Episode 68 -- Deep Fried Red Serpent, Tastier Than Expected
"Hey Sui, is the bag good?" I asked Sui who was in her new Red Boar leather bag.
"This bag, it’s more comfortable than the other one-" Sui told me.
"Yeah? That’s great." It’s good to have a new bag for her.
"Oh Fer, did you hear what Lambert-san said?" I asked.
"Uh-huh. About a black snake? " Fer answered.
"Yup. If you come across a Black Serpent, can you hunt it if possible. Is that OK?"
"For sure. That kind of meat is delicious." Fer’s bottomless stomach agreed.
"Oh Aruji-, that’s a great idea. It will be really delicious if you deep fried it." Sui chimed in.
"Hmmm, fried? Yeah, that was delicious. Oh, and remember we’ve got some Red Serpent meat. Let’s try that today. After that I want you to grill some steaks."
From what everyone’s told me Red Serpent meat is super high class food.
"Are you gonna fry some Red Serpent meat? I’m going to carry out the Metal Lizard suppression tomorrow and eating something extravagant like that will really get me going."
"Are you frying tonight? Sui loves fried foods! Yay!"
When I hear Sui say she loves fried food then there’s no choice for me, it’s going to be fried food tonight.
"Wait a bit, I want to buy some clothes before going back to the inn. I’ll stop by a clothes store." I want to buy some new clothes while I’ve got money in my pocket. I’m OK with buying socks and underwear at the Net Super but proper clothing isn’t listed in the online menu. I can buy sweatshirts and casual pants and such but wearing something like that here I’d stand out so I went to a clothes store on the way back to the inn.
I looked for something a bit colourful but it seems that dyeing is not a well-developed process here and all the clothing was a similar dull hue. In the end I bought three sets of shirts and trousers and changed in the shop. In total it was two gold coins and four silver coins.
Time to go back to the inn.
* * * * *
I started preparing the evening meal as soon as I got back to the inn. Since Fell and Sui asked it’ll be fried food tonight. I now had plenty of meat, so I tried cooking not just the Red Serpent meat but a lot more different kinds as well. I planned to put the surplus cooked foods in the Item Box so they can be eaten anytime.
I made two kinds of flavouring, soy sauce based and salt based this time. The main meats were Red Serpent followed by Black Serpent, Rock Bird and Giant Dodo.
Firstly I rubbed the soy sauce and salt-based flavouring into each cut of meat, then gave it a little time to soak in then then deep fried the meat in cooking oil. I decided to cook each piece twice this time to make it tastier.
I started with the main course, Red Serpent. The first time through I fried it in low temperature oil to let the flavourings soak in and seal the meat, the second pass I heated the oil way up. Yeah, the light brown colour gave me a good feeling about the results.
First bite... *crunch*.
............ Oh wow-----!
What is this? Crisp outside, juicy inside. Furthermore, it tastes better and better as I slowly chew it.
The meat’s pale white and delicious in its own right with soy sauce and salt flavouring adding to its tase with the firmness of the meat complementing the sensation in my mouth. It might just be be the most delicious fried food I ever ate.
"Aruji-, Sui too! Sui wants to eat too."
"That’s right. Let me at it."
Oh- I nearly forgot about them, it was so delicious... I put down two dishes of freshly cooked deep-fried Red Serpent in front of Fer and Sui.
"This is delicious! Sooo delicious!-" Sui was deeply impressed by the Red Serpent meat.
"Wow! ! !" Even Fer was entranced by the taste of what he was eating.
"Seconds-" they both demanded in unison a few moments later. Me too, I’ll indulge myself tonight and have seconds too. I can see why everyone agrees Red Serpent is especially delicious. It is truly super high class meat.
Right then, get cooking again. If I put deep-fried Red Serpent down in front of those two it will disappear quick so I’ll cook some other meat as well. I’ll fry up some Black Serpent, Rock Bird and Giant Dodo.
I kept frying and frying for those two gluttons. I could maybe take it easy later but right now it was deep-fry for them, put it out on a plate, deep-fry again, put it out again, time after time.
"Fuu-, Sui’s tummy is full."
"Gefu, I’m stuffed too."
Ha ha ha ha ha, victory is mine! I didn’t repeat my previous mistake of underestimating how much those two gluttons could eat so there was plenty left for me this time. Since we’ve got so much meat on hand I’ll cook lots more while I’ve got the opportunity.
"Hey? I’m no longer hungry." said Fer quizzically, watching me cooking more deep-fried meat.
"This is food I’m going to save for later. If I fry it and put it in my Item Box then you can eat it any time without waiting for me to cook it."
"Oh, that’s a good idea. Make a lot of it."
Yeah yeah, like I’m gonna wait for permission from you. Heh. I won’t just make deep-fried food though. For example I’ve got meat from the Orc Generals to work with so I started cutting up some of that meat into piecess. I thought the smell might revive Fer’s appetite but he was already lying on a futon in his stall, half-asleep.
Right then, I heated up just the right amount of oil while I cut up Orc General’s meat and marinated it. I did the same with with Rock Bird meat, for chicken-style dishes. OK, let’s make fried pork cutlets and chicken cutlets, lots of them.
I cooked and cooked and cooked, then... "Fuuu- finally finished." I put a lot of deep-fried foods, pork cutlets and chicken cutlets in the Item Box. Fer was sleeping soundly in his futon just like Sui in her new leather bag.
Huhu, it’s time for grown-ups. A big plate of hot deep-fried meat and crisp-coated cutlets and a premium beer to accompany it. The beer’s nice and cold if I buy it direct from the Net Super.
Cold beer and hot fried food, it’s the best.
Well ............ *crunch*. The juices flooded my mouth. Deep fried Red Serpent meat is super delicious.
Psssh-, glug glug glug.
"Fuuu-, it’s delicious. Fried food and beer, what a combination!"
Next, how about an Orc General pork cutlet? Add some tonkatsu sauce. *crunch*
"Oh, this tastes better than regular Orc meat." Orc General meat is definitely better than ordinary Orc, the meat is firm and the fatty aftertaste doesn’t linger. I drank more beer.
"Fu-, Orc General pork cutlet and beer are good together too."
When I looked up, a big round moon hung high in the night sky. It was a much bigger moon than I ever saw in Japan.
"Eating fried food and drinking cold beer in the moonlight, how poetical..." That night, I ate delicious food and drank delicious beer while watching the moon.