Chapter 349: The Quest for Delicious Meat
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou and Onionpi
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“Umu, master’s grilled meat is still the best,”
““Yup, yup, yesterday’s grilled meat weren’t bad but yours is better. The sauce makes the difference!””
““Master’s food is always yummy~~ Yummy meat~~””
I had no intention of competing with the stalls and restaurants we visited yesterday but today’s rice bowl menu was Yakiniku Don or Grilled Meat Bowl mostly because it was easy to make.
All I had to do was grill up some b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull meat slices with the sauce that I always use in grilling meat slices and place them on fluffy white rice. [1] As a final touch, I sprinkled some white sesame seeds, cracked a raw egg yolk in the middle and this super easy, super tasty meal was completed.
[6] Wait, is this what they call the taste of home? Is my cooking the taste of home for my familiars?
Dora-chan mentioned something about the sauce.
Well, to be fair. The sauce was the result of a long research made by j.a.panese food manufacturers to cater for the general public’s taste. [1] The one I used for today’s Yakiniku was a long-standing favourite among the ma.s.ses and something that I had always enjoyed even though there were many other flavours available.
Somehow, I always come back to this one.
“Yes, it’s really good, right?”
Today, I had a Yakiniku Don for breakfast too.
Even though I rarely indulged since having meat in the morning makes me feel like I’m committing some kind of social crime but… once in a while shouldn’t hurt, right?
…I might have been influenced by Fer & Co.
Still, it was really delicious.
After a deliciously meaty breakfast with everyone, we set out immediately for the dungeon.
Since Fer, Sui and Dora-chan all like the Dungeon Pig so much, even I couldn’t wait to challenge a dungeon and start collecting meat at once.
Wait, since I just arrived yesterday [8] and had, sort of, promised the Guild Master I would see him today, we had better drop by the Adventurer’s Guild first.
[8] If I remember correctly, the Guild Master’s name was Giannino. I had better tell him we’re heading straight for the dungeon and not to expect us to complete any mission requests immediately.
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Rosendal Adventurer’s Guild had been busy since morning.
When I came in with Fer and Dora-chan (with Sui napping in the leather bag as usual) we created quite the spectacle but things calmed down soon after. Calm being a relative word, of course, the guild was as crowded and noisy as ever but it was the normal hustle and bustle of the morning rush.
I was making my way to the counter when the plump Master Giannino came trotting into the room. Someone must have spotted our party and informed him that we have arrived.
“Mukouda-san, thank you for coming by so quickly. Please, come to my office.”
Giannino-san’s office was, of course, on the second floor.
“Right, right, please have a seat.”
I sat down as directed by Giannino-san. [1] The Guild Master sat opposite me and said, [3] “The guild had been quite busy since early today. We have quite a lot of children coming in today.”
“That’s right, I have also noticed the abnormal number of children around 10-years-old hanging around the guild,” I said. “Is it normal for this to happen?”
[9]
“Aah, they came from the orphanage,” said Giannino.
This made no sense to me, so I politely prompted, “The orphanage?”
“Well, it’s like this. The orphanage is run by the city, but due to a lack of resources, orphans with aspirations to become Adventurers are allowed to train at the 1st level of the dungeon.”
“Wow, that’s… unusual,” I said, feeling both admirations and worry for these kids.
“That’s the official statement at least. The point is to let them learn how to survive and earn whatever they can to help out with their own orphanage.”
“Is the city orphanage that underfunded?”
“Actually, the orphanage here is still not so bad. We actually get more orphans from the nearby villages and towns. Orphanages are often very overcrowded so the lord of this city allowed orphans to work for their food. It’s a way for them to gain experience, independence, and ease the financial load of the orphanage and develop the next generation of Adventurers.”
“Sounds like a good system,” I said admiringly. I really can’t imagine going to the dungeon at 10-years-old. I have nothing but admiration for these young people.
“Yes, well, it’s possible because Rosendal’s dungeon is a relatively easy dungeon… however, it’s still a dungeon and… well, things could still go wrong.”
That’s right, Rosendal’s difficulty level was much lower than others and Adventurers don’t earn much unless they go below the 10th level and won’t die unless they were very unlucky. [1] The majority of the Adventurers here were low to intermediate level and their goal was collecting meat rather than profit.
[9]
“Adventurers out to make a name for themselves often leave this place quickly and advanced Adventurers often won’t bother making a stop. Most Adventurers who stayed around just want a way to make decent money safely…”
[6] “Sounds like a reasonably safe dungeon,” I said. Not at all unhappy to hear about the low level of danger.
[4] “The highest ranking active Adventurers here are C Rankers, but we only have 1 party of those. The others tended to be a mixed batch with wives and children tagging along to help collect meat or gain experience. Naturally, these mixed groups prefer to avoid dangerous mission requests. This is also why no one has ventured past the 10th level for some time now.”
“Hmm, naturally the deeper you go the better the gains,” [7] I said knowledgeably.
[4] “Exactly, I’m being pressured by the Merchant’s Guild to secure the meat from Level 10 onwards. [1] Higher quality restaurants have signature dishes using these special meats. Normally, this isn’t a problem since their dishes are not in high demand but recently we have an influx of wealthy n.o.bles who came all the way just to taste these limited menu items.”
[10]
“I see,” I said. “I’m starting to get an idea what my mission request might be.”
“Exactly,” said Giannino-san. “Mukouda-san, we would like you to secure meat from Level 10 onwards.”
“Well, since my plan is to challenge the dungeon anyway… but, just what kind of meat do we get from Level 10 onwards?” just what kind of meat was unique enough that wealthy people would come all the way here just to eat it?
“Well, you know about our Dungeon Pigs and Dungeon Cows [5]?”
“I heard that you can only get them at the middle layer of Rosandel’s dungeon,” I said.
“The higher ranking species of both could be found at Level 10 and 11,” [5] said Giannino with a smile. [4] “Not only are they twice the size of normal dungeon pigs and cows, but they have a worse temper too. They tend to ram into Adventurers with their large bodies, which is why even higher ranking Adventurers would be cautious around them.
[6] “I supposed they should be twice as delicious too?” I was kind of looking forward to seeing these higher-ranking monsters. I have Fer and the rest with me so, I’ll be fine.
[4] “Yes, some say that they tasted better than B Rank b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull and higher rank Orcs.”
“Oh wow, that’s quite a claim. What about the 12th level?”
“You can find both higher ranking Dungeon Cows and Pigs there. We have been getting reports that their number had been increasing lately, so you should be more careful. [4] Also, we have some reports that special types have also been sighted.” [5] [6] “Special? Are they bigger or more poisonous or something?” I asked nervously, thinking back to those special type insect monsters.
“Well, they are faster than the normal types despite their size…” [5]
““Let’s go get them now!!”” Fer’s voice roared in my mind.
““Meat! Meat! Gotta grab ‘em all!!””
““Meat~!”” [5]
I nearly collapsed from the sudden telepathic a.s.sault. [5]
“You guys…” I glared at my familiars, who were starting to look restless. Sui was vibrating in place, Fer was pacing back and forth and Dora-chan was literally flying in circles.
Poor Giannino-san was startled by their sudden activity.
“Ahem,” I said. “Looks like my familiars are quite excited about challenging the meat dungeon, hahaha.”
“We are glad that Fenrir-sama is interested in our dungeon. Thank you for taking up this mission.”
“Right, I shall be going now.”
We left the Adventurers Guild and made our way towards the meat dungeon in search of delicious meat.
[Gumihou: Meat! Meat! Meat!]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change pa.s.sive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repet.i.tive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – We finally have a name for the Guild Master. Slot it into the next in a more natural way.
[9] Properly explain the orphanage situation