Relaxing Lunch

"What's for lunch Aras?"

"All you think about is your stomach huh?"

"Hey! I'm just hungry ok. I'm still growing."

Yea I wish those nutrients would go to the brain instead of... I'll leave it there for the imagination.

"I-I'm also a little hungry Aras."

"Well if Milia is hungry then I suppose we could stop soon and hunt some animals in the forest."

"Why is it only when Milia said so then you agree?.."

With light teasing of Daami we detoured off the main road to start a bit of hunting.

"So this will be your first time ever coming to a forest and hunting right Milia?"

Although I don't know what is tasked for a slave, however I am sure they won't be allowed to go anywhere without the master being close.

"Mhm, I haven't being out of the city ever since I was captured by the slave merchant, and not long after I was sold to Sir Bellado."

"Sorry Milia…"

"No, it's ok, It's all in the past now, I'm just happy I got to be friends with you guys and get to enjoy myself now! hehe."

"Milia…"

Daami is looking at Milia like she's an adorable puppy.

"Ok! Leave it to us Milia, we will show you the ropes!"

"Of course, ok Daami you go ahead and scout."

"Okie Dokie. Be right back Mili"

Daami runs off deeper into the forest.

"Mili…"

Looks like Milia is happy with given a new nickname.

"Let's go Milia, that idiot might get in trouble."

And so we followed deeper into the forest.

~*~

It's almost past noon, nearing the end of lunch time when we finally spotted a worthy hunt.

A Bullraffe, to easily explain it would be a cross between a cow and a giraffe, a grazing animal feeding off leaves and fruits from medium sized trees. It has a strong muscular cow body while the neck is stretched upwards, the facial features matches that of a cow except having giraffe horns. The Bullraffe isn't as tall as a giraffes from the otherworld, however it is agile, but according to Daami, they are relatively easy to hunt.

"So the main dangers of the Bullraffe is its charge, the moment the Bullraffe starts charging, it slowly drops it's head as it gains momentum before headbutting the prey."

Ah a bit like jousting.

"However they are limited in close space so if we can corner it amongst trees, it should be trapped and unable to fight back."

Following Daami's quick introductions I organised our party.

"Ok, then Daami, you focus on distracting the Bullraffe and herd it amongst the trees, once ready I will fire a magic while Milia finishes it off with the bow."

2x "Ok."

And the plan was set in motion.

"'Water Pump!'"

Daami fires a water magic that seems to be stronger than what she had shown me before, although the magic is similar in nature, where a jet of water, instead of a spout, shoots out of her palms and pushes the Bullraffe slightly. The force from the water jet almost causes the beast to lose balance.

The Bullraffe panics but stumbles amongst the trees with no chance to fight back, I fire one of my more powerful spells,

"'Fire Flare!'"

A ball of fire is shot into the air before dropping on top of the animal, the explosion causes a light wind to blow outwards while spreading out a cloud of dirt, dust and burnt debris.

The downside to this powerful spell is the mana cost.

"Now Milia!"

With only the outline of the Bullraffe visible, Milia fires a magic imbued arrow at the animal, and soon after the dust settles.

The Bullraffe lies lifeless with an arrow deeply embedded into the head…

"Wow…"

That came from Daami, of course I was surprised too, the arrow was so far into the Bullraffe's head, it almost came out the otherside.

"I knew you were good with a bow, but I didn't know you were this good… didn't you say you could only use simple wind magic enchantments?"

"Well, the last time I used a bow was before I joined dad on his transport work, being races that lived on Skyships, we inclined towards wind magic, and with bows and other projectile weapons, we enhanced the projectiles with mind magic so they do more damage, this is how we hunt sky beasts and monsters."

"Wow Mili, and you're still this good without using the bow for a whole 3 years?"

I agree with Milia, she was able to fire such a deadly arrow and she was captive as a slave the whole time. Just imagine if she had a bow when the incident happened, maybe she wouldn't of gotten captured by the slave trader.

"Hehe, I'm definitely rusty compared to before, I could of hit the eye instead of just the side of the head. My wind magic is only basic unlike father's, I can only apply a simple spin to the arrow so it shoots straighter and sharper."

"Still it is very impressive, anyways lunchtime is almost over, we better hurry."

"Oh oh! Mili watch me harvest the remains, I'm proud of my hunting skills."

It is as if Daami wanted to show off her skills all the while not losing to Milia, she ran towards the Bullraffe and started disassembling it.

~*~

After landing such a fantastic hunt, as well as expending all of our energy and mana causing some of us's stomach to grumble (I won't mention who but you will probably have an idea), we decided to treat ourselves to a light feast.

The meat of the Bullraffe mostly lean and musclely however around the belly and towards the back or the rump area of the beast, the meat had fattier tissues. Although from my other memories, the only time the person from the otherworld ate high quality meat was at a meat restraunt that grilled meat in small pieces over a plate made of metal wires, called mesh grill I believe. And from those memories it was amazingly delicious.

Luckily alot of animals and beasts in this world have similar counterparts in the world my other knowledge come from, such as this Bullraffe had a body similar to a cow. therefore various cooking techinques for meat of the cow aka. beef, such as the grilling over charcoal used at the restraunt I mentioned before, could be applied.

Unfortunately I tried to find products like that in the city shopping district and stalls, but the closes I could find was a simple flat iron plate... I must make my own one day!

For the sake of delicious food!

As I have pulled the iron plate and started wiping it down, Daami randomnly pats me on the shoulder with a firery look...

"I don't know what you were thinking but my instincts told me to come here and cheer you on!"

With a triumphant look she leaves me with a thumbs up from a hand covered in blood along with a wink before she returns to harvesting cuts of meat from the resting Bullraffe.

...

Oi oi does she have some kind of sixth sense? That girl's 'Gut' instinct is scary. Also...

"Wipe your hand next time! Don't go leaving blood on other people's clothes!"

~*~

As if not wanting to wait any longer the Daami havested the catch quickly while showing Milia some beginner ropes on harvesting animal parts.

First the larger rump parts of the meat were cut into chunks and used along with starchy vegitables called Tots similar to potatos, except slightly more elongated. Another vegitable was Carrot which was actually exactly same as the one from the other world. With all three ingredients added to a pot with various dried herbs and spices we purchased, we added water and let it boil. While using some techniques of the other knowledge, the stew would require a longer time to complete for it to reach enhanced deliciousness but I was worried since the stew would end up being cooked for much shorter time so will it be not as good? But as the saying goes 'beggers can't be choosers'.

While the stew was cooking, Daami and Milia went to gather some fresh edible leaves from the surroundings.

I used what would be the Sirloin cuts and sliced them relatively thin. The Loin cuts were cut into thicker slices instead.

After I finished I waited until Daami and Milia got back with some handfulls of leaves, or better to call them leafy vegitables, with each leaf having various sizes but fairly large in surface area, most having sizes similar to the size of a palm.

Using the grilling techniques I have learnt from otherworldly knowledge, I decided it was best to wait for them to get back and cook the meat at Medium Rare, since this took a short time. This was the first time I learned that cooking meat simply by grilling had 5 different stages and it was considered a highly difficult techinique to get it just right at each stage of cooked.

~*~

After the meats were cooked and the stew completed, we dug in.

"Oh my goodness Aras!!! It's melting! I'm melting!"

"Ahhh I'm so happy, all those years of tasteless food are instantly overwritten with this flavour."

Daami started slouching in a silly manner as she took bites of the meat I grilled. While Milia is wiping away small tears that have formed at the coner of her eyes.

I of course took started eating alongside them and I'm not bragging here but I think I did an excellent job for basicly my first attempt in 'Grilled Cuisines'.

"It's ok go ahead, praise me more if you want, your Grill Master has appeared!"

"Mumph eephh shooouu ggguuuph, mumph cannmph stomnomh" (Auto Translator: This is sooo good, I can't stop.)

"Finish chewing before you talk! I can't understand a word..."

"I don't know if Daami was actually praising you or not there Aras but I think this is extremely delicious, however I don't have much to compare it to."

"That's ok Milia, thank you."

"Good Job."

Barely a one second pause between Daami's end of chewing and stuffing her mouth with more meat and stew, she had let out a quick remark.

"Yeah yeah, I don't expect much words of praise from you anyways now here is a technique that you should try when eating the meat."

I grabbed slices of meat and wrapped it in a leaf before applying some sauces we had purchased. The sauce used this time had a taste of salty, mild sweetness, peppery spicyness and a garlic pungency.

Ahh this is sooo good.

"The deliciousness has upped another level!"

"Even Better!"

Both Daami and Milia quickly imitated me and exclaim in praise. In Daami's case she simply ate it along with the rest of the meat she still had in her mouth. I was suprised she could tell the difference.

~*~

After the delicious Bullraffe feast, having saved some cuts of meat for later and the horns and hide for materials to sell at the Adventurer's Association, we continued onwards to the Green Crystalis Lake.

~*~

Another one and a half days later, we arrived at the Lake only to find a peculiar sight in front of us.

A man simply fishing except…

He's in his underwear half naked.