Chapter 166: The Bear Gets the Black Tiger Butchered

Chapter 166:
The Bear Gets the Black Tiger Butchered

 

FINA STARTED BUTCHERING the black tiger the next morning.

I pulled the black tiger out onto the giant table. The monster was covered in jet-black fur. Obviously, it was larger than a wolf. Even tigerwolves would take a look at this thing and skulk away.

Fina pulled out the mithril knife that Gold had made for her, took a deep breath, and slowly slid it into the black tiger’s flesh. I suppose it was a mithril knife after all—it sliced easily through the black tiger’s pelt, which an iron knife hadn’t been able to do.

Of course, it wouldn’t cut through a living black tiger like that. No way. A monster’s defensive capabilities were different when they were alive. The skins of living monsters were fortified by their mana gems, and they also used mana to make their claws and fangs sharper, harder, and more powerful.

Fina skillfully butchered the black tiger. Her technique was top-notch. I couldn’t do what she did, with or without a mithril knife. “Great butchering as usual, Fina.”

“Mmhm! Just like dad taught me.”

“And the knife?”

“It’s amazing. It slices right into where I need it to. I don’t need to cut too hard. It just slips right in. Yuna, are you sure I can just have this?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re always helping me out. Consider it an extension of my feelings.”

“Uhh, but…you’re the one who’s always helping me. You’re always saving me.”

Nah. When I’d just arrived in this world and couldn’t tell my left from my right, I’d met Fina. If I hadn’t met her, I wouldn’t have any idea what to do.

I plopped my bear puppet on Fina’s head.

“Yuna?”

“Thank you.”

“Huh?” Fina cocked her head to the side, puzzled. I just stepped aside to let her work.

Fina gave it her all, as little as she was, and pushed on with the butchering. She stretched out her short arms, and when she still couldn’t reach the spots she needed to, stood on her toes and leaned her short little body over the beast.

“Whew,” she breathed out.

“You can take a break if you want.”

“I’m okay. Oh...right,” she said, and turned to me. “I forgot—Yuna, do you have time this afternoon?”

“This afternoon? I don’t have any plans, nah. Why?” No plans to stop by a shop, no plans to work. If I had any plans at all, they were nap plans with Kumayuru and Kumakyu.

“If you have time, I think my mom wants to see you.”

“Tiermina?” Huh. But why?

“Um, I think it’s about the cake we ate yesterday. And she said she wants to say thank you for the mithril knife.”

“I get the mithril knife, but why the cake?” Agh, I’d given Fina an expensive gift without even consulting Tiermina. I figured she might give me a talking to about that, but the cake? What, did she want another slice?

 

Fina finished up the butchering, and I finally had my hands on the black tiger’s pelt. I gave her the black tiger’s meat as a gift. I’d heard it was pretty pricey, but then again, it wasn’t like you just ran into a monster like a black tiger every day. Fina tried to tell me she couldn’t take it, but I wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Oh, maybe we could take it over to Anz’s place and ask her to cook it up?

 

Now that she was done with butchering, Fina headed out to get Tiermina. They weren’t coming till the afternoon, so I decided I’d have lunch while waiting. After a quick bite and a mini-snooze with Kumayuru and Kumakyu, Tiermina came by, flanked by Fina and Shuri. I beckoned them into the house.

“Yuna, first, I’d like to ask you about this knife that my daughter has,” said Tiermina.

“The mithril knife?”

“No, the other knife. Yes, of course I mean the mithril knife. Do you know just how much these things cost?”

Oh, no. Now Tiermina was saying exactly the same thing Fina had. Even if I told her that I brought the mithril in myself so it didn’t cost anything, she probably wouldn’t have it.

“The price isn’t what matters. The butchering I asked Fina to do required a mithril knife, so she needed it.”

“What could you have possibly needed a mithril knife in order to butcher?”

“Uh. A…black tiger.”

Tiermina’s face froze. “A…black tiger?

“I just gave Fina some black tiger meat, so please make sure to eat it.”

“Ahh...slaying ridiculous monsters, as usual, I see. Hearing about the tigerwolf and the black viper gave me quite the start. And now a black tiger? You could have gone to the Adventurer Guild instead of my daughter though.”

“If I did that, then people would know I fought a black tiger.”

She sighed again.

“And—and Fina is my exclusive butcher. So it’s basically my job to get her a knife she can use for butchering.” Gentz had asked me to give Fina butchering work, after all. Fina had agreed, and we hadn’t broken off our exclusivity agreement. It was only logical that I’d ask Fina.

“Okay, yes, I understand why you gave Fina a mithril knife, but why did you make a knife for Shuri?”

“I haven’t made one for her yet...” At this very moment, Gold was in the middle of making one for her, but he hadn’t finished it. So it was fine, kind of. A little. And anyway, I was just lending the knife to Shuri. It wasn’t like I’d actually given it to her.

I explained all this to Tiermina at length.

And it was exhausting.

 

“Also, one more thing. What was that confection from yesterday? It was delicious. Are you selling that at your shop too?”

Right when I thought I was done…another question. Blargh. “I baked that because I wanted to eat it.”

“You just wanted to eat it? Where could you possibly have learned to make a food like that?”

(I couldn’t just say “in another universe,” even if it was true.)

“Aren’t you going to sell it at the shop? I was convinced that’s why you had us try it.”

Apparently, Tiermina had assumed the strawberry shortcake was going to be a menu item. She’d apparently planned to talk with me about the ingredients, pricing, and other things.

“We can sell it,” I said, “but then the issue is who’ll bake them.”

“Can’t we ask Morin and the others to do it?”

“I feel like they have their hands a little full with the bread right now.” The shop was always jam-packed. This was always the case for Morin’s bread, but the bear bread was way more popular than I’d expected. Mil and the other kids were trying their hardest to help out, but they always seemed busy. Cakes would definitely be too much.

“Is it difficult to make?” Tiermina asked.

“Hmm. I think it depends on how used to making them you are, but it always takes some work.” If we were going to sell it in the shop, we’d need to make a ton of them. A single cake obviously wouldn’t cut it.

“Yes, but I think it would be such a waste not to sell it. Can’t you think it over after having Morin and Karin try it?”

She kept insisting, so we decided to have Morin and Karin taste-test the cakes.

“Well, then,” said Tiermina, “I’ll let Morin know. What do you think about having the tasting during their next day off?”

I agreed. We decided to call the kids to the shop for it, too…which meant I’d have to bake a lot more cake.

After we finished talking, Shuri tugged on my bear clothes slightly.

“Yuna.”

“What is it?”

“I want some.”

“You mean cake?”

“Yeah.”

I still had cake left over from the day before, so I pulled it out and offered it to the three of them. “Go for it.”

Shuri started to happily eat.

“If it’s that easy to make, Yuna, why did you only give us two slices? Gentz was sulking.”

“Gentz?” Oh. Oops. I’d completely forgotten about him. Guys ate cake too, right? For some reason, I just had trouble picturing it, so I’d forgotten to prep even one slice for him. “Fina, why didn’t you say something?”

“Um,” said Fina in a small voice. “I forgot too.”

Oof. Forgotten by his own daughter. Rough stuff, Gentz.

“Well, I gave him half of mine,” said Tiermina. “He seemed to have enjoyed it.”

An old guy with a cake? What an image. But…why couldn’t some old guy enjoy a cake, huh? I myself had suffered the slings and arrows and other projectiles of people judging me based on how I looked. People should be free to eat what they want and wear what they want.

That said…if guys like Gentz were going to be enjoying the cake, maybe I should make a manlier version. Something less sweet, maybe. If I did that, I guess I’d need guys other than Gentz to taste-test it. The only candidates I could think of were Cliff, the Adventurer Guild master, Gil, and, hmm, Gold the dwarf? Oh, Blitz was around right now, too.

I guess I’d start with Cliff for now? If I left Noa out, she’d probably complain about it later.

“But it really is delicious. I thought the same thing yesterday. I could eat this forever.”

“Uh-huh, it’s yummy.”

Great reviews from Tiermina and Shuri, too. And…

Wait. Tiermina...didn’t propose selling it at the shop just so she could eat cake whenever she wanted, right?