Chapter 71

......Hmm. My body hurts. Did I sleep in a bad position?

I thought to myself, and as I tried to get up, I found myself lying under the bright sun.

"Oh, so I fell asleep like that."

I yawned, stretched, and looked away from the table where I had been resting my head, surveying the surroundings. This place, now a large group of nearly thirty people, still bore the remnants of last night's party, and most of the people had fallen asleep where they were.

"Still, what a rough night."

Our cooking team had prepared dinner for thirty people, but for some reason, the adult players over twenty years old said, "This food makes me want to drink! Can't you use your [Cooking] sense to make alcohol?"

Honestly, I thought it was impossible, but they insisted, saying, "Just try. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. We'll give you a reward." So, the people with the [Cooking] sense gathered knowledge about alcohol and used basic skills like [Cooking], [Processing], and [Seasoning]. And since I don't use skills when cooking, I didn't notice that I had the [Fermentation Promotion] skill, which I had obtained at level 10.

How can we make alcohol? Reasonably, [Cooking]—failed.

Maybe we can make fruit wine. Let's try with fruit.—failed.

If we ferment the starch liquid from grated potatoes with [Fermentation Promotion], can we make alcohol?—We ended up with a very low alcohol content.

But, unsatisfied with this, we used the [Processing] skill to distill repeatedly and increase the alcohol content to the limit, resulting in a tasteless, tongue-burning alcohol.

"This isn't alcohol," they said, and demanded more.

At this point, we had almost used up the potatoes, and they demanded that we make a large amount of high-concentration alcohol. We mixed it with fruit juice and milk, and it was a huge hit.

Not knowing what would happen when adults drank a lot, we saw people who laughed, cried, got hungry, demanded snacks, and unnecessarily bothered others. It was a chaotic scene.

We managed to escape the chaos by preparing and serving food, but most people were forced to drink and knocked out.

Taku, surrounded by men, was being complained at and crushed. Namu San.

"If I had known it would turn out like this, maybe I shouldn't have sent an SOS to everyone I knew... No, I shouldn't say that. I'm grateful, grateful."

I muttered, as if praying. But in reality, preparing meals for five big eaters is a tough job.

Thanks to that, my [Cooking] sense went up by 3 levels overnight. Some people who started cooking yesterday, with low levels, even went up by 7 levels in a short time. Last night was that intense.

Fortunately, due to the repeated drinking, eating, and partying late into the night, the hunger level should last until noon. I'd rather not deal with the chaos from the morning.

But—

"Let's get things done before it gets noisy."

I checked the ingredients and potion materials and planned for the morning.

To avoid being attacked in an insufficient state like yesterday, I wanted to process the raw gemstones into magic gems, but I decided to hold off to avoid being seen.

The plan is that, thanks to the human wave tactics yesterday, we received many cooking assistance items as rewards from unique MOBs, making cooking even more enjoyable.

First, bread. I measured the flour, milk, salt, and sugar, and prepared the fruit. The fruit, when soaked in water and [Fermentation Promotion] applied, would turn into natural yeast within a few minutes.

Then, I mixed the ingredients in a bowl and started making the bread dough. Kneading requires arm strength, so I continued while casting enchantments.

I applied [Fermentation Promotion] to the finished dough to make it rise. While waiting, I used my skills to make butter and cheese from milk. I realized that other ingredients could also be transformed, making cooking much more efficient.

"Initially, I thought the game would force us to make things in a realistic process, but with these skills, cooking is easy and fun."

"That's great. Miss."

"Hey, good morning."

"Yeah, good morning... and water, please."

A clearly pale beauty was there. Last night, she drank a lot, laughed, partied, ate, and slept, like a typhoon. This morning, she looked nothing like her usual self.

I asked Rui and Rikuru to bring ice water and handed it to Mikazuchi.

"Here's the water. Mikazuchi, are you okay?"

"I thought I wouldn't get drunk in a game... I feel so sick."

"Since the game's cooking can cause bad status effects, it's realistic. More importantly, you drank too much and acted out."

She's a charismatic beauty but a bit of a tragic beauty. Maybe that's why she's popular. And I can see why Sei-nee is a sub-leader; it's fun to watch.

"Rest. If you want something to eat, let me know."

"Okay, got it."

With Mikazuchi, who had calmed down, in my peripheral vision, I started cutting the finished bread dough and baking it in the oven stove.

It takes about fifteen minutes to bake, and I started on the next batch. The oven can bake about a dozen at a time, and since I can make about the same amount of dough at once, I can produce a lot of bread in a short time if I keep working without a break.

As the smell of the first batch of bread started to fill the air, people around me began to wake up.

"Hey, does bread dough rise that quickly?"

"If you use the [Fermentation Promotion] skill, you can shorten the time."

"It's like those cooking shows where they say, 'Here, this is the chilled version' and it's already prepared."

A girl with the [Cooking] sense said this.

Those who wanted to cook more joined in making bread with me.

Others, as soon as they woke up, went back to their own strategies. They were in a groggy state from what felt like a hangover, but they recovered quickly, leading to the theory that it might be a hidden status.

As everyone started working, the division of labor began. I, too, would take on potion creation requests from my group when I had free time, and it would be busy until around noon.

However, the cooking team members didn't just want to cook all the time. When invited by their friends, they went hunting or to dungeons. They scattered to find unique MOBs and gather materials for items they wanted.

After a break at noon, only a few people, including me, Claude, Taku, and Mikazuchi, would remain at the base camp. They would return in the evening, but until then, it would be quiet.

"Ha~ It's so boring. We can't even go outside."

"There's nothing we can do. We might be attacked. In return, others will support us. There's actually a lot we can do here."

Claude said this, tilting his head and petting the fox on his lap.

I changed my equipment to what the orc creator had repaired and checked it on the menu screen. The appearance was back to normal, and the performance was better, leaving no room for complaints.

"Ho, so this is your original outfit."

"Mikazuchi, don't call me 'Miss.' I'm a guy."

"Hehe, are you saying that in that outfit?"

Taku was trying to hold back a laugh, and Mikazuchi tilted her head, as if I was the strange one.

"Enough talk. We're staying here to integrate some information."

"Integrate information? What kind of information?"

The notable information could be about the young beasts, the current situation of the attackers, or... unique MOBs?

"I don't know."

"You give up too quickly!"

"Taku, be quiet. I can't think of anything."

"Only the person involved doesn't know the importance... Well, Yun, you found the mural in the lake, right?"

Mikazuchi asked seriously, and I nodded, stopping my argument with Taku.

"I saw it through Clo's information sharing, but it seems to be an interesting story."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at these two screenshots first."

Claude manipulated the air in front of him, displaying a screen.

The screen showed two photos.

The first was a white stone monument standing on a mossy floor. The monument, originally rectangular, had its upper half cut diagonally. The lower half had inscriptions, similar to the ones we saw before.

The second was a stone monument hanging from chains extending from the columns in a building with an open ceiling. The cracks and size suggested it was the other half of the first monument.

I equipped the [Linguistics] sense and read them together.

"Here, 'This is the paradise of beasts. Where magical beasts and mythical beasts recognize and protect each other. Though of different species, they are the same beasts. The goddess's wish is for this land to be fulfilled...'"

The prelude was the same as the one we saw on the stone monument before. But I could read the continuation. Is there a reading level restriction on objects?

I continued reading.

"'...In the blessed land, people settled, built villages, tilled fields, befriended beasts, respected them, and helped them, becoming their best friends'... Wait, the content of the stone monument and the mural are linked?"

At this point, I realized this might be an important hint for the event.

"Right. The stone monument we photographed in the underground dungeon is one half. The stone monument photographed by [Yaoyorozu] in the ruins is the other half. And Yun, the stone monument you found at the bottom of the lake. They are connected, like a storybook."

Taku's words were followed by Claude reading the continuation.

"'...We thought the happy times would last forever. But the land blessed by the goddess was also a place where evil beasts could live. The raging evil sent a certain creature to the floating continent.

It wreaked havoc, burning forests, impaling people, and destroying buildings. But its purpose was not destruction. It was the [Mythical Beast Eater]. It would not stop until it