Isekai Ryouridou

“……Maybe you’re a disaster god incarnate or something”

As she tied her hair, put on her clothes, and gallantly wore her leather mantle, such words were released from Ai-Fa’s mouth.

“It’s an utterly dreadful honor, but what do you mean?”

“A Madarama giant snake which isn’t supposed to appear at this foot of the mountain flowed down, and then getting attacked by a Giba who roamed from the forest before the Sun reached the middle of the sky, it’s because only bad things keep happening”

Fu一n, I see.

Come to think of it, I’m unmarried and yet I’ve been worshiped while naked no?1 I wanted to say that in return, but I didn’t want to ruin the life I had just recovered, so I stopped.

That decision, seemed to be the right one.

Because, while I was silent and had an apologetic face, Ai-Fa’s face immediately turned into an expression which showed that she regretted her words and actions.

“……But, although it was an unexpected situation, not being able to detect the presence of the Madarama, was my failure. It’s a fact that you saved me so一一for that, I thank you”

Tilting her head down a little, with a slightly upwards glance, and while meaninglessly fiddling with the necklace on her chest with a jarajara, with a small voice that was barely audible, “thank you……”

She was kind of like a little kid.

While my heart was throbbing for no reason, I answered stupidly by saying “No, well, it’s fine” or something like that.

“I’m the one, who didn’t at all realize that that Giba had come so near. For me too, you’re a lifesaver. ……thank you”

Besides, now that Ai-Fa’s energy had recovered, I was in a mood where I could forgive most things.

If Ai-Fa had really been strangled to death by that giant snake……just imagining it, really makes me want to die.

“Now then. Whatever happened, it’s a Giba. While it’s fresh, let’s clean it up”

The Giba who had its head smashed by Ai-Fa, was still twitching at my feet.

It was a lot smaller than the one I encountered yesterday, but it’s body was still about 150 centimeters long, and it looked around 70 kilograms heavy too. Its horns and tusks were magnificent. If I fought it empty handed, I probably couldn’t even win.

“I guess so. Will you cut off its legs first?” I asked, and as I saw that Ai-Fa put her hand on the barbarian sword, I pushed her back while saying “wait wait”.

“Rather than dismantling, shouldn’t you bleed it first? What will you do after you chop it into pieces?”

“Bleeding? ……blood and such, will flow even if left alone”

“I’m telling you, wait! You, did you never drain blood until now? No wonder the meat stinks!”

As I ranted2, Ai-Fa had a genuinely confused face.

Un, I love that puzzled (T/N: きょとん) looking face. But, this is a big problem you know, people of the forest.

“You know, the stink of the meat, is the stink of the blood. If you properly bleed it out, then the Giba meat shouldn’t smell that much you know?”

“……I don’t understand the meaning of what you’re saying. Blood and such, doesn’t it flow on its own?”

“Like I said, that’s not enough. ……anyways, this isn’t the time to talk carefreely. If the Giba’s heart stops it’ll be too late. Hey, I’ll explain later, so for now lend me your small knife”

Receiving the knife from the doubtful faced Ai-Fa, I laid the Giba on its back and bent down beside it.

Now一一even though I said something like that, for the bleeding itself, I only practiced by watching the members of the Hunting Club. There’s no guarantee that the internal structure of a Giba and a wild boar are the same, whether or not I succeed, is mostly up to luck.

(The location of the blood vessels and internal organs of a wild boar, is pretty similar to that of a human)

While remembering the hunter-san’s words, I leaned over the Giba’s huge body.

Around the Giba’s thick neck and chest, I placed the tip of the knife.

And then, I stabbed in with one movement.

Blood一一nearly none appears.

It’s imperfect huh.

Well, the world isn’t that sweet.

Reluctantly, I pulled the knife down to the chest.

Either the carotid artery, or the heart’s aorta. One of them, I had to cut.

While struggling with the stiff fur, little by little I moved the tip of the knife一before long, fresh blood spurted out with a gobori.

I hurriedly pulled out the small knife, and then the red-black liquid started flowing out with a bodobodo.

It’s a success. Probably. As long as I didn’t directly damage the heart.

“Because the heart, is the organ that circulates blood throughout the body. If you cut the main artery without damaging the heart itself, you can efficiently drain out the blood from the entire body”

That’s why the carotid artery is fine, but if you damage the place where the throat’s organs are at and the Giba suffocates, the heart stops beating. Whatever it is it’s a risk that has to be taken.

“It’s actually better to hang it from a tree, but as expected that would be hard work. For now this is enough”

I didn’t get a reply so I looked back, and I saw that Ai-Fa was still puzzled like before.

“……I only bring the legs home, why do I need to drain out the blood from the entire body?”

“Un?”

“When such a big Giba is brought back, it just rots without being eaten. If your family has a large number of members, they might take the whole thing home to strip off the fur, but usually only the legs are brought”

“Such a thing, is too wasteful! Are you going to throw away such a feast and go home?”

“If you leave it in the forest and go home, the carcass-eating Muntos and other beasts will clean it up. To let it rot without being eaten, is even more of a sin”

“Ah, so that’s it. If that’s the case then I don’t mind. But, if that’s the case then why do you only bring the legs back? Thigh meat isn’t bad but, there are a ton of more delicious parts”

“That’s not true. The Giba’s meat smells, but the least smelly parts, are the hind legs”

Ah, I see. If you don’t even know how to drain blood, more so in the body portion than the legs, the strong odor would remain. If it’s the leg, then when it’s cut off the artery would also be cut and blood would flow out at a reasonable speed.

Nevertheless, while hunting and living on Giba for 80 years, the fact that they didn’t come up with the idea of draining blood, isn’t that too negligent? If the meat tastes bad, then keep studying to make it taste good. It’s that stubbornness, that developed great human food cultures.

While thinking about that, the release of blood had stopped.

The Giba’s body which had been twitching with a pikupiku, had completely stopped moving.

It was dead.

Namu Amida Butsu, I say in my heart.

“Yoshi. Next step. ……Hey, I’m definitely going to bring this entire guy back okay?”

“Do as you like. As long as the horns and tusks are safe, it’s fine”

With a somewhat complicated expression like wondering whether to be indifferent or interested, Ai-Fa shrugged one shoulder.

Seeing that, I stab the small knife into the Giba’s abdomen.

Compared to the knife used at the Farm Camp, this one seems to be sharper. While being careful not to stab too deeply, I cut open the Giba’s belly.

It’s time to remove the internal organs.

This isn’t that much of a difficult task, but there is one caveat: the large intestine, gallbladder, bladder and such, I can’t damage the strong-smelling internal organs. If those smells are transferred to the meat, the blood drainage will be ruined.

Cutting through the diaphragm with the tip of the blade, I took out various organs.

First, the small intestine. Then, the large intestine.

Next, the stomach. Liver. Pancreas. Lungs. Heart.

Interestingly, I was able to remove them in a very short time.3

As expected, there seems to be no big difference from the body structure of a wild boar.

In the lower part of the nearly empty abdominal cavity, the last obstacle awaits.

The bladder.

Don’t tear it. Carefully. Carefully.

……Un?

Some unfamiliar organ, was still left underneath it.

Is this an organ unique to Giba?

For the time being, I carefully pulled that thing out as well.

In the shape of an oval, it’s quite big. Two are lined up on the right and left sides, the response is relatively solid.

……ah.

Testicles, right?

The wild boar I worked on in the past was female, so such an organ didn’t exist.

With respect, I placed them on top of a rock.

The removal of internal organs, I guess it’s done.

Looking back, Ai-Fa was as expected still confused.

“Somehow, it was as if I was watching a ritual by a shaman that you would only hear from rumors. Such work, is it necessary to eat meat?”

“It’s necessary. But, from this point onwards, as expected it’s impossible to do here. I need to somehow take this back home in this state……what should I do?”

Ai-Fa took a small breath, “wait a second” she threw out, and then she disappeared into the forest.

In the meantime, putting the Giba’s empty belly into the water of the river, I decided to wash all the fur on the whole body.

Dirt, grass, feces, and such were stuck all over the place, but fortunately, there were no ticks of any kind. If they were here, then I’m sure that from the Giba whose body temperature was dropping, they would be jumping over to my warmer body.

“Here. This should be good”

The hands of Ai-Fa who had come back after around 5 minutes, held a long wooden stick that was about the length of my body.

The colour was strangely dark, and shaped like a straight stick. The cross-sections of the chopped branches peeked out here and there. Its thickness, it’s about the same as my wrist?

“It’s a grigi (グリギ) tree. It’s hard, durable, and hard to break. “

“Fumufumu. What are we going to do with this?”

Ai-Fa silently crouched beside the Giba, and with the leather straps she took from the back of her mantle, she started tying the Giba’s four limbs to the grigi tree.

“So that’s it! Aren’t you quite familiar with this?”

“Watch and imitate. The men of the Sun and Ruu clans, bring the whole Giba home like this in order to strip off its fur”

“Fumufumu. Doesn’t Ai-Fa also do fur tanning? That mantle is made of Giba fur after all”

“Tanning furs require quite a few people, and that’s the job of women”

You’re a woman too, I thought, I wonder if that appeared on my face. I didn’t say anything, but Ai-Fa annoyedly  frowned at me.

“You can buy fur if you spend some tusks. So it’s smarter to tan fur while also hunting Giba at the same time. In the first place if you don’t hunt Giba at all then you’ll just starve and die. ……And I, have no kinsmen to tan fur with. Do you have any complaints, you?”

“I have no complaints. But……if it’s a woman’s job to tan fur, I just wondered if hunting Giba was a man’s job”

“Obviously. See any women hunting Giba?”

“B, but you’re a woman”

It ended up slipping out of my mouth after all.

Ai-Fa pouted4 and turned her face away, this time to restrain the fore legs.

“Before I am a woman I am the head of the Fa clan. I learned how to live and hunt Giba from my father. There is no inconvenience”

“Is that so”

But, Ai-Fa’s late father, what did he think about making his daughter learn the techniques of《Giba Hunting》?

Ai-Fa was isolated from the village, it should’ve been from the day right after her father passed away. The night before that, Ai-Fa had gained a grudge from a powerful person in the village called Diga-Sun.

Because of this, Ai-Fa could no longer rely on anybody else’s power, and had to survive on her own. It means that the Giba hunting techniques her father had taught, saved her from her predicament一一as a father though, he would never expect his daughter to have been isolated from the village.

(No……I don’t have to think too hard about it do I?)

Even I, had cooking techniques beaten into me by my old man. On top of that, he told me to try to find something more interesting than cooking on my own. Maybe, that’s what fathers are.

(But, for this guy……)

Unlike me, she probably had no choice.

She had no choice, but to hunt Giba and live like a man.

This guy is like this, yet she’s such a beautiful and kind woman一一

“……What are you looking at with such strange eyes, you?”

And then, Ai-Fa slowly stood up.

Her eyes blazed brilliantly like those of a wildcat.

And, her brown face was slightly reddish.

“You got it? You have violated a taboo. Normally, you wouldn’t even be able to complain if one of your eyeballs were gouged out. However, because I was saved from a difficult situation, I’ll ignore it. If you get that part wrong, you’ll get hurt someday ok……?”

“Ha?” I said after tilting my head, I was in a great panic.

“I, it’s not like I was remembering your naked scene you know! You, who do you think I am? I’m remembering again even though I had put it away into the treasure chest of my mind with great effort!”

“Noisy! Do you want your tongue to be cut off before your eyeballs!?”

“Ah let’s stop this already it’s stupid! Look, you’re ready to go right? Let’s just carry this guy away!”

I escaped from the angry Ai-Fa, and then crouched down beside the Giba’s head.

When I did so, a pile of guts came into view.

“I really want to cook this too. But with my skill, and moreover without refrigeration equipement, it’s impossible”

“……Are you really saying that, you?”

“Of course. For the Giba, I think that other than the fur and bones there is no part that can’t be eaten”

While saying that, I rest one end of the carrying stick on my shoulder.

Umu. As expected of the 70 kilogram class. It’s very heavy.5

“If you breath out a whine on the way, then I’ll leave you on the spot and go home”

The back end is lifted up, and the strain on my shoulder was somewhat alleviated.

“To make a delicious meal, I’ll do my best. You were, the one who nearly got strangled just earlier, so is your body okay?”

“You’re so annoying! Not another word about that time!”

Are. Could it be that more than I thought, did the previous situation cause big damage to Ai-Fa?

Well that’s right, even though she’s a manly《Giba Hunter》but she’s still a girl of that age. Even if you don’t bring up any taboos, it’s only natural to be embarrassed.

Anyway, the preparation for a delicious dinner, has only just really started.
“Let’s get going! It’ll probably be worth the effort if I can feed you something delicious, so yoroshiku!”

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1. I dunno Asuta, I checked the previous chapters and the manga too, but I didn’t find where you were seen naked.

2. This (わめく) has been coming up a lot, and each time I’m pretty much only able to translate it as “rant”, which doesn’t always fit very well. If you have better suggestions, please, for the love of whatever, suggest them.

3. In this sentence, there was でろでろ, so I’m not sure if this is supposed to be [current translation] or “I did it without being fully conscious”.

4. The annoyed kind, no the cute kind, well, it can still be cute though.

5. I don’t know the difference between these (ずしりと重い) two words, so feel free to suggest.