The wheels of the carriage turned with heavy clunking as it headed straight for Lishua. Mister Garish was the one holding the reigns as I sat next to him; the rest of the party members were on foot.
We had loaded up the carriage with gagd meat to the point where there was no room for anyone to sit in it. Five hundred kilos of it, easy. This was after discarding the guts, head, spine, and other parts of the carcass no one knew how to cook or use, yet it still ended up being close to the maximum load capacity of the carriage.
As a result, the adventurers ended up walking home. Syfer the swordsman, Yuri the ranger, Maley the mage, and Gorun the archer, as I had just been introduced. Tiamat the dragon and Baze the Fenrir also walked with them. I felt bad for getting special treatment, but my butt hurt pretty bad. There wasn’t even the concept of suspension, after all.
The reason I was the only one aboard the carriage wasn’t complicated at all, though. If everyone matched my pace on foot, the trip would take much longer. My feelings were not unhurt. While making it back to town wasn’t exactly an emergency, it was naturally better to be quick since we were carrying raw meat.
“At this rate, we’ll be back in town by sundown,” Mister Garish said.
That was a quick rate. What was unbelievable to me was the speed of the party on foot. Despite chatting and walking, they were going as fast as I could jog. What did they eat to make them this strong?
“That’s great. If we approach the city gates at night with Baze in tow, I think we’d be attacked before being asked any questions.”
“Oh, no. No one would dare attack.”
I heard a hint of a chuckle in his response. Evidently, a Fenrir wasn’t a creature that could be taken on so easily. A party of four A-rank adventurers were ready to die fighting it, after all. The soldiers who guarded the capital would surely win eventually from the sheer difference in numbers, but who knew how many people would be sent to the underworld in the process? If a pair of Hermits were to bring such a magibeast to the gate, the guards very well might surrender.
“I’m not looking to make a scene...”
I glanced at Baze, who was walking alongside the carriage. The lord of the Fenrir had requested to accompany us on our journey back to the city. His reason was to discuss hunting grounds with us if humans were to start hunting gagd. A little premature, I couldn’t help but think. I wasn’t even sure that gagd meat would be accepted by the people here.
I suspected that he intended this to be more of a jab towards the humans than a realistic negotiation. In any case, the matter of hunting grounds affected the life and death of the Fenrir. It would not have been wise for him to stand idly by.
“Of course, I can’t rule out that all that could just be an excuse for him to come sightsee,” I mumbled.
I doubted that the lord of the Fenrir would leave his forest for such a trivial motivation, but I also felt no sense of any determination from Baze at the moment, as he trotted along while chatting away with Tiamat.
Back to the subject of gagd: I personally had none of the skills necessary to cook it. For some reason most of the Isekai protagonists knew their way around the kitchen suspiciously well. How much cooking practice did you expect an unmarried man living with his parents to have? It was nothing to brag about, but I had only ever made ramen and instant curry at this point. And maybe edamame.
“If you can call boiling something ‘cooking,’ you do have some experience in the department, Eiji,” said my partner.
How, or why, did those protagonists cook like professional chefs? Was it a prerequisite for them to graduate culinary school before being summoned on an adventure?
Therefore, it wasn’t my job to cook the gagd meat we had obtained.
After entering Lishua without issue, we headed to the kitchen provided by Mister Milon, the merchant. The kitchen came completely equipped with chefs. What hadn’t this man done for us?
“And what have you done for us, Eiji?”
“Cutting deep, Tia. Look who’s about to cry. I am.”
Spent two days trekking a half-day hike; had Baze hunt the animal; watched Syfer and the rest of the party take it apart; used the carriage provided by Mister Garish to transport it; and Mister Milon had prepared both the kitchen and the chefs. It looked like I had achieved some sort of world record of uselessness.
“You don’t seem as bothered by that as you say you are.”
“Leave it to the professionals, I say. No sense lamenting about or envying someone over something that is beyond my capabilities.”
I shrugged. I had no combat skills and no physical endurance; that much would never stop being true. The same could be said about my miniscule connections and influence. This was nothing out of the ordinary. Naturally, there was only so much a single person could do. Anyone would come to that conclusion after living life for three decades.
“I contributed knowledge. That has to earn me some mark.”
“Mm-hm. Definitely not full marks, though.”
As we watched on during our meaningless chatter, the gagd meat was being cooked. Some of it was sliced thin and stir-fried with some vegetables, some was simmered in a pot, and some was ground into patties. In any case, each method aimed to serve the meat as a side dish.
That was requested by me, and the recipes for each were provided by Tiamat. While she couldn’t cook, of course, her data bank of trivia contained the right portions for each ingredient, and she could suggest substitutes from foods available in this world.
“The problem is spice. There just isn’t as much variety as there is in Japan,” she said.
“It can’t be helped, though, can it? I’d be spooked if there was as much variety.”
“Still, with little more than salt and herbs, we can’t vary the seasoning. Won’t that become an issue if you want the people to eat this habitually?”
“You might have a point...”
No matter how tasty the dish, it becomes bland after eating it day after day. However, I imagined that since meat was already being consumed by the people of Azur, they might have some spices at home. All we wanted from this first step was for people to think that gagd meat was the tastier choice.
Eventually, the transformed gagd was presented before us with a side of ale. Yep. Well, that was expected. I had the same thought back the Adventurers’ Guild, and at Mister Milon’s manor, but I was reminded again that most people in this country liked to drink. Almost as if they drank alcoholic drinks instead of water.
“Then, let’s dig in.”
I started things off by taking a bite, hoping to provide somewhat of a psychological encouragement. Many of them had never eaten such a food. I worried that it might be difficult for someone else to volunteer.
I had taken a bite of the vegetable stir-fry, which looked normal. Served with plenty of vegetables, it had the potential of a real side dish.
“But maybe a little bland,” I commentated, as I chewed on it and tasted the slight seasoning of salt.
If I were to phrase it nicer, I could taste the ingredients well, but it was a little lacking. Personally, I would have preferred more of a punch. For example, I thought the dish would taste incredible with the dipping sauces used for Genghis Khan grilled lamb.
“Here we go. Typical Dosanko, trying to use Genghis sauce on everything.”
“How dare you?”
“You’re the only one who would prefer such a pungent taste, Eiji. Look around. They’re pretty happy with the dishes as-is.”
I looked around to find the rest of the party enjoying the gagd dishes while each expressed their take on it. As my partner had just pointed out, no one seemed dissatisfied.
“Am I the crazy one?”
“You’re the modernized one. Too acclimated to strong flavors,” the small dragon cackled.