This isn’t something that needs reiterating now, but Eiji had very little household skills. In fact, he had almost never performed any chores around the house. It would have been some miracle if he ended up with those skills without any practice. It was so bad that the first time he washed his own underwear was in this fantasy world.
At the rate he was going, he was headed straight towards the life of a useless husband. Who could say if it was to his benefit that he was met with this (albeit very peculiar) opportunity to do chores for himself?
“I swear I’ll help with laundry and cleaning the tub when we’re back in Japan. I didn’t know it was this much work,” Eiji said, after spending the day doing laundry in a small stream.
“Mm. That’s a great promise, but we have washing machines that take care of all of that. All humans have to do is hang them up to dry, but we’ve already invented a machine for that too.”
As usual, Tiamat countered his determination. Still, Eiji was now washing his own dirty laundry, but cooking was another story. They didn’t have the convenience of modern-day cooking equipment, and they didn’t acquire any food prepped to cook. Of course there was no stove or electric appliances of any kind. For someone so out of touch with the kitchen that he didn’t know that rice could be cooked in a pot (and not just in a rice cooker), outdoor cooking was an impossible task.
As a result, Ruey was the one tasked with cooking for the party. They couldn’t very well expect Baze or Hieronymus to cook, and even Tiamat didn’t know how to pluck birds or anything.
Even though Ruey was heir to the earl, he was also a soldier. He could do some campsite cooking. However, making the food look and taste good was another story entirely. Ruey could make meals that seemed like it wouldn’t kill you.
That all changed when Cielz joined the party, though. This dark elf from the monster army was by no means an ally to the rest of the party; at best, she was temporarily neutral. The fact that she still volunteered to cook for the party was a testament to the miserable state of their meals beforehand.
She caught wild birds with magic, discerned edible vegetation, and made stir-fries and soups. None of her dishes were particularly ornate, nor did she use any basic seasoning other than salt. Still, Eiji gladly ate those dishes. In fact, he devoured them.
Who could have blamed him? Compared to rock-hard loaves of bread and soup made from nothing but jerked meat and water, these dishes were heavenly. The meat was properly treated and the vegetables and mushrooms cleaned. As the Hermit sighed after the first satisfying meal in a long time, Cielz proudly scoffed.
“What kind of garbage have you been eating, Hermit?”
“We’re traveling. Of course we cut back on food.”
Ruey snarled back. He never enjoyed being the cook; he was just their best option previously. But seeing the dark elf look so triumphant immediately ticked him off.
“I didn’t cut into your food supply, did I? I gathered all of the ingredients here,” Cielz retaliated.
These two did not get along. Of course, it was hard to expect a human and a dark elf to get along. It wasn’t an overstatement to say that they were each other’s ultimate nemesis.
“Grr!”
Ruey was defeated.
“Hmph!”
Cielz was grinning.
“Sir Eiji! I’ll cook tomorrow!”
Where were they headed with this?
Hardly breathing, he blended into the scenery, as if he had become one with the forest. He was eyeing a young doe, obliviously licking salt off of a rock. He drew a single arrow from his back, and carefully loaded it. He didn’t take a second arrow. His father had taught him that a hunter would become complacent knowing that he had another shot. As if he had no arrows left on his back, he focused on the one he loaded. He pulled back his bow. The doe looked up, picking up on his intention to kill, then made a run for it.
“Too late.”
The loosed arrow drew a straight arc in the air and sunk into the doe’s neck. Ruey’s lips formed a grin as the doe collapsed. It had only taken one shot. He ran to his game and grabbed it by the front legs to carry it on his back. This was going to be quite the feast. A much better one than the bird that monster had shot.
“Heh heh heh. I am of much better use to Sir Eiji than she ever will be.”
A grin of victory.
But as soon as he returned to the campsite, Cielz scolded him.
“Did you drain its blood?”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean, ‘huh?’ You have to drain its blood while the heart is still beating or it’ll ruin the taste.”
Shrugging off the confused Ruey, the dark elf began swiftly treating the game with the aid of Baze and Hieronymus. They moved to the river bank and hung the doe by its hind legs on a tree before slitting its throat. Her delicate, dark hands cleanly skinned the hide from the doe’s centerline and folded it up.
“What is she doing, Lady Tiamat?” Ruey asked the beautiful dragon princess.
Shaking her silver locks, the beauty of the century answered him.
“Since you’re not a hunter, you had no way of knowing this. Beasts can’t be killed and eaten without a process. Unless you’re Baze or Hieronymus.”
Naturally. Despite their current human forms, they were a Fenrir and Cait Sith.
“I see...”
“They need to be drained of blood, skinned, taken apart, and treated. I didn’t expect her to use a wind spell, though. That way no one has to dirty their hands with blood.”
While Tiamat watched with curiosity, Eiji was looking in a slightly different direction. He didn’t seem to be handling this kind of scene very well. Of course, not many people enjoy watching animals being taken apart.
“Deer aren’t usually fatty, but the ones around here are pretty good. Let’s roast it,” Cielz said, satisfied by her work.
“I can do the cooking today...”
“And boil it again?”
“Grr...”
Ruey’s interjection was immediately shot down by the truth. Moreover, he was excited by the prospect of roasting the meat. As the heir to the earl imagined skewering and roasting the deer on an open fire, watching fat drip down and erupt in the flame, his stomach growled, echoing into the woods.