meat.
meat.
“Owl~”
The owl witch woman glanced at me once, then moved her gaze toward the distant sky while leaning against the wall. I didn’t bother pretending to know her because of her attitude of not being interested.
Although they cooperated once in the first place, they were not close enough to pretend to know each other.
As we entered the building following Terry, who had been guiding us so far, Giselle, who was contemplating something, whispered softly to me.
“Isn’t that the girl you were talking about before?”
I nodded and answered her question. Giselle’s expression became even more serious at my answer.
“Then this is also related to the ‘there’ I thought, right?”
“It is very likely.”
Giselle looked around and sighed.
“I think I came here for no reason. That’s why I’m just going to buy some fish…”
“I can’t help it since I’ve come this far. I will definitely take care of Giselle, so there will be no problem.”
“uh? huh?”
slightly trembling eyes. When Giselle stopped speaking for a moment. I continued talking.
“Even if I can’t bring the meat, I’ll be sure to take out at least one Giselle. I brought her, so if something dangerous happens, I’d rather keep Giselle from getting hurt, even if it means getting myself hurt.”
“Oh well. okay. yes. huh.”
Gisele pursed her lips a few times as she was about to say something, then gave a small smile. Then he clenched his fist and tapped me on the shoulder.
“It’s nice to hear that someone is protecting me innocently. Is it because I haven’t heard that kind of story? What happened, I believe. You’re not the kind of person who talks nonsense.”
She took a slight step forward with a lighter step.
The slaughterhouse was so quiet that it was even quiet. The slaughterhouse Terry took us through had a very faint smell of animal blood, as if it hadn’t been slaughtered for a while.
Aren’t they slaughtering right here? Well, if you slaughtered here, rumors would spread in the industry. I spoke to Terry while touring the neatly maintained slaughter facilities.
“When I came all the way here, I saw that the buildings were built very tall.”
“Most of the meat distributed in the capital is slaughtered or stored on these streets, so of course the scale has to grow. Since His Majesty decided to host the Great Congress, the price of meat has gone almost to the price of gold, and the owners of these establishments are very happy with their jaws. Now that I sold all the stock I had in stock, I’m sorry I couldn’t earn more.”
“okay.”
I agreed with Terry’s words and asked him what I was curious about.
“But why are we here? Looking at the market streets, there seemed to be a lot of nobles who would buy illegally slaughtered meat at a generous price.”
Terry turned his head slightly to look at me and shook his head.
“When this kind of thing is related to nobles, things get complicated. If we make a deal with the nobles, we might be able to get a pretty good price, but once we start a deal, there’s a high possibility that it’ll be difficult for us to cut off the deal at will, given that they have status. In addition, the higher the rank and status of the guest, the higher the possibility that we will be caught.”
After all, if you make a deal with a noble, is it possible that the noble side could hold the reins to lead this deal?
“Still, finding the right individuals to buy the meat at a high price won’t be so easy.”
“You just need to know that we have our own way of doing that. And you don’t think this is a problem for the priest to worry about?”
Is this the area that can be found out as an outsider?
In fact, I’m not going to wipe out this illegal slaughter organization, and there’s no need to wonder more.
“Because I’m still at an age where I have a lot of questions. I’m sorry if I’ve bothered you.”
“it’s okay. The questions the priest asked were actually nothing special. If you’re a priest, you’re on the quiet side among guests. Come on.”
Terry knocked on the white wall a few times, and it opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down to the basement.
When the wall cracked, the strong smell of blood and fresh lean meat rushed in.
By the way, I feel like I’ve seen secret passages that open like that very often in the capital, but is it fashionable to have secret passages in every house here?
When I went down the stairs, the silence finally went away and I began to hear the voices of people whispering little by little.
“What kind of meat did you come to see, priest? cow? pig? sheep? Goat? demon meat? They have everything, so you can buy whatever you want. But if you go down there, just keep one thing.”
“What is it?”
Terri smiled as she pointed down the stairs.
“There is absolutely no bargaining. All meat is sold only at the list price that is written on the small front, so don’t try to cut the price. keep in mind The moment you try to bargain, the customer becomes your hand and is immediately kicked out. Oh, and don’t try to talk to other guests if you can. There’s nothing good about knowing who each other is.”
“Keep that in mind.”
“All right then. I have to find another guest soon, so I’ll be on my way. Buy as much as you want.”
He stood outside the stairs to see us off. As Giselle and I descended the stairs, the wall we had entered closed shut with a rattling sound. Giselle glanced behind her and opened her mouth.
“This is one of the many entrances, and it looks like the exit is somewhere else.”
“Well, there’s no reason to make just one aisle.”
“They say there are different types of meat, so why don’t we buy a little bit of each type and have a barbecue party? If the price is right, you can buy a little bit at a time and ask Dacia to freeze it for you.”
“It’s a barbecue party… Mum’s going to love it.”
As we went down the stairs while chatting, the underground plaza greeted us. All kinds of meat were displayed here and there, and dozens of people were pacing in front of the stalls where the meat was hung.
Giselle glanced at the shops and slightly frowned.
“It’s much more serious than I thought, right?”
“Are there any problems?”
“Anyway, I don’t think this place is an improvised black market because of this tournament. It’s too systematic to be improvised, and it’s neatly organized. Maybe now meat is expensive, so I sell meat…”
Giselle narrowed her eyes and continued slowly.
“Maybe you handled something else before that?”
“hmm. Do you have any idea what you sold?”
“I don’t know. This is my first time here too, how do I know?”
She shrugged once and tugged at my collar.
“Let’s go see some meat first. hurry.”
“I see.”
We walked slowly towards the store. And it really didn’t take long before Giselle, who checked the price of the meat, screamed.
“I didn’t read this wrong, did I? huh? Aren’t my eyes wrong?”
She looked up at me with trembling eyes. I was also a bit surprised when I saw the price, so I was a little dumbfounded.
How come it’s priced in gold coins and not in silver coins?
Usually, a silver coin was enough for this amount of beef.
We expected the price to be two or three times more expensive, but the actual price we encountered was ten times more expensive meat.
“Are you not drinking? I don’t have the confidence to pay this money and buy these meats with my sober mind?”
Instead of being priced in gold coins, the meat itself was quite large. Seeing that there is no price tag in silver, it must mean that they are not sold in subdivisions smaller than this.
How much do I bring now?
I always carry some gold coins just in case, but it seemed like I would have to shed all the gold coins I had to buy all kinds of meat.
“no. This is not… This is a complete waste of money…”
Giselle, who had a strong sense of housekeeping, seemed to have no confidence in buying meat with gold coins.
I gave gold coins and tried to buy meat, but my fingertips trembled a little.
Yes I was shaking my fingertips. Realizing that fact, Ogi raised his head abruptly.
why are you making money? Isn’t it all about making a living by eating beef? I don’t have very tight pockets, so isn’t it okay to indulge in this kind of extravagance?
I’m not saying let’s eat well, it’s all meat that will fit in my mouth.
As I tried to calm myself down, my trembling fingertips finally calmed down. I carefully put my hand on Giselle’s shoulder. She raised her black eyes and looked at me.
“Isn’t it…?”
I looked at Giselle with more serious eyes than ever before.
“Let’s live.”
“Dog…don’t shout! I won’t accept that price even for gold-fed sorae!!! You know I write a household account book, right? Do you know how big a hole in our party’s treasury department will be if we buy that?”
“I will buy the meat at my own expense.”
“Sabiro?”
Every time I earned money, I took an appropriate amount and paid it as a common fund for the party, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have my own money.
In fact, it was a bit much. I didn’t spend money on anything, so we gathered quite a bit.
Giselle looked at meat and me alternately, then asked a small question.
“are you okay? Aren’t you overdoing it? Just because you asked me to come here, there’s no need to overdo it because of your pride. ‘Cause I don’t really care about that huh.”
“Really, my pocketbook is fine. Don’t worry, just choose.”
Even though I said it was okay, he looked back and forth between meat and me several more times and bit his lip as if he had made a big decision. She closed her eyes and spoke in a trembling voice.
“I’ll add a little too. With my own money… We’re coming here, and I’m half-favored.”
The way Giselle becomes smaller in front of money is somewhat similar to Jamel, her best friend. No, after all, Giselle is a little more passive about money.
Jamel, at least when he was doing what he really wanted to do, didn’t measure it too much and easily emptied his moneybags.
So, I could fully guess how much internal conflict there must have been when that Giselle said she would add money. Thanks to her like that, I rather feel a little more comfortable in spending money.
After all, my people were people who deserved to be treated as precious enough.
I smiled softly and shook my head.
“It’s really okay, so I’ll take your heart.”
“Is that so? I can’t help it if you’re okay.”
Giselle was visibly relieved and then returned to examining the fish. As if they were going to choose the best meat for a high price. She studied the meat for a while before opening her mouth.
“I roughly decided what to buy, but first look at the meat from other stores…”
Kung!
A dull crashing sound. The sound came from the opposite direction of the stairs we had descended from. At the same time as several footsteps echoed, the criminals appeared in the underground plaza.
Leather masks with holes roughly drilled in the places where the eyes, nose and mouth were. A group of people armed with clubs and other weapons shouted in unison when they saw the meat displayed in the store.
“It’s meat!”
“There was really meat!”
“Let’s brush!”
“Okay, let’s shake the meat!!!”
Upon the appearance of the assailants, the apron-clad employees who had been standing quietly in the store took out various butchering tools and ran out of the store without hesitation and charged at the assailants.
“If we take care of them, the meat is ours!”
“Crush it!!!”
The two groups clashed and a violent uproar ensued. Thinking that it would be better to leave with Giselle for now, I looked at her.
Giselle looked at the meats in the shop where the owner was away for a while with very trembling eyes and asked me a small question.
“Shall we shave a little too…?”
