Chapter 20

To cut to the chase, the dissection of the wild boar went much more smoothly than expected.

It was all thanks to the holy sword's outstanding performance.

After bleeding out the already deceased wild boar, I skinned it, removed the intestines, and then skinned it again to leave only the meat.

Even though it was a monster, its corpse was quite tough, and it would have taken a lot of effort to cut it up with ordinary tools.

But with the holy sword, it was easy to cut through.

Not just the skin and meat, but even the bones were sliced cleanly. It could be cut without any effort at all.

No matter how much I cut, I didn't get tired. The sharpness was astonishing.

Moreover, thanks to the holy sword's sacred blessing, it was less likely to get dirty or pick up odors!

To think such an excellent holy sword could be available at such a surprising price…!

...Okay, I was just being silly. I'm not selling it.

I feel like someone is angry at me, so I'll stop this tone.

Anyway, thanks to the holy sword, the wild boar was quickly reduced to just meat. Platia took over after the dissection was complete.

She took out a magic potion and sprinkled it on the dissected meat.

The surface of the dissected meat quickly turned white and froze, eventually freezing all the way through.

For freezing storage, I guess?

The frozen dissected meat was loaded onto a cart one after another and taken down the mountain path.

That cart was something Platia had asked me to make in a hurry using leftover materials from building the cabin, just before we entered the mountain.

It seems Platia had thought this through and prepared various things.

In any case, we descended the mountain in high spirits, having achieved our goal.

* * *

Now that we've managed to get a large amount of meat, I'd like to change the perspective and talk about another aspect.

The continuation of the story about making metal products.

Using the Mana Metal I received from the teacher, I built a kiln, heated the metal, and hammered it to make a frying pan.

It was the first homemade ironware in our household.

However, I still had a lot of Mana Metal left, so I continued to manufacture various items.

First, I made more cooking utensils, following the frying pan.

Large pots, medium pots, soup pots, and woks. With these, we could cook most dishes.

If we had the ingredients, that is.

I also forged small knives for detailed work and new kitchen knives.

Of course, kitchen knives made from rare metals were definitely better for cooking delicious meals than the old, cheap knives I had bought in the capital for a pittance.

When I tried the new kitchen knives, they cut so well.

They almost cut through the cutting board.

Despite this, they were easy on the hands and didn't cause fatigue, and the ingredients didn't stick to the blade, nor did they pick up dirt or odors!

For such a knife, the price is…!!

...But let's not go there.

Since I had the opportunity, I decided to replace all the iron products I had bought from the capital with Mana Metal versions.

I remade shovels, spears, saws, hammers, and shovels, all in Mana Metal.

In every task, the 'Ultimate Bearer' effect worked, and the results were excellent.

I tried plowing an untouched field with the new Mana Metal shovel, and with one swing, an area equivalent to a rice paddy was instantly turned into arable land.

Even with the 'Ultimate Bearer' effect, it was practically a magic item.

With such developments, our residence was steadily progressing.

We had also obtained a lot of wild boar meat, so our food reserves were plentiful.

Until now, we had stored the meat in the cabin where we lived, but we might need a dedicated food storage area soon.

"Hey, let's build another cabin. A dedicated one for storing food!"

Platia made the same suggestion.

"Not a wooden one, but a sturdy, airtight one made of stone or brick! I'll use my magic potion to lower the temperature inside and keep the food fresh for a long time!!"

A large refrigerator!?

With Platia around, our living standards are almost as good as they were in the previous world.

"By the way, Master! Aren't you going to cook the wild boar meat yet!? I'm so excited, my chest might burst!!"

If your chest is that full, you probably aren't hungry.

Joking aside, I was actually struggling with how to process the wild boar, which I had been calling a wild boar on my own.

Specifically, how to cook it.

When it comes to wild boar, it's a type of pig.

And the most delicious way to cook pig is to make pork cutlet.

I really wanted to fry the wild boar meat with a crispy coating and eat it as a pork cutlet.

However, in this new world, there were several things I lacked to make pork cutlet.

Most notably, the ingredients for the coating.

First, breadcrumbs.

And eggs.

Could breadcrumbs be made from wheat?

I hadn't even thought about growing wheat, and even if I did, with the 'Ultimate Bearer' effect, it would still be a lot of work to grind it into flour, make bread, and then turn it into breadcrumbs.

Even if I managed to get the breadcrumbs, I had no idea where to get eggs.

"Hey, Platia, do people in this world eat bird eggs?"

"Bird eggs? I've heard that land dwellers do, but I've never seen it in the mermaid kingdom."

Why are you asking that? Platia wondered, so I explained that with chicken eggs, I could make the most delicious dish from the wild boar meat, and Platia got super excited.

"Let's go back into the mountain dungeon! There might be bird-type monsters in the mountain dungeon that lay delicious eggs!!"

Relying on dungeons again?

It's not that I'm against it, but entering dungeons seems dangerous and scary.

"...Oh, right."

This time, we found out that the mountain where the wild boar appeared was also a dungeon.

"Does that mountain dungeon have a master like the teacher? I really don't want to meet one if it does…!"

"Don't worry. Dungeons with masters are extremely rare. Just having a master makes a dungeon super dangerous. Besides, there's already a dungeon with a master nearby. It would be too much if there were more masters in such close proximity!"

"I see."

"Though, I've heard that dragon lairs are common in mountain-type dungeons. The dungeon master dragon might be angry about its territory being disturbed and attack us…?"

"Stop scaring me."

Ha ha ha ha, we both laughed.

Later, I would have to have a serious talk with her about the phenomenon of flags.