High School Girl Warrior: How to Save an Apocalyptic World - CH 49

Chapter 49 – Unlimited-time All-you-can-eat-pork

“Then, Senpai, please!” Rintarou exclaimed.

I glanced once more at the pig dismantling procedure memo that Rintarou drew, before squeezing the grip of my steel sword tightly.

I don’t think it would be good to dismantle the pig with a sword that has killed zombies, so I decided to use the steel sword instead.

“Enchantment… Fire.” A weak flame started illuminating the steel sword.

“Incredible! It’s really magic!” Rintarou shouted just like an elementary schooler would.

Around us, there were over a dozen refugees gathered, and they were all amazed at the fire sword… I’m not used to being stared at by this many people, after all.

“Well then… Let’s do this.” As I said that, I lifted my sword.

It’s now time to show off the full power of ‘Sword Technique (Advanced)’!

Then, I started cutting it all out. Unsurprisingly, the scene was very bloody.

If the world wasn’t like it currently is, then people might have gotten sick at this sight, but everyone was just taking the scene of a giant pig being dismantled as something normal.

After all, zombies are a hundred times more grotesque than the internal organs of a pig.

***

After the disassembling was done, we started grilling the pork with the Hunter’s Meat Grilling Set that I got from the achievement, and a nice smell started emanating from it.

Moreover, as explained by the Auditory Hallucination, a fun music started ringing too.

“Alright! It was roasted properly!” RIntarou exclaimed as he held the meat up high.

It was easy to cut this meat into pieces and serve it on plates, so it would now be time to eat, I suppose.

This will most likely be quite tasty… Or rather, there is no reason for it to be anything other than delicious.

However, not many people have volunteered for tasting it. In fact, only six people, me included, were going to taste test the ‘monster’ meat.

“It smells good, Senpai.” Asuka told me.

“We’re the same age, so stop calling me senpai.” I replied, as usual.

“But Senpai is Senpai.” She said. Same as always.

Asuka was another that was willing to eat it.

“You’re having a fairly easy time cutting it, aren’t you?” Asuka asked Rintarou.

“I learned it from my grandpa. I helped him drain a bear’s blood before.” He proudly replied. It was unusual for him to talk about his past, “Alright! Then let’s get this started! It’s monster pig eating time!”

Quite a bit of meat was lined up on the simple dining tables that were on the schoolyard. Next to them, there were also many seasonings that one could use.

But well, I decided to first put the meat in my mouth without any seasoning in particular.

“Hm?” I muttered, then stayed silent for a while.

“Senpai?” Asuka worriedly looked my way.

Instead of answering though, I just started throwing more slices of meat from the plate into my mouth, one after the other.

“How is it, Senpai?” Asuka asked me.

“Good.” I gave only a single word for a reply.

It was greasy and thick, but it was good.

Even Rintarou seemed to be a bit surprised by my behavior though, “She seems… Quite focused.”

“Yeah… Focused.” Asuka nodded.

“Then… It’s really good, I guess?” Rintarou commented.

“Possibly…” Asuka replied.

“Then I guess…” Rintarou started picking one of the slices of meat up himself.

It was strange… This felt like the tastier meat I have ever eaten. It’s too unusual.

I thought that this meat would be very stiff when considering this pig was strong enough to tear an iron fence apart, but this is not the case at all… I can’t quite explain the exact feeling, but this feels like meat that was made for humans to eat.

Rintarou seemed to agree with my thoughts, “This feels like pork from a farm. I thought it would be more like wild boar meat.”

Seeing us eating the ‘monster’ meat, Asuka decided to also try one slice of it out, “Wow… It really is delicious!”

We both nodded to her frank impression.

Then, some people who were still hesitant about it started putting it in their mouths one after the other.

“Wow… It’s truly tasty!” One person said.

“This is incredible… Just what is this meat?” Another commented.

“This meat is so tender that it kinda melts on your tongue…” A third one said.

These types of words were gradually spread to everyone who was here.

We were all eating the meat of the ‘monster’ who had attacked us just a small while ago.

And of course, I ate more than anyone else.

–Congratulations! Your level has risen!

–Congratulations! You earned the ‘Gluttony’ achievement.

Noisy…

After a while eating, we started putting the remaining pieces of meat into bags.

“I’m going to go to where Kousuke is.” Rintarou suddenly said.

“Why?” I asked.

“He didn’t eat the meat. I think he should have a bite of it.” Rintarou plainly replied.

“… You sure that’s a good idea?” I couldn’t help asking.

Only about half the people at the school were willing to eat the ‘monster’ meat, even after the taste testing guaranteed it was safe.

Kousuke was kind of the leader of the people who didn’t want to eat it.

“Even if there are bad memories associated with it, it’s still okay to have a bite! So, I’m going!” As Rintarou said that, he started running off.

“W-wait…” I tried telling him, but he didn’t stop at all.

Would it be okay to just leave them to their own devices…?

I’m a bit worried…

“Ah, Asuka, here.” I gave her the meat that I was carrying.

“Eh? O-okay.” She said as she held the meat for me.

Then, I started going after Rintarou.

***

“Kousuke! Eat this meat!” Rintarou exclaimed while trying to push the meat towards Kousuke.

“Get lost!” Kousuke replied.

By the time I caught up with Rintarou, this kind of conversation was already going on, as expected.

“Why not? It’s good, you know?” Rintarou asked.

“You don’t know…?” Kousuke was in disbelief.

“I don’t.” Rintarou plainly replied.

“… That’s just like you, I guess.” Kousuke sighed.

“I don’t know, so eat it because it’s delicious.” Rintarou said.

Kousuke seemed to be having a hard time trying to explain his feelings to Rintarou.

“If the meat is dangerous, nobody will be able to fight.” Kousuke tried giving an explanation that Rintarou could understand.

“Ah, I see…” It seemed to have some effect on Rintarou, “When I was a kid, I didn’t mind eating earthworms, so I didn’t think about this kind of thing.”

“Wait, for real?” Kousuke asked.

“Yeah. When I was suddenly thrown in the mountains, I remember eating, nuts, mushrooms, worms and any other thing I knew nothing about.” Rintarou replied.

… I don’t think anyone had heard about this before. Rintarou really didn’t talk that much about his past.

“Wast that done by your grandfather?” Kousuke asked.

“Grandpa is crazy, but that was not him. It was done by dad, but he went somewhere else after that, so I don’t remember much about him.” Rintarou explained.

“I see… I’m sorry.” Kousuke said.

“Why are you apologizing?” Rintarou asked.

“Well, I ended up reminding you of a painful experience.” Kousuke replied.

“Well, then.” Rintarou tried to push the meat towards Kousuke again.

“But I really don’t want to eat it. So, excuse me.” Kousuke turned around and started leaving.

Well, I guess they weren’t quarreling at the very least.

“You know, I have been thinking…” Rintarou started saying.

“Hmm?” Kousuke stopped moving after hearing those words.

“I think this world sucks. And I don’t mean just its current state. I have thought about it for a long time now.” Rintarou said.

“… Maybe you’re right.” Kousuke replied.

“But still, I think it’s good to find something that can bring joy to life. It’s the best kind of revenge we can have on all the things that this world throws upon us.” Rintarou continued.

I guess I didn’t really need to do anything, after all.

“That’s why, you should eat it if you feel like it, Kousuke. It’s really good.” Rintarou said.

There was a small while of silence, until eventually, Kousuke said, “Okay.”

Then, he put a slice of meat on his mouth, and silently chewed on it for another small while… Until eventually, he muttered, “Thank you.”