âAh, itâs the old man, I mean⊠Hi, big brother!â
The one speaking was the leader boy, I think his name was Lewis, of the orphanage party. [5]
[8] âWell, what is it?â I said. A little curt since I do not appreciate being called âold manâ accidentally or not.
âSee, we have a request.â
âA request?â
âYeah, you see [4] when we got back to the orphanage yesterday with the wooden âbatsâ you made for us, well, some of the others made a big fuss about it and wanted oneâŠâ [5]
âAnd⊠you told them you got those bats from me?â I said, raising an eyebrow.
[8] âSorry, big brother. Iâve told them again and again not to cause trouble for you but they just refuse to listen,â said Lewis with an apologetic look on his face.
[6] ⊠This brat, Iâm sure there had to be more to the story, but I canât fault him for trying to do his best for his friends. Level 1 of the meat dungeon might be relatively safe, but it was still a dungeon after all.
âFine, I understand. But how did you know where to find me?â
âOh, it doesnât take much. Thereâs a rumour around town about an S Rank Tamer showing up suddenly. I mean, I had no idea that my big brother is such a famous guy! You donât look like an S Ranker at all!â
Oi, you donât have to add that last bit. [5]
I sighed, âI see, no, wait. You know what? Just come in first. I donât want you guys leaning on my fence like this. I canât enjoy my food properly.â
âAwesome~! You heard him! My big brother says we can go in! By the way, something smells really good in here. Right, everyone?â
At Lewisâ prompting, the youths all nodded. They turned their shining eyes at me. [6] Wait, I think the shine was from their droolâŠ
âYes, yes, I understand. Well, come in first,â the moment I opened the door, the youths stampeded in and made a beeline for the barbecue stove. [5]
[6] I guess itâs a sign of their restraint for not leaping at the barbecue grillâŠ
Not that there was anything to leap at since all the offal on the grill had been eaten up. It was actually time to put the next round of offal onto the net.
While Iâm willing to share food, the orphansâ glittering eyes reminded me of hungry beasts. I really donât think I have enough food⊠Moreover, offal takes a lot of effort to prepare⊠[5]
Hmm?
Ohohoho.
A great idea just occurred to me! [5]
[9]
âAhem, would you like some meat?â
All the boys and girls nodded furiously at me.
âI can let you have some, howeverâŠâ
[6] A cheer interrupted me and the kids charged at the empty barbecue stove again. Wait, thereâs nothing on it⊠ah, they found the basins of raw intestinesâŠ
âHey, hey, wait a second!â I had to block them with my body. âHold up, there are conditions.â
âWhat is it, big brother? Canât you tell us after you feed us?â Lewis grumbled.
I gestured at the empty grill, âWhat exactly are you going to eat here?â
[9]
âAwwwâŠâ
âAnyway, Iâm not feeding you for free. You of all people should know the worth of dungeon meat. However, I am willing to let you eat if you help me out with something, howâs that sound?â
ââŠwhatâs the condition?â Lewis folded his arms, he sounded wary but his eyes kept moving towards the grill.
How cute, itâs good to see him trying hard not to be lured by good food and protect his friends.
âItâs nothing too difficult,â I said, showing them the basin of offal. âThese are large and small intestines of Dungeon Cows and Pigs.â
âWhat, eww, wait. Are you sure thatâs what weâve been smelling?â
âFufufu, Iâm sure youâre sceptical,â I said. âI will be grilling these for my familiars and you can decide whether you want to eat once theyâre done. However, once you eat themâŠâ
Gulp.
âUh, so, what do you want us to do?â
âYou will help clean and process offal meat for me,â I said mildly. âWell? Sounds like a good deal?â
âErm, sure,â Lewis looked at his companions. âWeâre okay doing some cleaning job, right?â
âYeah!!â
âNice,â I said. âHold on, Iâm going to place the meat on the grill first.â
Under the kidsâ watchful eyes, I covered the barbecue grill with pieces of offal before opening up my [Item Box]. While the meat was sizzling away, I took out sets of plates and forks. There were 21 kids here, so 21 sets were taken out and handed to Lewis to pass to his friends.
The orphans were more excited than afraid to encounter a talking wolf. I guess they probably did not know that Fer was a Legendary Beast Fenrir. [5]
They were also interested in Dora-chan and Sui.
Even so, once the meat was done grilling⊠[5]
âTime to eat~â I called.
Suddenly, the kids abandoned Fer, Sui and Dora-chan to surround the barbecue grill. My familiars were stunned to be thrown aside for food.
Ahaha.
[6] âAlright, everyone. Form a line,â I called. âItâs hot, so it could be dangerous. Form a line, people.â
[6] âYou heard big brother,â said Lewis. âForm a line as we do at the orphanage.â
[6] With some reluctance, the kids formed a line. I placed different parts of grilled offal meats on their plates along with a generous helping of rice and sauce for the 21 kids before serving Fer and the others.
âMuu, to think those brats would abandon us for food,â muttered Fer as he chomped at his plate of rice and offal.
[6] Fer⊠youâre the last person with the right to complain. Who was the one who became the familiar of a Level 1 weakling for the sake of food?
Meanwhile, the children were busy chewing on their portion of offal and rice.
âThe texture is a bit weird, but it tastes good!â
[6] âItâs really fragrant too~â
[5] âI used to think that those soft flabby things we get are bad stuff, but theyâre really good!â
âI still think itâs a bit weirdâŠâ
[6] âIâm fine as long as itâs meat~â
[10]
From how fast the meat and rice were disappearing, I could tell there wonât be enough offal to go around. Therefore, after putting more offal onto the grill, I took out regular Dungeon Pork and Beef and began to prepare them to feed todayâs unexpected guests.
For the beef, I plan to just grill them as large steaks over a strong fire with salt and pepper before placing the steaks under foil paper to rest. As for the excellent pork, I decided to give it a little extra attention.
Letâs try making the special Korean style BBQ Pork Belly. Incisions were pre-cut into long strips of pork belly for more even cooking. This will allow me to cook both pork and beef on the same fire without worries of undercooking or overcooking anything.
The sauce for the pork belly was my favourite yakiniku sauce with a bit of spicy kimchi juice.
Sure enough, the beef steaks charred quickly over the hot charcoal and then placed under foil paper to cook in its residual heat. The pork belly was done quickly too and all I had to do next was follow the pre-cut incisions to separate the meat into bite-size pieces. After cutting up the pork, I sliced the steaks and drizzled steak sauce over the beef.
âRight, everyone come up with your plates!â
This time, I served the regular Dungeon Pork and Beef with bread and shredded cabbage. Higher species dungeon meat would be too luxurious for the orphans, so regular Dungeon Pork and Beef would do.
Even so, the children gobbled up the meat as though there was no tomorrow.
Goodness, please have some restraintâŠ
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
âPhew~ That was incredible~â [3] Lewis rubbed his tummy with a satisfied look on his face.
âIâm so full~â
âThis is the first time I get to eat as much meat as I like, itâs paradise~â
âThat was really delicious.â
âHaahhh~~â
I have 21 children sprawled around the garden, all patting their bulging stomachs with satisfaction.
âAhem, after a short break, be sure to help me out as youâve promised!â
ââ ââ ââ Ehhh!!!ââ ââ ââ
The children stared up at me, dismay on their faces.
âWhat âehhhâ? We have a deal, didnât we? Youâve already eaten your fill so itâs only fair to repay me with your labour.â [5]
âWell, it canât be helped,â Lewis rolled to his feet. âA deal is a deal.â [5]
âI guess heâs right.â
âIt canât be helpedâŠâ
âI get to eat all the meat I want, so itâs only fairâŠâ
Fuhahahaha!
I have the manpower needed to help me process the offal. [5]
Time to work, kiddos!
[Gumihou: Lol, itâs actually good for the kids too since they will learn how to process these âbad meatâ and improve their diet.]
[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 â Dialogue between Lewis and Mukouda-san. Actually, just the interactions in general.
[9] Logistics of Mukouda feeding the kids. Especially since he said the meat had already been eaten and the grill is empty. Also, barbecue takes time, so it makes sense to put the meat on the grill, capture the kidsâ attention and then make the conditions.
Also, Ferâs reaction was a bit too mild.
Also, Lewisâ reaction was too childish and not wary enough for a leader of wanna be Adventurers.
[10] Recipe for barbecue pork and beef. No, you canât just slap it on the grill and yay it to existence.
I imagine thatâs what the Japanese think âKorean BBQ Pork Bellyâ is supposed to look like. I stayed in a Korean Town in Tokyo for a while and all the posters featured the pork belly with beautiful pre-cut incisions.