Chapter 15: Ginger Pork

Chapter 15:
Ginger Pork

The young hunter, Yuuto, wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked down at the fallen horned boar from up in the tree. Directly below him, Taro growled at the fallen beast.

The wild boar moved not an inch. The arrow that Yuuto had shot into the bottom of the beast’s neck was laced with a poison that caused a horrible paralysis once it entered the bloodstream. Fortunately, it also passed through the body fairly quickly, leaving the meat of the animal perfectly edible. These thick, poisonous arrows were an essential tool to the hunters of the Mountain Nation.

I can’t let my guard down just yet, Yuuto thought to himself and remembered the adage: Beasts at death’s door are prone to killing hunters.

The words belonged to his teacher, a middle-aged hunter who had once killed a bear with only a single bow. Yuuto cautiously approached the fallen animal in front of him. Horned boars were dangerous creatures. They were on a whole different level from the rabbits, deer, wild birds, foxes, or weasels that nobles and rookies hunted. The short, deadly weapon on their foreheads made them truly fierce creatures. Their skin, thick as armor, was capable of deflecting even a samurai’s spear head-on. The horned boar could bring down an entire horse by itself.

There were as many fallen hunters and samurai who met their ends trying to take down a horned boar as there were stars in the sky. In fact, the tree that Yuuto was perched in had been on the receiving end of one of its attacks earlier and actually began to break.

To let his guard down now would be a death sentence.

And so after waiting patiently, Yuuto finally leapt down from the tree. He kept his bow at the ready, arrow drawn, and slowly approached the boar. After finally confirming that the beast was no longer of this world…

“I did it!” he exclaimed. “I actually took it down! I can’t believe it! Taro, I’m finally a full-fledged hunter!”

Yuuto shouted out with glee. One would only be recognized as a true hunter once they took down a fierce beast such as the horned boar. Full-fledged hunters would go into the mountains or woods to take down fierce beasts, sometimes even monsters, whenever they appeared, bringing fortune to towns and villages. They were treated differently from the average rookie who hunted birds and rabbits, and sold them for money.

Being a true hunter meant that the kinds of jobs he could take on increased tenfold. No longer would Yuuto have to settle for simply selling his prey. He could now take on requests from lords to lead samurai through the forest, serve as a bodyguard for merchants traveling through the woods, accept requests to take down fierce beasts for cash, and all manner of other jobs. If he performed well, he could even go on to buy a house of his own in town, take a wife, and live happily ever after.

That said, the horned boar that Yuuto defeated was weak compared to the other fierce beasts. Bears required multiple arrows to take down, while tigers were hunters in their own right. There were the giant snakes that snuck up on hunters quietly and crushed them to death, and even large beetles that soared through the sky and struck with their sharp horns. The latter even had armor capable of deflecting arrows. These were all much more difficult to defeat compared to Yuuto’s current prey. While the horned boar was fast, because it was incapable of climbing trees, one could simply climb to a high vantage point and shower it with arrows.

Of course, actually executing that strategy properly was no easy task. It was one thing to successfully escape from a horned boar, but it was another thing entirely to lure it to the base of a tree. All manner of things could go wrong. The hunting dog meant to lure the beast close could be killed, the hunter could be knocked from their tree of choice and gored by the creature, or they could simply run out of arrows and have no means of attacking further. And then of course there were the hunters who assumed they felled the boar, only to get close and meet their end via its dying strike.

It was fairly common to hear stories in the hunting world of rookies who either failed to take down a horned boar or were in turn murdered by one.

“This thing’s pretty dang big. I bet I can get 120, no, 150 silver coins for this.”

Yuuto examined the teeth marks that Taro had left on the back right leg of the beast and calculated its worth. If he sold what he could from this boar, he might be able to finally buy one of those magic bows that his teacher used. In the world of hunters, losing to one’s prey often meant death. However, should one prove victorious, there were large gains to be had. This was the way hunters lived.

Risk and reward.

It wasn’t particularly rare for true hunters to make upwards of two hundred or more silver coins for felling a single beast, but Yuuto was new to this. He had only ever hunted and sold small prey for a handful of silver coins at a time. This was his first experience defeating a creature worth over a hundred silver coins, and he couldn’t have been more excited about it.

Yuuto was still young. He’d only just become a true hunter. The young man was born the son of a local farmer, but as the fifth boy in the family, there was little hope of him taking over the business. This was why he decided to become a hunter’s apprentice. Yuuto began to get used to walking through the forests and mountains, following his teacher around and remembering the layout of the woods. He learned the skills to train a pup into a hunting dog and eventually was taught how to use a bow. It was at that point that Yuuto became an apprentice hunter.

The young man’s hunting dog, Taro, was the offspring of his teacher’s and another hunter’s dog. It took a full two years after the pup’s birth to be trained into a hunting dog. The apprentice hunter and his partner took down dozens of small creatures before finally deciding to go after the horned boar. They spent a full month preparing for the hunt and pulled it off perfectly.

“Taro, we’re gonna be feasting tonight!”

Yuuto pet his companion on the head. While horned boar meat could smell a bit gamey compared to your average pork, it had a thick, fatty flavor that was quite delicious. To celebrate their success, Yuuto was planning on eating the very best part of the creature’s body. Taro, seemingly reading the mind of his master, wagged his tail in anticipation.

The hunter immediately took to cutting up the boar, starting with bleeding out the beast. The huge animal must’ve weighed at least five times as much as Yuuto did. The young man intended to bring home the meat and its fur, as well as its horn and fangs. Unfortunately, its internal organs would spoil before he got back, and the bones didn’t sell for very much to begin with, so he’d leave those here.

After bleeding out and skinning the beast, Yuuto tucked away the fresh meat and fur into one part of his bag, and the horn and fangs into another.

“That about does it! Let’s get a move on, Taro.”

Yuuto made sure to place the fatty chunks of meat into the clean bag at his waist and called out to Taro, who was wagging his tail while chewing on one of the boar’s bones. The dog barked in response and followed his master, bone still in mouth.

“Now, we gotta get this stuff back before nightfall.”

While it was true that the remains of the horned boar were much easier to carry now that its bones were gone and it had been bled out, there was still lots of meat to carry. Adult boars were large animals, after all. If they stayed in place for too long, eventually the scent of blood would attract other beasts. It was for this reason that Yuuto took half the meat and carried it to a small cabin nearby. The building had been designed to keep beasts away.

“Geez, even half of this thing is heavy,” he muttered.

Despite his complaints, Yuuto was light on his feet and wore a smile on his face. This was the first time in his life that he was transporting a large creature that he defeated by himself. The simple process of moving it from one place to another was incredibly satisfying.

“Phew, we’re finally done.”

The small cabin had a storehouse with a strong door capable of withstanding the average beast. It was there that Yuuto brought the meat and fur, just as the sun was finally beginning to set. He let out a sigh. Even after getting rid of the unnecessary bits of the animal, the pieces he kept from it were still significantly heavier than he was. The young man wasn’t actually all that far from where he slayed the beast, which went to show how difficult it was to transport its remains.

“Man, it took this long just to come this far?” he wondered. “I might have to hire Sahe for this…”

At this point, the prospect of carrying this thing all the way to town seemed unlikely. Yuuto decided to head to the foot of the mountain in the morning and hire his acquaintance for help. The man had arms and legs several times larger than Yuuto’s and often took jobs from his teacher.

To think the day would come when I’d be the sort of hunter who hired others for help.

The thought made Yuuto happy.

“Well, whatever. C’mon, Taro. Let’s eat.”

Just after Yuuto happily called out to his partner, it happened. Taro began to bark at his master after noticing something.

“What’s wrong, boy? Is something the matter?” the hunter asked Taro. The dog barked once more before dashing.

“What’s with him? Did he find something?”

Yuuto followed Taro, who had stopped running to bark again. In front of him was a black door with the mark of a cat on it. It was as if it’d just sprouted there like a plant.

“I don’t remember there being a door here… No, there definitely wasn’t one here yesterday.” Yuuto remembered this place clearly. When he came through the day prior, this black thing was nowhere to be found.

An important part of being a true hunter is being able to recognize and remember when things in the forest had changed. Yuuto always did his best to stay aware. He’d never overlook a change as big as this. That being said, this black door was in fact real.

“Don’t tell me this is some kind of magic?” he said.

Magic was a concept that Yuuto knew little about, considering his upbringing in a small middle-of-nowhere town. Still, his town was home to multiple diviners, and the priest would often cast prayer magic of the Lord of Wind on hunters.

Yuuto was fairly certain that the appearance of this door was caused by magic.

“The fact that Taro brought me here means it shouldn’t be dangerous. But still…”

Yuuto found it hard to believe that his well-trained hunting dog would make a mistake like that. Steadying his resolve, he placed his hand on the black door’s golden handle and turned it. It wasn’t locked. He heard the sound of a bell ringing as he pushed it open.

“Whoa!”

Having grown used to the darkness on the mountain, Yuuto was briefly blinded by the light coming from the other side of the door. He held his hands up to try and block it out.

“Welcome!”

Somebody spoke to Yuuto from inside. It was the voice of a middle-aged man. The hunter finally brought his hands down and took a look at his surroundings. He was in a strange place. There were multiple tables and chairs lined up, and people sat at them eating and drinking. It was like he was in…

“A pub?”

“Not quite. We’re a western…er, a restaurant. Though we do serve alcohol.” The master responded to Yuuto, clapped his hands once and welcomed his new guest. “Let’s try this again. Welcome! Is the little guy there with you?”

The boy in front of the master was still young. He couldn’t have been older than a high schooler. Next to him was a single dog sitting patiently. The master usually didn’t allow pets in Nekoya, but he had no problem with having them around if they were going to be as well behaved as this.

“Oh, uh, yeah. This is Taro. He’s my hunting dog. I assure you, he’s well trained,” Yuuto responded to the master while lost in thought.

Regardless of the reasons why it was in the middle of the mountains, he could be sure it was in fact a restaurant. Judging by the atmosphere, it wasn’t just a cheap pub like the one in his town but a classy joint like the ones the samurai would visit in the city.

Crap, Yuuto thought. I don’t have any money.

From his surroundings he could smell all manner of delicious, unknown foods that the other customers were eating. Yuuto hadn’t yet eaten dinner, so this was especially torturous for him. The aroma made him want to grab a bite.

Yet the truth remained that he had no money. Being a relatively new hunter meant his wallet was mostly empty to begin with. He also didn’t think there to be any point in bringing money out into the wilderness where at most, he’d bump into fellow hunters.

Something other than money that I can use. Let’s see… Ah!

Yuuto immediately realized he did have something of value on him. It was wrapped up in the bag at his waist.

“Um, Master? I would love to eat here, but the truth is that I don’t have any money on me. So…”

He took the bag off his waist and handed it to the middle-aged man.

“I have the best cuts of a horned boar in here. If you could cook this for me, I’d happily give you whatever is left over.”

The best meat from a horned boar. Normally, one would salt it, and a merchant would sell it to some high-class noble for them to eat. Folks far and wide sought the rare meat. Unless one was a hunter like Yuuto, it was the type of food that a commoner would never have the opportunity to eat themselves. Even this small amount of the fatty meat would fetch up to five silver coins. The hunter realized that this was quite a lot for a single meal, but at the end of the day, he and Taro were planning on eating it all to begin with. He might as well have it cooked by someone who knew what they were doing.

“Boar meat, eh?”

The master wore a complicated expression on his face. Nekoya normally didn’t serve meals made from ingredients of the other world. The master procured all of his meats and vegetables from stores in the shopping arcade and served what he thought was good. It was his own personal rule to only serve the customers what he would eat himself.

He normally didn’t offer this kind of service to customers, but there was something about the boy in front of him. His eyes were sparkling. They had a zeal to them that the master had lost over twenty years earlier. He had the face of an innocent, reckless, young man, not entirely unlike all the local high school goofs who occasionally dropped in after class.

“You got it. I’ll be cooking this up my own way. Is that okay with you?”

There was no way he could betray the expectations of someone like that, the master decided.

“Of course! Thank you so much!”

“Woof!”

Yuuto and Taro energetically answered the master’s question.

“Alrighty then. Hold on just a moment. You can take a seat right here.”

The master disappeared to the back for a brief moment before returning with a tightly wrapped cloth of some kind and a glass cup filled with water.

“Here you are. A warm towel and some water. I’m gonna get to cooking this meat up, so hang on for just a bit.”

The middle-aged man once more disappeared into the back, this time to cook.

Since we’re talking about fresh meat, I’m gonna have to soften it up a bit. Also, boar tends to be a bit gamey, so I should…

Having eaten boar meat before, the master began to think about what sort of dish best went with the slightly gamey ingredient.

Meanwhile, Yuuto examined the inside of the restaurant.

“What a strange little place.”

Now that he had the chance to really take a closer look, Yuuto realized just how odd a collection of customers there were. There was a swordsman wearing a beautiful kimono not unlike those in the city, and even a diviner. Meanwhile, there was a samurai with an overwhelming aura. Yuuto wouldn’t have been surprised if the man ended up being some kind of master warrior. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about these men was that they were fairly normal compared to the other customers.

There were people present who clearly had different facial features than Yuuto. They were more than likely from the Eastern Continent. Their clothing quality and even hair styles were all over the place, as if they shared almost nothing in common. More surprising were the other races present: elves and dwarfs. There were even races Yuuto had never seen before.

The more I look, the crazier it gets! What a bizarre restaurant!

Fascinated, Yuuto watched them all happily eat their strange meals until the master returned.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Without making much noise at all, the master placed down a dish of food in front of Yuuto, along with a bowl filled with white rice and some kind of brown soup.

On the plate were thinly sliced fresh oranie and the horned boar meat that Yuuto brought with him into the restaurant. The grilled meat was garnished with chopped vegetables and some sort of brown sauce.

“This is grilled meat…?”

Yuuto was certain that the master would bring out some sort of soup. Boiling the meat to soften it seemed like the obvious direction to head in.

“Indeed it is! It’s called ginger pork.” The master then turned his attention to his other guest.

“Here you go, buddy. No onions or ginger in this one. Be careful though, it’s still hot.” The middle-aged man placed a takeout box full of food down in front of Taro. The dog fiercely wagged his tail after sniffing the food and confirming its entrancing aroma. His meal consisted of a healthy serving of rice topped with grilled meat and sauce. Dogs normally weren’t supposed to eat foods with such heavy flavoring, but as long as this wasn’t a recurring thing, once in a blue moon was fine.

“Please enjoy,” said the master. “Refills on rice and miso soup are free, so just let me know if you want more.”

With that, the master left the hunter and his partner, seeing another set of customers flag him down. It was the usual pair of goofs asking for seconds on okonomiyaki.

“This is the kind of food they make here…?” Yuuto found himself gulping as the rich scent of the sweet sauce and grilled meat reached his nose. He picked up a pair of chopsticks and then looked down at his dog.

“Taro, you can start eating, buddy.”

As soon as he was given permission, the drooling hunting dog immediately began to dig in. He ate loudly, his tail wagging back and forth endlessly. Taro was never this excited when he ate the usual spoils of the day.

Is it really that good?

Seeing his partner so excited raised Yuuto’s own expectations. He reached for the food with his chopsticks and grabbed one of the many thin pieces of meat on the plate.

Whoa, it’s so soft.

The meat was so tender that it felt like it might crumble under the pressure of the chopsticks. What kind of magic did the master use to make the hard boar meat so soft? Yuuto brought the piece of meat, covered in sauce and vegetables, toward his mouth. The light in the restaurant reflected off its shiny surface as the young hunter swallowed his own drool.

Yuuto took a bite.

“This is amazing!” The young man voiced his impressions immediately.

This was more delicious than anything Yuuto had ever eaten in his entire life. The sauce was sweet yet salty and even had a dash of spiciness to it. The flavor was totally unique. Just that alone was amazing enough. He imagined that topping a bowl of rice with the sauce would be a meal all its own.

But it wasn’t just that. The sauce went perfectly with the fatty boar meat. The surface was sprinkled with a grain of sorts that soaked up the sauce. It then fused together with the meat juice and grease. It was positively delicious when eaten together with the vegetables.

How could there be anything in this world tastier than the meal in front of him? It would be only a few moments before he had that question answered for him.

“Whoaaaaaaa!”

It was delicious enough for Yuuto to roar into the air. Just when he thought the ginger pork was the pinnacle of cuisine, there was something even more incredible sitting in front of him: the rice. It was white as snow, with no millet of any kind. The fresh, plump rice existed in perfect harmony with the ginger pork.

The combination of heavy meat and light, plain rice left Yuuto feeling both satisfied and hungry for more. He took a bite of the pork, and then the rice, and then some more pork, repeating the cycle of bliss over and over again. On occasion, he munched on the oranie, some of the pickled vegetables, and sipped from the bowl of soup.

It went without saying that the bowl of rice emptied almost immediately.

“Excuse me! Can I get another serving of rice?! Make it a large, and fast, please!” Yuuto was almost panicked as he made his order.

“Aye, you got it.” The master had kept a close eye on the boy, so he was ready to provide seconds the moment he asked for them. The master packed a bowl filled with white rice and brought it out to his young customer just as Taro barked, signaling that he too desired more.

The dog and its master were quite alike. The master smiled to himself at the thought and prepared some more meat and rice for Taro.

Thus did the hunter and his partner’s joyous meal continue until the two of them could eat no more.

“Oof, I can’t take another bite,” Yuuto groaned.

Yuuto ended up getting three extra bowls of rice and one extra serving of ginger pork. He held his painfully full stomach and stepped out of the restaurant. Taro was no different, his own walking speed slower than usual due to the extra weight he was packing.

“Taro, that sure was great! We gotta come again.”

The hunting dog still had enough energy in him to happily wag his tail in response to his master’s words.

Before leaving, Yuuto managed to learn about the secret of the restaurant. It was an eatery that could only be visited once every seven days. Even better, the cost of eating a meal there was significantly lower than Yuuto expected. It was cheap and delicious.

In fact, Yuuto’s own teacher, who made this his area of operations, often visited the restaurant and ordered the same thing as his disciple.

“I gotta give my thanks to Master, too.”

Come to think of it, his teacher was the one who had recommended hunting for horned boars in this area. This must have been his way of sharing his discovery with Yuuto. This was his way of showing his disciple the path to the Restaurant to Another World.

“All right, Taro! Let’s get some shut-eye. Tomorrow we’re gonna hire some help to carry this meat, so it’s gonna be a long day!” Yuuto said happily to Taro, who responded in kind with a bark.