Two-Person Galactic Journey: Earth Was Destroyed While Imprisoned in Space Prison Chapter 197

Chapter 197

He broke off a nearby branch, dried it out, and lit it. Then he sniffed the rising smoke and had Emotion morize the shape of the wood and the characteristics of the smoke.

It's really convenient not having to rember everything myself, he thought as he continued gathering materials. Emotion, who didn't want to compromise on flavor, was unusually cooperative.

Adie Ze wasn't much help as a source of information, so in the anti, he had the staff who had observed the Smallfolk and Ramadite back in the day reach out. Even fragnted information would be helpful—otherwise, Kait and the others might have to pioneer Ramadite's ecosystem themselves.

After two full days and nights of exploration, Kait and Emotion were on their way back to the Queen Bee, carrying several types of lumber and plants that looked promising as spices.

"Captain. Isn't it about ti we start the smoking process?"

"No need to rush, Emotion."

The two had been living a wild life on at and nuts, but Emotion's desire for at was insatiable. They had already finished off the at that wasn't processed for smoking. It was only natural—there was just enough left to consu before it spoiled.

That said, Kait was starting to get a little tired of an all-at diet. Ah, he really wanted rice or bread.

In reality, no grain-like plants had been found. It seed local procurent would be difficult.

Worst case, he'd teleport to an Earthling settlent and just buy so bread. Entertaining this rather blunt thought, Kait pulled out a bag of at from the Queen Bee.

"Hmm... That color doesn't exactly whet the appetite."

Blue drip. Kait carefully took out just the at without touching the liquid, then rinsed it with clean water he had prepared. The used water, along with the remaining liquid in the bag, was sent to the purification system inside the Queen Bee. While he was at it, he also brought out a poly tank filled with purified water.

He took out a suitable amount of clean water and soaked the washed at in it. The sight of at and water floating in midair made it look like a zero-gravity zone.

"Okay. Extracting just the salt."

Ideally, he'd like to soak it for half a day and let the salt leach out naturally, but if he waited too long, Emotion might start a riot. So from here, he'd use psychic power to speed things up.

Even though it was a shortcut, he wasn't interfering with ti. He was simply extracting the salt that had seeped into the at. Using the water surrounding the at as a dium, he coaxed out the salt to a moderate degree.

He wiped off the water and sliced a small bit off the slightly softened edge of the at. He placed it on a lightly heated Worker Bee. With a sizzle, the at was heated and moisture evaporated. Once it was cooked through, he popped half into his mouth. Yep, it had beco nicely mild in flavor.

"That's not fair, Captain!"

"Alright, alright. Then how about you taste this one?"

"......Isn't it a bit bland? That's a failure, Captain."

For soone who just complained about unfairness, that was a pretty harsh comnt. Well, it was still mid-process, so such feedback was expected. Ignoring Emotion's opinion, he moved on to drying the at.

This ti, he separated the moisture. He was a bit worried it might affect the flavor, but it was better than leaving Emotion unchecked.

For now, if he could just speed up the first few pieces, Emotion probably wouldn't pester him too much. He wanted to take his ti with the rest and follow the proper procedure.

"Alright, it's dry enough. Now then..."

He assembled several Worker Bees into a box shape, creating an improvised smoker.

He floated the at inside the smoker and lit firewood directly below. He placed a tal plate in between and added kindling to produce smoke without direct contact with the flas.

After waiting a bit, smoke began to rise slowly.

"Whoa, smoke is coming out!"

"Good. Now I just need to adjust it so the smoke hits the at."

Since it wasn't perfectly sealed, smoke leaked out little by little through the gaps between the Worker Bees. It looked a bit like a miniature chimney.

"Now we just wait for it to finish."

"Understood. Five minutes? Ten? Leave the timing to !"

"Two to three hours, I'd say."

"What the......wait, what?!"

Emotion's face was plastered with despair, but Kait wasn't backing down on this.

Ideally, he'd like to let it rest for another day after smoking.

"C-could we make it just one hour?"

"Nope."

***

While waiting for the smoked at to finish, Kait began prepping the rest of the at using the proper smoking procedure.

He ignored Emotion, who was sitting in a crouch and counting the ti.

As he washed the at and soaked it in clean water, he turned his attention to the communication with the Central Star Cluster. Apparently, Adie Ze had gathered so fellow countryn.

'M-Mr. Kait, Third-Rank Citizen Enec Lagif! It's an honor to speak with you! I'm Rutimi De, from the sa holand as Adie Ze!'

"Yes, nice to et you, Rutimi De. I look forward to working with you."

'Adie Ze is so an! He said he had work with Third-Rank Citizen Kait and dumped a bunch of tasks on us! And he won't even tell us what the job is about! Oh, I'm Dolti Mu, by the way!'

"Yes, yes, Mr. Dolti Mu. Oh, would you like so goat-bear at?"

A chorus of eager voices responded, enough to count as a crowd.

Apparently, Adie Ze hadn't inford his colleagues or fellow countryn about this situation. When it ca out that he had been secretly researching Ramadite's ecosystem, those with spare ti gathered together.

Everyone spoke at once, making it hard to tell who was who or to follow the conversation. Kait gave up on matching nas to voices and instead focused on sorting out the information.

"So, um. This thing I call the goat-bear—is it the apex predator around here?"

'Yes! It eats the 'large evil beasts' that break the Guardian Trees, so we used to call it the 'Mighty King'!'

"I see. By 'large evil beasts,' do you an the ones that were eating the winged snakes?"

'Y-yes, that's right.'

'Um, in the recorded footage... Yes! This one! But the 'small evil beasts' with wings fly all the way to our settlents and attack, so having none of them around would also be a problem.'

"Hmm. Nature's food chain at work."

Winged snakes rarely ca as far as the Smallfolk's settlents and usually hunted small animals on the ground. When those animals beca scarce, they moved to new hunting grounds and happened to attack the Smallfolk along the way.

As expected, the elders who had lived since that ti were full of knowledge. Adie Ze, having nothing to contribute, shrank into a corner. His voice had barely been heard for a while now.

"Of course, there are different beasts in other regions, right?"

'Yes. For animals to the north, Rutimi De knows a lot. As for other directions... none of us here are very knowledgeable.'

"I see. In that case, once things settle down, I'll head north. I'll be counting on you, Rutimi De."

'G-gladly!'

The voices of the Smallfolk sounded youthful regardless of age. Those who knew about Ramadite's ecosystem must have been from the generation that joined the Federation—in other words, the oldest among them.

Perhaps Adie Ze was quiet because the clan elders were present. Actually, if he had been scolded by them, that might be pretty serious.

Kait decided to serve them so of the smoked at to smooth things over. He didn't know why Adie Ze had kept things from his comrades, but it probably wasn't for selfish gain. Probably.

"C-Captain! The smoke! The smoke's gone!"

He really wanted to smoke it a bit longer. But with Emotion pressuring him and Adie Ze's position worsening, Kait gave up and decided to take the smoked at out.

***

He sliced the smoked at and placed it on a heated tal plate. A distinct aroma, different from regular grilled at, began to spread.

He tossed a piece into Emotion's mouth first. She began chewing silently. That should keep her calm for a while. Then he sent twenty-five cube-cut pieces to Adie Ze all at once.

Cheers erupted.

Kait brought a slice he had set aside for himself to his mouth. A firm bite and rich flavor spread through him. There wasn't even a hint of gaminess.

Yep, delicious.