Chapter 363: More Meat, Meat, Meat
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Please read this at dot com
Starting word count: 1,703
Dungeon Meat Festival, Day 3.
Today, was similar to the first two days, with the street filling with people visiting various food stalls. Clearly, the festival was a roaring success.
““Alright, let’s devour the stalls again!!””
““Ou!! [5]””
““Meat~! Meat~! [5]””
Looks like my carnivorous gluttons are eager to start the day.
Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday [5].
[8]
No, wait, there was a small difference.
I had just stepped out of my rented house with Fer, Sui and Dora-chan when a staff member from the Merchant’s Guild suddenly accosted me and asked me to set up my hotdog stall again.
Huh, looks like the Guild had a sudden flood of requests and inquiries about my stall.
Well, there was really nothing I could do even if you beg me, employee-san. I have sold out all my sausages. I still have some of the bread from the orphanage but I can’t do anything without the sausage.
It would take too long to make them from scratch in time for the festival anyway.
““Decline,””
Oof, and there’s that too. Fer obviously sensed a threat to his meat, meat, meat festival, so for this employee-san’s safety, I could only firmly decline.
[8]
Even so…
“You already ate so much, but you still want more?” I’m already suffering from heartburn…
““What are you talking about? Meat is delicious.””
““Meat is delicious, but after meeting you, I get to eat meat in many more delicious ways. There’s no way I could ever get tired of it!””
““Umu, as Dora-chan said. Humans like to do stupid things. However, you’re good at making delicious food.””
““Absolutely!””
“Goodness, you two sure act all high and mighty,” I muttered.
““Of course,””
““I am not only mighty, I am high up too! Nyahaha!””
While I was busy being disgusted by their chuunibyou behaviour, Sui said, ““Master~ can we eat more meat soon~?””
“Ahh~ well~ if Sui-tan wants to~~”
““Let’s go, there’s a food stall I noticed yesterday. We’re going there next,””
“Yes, yes,”
We followed Fer, who marched ahead like a leader towards whatever stall he was after.
We ended up in front of yet another skewer stall.
It was a Dungeon Pork Belly stall.
Just looking at the thick-cut pork belly meat with its alternative lean and fatty layers made even me, a heartburn victim, gulp. Now that’s what I call the ultimate pork belly.
The pork belly itself already looked delicious, dripping with fat and sizzling from the heat, when the owner grated a chunk of rock salt over the meat. The shaved salt fell like snow and melted into the sizzling fat.
Gulp.
This is… too irresistible!
“Brother, come and buy!”
The stall owner, who looked to be in his 40s, sounded rather friendly.
“You only season your meat with salt?”
“That’s right. However, everything is carefully examined by my expert tongue and eyes. I can guarantee its taste!”
Hmm, compared to other stalls that use all kinds of secret sauces, he went with salt only, eh?
Looks like this guy is quite confident with his skills.
““Oi, buy it quickly!””
““Yes, yes, how many do you guys want?””
““Smells good, 30,”” [5]
““10 for me!”” [5]
““Sui wants 30 too~ Same as Uncle Fer~~””
[5] “I’ll have 71, please,” one skewer should be alright, it will be my first meat meal of the day.
“Woah, 71 is a lot.”
“Hehe, my familiars eat quite a lot,”
“Hey, thanks for the purchase!”
After paying and receiving the 71 skewers, our party relocated to a vacant space and I separated the sticks from the meat as usual for my familiars.
“Delicious!”
With just salt as seasoning, we can really enjoy the original flavours of the Dungeon Pork. Ah, I forgot to ask him what kind of salt he used… [5]
““Umu, as expected of the stall that caught my eye,””
““It’s delish!””
““So good~!””
““Right, everyone done? Let’s head for the next one,””
““Ou!””
““Meat~!””
This was just the beginning.
Please read this at dot com ~
“Phew, somehow I ended up eating a lot again…” [3] after all, there was really no way to resist the sights and smells of all these delicious food floating around us.
““Umu, this is a very good festival. Too bad today is the last day.””
““I wish I could eat more…””
““Sui wants to eat again tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…””
The three of them sounded disappointed about today being the last Dungeon Meat Festival day. I guess they really enjoyed themselves these last three days.
Somehow, we gathered naturally at the city square where the highlight of the day, the announcement of the Top 5 Most Delicious Stalls, was being held. There was a little stage and around it were all the participants and customers waiting to hear the verdict.
Before coming here, I had already cast my vote.
I’m the only person in my party who could vote as the only sentient humanoid person. My favourite stall was the Dungeon Pork skewer stall that utilised only salt as its seasoning.
I did try to get a majority vote from the party at first, but couldn’t quite understand their opinion… in the end, I just abused my power as their master and voted for my favourite stall.
Speaking of which, Maynard and Enzo’s stall was pretty good too, but I still prefer that other stall. [6] Sorry kiddos. You still have a long way to go against real pros.
Anyway, getting into the Top 5 was a very big deal since it pretty much guarantees you a spot at one of those popular stores or a space to set up your stall if you don’t want to join a restaurant.
While I was pondering on various things, a fat man walked up to the stage. [5]
“Ahem, I am Reinhold, Deputy Guild Master of the Merchant’s Guild. I shall be your host today. Thank you everyone for coming to our humble town. This year’s Dungeon Meat Festival was blessed with good weather and we all somehow managed to reach the final day without a hitch…”
“Just announce the winners!” someone cried.
“Yeah, that’s right!”
Wow, I was starting to automatically doze off. Haven’t heard one of these boring speeches for a while.
“Ahem, aah, seeing as many people are looking forward to know the Top 5 Most Delicious Stalls of the year. I shall announce it right away. First, let me announce the 5th place… This stall belongs to two young people who participated in the festival for the first time. Maynard and Enzo!”
Cheers and applause went off.
Wow, they did say they were aiming for the top but who would have thought…
I could hardly believe my eyes as Maynard and Enzo ran up the stage excitedly.
“Congratulations you two, let’s hear a few words. First, let’s hear from Maynard-san,”
“I was confident with our food, but to actually win a place… this is all thanks to our Master! Thank you to everyone who voted for us!”
“Next, Enzo-san,”
“Everyone, thank you very much! Master, we did it!” [5]
A storm of cheers and applauses re-emerged.
Wow, I guess these guys are really worth teaching.
“Next up, in 4th place…”
Cheers and applause followed each announcement, eliciting mixed feelings from the audience.
Speaking of which, all Top 5 stalls were stalls we had visited:
1st Place: Special Dungeon Beef Skewer (herb marinade)
We visited this place yesterday.
2nd Place: Dungeon Pork Steak Shop (special sauce)
3rd Place: Cockatrice Skewer (special sauce)
4th Place: Dungeon Pork Belly Skewer (salt only seasoning)
This was the one I voted for.
All were stalls my familiars insisted we visit. [6] I mean, we visited a lot of places but these were the ones they insisted on visiting. The sense of smell of these gluttonous trio is pretty terrifying.
“Right, shall we head home?”
The people were still partying and celebrating around us. [6] I guess this was the time for the winners to celebrate and stall owners to finally eat and relax, maybe even time for restaurant scouts to seek out the winners.
[6] Still, that had nothing to do with me.
However, it was pretty fun to go around food stalls and eat all kinds of meat and chat with like-minded food-loving people…
The Dungeon Meat Festival…
“Hey, let’s come again next year,”
““Umu, sure,””
““Absolutely yes!””
““We’ll come again~~””
Word Count: 1403
[Gumihou: I’m currently eating coleslaw while translating this]
[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. Eg:
We received the deliciously cooked dungeon pork skewer in exchange for the payment.
After paying…
The gluttonous trio seemed to have started the engine after eating the skewers and immediately headed towards the next stall.
This was just the beginning.
Cheers and applause went off at the same time as the announcement.
Like, sir, are you paid by word count?
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – Describe the ‘please put up your hotdog stand again’ plea in a more organised way.