Chapter 209: Freshness is the Life of Sea Monsters (Part 2)
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
“Alright, we’ll deal with the Sea Serpent next, right?”
“Aa,” [7] said Marks-san. He turned to his men, “Oi, you slackers! We have a Sea Serpent next!”
I withdrew the Sea Serpent from my [Item Box] laid out its long body on the floor. Whispers began to explode around me.
“I’ve seen [Item Boxes] before, but that one has incredible capacity!”
“Yeah, he took out a Kraken earlier and now a Sea Serpent, just how much can his [Item Box] store?”
“Didn’t the Guild Master say he also brought in an Aspidochelone?”
Erm, you guys realise that I can hear you quite well, right?
I’m fairly sure that my [Item Box] has nearly infinite capacity since I’m not from this world. It’s probably a bad idea to bring all three creatures here in one go. Should I have made a show of spacing it out a bit? I really don’t want people to discover my true identity… [6]
“Oi, enough with your jabbering! You’ve all read the notice from the Royal Capital Adventurer’s Guild, didn’t you? Mukouda-san is the Adventurer in the notice. So enough with those questions. If the Royal Capital Guild gets word that we caused trouble they could shut us down if they found that we’ve offended Mukouda-san.”
Everyone shut up after that.
Even me.
But wait, what was that about?
I wanted to ask, but I sort of vaguely understand what’s going on. I mean, I know from other Guild Masters that the King had laid down the law so that the local aristocrats don’t interfere with my movements. However, I had no idea that this message was being circulated around the Guilds as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful that I’m not being investigated, but it did look like people have been threatened into silence on my behalf… Oh well, at least all the mutterings have been stopped by Marks-san.
Aside from my problematic identity, there’s also Fer and, well, my other two familiars aren’t exactly ordinary monsters either so it would be really troublesome if people look too closely into things that should not be seen.
While I was busy having my little crisis, the job of dismantling the Sea Serpent was going on smoothly. [5]
The huge snake-like creature was skinned and separated into body, head, flesh and bones.
[4] “There are quite a lot of valuable items on the Sea Serpent,” said Marks-san. “Take the head for example. Skull, eyes and fangs are all valuable things. The eyes are important ingredients in some valuable medicine. The tough and flexible skin makes very good material for armour. The bones will be made into swords, knives, arrowheads and other weapons.”
I nodded along at the explanation, watching with fascination as the dismantlers quickly and expertly took the creature apart. There was also a magic stone, which made sense since the Sea Serpent was an S Rank monster. In was a round blue sphere that was, according to Marks-san, a very nice specimen indeed.
I got the rest of it back, of course. [1] At first glance, the flesh looked pretty similar to the Black and Red Serpent, but I won’t know for sure until I’ve tried cooking it.
And finally-
“I’ll just put the Aspidochelone here, shall I?”
“Aa,”
I took the giant fish out of my [Item Box] and lay it down on the floor. [1] Though it was not quite as large as either the Kraken or Sea Serpent. It was still large enough to be called a giant.
Perhaps it’s because these guys were used to dealing with giant fish of all kinds, but the speed at which they took the Aspidochelone apart was incredible. The scales were quickly taken off the fish and carefully put away.
[6] “Will those be made into shields or weapons?” I asked curiously, since that seems to be the theme for numerous flat round objects taken off of sea monsters.
[4] “Ah, scales are too fragile for that. However, when polished, the Aspidochelone scales would shine in all colours of the rainbow. So, they’re often made into rings, necklaces and brooches. Very popular with women.”
“Ah,” I watched as the workers efficiently took out the guts and cut up the fish according to the San-Mai Oroshi style, where the fish is split into two large fillets along the spine bone. [4] “I wonder if I could make soup with the head…”
A heavy hand landed on my shoulder. I turned and nearly flinched back in horror. Tears were falling like rivers out of Marks-san’s eyes, “Mukouda-san, I understand that this monster belongs to you, but please, please do not turn excellent weapon making materials into soup… please tell me you’re not serious,”
Hah?
Since the [Appraisal] showed ‘Finest White Meat’, I had been thinking up ways to cook this huge fish. However, it looked like the bones of Aspidochelone could be made into swords, knives and arrowheads. Not only that, weapons made from these bones appeared to be quite popular as well, which meant that every bit of its bone was very valuable.
Since it’s like this, I don’t want to press the issue. Whatever, I don’t need the head to make soup anyway. Not only is the head valuable, the tail and dorsal fins are also popular items for making weapons too. We also harvested a fairly large magic stone in the shape of a Frisbee. It was light blue and very pretty. Marks-san looked very happy with it, so I guess it’s quite valuable?
Well, it looked like no one wants the internal organs, so that was discarded. As for the actual flesh, I get to keep all of it, so into the [Item Box] it went after the men helpfully cut the meat into manageable pieces. This ‘Finest White Meat’ looked very good, and I expect it would be delicious baked, boiled or fried.
“Alright, the work of dismantling the monsters is over. However, I’d need some time to appraise the goods. Would you be alright with that?” [5]
“Yes, I’m fine with that. When should I return?”
“The appraisal work should be done by noon tomorrow.”
“Noon tomorrow, eh? [4] That’s perfect. I want to visit the morning market first. The [Shadow Warriors] told me it’s a must visit place for fresh seafood and the food stalls,” I mused.
“Good choice, even the locals like that place,” said Marks-san. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, tomorrow afternoon.”
“Ou, I’ll be waiting.”
With our appointment made, I woke Fer, Dora and Sui from their little corner at the warehouse and we left the Adventurers’ Guild.
[Gumihou: Ohhh, I can’t wait to see the market~! Gumihou loves markets!]
[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