Chapter 98 - Village Of Kawayan
Chapter 98 - Village Of Kawayan
After a few minutes of traveling, they arrived at the next Hamlet that was still under the jurisdiction of the Kahoy Village.
Pulling the reins, Nile urges Maximo to stop. Under the shade of an enormous tree, Nile jumps off Maximo's back as he takes off his long-sleeved hoodie.
Body full of sweat, Nile twisted and spun the hoodie clockwise to produce wind. The wind slams his body, cooling it off from the sun's heat. The reason that he sweated a lot was because of the fact that the long-sleeved hoodie was not that very accommodating.
Even with the wind slamming him while Maximo ran, he still sweated a lot under the hoodie.
As they had already stopped, Nile decided to eat their lunch here. Nile approached Croco and pulled out the boar that was impaled on its back.
The boar was a mutated animal and it's tusk had the property of metal. The boar attacked them in the middle of the road, trying to stab Maximo with its tusk. Fortunately, Maximo spotted it and smashed its head with the sledgehammer first.
The boar's skull was crushed and its body has an enormous hole in it. The hole came from Croco's spiky back as Nile instructed Croco to bring the boar's body along.
Nile had not eaten any meat since the day he transmigrated and he would like to try the meat of an animal that had mutated. Nile still had a total of 191.5 Apocalypse Points after spending 35 for their breakfast and 9 points for his clothes.
Nile searched around and collected some dead twigs to start a small fire. After collecting a bunch of it, he goes back and drops them to the ground.
Retrieving a gun-like object from the Storage Space, Nile pointed the gun's muzzle on the dead twigs before pulling the gun's trigger.
The gun was triggered but the thing that came out was not a deadly bullet, but a small fire. The fire comes in contact with the dead twigs, igniting them instantly.
Nile felt that the 1.5 points from the 191.5 were ominous so he decided to spend it on the lighter that he was using now. It's definitely not because he didn't know how to start a fire.
Nile picks up the boar with one hand and throws it to the fire directly. The boar had thick but sparse fur covering its body. Nile threw in the fire to make those fur burn, saving him the trouble of scraping them directly from the boar's skin.
While the boar's body was being roasted, Nile searched for some banana leaves and laid them down on the ground close to the fire.
After a minute, Nile took out the boar's body and laid it to the banana leaves that he prepared. The banana leaves were humongous so Nile didn't have to worry about it not fitting the boar's body.
The boar's body was charred in black. It was normal as it was exposed directly to the scorching heat. However, it won't be a problem for Nile as he only needs to scrape the charred parts to make it look more palatable.
Unsheathing the Katana, Nile made the boar's body lay on its stomach before starting to scrape its charred part. After shaving off the charred parts, Nile sliced the boar's stomach and pulled its guts out.
Nile was not an expert on this but he had seen quite a lot of this scene in his previous life. It was a common occurrence in the meat market.
Nile separated the intestines from the boar's liver and heart. Squeezing the intestines, dirty and greenish substance leaks out from the other side of it. After cleaning the boar's innards, Nile set it aside and proceeded to clean and chopped the boar's body. Nile used the last coconut's milk to wash the innards as well as the boar's body. He then threw the coconut's milk towards Maximo in which the animal hurriedly consumed including its hard shell.
The dead twigs he burned earlier had now mostly become burning coal. As the first dead twigs he collected from before mostly consisted of finger-thick twigs, Nile instructed Maximo and Croco to collect some that were thicker.
Nile had already considered the fact that they might attract attention due to the smoke emitting from the fire. However, he would not stay at this place for a long period of time so he thought it was alright to cook here for a bit.
Spreading the burning coal, Nile laid the chopped parts of the boar's body to roast it. After a few minutes, Nile flips the meat over to cook the other side as well. After another few minutes, the meat was cooked and was now ready to be eaten.
Nile took the boar's chest and offered it to the crocodile. Croco hesitatingly smelled the roasted bore before sticking out its tongue to taste the cooked meat. When Croco's tongue touched the meat's surface, his body jolted while his eyes opened wide in surprise. Croco opened his jaw widely and immediately bit the cooked meat on Nile's hand.
Nile heaves a sigh of relief. He forgot that Croco had still not tried cooked meat. Aside from the innards, Nile roasted all parts of the boar's body.
Nile pulled the boar's leg and started to eat. The meat was tasty, even though he didn't add seasonings. Nile didn't know how, but he liked how convenient it was. Even though he lived alone during his previous life, he rarely cooks for himself aside from the all-time favorite noodles. Most of the time, he would go to side vendors that sell cheap food to save some money.
As he was eating, Nile felt that someone was staring at him. He glanced around and confirmed that the stare came from Maximo.
He was still chewing something but his one eye clearly stated what he wanted. Food.
Nile no longer had any coconuts left for Maximo. He was just about to buy from the System Store when he noticed that Maximo was staring at the cooked meat on his hand.
Doubtfully, Nile slowly offered the meat towards Maximo. The carabao's mouth twitched before it started to sniff on the roasted meat. It then sticks its tongue out to try the taste of the roasted meat.
After confirming that it was edible and even delicious, just like how Croco had acted, Maximo also opened its mouth wide as he bit the roasted meat and turned around to eat.
Nile was the most confused right now. A carabao that eats meat? Alright, that's new.
He shrugged his shoulders and continued to nibble on the boar's meat. Nile was already full but there was still a lot of roasted meat remaining.
Nile planned on storing them in the Storage Space so they won't get spoiled. However, all his plans were for naught as, at the moment, Maximo and Croco were fighting for the last bit of the boar's meat.
In the end, it was Croco who got the last piece of meat. He was teasing Maximo who was sulking on the side. Croco ate the meat slowly while looking at Maximo provocatively.
Maximo was about to pounce and gave the crocodile a kick or two when Nile decided to chime in.
He waved his hand in the air before wearing the hoodie he took off before. "Alright, stop that you two. We will definitely have another meat in the future. And you Croc, don't be greedy and share some of it with Max."
After hearing that, Maximo stuck his tongue out to tease Croco. Although reluctant, Croco complied and shared some of the last meat to Maximo.
After they have finished eating, Nile mounted Croco's back and flicked the reign to urge the animals to move forward. Nile then remembered about the boar's innard and was just about to go back and retrieve it.
However, it seems that Croco was not forgetful as he brought innards along. Croco coiled the innards in his muzzle, and he seems to be nibbling it while running?
Nile shook his head before smiling. He decided to be lenient towards his pets.
It did not take long for them to finish searching the hamlet. Unfortunately, they didn't find any zombies inside and only some rotting corpses.
The next Hamlet was also the same and Nile was already planning to directly go towards the next Village. Fortunately, at the third and the first Hamlet of the next Village, they finally meet their first prey.
The battle's end was decided pretty quickly as Nile instantly sliced off the zombie's head in half using the Katana of Liberation. He was also riding Maximo at that time. The mount riding talent was pretty helpful as Nile felt that he would now be able to participate in a war as a cavalry soldier.
The next Hamlet, they've killed two zombies that were fighting each other. Nile assumed that one of the two zombies were not from that Hamlet and was only passing by. The local zombie then spotted the wandering zombie and both of them started to see each other as their prey. However, they didn't expect that someone would be so meddlesome, killing them while they were still battling.
Maximo stepped on the zombie's head as Croco's left arm-blade was dripping with blood.
"Hee... yahhh..." Nile nodded his head before flicking the carabao's rein to make it run.
They searched from Hamlet to Hamlet and had already killed 5 Level One° zombies including the two on the last Hamlet.
The sun was already setting when Nile and the other's arrived at the next Village's periphery.
The periphery of the Kawayan Village.