The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 60

Chapter 60:

Nobody Else Knows This?

THE LEADER OF Sword of Flames was named Seizerk. The others were Sifar and Gnouga. Finally, there was the nice one who’d spoken to me before—Rattloore. 

“Do you have a tent?” Seizerk asked.

“Yes.”

“The spot next to ours should still be open. You can set up there.”

I checked out the spot, and it looked good. With my one-person tent, I could pitch it here with room to spare. While I was setting up, the members of Sword of Flames told the others about me. They were sharing tips about the ogres, too. Once I’d finished with the tent and gotten my things organized inside, I found Rattloore waiting for me outside for some reason.

“It’s my turn to cook,” he said. “Do you have food with you, Ivy?”

A lot of people around us were stoking fires and cooking. If we could cook here, I’d probably eat a wild rabbit I’d dressed earlier.

“Umm, I was going to cook rabbit.”

“Huh?! Have you been hunting while you travel? That’s incredible for a solo traveler. Oh, but don’t rabbits kind of stink?”

I hadn’t hunted it, actually. The adandara had given it to me. I felt a little ashamed to be praised for it.

“It was luck, really,” I lied. “As for the smell, it doesn’t stink if I prepare it correctly.”

“Prepare it? You have a way to get rid of the smell?”

“Huh? Um…yes, I do?”

“Wow! I had no idea you could do that. Okay, let’s make dinner together!”

“Huh?!”

“See, I’m kind of a crappy cook,” explained Rattloore. “I taste as I go, but people always say my food turns out weird. Why do you think that is?”

How should I know?

I didn’t have a chance to say anything more before he grabbed my arm. “Okay, let’s go cook!”

Wow, his eyes were desperate. Well…I didn’t really mind cooking together that much. Besides, the way he was looking at me made it impossible to refuse. “What have we got?”

“Uhh…meat, potatoes, cabbage, salt and pepper…”

“Does that count as cooking…? If you want to use a leafy green like cabbage, I recommend making it into a soup. If all you’re doing is heating it up and adding salt and pepper, why do you need me?”

“Can you cook, Ivy?” he asked.

“Simple soups, yes.”

“Soup! Incredible. My buddies told me never to make soup again.”

What kind of soup did he make? How do you ruin a soup?

“That’s it!” he prattled on. “Ivy, we’ll make soup! Soup is the best on a chilly night. Really warms the old body right up.” It wasn’t that cold out, but he was right. It was nice to have something warm at night, and soup was good for that. “Can we? Please? You can use any seasonings and ingredients you need!”

Am I imagining it, or is he really, really desperate?

“Like I said, I can only make simple soup. Are you sure?”

“Absolutely!”

I went to my tent and brought out a bag with the wild rabbit meat and some herbs I’d found in the forest. Rattloore also brought a big pot from his group’s tent, along with some water. I poured the water in the pot and set it over the fire to warm up. The rabbit meat was next—I sprinkle it with herbs and salt to mask the smell, then rubbed it all in. 

While I seared bite-sized pieces of rabbit meat on a hot frying pan, I got the vegetables simmering in the pot next to it. Once the meat’s surface was browned, I moved it to the pot, then added some fruit with a unique fragrance and more salt for flavor. The key thing was simmering the odor-removing herbs with the meat. Once it had bubbled for a while, it was ready!

“That smells amazing,” said Rattloore. “I’ve never smelled anything like that before.”

He’s never smelled something like this? Did I mess up? I tasted it. The gamey smell was gone thanks to the herbs, so I figured it was fine…right?

Rattloore brought me hunk of raw meat. It was my first time seeing this kind of meat, but he said it was from an animal called a moo. I sniffed. It didn’t stink. I rubbed in a mixture of pungent dried herbs and salt, left it for a short time, and then tossed it in a frying pan. The savory smell of sizzling meat wafted forth. Oh, no. Are monsters gonna smell this and find us?

“Excuse me? Will the smell of food attract monsters?” I asked.

“The smell? Oh, we’ve got monster repellant all around here. Don’t worry.”

Monster repellant? I heard people use it to keep the scent of food from attracting monsters, but it’s super expensive. Did they have veteran adventurers here, then?

They did say that Sword of Flames was famous in Otolwa, now that I thought about it. I looked at the guy in front of me. He gazed longingly at the meat as it cooked… Was that drool? Maybe they were famous for something besides adventuring?

While the meat browned, I checked on the soup. It wouldn’t take long.

“Rattloore, did you make Ivy cook for you?” Seizerk came up to the fire.

“Huh?! No, we did it together—err. Okay, actually, yeah. I didn’t do anything.” Seizerk smacked him on the head.

Gnouga sighed. “Sorry about Rattloore. ”

“No, it’s okay. It was easy.”

“Did you make this, Ivy?” Sifar’s eyes were fixed on the soup. “I bet this is going to be delicious. Soup, eh? Sounds amazing. I’d given up on today, really.”

Everyone was clearly hungry. While I served up our soup and meat, Seizerk cut slices of black bread for everyone. There was some for me, too! I had only eaten black bread twice in my life.

“That looks so good…” Sifar took a mouthful of soup and froze in place.

Huh? Is it that bad? Oh no…

“What is this? It’s delicious!” Oh! He liked it! I’d prepared it in kind of a rush, so I was worried.

“It’s really good,” Gnouga agreed. “Is this meat…wild rabbit?”

“That’s right,” I answered.

“They usually smoke wild rabbit to make dried meat so it’s not noticeable, but I always thought rabbit meat was supposed to stink,” said Seizerk. “This doesn’t smell bad at all.”

“Ivy’s incredible!” said Rattloore. “He does these, uh, preparations that unstinkify it!”

Doesn’t everyone do that? You…definitely prepare food before you start cooking it, right?

“There’s a faint scent of medicinal plants,” Sifar noted. “Are you using them to cover up the odor?”

Medicinal plants? Does he mean…herbs?

“Yes,” I finally answered. “I had some dried leaves I foraged in the forest, so I used those.”

“Incredible, right?!”

“Why do you sound so proud, Rattloore? Mm…the meat has a nice strong taste, too.”

“Yeah, this is good. I was worried when I heard Rattloore was cooking tonight, but thanks to Ivy, we’re eating like kings! Thanks, Ivy.”

“It’s no problem. I’m just glad you all like it.” I swallowed a mouthful of soup. I’d simmered potatoes and cabbage in it, and every bite was fragrant and delicious. Another successful meal!

Medicinal plants, though? Are those different from herbs? Actually…why did I think about them as “herbs” at all? Are those memories from Past Me? Surely not…right?