---

The Afterglow Fortress, like Present, was in the midst of battlefield cleanup.

Though they were undead, each corpse was a powerful high-level monster or beast.

Thanks to the permafrost environment, there was no place from head to toe that could be discarded.

The same went for the other corpses.

The thoroughly stripped bodies were tossed into the pyre under the prayers of priests who hadn’t fainted yet.

“Phew, it looked so dreadful from above, but this is quite decent…”

“Last time we got new armor, but doesn’t this mean our weapons will change too?”

“O Highlander who died without returning home. Since you’ve come back to your hometown—”

“Gather, damn it! Monsters are drawn by the smell of corpses!”

From the noble knights to the lowest servants, everyone was being mobilized without exception.

Of course, battlefield cleanup was an affair for the so-called lower ones.

And the Afterglow Fortress was no different.

Yet, there were simply too few hands.

The undead legion was overwhelming in numbers.

And there were too many corpses left behind by the fallen spellcasters.

Not to mention, the Highland expedition had yet to return, leaving them short on manpower.

Here, the beasts and monsters drawn by the scent began to gather.

Amidst sorting byproducts and corpses, chasing away or hunting the monsters attracted by the smell, Richard, unable to bear it any longer, heard about the situation at Present and took drastic measures.

“Burn the human corpses and push the rest onto the unwanted guests!”

“You madman! You need to finish sorting first before tossing them out!”

“Here, take this still-warm corpse that was moving just a moment ago!”

“I’ve made it easy to eat by stripping away everything but the meat!”

They shoved the corpses of useless or sorted undead monsters and beasts, excluding humans, onto the bellies of the intruders.

At this point, the monsters and beasts that had gathered for free food started to forget their competitors and enemies nearby in their confusion.

In fact, some even retreated in a fluster.

Of course.

What kind of predator wouldn’t be filled when good meat was discarded? Especially as winter approached. It was abnormal to waste food.

Monsters and beasts aren’t devoid of intelligence.

In fact, when it comes to survival, monsters and beasts can be even more cunning than humans.

The starving Owlbear was the first to charge in, and one by one, the cautious monsters and beasts began to feast carefully, glancing at the Afterglow Fortress.

Amongst that, there were indeed some meats that wouldn’t be discarded.

“Wow.”

Karem rushed out of the fortress in a straight line.

And as soon as he stopped in one spot, his eyes lit up.

There lay a mammoth carcass.

No, there were heaps of mammoth carcasses.

Easily counting, there were more than ten mammoths, and they looked so pristine that it was hard to believe they were undead. They had been preserved, frozen solid, rather than rotting over the cold mountain range where snow fell all year.

“Lord Karem. It might be cold and dangerous. Shouldn’t you be inside?”

Richard approached, shouldering a hammer, and patted the soldier’s back who was stripping the frozen mammoth hide.

“But, the mammoth is right in front of me?”

“Oh, I understand that feeling. I only ever hunted a few when I went hunting. It’s my first time seeing dozens dead in a heap like this.”

“I was so regretful last autumn when I had to leave the mammoths behind.”

“What? You left behind mammoth corpses? Why would you do that?”

“I was in a rush.”

Karem could only think how regrettable it was back then.

Mammoth meat.

Even the meat of elephants stirs curiosity in every man who likes meat. It’s safe to say almost everyone thinks about how it might taste.

But a mammoth, huh?

There was one chance to eat it, but there was no way to pass it up back then.

But now that opportunity had come once again.

Only there was one concern.

“Your Grace, the Marquess. Um, can we eat that?”

“Huh? What do you mean? The mammoth?”

“Yes. Even so, it was undead, right?”

“Hahaha! Well, that’s generally true.”

“If that’s the case, are these mammoths different?”

“Right. They were frozen to death over there in the mountains where it’s cold all year long, so they look as fresh as if they were alive until just a moment ago.”

“But it was undead—”

“The time was very short, so most of it can be eaten aside from a few parts. Well, since the spellcaster is dead, sprinkle some holy water, and the priests will purify it.”

“Wow, that’s amazing—”

Karem’s heart raced at those words.

Richard looked down at Karem with an expression that seemed to say he expected this.

“Looks like you’re pretty excited.”

“Of course, it’s a mammoth!”

In countless records and writings from his past life, the common consensus was that elephant meat was far superior to beef, very sweet, and even the older ones had a texture that was very tender despite having no fat.

There were rare records that said it wasn’t tasty.

But those were understandable.

Simply boiling it and adding salt to eat it.

Even beef wouldn’t taste good that way.

“But… how do you eat a mammoth?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that? What are you asking?”

“Well, you know, like. Sirloin steak versus lamb chops, braising the shanks, or roasting the skin until it’s crispy. Lady Iona said everything is delicious.”

“Hmm, now that’s something to think about.”

“Is that even something to think over?”

“That’s true, since Iona’s words are always spot on.”

Richard rubbed his forehead in contemplation.

“Mammoth meat is delicious no matter how you prepare it. Whether grilled as steak, cooked in stew, roasted beef, or pies, they’re all delicious. It’s even tasty raw.”

“So that’s why they say it fetches a good price?”

Richard nodded, stroking the mammoth’s ivory that the soldiers were carrying.

“Indeed. But we won’t sell the meat, even if we could sell the bones or ivory.”

“Even if it fetches a good price?”

“Why would we sell something so delicious? This isn’t the old days.”

However. Richard twisted his abundant beard.

“Personally, I think the nose is the best.”

“Nose? The mammoth’s nose?”

“Yeah.”

Richard’s mouth watered at the sight of the mammoth’s trunk, thicker than an adult’s arm.

Unlike its powerful strength that could uproot a log with ease and crush an ordinary predator’s skull with a single hit, the mammoth’s trunk was pure muscle.

That meant it was a chunk of meat without a speck of fat.

Also, since it was a part of the body with a lot of activity, the trunk was firm and elastic.

But if a skilled cook grilled it, the trunk would be chewier than rib meat and softer than well-cooked sirloin steak.

“And all of the half of this mammoth and the entire trunk belong to me.”

With those words, Richard glanced down at Karem and whispered.

“And one of the remaining ones is yours.”

“Y-Yeah? One mammoth?”

Karem suddenly perked up, looking at Richard and then at the mammoth.

Are you saying that enormous thing is all mine?

That’s great, but why?

“What did I do to deserve this?”

“I heard about the well incident.”

“Ah.”

Thud— Karem sat down beside Richard, dropping the hammer.

“I don’t know where or how, but you lent me a holy relic that could symbolize the three gods without a second thought.”

“Oh, well, that was…”

“It could have easily been completely consumed if not taken care of.”

Karem scratched his head.

“The spellcaster giant and the collaborator Grizzly Beaver were utterly useless. If the special forces had failed and there hadn’t been enough holy water, the city would have ultimately been breached. Then the fortress would have been even more isolated, and morale would have plummeted.”

Richard was serious.

Given the scale of the invading undead, it was reasonable to conclude that there were hardly any casualties in the city.

And it was all thanks to the holy water that created such a situation.

Having doused it everywhere to the point where one might call him insane.

As such, if the relied-upon holy water ran dry?

The aftermath was predictable.

“Then I’ll graciously accept it.”

“Well, in reality, if that situation had occurred, giving you a title would have been insufficient, but—”

“Well, isn’t it best if such a thing doesn’t happen in the first place?”

“Hmm? That’s a different response than I expected.”

“Yes. Well, a title seems vague.”

“Vague? Ah.”

As Richard scratched his beard, he finally recalled Karem’s background.

He had heard that Karem had only been free from serfdom for a year.

Under normal circumstances, a year adjusting to the life of a noble would be reasonable, but considering his young age and somewhat unique personality, it was understandable.

Thinking back to the story of him munching on toxic fruits and using monster reproductive organs as spices, he must have some kind of inherent abnormal trait.

While Richard was somewhat biased in his thinking, Karem was lost in thought.

‘Is it really true that everything is delicious no matter how you prepare it?’

That was a tremendously difficult condition for cooking.

Typically, such remarks are made conceptually to elevate the image of ingredients.

But it couldn’t just be ignored, with Iona’s eyes dripping with regret one year later, and Richard, who had just been salivating.

Both must have tried a vast variety of delicacies.

That meant the statement wasn’t conceptual, but rather true.

After some deep consideration, Karem came to a conclusion.

Whatever, I’ll just try everything on the way back.

“What’s that? What strange scheme are you concocting now?”

“Huh? Mary?”

At the familiar cold voice, Karem raised his head.

Mary stood where Richard had been, looking at him.

“Just now, His Grace the Marquess was here—”

“Yes. He said he had business and would bestow a total of three mammoths, including that for the contractor and Lord Stark.”

“Oh, not just one but three.”

“Not to mention, wait a minute. They were undead, right?”

Ah, I know that feeling well. Karem promptly recounted Richard’s words to Mary, relaying them word for word.

Mary’s expression, which seemed about ready to burst, grew more troubled the more she heard.

And it was no wonder, since what she was hearing sounded quite plausible, right?

Above all, the one who spoke held a credibility guarantee.

“I’ve heard that frozen meat doesn’t spoil… can undead… really be edible?”

“Either way, let’s test it out as we go back.”

“…Test? What do you mean?”

“They said whatever you make, whether grilling steak or boiling stew, is delicious, right?”

Have you tasted it? Karem’s inquiring gaze met with Mary’s head shaking in denial.

Even Mary, a longstanding house fairy for countless contractors before Catherine, had never had the mammoth, which was renowned as the ultimate delicacy that’s hard to obtain even with money. She had neither thought of it.

‘Let alone the undead mammoth meat…’

Mary couldn’t shake off her hesitance.

Regardless of her colleagues’ interests, Karem gazed at the mammoths being skinned and prepared, envisioning various recipes.

Oof—

“Ugh. Huh?”

Karem instinctively grasped his heart.

What was that? It suddenly hurt like crazy. Is it arrhythmia?

But just like that, the pain vanished without a trace.

“Junior Karem, what are you doing clutching your chest?”

“Ah, about the holy water. I accidentally dropped a holy relic into the well—”

“Oh really? You just did what where with what?”

“I tossed the holy relic into the well. I got Sir Hartman to fish it out for me right now.”

“…I’ll inform the contractor of this matter.”

“Huh?”

What kind of nonsense is that? As Karem faced Mary’s unamused yet intensely felt pressure, he swallowed hard.

“Will I be in a lot of trouble?”

“You’ll probably be punished more than the last time.”

Mary declared firmly. It was a holy relic personally gifted by a God.

Generally, it’s an item that shouldn’t be carelessly handled.

Even being polite would earn you some scolding, let alone throwing it around like that; he deserved a proper scolding.

 

---