Two-Person Galactic Journey: Earth Was Destroyed While Imprisoned in Space Prison

Chapter 197

Chapter 197

He broke off a nearby branch, dried it out, and lit it. Then he sniffed the rising smoke and had Emotion memorize the shape of the wood and the characteristics of the smoke.

It's really convenient not having to remember everything myself, he thought as he continued gathering materials. Emotion, who didn't want to compromise on flavor, was unusually cooperative.

Adie Ze wasn't much help as a source of information, so in the meantime, he had the staff who had observed the Smallfolk and Ramadite back in the day reach out. Even fragmented information would be helpful—otherwise, Kait and the others might have to pioneer Ramadite's ecosystem themselves.

After two full days and nights of exploration, Kait and Emotion were on their way back to the Queen Bee, carrying several types of lumber and plants that looked promising as spices.

"Captain. Isn't it about time we start the smoking process?"

"No need to rush, Emotion."

The two had been living a wild life on meat and nuts, but Emotion's desire for meat was insatiable. They had already finished off the meat that wasn't processed for smoking. It was only natural—there was just enough left to consume before it spoiled.

That said, Kait was starting to get a little tired of an all-meat diet. Ah, he really wanted rice or bread.

In reality, no grain-like plants had been found. It seemed local procurement would be difficult.

Worst case, he'd teleport to an Earthling settlement and just buy some bread. Entertaining this rather blunt thought, Kait pulled out a bag of meat from the Queen Bee.

"Hmm... That color doesn't exactly whet the appetite."

Blue drip. Kait carefully took out just the meat without touching the liquid, then rinsed it with clean water he had prepared. The used water, along with the remaining liquid in the bag, was sent to the purification system inside the Queen Bee. While he was at it, he also brought out a poly tank filled with purified water.

He took out a suitable amount of clean water and soaked the washed meat in it. The sight of meat and water floating in midair made it look like a zero-gravity zone.

"Okay. Extracting just the salt."

Ideally, he'd like to soak it for half a day and let the salt leach out naturally, but if he waited too long, Emotion might start a riot. So from here, he'd use psychic power to speed things up.

Even though it was a shortcut, he wasn't interfering with time. He was simply extracting the salt that had seeped into the meat. Using the water surrounding the meat as a medium, he coaxed out the salt to a moderate degree.

He wiped off the water and sliced a small bit off the slightly softened edge of the meat. He placed it on a lightly heated Worker Bee. With a sizzle, the meat was heated and moisture evaporated. Once it was cooked through, he popped half into his mouth. Yep, it had become nicely mild in flavor.

"That's not fair, Captain!"

"Alright, alright. Then how about you taste this one?"

"......Isn't it a bit bland? That's a failure, Captain."

For someone who just complained about unfairness, that was a pretty harsh comment. Well, it was still mid-process, so such feedback was expected. Ignoring Emotion's opinion, he moved on to drying the meat.

This time, he separated the moisture. He was a bit worried it might affect the flavor, but it was better than leaving Emotion unchecked.

For now, if he could just speed up the first few pieces, Emotion probably wouldn't pester him too much. He wanted to take his time with the rest and follow the proper procedure.

"Alright, it's dry enough. Now then..."

He assembled several Worker Bees into a box shape, creating an improvised smoker.

He floated the meat inside the smoker and lit firewood directly below. He placed a metal plate in between and added kindling to produce smoke without direct contact with the flames.

After waiting a bit, smoke began to rise slowly.

"Whoa, smoke is coming out!"

"Good. Now I just need to adjust it so the smoke hits the meat."

Since it wasn't perfectly sealed, smoke leaked out little by little through the gaps between the Worker Bees. It looked a bit like a miniature chimney.

"Now we just wait for it to finish."

"Understood. Five minutes? Ten? Leave the timing to me!"

"Two to three hours, I'd say."

"What the......wait, what?!"

Emotion's face was plastered with despair, but Kait wasn't backing down on this.

Ideally, he'd like to let it rest for another day after smoking.

"C-could we make it just one hour?"

"Nope."

***

While waiting for the smoked meat to finish, Kait began prepping the rest of the meat using the proper smoking procedure.

He ignored Emotion, who was sitting in a crouch and counting the time.

As he washed the meat and soaked it in clean water, he turned his attention to the communication with the Central Star Cluster. Apparently, Adie Ze had gathered some fellow countrymen.

'M-Mr. Kait, Third-Rank Citizen Enec Lagif! It's an honor to speak with you! I'm Rutimi De, from the same homeland as Adie Ze!'

"Yes, nice to meet you, Rutimi De. I look forward to working with you."

'Adie Ze is so mean! He said he had work with Third-Rank Citizen Kait and dumped a bunch of tasks on us! And he won't even tell us what the job is about! Oh, I'm Dolti Mu, by the way!'

"Yes, yes, Mr. Dolti Mu. Oh, would you like some goat-bear meat?"

A chorus of eager voices responded, enough to count as a crowd.

Apparently, Adie Ze hadn't informed his colleagues or fellow countrymen about this situation. When it came out that he had been secretly researching Ramadite's ecosystem, those with spare time gathered together.

Everyone spoke at once, making it hard to tell who was who or to follow the conversation. Kait gave up on matching names to voices and instead focused on sorting out the information.

"So, um. This thing I call the goat-bear—is it the apex predator around here?"

'Yes! It eats the 'large evil beasts' that break the Guardian Trees, so we used to call it the 'Mighty King'!'

"I see. By 'large evil beasts,' do you mean the ones that were eating the winged snakes?"

'Y-yes, that's right.'

'Um, in the recorded footage... Yes! This one! But the 'small evil beasts' with wings fly all the way to our settlements and attack, so having none of them around would also be a problem.'

"Hmm. Nature's food chain at work."

Winged snakes rarely came as far as the Smallfolk's settlements and usually hunted small animals on the ground. When those animals became scarce, they moved to new hunting grounds and happened to attack the Smallfolk along the way.

As expected, the elders who had lived since that time were full of knowledge. Adie Ze, having nothing to contribute, shrank into a corner. His voice had barely been heard for a while now.

"Of course, there are different beasts in other regions, right?"

'Yes. For animals to the north, Rutimi De knows a lot. As for other directions... none of us here are very knowledgeable.'

"I see. In that case, once things settle down, I'll head north. I'll be counting on you, Rutimi De."

'G-gladly!'

The voices of the Smallfolk sounded youthful regardless of age. Those who knew about Ramadite's ecosystem must have been from the generation that joined the Federation—in other words, the oldest among them.

Perhaps Adie Ze was quiet because the clan elders were present. Actually, if he had been scolded by them, that might be pretty serious.

Kait decided to serve them some of the smoked meat to smooth things over. He didn't know why Adie Ze had kept things from his comrades, but it probably wasn't for selfish gain. Probably.

"C-Captain! The smoke! The smoke's gone!"

He really wanted to smoke it a bit longer. But with Emotion pressuring him and Adie Ze's position worsening, Kait gave up and decided to take the smoked meat out.

***

He sliced the smoked meat and placed it on a heated metal plate. A distinct aroma, different from regular grilled meat, began to spread.

He tossed a piece into Emotion's mouth first. She began chewing silently. That should keep her calm for a while. Then he sent twenty-five cube-cut pieces to Adie Ze all at once.

Cheers erupted.

Kait brought a slice he had set aside for himself to his mouth. A firm bite and rich flavor spread through him. There wasn't even a hint of gaminess.

Yep, delicious.