Chapter 28: Roasted Cockatrice and Harpy Pudding│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com
They travel to the forest and hang the cockatrice on a thick enough branch to drain its blood. The snake’s tail is tied at the base to prevent blood from spilling out and then severed.
Leonhardt and Dee went off to look around while Lysette stayed in the barrier and watched the cockatrice’s blood drain.
Alone with the cockatrice, Lysette is thinking.
To pluck its feathers, she would need to gently boil it in a pot to open its pores. However, Lysette’s frying pan will not accommodate a cockatrice of this size.
Lysette ponders.
—How about digging a hole and boiling water in it? But, given the labor and sanitation implications, I’m not convinced. even if the purification magic is capable of cleaning it up.
Leonhardt and Dee return while she is thinking about this.
“Welcome back—how did it turn out?”
“Only cannibalistic plants exist nearby—we got rid of them.”
“The only edible items are some strange berries and an egg.”
“All right, that’s fine. Thank you very much.”
Lysette was overjoyed when she received two large green berries and one large egg.
The berries’ skin was thick, and the insides were dense and heavy.
She places it on a clean spot on the floor and eagerly awaits its opening.
“What kind of egg is it? A cockatrice egg?”
“Cockatrices are only supposed to be male.”
“How do they breed…? nevermind I’m not interested in knowing.”
Leonhardt sighs in response to Dee’s words.
“Oh yeah…! It appears to be a rooster, but it could be a female!”
“Don’t take this seriously. I don’t really care…”
Lysette’s face lit up as she accepted the egg from Dee.
“Ara? This egg appears to be a Harpy’s egg.”
It was the same Harpy’s egg she had purchased from the Dwarf merchant in the second layer and eaten for French toast. They were most likely nested in the forest.
“I’m hoping Kanatsuchi-san is doing well…”
—I’m curious if he’s still selling his wares… I wonder if his unicorn hooves sold well.
Dee was secretly talking to Leonhardt next to Lysette, who was reminiscing.
“Harpy… Is that one? Did you eat it?”
“…”
“Seriously?! Do you eat those eggs?!”
Leonhardt stares in the opposite direction and does not respond.
The Harpy, a bird-like monster with the head of a female human, has been a common sight since they arrived in this layer. Only the face appears human, but the rest of the body is animal.
“A bird monster, the harpy. This is due to the fact that it lays eggs. They taste like regular eggs, so don’t be concerned if you eat them.”
“O-Oh…”
Meanwhile, the blood draining has been completed.
Lysette decides to use a combination of fire and water magic to open the pores for plucking the feathers.
She converts the heat of the fire magic into water, forming a ball of warm water in the air. It gradually envelops and holds the cockatrice.
“Amazing. It’s a dual-attribute magic with such fine magic control… That is not something that just anyone can do.”
“What a waste of talent…”
“It served a useful purpose!”
The hot water surrounding the surface of the hanging cockatrice is dissolved when its pores open. The cockatrice is now producing a cloud of steam.
“Let’s pluck its feathers now.”
They plucked the feathers and used fire magic to burn the remaining feathers. The meat is then cut into pieces after the belly is cut open. As a precaution, the guts are removed.
Wings, chicken breast, or chicken thigh The meat grows in proportion to the size of the base.
Once the meat is done, the rest is refrigerated and placed in the item bags, except for the portion to be cooked.
She rubs salt and spices on the meat before frying it in a frying pan.
Once the skin is well browned, she lowers the heat and steams the meat with the anti-poison grass
The aroma of cooking meat wafts in. When the lid is lifted, the enticing aroma is immediately apparent.
“It’s finished! Cockatrice with anti-poison grass!”
Lysette was satisfied with the result, so she took a plate for everyone.
“Itadakimasu!”
The meat bursts with flavor when she bites into the crispy skin. The meat is firm and light, which lets the flavor of the skin and the anti-poison grass stand out.
“This is delectable. The flavor is intense, and the anti-poison grass adds to the aroma.”
“Oh, I think I can eat all I want! I really need some sake!”
“Ha~a, I ate it!”
After two second helpings, Dee’s satisfied voice echoes. Lysette is pleased to see Dee, who used to despise monster cousins, changing.
“That’s right. Can I crack open those berries?”
She’s interested in seeing what’s inside. If they were filled with tasty pulp, they’d make a nice dessert.
“Help yourself.”
Because the skins are extremely hard, she first makes a hole in them with a sharp stone.
—I wish I had a stake made of iron, but all we have is a sword and a knife. We will break it if we are not careful.
“It appears to be liquid on the inside.”
“Well, then…”
The thick skin cracked open, allowing the white liquid to pour out from within. She then poured it all into the pan and stirred it with the Unicorn’s horn.
“What’s that stick?”
“This is a unicorn’s horn—it can purify the liquid.”
Lysette then takes a sip of the liquid and pours it into the cup.
“The thick texture and sweetness… this is most emphatically milk! Oh… how I missed it…!”
“Seriously crying over that…”
Lysette wipes away her tears of joy and pours juice into Leonhardt and Dee’s cups as well.
“Yeah, it’s better than a cow or goat’s.”
“But…It’s so green…”
Leonhardt seemed to enjoy it as much as Lysette did, but Dee’s palate did not. It’s no surprise that it smells greener than real milk because it’s plant based.
Lysette was still excited about Harpy’s eggs, the enigmatic milk berries, and the sugar she was saving.
“Milk, eggs, and sugar—I can make pudding with this much!”
In the frying pan, she boiled water and sugar to make caramel, which she then spooned into each cup.
Then, without washing the pan, she adds milk and sugar, boils the sugar, and then pours the egg mixture into the pan to make the liquid pudding.
She then strains the pudding solution with a coarse cloth and pours it into a cup of caramel, covers it in a watered pan, and slowly steams it with high heat at first, then low heat, and finally carefully chills the temperature with the Water Magic.
“The pudding is done!”
The cold, sweet pudding and the bitterness of the caramel combine and permeate her body as she eats the pudding with a spoon.
“Oh, the joy!”
“Oh my goodness… genius!”
“Lysette is truly incredible.”
“Thank you, Ufufu. It’s all because of you two.”
Lysette laughed as she savored her sweet happiness.