About a month had passed since Elena departed from Gilm. The season had already moved past spring and into summer.
Since it wasn't yet the hottest part of summer, many people remained active despite complaining about the heat.
Naturally, adventurers were also out in full force, sweating through the heat as they worked through the requests posted on the Request Board.
Meanwhile, as for Rei...
"This one's a no-go too, huh."
"That's right. The taste is no different from before, and it would only incur unnecessary additional costs."
Mayo, a man in his late twenties, shook his head as he responded to Rei's murmur after taking a bite of dried meat.
Wiping the sweat from his face with his hand, he pulled a chilled fruit water from a refrigerated Magic Item box nearby and downed it in one breath.
He was considerably taller than Rei, probably around 180 centimeters. But as if proportional to his height, he was also broad, and his weight undoubtedly exceeded 100 kilograms.
This man, named Mayo, was the third-generation successor of the Percy Item Shop, which sold various tools for adventurers. He was the person Rei had requested to collaborate with on this project, having been introduced by Marina.
The Percy Item Shop was a fairly large store in Gilm, though not quite top-class.
Nevertheless, because it sold quality goods at reasonable prices, it was highly regarded among Gilm's adventurers.
There were even times when traveling merchants came to stock up on goods.
The third-generation successor of such a shop... more accurately, since his father still served as the shop owner, it would be more appropriate to call him the next-in-line third generation. But this Mayo, as one might guess from his physique, had a powerful interest in food.
It wasn't just that he wanted to eat delicious things himself; he wanted to feed others delicious, affordable food as well. To an onlooker, it seemed like he'd be better off running a cafeteria rather than an item shop. But precisely because he was such a person, he was the ideal partner for Rei.
If the matter Rei and his companions were currently working on succeeded, it would be no exaggeration to say that their names might go down in this world's history. Namely...
"Completely eliminating the gaminess of Goblin meat is difficult, and the taste has a harshness and bitterness to it. The texture of the meat also needs to be addressed... Hmm, this is difficult."
Yes, they were trying to find a way to make Goblin meat taste good.
Of course, even if it was said that their names would go down in history, that was only if they succeeded. Until now, many people—dozens, hundreds—had challenged that very proposition, and ultimately failed.
Goblins, it goes without saying, had extremely high reproductive rates.
Even in Gilm, located in the frontier regions, they survived without being wiped out, which spoke to just how alarming their reproductive capacity was.
But when considered as a source of meat, that threat turned into an advantage.
High reproductive ability meant that while some control might be necessary, from a meat-production standpoint, they could produce as much meat as they wanted.
On top of that, Goblins were omnivorous and would eat anything... even things on the verge of rotting. In fact, they would even eat things that were already rotting.
In other words, there was no shortage of feed at all.
The sole and greatest problem was the terrible taste of the meat.
"Lord Mayo, isn't attempting to make Goblin meat into a food source a bit unreasonable?"
The one who said this was a male servant working under Mayo, who had similarly been caught up in the misfortune of being made to eat Goblin meat.
It had been about a week since Rei brought up the matter, Mayo got on board, and they began their research. During that time, the man had been made to eat Goblin meat on numerous occasions, and he pleaded for them to give him a break.
"What are you saying? Weren't you the one who volunteered to cooperate with this research, lured by the reward in the first place? Then you need to work properly for your pay. Besides, Lord Rei and I have been eating just as much Goblin meat, so whining is pathetic."
Mayo's words were the truth.
Both Mayo and Rei had easily eaten about five kilograms of Goblin meat so far.
Considering that all of it was just tasting a bite-sized portion of each prototype, it was clear just how much Goblin meat had gone to waste.
...Though there was a surplus of Goblin meat, and if one wanted to obtain it, they could get as much as they wanted.
Incidentally, the failed Goblin meat products were not all going to waste either.
They were being donated to the slum district under the name of the Percy Item Shop, earning them some goodwill in terms of reputation.
For those living in the slums, many would gladly eat Goblin meat.
Especially now that it was summer, when food spoiled easily, their gratitude was pronounced.
"That's true, but... I never thought it would taste this bad."
It seemed this was the first time the man had eaten Goblin meat. No matter how good the pay was, he couldn't help but think that volunteering as a taste-tester might have been a mistake.
Naturally, no one was going to listen to his whining, and Mayo and Rei continued their discussion on how to make Goblin meat edible.
"What about using a larger quantity of spices?"
That was the first thing that came to Rei's mind when thinking about masking the meat's gaminess, but Mayo immediately rejected it.
"That might have some effect, but spices are fundamentally expensive. Cheapness is the greatest characteristic of Goblin meat, so using spices would create a problem on that front."
"...I suppose that's true."
"Indeed. Besides, there are plenty of other meats whose taste improves with spices. If there's another meat at roughly the same price point but vastly superior in taste... then it would be obvious which one an adventurer would purchase, wouldn't it?"
Mayo's words were indisputable truth.
Goblin meat that had become expensive due to spices, or a monster's meat at a similar price. If asked which to buy, normally one would choose the latter.
"Lord Mayo, what about Orcs? They're similarly highly reproductive monsters, aren't they?"
At the servant's words, Mayo... and then Rei spoke as if explaining.
"Orcs are significantly smarter than Goblins. Their individual capabilities are also incomparably higher, and gathering them in large numbers would be difficult. Precisely because they're smart, they don't recklessly show themselves like Goblins do."
Both Goblins and Orcs could be said to be social monsters. However, there was a significant difference in that social nature.
Orcs would sometimes even build settlements and houses, whereas Goblins did not possess that level of intelligence.
That was how great the difference between Goblins and Orcs was, making it difficult to consistently procure Orc meat.
While Goblins would take the same actions without caring at all even if their companions were killed, Orcs would ordinarily retreat from a location if they found anything suspicious.
At Rei's explanation, the servant nodded with a look of understanding.
"I see, so it's not that simple."
"Orc meat is delicious beyond what its rank would suggest. If we could consistently procure Orcs, it would definitely be great for our shop."
Mayo had also eaten Orc meat many times before.
The taste was certainly incomparably superior to Goblin meat, and even with simple seasoning, it could be eaten deliciously without any issue.
(As for Orc meat, we have quite a bit from the ones that attacked the Dark Elf settlement during the World Tree incident... but that meat isn't for sale. It's for me and Set to eat.)
The many Orc corpses passed through Rei's mind.
Recalling the Dark Elf settlement led him to think of the Giant Cicada in turn... and a slightly bitter expression crossed his face.
Since the Giant Cicada was a completely unknown monster, by request from the Guild, it had not been dismantled and was instead entrusted to the Guild.
Of course, that was a request without any binding force. If Rei had forcefully claimed ownership of the Giant Cicada and insisted on dismantling it himself, it likely would have been granted.
But when Marina told him that the investigation might unravel the mystery of how the Giant Cicada achieved such abnormal evolution through Rei's magic power and the World Tree, Rei had no words to refuse.
It had already been established that simply pouring in large amounts of his magic power would not cause a creature to monsterize.
Rei's theory was that the World Tree's sap was likely involved, and that one would need to absorb enough sap and magic power to weaken the World Tree to the brink of death before it would become such a distinctly defined monster. This investigation would properly examine that aspect as well.
"What's the matter?"
Noticing Rei deep in thought about the Giant Cicada, Mayo asked curiously.
"Nothing. I was just thinking I'd like to eat some Orc skewers."
"Oh, that sounds nice."
"...You just ate Goblin skewers, and you want to eat more?"
While Mayo agreed with Rei's words, the servant muttered, looking as though he didn't want to eat any more meat.
"It's getting hot, so it's better to eat and build up your stamina while you can."
Rei, who murmured this, felt no heat at all thanks to the Dragon Robe.
Meanwhile, Mayo had been sweating profusely from his entire face during cooking, and had been repeatedly pulling chilled fruit water from the refrigerated Magic Item to drink.
"That's true. Some people lose their appetite in summer."
"...It must be nice not having that problem, Lord Mayo."
"Hohoho. I always have an appetite throughout the year."
Despite the servant's somewhat sarcastic remark, Mayo seemed to take it as a compliment and patted his large, round belly.
Observing the servant's state, Rei said nothing in particular and turned his gaze back to the Goblin meat.
"If using spices is out, and ordinary cooking doesn't work either... should we try asking other chefs?"
The Goblin meat dishes prepared aside from the dried meat had been cooked by the Percy Item Shop's chef.
An ordinary item shop wouldn't have the luxury of a chef, but this shop sold preserved foods such as dried meat for adventurers, and the chef had been hired for that purpose. ...Though the fact that Mayo's cousin was the chef also had something to do with it.
"I would prefer not to let this information get out too much, if possible. If our research succeeds and the taste of Goblin meat improves, it would bring significant profit to our shop."
"For my part, I'd be perfectly happy if Goblin meat simply became edible and that spread to the public."
Even as he said this, when it came to finding an appropriate shop to consult about this matter, Marina had introduced him to this Percy Item Shop.
Having been introduced and receiving their cooperation in this research, Rei understood that they needed to generate profit for the Percy Item Shop.
"Meat... meat, huh. Not the way it's cooked, but improving the flavor of the meat itself... hmm?"
Rather than finding a way to cook Goblin meat, what about improving the flavor of the meat itself?
As that thought crossed his mind, something suddenly flashed through Rei's memory.
It was a program he had seen on TV back in Japan.
It was a technique that improved the flavor of the meat itself—not by letting it rot, but by aging it.
"Rei-san, what is it? Did you think of something?"
Rei reached out his hand toward Mayo, who had finished drinking his fruit water and was now peeling a chilled fruit.
"...Just one, alright?"
Mayo placed a fruit slightly smaller than a fist into Rei's hand, and passed another to the servant as well.
The three of them ate the chilled fruit together, taking a short break.
The servant in particular savored the experience with bliss as the lingering taste of Goblin meat in his mouth was overwritten... no, purified by the fruit.
"So, did you think of something?"
Rei nodded and spoke in response to Mayo's question as he ate his fruit.
"There's a method called aged meat."
"...Aged meat?"
"Yeah. But to be honest, I don't really know much about it myself. I only read about it briefly in a book when I was living with my mentor."
As Rei spoke, recalling his usual cover story, Mayo looked at him with an interested gaze.
The fact that Rei had lived with a powerful mage—or rather, a sorcerer, as the story went—before coming to Gilm was something Rei had not particularly hidden in order to utilize that setting, so it had spread among those in the know.
Mayo, thinking that the mentor of a mage who could use powerful magic like Rei might know some way of preparing meat that he himself didn't, listened as Rei explained.
"If I remember correctly, leaving meat in a place with a relatively low temperature for several days enhances its umami. ...At least, I think that was the gist of it."
"...Won't it rot?"
"No, it's a temperature where it won't rot. Something like midwinter temperatures, I think."
In reality, there were many other steps required to make aged meat, but that was about all Rei remembered from watching TV.
Mayo tried his best to extract more information about aged meat from Rei... but since Rei only had that much knowledge to begin with, there was little he could provide beyond that.
Nevertheless, Mayo continued his research, piling study upon study... and though it would take several years, he would eventually complete the technique for making aged meat.