Chapter 566: Cooking Drill, Start!
Fran started by checking the seasonings and discussed what kind of dish she was going to cook.
「Umm, Fran? Shouldn’t we split up and start dismantling?」
「The other group has already started dismantling, you know…?」
「No problem. I can dismantle such a magic beast in no time」
「As expected of Fran」
「She’s so reliable―」
I sneaked a peek at the other group’s work, and it was pretty bad. They were slow as they didn’t understand the structure of their prey, and their overall work was poor. It would probably take them more than half an hour just to dismantle it.
On the other hand, as long as she was careful with the Skunk Raccoon’s poison glands and magic stones, it would only take Fran less than five minutes to dismantle it.
Well, it was thanks to our Dismantling Skills though. Come to think of it, I’m a lot better than I was when I first came to this world. I missed the old days when I tried to dismantle something randomly and ended up tearing the materials apart.
「Is this all the seasoning we have?」
「Eh? Yeah…」
「Muh」
Fran made an unusually small grunt when she saw the seasonings that Charon and the others had prepared.
Well, I knew how she felt. After all, on the table, there were only rock salt, pepper, and two kinds of herbs. The rest was seasoned salt mixed with chopped mushrooms and oil. That was all they had.
The seasoned salt seemed to be handmade by an amateur, and the herbs were of a weak type with little aroma and taste.
Apparently, they only have things that could be collected in the wild. When she asked them about it, they said that it was the seasonings that they had collected in their previous classes.
「…Can we buy some?」
「It’s allowed, but we’re not very familiar with the seasonings…」
Until now, they had only been able to get the food to be edible by adding salt and herbs and heating them.
But this time, the Skunk Raccoon won’t be that simple, you know? We couldn’t get rid of its foul scent by just heating it.
But as expected, we don’t have the time to go to town and buy the seasonings now.
「Okay, I’ll do something about the seasoning then」
「Do you have some?」
「Nn. I have a lot of them」
「Aah, now that I remember, Fran can use Space-Time Magic, isn’t she?」
And so, Fran and her group decided to proceed with the dismantling first.
If Fran gave her best, it would be over quickly, but she chose to dismantle it while giving some details to Charon and the others. This was probably because it was part of the class. Fran must have understood that she shouldn’t do everything herself.
But before Fran and the others could start dismantling, there was a scream from the other groups. And then, the other group started screaming too, while holding their eyes and noses.
「Ugh―!」
「What smell is this…!」
「It stinks! Stink, stink, stink!」
「Kyaa―!」
Apparently, a group had damaged the poison gland during dismantling. The venom of the Skunk Raccoon was only slightly poisonous, but the smell was very horrible.
People tend to think that’s what causes the smell of its meat, but it’s actually not. In the blood of Skunk Raccoons, there was a component that helps them withstand their own poisonous gas. The chemical-like scent of these ingredients was the true source of its meat’s smell.
On the other hand, the poison smelled like strong sulfur. The smell also seemed to have spread to the surrounding area all at once. All the groups were in agony with tears in their eyes.
Charon and the others were starting to smell it too. Aside from the three men, that must be horrible for Charon, she was a daughter of a Nobleman after all. Fran also seemed to have smelled the gas for a moment and was frowning.
However, she immediately used her wind magic to blow the air around her and put up a barrier to block the smell.
「I-I was saved」
「Th-thanks」
「That was really terrible」
「Uwaah, you all look awful」
The people around them were in a half panic, but Fran didn’t really care. Once they were sure that their surroundings were no longer smelly, she went back to explain the dismantling process.
「Then, use a knife to cut here」
「Eh? Ah, yes!」
Charon and the others quickly concentrated on Fran’s hands, remembering that they were behind in their work.
They proceeded in this manner and finished almost all the dismantling in about 10 minutes. Of course, she didn’t make any mistakes that could damage the poison glands and cause a foul-smelling commotion again.
「That was an amazing technique」
「I-I’m impressed」
「Anyone can do it once they get used to it. More importantly, what should we do with this?」
「If we can harvest its magic stones, we give them to the teacher later」
It seemed that teachers would bring it to the Adventurer’s Guilds and the like to cover some of the costs of conducting the classes.
「We got quite a lot of meat. But what should we make with it?」
「S-somehow, it smells strange…」
「The color is also bad」
「There’s quite a lot of muscle too. I wonder how it tastes?」
Charon and the others looked at each other as they didn’t think it wouldn’t taste good before they ate it. Fran could only nod at that.
「Nn. It was very smelly and quite unappetizing. This is nothing a little roasting can fix」
「Uwaah. Then… What should we do?」
「We don’t have any choice. Let’s use this」
What Fran took out from the dimensional storage was a variety of curry powder that I had blended. The aroma and spiciness could be adjusted according to the ingredients and cooking methods.
「Umm, what is this?」
「Curry powder made by Master. With this, any ingredient can taste better. The supreme seasoning!」
「Hee, is curry the name of the dish?」
「Nn. The best food」
「That sounds awesome. But its scent was quite strange. I wonder if it’s a mixture of spices?」
Osless was the only one who took a bite out of the curry powder. If they were not interested in cooking, it was just a rare seasoning for them.
But soon, Charon raised her voice.
「Wait a minute. When you say curry, isn’t it a new dish that has recently started to become popular in the Kingdom of Kranzel?」
「Master made it」
「Could it be, Fran’s Master is the rumored Curry Master? I’ve heard that he’s a very skilled cook… But wasn’t your Master an adventurer?」
「Master can do everything. His cooking, his fighting, his magic, everything is top-notch. He is my master of everything」
「I-is that so? Is he a famous adventurer?」
「Not an adventurer. Master is Master」
While they were talking, Osless had checked the curry powder.
「How do I use it? Do I just sprinkle it on and grill it?」
「That’s fine too, but I’ll use it differently this time」
After that, they all proceeded with the cooking, with Fran giving the directions.
It’s quite hard to believe that Fran was telling people what to do and working together to cook… If it had been her before, she would have finished it all by herself and ate the food alone.
I could feel Fran’s growth, and I’m about to cry. But I don’t have tear glands though.