Published: September 9, 2025
Satou here. I recall being surprised once in some movie watching someone scoop out the yolk of a boiled egg with a spoon to eat it. I’ve long forgotten the movie itself, but that scene somehow stuck deeply in my memory.
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“Then, let’s thank everyone from Pendragon who came to our rescue! And to celebrate our survival, tonight we drink until dawn!”
“““Aye!”””
With Mr. Leader’s greeting, the banquet began. His name is Koshin, and he’s the leader of a veteran explorer party called “Mane of the White Horse.” Apparently, this wasn’t his first time gathering multiple parties to venture into the depths.
The banquet venue was a corner of a square crowded with food stalls, about 300 meters east from the West Gate, where single-story buildings line the streets. About 30 eateries and 10 drinking stalls alternated along the square. The signboards of the stalls were lit brightly, apparently enchanted with lighting magic by life magic users.
Besides us, the square was bustling with explorers, carriers, and what looked like day laborers from rough trades, happily buying food and drink from the stalls. Mixed in were some provocatively dressed ladies and oddly alluring gentlemen, who were likely prostitutes and male escorts spreading their charm.
Today, we had taken over a corner of the square. We had reserved one drinking stall and three food stalls for our banquet.
There were no chairs or tables; we sat in a circle on the ground to eat and drink. Lulu and Liza had already laid out blankets in the spot where we were to sit.
The menu for this feast consisted of four items: grilled meat, dried meat, boiled beans, and boiled potatoes. Before it started, someone teased Mr. Koshin, saying, “You sure went all out.” So it wasn’t a meager spread.
“Magic user, thanks for the clothes the last time.”
“Hmm?”
Two members of the “Beautiful Wings” approached Mia, handing her some folded clothes. Seeing her troubled expression and her glance for help, I got up.
“If you don’t mind, please keep those clothes. Wearing too little might draw unwanted attention.”
Both of them seemed to have patched together clothes with minimal fabric — important parts covered, but abdomen and shoulders bare, very provocative.
“Is that alright?”
“Thank you, noble lord.”
They must have been embarrassed, as the two hurriedly donned cheap shirts. Their cloaks were folded and set aside, probably too hot to wear.
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“Tough~”
“This meat’s quite a challenge.”
“Haha, little ones, you can’t bite through it like that. You have to slice it with a knife while you eat.”
With a snap, Pochi bit through a piece of meat. The young man who appeared to be the stall owner looked astonished.
“Is this tendon meat?”
Lulu shaved off a small piece and put it on my plate. I tried it — it was definitely tough. If cooked in a pressure cooker, it would be better. It had a peculiar smell and wasn’t exactly tasty, but not unpleasant enough to spit out — a subtle flavor.
“Since this is monster meat, it might not suit the noble lords’ palates.”
“Insect meat is cheap and addictive if you eat it every day.”
The grilled and dried meats here were made from insect-type monster meat. The meat was pitch black even before grilling, with a texture like hardened animal sinew. The type of insect meat varied with daily supply, and explorers referred to it simply as “insect meat” or just “meat.” Very cheap, a single meat skewer cost only one piece of low-value currency.
“When I first became an explorer, I’d often follow strong parties and scavenge meat from monster corpses after they stripped them.”
“You’d make money, but people were mean to you, right?”
Many explorers only collected valuable parts like shells or fangs from insect monsters, leaving the meat behind. Some specialized in collecting this discarded meat, called “corpse collectors” (looters), who were looked down on. Oddly, their work was important in supporting the food supply.