207: Snacks

Entering the butchery room where they were being held, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. I was finally going to finish the bacon. I was just kneeling down in front of one of the drake bellies, wondering just how much time I needed to give it, when Milo spoke behind me.

“Might be best to do the titan boar first, Trev. Lily could always get another one of those, probably not the drake, though.”

With a deep breath, I knelt down before the stone container, feeling the sweat in my palms as I tried to summon the nerve to start.

“One month, right?” I asked.

“I think that’s a good place to start. We can always check it and reseal it if required,” Milo said.

Sylverith and Crisplet just stood back and watched, Crisplet the entire time pushing across support and happiness.

I started to carve, all my focus on keeping my hand steady, pushing across the month journey as I moved the knife effortlessly through the stone.

There was no noise around me as I tuned everything out.

Minutes passed until I was finally done, the rune nearly perfectly carved into the stone lid. There was a slight spot where I felt I might have cut too deep, and I was praying to the goddess that it wouldn’t be enough of a flaw to cause it to fail.

But there was only one way to find out, and I didn’t want to stall any longer.

“Here goes nothing.” I reached out, pushing my mana into the rune.

The wait felt like an eternity as the rune glowed blue and seemed to linger for far too long. Then it faded. No cracks, no explosions.

I turned back to look at Sylverith and Milo, not allowing a smile to overtake my face until I knew it had worked, but that bubble of excitement in my chest was growing.

“Ready to see it?” Milo asked.

Just nodding, not speaking, fearing my excitement would burst, Milo stepped forward as the lid of the stone container started to disintegrate away.

It looked much smaller than previously. There was still salt on top, but I reached down, pressing my hand on it, feeling it was much firmer than before too, dry to the touch. The smell was subtle, but there was an earthy hint to it, and importantly, there was no smell of rot.

“Could we rinse it off?” I asked Milo.

I also noticed when I turned around that Lily was now sitting there watching too. Of course she was.

Milo nodded, stepping forward as he shifted the stone container, with larger holes appearing in the bottom, as he conjured water that gently rinsed off the salt. The meat was slightly brown, but the fat had gone pure white.

Once all the salt was rinsed off, I didn’t even need to ask. Crisplet came over to dry it, leaving me with a giant slab of titan boar bacon.

“I would suggest you cut this up into much smaller pieces before you store it; that way you’re not pulling out a piece of belly that is the size of a small wagon every time,” Milo said.

This was something I should have done before I cured it, truthfully, but pulling out my sharp knife, I followed the instructions, cutting the belly down into eight squares. I saw the meat had a deep red colour, and it was firm throughout.

“Something you can do is smoke some of it now. It will give it a nice smoky taste as well as make it last longer,” Milo offered.

Thinking about it, this would be good just to trigger second simmer, but the look Lily was giving Milo right now heavily implied she was not willing to wait.

Seeing Milo shiver but not turn around, I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“I won’t smoke it all, Lily. I’ll cook some now,” I said, as her eyes came back to me.

Would you like to store [Uncommon] Titan Boar Bacon x8 for 5 mana? Yes/No

Selecting yes, I moved on to the drake’s belly next. This was split into two separate containers. Having succeeded on the first didn’t make this any less nerve-wracking, but I got to work, carving the rune into the stone, also going with a month.

Pushing the mana in, I waited, holding my breath as the glowing rune seemed to linger for an eternity before it eventually faded.

“Yes!” I cried out as the lid faded away.

Following the same process, Milo helped me rinse it off while Crisplet dried it for me. The colour difference was very apparent. Where the boar looked almost brown, the drake was a deep red. It had a much earthier smell to it as well, but following what I did before, I cut this belly into four squares, noticing that the deep red meat colour went all the way through, and this looked to have a lot more fat.

Finally, I moved on to the last one, a lot more confident now, and started to carve, pushing my mana into the stone, as a loud crack rang out.

“Shit!” I yelled, falling back.

The container holding the last piece cracked in half as liquid from the belly leaked onto the floor, giving it a very salty meat smell.

Panic took over, but Milo stepped in, quickly resealing it with new stone, also filling in the rune I had carved, as Crisplet burnt away the liquid on the floor.

“Stay focused, Trev. You got lucky that one only cracked. If it explodes, you’ll be picking stone shards out of it,” Milo instructed.

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I had become careless after my success. This time, I took it extra slow and stayed as consistent as possible as I moved, eventually finishing this rune much slower than the last two, rattled by my failure.

Reaching out, I pushed my mana into it, closing my eyes and praying to the goddess I didn’t mess it up.

When I opened my eyes, nothing had changed. No cracks, no explosions.

Milo didn’t wait for me to ask, removing the top layer of stone, exposing a now much firmer and far drier piece of drake. This was a slightly smaller piece than the last, and the red was slightly deeper in colour.

Once it was cleaned off, I took my knife, deciding to just cut this one in half. I couldn’t help but feel the drake, and in particular this piece, looked to be mostly fat, but the smell coming off it was incredibly rich.

“Do you think anyone has made drake bacon before?” I asked.

Milo let out a laugh. “It’s certainly possible, but it’s not something I’ve ever seen.”

Would you like to store [Rare] Drakon x8 for 5 mana? Yes/No

I did a double take at the name that appeared before laughing.

“What is it?” Milo asked.