Chapter 458: Take Home for Riche
After eating our fill, I returned to my 『Home』. Riche dashed towards me and sniffed me all over as soon as I stepped into the house.
「Riche, lookie, here’s some dragon meat~ 」
I fed him a thin slice of meat.
Ever since coming into this world, I realized just how hard it is to slice meat thinly and evenly, yet Shiva totally nailed it.
「This one’s probably from the tail? Here, ahh~n 」
Although Riche is sitting on the floor, he’s barely able to keep his butt on the ground. One of his front paws is raised in the air as he stays in place, his mouth wide open, eyes totally transfixed by the meat. So cute!
「This is from the shoulder and it’s cooked. 」
I mimicked Retze and Hauron’s sampling style and gave him a bit of everything.
「Ooh, so you like the neck part and belly meat, huh? 」
We got plenty, so I’m gonna share some with the meat lover Earthkins, but Riche’s favorite parts are saved just for him, of course.
I divided the meat and shared them with Dinosso’s family and the other guys but there’s still so much left. Other than Hauron, no one else has 【Storage】 so I can only give them a little.
As for Butler’s 【Storage】, it’s kinda like a time freeze space, or should I say it’s mostly for essentials like handkerchiefs, forks, daggers and poisons for his ‘butler duties’ ーthat last two seemed a little bit off for a butler, but whatever, I can’t let it get to me.
Alright, let’s take a bath first and change our clothes. The aroma was super nice while grilling, but I smell like BBQ after.
I washed my hair and body and soaked in the tub. My body’s a bit stiff since it’s my first time to do that plus it’s hard work. I’m tired, but it’s all worth it!
「Hey Riche, here’s a bone for you. 」
A gigantic dragon bone, to be precise.
Before my bath, I threw the bone in a big pot to boil for sanitizing purposes. We can use the bones later to make some weapons, gear or medicine, but when I say bones, I definitely think of Riche. I’ll also give some to Doggo later, but he did say that he prefers his with some meat on it, so I’ll dry* iit or something before giving it to him.
Riche had been gnawing at the rope like he had some ancestral grudge towards it, but he came over when I called him. He bit down on the bone that’s bigger than his entire body and dragged it to his favorite spot to gnaw on it.
I’m glad that he’s over the moon. He does gnaw on the rope that the Earthkin made for him, but it’s more like he’s doing training, but with the bone, he’s all smiles.
I played with Riche, then went to bed early. The nights are still chilly so the sheets felt cold when I dived into them, but my body temperature warmed them up soon enough.
I bid Riche good night as I snuggled in the blankets and called it a day!
***
It’s already morning in a flash. I didn’t set an alarm and can even sleep until noon if I want, but Riche is looking forward to our morning stroll so I get up.
We strolled through the mountains. Riche finds some random things so darts ahead, sniffs around and paws at them sometimes, then he bolts back to me when he realizes that I’ve kept walking.
After walking Riche, I did a little bit of work on the fields and some harvesting too. I removed many of the outer parts of the vegetables that are technically still edible but undesirable, like leaves and stems that grew too thick. The farm animals love them and they’ll make short work of them.
The chickens usually peck at the weeds, but they don’t touch the veggies. Still, if I bring the veggies to the coop the chickens will eat them, so I guess they don’t actually hate them. The goats are top-notch, munching away on grass near the waterways and paths where we need it short. Dinosso family’s ex-livestock are real pros.
I gathered three, four eggs. For breakfast, I cracked one on top of freshly steamed rice and added a dash of soy sauce. That fresh soy sauce smell is unbeatable.
Yup, tamago kake gohan ー egg on rice ー is best done with fresh steaming rice, with the fire…no, heat cooking the egg just barely because it’s still piping hot.
Between scoops of rice, I also munched on some pickles for that satisfying crunch, then I went for seconds. I dropped one egg plus another yolk for my second bowl, added some sesame seeds and more soy sauce, then wrapped the mixture with nori ー dried seaweed ー as I ate. The extra yolk made it rich, creamy and super easy to wrap, and the nori added a crisp, aromatic touch.
I finished my meal with tea. As for the leftover egg whites, maybe I’ll bake some macarons or langue de chat cookies later, or maybe keep it simple with some meringue cookies.
I’m fully embracing my Japanese roots today after all that fantasy meat. It’s great that I chose 『Pantry』, good job, me. Some things are impossible to get no matter how strong you become, after all.
After breakfast, I returned to work on the fields, prepping for strawberry season for the coming spring. I plucked the dried leaves from the join, as well as those that changed color into red. They’re the cause of strawberry disease, after all.
For lunch, I grilled dragon meat, topped it on rice and drizzled green onion sauce over it ーvoila, dragon-niku don**! I paired it with a salad made with hassaku oranges, asparagus, broccoli and ham.
The fat drippings from the dragon meat blended well with the onion sauce, soaking the rice. The taste is absolute heaven! The salad is also superb, with the citrusy tang of the hassaku keeping things fresh.
I played with Riche again and took a short nap after, then I went to the Earthkin’s Black Steel Pit home.
◇ ◆ ◇
「Pardon the intrusion. Is Gamri home? 」
An earthkin, probably noticing my presence, peeked out from the entrance.
It seems like I’ve become pretty well-known among the earthkins, what with all the requests and materials I’ve been bringing in. Soon enough, more of them pop out, probably recognizing my voice.
「Soleil of the Water and Stone Island, Gamri is here. 」
「Gamri is here. 」
「Gamri is here. 」
Pushing through the crowd, Gamri appears from the back.
The others step aside, still repeating his name like a chant as they back away, opening the path.
Honestly, with all these black-haired, bearded Black Steel Pit folks, I can hardly tell anyone apart except for Gamri.
「Here, I brought some rare meat for you guys. How’s the kennel coming along? Oh, and that rope you gave me was a hit. 」
I commissioned the earthkins to work on a doghouse for Doggo.
「Ou. It’s almost done! But I want to show it to you when it’s finished. 」
「Show it when it’s finished. 」
「Finished. 」
I’m not sure with all that beard, but I can tell Gamri’s smiling. This must be one of his masterpieces, huh?
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Thanks for the treat.