novelraw Chapter 15 – Kobold Polikri
Chapter 15 – Kobold Polikri
In contemporary times, as more and more women are unwilling to cook, the main force learning to cook has gradually become men.
In his previous life, Su Nian was average in looks, height, and education. Perhaps his only advantage was his skill in gaming and the culinary skills he learned from his grandmother.
Unfortunately, his grandmother passed away early, leaving him and his grandfather to depend on each other.
As for his parents, those two divorced individuals didn't bring any warmth of family to Su Nian; the only thing they did was give birth to him.
After that, they went their separate ways, formed new families, and had no further connection.
Returning to the present, the rabbit meat was already prepared. Since he didn't plan to keep this Dragon Nest, Su Nian didn't bother to clean the bloodstains on the ground.
After piling up the collected dry branches, Su Nian grabbed the living Blazing Rabbit cub, pinched its ears, and aimed its mouth at the pile of branches. Then, with a sharp dragon claw, he poked its rear.
The Blazing Rabbit let out a sharp "squeak," instinctively opened its mouth, and spat out a Fireball Spell, igniting the dry branches in front of it.
Su Nian nodded in satisfaction, tossing the "lighter" aside. The Blazing Rabbit, firmly subdued by Dragon's Might, could do nothing but lie limp on the ground.
The essence of roasting rabbit meat lies mainly in the control of heat, and the seasoning must be just right. This wasn't a problem; the System Shop didn't have anything extraordinary, but it had all the daily necessities at very cheap prices.
Cumin was one System Point per bag, about half a pound. Salt and sugar were roughly the same price, while vinegar and soy sauce were a bit more expensive.
Even though he had crossed into another world and become a Black Dragon, he wouldn't wrong himself. Of course, the first roasted rabbit was for Anna.
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Su Nian began to skillfully rotate the grill, occasionally using his sharp dragon claws to make cuts in the rabbit meat to allow the spices to penetrate better.
Before long, the plump and tender rabbit meat sizzled and oozed oil under the fierce flames, with the oil dripping into the fire and making a "sizzle" sound.
The enticing aroma of meat began to fill the Dragon Nest, even causing Anna, who rarely ate meat, to twitch her cute little nose, her eyes almost sparkling with admiration.
[Mr. Dragon is amazing~]
[The roasted rabbit smells so good, it must be delicious!]
Hearing Anna's thoughts, Su Nian grinned, rotating the grill in his dragon claws even faster. In no time, a perfectly roasted rabbit, rich in color, aroma, and flavor, was ready.
He took a deep breath and then exhaled forcefully through his nostrils, the strong airflow rapidly cooling the roasted rabbit to a temperature suitable for eating.
And it didn't even get a drop of Dragon Saliva on it.
But that wasn't all. He continued to extend his "cat paw," flicking out sharp claws, and in a few swift moves, he sliced the rabbit meat and placed it on a lotus leaf he had prepared in advance.
The remaining rabbit bones were tossed aside, and then, under Anna's incredulous gaze, he handed the rabbit meat to her.
"Wow! Is this... for Anna?"
Anna's big, round eyes sparkled with a unique light, a warm feeling surged in her heart, and the sense of being well cared for made it almost impossible for her to contain her emotions. Her eyes reddened, and tears glistened at the corners, a tingling, sweet feeling far sweeter than the milk candy she had yesterday.
She had thought the Black Dragon cooled the meat and sliced it off as a matter of course, not realizing it was all prepared for her.
This was something Anna could hardly imagine. Although her parents were good to her in the Elven Forest, it was nowhere near as attentive as the Black Dragon.
Of course, she didn't know that Su Nian came from Earth, where such courting tactics were barely passable, and there were even more extreme ones, like picking the seeds off strawberries with a toothpick.
Such people were uniformly called simps.
But Su Nian didn't consider himself a simp. Giving without being appreciated was simping, but Anna was different. She remembered every kindness he showed her, just like her increasing Affection.
[Anna Hathaway Affection +3, current Affection 35 (Friendly)]
To be moved by such a small gesture, she was too easy to please.
Su Nian couldn't help but chuckle inwardly, but it also indicated that Anna's previous life wasn't so good. After Anna took the lotus leaf, Su Nian immediately started roasting the second portion of rabbit meat.
Anna looked at the golden, sizzling rabbit meat in the lotus leaf, feeling her appetite stir. It had been a long time since she had eaten meat, let alone something so carefully prepared.
Rubbing her little hands together, Anna gently picked up a large piece of rabbit meat, but instead of putting it into her mouth, her first thought was for the busy Black Dragon.
"Mr. Dragon, ah— you eat first~"
Anna struggled to stretch out her hand, but her little hand was too short to reach the Black Dragon's head.
Hearing the elf girl's slightly childish call from his back, Su Nian thought to himself that his care for her hadn't been in vain. Without hesitation, he turned his head and took the rabbit meat from Anna's hand, his dragon tongue not forgetting to lick the oil off her fingers, making her blush and giggle.
But this warm scene wasn't just witnessed by Anna and Su Nian; there was someone else, or rather, a dog who saw it too.
Trying its best, it couldn't escape its ears, oh my.
...
Polikri was the chieftain of a small kobold clan, leading dozens of ordinary kobolds living in a cave on the outskirts of Silvermoon Forest.
As burrowing, reptilian humanoids, kobolds always believed they had dragon blood running through their veins. One of their lifelong pursuits was to find a dragon and join its ranks as a follower.
In fact, this was somewhat true; there was indeed a tiny trace of Dragon Vein in their bloodline.
How tiny was this trace? Even if all the ordinary kobolds in the world were combined, they wouldn't possess even a thousandth of a dragon's bloodline, yet they still called themselves dragon-blooded creatures.
Kobolds were said to be dog-like, but they actually looked quite different from dogs. Their heads resembled dragons more than dogs, with tails and a few scales covering their bodies, mostly reddish-brown or black-brown.
The most peculiar thing was that they were oviparous.
Kobolds matured rapidly after birth, with long lifespans theoretically allowing them to live over a century.
However, most kobolds didn't live past ten years because they were too weak, unable to even compete with the beasts of the forest.
This was evident from Polikri, who became chieftain at only level seven, showing how weak the other kobolds were.
Their frail bodies forced them to band together, relying on numbers to overcome their enemies, but the outcome often resulted in heavy losses for the kobolds.
Today, Polikri had led its brothers out to forage. The heavy rain at night brought the scent of blood, indicating that a creature had died in the forest.
They didn't hope to hunt living magical creatures, only to find some relatively fresh leftovers.
But as they wandered, Polikri and its kobold followers were captivated by an enticing aroma of meat, losing their sense of direction. Who knew how long it had been since they last tasted meat?
Polikri barked "woof woof woof" to its followers, calling the other kobolds. It planned to follow the scent and see what kind of food could be so tempting.
Soon after, they arrived near a cliff, hiding behind a large tree. Polikri witnessed a scene that made its heart surge with excitement:
At the mouth of a cave under the cliff, a dragon was coiled, fiddling with a strangely shaped grill, roasting something. The enticing aroma of meat wafted from there.
But the meat was no longer important.
Polikri was moved to tears, its dog eyes fixated only on that perfect and noble creature:
A dragon!
Kobold
Just a note, according to D&D lore, kobolds are named for their dog-like barking sounds. In reality, kobolds resemble dragon or lizard heads, so I didn't pick the wrong image. This is from the fifth edition D&D Monster Manual.