I was reincarnated as bait for the summoned hero
The large lizard that inhabits the fourth-floor plains mimics rocks, making it difficult to spot.
However, with my and Ketsue’s [Sense Presence] skill, we were able to easily defeat it with a long-range magical attack.
Since it’s a dungeon, even if we scatter it with powerful magic, we can still obtain drop items, which is actually easier.
On the other hand, when attacking magical beasts and monsters outside of dungeons, if you use excessive force, the materials and meat can be ruined.
By the way, the drop items were magic stones, hide, and occasionally meat.
“Tohma , the meat! It’s meat!”
“Ah, right. We got meat, huh?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not the tail, but it looks like meat from the limbs.”
“Ugh…”
Sheila, smiling, offered what was nearly the front legs of a crocodile.
The sharp claws and skin were still attached, and the meat was in chunks, making the pink flesh look very raw.
Sheila was happy because it was meat, but to me, it was a drop item I didn’t want to eat—let alone cook.
“Come to think of it, there was alligator meat on the menu at a game meat restaurant in the city…”
Deer, boar, Ezo deer, and bear meat were one thing, but alligator and kangaroo meat surprised me.
Goat sashimi, kangaroo kebabs, and ostrich fillet steaks were impactful, but since they didn’t retain their original form, I remember thinking they might actually taste pretty good.
However, alligator hand steak… I didn’t have the courage to order that.
I carefully appraised the meat that dropped from the large lizard’s front leg—was it a wing?
“Low fat, high protein, low calorie, and healthy meat. Contains high-quality collagen.”
Yep, it’s very healthy, good meat.
If it were just a regular block of meat, I might have cooked and eaten it without hesitation, but unfortunately, it’s a large lizard’s wing.
It’s wild meat, complete with alligator-like skin, three sharp claws, and everything.
“I’m not sure, but it looks beautiful and delicious! There’s no poison in it, right?”
“No poison… unfortunately…”
“？ If there’s no poison, we can eat it! Let’s have it for lunch, we should enjoy it!”
“Nyaa.”
It seemed that Sheila wasn’t the only one eager about it. Even my cute cat Ketsue begged for it, so I quickly raised the white flag.
“Fine. I’ll cook the large lizard, not the alligator, for lunch.”
“Yay! I’m looking forward to it, Tetsu!”
“Nyaa.”
From that point, we continued defeating large lizards without hesitation.
The hide of the large lizard was a popular material, so it had a decent buy-back price.
I hoped the buy-back points would be high too.
“The meat doesn’t drop much, huh?”
“Yeah, it looks like the drop rate is about one piece of meat for every ten we defeat.”
Despite Sheila’s disappointed tone, I was relieved by the ratio.
Still, the fourth-floor area seemed quite large, and I managed to get three wings of the large lizard.
Fifth Floor:
The fifth floor was a desert field, and Sand Armadillos appeared.
As the name suggested, they were large magical beasts resembling armadillos, and it was known that they became hard to defeat when they curled into defense mode.
Their curled-up form was cute and charming, but when they rolled toward us and attacked, it became troublesome.
However, if you aimed at their soft belly rather than their hard back, they were easier to hunt, so we attacked from a distance.
Sheila’s archery skills had improved further, and with the assistance of wind magic, her shots were powerful and accurate, nearly 100% hit rate.
Ketsue and I also used wind magic to swiftly take down the armadillos.
Luckily, the Sand Armadillos didn’t drop any meat, so I was secretly relieved.
They dropped earth attribute magic stones and hide.
Sixth Floor:
The sixth floor was a forest field, home to Wild Wolves.
The wolves attacked in packs, but we took care of them easily with the three of us.
They dropped magic stones, fur, and fangs.
The magic stones and fur were useful, but the fangs didn’t seem to have much use, so I wasn’t expecting much for their buy-back price.
“Fur seems to be popular.”
“Yeah, it’s great for winter. It’s warm when spread out in your bed.”
It seemed that the Adventurer’s Guild often used it in their inns.
During the cold winters, it was apparently used as carpets, so it was pretty useful.
“In that case, let’s hunt a lot of them.”
“Yes! It’s a good time to make money!”
Since they came at us in groups, we didn’t have to spend time looking for them.
By the time we reached the transfer door to the seventh floor, we had taken down quite a number of Wild Wolves.
“Shall we take a break here?”
“Yeah, it’s about time. Let’s eat here.”
The area around the transfer door was a safety zone. No magical beasts could approach within a 10-meter radius, so it was a safe place to rest.
Adventurers who were used to dungeons were challenging deeper floors, so the only other people around were a party of four.
I gave them a light bow as they looked our way, and we decided to have lunch a little further away.
“I’m looking forward to the large lizard meat.”
“You didn’t forget, huh…”
Unfortunately, it seemed like I had to cook here after all.
The adventurer group was looking at us, but since we’d be cooking ourselves anyway, I decided not to hold back.
First, I took out the cooking table and magical stove from my [Item Box].
I could feel several people holding their breath in surprise, but I ignored it and started preparing the frying pan, plates, and seasonings.
I really wanted freshly cooked rice, but it would take too long, so I gave up.
I’ll have the bread I bought at the convenience store as a side.
“Should I keep it simple and make steak? No, let’s go for fried food. Frying makes most meat edible.”
I had a deep frying pan, so I decided to shallow fry it.
I used purification magic to clean the large lizard wing, then marinated it with grated garlic and ginger soy sauce.
After draining the liquid, I coated it in cornstarch and fried it crisp.
With the biggest frying pan, I carefully fried it until both sides turned golden brown.
As a side dish, I prepared shredded cabbage, boiled vegetables, and sliced tomatoes. Simple is best.
While patting myself on the back for frying it so nicely, I set the table and prepared for lunch.
The large lizard wings were quite big.
I folded them and barely squeezed them into the frying pan, but they were about the size of two human heads.
Instead of cutting it neatly with a knife and fork, it seemed better to eat with our hands.
“It smells good.”
“You can squeeze some lemon if you like.”
“I’ll have it as is!”
“Alright… Enjoy.”
“Bon appétit!”
Sheila, with her pure and graceful appearance, was a seasoned adventurer who was used to survival.
She grabbed the large lizard wing with a wild vigor and took a huge bite.
With a satisfying crunch, she happily enjoyed the large lizard’s fried wing with a blissful expression.
“Mmm! It’s delicious! The meat has less fat, but it’s soft and easy to eat.”
“Good, glad to hear it tastes good.”
“Yummy!”
Ketsue also eagerly dug into the meat.
His fearless attitude towards the bigger meat was typical of a cat. Wild and cute.
“Alright, I’ll eat too.”
Thanks to the batter, the alligator-like skin wasn’t noticeable.
Just to be safe, I cut off the claws and fingertips, so it didn’t look that bad anymore.
Having reincarnated in another world, I’ve eaten orc meat, so I convinced myself that large lizard meat was just like chicken.
With that, I bit into the fried lizard wing.
The oil from the batter and the meat juice spread throughout my mouth.
“I thought it would be more like chicken breast, but it’s closer to chicken breast, isn’t it?”
It was also quite tender.
The garlic soy sauce had soaked in well, so the taste was amazing.
As I kept eating eagerly, I reached the part with the collagen mentioned in the appraisal.
“Wow, this is incredibly delicious.”
The texture reminded me of soft-shelled turtle meat I had eaten at a high-end restaurant.
The jelly-like parts burst with flavor as I chewed.
Before I knew it, the plate was left with only the bones.
“The large lizard from this world was incredibly delicious…”
It was the moment I unlocked a new door.
