the cheap inn I"m lodging at was a piece of gold coin, so I"ll be able to pay for it after doing similar request about four or five times.
After receiving the reward, I was informed by the staff of the horn rabbit"s nickname. I wanted you to tell me this first, or so I wanted to say but the guild staff continued on. It was in order to severely baptize ecstatic new adventurer. Although the horn rabbit has a ferocious nature contrary to its appearance, it can be defeated without any problem if some research was done beforehand. Even if no prior knowledge was acquired, those with the ability with to clear through E rank test should be able to safely defeat it, provided they didn"t neglect caution. The hunt for horn rabbit was, for all intent and purposes, a subst.i.tute for [mental apt.i.tude] test.
「Even so, that was fast. The horn rabbits are not timid, unlike normal rabbits, so they are easier to find. But still, it would normally take until dusk to hunt five of it.」
「Well yes, the first one took a while for me to find, but then I got the hang of it. And when I found the last one, it was already stuck in a tree.」
「Oh, that happens occasionally. When merchants without fighting power wants to obtain horn rabbit meat, they look for such an occasion when exploring the forest. The horn rabbit appearance being what it is, sometimes they themselves were the ones being stabbed if they are not careful.」
「……I can laugh if I just listen to the words, but after actually experiencing it, its not a joke at all.」
Its twice as scary when you say all that with a straight face.
「Oh, I got one extra for myself, but where can I cook it?」
「If that"s the case, you can take it to the diner next to this building. The shop manager was originally an adventurer and should be able to handle most of the edible magic beast that lives in the vicinity of Draknil. The horn rabbit is usually on the menu but you will be given discount if you bring in the ingredients.」
「By the way, how much does it cost normally?」
「It is about five copper coins but if you bring in ingredient, its about five iron coins.」
The price fluctuation is amazing. I had heard that magic beast meat was often superior than domestic meat. Even an E rank magic beast, the horn rabbit has this kind of price tag.
After thanking the staff, I left the reception desk. Its currently past lunch time. Its late for lunch but isn"t it a perfect time to bring in ingredient into the restaurant. I"m sure it would be annoying to bring it in during busy lunch hour. The diner next to the guild was unexpectedly crowded even after lunch. Most of the seats are occupied by adventurers. Maybe they all have the same reasoning as mine.
Although it was crowded, it was not full house as there were empty seats here and there. Soon after having a seat, a waitress came. A simple but cute girl with little makeup. Seems younger than me. Several other waitress were also weaving between the tables.
「Welcome! Have you decided what to order?」
「I heard that you can bring ingredients here.」
「That right! Is onii-san an adventurer? By the way, what did you bring?」
I showed the content of the bag freely provided by the guild. It was a corpse of a magic beast, but the waitress nodded without screaming as if used to such situation.
「This is onii-san"s first visit right? Depending on the magic beast, it may take time to prepare, so we might not be able to serve them right away even if we started preparing it immediately.」
「In other words, I should bring it in advance?」
「There are some ingredients that take several days to process, so take note okay. In that case, a receipt will be handed over to the customer so they can return to the store at later date.」
「I see. I got it. I"ll do that next time.」
Depending on the ingredients, enjoying dishes made out of it may happen the next day or even later date. That wasn"t in the explanation the staff gave me.
「The guild staff didn"t explain much was because its only horn rabbit. We can serve this right away, no special preparations needed. Any preference for cooking method? Its recommended to grill it. We can also make a stew out of it but it will take a little bit more time. Both are priced at 5 iron coins.」
「I"ll take grilled」
「Okay! Now then, I"ll take the rabbit with me.」
With the bag in hand, the waitress headed to the kitchen.
「One order of horn rabbit steak, coming right up!」
A lively voice came out from the kitchen.
After 10 minutes of waiting, a steak with mouth-wateringly appetizing aroma was brought out on top of a wooden plate. Enduring the urge from jumping straight at the steak, I put my hands together and said [Itadakimasu]. Its a habit done from my childhood, if I don"t do this, it doesn"t feel right.
Now then, without further ado.
ーーーーーーーーーーー (During mealtime.)
Conclusion.
Its very delicious.
Eh? Was this a rabbit? If you say that was from a domesticated (j.a.pan) beef, I will absolutely believe it, you know. What"s more surprising was that, this horn rabbit meat ranks low among magic beast ingredients. Its also popular as luxurious meat in ordinary households. Which means, higher ranked magic beast produces higher grade meat than this.
Upon discovery of this taste, remorseful feeling rose up as I remembered my journey so far. I hated carrying a bulky backpack and most of the magic beasts that were subjugated during the trip had only been treated with minimal processing and left on the spot. Depending on how it were processed, bird-type and reptile-type magic beast could have been possible to consume.
Its really frustrating.
I was not really interested in ranking up at first but, its a completely different story with all these delicious ingredients waiting for me. I"ll become a gourmet! Delicious magic beast, just you wait! As my future course of action was decided, I fully immersed myself with the horn rabbit steak.