Chapter 395: Dragon Meat Festival
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Eguchi Ren: In the previous chapter, it was difficult to tell whether Fer was talking or using telepathy. But, Fer’s really speaking out loud. Sorry for the lack of clarity *sweats*
Gumihou: It’s okay Eguchi-sensei, I gotchu
Fer: Just like in other chapters
Gumihou: Shh
After Isaac-san had reiterated more than three times that, [8] yes, it would take at least two days and no, it cannot be done sooner, we finally left the Guild and returned to our rented abode.
[8] Fer, Sui and Dora-chan had gone to bed grumpy and woke up demanding to eat dragon meat! Dragon meat!
“Oi! Give us dragon meat!”
[6] “Ah,”
““Dragon meat! Dragon meat! Dragon meat!””
[6] “You know you sound like a cannibal…”
“”Sui can eat dragon meat? Yay~!””
[6] “Ah, Sui-tan…” [5]
They were so impatient to eat dragon meat that they actually crowded into the kitchen with me.
I guessed it can’t be helped, I’ll have to grill the steaks in front of them [6] and suffer their ‘Is it done yet? Is it done yet?’ prodding.
[4] “You want Earth Dragon or Red Dragon meat?”
[4] ““Both!!””
Ahh, I should have known.
There was no point denying them now, I had recklessly promised them dragon meat after all. [6] Moreover, it was my mistake to ask them which type of dragon meat they wanted. Now I have to prepare both types.
Well, let’s have a look at the Red Dragon meat first.
[9]
I placed a gorgeous piece of red meat on the table. I swear, it is actually glistening with umami. After cutting it into nice big steak slabs, I scattered special sun-dried salt and good freshly cracked black pepper on them.
Four pans were already on the stove and once I have seasoned all the meat, I got the fire going. The time needed for the pans to warm up should be enough for the simple seasoning to set in.
Indeed, once the first pan was screaming hot, I slapped on the first steak.
The sudden sizzling sound, the curling white smoke and the smell of searing meat were simply irresistible.
[9]
As proven when all my familiars started vibrating with excitement.
“S-still not done?“
‘“I want to eat it now~~””
“”Sui is hungry~””
All three were rus.h.i.+ng me. However, there is no rus.h.i.+ng good food.
[4] “I’m afraid there’s no rus.h.i.+ng this,” I said, not actually sorry as I [9] flipped the first steak over with my tongs. The steaks were so stupidly large that I can’t even flip them with my trusty cooking chopsticks. “You should know by now that good food takes time.” [5] [9] After searing the steaks on both sides, I placed them onto a metal tray. [6] I could feel my familiars’ excitement rose but then sank again when I covered the steaks with aluminium foil. [5]
“Hey! Isn’t it done yet?” [7] demanded Fer.
“No, we must wait 5 minutes,” I said as I took out a bottle of Soy Steak Sauces from my [Item Box]. “You can eat them right away, but the steaks would be more delicious after the 5 minutes is up.”
[9] Because that’s the time needed to make a perfect medium rare steak-
[10]
“Yikes! Fer, I nearly slipped on your drool. Keep it in your mouth or stand further back!”
“Muu, sh-shut up. It’s your fault for making delicious things.”
“Really? Well, my apologies. You can eat raw meat from now on!”
“Guuu….”
“”Sui will clean up~””
“Ah, Sui-san is still the best~”
[10]
[6] Ping!
“Well, the 5 minutes is up, do you want it whole or should I slice it-”
“”Gimme now!!””
“Fine, fine,” I served up the thick pieces of steak with a dash of the Steak Soy Sauce on plates. Just a dash, for the extra umami. “There, one each. Apologies for the wait~”
All three dug into their giant slabs of steaks with obvious relish. [5]
Well, while they were busy, [8] I sliced off a piece of the fourth steak, dipped a corner delicately into the Steak Sauce and took a nibble.
“Oh, wow, this is amazing. Dragon meat sure is something else…”
[6] In a flash, about half of my extra thick steak was gone and I knew that there was no way my familiars were going to be satisfied with just a couple of steaks each…
[9] Therefore, after grilling another steak for them, made with Earth Dragon meat this time, I set out several baking trays on my workstation and filled one with breadcrumbs, one with flour and another with beaten egg…
“You’re making that ‘katsu’ thing?”
“”Ooh, that crispy one, I like~!!”
“”Sui likes i crunchy too~””
“Hohoh, so you all understand the power of katsu? Hmm, with good quality meat like this, we can shelf the sauces and go with salt.”
“Salt?” [5]
““Isn’t it that white thing?””
[6] “Fufu, don’t underestimate salt. Life is more than just regular table salt. But first, let’s fry up some katsu!”
“”Ou!””
[9]
With two pots of oil on the stove slowly being brought up to the proper temperature, I breaded smaller cuts of dragon meat. They were still pretty hefty, but a lot smaller than the giant steaks just now.
Once the oil had reached the desired temperature, I quickly placed the steaks in, careful not to overcrowd the pan but putting enough in so that the temperature of the oil was lowered to an acceptable degree. Otherwise, I would just end up with burnt or oily katsu.
When the breading reached a nice brown colour, I fished them out and placed them on a tray. The moment a tray was full, it went into my [Item Box].
“Oi!”
“Not yet, I’m going to cook all this first while the oil is hot. Otherwise, if it cools down or the oil overheats, we’ll have burnt katsu.”
[9]
Juwaa…
[10] “Fer! Your drool!”
“Slurrp, grrr.”
“”Eww, hahah,””
““Sui will clean up~””
“Thank you, Sui. Anyway, just, let me finish frying all the katsu first, okay?”
“Gunununu,”
[10]
“Phew, it’s done.”
I placed plates of crispy golden fried Dragon Katsu in front of everyone.
[6] Just as they were about to leap onto their plates, I stopped them.
“Wait, let me put this on first.”
I sprinkled some beige coloured salt over the Dragon Katsu.
Algae salt has a rather mellow flavour and is one that I personally enjoyed.
Finally, my familiars crunched at their katsu.
“Mumu, I had some misgivings earlier, but it is good without the brown sauce.”
“”Ooof, I like the sour and savoury sauce, but eating it like this makes the skin more crunchy and the meat is so juicy that no sauce is needed!”” [5a]
“”Delicious~ Sui wants more~~”” [5a] [8] [4] “Fufu, you’ve just tried it with the elegant and mellow algae salt. Now, try it with the super refres.h.i.+ng and sharp yuzu salt!”
“Mu, it’s more fruity, the smell is stronger than the other. Hmm, my tongue feels refreshed too.”
“”I like this one!”” [5a]
“”It’s p.r.i.c.kly and yummy~! It’s fun to eat~!”
Seeing them eat so deliciously, I sprinkled some yuzu salt on a piece of Dragon Katsu and cut a slice.
“Oof, there’s something about [8] tasting lemon and yet with no compromise in the crunch of breading. Wow, it’s almost magical.” [5a]
“Oi, I want more! More Dragon Katsu!”
[6] “Ah…”
“”Yeah! Dragon meat! Dragon meat! Dragon meat!””
“”Sui wants more too~””
[9] “Fufu, aren’t you glad I fried more just now?”
[8] Unfortunately, even after devouring a whole batch of Dragon Katsu, they still haven’t had enough and I had to grill up more steaks for them. Luckily, I could pad the steaks (sliced) on top of rice in the name of ‘changing up the taste’ but still, my stock of dragon meat took an enormous. .h.i.t.
Clearly, it was not a good idea to promise an all-you-can-eat Dragon Meat Festival to these gluttons.
All my precious dragon meat has now been reduced to nearly nothing…
Gumihou: Majority of this chapter was made up of (‘wow, n salt is so yummy with this meat’ x 3 times) x 3
This is odd since he could have just added more words via the details on cooking and Fer’s uncontrollable drooling
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change pa.s.sive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repet.i.tive or Pointless Information… starting to delete pointless scenes now
[a] Deleted reiterations of n salt yummy~ scenes
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – added more details
[9] Cooking Details
[10] Comedic moment re Fer’s drool, might as well make the most of it. In the original, it was just ‘Fer, you’re dirty’, and ‘It’s your fault for making delicious food’
… hahaaaah