The Western Pioneer’s Breakfast

“““Cock-a-doodle-doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”””

The next day, I sprang awake at a scream loud enough to shake the whole room.

When I looked, three chickens were perched on the window frame, clucking with enough energy that they seemed ready to start another chorus at any moment.

Chickens were usually kept in a coop, but I had let them roam freely with the horses because free-range chickens laid better eggs, but….

“To think you slipped through the fence and came to wake me up like this. I was a little surprised, but thanks.”

When I thanked them, the chickens flapped off outside and began playing in the yard.

They left behind small, round white things on the window frame.

“What are these…? I see, you laid them for me already!”

What you expected from domesticated chickens was, of course, eggs.

To think I could get them from the very first day was the best present I could have asked for in the morning.

Between the alarm clock and the eggs, they were suddenly doing a great job as livestock.

Maybe it was thanks to the base skill.

“Wait, if that’s the case, then the other livestock might also…!”

I rushed out of the house and headed for the pasture.

I jumped over the fence and approached the cow grazing among the horses.

“Hey, would you let me milk you?”

The cow kept chewing and went, “Moo~.”

It was hard to tell whether that meant yes or no, but apparently it was okay.

I took a leather canteen out of my coat pocket and crouched down by the cow’s feet.

I placed the open-mouthed canteen beneath the cow’s belly and pinched the hanging udder.

I was only imitating what I had seen before, but white liquid shot from the udder with the force of a water pistol, drawing white streaks as it flowed into the canteen.

“I did it! I got milk!”

It was extremely nutritious.

Just the eggs and milk alone made my stomach refuse to stop rumbling.

And my mind was made up.

“All right, since today’s another day off, maybe I’ll try making a slightly luxurious breakfast…!”

When I thought of a luxurious breakfast, there was only one thing.

The menu had already taken shape in my head.

“All that’s left is to make it in reality…!”

Carrying the leather bag filled with milk, I immediately got to work.

I headed to the workshop in the yard of the house.

I took Gisu Lumber out of my pocket and crushed it to pieces with the Great Knife of the Giant Boar.

Once it had become small like chips, I spread it inside the Forest Stone Kiln I had made when doing pottery.

Then I placed the Giant Boar Belly I had gotten yesterday right in the center.

After that, I lit the kiln, put on the lid, and waited for a while.

“Good, while that’s going, I’ll make another dish!”

Though it was not anything that difficult.

What I took out of my coat pocket was a wooden bowl.

Then there were wild onions, watercress, and a few flowers.

I had obtained these ingredients in a certain cave.

“I wonder if that one is doing well….”

While remembering that one’s smile, I tore the wild onions and watercress finely with my hands.

After that, I added squeezed flower nectar and gave it a quick sprinkle of the salt I had gotten from Akemi.

“Done! It’s that one’s favorite salad!”

And while I was doing that, thick smoke was rising from the kiln.

“It’s done! I’ll use this for the second dish!”

Carrying the still-hot bacon, I headed to the cooking area near the workshop.

I lit the Forest Stone Stove and placed the Forest Stone and Gisu Frying Pan on top of the stove.

While waiting for the frying pan to heat up, I sliced the bacon thinly on the cooking table.

Once the frying pan had reached just the right heat, I tossed in the sliced bacon.

The oil from the bacon crackled, and a savory aroma filled the air.

Then, if I cracked in the freshly laid eggs I had taken from my coat pocket….

…Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzle!!

A harmony of bacon and eggs spread out.

There, I added one quick sprinkle of Akemi’s salt.

“I bet even Akemi herself never imagined the salt she gave me would be this useful.”

I felt as if I heard an auditory hallucination of Akemi sneezing, “Achoo!”

And then the main dish was complete…!

I moved the freshly made bacon and eggs to a plate and placed it on a wooden tray.

After that, if I poured milk into a wooden cup and added the Angel’s Fluffy Bread to the set…!

“This is… incredible…! This is the breakfast I dreamed of…!”

Salad, bacon, bread, fried eggs, and milk.

Before I entered this academy, these were things I had eaten as a matter of course.

But in this pioneering life, every one of them could be called out of reach.

The salad used wild herbs and required proper gathering.

For bacon, after succeeding in a hunt and obtaining meat, I had to make smoking equipment.

For bread, I had to start farming and grow wheat.

And eggs and milk could not be obtained until I became able to raise livestock.

Yes…!

This breakfast was one milestone in pioneering life…!

It was so important that it could be called a checkpoint…!

Thinking that made it all the more deeply moving.

With trembling hands, I held my wooden knife and fork, cut apart the bacon and fried egg, stacked them together, and brought them to my mouth.

The crispy texture of the bacon and the fluffy texture of the fried egg.

The rich oil and heavy egg flavor made me truly feel that I was eating living things.

Then, when I took a bite of the bread, a rich flavor reminiscent of a grand wheat field spread throughout my mouth.

The milk I drank after that had a gentle taste, exactly like being held by my mother.

All of it was delicious beyond words.

I no longer had any words.

No, before this meal, words were unnecessary.

Th-thank you…!

Gratitude toward everything welled up from the bottom of my heart, and a tear slipped out.

Today, I felt as if I had grown another step as a human being.

I felt as if I had overcome a great wall.