In the end, even when Rei encouraged Bob to become an adventurer, Bob refused to accept.
For Bob, it was almost a matter of conviction—or so it seemed to Rei. But if that was how Bob felt, there was no real issue.
Rei did think it would be safer for Bob in many ways if he registered, but that was strictly his own opinion. He couldn't force the decision on Bob.
(Bob not wanting to become an adventurer—I knew that from our previous conversations, but honestly, his reaction was a bit unexpected. There's a chance he had some kind of run-in with adventurers before.)
Bob wasn't even an adventurer; he was a hunter who traveled and hunted alone. When he shot and killed animals or monsters and tried to sell their materials, meat, or magic stones, encountering adventurers wouldn't have been unusual. And from an adventurer's perspective, if they took issue with what Bob was doing, they might pick a fight with him.
Adventurers, even those who primarily used bows, wouldn't find it strange to hone their close-combat skills to some degree. Bob, however, was a pure hunter. He had no need to polish his melee techniques, which was exactly why he'd struggle to handle being accosted by an adventurer at point-blank range.
In reality, there were hunters who possessed considerable close-combat skills. Bob wasn't one of them, but having such skills would allow a hunter to respond if, for some reason, the distance between them and their quarry closed.
When encountering creatures like Goblins in particular, their sheer numbers meant that trying to pick them off one by one with arrows would result in being overwhelmed.
…Though depending on the circumstances, it wasn't impossible that the Goblins would panic after watching their companions get shot down one after another and flee.
"Well, standing around talking isn't getting us anywhere… I should start cooking. A lot happened today one way or another, and I want to turn in a little early tonight."
Rei, who had been musing about Bob and adventurers, quickly switched gears and said so.
Today had been genuinely hectic for Rei. In current Gilm, Rei was being targeted by countless people over the Crystal Dragon incident—and calling it that was by no means an exaggeration—yet he had gone to Gilm twice in a single day. The second time, Rei didn't leave from Marina's house; Daskar came to him instead. But afterward, at Daskar's request, Rei ended up loading Daskar and his men onto the Seto Basket and flying them outside the city.
Between that and everything involving the defilement and the B-Rank Monster, Rei was thoroughly exhausted. In a way, it could be called a fulfilling day, but this kind of fulfillment Rei could do without.
"Bob, how would you like the B-Rank Monster meat prepared?"
"Meat that special… I'm honestly not sure what would be the best way to eat it. I think it would be delicious no matter how you prepare it."
Bob, being a mere hunter, naturally couldn't defeat high-rank monsters. As such, this was his first time eating this kind of monster meat. It was only natural he had no idea how it should specifically be prepared.
"Nielson suggested soup."
"That works too. When it comes to how to eat that kind of meat, you'd know better, Rei-san. So I'll leave it to you."
"For now, let's try it in soup. Not a seafood soup—vegetable soup with black panther meat added."
Vegetable soup often contained dried meat in addition to vegetables. Given that, adding more meat wouldn't feel particularly out of place. If anything, the rich umami of the black panther meat would come through, and it would probably be quite delicious.
"Understood. If that's what you've decided, I'm fine with it. I'll get the campfire going."
True to his word, Bob left the cooking entirely in Rei's hands. He didn't object to the soup idea and began preparing the campfire.
Normally, since the soup was stored in the Misty Ring in freshly made condition, there would be no need for a fire. But since the raw meat needed cooking, simply dropping it into soup straight from the Misty Ring wouldn't be enough.
The soup was stored exactly as it had been when freshly made, and it remained in that state. When taken out, it would still be piping hot without having cooled at all, so one could potentially use the residual heat to cook the meat. But doing so would undoubtedly cool the soup down to some extent.
Therefore, it was necessary to warm the soup over the campfire while cooking the meat.
(There are several approaches even when adding meat as an ingredient to soup.)
For example, stir-frying the meat before adding it would mean it was already cooked, so the soup wouldn't cool down. But introducing stir-fried meat risked overwhelming the soup's delicate flavor.
To avoid that, cooking the meat directly in the soup was the better approach—but then the way the meat was cut would affect how evenly it cooked and the texture when bitten.
Thin strips, thin slices, or bite-sized pieces… even just the cut of the meat made a multitude of significant differences.
Of course, Rei wasn't particularly knowledgeable about cooking. He liked good food, but he wasn't an extreme gourmet.
…Rei's body possessed sharp five senses, so naturally his sense of taste should have been equally sharp. But given that he didn't find alcohol appealing, Rei's palate was fundamentally that of a child's.
"Alright, first let's cut the meat."
Watching Bob prepare the campfire, Rei began slicing the black panther meat. There were various ways to cut it, but Rei chose thin slices.
Fortunately—or perhaps that word was debatable—Rei had grown accustomed to handling blades since coming to this world. He couldn't match a professional butcher, but for an amateur, he sliced the meat into thin pieces with respectable skill.
"Hey, Rei. To bring out the texture of this meat, wouldn't a different cut work better than thin slices?"
Nielson, who had been watching him cut the meat, chimed in.
The texture from when they had taste-tested it as skewers. Rei could understand Nielson's point that cutting it into bite-sized pieces would be better than thin slices for enjoying that springy yet cleanly biting texture.
"You're right. Let's do that then."
As they continued with the cooking, the campfire was soon ready. Given the size of the fire, warming the giant stockpot—the kind Rei often bought when purchasing soup by the pot—wasn't feasible, so he transferred the soup to a smaller pot and added the meat there.
"Ah! Something smells really good!"
A voice rang out suddenly. Found us at last, Rei thought, turning his gaze toward the source.
Several fairies had appeared. Seeing Rei cooking, they looked happy and thoroughly intrigued.
Since the soup was heating over the fire, its aroma naturally drifted through the air. When the fairies caught that scent, they were drawn to it and gathered around.
(There's a decent amount of black panther meat, so aside from the soup, I could let them have some as skewers. If they each skewer and grill their own meat… that might actually be nice?)
An image came to mind of the fairies each holding a meat skewer, gathered around the campfire, grilling their portions.
It was a somewhat heartwarming scene, but a dangerous one at the same time.
(The fairies wouldn't actually jump into the campfire… right? Not moths to a flame, but fairies to a flame?)
If that happened, his relationship with the fairies, including the Chief, would undoubtedly deteriorate. He thought so, but then reasoned that fairy beings wouldn't catch fire so easily.
He took out skewers, threaded the black panther meat onto them, and lightly sprinkled them with salt.
"Here. Grill these over that campfire and eat them. But be careful—if you get too close to the fire, you'll burn yourselves."
"Yay!"
The fairies raised their voices in unison, took the meat skewers from Rei, and headed toward the campfire.
The scene was enough to make anyone watching feel warm and happy. Rei and Bob certainly felt that way, and Seto, waiting at a slight distance in anticipation of the soup being ready, watched the scene with apparent amusement.
Only Nielson looked dissatisfied.
"Tch, what's with this? Rei and I were the ones who defeated that black panther, so we should have the right to eat first."
"Hey, calm down. If we're talking about eating first, we already had some as skewers when we were dissecting it, remember? No other monsters interfered, and we got to eat at our leisure."
Saying that to Nielson, Rei thought back and realized they truly had been able to eat leisurely.
They had dissected the black panther surrounded by numerous monsters and animals, scattering the scent of blood all around, and then grilled and eaten the meat—which should have sent an appetizing aroma wafting through the area, stimulating the appetite of anything nearby.
Normally, it wouldn't have been strange for monsters or animals to be drawn in by that. If Seto had been present, it might have been possible that monsters and animals detected his presence and kept away. But during the fight with the black panther, Seto had been in the Fairy Dwelling playing with the wolf pups, the fairies, and Bob.
Given that, it was impossible that no monsters or animals would have come.
(Was it the black panther's presence?)
It was possible that monsters which had detected the black panther's presence were frightened just as they would be of Seto, and didn't approach.
There was a significant difference in power between the S-Rank equivalent Seto and a B-Rank black panther. But even so, for low-rank monsters like Goblins, both were overwhelmingly stronger than themselves, so that difference wouldn't matter.
"It's delicious! Wait, this is incredibly delicious!?"
One of the fairies who had finished grilling her meat first exclaimed with sheer delight at its taste and texture.
Naturally, the other fairies, hearing those words, wanted to finish grilling theirs and eat as quickly as possible. Then, one after another, many fairies finished grilling their meat and cried out about how delicious it was.
Among them were some eating meat that wasn't fully cooked yet, but since they were saying it was delicious, Rei judged there was no problem for now.
(Beef and such can be eaten by many people in a state that's not fully cooked, like rare. But with pork, even at yakiniku, I was always told to cook it thoroughly. So… how does that work with black panther meat? Well, in my case, I don't think eating it semi-raw would be a problem.)
Rei's body was created using the Zephyle Clan's technology. Given such a body, he wouldn't get an upset stomach so easily.
…Of course, not eating such things was undoubtedly the safest course of action.
"Rei-san, I think the soup is about ready too."
At Bob's words, Rei checked the soup. It hadn't quite reached a boil, but it had certainly grown quite hot. Since he had originally purchased the soup freshly made, it had started off warm, which was probably having an effect.
Rei nodded at Bob's words and placed the cut meat into the soup.
"Grrrrl."
Seto, who had been watching from a slight distance, purred with anticipation as Rei began cooking in earnest—though it was just adding black panther meat to already-made soup. For Seto, delicious meat was being added to a delicious-looking soup, so he was clearly looking forward to it.
"Seto, wait a little longer. It'll be ready once the meat is cooked."
At Rei's words, Seto looked disappointed. He appeared to be eagerly awaiting the completion of the soup he would get to eat.
"As for other dishes… let's see. Might as well use some Gamelion meat too."
That Gamelion meat was from the one they had defeated when Rei took Daskar outside of Gilm. Since it was the first of the season, Rei probably thought this was a good opportunity to have some.
He had already given portions to Daskar and Marina's group, so by now they should also be eating Gamelion meat as the first of the season. In that case, Rei eating some as well wasn't a bad idea.
"Gamelion? Is that delicious?"
She must have heard Rei's murmur. One of the fairies who had finished grilling the black panther meat first asked him.
Rei nodded to that fairy with confident satisfaction.