Chicken And Palenque (1)

When I come out to the market, I first buy vegetables and then head to the butcher shop. This route rarely changes.

But today, I felt a bit different. I was approaching the butcher shop, and thinking about yesterday’s events made me laugh. Especially the flustered look on Mr. Knoll’s face.

So, when I arrived at the butcher shop and saw Mr. Knoll, I grinned and started talking.

“Hello, Mr. Knoll the Crybaby.”

“What, what? You brat!”

“Are you flustered?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I never cried! Ah, I’m closing the shop!”

“Close? What are you closing!”

Mrs. Rayne grabbed Mr. Knoll by the hair.

“El, you’re here?”

“Yes.”

“No! I’m not selling to him! Ah, my head! My head!”

Mrs. Rayne pulled harder on Mr. Knoll’s hair as he yelled at me. She laughed mercilessly as she tugged at her husband’s hair.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s actually grateful.”

“When did I!”

“Haha, then please give me some uba sirloin.”

“Uba sirloin? I’ll get it for you right away. Hoho.”

Mrs. Rayne went inside with a laugh. I asked Mr. Knoll with a hopeful heart.

“Do you happen to have Palenque?”

Palenque and Palenque eggs. In other words, I need chickens and eggs. Especially since eggs are so versatile.

“Palenque? Do you need Palenque?”

“It would be nice to have them for various reasons. Especially if they’re caught alive.”

To get eggs, it would be ideal to have a live Palenque.

“Alive? That’s impossible, isn’t it? Are you crazy? If I could catch such a quick monster like Palenque alive and distribute it, I’d be rich by now.”

“So you’re saying you have slaughtered Palenque?”

“No, that’s…”

“Mr. Knoll, this is a different story, isn’t it?”

“What, you brat?”

“What did you say when I first came here? If I can make a dish worthy of your meat, we’ll partner up? You said you could get any meat?”

“Hemhem, Rayne! What did he say?”

Mr. Knoll shut his mouth and went inside, calling for Mrs. Rayne even though I didn’t call her. Well, it’s true that looking for Palenque at a butcher shop is crazy. Palenque is so hard to catch that it’s considered a rarity. I’ve heard that those who have tasted it call it legendary. So it’s not something that would be openly available in the market.

Of course, it’s not that there are no chickens or eggs in this world. Palenque is the closest thing to a chicken, and there are many birds used as ingredients. The best among them is Palenque.

“El. Uba sirloin. This is it, right?”

“Yes.”

As expected, the uba was a bright pink. I nodded and paid the price.

“Thank you.”

“We should be thanking you more.”

Mrs. Rayne bowed her head. Just as I was about to leave, having bought everything, Mr. Knoll rushed out. So I stopped. It seemed he had something to tell me.

“Uh, Palenque! I heard a report that it was spotted in Limon Forest on the outskirts of town.”

“In Limon Forest?”

“I’m sure. It’s information from mercenaries.”

“Really. You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’ll let you know if I get more information.”

Mr. Knoll said that and scratched his head roughly.

“Oh, he’s so blunt.”

Mrs. Rayne shook her head. He might seem like that, but he does everything he can. He’s not a bad person. Just a bit shy, I guess.

I said goodbye and climbed the hill back to the restaurant. Thanks to Mrs. Rayne’s recommendations, customers come sporadically. But it’s mostly in the evening. I don’t remember ever having a busy lunch. And today, as expected, the restaurant was empty.

In this case, should I go to Limon Forest to get Palenque and eggs?

Once I’ve decided, I have to act immediately. I ran up to the second floor.

“Snore, snore.”

The sun was high in the sky, but the dragon had no intention of waking up. I jumped onto her bed.

“What, what!”

“Wake up! Would it hurt you to wake up in the morning?”

I’m in a hurry.

So, after confirming she was awake, I picked Rurin up in a princess carry. She started kicking and struggling.

“Isn’t it because you didn’t let me sleep yesterday! That’s too much!”

“Don’t say things that can be misunderstood. Wash your face.”

She slept so much during the day, but at night she couldn’t sleep and begged me to play with her. I sat the Black Dragon down on the floor. After wrapping a towel around her, I washed her face with water from a basin.

“Blow your nose.”

“Hng!”

After cleaning her white face and helping her blow her nose, I wiped her with the towel. Then I picked the dazed dragon up again and sat her on the bed. If I left her to wash alone, it would take all day.

I’m in a hurry, so I have no choice.

I dressed her over her pajamas. Then I quickly combed her hair.

What normally takes a while was done in an instant, so Rurin looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“What’s all this?”

“It doesn’t matter what this is or that is. That’s not important. Right now, Palenque is flying around! Don’t you want to try a unique dish?”

“A unique dish?”

“A dish that goes well with beer.”

“Oh, is there such a thing? I want to eat that.”

Her face, which was still sleepy, lit up as soon as she heard about a dish that goes well with beer.

“If you want to eat it, get up right now.”

As I fixed her hair, the dragon looked up at me and spread her arms.

“Hug me.”

“What?”

“If you hug me, I’ll get up.”

“What’s with the fuss?”

“You haven’t hugged me tightly lately. You used to do it often to cheer me up during the war!”

“Okay, okay, I got it.”

I hugged Rurin lightly and then released her. She then raised her black eyebrows and shouted.

“That’s not enough!”

With a look that said I was half-hearted. So I hugged Rurin’s body tightly, just as she wanted.

Very tight!

Her soft body embraced mine. It felt somewhat cozy.

“Hehe. I feel more awake now!”

“Are you satisfied?”

“What are you talking about! You’d have to do it all day for me to be a little satisfied! Hugging me tightly for a year would make me a little satisfied!”

“A year?”

Nod, nod.

Rurin nodded vigorously.

“Stop joking and come out. We’re going to the Limon Forest.”

“Huh? I’m not satisfied yet!”

Satisfied or not, I let go of Rurin and went down to the first floor. I heard footsteps following me.

Limon Forest is a forest on the outskirts beyond the hill where I live.

Specifically, when you cross the hill, there is a stream, and beyond that stream, you can see a bamboo forest. That bamboo forest is called Limon Forest.

Usually, to get to the northern city, you have to pass through Limon Forest, so it is suspected that one of the mercenaries who pass through here regularly spotted the Palenque.

“Why did we come here, by the way?”

Rurin looked around the forest, tilting her head. The bamboo didn’t seem to impress her much.

“We came to catch the ingredient for the dish I mentioned earlier.”

“Oh!”

After talking about the dish, the instinct-driven dragon started drooling.

“We need to catch a monster called Palenque.”

“Palenque?”

Rurin tilted her head again. It seemed like she hadn’t heard of it before.

“You don’t know?”

“How would I know such insignificant monsters? I’m a dragon among…”

“Yes, yes, I get it. I get it.”

“Hmph!”

I covered her mouth with my hand and dragged her further inside.

Snap!

Then, I saw several Palenque flying above the bamboo forest.

“That- that’s it!”

When I released her hand and shouted, Rurin also saw the Palenque and spoke.

“Oh, that?”

It’s a chicken. A flying chicken. It’s called a monster because it’s much more aggressive than a chicken. And it was very fast. Of course, I knew this information beforehand. That’s why I brought Rurin.

I am a battle mage.

And thanks to the Dragon Lord’s heart, my magic is maximized.

In this world, mages have their own specialties.

Magic for combat.

This is what I learned.

And magic for research. It’s a study that involves various special magics, starting with alchemy.

In my case, I learned magic for combat, a practical application.

So, burning this forest down is very easy.

However, to catch those small monsters one by one, and alive at that, Rurin is perfect.

I don’t need ashes of Palenque.

“Drop that flying Palenque!”

“Should I kill them all?”

“No, just one for now. I haven’t tasted it, so let’s decide after that.”

“That’s easy.”

Rurin glared intensely at one Palenque. The wildly flying Palenque seemed to sense the killing intent and glanced at Rurin.

“Kyu-u-u-u!”

It let out a strange cry and then suddenly plummeted to the ground. It shivered and then foamed at the mouth, fainting.

This is Dragon Fear.

A powerful ability that can make a creature faint or die just by looking at them. There’s nothing better than Dragon Fear to obtain ingredients without damage.

An absolute power that is usually hidden by disguising as a human.

A dragon is a dragon, and if I hadn’t consumed the Dragon’s Heart, I’d be in that state too.

“How was that!”

“Well done. Good job.”

I ran over, grabbed the trembling Palenque by the neck, and snapped it immediately. It’s just like a chicken. The processing method should be the same.

Feeling good, I pushed Rurin’s back and returned to the restaurant. Rurin immediately went to the refrigerator, took out a beer, and sat in front of the Palenque like a puppy, tail-wagging.

“So, this guy with beer will be delicious?”

“No, I need to cook it. Just wait.”

“Is that so? Well, I’ll have a can first.”

Rurin opened the beer can and started gulping it down. She shivered, expressing how tasty it was.

Well, I’ll let it slide today since she did a good job.

I left the dragon alone and started cutting the processed chicken into pieces. Normally, wild chickens are too tough to eat, but Palenque seemed different.

I was worried about the toughness, but the knife slid through it more smoothly than a modern supermarket chicken.

After easily cutting the Palenque into pieces, I made slits in several places and mixed it with pepper and salt. This is the basic step for making fried Palenque, or chicken.

Then I spread minced garlic evenly and mixed it in. The combination of garlic and chicken is fantastic.

Then I poured milk over it and let it marinate to remove any off-flavors. Usually, modern chicken shops use various mixes, seasonings, and MSG, but I use my own method.

I prepared flour and added frying powder. This is a modern summoned item.

I mixed the frying powder and then added cornmeal. My sense is that a ratio of 3:1:0.5 is good.

Usually, powders are added, but I use ground monton mushrooms. These monton mushrooms are the magical powder of this era.

Preparation is almost done. The rest depends on the chicken being delicious.

After drinking her beer, I covered the dragon, who was dozing again, with a blanket and took a rest myself. Dragons sleep a lot. Well, it’s not surprising since they usually have sleep cycles that last hundreds of years.

Anyway, it’s a peaceful time.

Putting aside the lack of customers.

Evening came. When the sun begins to set, a beautiful sunset view is visible from the restaurant. I built the restaurant here for this view.

The business doesn’t need to be bustling. I just want a restaurant where a few regulars come to share their affection. That’s why a busy marketplace is not ideal.

While looking at the red sky, I thought about frying the marinated chicken, no, Palenque, when a customer appeared.

A face I saw the other day. It was definitely the mercenary, Mr. Ment.

“Oh, isn’t it Mr. Ment?”

“Yes, it is. I liked the drink I had the other day, so I came back. Haha.”