Prologue

It has been a week since I punched a noble and fled into the mountains.

Because I ran deep into the mountains and also managed to dodge the tracking using their sense of smell done by dog-type beastfolk, the pursuit squad has completely lost track of me.

Since the first day, I have not felt the presence of any pursuers at all.

I was worried about food at first, but the uninhabited depths of the mountains have turned into a paradise for beast-type monsters, so it has basically been all-you-can-eat raw meat.

In particular, the Big Clay Boar, a higher species of Clay Boar, is incredibly delicious. It is a rank 3 monster and is the higher form of a Clay Boar, which is already famous for tasty meat.

The meat that was already delicious gains even more rich mana flavor as its rank increases, which is crazy. Since the base meat is good to begin with, it is about as tasty as a rank 4 Rock Lizard.

Right now, I am sitting on a rock by the river, lightly sprinkling salt over thin slices of the Big Clay Boar’s liver.

I would have preferred to cut it a bit thicker, but I sliced it thin so I can check for parasites.

If only I had sesame oil, everything would be perfect. Thinking that, I put the raw liver in my mouth.

On my tongue I feel a moist, springy softness. When my teeth bite in, it parts cleanly with a crisp texture. Rich umami spreads through my mouth along with a faint sweetness. Then there is the deep mana flavor that tingles my brain.

I close my eyes, chew slowly, and a look of ecstasy spreads across my face. Words spill from my mouth in pure emotion.

“M-manaaAAA!”

The fresh liver I had just harvested draws me into a whirlpool of umami and mana flavor.

“It is the Naruto Strait Naruto Strait is famous for its tidal whirlpools. of umami and mana flavorrrr.”

The flood of brain chemicals brought on by gourmet food overflow in my brain and turns me into a total idiot.

Once I finish savoring the fresh raw liver, I look at the Big Clay Boar I have submerged in the river.

Since the river was nearby, I was able to process it perfectly. It is a shame I cannot age it at low temperature, but this meat will still bring me happiness.

When a hunter kills game, they drain it of the blood. Everyone knows that much, but there are surprisingly few people who understand exactly why.

The truth is that simply draining the blood does not do much more than make it slightly better.

There is a phrase “bloody smell,” so it is true that blood can be a source of odor. However, the unpleasant smell of poorly processed meat is not caused directly by the blood.

Anyone who has had a nosebleed flow back into their mouth will understand. You may think it smells metallic, but it is not the same unpleasant smell as bad meat.

There is blood sausage and rice porridge made with blood jelly. There’s even a dish where they keep the blood in the meat to improve the flavor, called blood-engorged chicken.

These ingredients are treated more like normal foods than bizarre ones.

If blood itself caused bad meat smells, foods like this would never be sold. So why do we drain the blood? Because it serves as nourishment for bacteria to multiply.

Blood is so nutritious that people call it “meal replacement.” Bacteria use that nutrition to reproduce. The bad smell comes from those bacteria. To put it crudely, it is similar to the smell of a damp cloth that has soured.

After hunters kill their prey, they remove the organs and drain the blood, then submerge the carcass in a river.

The reason is to lower the temperature of the prey below the 25–35 degree range where bacteria multiply most easily, in order to prevent bacterial growth.

Draining the blood keeps the bacteria from getting the food they need to grow, but if you do not also cool the meat, bacteria will still multiply.

So hunters prioritize cooling the meat in the river even more than draining the blood.

I once heard that the owner of a restaurant specializing in wild game, who cooks only what he hunts himself, will keep tracking the animal until it reaches a water source, then finish it there.

It is not that meat goes bad because blood smells. Blood is drained because bacteria multiply by feeding on it. The act of draining blood actually has a surprisingly deep meaning.

I was pretty shocked too when I first heard about it.

Of course, things change depending on the size of the prey, the temperature, and the butchering environment, so submerging it in a river is not always the correct answer.

I was spacing out, thinking about things like that while looking at the Big Clay Boar I had left in the river.

My time running from reality is over. There is still work to do. I have to butcher the Gray Wolves.

Not long ago, my Presence Detection picked up a pack of Gray Wolves, but I figured it would be easier to process them if I took them down closer to my base, so I waited for them to approach.

They were not an opponent I could afford to underestimate, but there were only five of them and none were a higher species. I have surpassed the level barrier and I have black-steel weapons, so they were no match for me.

I was steadily reducing their numbers when my Presence Detection picked up something new. A Big Clay Boar had barged into the fight.

The number of Gray Wolves was already down, and the Big Clay Boar that charged in did not seem like much of a threat.

If anything, I was happy because it meant more delicious meat. But the Big Clay Boar rushed not at me, but at the Gray Wolves, and then continued straight into my base and smashed it apart.

My home! With tears in my eyes, I finished off the remaining Gray Wolves and the Big Clay Boar, then ate raw liver to escape from the shock of my house being destroyed.

But I cannot stay lost in melancholy forever. I should take this as a good chance to move my base. As I carefully skinned the Gray Wolves, I looked at my ruined home and let out a sigh.