Chapter 26

Since I couldn’t find a suitable water source today, I decided to set up camp in a spot that caught my eye.

I’m already accustomed to combining the [Presence Detection] and [Concealment] skills. I also cast [Body Enhancement Magic] and got to work setting up the camp.

Using a magical blade, I chopped down obstructive trees and stored them. I cut the dried stumps into smaller pieces with a hand axe to use as firewood.

About thirty trees were removed since they were densely packed together. The open view was a relief.

Just like in the mountains, thinning the trees here seemed to improve sunlight exposure, allowing the remaining trees to grow bigger.

“The points are good too, so maybe I’ll thin the trees occasionally.”

Earning 150,000 points at once feels satisfying.

Humming to myself, I set up the tent. I arranged a table and chairs under the tarp and used earth magic to create a simple stove a bit further away.

“I’m in the mood for curry tonight, so I’ll go with some instant meals.”

By using heating elements as a substitute for a microwave, I could quickly heat up the ready-made curry and rice packs.

Since curry alone might not be filling, I made a salad and skewered some Almiraj meat for grilling.

The salad included mizuna I foraged yesterday and a pouch of steamed salad beans I had summoned from the 100-yen store. Tossed with a Japanese-style dressing, it was quite tasty.

“They don’t sell fresh veggies, but they do have mixed vegetables, young corn, and quail egg preserves.”

I was glad for the variety—it looked like I could do a lot with these options.

There were even canned tomatoes, corn, and mushrooms. The selection of ready-made meals was especially abundant, with over thirty types of curry alone.

“They have everything from mild curries for kids to low-carb options, keema curry, green curry, and even vegetarian curry.”

But for me, there’s only one choice—the mega curry with large chunks of beef.

I took out a stainless steel plate and served the rice and curry, both heated by magic.

The Almiraj skewers were coated in a summoned “yakitori sauce” and grilled. The sweet and savory sauce paired well with the Almiraj meat. Unlike the Horn Rabbit, its texture was closer to tender chicken thigh.

The juicy meat was incredibly tender, and biting into it, I noticed the fattier skin.

“There’s a layer of fat, maybe. If I grill it slowly, the skin should crisp up nicely.”

I like chicken cooked until the skin is almost crispy.

The ready-made curry was also delicious, with a rich roux full of the flavor of vegetables and meat.

The mizuna and bean salad surprisingly went well together. Since I haven’t found beans in this forest yet, I’ll rely on my summoning magic’s online shopping for a while.

For dessert, I enjoyed some Akebi  fruit.

Its sticky sweetness was addicting.

For now, I couldn’t think of any way to process the Akebi , so I’d likely just eat it fresh in the future.

After my meal, I enjoyed some green tea leisurely and then headed out to gather materials and hunt.

I no longer mark my base location.

It seemed to be an inherent trait of the High Elf clan, allowing me to sense the direction of my base clearly whenever I focused on it.

(Using this as my base…)

By firmly imprinting that thought, I could mentally map out my base’s location and direction.

Even when I was a bit far from the base, thinking “I want to return” would make a spot on the mental map flash. It felt similar to a homing instinct.

In any case, it was a convenient instinct.

Today’s foraging went well, too. Along with familiar mushrooms from Japan, I also found some brightly colored mushrooms unique to this world. Although they were deemed edible by my appraisal, I wasn’t brave enough to eat the toxic-looking ones.

“The exotic ingredients fetch a good price, so I’ll skip eating them.”

I couldn’t help but cheer when I found a large patch of cilantro during my wild herb search.

I quite like fragrant herbs, so I could eat a lot of cilantro as a salad substitute.

I also found parsley growing waist-high, which I was grateful to harvest.

Another favorite of mine. With salt and mayonnaise, I could eat it endlessly. Its unique bitterness is delightful.

“Carefully checking with [Appraisal], there seems to be a decent amount of wild root vegetables around here, huh?”

Yesterday, I found carrots, but today what I discovered were potatoes. They were a bit small, likely because they grew in a part of the forest with less sunlight, but when I pulled them up, there were a lot of them.

“These would taste great if fried with the skin on.”

It’d be perfect for making French fries with some salt, or mashed potatoes with butter. I was so happy, I harvested them all. Since I also had some carrots and onions from yesterday, I could make a meat and potato stew with the potatoes.

“Oh, is that asparagus over there?”

The wild asparagus was quite large.

The appraisal said it was edible and delicious, so I eagerly harvested it. The asparagus was thick, even bigger than my thumb.

Since it was this big, I’d probably have to peel it before cooking, but even just grilling it would taste great, so I didn’t mind the extra effort.

“It’d be perfect if I had bacon, but all I can find at the 100-yen shop are sausages…”

If I could hunt some pig-like magical beast meat, I could make asparagus-wrapped meat.

Maybe because I was imagining that, I received a reaction from my [Presence Detection] skill. There wasn’t much mana, but there were a lot of them. Was it a herd of something?

“Let’s go check it out.”

I peered through the gaps in the trees.

The creatures I sensed resembled chickens.

They weren’t white, but a deep reddish-brown with feathers, and they looked like a type of free-range chicken.

However, these adult birds were much larger than the chickens I’ve seen in Japan—almost twice the size.

“According to the appraisal, they’re called ‘Cocco Birds.’ Their meat and eggs are edible and delicious. There’s no reason not to hunt them.”

It looked like they lived in a flock, about twenty of them gathered together. I could see several nests made of twigs, likely where they were incubating eggs.

My throat let out a small growl.

I had brought two packs of eggs for camp. I was using them carefully, but the remaining stock was getting low.

“Chicken meat is a given, but I need to get some eggs too.”

I decided to proceed carefully.

I quietly crouched down and started using the earth magic I had trained in. Placing one hand on the ground, I began shaping the dirt into bullet-like projectiles. I focused on making them as small and sharp as possible, preparing several pebbles to use as projectiles.

The Cocco Birds hadn’t noticed me. They were leisurely pecking at the ground and nibbling on grass.

I concentrated and launched the stones at the Cocco Birds.

“Stone Bullet!”

The earth projectiles struck the Cocco Birds one by one.

I aimed for their heads. I missed a few, but I managed to hunt most of them down.

I spared the chicks, who still had soft down feathers, hoping they would grow fat and increase in number.

“Thirteen of them. That’s a pretty good result, right? And best of all, I can get eggs!”

After collecting the Cocco Birds, I began gathering the eggs.

These were quite large as well. Not as big as ostrich eggs, but still about twice the size of the eggs I ate back in Japan.

I was thrilled to see so many. There were thirty-two Cocco Bird eggs. I carefully stored them in my [Item Box].

“Chicken meat and eggs… I have to make something with this. A donburi would be perfect.”

I had soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.

I also had some herbs that could replace onions and mitsuba, so I decided to make a Cocco Bird oyakodon for dinner.

“Fried chicken, yakitori, teriyaki, and cream stew would be great too…”

Even though I’d just enjoyed lunch, imagining all these dishes made my mouth water.

I was already looking forward to dinner.