ITK C40: Daily Fitness
“Lord Saint.”
“Please stop calling me that. Others are imitating you now…”
The Lifeless King came over to hang out today. Not that I mind. Talking to him is fun; he can even come here every day if he’d like.
“I brought a souvenir for you today, Lord Saint.”
I knew it. He still insists on calling me that.
But wait, a souvenir? I keep receiving things from Sensei; it’s starting to make me feel guilty.
What kind of souvenir is it this time?
“Didn’t you say last time that you wanted a bird that lays eggs, but you couldn’t find any monster that resembles one?”
Yes, that I did.
My life as a cultivator still lacks a great variety of things, and one of them includes eggs.
Eggs are tasty and can expand my cooking repertoire.
We already have vegetables, meat, and condiments. It’s about time we have eggs.
And in order to procure a stable supply of it, we need chickens for that.
However, this is a fantasy world.
I doubt the chicken here is the same chicken I know.
That’s why I’m looking for monsters that nest in the dungeons and have an ecology similar to chickens, just like how I used square boar meat as a substitute for pork.
Regardless of knowing whether it existed or not, my wife, Platy, and Veil, formed an expedition party to search for this chicken-like monster in the dungeons.
They’ve been busy with the search these past few days.
In other words, they’re not here.
“After hearing your story, I also thought of looking for a monster that meets your desires.”
“In your dungeon?”
This reclaimed land of mine lies adjacent to two dungeons—Sensei’s cave dungeon and Veil’s mountain dungeon.
I expected bird monsters to nest in the mountains; that’s why Platy and Veil have been searching there all this time, but I guess I was wrong…
“There was such a monster like that,” says Sensei as he takes out a bird.
“Ohh!”
Its size and silhouette are just like a chicken’s! This might just live up to my expectations!
…or so I thought.
“I believe it’s called a Yoschamo. Despite being a bird species, it cannot fly. Hence it nests in my dungeon.”
“I see…”
That’s when I noticed a specific characteristic of this so-called yoschamo that cannot be overlooked.
“But Sensei…”
“Yes?”
“It has a cockscomb.”
Cockscomb.
That red thing on a chicken’s head.
Of course, since it’s a chicken, you can at least expect it to have a cockscomb.
That’s what I thought, too.
But when you say it’s a chicken with a cockscomb…
“…A rooster?”
This is a male chicken, isn’t it?
The chicken I wanted was one that can lay eggs, in other words, a hen.
As I thought of this, the yoschamo suddenly faced the other way.
…
…Don’t show off your anus to me.
…Wait, I think birds have a cloaca instead of an anus.
Suddenly, something lumpy came out from the yoschamo’s hole.
It was oval and light brown in col—an egg?
An egg!
Even though it has a cockscomb, it still laid an egg!
Now that I think about it, pseudo-biological monsters from the dungeons have no reproductive ability. Therefore there’s no distinction between males and females.
That means there’s no problem if a monster possesses characteristics of both genders.
But if there’s no need for them to reproduce, why do they still lay eggs?
Oh well, not that it matters. It’s a trifling matter compared to procuring a steady supply of eggs!
While I hold the egg with both hands like some kind of treasure, the yoschamo briskly walks toward me.
…Upon closer look, this chicken-like creature has a smug expression.
When suddenly, it gives me a spur kick!
“Woah!”
It seems it wasn’t specifically aimed at me, but at the egg I was holding.
Its sharp kick cracks the egg in half, spilling its contents. Thankfully, a plate happened to be right under, where the egg white and yolk spread out evenly.
“This is…!”
The yolk is almost entirely spherical and is nicely swollen, with the color more orange than yellow, while the egg white is as transparent as freshwater.
“Are you saying I should give it a try?”
The yoschamo nods in response.
Taking up on its offer, I slurp the raw egg straight from the plate.
Being Japanese, raw eggs are fine with me.
“T-This is delicious!!!”
I immediately adopted five birds from Sensei’s dungeon.
Sensei went home.
Platy and Veil, who came back that evening from the mountain dungeon half-dead, were mind-blown by the truth.
“It was in the cave dungeon this whole time?! We put so much effort looking all over the mountain dungeon for nothing?!”
“Wow! What a completely useless mountain dungeon that was! Just like its guardian!”
“Huh?! In that case, I won’t let you eat anything from the square boar that you get from my mountain!”
They’ve become so close now that they can even quarrel with each other…
But I won’t give this scrambled egg made from the yoschamo’s produce to those who are fighting~
…
It was an instant hit.
Though their efforts were in vain, to Platy and Veil, who searched all over the mountain dungeon seeking this taste, the satisfaction they feel is all the more.
Now I want a rectangular pan for tamagoyaki…
I guess opera singers drink them raw for their whites, because they have the same protein enzyme as tears, called lysozyme, which protects the eyes from bacterial infections, plus some other proteins that have the consistency of mucus, to keep the throat wet.
Hens have combs, unless they’ve been bred out of the breed. Leghorn hens, for example, have no comb or a very small one. I’ve heard they act as cooling for the chicken.
Thanks for the chapter.
I believe that the “square boar” should be “four-horn/tusk boar” (the word for horn and tusk is the same as the word for corner, and if you include a number before it, it may mean “n-horned/tusked” or “n-gon”).
Weird. The hens I know also have cockscombs, and while usually they are smaller than the male’s, sometimes they are as grand as it. I do know of chicken breeds where the hen doesn’t have one, but they are not the norm (the same way that chickens with feathered cockscombs exist but aren’t the norm). Also, people didn’t have any qualms with raw eggs until Salmonella was identified and its relationship with raw eggs known, and there are still many people going for raw eggs either as an ingredient or as-is (usually when they are pretty sure those eggs are safe).
thanks. 🙂
i did initially translate it as ‘horned-boar’ but seeing veil literally call it square boar (スクエアボア) i decided to keep things consistent (unless theres a previous instance that differentiates the two, then ill gladly apply the necessary changes)
as for the raw eggs, i never thought eating them as is was considered normal, but japan does have a stringent system for making sure eggs are safe so im not surprised with that
(i do like my yolks runny though)
Didn’t know about the ruby.
Raw egg eating is (was) quite common in the countryside (particularly among children and with non-hen eggs).
Eggs in their raw form, mixed with sugar, are delicious (where I live in Europe, this is called ‘kogel-mogel’).
Furthermore, I’m 100% certain that just about any serious singer (especially opera singer) will tell you that raw eggs are totally edible and healthy. They are eaten as is before and after a concert due to their positive health benefit on throat, allowing a clearer voice and soothing the strained throat after plenty of singing.
Early in the series Kidan calls them Horned Boars, then is told they are Square Boars because the tips of the horns and tusks form a square.