Freshness Is Everything!
Following Pearl and Rosso’s gaze, I saw a crab bigger than anything I’d ever seen before… a Karkinos, staring right at us.
“Uwaaah, that’s huge!”
“Y-yeah, way bigger than I expected…”
(Come on, clean up )
“""Y-yes.""”
Prompted by Pearl, we cleaned up quickly.
The Karkinos was watching us carefully.
[Karkinos] A gigantic monster crab.Its outer shell has the luster and texture of metal. Its strength far surpasses metal, and weapons made from it hold such power that anything struck cannot maintain its form.
Because of its immense size, its weight is also tremendous.
“What should we do?”
“The subjugation request is for the legs, right? Then should we just try cutting one off?”
“Hmm, but they say it’s really hard, right? Wouldn’t it be faster to have Pearl shock it and then cut from the leg joint while it’s paralyzed?”
(That’s true.) Crackle, crackle, crackle!
“""(Uwah! Say something before you do that!)""”
(Oh my, sorry… But see? It fainted. Now, let’s hurry and get the legs off.)
Looking closer, the Karkinos had fallen on its back, foaming at the mouth after being electrocuted. Standing near it, I realized just how big it really was.
“To be safe, we should start with the claws before it wakes up. Heave-ho… hard! My knife chipped!”
(Then I’ll try. Joan, Belle, step back a little… Wind Blade.)
Cleanly, the claw came right off. Thanks to the sharp cut, the Karkinos didn’t wake up.
“""(Oooh.)""” Clap, clap, clap, clap.
Belle and I applauded Rosso.
(Ehehe. Okay, I’ll do the rest… Wind Blade.)
“Then Pearl, can you freeze the legs we cut off?”
“Eh? Why?”
“Because for seafood, freshness is everything, right?”
“Eh? You can eat this?”
“Yeah. Wanna see? Search Open.”
---
[Karkinos]
Gigantic monster crab.
Material:
Outer shell stronger than metal.
Processable into both armor and weapons.
Edible:
Of course.
Exquisite. Similar to snow crab.
Enough for about 50 people per crab?
The tomalley is rich.
Ways to eat:
sashimi, grilled, steamed, boiled, hotpot, soups, etc.
Also great for crab omelets and crab fried rice.
But be careful when eating raw.
Note:
Even with legs cut off, it’s still alive, so be cautious.
Magic stone is in its mouth.
---
“""((Eh?))""”
Everyone froze after reading the note, and slowly looked toward the Karkinos. Even with only its body left, it was still moving. The moment it spotted us, it spewed a powerful stream of water from its mouth.
“""Kyaah!""”
… But the water never hit us.
When I slowly opened my eyes, a wall of earth had appeared, protecting us.
“W-what?”
“You okay, Jo?”
Turning toward the voice, I saw Brother Gene on Zex, and Young Master Eric on Blau.
“Brother Gene!”
(Young Lady Joan, everyone, are you unharmed?)
“Blau! Did you make this wall of earth?”
(Y-yes. I’m glad I made it in time.)
“Thanks, Blau!”
I ran up and rubbed my cheek against him.
(Y-Young L-Lady Joan, um, well…)
“Kukuku. Jo, ease up a bit. Blau looks embarrassed.”
“Ah, sorry.”
(No… it’s fine.)
“Come to think of it, what about the crab?”
(I finished it off.)
At Pearl’s words, I looked and saw the Karkinos neatly frozen solid, her front leg resting on it.
“Thanks, Pearl.”
“Still, isn’t this one huge?”
Young Master Eric got down from Blau and looked at the frozen Karkinos.
“Eh? Really? Brother Eric?”
“Yeah. Might be bigger than the standard size.”
“Hard to believe you kids managed this on your own.”
As he said that, Gene ruffled my hair roughly.
“Ehehe. Ah, Brother Gene, this crab’s supposed to be exquisite.”
“For real? Then tonight’s dinner is gonna be worth looking forward to.”
“Yup, count on it. By the way, where were you two headed?”
“Huh? You kids weren’t coming back, so we figured we’d take a walk and look for you.”
“Oh, I see. Sorry.”
“Nah, one look at this Karkinos and it makes sense. This would take time.”
“Eh, um, that long?”
“What? It’s already the 13th bell, isn’t it? You’ve been fighting this thing all morning, right?”
“This morning we did the beach cleanup request, then had lunch, and then the crab showed up…”
“What the heck… So how’d you deal with the Karkinos? Those legs must be hard as rock. How’d you cut them?”
“Ah, Pearl shocked it, Rosso cut with wind blades, and then Pearl froze it so it’d stay fresh.”
“Pearl and Rosso really carried the day, huh. And you, Jo?”
“Me? I’m gonna cook it!”
“And Belle?”
Eric asked her.
“Me? … I’ll help… and eat a lot!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Shut it, Brother Eric!” Thud!
“Guh…”
It’d been a while since I saw Belle’s elbow strike. Landed clean on the solar plexus… hope Young Master Eric’s okay.
By the time we stored the Karkinos away in the storage, Young Master Eric had somehow recovered, and we all went to report to the guild.
Since they said they’d return Zex and Blau to their posts, we went inside first. When we entered the guild, the trio we’d met in the morning were there too, reporting their own completion. When they spotted us, they ran over.
“You guys okay?”
“Glad to see neither of you got hurt.”
“Hey, if you’d like, how about some tea over there?”
While I was still surprised at their offer, someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder firmly from behind.
What do you think about this chapter?
