Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: A Wild Morning

1

That night, I had a dream back to when I was in farming camp and ate that boar stew. Man, was it ever tasty... The light-brown miso stock was chock full of enoki and shiitake mushrooms, cabbage and carrots, and even burdock and taro. Plus there wasn’t any of the stink to it that I had heard so much about. Though it was wonderfully thick, the meat was actually softer than pork, and it wasn’t overly fatty in the least, so I could eat as much as I pleased.

It had been December, right smack in the middle of winter. Because of that, I was able to thoroughly experience my chilled body warming up to its core.

Before the meal, I got a chance to prepare the boar, which I had previously only gotten to do with chickens and ducks and the like. That meant I was feeling both nervous and excited the whole time.

I was really grateful to have the experience, but it also seriously drove in just what it meant to eat the flesh of an animal.

Unfortunately, the meat needed to be cured for a few days, so the boar I ate was actually one that had been prepared in advance by the hunting club rather than the one I had handled. Still, it was delicious enough to die for.

It was a three-day camp, so my old man and Reina came to visit on the second night. When Reina saw the boar I had prepared she looked like she was about to faint, but she ended up eating just about as much of the stew as I did. It was really hard to judge whether she was a hearty girl or a weak one.

“Well, you wouldn’t ever get to prepare a boar back home!” my pops said with a chuckle.

“Aw, I wanted to eat the meat that you’d prepared, Asuta-chan,” Reina added with a giggle of her own.

I probably laughed, too.

I wasn’t quite sure at first whether or not I had it in me to take three days off working at home for the farming camp. But in the end, it turned out to be a really enjoyable, worthwhile experience.

“Hey, wake up.”

When I bragged that the next day I’d be preparing a deer, Reina’s big, round eyes grew even wider in surprise.

“You can eat deer? Don’t you feel kind of bad for them, though?”

“Why? That doesn’t seem especially fair, considering all the boar you just gobbled down.”

“Huh? But boars just look like pigs, right?” she responded, puffing up her cheeks.

I mean, that’s exactly what I was calling unfair...

“Hey, have you ever really taken a good look at a pig or a boar? If you asked me, I’d have to say that they’re cuter than deer.”

“Cut it out! I won’t be able to eat pork either!”

I wanted to tell her that there were people overseas who ate meats that would be even harder for a Japanese person to accept, but I felt bad for her, so I stopped.

“Hey, how long do you plan on sleeping for? Get up already!”

So noisy.

But man, that boar stew sure was tasty... The miso flavor was really strong, so I would’ve liked to try cooking it in a way that focused on bringing out the taste of the meat. I mean, wouldn’t making stock out of the boar’s bone marrow just be the best?

“I told you to stay here, but I’ve got no intention of letting you be a freeloader! Hey!”

Ah, my shoulders are getting shaken all violently.

Putting that aside, though, I seem to have a real fondness for quirky meats. I mean, I’ve only had it a few times, but I love the taste of lamb. And I’m just a big fan of the smell of fat and meat in general. I must’ve been a real carnivore in my previous life.

Heck, my favorite type of ramen is soy sauce tonkotsu. Of course I’d have to pass on ramen that was just swimming in fat, though. Heck, I had a plan to add tonkotsu ramen to the regular menu after I took over the shop.

“Hey... Cut it out already. Or do you want me to hurt you?”

Right, that’s the smell. Who was it that said giba stunk, again? Hmm? Wait, what’s a giba?

At any rate, that was a seriously delicious smell.

I’d just chowed down on all that boar, but I was already starving again.

Besides, last night’s stew made me want to spew. Heh, that rhymed.

Well, whatever. I’m feeling hungry, so it’s time to chow down!

I felt the wonderful sensation of delicate meat on my teeth and tongue... and then in the next instant, white fireworks exploded in the back of my eyelids.

◇

“...Huh?”

It took a moment for me to grasp just what had happened.

The scent of meat and spices filled my nose, and the morning light streamed in through the windows. I felt the stiff fur beneath me, and looking around I saw the wooden walls and the ceiling with its exposed beams.

Ah, that’s right. I’d spent my first night here in this alternate world. This was Ai Fa’s house, not my room back home. And currently, the girl herself was standing imposingly before me. My savior was holding her left palm to the side of her neck, her pretty face was beet red, and she was pointing a drawn knife in my direction.

“H-Hold on! I’d taste awful, probably!”

I was instantly awake, and rolled all the way to the rear wall.

The metallic knife shone brightly, reflecting the light of the morning sun. And the hand Ai Fa was holding it with was trembling, as if she was holding back her fury.

“I’ll kill you...”

“Wait, why?! Why are you acting so violent right now...?” I yelled out, feeling a throbbing pain from the top of my head. Hmm? Now that I think of it, I feel like somebody hit me in my dream...

“Wait, did you just whack me one? Seriously, what kind of person goes and hits someone who’s sleeping in the head?!”

“Try asking yourself...”

Ai Fa’s face had gone a vivid red from her anger.

It was the same way yesterday, too, but she sure did lose her temper easily for someone who’s normally so cool and composed... But on the other hand, she didn’t seem to be the type to get angry over nothing. Did I go and do something crude...?

“Sorry. Did I do something to you? I don’t have any memory from when I was sleeping, but if I did something untoward to you, I apologize.”

“You...”

“Hmm?”

“You... You tried to eat me!” Ai Fa yelled out louder than I’d ever heard her before, then gripped the knife in both hands.

Up until now her left hand had hidden her neck, but now it was exposed, and... there were clear, definite bite marks left on it.

“Oh...” I muttered, finally getting it. “I remember now. I was eating something in my dream. It must’ve been the delicious scent wafting off of you that got me confused, right?”

“I’ll kill you...”

“Gah, hold on a second! I’m totally at fault! Seriously, I’m sorry! I apologize from the bottom of my heart! Just please, at least find it in you to spare my...”

“Shut it!”

And so, my second day in this other world got off to a truly turbulent start.

The one silver lining in this whole unfortunate incident was that, though it should go without saying, this didn’t awaken any cannibalistic tendencies in me.