Tondemo Skill - 274 - Holding the Dungeon Clearing Celebration aka Snake Meat Festival
“This… is really good!”
“The outside bit is crispy but the inside is very plump and juicy,”
“Ahh, as expected, cold ale is the best. It’s great with this fried meat thing!”
Members of the [Ark] and [Shadow Warriors] have gathered here for the victory party (aka Snake Meat Festival). It was being held in the private garden that we could only access via my window. Nobody thought this was strange though. Also, since there were so many people, I even managed to borrow a table from the dining hall and moved it here.
I had also set out the BBQ stove that I had custom made for me the last time I was in Doran. It will take some time for the barbecued meat to cook, so my guests are currently snacking on Karaage.
Since there were lots of people who looked like they would enjoy alcohol, I had also set out a few crates of glass bottled beers. [1] Although I must say, from the way Siegwald-san the Dwarf was chugging away at my stash, it won’t be long before everything’s gone…
Speaking of which, Fer, Dora and Sui were currently chomping away at their own pile of Karaage on the side.
“Chomp, chomp, crunch. So this thing is called Karaage, hm, hm, made from Black and Red Serpents and fried in oil,” Elland-san explained with a self-satisfied face.
I have no idea why he looked so smug about it since I was the one who made everything…
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“B-Black Serpent and Red Serpent you say? That’s some top-notch meat…”
“Mukouda-san, are you really fine letting us eat this?”
Members from the [Ark] and [Shadow Warriors], who were less shameless than Elland-san, looked worriedly at me.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. We collected these from the dungeon and are not planning to sell them anyway. Look, we have some big eaters here…” [3] I waved a hand at Fer & Co. who were currently throwing fried meat into their mouths.
“In short, please don’t hold back and eat as much as you like,” I smiled.
“I see, I see, if that’s the case. We shall eat gladly.”
“Yes, yes, thank you very much!”
The anxious look disappeared from their faces and they began to help themselves to the food again. [1] Really, I felt very touched by their concern, especially since they were nice enough to bring some gifts for me.
[Ark] got me some honey from a type of orange flowers that could only be found in Opatrny, a country in the southern part of the continent. The [Shadow Warriors] got me some special natural rock salt from Mount El Morai. [1] While still meaning to make money selling salt, pepper and sugar in this world, I had made a note of the prices of both salt and honey in this world and both were pretty expensive.
These were luxury items that only nobles would consume on a regular basis.
[8] Since both were food-related items. [1] I guess the image of me=food is pretty strong with my guests and they ended up giving me some expensive luxury food items.
Not that I'm complaining though. I’m actually pretty happy with the gifts. Let’s find a time to use these luxury seasonings later.
Speaking of which, [5] Feodora-san has been pretty silent through the exchange. [8] [1] Ah, there she is, right beside Elland-san, shovelling fried food into her mouth. The two beautiful and elegant looking elves were frantically stuffing their faces with fried snakes as though they were in a food eating competition.
Maa, I think I’m beginning to develop an immunity against this weird sight.
Well, since I do need Elland-san to take the Red Dragon apart for me, I guess I could count this as a payment for him? Moreover, he's an experienced Adventurer and I do learn a lot while travelling with him. So, I guess it’s alright to continue feeding him? [5] Yes, since he refuses to take my money or items, let’s just continue feeding him.
Oh, the barbecue looks ready.
“Everyone, the grilled meats are ready, come and get it~”
The barbecue stand and I were immediately surrounded…
““Oi, gimme some,””
““And me!””
““Sui too!””
…by my familiars.
“Customers comes first! Everyone, please wait your turn,” [3] I shooed my familiars off and smiled at my ‘customers’. [8] “Alright everyone, today’s theme is Snake Meat Festival. So this skewer has Black Anaconda and Crimson Cobra. This one here is…”
As I continued to explain, everyone’s eyes grew wider and wider. Eh? What’s going on?
[4] “S-such rare delicacy…”
[4] “Especially this Crimson Cobra. Even nobles would consider themselves lucky to eat it once in their lifetime.”
[4] “Yes, yes,” someone nodded vigorously. “Everyone’s still talking about that royal palace banquet five years in… I can’t even remember the country’s name, but they served Crimson Cobra…”
The [Ark] party was obviously overwhelmed.
“Ahaha,” I guess I’m glad I didn’t just throw these meats away?
“So this is Black Anaconda…”
“Oh, oh, I tasted Crimson Cobra…”
“To be able to eat this great delicacy…”
“If we hadn’t met Mukouda-san, we would probably never set eyes on Crimson Cobra meat…”
[5] [6] The [Shadow Warriors] were similarly overcome by emotion as they ate their barbecued snakes carefully.
Maa, well, I’ve already seen how my familiars just stuff their faces into bowls and gorge themselves, so I never thought about the value of these ingredients.
[4] “It’s fine, it’s fine,” I said as I loaded more food onto their plates. “Food is meant to be eaten, please eat as much as you like.” [5]
Chorus of ‘delicious!’, ‘it’s delicious!’ soon followed. Ah, it’s nice to see my food being appreciated by a different group of people.
“There’s still more, so eat up!” I said as I plated up the rest of the skewers and placed them on the large table beside a selection of sauces. After placing the second set of skewers on the barbecue net as well as some sausages, I grabbed a pair of tongs and removed some grilled meat from skewers onto separate plates for Fer, Sui and Dora-chan.
I also loaded up more fried snake meat besides the grilled meats before serving them to my familiars.
“Alright you guys, eat these for now. Let me know if you want more, alright?”
[6] The trio was already chomping into their mountain of meats. Still, I received some telepathic replies of ‘Yes~’, ‘Delicious~’, ‘Meat!’ from them.
While my familiars are busy eating, I rejoined the others and helped myself to some barbecue and beer too.
[Gumihou: Ah… a meat, meat, meat festival indeed]
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[8] Creative Licence Taken