Altaïr looked at the motionless Duramboros, then back at Isis. "Are you serious?"
"I-If it's really inappropriate, then never mind." Isis twisted her fingers together, looking somewhat embarrassed.
The corner of Altaïr's mouth twitched. To put it another way, as long as it wasn't "completely inappropriate," even if it was "slightly inappropriate," she really wanted to try it, didn't she?
He looked toward Nymera. "Does Miss Nymera agree to give it a try?"
The three of them had hunted this Duramboros together; even if only out of politeness, he had to ask for her opinion.
Nymera's expression was equally stiff. "I... I have no objection, but I... I do not often consume meat."
The subtext was clear: you guys go ahead and taste it, I'll just watch.
"Alright." Altaïr rubbed his face and walked over to the side of the poor Duramboros. Since they were actually going to eat it, he had to pick the right part.
"I recall hearing that the Duramboros hump is a high-grade ingredient, meow," the well-traveled Clawdia spoke up.
"I see." Altaïr nodded, circling to the back of the Duramboros.
Was it the same logic as camel humps being a delicacy? But was there even anything left of this guy's hump?
The humps, which originally looked like two small mountains, had long since been blasted and burned away for the most part. What remained was charred black by the intense flames, though truth be told, that smell of scorched meat was actually quite fragrant.
"Underneath the charred carbon layer, I should be able to carve out at least a little fat, right?" Altaïr muttered to himself.
A Duramboros's hump is a backup energy source used to support its high-intensity movement; other parts of its body also have subcutaneous fat used for nutrient storage and maintaining bodily functions.
Thus, theoretically speaking, even if it lost all the fat within its humps, the Duramboros wouldn't necessarily be weakened to the point of death.
Still... he felt a bit like a monster himself for doing this.
Suddenly, he remembered something and turned to ask: "Sajji, Miss Nymera, are the materials you used to make the Incendiary Rounds and Flaming Ammo poisonous?"
Nymera and Sajji exchanged a glance.
"The primary material for Flaming Ammo is the fire herb; while not suitable for consumption, it is not exactly poisonous."
"It's about the same for the Incendiary Rounds I use, meow. The main incendiary agent is kerosene, meow. It seems a bit toxic, meow, but it should be fine after being burned off by the big fire, meow."
"Good." Altaïr nodded again.
This was the first time he had approached cooking with such a cautious mindset; he missed the simple days of just throwing semi-finished thick-cut bacon into a frying pan and calling it a day.
He used his Carving Knife to pry open and cut away the charred layer, revealing the dark red muscle beneath.
During the process, he accidentally severed a blood vessel nearly as thick as a radish. Blood sprayed out violently, startling him into quickly pinching the vessel shut and sprinkling a handful of Lifepowder over it.
He only wanted to take some hump meat to satisfy Isis's craving; he still had to do his best to keep the Duramboros alive.
With great effort, he managed to scrape a few scraps of remaining fat from the base of the hump. He carefully shaved off the parts scorched by fire or contaminated by the incendiary agent, then rinsed them thoroughly in the stream for a while. Finally, he ended up with several palm-sized chunks of golden-yellow fat.
Altaïr weighed the fat in his hand. He felt that the texture of this stuff was different from the fat of ordinary animals; it didn't have that greasy, limp feel. After being rinsed in the cool stream, it seemed firmer and more brittle.
Isis took the opportunity to scrub the cookware and caught several fish while she was at it.
She also knew that the fat within the Duramboros's hump had long been nearly exhausted. A taste of it would suffice; eating her fill was merely a pipe dream.
After sprinkling a few more handfuls of Lifepowder onto the wounds on the Duramboros's back, the group returned to the campfire.
Altaïr placed the frying pan on a simple stand and boiled off the residual moisture. Once the pan was hot, he added a small pat of butter to lightly grease it.
"I've never cooked this stuff before, so I can't guarantee the taste," Altaïr said, lowering Isis's expectations first.
Isis nodded rapidly. "Mm-hmm!"
She just wanted a taste. The aroma that had drifted into her nostrils after that initial Wyvern's Fire, the one that had woken the Duramboros at the very start of the battle, had left a deep impression on her.
With limited ingredients and no room for error, Altaïr cut a small piece from the few remaining chunks of fat and placed it on the pan to sear slowly.
Perhaps it was due to the need for rapid energy conversion during combat? The oil rendered from the Duramboros's hump fat incredibly fast, almost like squeezing a soaked sponge; the grease melted and flowed out instantly.
The air filled with a rich, fatty aroma.
Altaïr quickly flipped the small piece of fat. In less than half a minute, the piece had shrunk by nearly two-thirds, turning into a golden-yellow crackling.
Any more frying and it would burn. Altaïr forked the small piece out and lightly seasoned it with salt.
Isis stared blankly at the meat. Altaïr had intended to try it himself first to make sure there were no issues, but he could only end up stuffing the meat into Isis's mouth.
"Mmm-phm, mmm-phm!"
"How is it?"
"Delicious! So fragrant!" Isis gave him a thumbs-up.
Altaïr felt helpless. "Be more specific. Is it overcooked? Was the heat too high? Does it need to be fried longer, or what?"
Isis held her head and thought hard. "Maybe fry it for less time? This way, all the oil gets pushed out and there's barely anything left."
"Understood."
Altaïr moved the pan closer to the fire. Once the oil temperature in the pan rose, he cut another small piece of meat and tossed it in.
He flipped it after a few seconds and took it out a few seconds after that to avoid losing too much fat. This method was somewhat similar to how he used to sear Piscine Liver.
Hump fat and Piscine Liver were both ingredients with an extremely high fat percentage that rendered oil easily, so he drew on that experience.
Once it was out of the pan, that small piece naturally found its way into Isis's mouth.
"Ohh! Even better!" Isis's eyes lit up.
"Does it feel like Piscine Liver?"
"No, no! It's completely different. This isn't the melt-in-your-mouth kind; it's crunchy when you chew it! It feels like it only melts after you swallow!"
Altaïr now had a better idea of what to do.
This hump meat probably wasn't suited for cooking in large pieces, or at least not for searing in large chunks in a frying pan. Therefore, he sliced all the remaining fat into small pieces, frying a little at a time, seasoning them, giving them a quick blow to cool them down, and then immediately popping them into their mouths.
"It really is crunchy," Altaïr remarked, savoring the flavor. "It's got that texture of neck meat, but it's not exactly elastic. It's more like... squid? No, that's not quite right either."
"Bottom line: it's delicious!" Isis summarized.
Nymera tried a small piece as well and gave it an equally high rating.
After eating a few pieces of fried meat seasoned with salt and pepper, Altaïr shook his head with a hint of regret. "It's a pity we didn't bring any icing. I feel like it would have a completely different profile if eaten sweet. Even a little Honey would have been nice."
"I have brought icing," Nymera said, handing over a small pouch.
"..."
Rather than pleasantly surprised, Altaïr felt mostly speechless. He took the small pouch from Nymera's hand. "Why on earth do you carry something like this on you?"
"For dipping Bunny Dango."
"I should have known..." Altaïr sprinkled a bit of icing onto a freshly cooked piece of meat.
"Whoa! This is also super tasty!!"
Isis wasn't one for using precise or complex vocabulary to describe exactly why food was good, but one could generally judge her level of enjoyment by the sheer volume of her voice.
Altaïr recorded this method of preparation in the recipe book.
There wasn't much meat to begin with, and shared between the three humans and two cats, it was quickly gone.
Isis still felt a lingering desire for more. She cast a regretful glance at the poor Duramboros, but she didn't think about going back for more. She was a glutton, but she wasn't undisciplined.
With plenty of oil still left in the frying pan, Altaïr began using the rendered fat to fry the fish.
The aroma of the Duramboros hump oil was extraordinary; even frying the fish in the simplest manner made the flavor several notches better.
Once the fish was finished, Isis ran off and gathered a few mushrooms, using them to soak up every last drop of oil in the pan before finally feeling somewhat satisfied.
It was clear she had taken quite a liking to the fragrance of the hump oil.
If only this oil had come from something other than a headache-inducing Monster like the Duramboros, a Yian Kut-Ku for instance, Altaïr would have considered hunting it a few more times.
But for a Duramboros... best to forget it.
Even Isis herself had no interest in hunting another one.
Isis cast another regretful look toward the Duramboros, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, about that Subquest..."
"Forget about carving the Tail Hammer and delivering it. We'll just have to discuss it with the Professor and see if he'll allow the workshop owner and his team to come out and observe the Tail Hammer closely," Altaïr interjected.
"That's not what I meant," Isis said, shaking her head. "The workshop owner uncle can add a Subquest demanding the Tail Hammer be brought back intact.
So, can I spend my own money to post a request? I'd commission other Hunters to bring back the hump when they hunt a Duramboros.
Additional condition: they can't use Fire Element weapons or Flaming Ammo to break the hump; they have to bring the hump back completely whole!"
"Are you a demon?" Nymera looked at her, horrified.
Altaïr couldn't stop himself from facepalming. "No Hunter would be willing to accept such a ridiculous commission. The hump is a Duramboros's only weakness. Not attacking the hump means going toe-to-toe with it head-on.
The actual difficulty of the quest would jump straight to 5★ or even 6★. Isn't asking a high-rank Hunter to help you get ingredients a bit much?"
"I guess so," Isis said, her mood visibly dropping.
Clawdia glanced at her but said nothing.
She wanted to help Isis get a couple of humps, but she didn't have the strength. Even if she assembled a Meownster Hunters team, expecting to bring back an intact hump was pure fantasy.
However, perhaps there was another way to think about this, meow?
As long as she sent a letter to Isis's parents, wouldn't the meat just deliver itself to the door, meow?
(Translated by yourtl.app)