"Kaelen! Kaelen! We're here to freeload off you!"
It was Cael's voice.
Kaelen set down the half-peeled purple yam, wiped his hands on an animal-skin cloth, and went to the door to welcome them. Coming out to the entrance, he saw Cael's group still a distance away from the cave. This kid, about to get a mate and still acting so hastily, wasn't he afraid Zale would complain he wasn't gentle enough?
He looked at the approaching group. Besides the two couples - Cael and Zale, Elian and Silas - there was also Sane, the Black Snake tribe beastman named Hayman, the Bear tribe beastman Valerius, and the most fierce sub-beast in the tribe - Sorin.
Great, so they were dragging each other to his house to throw a party.
Kaelen looked at his small cave. Sitting and hanging out was fine, but sitting down to eat would be a bit too cramped. Perhaps they should have an outdoor BBQ?
This group hadn't come empty-handed; everyone was carrying a bunch of things, and Sorin was even carrying a small wild boar on his shoulder. Kaelen had to look at this sub-beast in a new light.
"Oh Kaelen, your leg is healed? That fast?"
Kaelen smiled brightly and waved his hands, saying: [Yeah, the High Priest's medicine is too good. Everyone, come inside.]
Sane quickly stepped inside first. He hadn't forgotten that he had tossed and turned here all night yesterday; the cave was definitely filled with his scent. Sure enough, the beastmen who entered after him didn't notice anything unusual. Zale sniffed the air and asked:
"Was the Tribe Leader just here?"
Kaelen nodded: [Mm, he just left.]
As he spoke, Kaelen shifted his feet, standing to block the area near the bedroom, ensuring no one would accidentally get close and discover anything unusual. Sane noticed this small action of his, the corner of his lips lifting into a discreet smile, his gaze vaguely glancing at Kaelen's lower back.
He had confirmed it for sure; this sub-beast's recovery ability was indeed very strong.
Kaelen ignored Sane's highly invasive gaze and looked down at the vine baskets placed on the ground.
There were three rabbits, two chickens, and a small pig, all cleaned and processed. There were also all sorts of wild berries, wild vegetables, and fresh wild mushrooms. He rubbed his chin, thinking about what dishes to make; just grilling everything would be too greasy.
The rabbits on this continent were huge, with one rabbit weighing at least twelve kilograms, and the chickens weighed around 6kg. Kaelen thought for a moment and decided to roast one rabbit, one chicken, and half the pig. For the remaining two rabbits and the other half of the pig, he would debone the meat, stir-fry half of it, and skewer the other half on wooden sticks to grill. The bones would be stewed with wild vegetables, purple yams, and mushrooms.
As for the other chicken, he decided to make a shredded chicken salad.
If you want to eat, you have to work. Zale was kept in the cave to debone the meat. Four beastmen were chased out onto the grass in front of the cave to sharpen wooden skewers, set up racks, and start the fire for grilling. Kaelen acted as the head chef, directing the three sub-beasts to prepare the ingredients.
For the meat meant to be roasted whole, Kaelen told Cael to make shallow cuts in it so the seasoning could easily seep in. Then, they pounded dry Shallot and Sylph grass - a type of grass that smelled like rosemary - mixed it well with salt, Sima fruit powder, and mushroom extract, and rubbed it evenly over the surface.
Next, they sliced half a tuber that tasted like ginger and stuffed it into the bellies of the chicken and rabbit along with a few intact sprigs of Sylph grass.
Elian was assigned the task of crushing the berries, squeezing the juice, and putting it into separate jars.
Sorin washed the wild vegetables and mushrooms.
While guiding everyone, Kaelen wasn't idle. He took the opportunity to soak the fresh shiitake mushrooms that had already been washed, then finished peeling the remaining purple yams. As Cael worked, he remarked:
"This crying fruit is really strange. Last time it made me cry so much I thought I'd go blind, but today it's just slightly pungent, not stinging my eyes like before."
What the hell is a crying fruit? It's a shallot, a dried shallot, alright!
Kaelen inwardly rolled his eyes, but couldn't correct it. Who told him he couldn't speak? If he made up new sign language, this group of primitive people certainly wouldn't understand. Crying fruit it is, then.
On Zale's side, the sharp claws of the Black Panther tribe flashed. Everyone only saw white light gleam a few times with *swish swish* sounds, and the wild game meat was completely deboned. Even the bones were stark white without a single scrap of meat left on them.
Kaelen was speechless. A bone stew needed a little meat left on the bones to make the broth sweet; with him scraping it completely clean like this, what was there to stew?
Zale was completely unaware of Kaelen's twisted expression. The black panther proudly flicked his claws, tilting his chin up, proudly waiting for praise. Cael beside him also looked at Kaelen with sparkling eyes, visibly proud of his mate.
Kaelen rubbed his face and could only tell Zale to discard all the unusable bones, keeping only the marrow bones, and to break those bone segments open to use the marrow inside to sweeten the broth.
The shiitake mushrooms had soaked and expanded. Kaelen took them out, cut off the stems, and chopped them up. He let the mushroom soaking water sit for a while to let the sediment settle, then poured off the clear liquid to add to the bone stew later.
Next, he julienned all the remaining ginger, using half for stir-frying and half for stewing.
It would be great if he had chili peppers. Although he didn't like eating spicy food, some dishes couldn't achieve a fresh, delicious flavor without adding chili. Especially rabbit meat; without a bit of chili, it wouldn't reach its best flavor.
Perhaps he could spare some time to sneak to the areas near the tribe to check? If he didn't go too far, the Tribe Leader probably wouldn't scold him, right?
The fire outside was hot enough. Kaelen told Zale to carry the previously marinated meat outside to start grilling. He put the chicken meant for the shredded chicken salad into the bone pot and also brought it outside for the beastmen to boil. Sorin had finished washing the vegetables and moved to start the fire in the kitchen. He seemed to really like Kaelen's stove, asking while starting the fire:
"This stove of yours is really nice. Can you teach me how to make it?"
Kaelen nodded and smiled, then pointed at Elian. Elian giggled and said:
"If you like it, I'll go back and ask my Daddy to make one for you. My house and Cael's house have both made it. Silas also likes this type of house a lot; he said he'll remodel his cave to look like my house soon, so when I move over there, I won't feel unfamiliar."
The sub-beasts all giggled, teasing Elian until his face turned bright red, and after talking for a while, they steered the conversation toward Cael. Cael giggled:
"My Zale finished remodeling his cave a long time ago. Speaking of which, my older brother Theron still hasn't found a new cave and still has to pitch an animal-skin tent outside my Papa and Daddy's cave.
My Daddy said that once his leg is completely healed, he will ask the Tribe Leader for approval to dig a cave not too far from the center of the tribe. Natural caves are running out, so we can only dig our own. Fortunately, our tribe has many races that know how to dig caves."
Sorin also nodded: "We have too few natural stone caves here. In the future, if we don't expand the tribe, the male cubs will probably have to pitch animal-skin tents to live in."
Animal-skin tents were both small and unstable; if they encountered a storm, it would be miserable. Sub-beasts wouldn't choose mates who didn't have their own caves.
*Soon there won't be a need to live in caves anymore.* Kaelen thought to himself, but he wouldn't tell them. Wait until they made bricks and built communal houses later, everyone would know naturally.
They chatted while working without delaying what needed to be done. The deep stone pot on the stove was piping hot. Kaelen took out pork fat from a wooden jar, brushed it around the inside of the pot, then added ginger and shiitake mushrooms to stir-fry. Next, he added the marrow bones, sprinkled a little salt and Sima powder, and flipped the bones a few times to absorb the flavor. Then he poured in the mushroom soaking water along with a little more water to just cover the bones, and put the wooden lid on.
Cael had cut half of the deboned meat into cubes and sliced the other half into bite-sized pieces. Kaelen marinated them with ginger juice, salt, and mushroom extract, mixing them well to absorb the seasoning. Sima powder would be sprinkled on while grilling and stir-frying.
He separately took the belly fat that Zale had set aside and put it into a stone pot to render the lard.
At this time, the wooden skewers were finished and washed. Valerius ran in to inform them. Kaelen told him to carry the wooden basin of cubed meat outside, and chased the other three sub-beasts out to skewer the meat.
[One piece of meat, one mushroom, one sour fruit, one sweet fruit, then another piece of meat.] Kaelen demonstrated once, then let the group outside use their own creativity. He ran inside to stir-fry the meat.
Sane handed the job of watching the grilled meat to Silas, and he himself used an animal-skin cloth to carry the pot of fully boiled chicken inside for Kaelen. Placing the chicken pot on the stove rack and pushing it deep inside to prevent the sub-beast from getting burned, Sane approached Kaelen, who was intently stirring the lard in the pot, and lightly bit Kaelen's right beast ear.
Kaelen's hand trembled, almost dropping the wooden spatula into the pot. He turned around and glared at Sane. Taking advantage of Kaelen turning his head, this stinking snake pecked him on the lips and casually squeezed his butt.
Kaelen swatted Sane's claws away and guiltily looked toward the cave entrance. Luckily, no one came in, and the kitchen was located in a blind spot from the entrance, so no one saw. Annoyed, Kaelen shoved the wooden spatula into Sane's hand, making Sane take over the role of chef, while he stood to the side to direct. Sane took the wooden spatula and shrugged.
The fat in the pot had fully rendered. Kaelen handed a wooden ladle to Sane to scoop the cracklings into a large bowl, then ladled out some of the lard into a wooden jar, leaving only a little in the pot.
He added the julienned ginger, dried Shallot, and remaining shiitake mushrooms, telling Sane to stir-fry until fragrant, then poured in the meat, stirring quickly.
The arms specifically used for hunting beasts and protecting the tribe by the warrior beastman were now holding a spatula, quickly stir-frying vegetables without him showing any objections; on the contrary, the more he stirred, the more enthusiastic he became. Kaelen had to hold onto his arm to signal him to stir moderately; if he stirred any more, it would turn into meat soup. Taking this opportunity, Sane lightly bit Kaelen's left ear again.
Kaelen wrinkled his nose and bit Sane's bicep in retaliation.
This scene happened to be seen by Zale, who had come in to get berry juice. He immediately concealed his presence, tiptoed to grab the nearest cup of berry juice from the low table, and quietly slipped away.
Hah, damn brat, still denying it this morning, but now he's glued to someone's sub-beast, and even smiling so punchably!