Chapter 69

I received a huge amount of reports about typos.

I'm grateful, but I'm feeling a bit down.

Thank you.

I'll do my best.

Shell was still smiling when we entered the cafe, and Degré and Suu started laughing too, influenced by her.

The waitress who came to take our order looked troubled, but with Degré's smiling face, she blushed and it seemed fine to leave her be.

It was a bit early for lunch, but everyone ordered hearty meals regardless, and I ordered a fruit tart.

I can only eat fruit!

But the cream and tart crust were eaten without any problem by Suu and Degré.

Suu grew up in this world, so he can eat even if it's hard and sweet.

It doesn't seem to be delicious, though.

"Hey, what were we talking about again?"

"Yawa wai ni ku wa oi chi hanashi (Soft meat is delicious talk)"

"No, no, no, it was a more serious topic, though we did talk about meat!"

"Ni ku ya mi tai! (Want to see meat!)"

"Seeing it won't make the meat soft, you know?"

"Sho ri no yo chi wo, mi tai no (Want to see the processing method)"

"Processing? Can you understand just by looking?"

"Ji-chan yatteru kariya na (Grandpa did it, you know)"

"Oh, the grandpa who was a Matagi."

"Ryo yu kai no ji-chan! (Hunting club grandpa!)"

"What's a Matagi?"

"A person who makes a living by hunting wild animals?"

"Ji-chan, no kara shi! (Grandpa is a farmer!)"

"Really? What kind of grandpa was he?"

"Un, yoku warai te, okotte, tsuyoku te, kakko ii ji-chan! (He laughed a lot, got angry, was strong, and cool!)"

"I wish I could have met him."

"Eh? Taktikusu never met him?"

"Sho ri made shinde ja tte kariya na (He died before that)"

"Right before we moved."

"...Eh, sorry about that."

"It's okay, it's just a childhood story."

"Still, it's weird coming from you, who's still a child!"

"Nya kami wa, o sshan re shu (Inside, I'm an adult!)"

"Buh, Buh, Ahahaha!"

It seems Shell was in a pot.

After everyone laughed for a while, influenced by Shell, we left the cafe and headed to the butcher's shop I wanted to visit.

I asked the others what they wanted, but they were also interested in soft meat, so they all came along.

Degré's acquaintance's butcher shop was a small one, and the owner was a giant muscleman who used to be an adventurer.

He still hunts monsters himself and supplies the meat.

He has a fierce and scary face, but he was very pleased that I didn't cry or run away when I saw him, and he let me into the meat processing room as a special favor.

Before entering, he used a cleaning spell.

The processing room was filled with the carcasses of hunted monsters, and the smell was very raw.

The smell was so strong that Yugram used a weak wind spell to disperse it.

The carcasses were stiff after death, but the blood had not been drained yet. Looking to the side, there was a monster with its skin peeled off and head removed, hanging upside down. Since it had been dead for a while, the blood was thick and not coming out much.

The next step was to cut it into pieces and put it on display.

"Damida kori ya"

"Eh? Keta, what's wrong?"

"Jenbu! Ni ku no sho ri wa, shendo ga iyo chi! Mamonochi tai wo hotto ku no dami! Shugu, chi ni yu shi na i no dami! Shuji to ken mo tora na i to, katchi katchi ni ryure shi yo! (Everything! Meat processing is all about freshness! Leaving the monster's body is bad! Not draining the blood immediately is bad! If you don't remove the muscles and tendons, it will get hard!)"

Even if the monster's meat in this world doesn't spoil as long as it has magic, leaving it too long is still bad!

"O, oh, what's this kid suddenly getting angry about? I don't understand what he's saying, but calm down!"

The butcher shop owner didn't seem to understand my words.

I was fuming by myself, and Degré led me out.

"Keta-chan, it's impossible to let you process meat in a butcher shop. If you want to, why don't you go to the grasslands and hunt a monster yourself, then bring it to the butcher shop for processing? The owner will probably be convinced."

"Naru ho, nja shogen itte kuru! (I see, then I'll go to the grasslands!)"

"Wait, wait! You don't have to go right now! We can explore the city today and go after the magic tournament ends the day after tomorrow! I'll go with you then!"

Persuaded by Degré, the meat hunting was postponed.

After that, we thanked the butcher shop owner and wandered around the city.

The weapon shop was of course of interest to all the boys, but there were no weapons I could handle, so I was a bit disappointed.

The other members didn't find anything they particularly liked either, so we just looked around.

The armor shop was the same, and we just looked around.

Yugram took me to a general store, bought a few cute trinkets, and I bought a giant green papaya from a vegetable stand.

"Why did you buy that? You can't eat it, it's too hard for you. It's hard for us too, and it doesn't sell well."

"To yawa wai ni ku shori ni chi ku (To make the meat soft)"

"With a green papaya?"

"Ao papa ya de (With a green papaya)"

Suu didn't agree with my opinion but didn't interfere either.

Of course, this guy couldn't even make a successful yakisoba in his previous life.

The city was full of energy, the streets were clean, and there was no horse manure even though carriages were used.

When I asked, I learned that children from orphanages were hired to clean.

It was also a punishment for apprentice adventurers.

The largest buildings in the city were usually the government office, the adventurer's guild, or Degré's family's shop.

When we passed by Degré's family's shop, a slightly important-looking person came out and bowed deeply, so Degré hurried past, looking embarrassed, which was quite endearing.

Although we didn't have much to show for it, the city walk was enjoyable. We headed to the academy for dinner, strolling along.

When we could see the academy gates, Shell signaled everyone to stop.

Shell was looking at the academy gates, and upon closer inspection, a girl was peering into the academy.

The girl was wearing a dirty dress, had grayish hair in a single braid, and wore glasses. She was trying to peek inside the gate or over the fence.

The academy was protected by a special barrier, allowing only those related to the academy to enter.

The girl, blocked by the barrier, was kicking and pounding it.

The barrier didn't budge, but the guards were alerted, and soon they came and took her away.

We entered the gate after the girl was gone and headed to the cafeteria, where we placed our orders.

"I wonder who that girl was?"

"She's a suspicious person. Even civilian students can enter with a student ID."

Yugram cut in sharply, and Suu tried to follow up with a guess.

"Maybe she fell in love with a student at first sight and tried to break in?"

"Oh, there are a few cases every year. I thought there wouldn't be any this year since there weren't any after the drills."

I recently learned that Yugram is quite sharp about things other than cute things.

"I don't know who she was, but she was quite proactive."

Degré, with his relaxed way of speaking, balanced out Yugram's sharp comments.

"There are some who feel destiny one-sidedly!"

"Exactly, they don't even remember our faces."

And Shell played the role of the straight man.

"Do you two have experience with that?"

"Ah, Yugram is too beautiful to approach, so I don't think that happens. As for me, I'm a noble but the fifth son, and my face is easy to approach, so I'm apparently an easy target for commoner girls."

"I'm a commoner too, so I'm easy to approach, and I've been stalked a few times."

"Being popular is tough, isn't it?"

But the laughter is so contagious that we tend to slack off.

"Yugram and Prince Arshain have such a noble aura, I don't think anyone feels they can approach them."

"We, on the other hand, are being underestimated."

Suu, saying it himself, was feeling down.

Degré's shoulders were also drooping.

"Is something wrong, Keta?"

I was listening to everyone's conversation while thinking about something else, and Arshain noticed.

"Hmm, ano ko, mita koto aru ki shi ru (Hmm, I feel like I've seen that girl before)"

"Which girl, the one from earlier?"

"Sou, dokka de mita you na? (Yes, like I've seen her somewhere?)"

Trying to remember but failing, Arshain said,

"Girls like that don't exist in the castle. Even if they were servants, they would be cleaner. We might have seen her during the drills, but I don't remember her."

"Hmm? Fu i ki ga ni te ri yu ka mi yo? (Hmm? Maybe just a similar vibe?)"

"Maybe just a lookalike? I don't think we'll see her again."

"Sou ne, ki ni shina i ni shi ru, shori e yori, ni ku no koto kanga e ru! (Yeah, I won't worry about it. More importantly, I need to think about meat!)"

Everyone laughed at that, but it's not a laughing matter! If this continues, I'll never be able to eat meat to my satisfaction!

The castle's head chef and the other cooks have become quite the believers in soft meat, but it hasn't spread to the academy yet.

Even in the academy cafeteria, I've managed to popularize the hamburger recipe, which is very popular and often appears in my children's lunch, but the ground meat is still too hard, and I can barely eat half of it no matter how hard I try.

I want to eat various dishes made with softer meat!

I can make hard meat, but since I can't eat it, I haven't shown it yet.

Suu has a vague idea, but I declared that I won't make it until I get soft meat, and he seemed to understand.

I think making a tonkatsu with hard meat would be torture.

We finished our meal and dispersed for the day.

I thanked Degré for inviting us.

I went back to my room, took a bath, and changed clothes.

Putting on a nightgown-like dress, I realized how nice the clothes I usually wear are.

I thanked Shell and went to bed.