LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 7
A wild boar with moss and mushrooms growing on its body, huh?
As Karem marveled at the uniquely shaped boar, Catherine asked.
“Well, how should we handle this?”
“It’s just a mossy boar. There’s no need to use magic.”
“Oh? Mercenary. Are you going to hunt it?”
“How about you conjure up a spear with that impressive magic of yours?”
Accepting the request, Catherine reached into the air and grabbed it.
No sooner had she completed the simple gesture than icicles and stalactites began to grow from her grasp, eventually reaching just a little taller than Gordon before stopping.
Gordon, taking the ice spear from Catherine, swung it around to test its sharpness and strength.
Thinking it was quite usable, he advanced without hesitation.
Whoosh-!
The mossy boar, desperately warning everyone not to come closer, revealed its aggression as Gordon approached with huge strides.
Suddenly halting its scratching, the mossy boar accelerated like a speeding car.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-!
“Sir Atanitas. It’s still a bit far, but is this really okay?”
“Just watch for now.”
“It looks dangerous.”
“It’s not like it’s going to do anything more than break an arm or poke a hole in its belly, right?”
“That’s no small deal!”
And Karem’s worries were soon irrelevant.
With only a few meters left between them and the mossy boar, Gordon lowered his stance.
What happened next was something that Karem couldn’t comprehend.
The last thing Karem saw was Gordon aiming the sharp ice spear horizontally.
As Karem blinked, Gordon suddenly appeared next to the mossy boar, stabbing between its neck and leg.
Squeee-!
The pierced mossy boar let out a startled cry, flailing in a desperate attempt to escape its pain and peril.
But Gordon remained unfazed by the chaos.
Instead, he stood firm like an ancient tree deeply rooted in the earth, supporting the base of the ice spear with his right hand.
The spear had penetrated so deeply that the sharp tip was no longer visible.
“Is this how hunting usually goes…?”
Even though Karem had never seen anyone hunt before, he did have some knowledge about it.
But most hunting was done with guns or bows, and spear hunting was often for the show of strength.
However, he had never seen anyone engage in close combat with their prey using a spear.
“Hoho, so the tales of a wandering knight were no joke.”
“Uh, Sir Atanitas, can all knights do this barehanded?”
“If you can’t do even that, are you really a knight? But to move like that… perhaps the wandering knights were understating their skills.”
Before long, the mossy boar lay on its back, staring at the sky.
Next to it, Gordon pulled out the ice spear and began swinging it with apparent satisfaction when—suddenly, the ice spear dissipated into mist like a magic spell.
“Ugh, I rather liked that.”
“Indeed, quite a sight. By the way, little one.”
“Huh?”
“Did you forget something?”
Oh no!
At Catherine’s gesture, Karem quickly glanced at the campfire.
Lost in watching Gordon hunt, black smoke was billowing from the frying pan.
Karem quickly removed the pan from the fire. Luckily, only the burnt sausages were sacrificed, and the pan remained unscathed.
As Karem sighed in relief, Gordon immediately drew a dagger and started butchering the mossy boar’s mushrooms.
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Contrary to Karem’s thoughts, Gordon was quite adept at butchering, and the task was completed in no time.
With just a dagger, he deftly sliced through the meat, the reds and yellows piling up like little hills on the laid-out hide.
Just as Karem opened his mouth to ask how the leftover remains of the mossy boar should be dealt with, Catherine stepped in.
Suddenly, a chill swept through as the blood of the mossy boar gathered, encasing the remains in frozen red ice, like a mammoth sealed in glacial ice, scattering a white mist.
Catherine nodded at the sight of the ice and turned away.
“Alright, at least for a while, this will stay as is. Once it melts, animals or monsters living in the forest will take care of it.”
“But what about the mushrooms? Are we not eating those?”
Despite searching thoroughly, there were no traces of the mushrooms in the pile of butchered meat.
As Karem peeked under the hide, he confirmed that the mushrooms were stuck to it, only for Gordon to shake his head.
“Sadly, all the mushrooms growing on the mossy boar are poisonous. The moss is edible, but tastes terrible, so it’s used for other purposes.”
“What other purposes are there—”
“If you wrap the meat with the moss of the mossy boar, it can be preserved for a long time.”
Gordon clapped his hands to gather attention.
“Now, let’s have a proper lunch with the meat we’ve hunted!”
“Uh? Lunch? We just had cabbage rolls a bit ago.”
Karem was left dumbfounded, wondering how someone who just devoured half a pot of cabbage rolls could say something like that, but Gordon was quite serious.
“I don’t treat vegetables as mere digestive aids like nobles do, but they digest quickly.”
“No, hold on—”
“Plus, the cabbage rolls were mostly veggies; there wasn’t much meat to them, right?”
So that’s why he’s hungry. Gordon nodded, as if stating a fact, and Catherine agreed.
“Well, if you’re of knightly level, it’s natural to get hungry just by moving around.”
“Is that so?”
“The kind of movement and strength that the average person can’t perceive doesn’t come free of charge.”
Listening to Catherine, Karem started to see some sense in this.
For instance, bodybuilders and athletes strictly monitored their nutrition after intense training.
Naturally, with superior athletic ability came increased food intake.
It was similar to how a former wrestling champion-turned actor could gobble up over 20,000 calories, or how a sumo wrestler might eat ten servings as casually as a snack.
However, it felt odd that Catherine was defending Gordon.
Catherine turned her head slightly at Karem’s doubtful gaze.
“Sir Atanitas, do you also want to cook with the fresh meat we just hunted?”
“Hmm. I’m not picky, but vegetables do tend to be expelled from the stomach quickly.”
“…Honestly, I’m curious about how it tastes.”
Karem too was genuinely intrigued about what the mossy boar might taste like, so he unfolded his pack, reorganizing his gear to take out his cooking utensils again.
Gordon, wiping blood off his dagger with a cloth, welcomed him.
“Oh, are you planning to whip something up right away without even considering the menu?”
“Yes. Seeing this pile of meat got me thinking.”
Just in case, Karem cut off a piece of meat from the pile, grilled it lightly with salt to taste.
Honestly, he thought the smell of the boar would be overwhelmingly gamey, but fortunately, it didn’t smell bad enough to wrinkle his nose.
It wasn’t free of smell, but much like typical low-quality pork, while instead, he found a refreshing scent of forest leaves and grass wafting through.
“Taste of grass? Smell of grass? Something like that is present, but not too gamey, and the meat is quite delicious.”
“All thanks to the moss growing on it. Just look at it, the smell must be of grass, right?”
“Ah, I see. But is this moss edible?”
“It can be eaten, but it doesn’t taste good. More importantly, if it’s relatively small and without a mushroom scent, it’s likely only just matured.”
“What? This isn’t fully grown?”
The hide, spread wide with the fur facing up, was ample enough for a few children like Karem to have spare space.
Could this truly be a crossbreed between house pigs and wild boars called Hogzilla? It was shocking how large it was, and yet it was just barely matured?
“But this isn’t a monster?”
“If it were a monster, it wouldn’t merely be wary of us; it would have attacked right away.”
Catherine had now moved beside Karem.
“Well, mossy boars tend to be pretty docile unless their territory or food is threatened. The larger adults with a mushroom scent are known to be quite tasty.”
“Combining that with a mushroom scent? Honestly, I have no clue.”
“You’ll understand once you try it. By the way, is it just you eating alone?”
With that, Karem swiftly cut another piece of meat, grilled it with salt, and popped it into Catherine’s mouth.
Though time seemed to drag, it allowed Karem to mentally prepare his recipe, and he immediately pulled out a chopping board and chef’s knife, beginning to slice the large chunks of meat into thin pieces.
Karem personally thought meatballs should be made with beef, but he thought with how strong the scent and flavor of this mushy boar was, it could blend well.
“Hey, Karem, is there a reason you’re grinding it so finely?”
“It’s just that the meat tastes good, but I can’t quite figure out how to cook it.”
“You’re not hesitating with the knife to say you don’t know.”
“I already decided what to make.”
“That’s concerning.”
“Regardless, it should turn out decent!”
In contrast to his words, Karem was quite confident.
He mixed the ground mossy boar meat with some added fat for moisture and kept processing it.
Then, he introduced sautéed onions, salt, and crushed hardtack as a flour substitute, mixing it thoroughly before shaping it into bite-sized balls.
In a large pot coated with the mossy boar’s fat, the meatballs began to sizzle.
Karem quickly tossed a chunk of fat into the frying pan.
As the oil began to fizz and bubble, he rushed to grab a few apples from his backpack, diced them finely, poured them in the pan, and added some salt to sauté them.
He heard that Swedish meatballs were served alongside lingonberry jam.
Karem had never tasted that.
He had only ever had strawberry jam, which was already an astonishing experience.
While there were no strawberries or similar fruits around, Karem wasn’t worried.
The apples their party had were all similarly sour yet sweet.
Sensing Karem’s intentions, Catherine quietly expressed admiration.
“Are you planning to pair the meatballs with apple sauce to avoid them being bland?”
“Madam Mage, do you really call that a meatball?”
“Yes, it originates from a recipe from a fallen ancient empire, a rare cooking method in the Kingdom of Seophone.”
“It sounds rather similar to the filling for black pudding.”
“That’s not incorrect.”
An ancient empire that has fallen…
Suddenly, the word sparked immense curiosity, but Karem shook his head, pushing aside distracting thoughts.
Having random thoughts in front of the fire was dangerous.
The strong heat and salt made the apple’s moisture evaporate quickly, turning them into a mash, as Karem stirred them with a spatula while flipping the meatballs in the pot.
“Whoops, I think it’s almost done. Is this enough?”
“Um, yes. You’re right.”
“Ah, I could really use a beer right now.”
Having overheard Gordon’s eager voice, Karem poured the almost apple puree-like sauté into a dish.
He set aside the pot containing perfectly browned meatballs and placed the dish filled with steaming yellow apple sauté next to it.
“Alright, all done. Enjoy your meal!”