Chapter 286: My knife’s not even piercing through!

The people of the port city insisted on paying us back, but we firmly refused.

In the first place, we weren’t citizens of their kingdom. We were able to deflect Bazal the old man’s questions earlier, but should the people ask for details, we would likely be exposed. I wanted us gone before that happens.

“It’s already dark. And it’s getting cold. So, we probably should return to the village for now.”

“Can’t be helped…”

After handing over the krakens to the port city, we decided to get back home.

“Are we going to fly back?”

“Nope, let’s use teleportation.”

Travelling via the park took quite a while, after all.

“Hide the park somewhere, ok?”

“Ok!”

I couldn’t teleport a facility with me, so I left the park in the care of a body double.

“Ah, but what about the shark…?”

I was only able to teleport with me living creatures and things they had on their person.

The frozen shark was dead, and it obviously wasn’t something one would consider ‘on their person’.

I thought so, but I had to try it first to be sure. And so, I touched the body of the frozen shark and began teleporting.

In the next moment, I found myself and the shark back in the wasteland village.

“It worked? Wait, you can’t be alive, can you? In that state…?”

It probably was just in a state of suspended animation.

What tenacity.

“What, what is that monstrosity!?”

“It looks like a fish, but isn’t it too big!?”

“Where the hell did it come from!?”

It turns out, a giant shark appearing out of nowhere was enough to greatly startle the villagers nearby.

“It’s alright, everyone, it’s just me.”

“““Ahh, it’s the chief who brought it, I see.”””

…just like always, the villagers were quick on accepting the situation.

“More importantly, let’s get to cooking and eating it!”

“What does it taste like, I wonder.”

“““Can’t wait!”””

“A-ah, yeah.”

In no time at all, the village’s chef had gathered near the shark.

Of course, Coch-san—who possessed the [Cooking] Gift—came too.

“What, what is this thing!?”

“It’s a shark. It’s a bit larger than usual though.”

“A shark? What’s a shark? I have never cooked one before…ahh, but I have no doubt about it, this thing’s a great ingredient.”

“Really?”

Coch-san’s assessments were always reliable.

Perhaps it was because he possessed the [Cooking] Gift, but he could always tell things like how fresh ingredients were and more. And now, it would seem he could appraise even ingredients he had never encountered before.

“If Coch-san says so, then it must be true!”

“I’m getting so excited to try it out!”

Like that, the chefs excitedly leapt at the shark to start preparing it.

They were able to produce great food out of wyvern meat despite not having used it before, so I was quite confident they could pull it off this time as well.

I was thinking that when…

“Its scales are too tough! My knife’s not even piercing through!”

The chefs shouted such things when they tried to put in their knives on a part that has thawed already.

“I don’t understand…this is a dwarven-made knife that can slice even a wyvern’s scales, so why…”

They called it a knife, but it was nearly the size of a sword. Moreover, their knives had saw-like teeth in them.

I thought these knives would have been able to cut the shark’s tough scales by chipping away at it, but it barely even made a scratch at the surface.

Even the brawnier chefs achieved the same results.

Coch-san had a glum look on his face when he groaned something.

“Hmm, this bastard’s going to need a stronger set of arms, it looks like.”

“In that case, leave it to me.”

The one to offer their help was none other than Goate-san who possessed the [Herculean Strength] Gift.

His Gift alone gave him incredible power, but his time in the training grounds was sure to further boost his strength.

In terms of raw strength, Goate-san was second to none.

And so, Goate-san was given a serrated knife and he began sawing off the giant shark’s scales.

“Oh, ohhh! You’re cutting through!”

“Amazing!”

“But it’s taking us all this effort just to cut through its scales…can we really cook this monstrosity……?”