/
Chapter 124: Campfire
We ate our dinner sitting around the campfire.
Shiva stuffed the fish with herbs and grilled it on the campfire along with skewered bacon and cheese.
There was also a bit of deer meat. I stored most of the game meat to let it rest. Dean and Dinosso were okay with the meat being tough as rock, but there’s fish tonight, so that’s what I did.
To be honest, I secretly brought koji — stuff made by mixing mold with rice, soya or other food to make soy sauce, sake, miso and other fermented goodies. I rubbed the deer meat heavily with koji. I also brought konbu for fish!
We have horses so it’s fine even if the luggage is a bit bulky. I also covered the horses’ place with a sheet. I wanted to make something like a horse cover that we can throw on their backs to protect them from the cold, but depending on the species, doing so might be too hot for them. I settled on a makeshift shelter against the wind and rain for them instead.
I tied the open sack of oats on the tree, so Ruta and the other horses are probably enjoying munching by now.
The orange fire casted shadows all around and its crackling resounded softly in the pitch black night.
「Cheese and ham~ 」
「Bacon! Cheese! 」
「Cheese and bacon and deer! 」
「It’s good to see you all so lively, but be more vigilant, more vigilant, get it? 」
I won’t repeat the same mistake, I assure you. I’m vigilant now. And eat your vegetables, will you.
My problem is that I totally can’t sense their presence on my own without the help of 【Search】.
I carefully melted the cheese, taking care not to accidentally drop it, then pulled the skewer end and placed the food on top of the bread before taking a huge bite.
The cheese is raclette, of course. This is the cheese they melt in the fireplace in Switzerland. It stinks when raw, but the stench dissipates while being toasted, and the combo of the melted and crispy parts is very tasty.
It’s great on grilled onions, great on turnips, great on bacon — it’s great on everything you put it on.
「This is very different from the camping that I know. 」
「Things have become quite convenient. It’s been a long while since we had been adventurers, so I wonder, did anything else change? 」
Dinosso and Shiva were stumped.
「You can say it’s a recent camping trend. 」
Grinning Butler said.
「It’s a fad!? 」
「Mainly on this side. 」
Retze reached out for the fish.
「Is it because of you!? 」
Dinosso whirled around at me; I whirled around to avoid his scorching gaze.
Stop treating me like a criminal, will you?
「The hammock is made from the hide of a Horned Monitor Lizard, and I thought it might be safer to wrap it around yourself when dealing with the monsters around here. 」
I explained its efficiency while still averting my gaze.
「It’s not absolutely safe since imps also use fire, but I guess it does buy you time to fight back or run away. And stop spouting ‘monitor lizard’ and stuff like that so blatantly. 」
I suddenly imagined aluminum foil wrapped food being grilled when Retze added that. By imps, he meant the monkey monsters.
「Well, I think it’s a bit too late for that.」
「We’re doing our best to pretend we don’t know anything, so don’t let it drop like that. 」
「The amount we have here doesn’t match what we hunted, after all! 」
Butler had a subtle smile plastered on his face while Dean waved his bacon skewer at me. Chris looked around the camp, gesturing to the tarps and hammocks around us with a wave of his hand as if introducing them to us.
「Mm, this is… 」
Ash held a marshmallow over the fire without a care in the world.
「I have some raspberry jam here. 」
I also want to offer chocolate and banana, but they’re probably gonna scold me again so I held back.
Ash loves sweets, but I think it’s better if there’s a bit of sourness. I strongly recommend the strawberries and fresh cream combo.
「There’s a guy here who keeps on dropping bombs but won’t look you in the eye. 」
Dunno what Retze is talking about. No siree, you’re probably just imagining things.
We gobbled the food all clean while talking.
Dinosso, the kids and I took and washed away the stinky stuff in the river so that it wouldn’t attract monsters, predators and of course, rats.
Walking through the pitch-black forest hand in hand with the kids somehow reminded me of doing a test of courage… or not. The kids are used to the dark, and with Daddy Dinosso around, there’s the sense of absolute safety even with the dark and being in the forest.
When we returned, Retze was tossing green cedar-like leaves onto the fire to get rid of the smell of food and keeping the bugs at bay.
「It’ll probably rain so this might be useless, but put this under as insect repellent. 」
He handed a branch giving off white smoke to each of us, and everyone placed theirs under the hammock.
I originally set the hammocks at knee level to make it easier to go down, but since it really looks like it’ll rain, I raised it to hip level, instead.
It might be tiring for those who aren’t used to hammocks if they try to tense up as an attempt to keep their balance. It’s much more comfortable if you just let it go and relax. I wrapped myself as is with this sleeping bag — well, technically it isn’t, but you get the point. Alright, goodnight, sweet dreams.
My shift is third to the last in the morning. I won’t be going back to bed after my shift since I plan to head to my home right after, so I have to get some shut eye now.
Early to bed, early to rise! Well, it’s too early to say it’s morning when I wake up tomorrow, though. Tiny drops of rain fell on the sheets just as I was about to fall asleep.
It’s going to be a cold night for the lookouts, but tiny pitter-patters sound pretty soothing for the sleepy me.