Chapter 11. The First Hero (5)
“I want to help, but there’s a problem.”
“A problem?”
“Earlier, you thought it was strange that I could handle spirits so well, right? Actually, I brought that up because I’ve been worried about this problem.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t hold a butchering knife.”
Lee Naye deliberately avoided looking at the butchering knife.
Even so, Kim Seongchan did not pull back the hand holding it out to her.
“Are you saying you can’t hold a butchering knife because of something related to your spirit?”
“It’s not just butchering knives. I’m not allowed to hold any kind of blade.”
Being able to command spirits but being unable to hold a blade was an unusual case.
Either the spirit refuses, or the master refuses.
It had to be one of those two.
And in Lee Naye’s case, Kim Seongchan already knew that it was the spirit refusing.
“You want to solve this problem, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then hold it. I need to see what happens before I can know anything.”
Lee Naye hesitated as she looked at the butchering knife Kim Seongchan was offering her.
However, when Kim Seongchan subtly adjusted his facial muscles and his expression gradually became more intimidating, she stopped hesitating and grabbed it.
Whoooosh.
The wind rippled, and a wind spirit resembling a cat appeared.
The moment the wind spirit appeared, it raised one of its front paws and smacked Lee Naye’s hand that was holding the butchering knife.
Mreow!
The force was only strong enough to create a gentle breeze.
However, it continued throwing punches with its front paws, clearly expressing its strong desire for Lee Naye to stop holding the butchering knife.
“As you can see, whenever I try to hold a sword, Silnyang protests and tells me not to hold it.”
Papapapak.
The way Silnyang struck her hand in a steady rhythm clearly showed that it had done this more than once or twice.
It was not a problem when Lee Naye was simply standing still, but this kind of interference would be troublesome whenever she needed to perform delicate work.
“Give it to me.”
As soon as Kim Seongchan took the butchering knife from her, Silnyang stopped hitting her hand as if nothing had happened.
Then it turned into wind and disappeared.
Worry could be seen on Lee Naye’s face.
“How can I become closer to my spirit?”
Lee Naye had been emotionally hurt because Silnyang had finally appeared after a long time, only to immediately start hitting her hand.
“The way a master becomes closer to a spirit is through emotional communication.”
“Emotional communication?”
Lee Naye had tried to understand Silnyang’s feelings.
However, all her efforts had ended in failure.
Was there some new method?
“When the master is happy, the spirit is happy. When the master is sad, the spirit becomes sad too.”
Lee Naye could not relate to what Kim Seongchan was saying.
Silnyang had never seemed happy!
Lee Naye thought that she needed to explain her situation better.
“I see. Then, are there cases where a spirit feels sad while also getting angry at its master?”
“Normally, spirits almost never directly send their emotions to their masters. They usually try to accommodate their master instead.”
“That can’t be...”
Lee Naye made a face that showed how difficult it was for her to accept that explanation.
Naye probably won’t be able to accept it right away.
Lee Naye seemed to have a lot on her mind.
Silnyang openly expressed its dislike directly to its master.
Lee Naye had never experienced a spirit that focused on its master’s emotions without forcing its own emotions onto them.
There’s one right here.
Ella looked at him while gently swaying her tail, as if asking whether he had called her.
After stroking Ella’s head, Kim Seongchan spoke again.
“Would holding the butchering knife be too difficult?”
“Silnyang suffers whenever I hold a blade. I don’t think I can do it today. It keeps making my head hurt, and it’s using mana with all its strength.”
“I see. How about reducing the amount of mana you give Silnyang?”
“My mana?”
“Yes. Try doing that the next time Silnyang appears.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Kim Seongchan nodded.
Silnyang’s personality was a problem, but Lee Naye constantly accommodating that personality was also a problem.
If she keeps giving Silnyang mana every time it pulls more from her, there’s no way she can handle it.
Both Lee Naye, the master, and Silnyang would suffer.
Silnyang was already emotionally agitated.
If Lee Naye continued pouring mana into it without restraint, Silnyang would become even more excited and harder to control.
Still, it’s fortunate that Silnyang knows how to restrain itself.
Silnyang certainly had a temper, but it was not completely unreasonable.
Kim Seongchan could clearly see Silnyang controlling its mana appropriately even while expressing its displeasure.
The Chaos Dragon’s Mana Cultivation Method lets me see the movement and flow of another person’s mana.
Kim Seongchan had watched the mana connection between Lee Naye and Silnyang grow thicker, then become thinner again when Silnyang seemed to realize that it had gone too far.
“It looks like you’re having trouble. Want me to help?”
Kosdal, who had been watching from the village chief’s house, had approached them before anyone noticed.
The moment Kosdal realized Lee Naye was having trouble, he had happily rushed over.
“You’ll help us just like that?”
“Of course, on the condition that you don’t go to the Terk Kingdom. I’m protecting Tolkhan Village, so wouldn’t it be better to bring another knight with you instead?”
“Thank you very much, Sir Kosdal!”
Berler immediately grabbed Kosdal’s hand.
At some point, the two seemed to have become quite close.
Both of them stared at Kim Seongchan as if asking for his permission.
Kim Seongchan shook his head and focused on Lee Naye again.
Just because she could not use a butchering knife did not mean there was no other way.
Lee Naye was a Shield Hero, after all!
“Then could you do it with your shield?”
“With my shield?”
“There’s a reason people use butchering knives. A shield? Come on, wouldn’t it be better to simply accept my kindness?”
“Hero Kim Seongchan, I also hope you’ll accept Sir Kosdal’s kindness.”
Since Kosdal had offered to protect the village, Berler eagerly agreed with him in an attempt to stay on his good side.
Kim Seongchan ignored them.
“You have the skill you used to defeat the Wild Pig, right?”
“Do you mean Wind Shield Blade?”
“How much can you control it? You should at least be able to cut open the stomach, right?”
“Give me a moment.”
Lee Naye walked toward a Wild Pig and raised her shield.
Wind rippled around the sharp end of the shield before slicing into the Wild Pig’s belly.
Shweee!
The Wild Pig’s body split into two.
It had been cleanly cut in half from its head all the way to its tail.
“Shouldn’t you avoid doing it like that? I’ll help you instead.”
“What should I do? I’m not very good at controlling my strength.”
“This is enough.”
Kim Seongchan stepped forward.
Using the butchering knife, he separated the hide from the meat.
Cutting through the thick hide normally took a long time.
However, since the body had already been cleanly split in half, he could simply insert the butchering knife between the hide and flesh and separate them.
[You have learned the Lower Butchering (C) skill!]
After learning Lower Butchering, his speed immediately increased.
Kim Seongchan began butchering the Wild Pig at a rapid pace.
The people nearby watched Kim Seongchan work with great interest.
“Come over here and watch carefully. Learn how to do this. You’ll need it from now on.”
Wild Pig hide could be used to make armor.
The villagers had not even considered eating the monsters, but they quickly realized that their hides could at least be used as armor.
Their eyes changed.
Uuugh!
Hup!
Sounds of people straining themselves could be heard from all around.
Among those who had watched Kim Seongchan butcher the Wild Pig, he mainly taught the people who had sharp eyes and talent for butchering.
After correcting their posture a few times, some of them began acquiring the Lower Butchering skill.
Kosdal made a dissatisfied expression before returning to the village chief’s house.
He really doesn’t want to go to the Terk Kingdom.
Kim Seongchan knew why Kosdal did not want to go, but he pretended not to know and ignored it.
No one paid much attention to Kosdal returning to the village chief’s house.
Kim Seongchan looked at the skinned Wild Pig.
The meat of a Wild Pig was dark in color, so most people needed to look carefully to distinguish its different parts.
Kim Seongchan could easily tell them apart with a glance, so his hands moved without hesitation.
The butchering knife passed through the Wild Pig’s flesh.
The front leg meat and hind leg meat were separated, and various other sections came apart one after another as Kim Seongchan’s hands moved.
Kim Seongchan looked to the side.
Everyone had started with skinning the Wild Pigs, and now they were following Kim Seongchan’s example as they processed the meat.
There were quite a few people with talent for butchering.
“Hero Kim Seongchan, there’s something bulging out here. Is that okay?”
“Leave it alone. That’s a poison sac.”
“Wild Pigs are poisonous?”
Lee Naye had nothing left to do after cutting open the Wild Pigs with Wind Shield Blade, so she had been following closely behind Kim Seongchan.
Kim Seongchan calmly examined the poison sac attached to the Wild Pig’s flesh.
“Wild Pigs are weak monsters, so the poison isn’t deadly. If you eat it, your skin will itch and your throat will sting, but you won’t die. However, if you leave the poison sac inside, the meat will quickly start spoiling from the area around it. That’s why you need to remove it. Otherwise, you’ll have to throw away all the meat.”
“I see. But we’ve already processed quite a lot of Wild Pigs, haven’t we? Isn’t this the first poison sac we’ve found?”
They had been skinning and processing the Wild Pig meat.
About half of the large number of Wild Pigs had already been processed.
Since this was the first poison sac they had found, Lee Naye’s curiosity was understandable.
“The stronger the monster is, the higher the chance that it will have a poison sac. Weak monsters rarely have them.”
Even monsters that did not normally use poison could create poison sacs after dying.
It could be considered their final struggle, a way of preventing the enemy that killed them from eating their bodies.
Though all you have to do is process it properly.
Kim Seongchan stabbed the butchering knife into the flesh a short distance away from the poison sac.
Slash!
He cut through the flesh without hesitation, then suddenly stopped.
It’s connected deeper than I thought.
He changed the direction of the butchering knife and pulled it out.
“Weren’t you going to cut it out in one go?”
“The poison sac has spread farther than I expected. That’s unusual.”
Just as Lee Naye had said, Kim Seongchan had intended to remove it in one cut.
However, doing that now would ruin the meat he had already processed.
If the poison sac was not completely removed, more precisely, if every last root of the poison sac was not pulled out, all their hard work would become meaningless.
Because the meat would taste terrible!
Slash! Slash!
Kim Seongchan abandoned his plan to cut it out in one stroke.
Instead, he made several cuts while carefully removing the poison sac.
“That’s harsh. It’s leaving almost nothing behind.”
“Wow. It reached almost all the way to the end.”
The poison had spread from the Wild Pig’s rear almost all the way to the bottom of its foot.
Part of the rear and most of the hind leg meat could no longer be used.
Still, whenever something was lost, something else could be gained.
[You have learned the Lower Poison Processing (C) skill!]
Kyarrng!
Kim Seongchan had summoned If and Ella before starting to process the Wild Pigs.
The moment he finished removing the poison sac, If let out a loud cry.
Kim Seongchan had told If to let him know when the water started boiling.
“I removed the poison sac, so we can do it now, right?”
“Are you really planning to eat this?”
“Why? You don’t trust me?”
“No. I trust you.”
“You don’t look like you trust me.”
Kim Seongchan handed the rest of the Wild Pig processing over to Taylor.
Taylor shook his head, but the doubtful expression on his face did not disappear.
If this stuff could be eaten, they would’ve eaten it a long time ago.
The expressions of the other villagers were not much different from Taylor’s.
Their doubts were written plainly on their faces.
People accept things once they see the truth for themselves. In that case, I’ll make it the truth.
Bubble, bubble.
It was enormous.
The low-grade monster cauldron was so overwhelmingly large that five Wild Pigs could fit inside it.
The water was already boiling.
It was completely different from an ordinary cauldron.
There were stairs installed beside it so that people could climb up and put ingredients inside.
Berler stared at the seasoned Wild Pig meat with an expression that seemed to ask whether this was really going to work.
Kim Seongchan looked at Berler and asked,
“Are you finished seasoning it?”
“I seasoned it with low-grade salt and pepper as you told me, but is it really fine to put it in like this?”
“Haven’t you cooked before?”
“Of course I have. But I know monster cooking is difficult, so I thought even getting the seasoning right would be difficult.”
“That only applies to stronger monsters. Wild Pigs aren’t that difficult. Low-grade salt and pepper are enough to season them properly.”
Kim Seongchan checked the salt and pepper sprinkled over the processed Wild Pig meat.
The amount was appropriate.
“That’s enough. Put it in.”
“Just like this?”
Berler looked at him suspiciously.
The meat had already been cut into easy-to-eat pieces and seasoned properly, yet he remained doubtful.
“What, did you think we needed to rub some low-grade herb leaves on it too?”
“Not that. What about rubbing it with low-grade garlic?”
“That would taste good. Add it.”
Berler’s face brightened when Kim Seongchan said it would taste good, but it immediately stiffened when he told him to add it.
Kim Seongchan had no intention of changing his mind.
After recovering from his surprise, Berler ordered the villagers to season the Wild Pig meat with low-grade salt, pepper, and garlic.
They then climbed the stairs and began putting the meat into the violently boiling water.
Kyar.
As the Wild Pig meat entered the cauldron, some of the water splashed outside.
If trembled nervously while staring at the spilled water, then suddenly made eye contact with Kim Seongchan.
If’s eyes spun around.
Memories of all the times it had been scolded in the past rushed through its mind.
Fwoooosh!
A large amount of Kim Seongchan’s mana suddenly drained away.
The flames on If’s back, which had been controlling the fire perfectly until now, suddenly surged in intensity.
“Uwaaagh!”
Startled by If’s sudden burst of firepower, Berler fell backward.
However, Kosdal reacted quickly and caught Berler as he fell from the stairs.
