Chapter 322: Meeting Dear Old Friends

Translated by Zzonkedd

Edited by Gumihou and Onionpi

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A day late, sorry.

Gumi was sick…

After meeting with the Guild Master at the Adventurer’s Guild, [8] we went outside the walls of the city and snacked on some pre-made Meat Onigiri. One of the many ready meals I had made during the past three days. [5]

We’re outside now because Fer & Co. wanted to go hunting.

Now, if I leave it alone, Fer, Sui & Dora-chan would probably be caught up with hunting and probably don’t remember to come back on time.

Naturally, I have a solution for that…

[8] “I’ll be making something delicious soon, so make sure to come back before it gets dark,” I said casually to Fer, who was wearing a Magic Bag (extra large) around his neck.

“Umu, fine. Let’s go.”

““Yahoo! Let’s get something big!””

““Aruji, Sui will pew pew lots and lots and bring lots and lots back~~ So, please wait ~~””

With that, my familiars ran towards the nearby forest.

“Well, I guess I should get started on the promised ‘something delicious’, let’s see…”

Rather than going back to the mansion to cook, I decided to just stick around and do some outdoor cooking while waiting for Fer and the rest.

“Well, since it’s such a nice weather, I should do a barbecue. It’s been a while since our last proper barbecue.”

Naturally, when it comes to barbecue, meat is the star. The only question was, what meat should I use? [1] I had just picked up quite a large variety from the Adventurer’s Guild after all.

After pawing through my [Item Box] I took a large piece of Rock Bird meat out. “Let’s make barbecue Rock Bird! It’s been a while since I’ve barbecued chicken, I mean, fowl meat.”

For the sauce, let’s try [9] mixing my own barbecue sauce for once. While I could buy BBQ Sauce from [Net Super], there’s quite something satisfying about mixing my own sauce.

[9] Yes, let’s make a sweet barbecue sauce with honey with a lovely lingering taste.

[9] For this sweet homemade sauce, let’s go with ketchup, honey, grated garlic (from a tube) and Chuno sauce as the base. Worcestershire sauce is acceptable but Chuno is thicker and sweeter, just perfect as a base for barbecue sauce.

[9] To make it even more luxurious, I could add some grain mustard.

Wait, let’s make both types!

Yes, two types of sauces for my barbecue.

[9] After mixing the sweet barbecue sauce in a large bowl, I split the lot into two smaller bowls and added grain mustard to one.

[9] Don’t look down on the addition of just one ingredient. Grain mustard has enough flavour and texture to completely change a sauce!

I set the sauces aside and began poking holes into the Rock Bird meat with a fork before cutting it into appropriate pieces, about the size of a small steak so that it would soak in the sauce and cook quickly. Then, I placed the chicken pieces into two large plastic bags and poured the Honey BBQ sauce into one and Mustard BBQ sauce in the other.

Let’s make lots since my familiars like meat!

Anyway, if I have any leftover marinated meat, I could just grill them in a pan later.

That’s the meat prep done.

[6] Vegetables are generally an optional thing when it comes to barbecue but I’d always enjoyed the odd grilled corn and asparagus. Although only Sui and I really enjoy eating them, [5] I want to make sure my other two familiars get their vegetables in them. Never mind Dora-chan’s apathy or Fer’s frowny faces.

Speaking of vegetables, I don’t have many that are suitable for barbecue left. So let’s check the [Net Super].

“Fresh corn for sure, and sweet paprika, king trumpet mushrooms and some asparagus…” [5]

Corn could be placed on the grill with its leaves on. So, all I have to do is prep the other vegetables, first cutting them to appropriate sizes, peeling the lower parts of the asparagus and covering them all in a bit of olive oil and salt to taste.

“Alright, now that the prep work is done, I should get my barbecue grill ready.”

I pulled out my special dwarf made BBQ stove that I commissioned from Doran [9] along with some leftover charcoal. This should be enough to get a good fire started, although I’ll have to get more charcoal from [Net Super] soon since I’ll be cooking a lot.

While I got a good fire going, [9] aided by my Fire Magic, of course. Magic is so cool, times like this is when I am almost amazed by myself-

Rustle, rustle.

“!!!”

It’s… the rustling sound of grasses and twigs being pushed aside. [6] The sound was getting louder, so I stopped whatever I was doing and grabbed my Mithril spear from the [Item Box] and stood at ready.

Fer had already set up a barrier and since this place is close to the city, I don’t think any large monsters would dare show up…

Perhaps a stray Goblin? Or an Orc?

I tightened my grip on the spear, waiting for the opponent to show up.

What finally emerged was…

“Eh? Rush-san?”

“Hm… Oh? Isn’t this Mukouda-san? What are you doing here?”

The familiar and nostalgic faces of the [Phoenix] party members appeared through the trees.

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“I see, so you guys just came back from completing a quest.”

“Aaa, it’s a little early to return to town right away, so we decided to make a little pocket money.”

Apparently, the [Phoenix] party had received a mission to subjugate a group of Grey Wolves that had settled close to a village nearby.

“So, Mukouda-san, what brings you here?”

“Aa, [4] I guess I’m out hunting? Well, Fer and the others are out hunting while I wait for them here. My job is to provide them with a meal when they return. [5] Would you like to join us? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other and this could be our reunion meal.”

“Hoho, are you treating us?”

“Thank you for the treat!!” members of the [Phoenix] cried.

Just like that, the [Phoenix] group entered the Barbecue Party.

However, since the barbecue is meant for Fer & Co, I decided to make some consommé soup from cabbages and bacon to entertain the guests for the time being. [5] [6] I can’t just let my friends starve indefinitely while waiting for those guys to return, right?

Anyway, consommé is actually pretty easy to make. [9] The cabbages and bacon are cut into 1cm squares first and set aside. [2] Then, in a large pan, stir-fry the bacon until partially browned, add water and crumble a couple of consommé stock cubes over the soup. Once the water started boiling, I added the chopped cabbage and stirred until the soup started bubbling again.

After adjusting the flavour with a little salt and pepper, this incredibly simple soup is done.

“Please have this first while we wait for Fer and the others to return,” [3] I said as I distributed the soup to everyone.

“Oh, excuse us, wow, this is delicious.”

I think I’ll have some too.

“Still, I’m surprised to see you back here,” [3] said the person who told me his name was Cider, he’s the guy who’s dating (I think) a guild employee called Sandra.

“There are plenty of rumours going around, one of them being that you’ve cleared Doran’s dungeon,” Hank commented as he drank his soup.

“Avering too,” said another guy, Alois.

“Oi, oi, you ranked up to S Rank even before you went to Avering, right? Man, I’m so proud to be able to say I know an S Ranker personally,” said the youngest, Cesar, with a laugh.

“Well, it’s all thanks to Fer and my other familiars…” I said as I sipped my consommé.

After all, I would never have gotten near a dungeon if not for Fer, Sui and Dora-chan. [1] My S Rank was also thanks to them.

“Maa, I wish I have such strong familiars,” said Rush. [5] [4] “Speaking of which, Dora-chan joined my party after Carelina, so this would be the first time you guys meet him.” [5]

“Oh? What kind of monster is he?”

“Well, he’ll be back soon. It’s easier for you to see for yourself,” I said as Fer’s voice echoed in my head through telepathy.

““We’re back,”” [5]

Just then, Fer, Sui and Dora-chan appeared through the trees.

Plop, crash.

Rush-san’s bowl fell to the ground, splashing consommé soup all over his shoes.

“D-dragon?”

The rest of the [Phoenix] party turned into consommé bowl holding statues.

[Gumihou: Surprise!]

[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

[9] Barbecue: Some inconsistencies. Gumi fixed it.

[10] Consommé: Smoothed out the steps for making the soup

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