Chapter 338: Craving for Meat
He did not know whether his feelings truly reached them.
Still, he believed it was better than doing nothing.
Perhaps it would bring peace to himself.
And perhaps it would bring peace to his parents as well, if they were somehow still watching over him from nearby.
"I see. If they were your parents, I would’ve liked to meet them too."
"I would’ve liked to introduce you to them. I’m sure they would’ve been delighted. It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t show them my wonderful family, but that’s exactly why I built this place. I want them to watch over all of you from here."
If he was included among that wonderful family, then it made him very happy.
When Cari looked up, Qiong Xing smiled as if confirming exactly that.
For a moment, Cari felt tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
Mama always treated it as the most natural thing in the world to call him family.
Smiling, Cari nodded back.
...
"I want to eat meat."
"....."
Everyone stared at Qiong Xing as if asking what nonsense he was suddenly talking about.
But once the thought had entered his head, it refused to leave.
"Don’t you eat meat every day already?"
That was true.
Since Leander and the others were beastmen, there was usually some kind of meat dish on the table every day.
But that was not quite what Qiong Xing meant.
It was more like...
Well...
The more he thought about it, the less certain he became.
Had he really reached the age where he was already starting to lose his mind?
"Um, not grilled... maybe... stewed? No, fried?"
He weighed his craving for meat against the amount of effort required.
Stewing would take a long time and require careful attention to the heat.
Frying seemed much simpler.
In the end, he chose the option that required less work.
He had shamelessly prioritized convenience.
"Then let’s make karaage for dinner tonight. I’m sure Yue will love it."
"I’ll eat it!"
"Rui doesn’t get any?"
Rui looked devastated at the thought of being left out.
Qiong Xing assured him that there would be enough for everyone.
Rui generally preferred fish, but it wasn’t as though he disliked meat.
Whenever Yue ate something delicious, he inevitably wanted to try it too.
"So after lunch, let’s go catch some meat together."
"We’re going too!"
"Hm?"
For some reason, he had heard three voices instead of two.
Yue made sense.
She loved meat.
Leander made sense too.
He loved meat just as much.
But who was the third voice?
When Qiong Xing turned around, he found the answer.
"Fenrir, do you want some too?"
Fenrisulfr was practically sprawled across the chair Qiong Xing had been sitting in, leaning forward insistently as if demanding to be included.
Since he hadn’t seen him all morning, Qiong Xing had assumed he was off somewhere again.
Apparently, he had already returned.
"Of course I do! Don’t tell me you weren’t planning to prepare any for me!?"
There was no need to panic so much.
Lately, Qiong Xing had started wondering whether Fenrisulfr was actually a dog.
Not long ago, he had been desperately worrying that he might have gained weight and wasn’t getting enough exercise.
Yet the moment food appeared in front of him, he immediately lunged for it on pure instinct.
Qiong Xing had no idea what a divine beast’s ideal weight was supposed to be.
Since Fenrisulfr seemed concerned about it himself, Qiong Xing refrained from making unnecessary comments.
"Then why don’t you come along too, Fenrir? It can be a walk for you as well. And with you there, we’ll probably be able to catch some especially tasty meat."
"Leave it to me!"
Fenrisulfr looked thoroughly delighted.
At this rate, he would probably put all his enthusiasm into the hunt as well.
Seeing Fenrisulfr so fired up, Leander and the others quickly finished eating, got ready, and headed toward the forest.
"Was it really okay to leave Lian behind?"
"Lian said she wanted to stay, so I’m sure she’ll be fine."
For once, Lian was not coming with them.
Leander seemed surprised by the unusual choice.
To Qiong Xing, however, it wasn’t particularly strange, so he had simply accepted Lian’s decision and asked himhrr to watch the house.
"Lian isn’t very good at hunting."
"That’s just something you get used to."
Leander insisted that everyone started out that way, but Qiong Xing shook his head.
That wasn’t the issue.
"It’s not that she can’t hunt well. She just doesn’t like seeing animals get hurt."
"Ah. I see."
In a sense, that was also something people could become accustomed to.
Still, Qiong Xing didn’t think there was any need to force it right now.
He believed it would be fine to wait until Lian wanted to try on her own.
As for Yue, perhaps it was simply because she was a beastman, but she had taken to hunting naturally.
There probably weren’t many girls who eagerly wanted to hunt.
Qiong Xing accepted that there might be some differences there as well.
"She’s perfectly fine once it’s become a piece of meat. She helps with cooking without any complaints."
Once the animal had been skinned and processed into cuts of meat, Lian never objected.
As far as Qiong Xing was concerned, that was perfectly fine.
"So I’m sure she’ll work hard helping with dinner. Which means we’d better catch plenty."
"True."
Lian wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about meat as Yue and the others, but she still liked it.
She ate whatever was served and never complained.
Though when it came to vegetables and miso, she could be surprisingly particular.
Since Lian was patiently staying home and waiting for them, Qiong Xing decided he would make miso soup for dinner as well.
"Karaage set meal it is. Some pickles would be nice too."
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"No. I was just wondering how much karaage we’ll need. It’s the kind of food that makes people eat a lot of rice."
