Distrust

After Mero asked many questions about Tenur's artificial meat, this slave made it a point to explain to his master what was necessary.

"... Anyway, lord Mero, I can teach your cook how to make some of these recipes. Apart from the meat, the rest is not difficult to make." He said, without fear of losing his value, since besides knowing many more useful things, he did not want to become a cook.

He had nothing against this profession, but it was not Tenur's lifelong dream to cook for other people or even to develop the cuisine of this world.

Mero was pleased to hear this, noting that this slave did have unusual skills and was not arrogant.

At the same time, as much as the meat in question was not so good that he would desire to replace natural meat with artificial one, Mero admitted that the difference was not great and he could eat it daily without any problems.

Abandoning the animals on that ship would not be such a sacrifice for him, despite the loss of value invested in those animals!

"So, is there really a problem with the meat of these animals? Do we really have to throw them away?" Mero asked, now without the angry tone from earlier and with a more sympathetic expression on his face.

Tenur nodded and said. "Yes, my lord. Some people can eat from the flesh of these animals and feel nothing. But others will gain some symptoms.

Even if no one dies from the disease that killed those animals, someone may still get diarrhea, headache, fever, and other symptoms." He said, causing some of the men in the crew to turn somewhat pale.

'Is that why?' Someone wondered as he realized he had been feeling unwell for the past week.

He thought it was just travel fatigue, but upon hearing Tenur's voice, this person immediately connected the dots and felt that he was infected.

Gulp!

"And what happens if one of us is infected?" Mero asked. "Will we have to sacrifice that person?"

"No. But the feces of these people should be disposed of carefully so as not to contaminate the water or food on the ship. This disease can spread through feces, so we'd better be careful about that." Tenur said.

"Are those who are already infected at risk of death?" A servant asked.

Tenur didn't look at that person. He just answered by looking at his master. "I am not sure. But that person will suffer for quite some time with problems related to this.

Whether or not they will die because of this disease, only fate can tell."

...

After gaining Mero's respect for being able to produce meat with common ingredients, Tenur would no longer live among the slaves on that ship for the next few days.

He would live among the servants and spend half the day in the ship's kitchen daily, producing his special meat.

The animals had been abandoned after three days since the production of Tenur's artificial meat when the first crew member on that ship had taken ill, and this slave had identified him as contaminated.

At the same time, the three individuals diagnosed with scurvy had improved and returned to their duties, giving Tenur more credit over Mero.

The three servants found that Tenur's recommendations healed them, so naturally, they began to view him favorably, even though he was only a slave.

Amid this, Tenur helped solve another problem on the ship after a storm hit them two nights ago.

That day a captive had been seriously injured while working.

Tenur had diagnosed that individual as having become paraplegic and naturally indicated to Mero that the best alternative would be to abandon such a person to save resources.

A slave unable to move was useless and worthless in this society. If it were in his world, Tenur would still use him as a guinea pig in his experiments. But in this place where he didn't even have the necessary instruments, he would not recommend his master to give that slave a 'chance.'

He saw the situation coldly. A slave, unable to generate value, who no one would buy from Mero and who consumed resources...

Abandoning him at sea seemed better than letting him starve to death on the ship and ruin the travel conditions of others.

Mero had been surprised at Tenur's ability to sacrifice a life without blinking, but he didn't find it that unusual.

In this society, people would kill for reasons less than the cost of food!

It was only surprising that a slave would decide the sacrifice of another without blinking!

But Mero, nor anyone else there, knew the true personality of this ancient cultivator.

He was not someone who would help others out of kindness or who would deflect a stone in his path at the risk of crashing into someone coming the other way. Instead, he was someone who would, if possible, destroy the stone in his path and saw no problem in sacrificing other people to achieve his own goals!

If Tenur were given the option, he would prefer not to get involved negatively with other people since any action could lead to consequences that would be difficult to bear. But he was not indecisive, nor would he hesitate when it came to big decisions!

In this way, one of his fellow slaves from Amri had been thrown to the piranhas in the river on which they were traveling because of Tenur's involvement in that decision.

...

More than a week after the production of the artificial meat...

At this moment, one of Mero's servants, Tebu, was tying up some ropes not far from the ship's kitchen, looking in that direction with a strange expression.

He had his teeth pressed against each other, and every few moments, his eyes were chasing Tenur, who was in that place preparing the artificial meat that had been feeding this crew.

'That damned slave...

He's planning something!

I can feel it.

He's no good.

If no one acts against him, in a heartbeat, he will put lord Mero in danger and escape.' Tebu thought quietly, feeling he should go against his master's orders to protect this individual from a deception called Tenur.

'If I act at night, I can finish this stranger and get rid of the guilt... I can make it look like the other slaves did it.' He began to plan, full of resentment against this fellow who had taken away the little time he usually had at Mero's side.

While Tebu was thinking of dangerous things, Tenur was ignorant of what that servant was planning.

He was quietly cooking, with Mido at his side, conversing with him.

"Tenur, why don't you teach me how to make that potato?

It's delicious, man!

I want to make it for my wife."

Tenur ignored this guy once again, as he had been doing for the past few days.

Mido had become much friendlier to him after seeing Tenur solving several problems on this ship.

At the same time, some of the food produced by Tenur was tasty and different from what they could typically find in Noskain.

Thus, this fellow previously opposed to Tenur was more favorable to him and had been dialoguing daily with this captive, intent on benefiting from his presence there.

He knew that Mero liked Tenur and this slave was quite intelligent. So he naturally wanted to take advantage of this foreigner to be able to learn and perhaps make a friendship.

"You can ask senior Ab. He already knows how to make that potato." Tenur said as he did the last procedure before delivering the artificial meat to be prepared by Mero's official cook.

Upon finishing that job, he would have an hour's rest before taking care of other problems on that ship.

After ignoring that servant, Tenur went directly to his rest area.

...