Another World Fluffy Cafe

Chapter 4: Dragon Jerky

So, it was night.

Taichi set off from the Fluffy Cafe with Luke in search of dragon meat.

Cerberus wanted to go too, but he stayed behind just in case. He would be guarding the cafe in case of emergencies.

“Brrr, it’s cold!”

“To feel cold in this weather is weak!”

“Come on, don’t compare it with your magnificent fur!”

Taichi was wearing a proper jacket, but it was still chilly. Winter was just around the corner, and the cold was enough that snow could fall at any moment.

“By the way, does it snow around here?”

Tilting his head, Taichi lowered his posture to bury himself in the fur on Luke’s back. Yes, he was currently riding on Luke.

Luke, exhaling a sigh, slowed down his running speed a bit to ease the burden on Taichi.

“I think it did snow,” Luke said.

“Then it’s going to get pretty cold. I wonder how much it will pile up?”

“It won’t be as much as me!”

“What a benchmark…!”

He said it wouldn’t pile up as much as Luke, but Luke’s body length was two meters. If the snow piled up that much, it would be difficult to even leave the house.

(But the way he said it makes it sound like it will pile up quite a bit.)

Thinking that it might be better to prepare snow-clearing tools now, Taichi considered that if there was snow in front of the shop, customers wouldn’t be able to come, which would be a problem.

While he was lost in thought, he heard Luke’s voice say, “There it is.”

“Huh?”

“An orc. We’re going to take that down, right?”

“Oh, right. We accepted the request to defeat ten orcs. We also need their ears as proof of the hunt… Can you do that?”

Luke, with his keen sense of smell, was good at locating monsters.

Of course, he wasn’t just that; he was incredibly strong. After all, he was a solitary Fenrir, or so he said.

Looking over, Taichi spotted a green orc, nearly two meters tall.

Each one was equipped with clubs or shields, making them quite intimidating.

“Humans are such a hassle,” Luke said, sounding annoyed.

“Agreed,” Taichi chuckled.

(However, ten orcs is quite a lot for a request…)

Taichi thought it didn’t seem like that many.

During their travels so far, Luke had taken down any monsters they encountered along the way. He had dispatched them in an instant, so Taichi—he actually didn’t understand the overall combat level of this world.

He did understand that Luke was exceptionally strong.

“Hmph, I won’t need my special technique for mere orcs!”

With that, Luke made a gesture as if to kick with his front leg.

Then, despite the adorable—no, cool gesture, a sharp gust of wind easily sliced the orc’s body in two.

“—!”

The orc didn’t even let out a sound, likely not even realizing he had been killed.

Taichi covered his mouth and turned his face away.

Even though it wasn’t the first time he had seen a monster fall, it was still quite tough.

(Ugh, I’m really not suited for requests like this…)

After ranking up two levels safely, Taichi vowed to live peacefully. When he looked closer, he noticed that Luke had expertly cut off the orc’s ears with the wind blade.

(As expected of Luke, so cool…)

He felt a sense of respect.

Returning Home

“I’m back! Is everything alright?”

“Welcome back~!”

“Welcome back!”

After running around the forest and mountains, they successfully hunted the dragon, which would serve as the ingredient for their meal. Therefore, Luke was in a very good mood.

On the other hand, Taichi was completely exhausted.

“What’s this? You’re slacking off. Taichi, you need to exercise more.”

“That was beyond the limits of human exercise…”

As he contemplated just collapsing on the floor and sleeping, his familiars gathered around him.

They rubbed their fluffy bodies and faces against Taichi’s legs, looking delighted.

(So cute… Is this heaven?)

He wouldn’t regret ascending right then and there.

“Welcome back! We did a great job staying home, didn’t we!”

“There were no problems at all!”

“But we were lonely~!”

That was Cerberus.

“Meow!”

“Nya~”

The Berry Rabbit and Forest Cats couldn’t speak, but they sweetly rubbed against him, making adorable sounds.

“So cute, so cute, so cute…!”

Fluffiness at its finest.

“Welcome back, Taichi.”

“You seem uninjured.”

Finally, Ruby and Ume greeted him. Since he had mentioned hunting monsters, they seemed to have been worried.

(Everyone is such a good kid…)

He had to make a delicious treat with the freshly hunted dragon meat. Taichi was now fired up for his adorable fluffy friends!

So, he headed straight to the kitchen.

However, Taichi couldn’t cook the dragon meat himself. It was impossible for him to process it into treats.

“But I have a strong ally—my skill!”

The Tamer skill, “Snack Cooking,” granted by the cat deity.

When he uses this skill with all the ingredients prepared, he can create treats for his monsters.

Using this skill, he could whip up delicious treats in no time. Moreover, they were incredibly tasty even for humans.

The rabbit cookies sold at the Fluffy Cafe were also made using this skill.

“Alright, let’s use the dragon meat for ‘Snack Cooking’!”

“You don’t have enough ingredients to cook. If you have ‘herb powder’ and ‘magic salt,’ you can make ‘dragon jerky.’”

When Taichi used the skill, it indicated a lack of materials. The dragon meat was on the preparation table, so he took out the other seasonings.

Since he could cook with a skill, he had gathered a variety of these materials.

“Magic salt was a bit expensive, but I’m glad I bought it!”

With a sigh of relief, he tried again.

“Please let it be delicious, ‘Snack Cooking!’”

When Taichi activated the skill, the ingredients on the preparation table disappeared in an instant. In exchange, a bag of dragon jerky appeared.

Inside the bag were three pieces of red, tough-looking meat.

“Wow, this is dragon jerky…”

He had tasted dragon steak before, but he wondered what the jerky would be like. Taichi opened the bag and cautiously took a bite.

“…It’s hard.”

As expected, dragon jerky was tougher than regular jerky, making it quite a challenge to chew.

(But maybe it’s just right for Luke?)

It might be good for him to occasionally have something tough instead of just soft meat.

“…But the more I chew, the more the dragon’s flavor comes out.”

At first, he found it tough and off-putting, but he might become addicted to it.

(…I should taste another piece just in case.)

As soon as Taichi reached for the dragon jerky, Luke came rushing over, yelling, “Is it ready yet?!”

He must have smelled it.

“—Ah.”

“……”

The expression on Luke’s face disappeared when he saw Taichi with the dragon jerky in his mouth.