279 - Dismantling Lessons with Elland-san
“Yes, that’s right. See that joint over there? You can easily take the bones apart if you just slide your knife there... Also, this long bone here...”
Under Elland-san’s instructions, I carefully wielded my Mithril knife and took apart the Cockatrice on a stone table I’d made with Earth magic. The Sui–made Mithril knife was outstandingly sharp and cuts through the meat and tendons easily.
As you might have guessed, I am currently learning how to dismantle a monster under Elland-san’s instructions. We’re now in a forest near the City of Avering.
Although this middle-aged elf is pretty useless most of the time. He’s very good at teaching. His instructions are very clear and easy to understand. His dismantling skills could be considered pretty high tier since he’s qualified to take a dragon apart.
After getting the Vampire Knife from the dungeon, the idea of conducting my own dismantling came to me. [2] Since we have two convenient free days, I might as well get Elland-san to teach me how to do it. I mean, I probably can’t dismantle a huge or complicated animal like dragons but something like a Cockatrice should be fine. [5] It’s basically a huge chicken after all.
Elland-san also advised, “Learning by doing is the best. You should try dismantling a small Red Boar too. You can apply the same principles later with bigger monsters.”
Low-level boar type monsters could be found in pretty much any forested area. [6] It did not take long for Fer to fetch a Red Boar back.
The Red Boar was only about 2 meters long. The majority of the monsters in this world are either bird type or the four-legged type. It’s rare to get those with wings or lizard type. Even so, the anatomy of land animals isn’t too different from each other.
[8] “It’s important to get used to these things,” said Elland-san in his lecturer tone as I continued taking the Cockatrice apart.
I’m practising my skills on Cockatrice now instead of the Red Boar since I already have some experience taking whole chickens apart. However, it’s rare for a city person to butcher a four-legged animal. At most, I have only ever taken a whole leg of lamb apart.
After catching 5 Cockatrices for me, my familiars set out into the forest to hunt down more animals. I had specifically asked them to catch birds and maybe a few boar type animals whenever possible. Since I knew they would probably go wild outside, I also had Fer carry the Magic Bag (XL) we had gotten from the dungeon.
Knowing that they wouldn’t be back soon, I got started on my second Cockatrice. [5]
First, I stabbed the Vampire Knife into the neck and watched as the knife turned from inky black to a rusty brown colour. Once the blood was all gone, the knife would return to its original colour.
[6] I know some society would use the blood to make blood soup or blood cake, but I- I really can’t…
Anyway, thanks to the Vampire Knife, I don’t have to deal with gushing blood so that reduces the grossness factor by a lot. This was the main reason why I had always avoided butchering Fer’s kills…
Vampire Knife-sama, thank you for your assistance.
I must say, this knife alone was worth the trip to the Avering Dungeon.
“Mukouda-san, you’re really going to eat the internal organs?” Elland-san’s voice was rather pensive as I cut open the Cockatrices’ belly.
[8] “Well, parts of it at least,” I said, a little distracted since I had [Appraisal] on and was studying which part of the Cockatrice was actually edible. [6] This was a new and upgraded version of the [Appraisal] feature and I’m kind of excited to try it out.
Apparently, internal organs were usually disposed of here. [6] Aside from things like the liver and heart which were often made into medicine or used in spells, the rest of the organs were usually thrown away.
[5] Not wanting to seem fussy, I did not give any specifications to the dismantlers whenever I brought Fer's kills to be dismantled. As an outsider, I had no idea whether the things I’d consider edible in my previous world would be edible here either.
[6] Take raw fish for example. It’s perfectly safe, most of the time, to have fish sashimi in Japan, but here? You could die from excruciating pain due to a parasite.
Now then, [Appraisal-san], [Appraisal-san], help this Adventurer out please~
[Esophagus, trachea: Rare. Chewy and elastic. Edible]
[Heart: Chewy and elastic. Edible]
[Liver: Rich in vitamins and iron, has high nutritional value. Easy to eat without any peculiarity. Edible]
[Gizzard, stomach: Characteristic bird organ. There’s no peculiar taste and the texture is chewy. Edible]
[Kidney: Rare. Oily and has a strong taste. Edible]
[Tail: Rare, well-developed muscles. Strong flavour and fatty. Edible]
Thank you [Appraisal-san]~
Even though it’s a monster, it still has plenty of edible parts.
Luckily I’m pretty familiar with all these parts since I’ve worked with them at a yakitori restaurant.
Fufufu, as expected, internal organs are still internal organs. The Cockatrice might be big but it’s still a giant chicken in the end. Well, not so big since each organ could only make about one or two yakitori sticks at most.
Goodness, I’m craving some nicely grilled yakitori sticks with beer now…
Wait, is my mouth watering while I’m in the middle of butchering?
“Mukouda-san, you’re handling those organs really carefully… are you going to make delicious very delicious with them?” Elland-san’s eyes were fixed on my hands, which were currently placing each piece of carefully cut out organs into my [Item Box]. I don’t even have to wrap them up in plastic or anything to keep them fresh, how awesome is that?
“It’s delicious when made into skewers and grill over charcoal.”
Gulp. [5]
“M-Mukouda-san…”
“Yes, yes, I understand,”
[8] Even a large bird like this yielded only so much organ. [1] While it’s fine to share a bit with my teacher, I get priority.
Excited at the prospect of more delicious food, Elland-san carefully instructed me on the art of removing organs from the monster.
As expected, Fer, Dora-chan and Sui came back hungry. [2] Their timing was great since I’ve just sorted out all the parts from my second Cockatrice. For lunch, I prepared Butadon for everyone using Orc meat. It’s basically sliced pork on rice in a bowl.
The pork slices were simmered with soy sauce, mirin, sugar, sake and water until the liquid has been reduced to a thick sauce.
After Fer and Co ate their fill, they bounded off to continue their hunt. Meanwhile, Elland-san and I butchered the rest of the Cockatrices.
“Phew, that’s the last of them,” [7] I said happily. [6] I now have 5 Cockatrices worth of internal organs.
“How was it? It’s much easier to understand the principles of dismantling by doing the butchering yourself, right?” [3] said Elland-san. He sounds like a proper educator again, I guess this is why Ugor-san always stuck with him until now instead of usurping the Guild Master position. [5]
“Yes, it didn’t seem quite as daunting after I’ve actually done it myself. I’m confident I can take a Cockatrice apart without issues. Maybe even other birds of similar sizes.”
“Would you like to attempt a Red Boar next?” Elland-san asked. “Fer-sama has hunted a few, so, you can practice on them if you like.”
I’d asked Fer to hunt down some small Red Boars for me but he ended up bringing really large ones back. [6] Ugh, I don’t think I can handle big animals yet, especially four-legged ones.
“No, let’s leave that lesson for tomorrow. The recipe I have for Cockatrice will take up a bit of time, so…” yeah, I’m deliberately baiting my instructor.
“Oh! You’re going to cook the organs tonight!?” [7] his light coloured eyes sparkled. I felt a bit overwhelmed by the enthusiasm he was emitting now.
“Yes, we’ll be having that as well as other things. It’s not difficult, just a little troublesome. I trouble Elland-san to help me skewer the meat?”
“Oooh! I am mediocre at cooking but I can still do that!”
[8] Thus we split the job with me cutting the meat into appropriate sizes while Elland-san skewered the meat onto bamboo sticks. My experience as a part-timer at a yakitori restaurant came in handy now.
By the way, since we don’t have the traditional yakitori grill, I decided to get the longer bamboo skewers so that we could grill more meat in one go. Also, I had Elland-san skewer the meat carefully making sure the thickness of the meats were even and that about 1.5cm of the tip stuck out. I have a plan for this.
After coaching Elland-san on a few skewers, I left it to him. Well, actually I left the regular meat to him while I skewer the internal organs and skin myself. [6] Those take a particular skill. You can’t overhandle organ meats since they are more delicate.
“Phew, I’m exhausted…” there was a large pile of skewered meat on the side. After all, although the organ meats were limited, we have plenty of other meats. “I think this is even more exhausting than fighting against monsters.”
“Ahaha, you’re just not used to the work. Thank you for your help, please look forward to dinner.”
We were taking a little break when Fer returned with his catch.
“Welcome back,” I said. “How was the hunt?”
“Umu, it was good.”
“”We make sure to only bring the edible ones back!””
“”We got big ones~!”
I checked the content of the Magic Bag (XL):
Wyvern x 10
Wild Bison x 5
Golden Sheep x 6
Giant Horned Boar x 1
Rock Bird x 2
“Wow, this is pretty incredible…” Elland-san stared at the pile of dead creatures in awe.
This was the result of the second hunt. The first time they ran off, they brought in:
Cockatrices x 12
Cockatrice eggs x 4
Red Boars x 6
Apparently, they found a nest and brought everything, including the Cockatrice eggs back. According to Elland-san, the eggs were pretty valuable.
“You even managed to catch Wyverns,” I exclaimed.
“Umu, we saw a few flying overhead and managed to take down 10,”
“”Sui and I cut their heads off!””
“”Yes, yes~ Uncle Fer make them fall and Sui finished them with Dora-chan~~””
I-Is that so?
I see the Wyverns suffered quite a bit.
As for the other things: the Wild Bison looked like some kind of black and shaggy cow roughly 3 metres tall; the Golden Sheep has gold coloured wool and looked a bit larger than the standard sheep back home; Giant Horned Boar was a large boar the size of a light truck with two large fangs protruding from the lower jaw and a large horn in the middle of its head.
“W-will you let Doran buy this? I mean, at the very least the Golden Sheep…”
[4] “The sheep?”
[4] “Golden Sheep wool is very popular among nobles and is usually traded at a very high price. However, overhunting has decreased its population which increased its price even more,” explained Elland-san.
[4] “Huh, so even animals could be hunted to the point of scarcity here,” I muttered to myself. Looks like human greed is the same everywhere. [5] Aloud, I said, “Do you need the meat? You know that we mostly want these monsters for the meat, right?” [5]
[6] “Yes? Yes! Of course! The guild is more interested in the fleece. So, if you could…”
[6] Surely there’s no need to sparkle your eyes at me like that?
“Understood. Regardless, I don’t think Avering would have the budget to buy anything else from me after getting the dungeon Drops. Since we’re heading to Doran after this, I can let Doran’s Guild have the fleece.”
“Thank you very much!”
[7] It made me a little uncomfortable to see Elland-san looking so happy and grateful. So I quickly said, “Anyway, shall we head back to the city?”
[5]
[Gumihou: For some reason, after Elland-san request to purchase the Golden Sheep, Mukouda-san rambled on and on about how much meat he still has. When it was clear that the nobles most likely wanted the wool and not the sheep meat…]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken
[9] Yakitori – How a master does it!
Master dismantled a chicken into tail (the butt, lol), knee (yes), thigh, oyster (very tender), skin, (4 kinds), breast, tenderloin, cartridge, neck (turn into ground meat), shoulder, wing, drumstick