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Legend-grade Quest
Episode 5. Legend-grade Quest
“Boss, thanks for the meal.”
“Come again next time.”
Ding-a-ling—
As the last customer left the store, I cleaned up the restaurant, took out my smartphone, and searched again for the dish I had looked up earlier in the day.
Fløskesteg.
To put it simply, it was a whole pork belly roast where you scored the skin, seasoned it with salt and herbs, and roasted it whole in an oven or air fryer.
When roasted that way, the outside becomes crispy as if deep-fried in pork fat, while the inside cooks tender and juicy like suyuk (boiled pork).
It was a Viking-style bossam dish, wrapped and eaten with cabbage.
“It’s a dish with a surprisingly long history.”
In Denmark, the land of Vikings, they had enjoyed pork since the Middle Ages, and apparently always ate this Fløskesteg at their biggest holiday, Christmas.
At this level, wouldn’t it suit the palates of the Constellations from old myths as well?
“Besides, if it’s a warrior’s dish, it’s got to be meat.”
Protein was essential for training the body, and fat was needed to replenish consumed calories.
Pork, especially samgyeopsal (pork belly), was a food rich in both protein and fat.
“The problem is how to get this pork.”
Of course, buying samgyeopsal from the local butcher was impossible.
From what Cain had said, it seemed I had to cook using only ingredients imbued with mana for the Constellations to be able to eat them.
I first listed out the ingredients needed for the dish on a piece of paper.
“Pork belly, salt, spices like pepper, bay leaves to remove the smell……”
It didn’t require as many ingredients as I thought.
Since it was a dish eaten since ancient times, it seemed it didn’t contain all sorts of extra ingredients.
“I still have some dungeon rock salt left over from before, and I can probably get various herbs to use as spices, but the problem is definitely the pork.”
If pork raised by humans wouldn’t do, I had to substitute it with dungeon monsters.
Just like using Cockatrice meat instead of chicken for samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup).
But the problem was that pig-related monsters were difficult to hunt.
“Because boar-type monsters are all large and powerful.”
Even in reality, wild boars were fierce beasts that could easily kill people.
But a wild boar that had absorbed mana in a dungeon and grown into a monster?
The nickname of the Red Boar, the weakest among boar-type monsters, was the ‘Novice Slaughterer.’
It was a calamity for novice Hunters, easily taking down beginners who approached it thinking it was just a boar.
“Can I catch this while keeping the meat intact?”
Of course, strong Hunters had more than enough ability to hunt Red Boars.
But hunting for the purpose of procuring meat was a world apart in difficulty from simply catching a monster.
It was a high-difficulty hunt where you had to carefully catch it without rupturing its internal organs or damaging the flesh.
It was best not to expect the monster’s meat to remain intact amidst battles where Hunters wildly slashed, burned, and electrocuted with attack skills.
In the case of the Cockatrice, hunting methods had developed where you quickly severed the neck to avoid the ‘Eyes of Petrification,’ so procuring the meat was relatively easy, but……
“It seems like Hunters wouldn’t do this even if asked, and it would cost an enormous amount of money.”
Naturally, I had no Hunter acquaintances to ask, nor did I have the money for it.
My younger sibling’s face briefly flashed by, but since they had been fed up just from me asking them to get ingredients last time, it would be hard to ask again.
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield urges you, asking when you will start cooking.]
“Actually, about that……”
I explained the circumstances to the Constellation waiting for my cooking with bated breath.
I had a faint hope that if I said getting ingredients was difficult, she might give up and back off on her own, but
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield confidently declares that she will procure the ingredients herself.]
Her head seemed so full of the thought of eating my cooking that giving up was out of the question.
Wait, but she’s not going to get the ingredients personally, right?
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield shakes her head, saying it would be beneath a Constellation to step into such matters herself.]
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield boasts that she has many friends she can ask.]
I didn’t know who she would ask, but they would surely have a hard time.
I sent my condolences to whoever would suffer in the Constellation’s stead, then added some precautions for the Maiden of Power.
“You mustn’t touch the internal organs. If they burst and the organ juices soak into the meat, the smell becomes foul and it becomes inedible. Also, attacking with fire or electricity will cook the meat, so that’s no good either.”
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield pounds her chest, telling you not to worry.]
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield coughs after hitting herself too hard.]
No, you don’t need to tell me that much.
From Cain to the Maiden of Power, my image of the Constellations was crumbling to pieces.
* * *
That evening.
New rumors were circulating among the Hunters contracted with the Constellations.
“Did you hear about that quest? Apparently it’s a Legend-grade quest.”
“Legend-grade? Does such a thing even exist?”
“Seems a Constellation issued it directly.”
Hunters contracted with Constellations could offer tribute by clearing quests bestowed upon them by the Constellations.
Usually, it was the vassals of the Constellations who issued quests, and in such cases, the maximum quest grade was Epic-grade.
But Legend-grade?
That meant a Constellation had issued the quest directly.
Furthermore, Legend-grade was on par with the quests the first Hunters received from the Constellations during the Gate Incident.
It was a quest people would be strange not to be interested in.
“The rewards must be enormous if it’s Legend-grade?”
“Getting even a Legend-grade item would be like hitting the jackpot.”
Naturally, the higher the quest difficulty, the greater the reward.
The Hunters were excited by the appearance of the Legend-grade quest and its fitting rewards.
But there were also those who coldly laughed at such comrades.
“Whoever the Constellation is, only the contracted Hunters get the good stuff.”
“Exactly. Quests are things only contracted Hunters can receive anyway, right?”
Normally, quests bestowed by a Constellation could only be undertaken by Hunters contracted with that Constellation.
Therefore, even if such a lucrative quest appeared, it was nothing but a pie in the sky for other Hunters.
But the rumors circulating were a little different.
“Thing is, this time any Hunter can challenge it?”
“Is that for real? You can receive the quest regardless of Constellation?”
“The quest contents must be that difficult.”
“With Legend-grade rewards, no matter how hard it is, you have to go for it. What are the contents?”
Just as the Hunters’ attention was pouring onto the quest, the World Hunter Management Bureau officially announced the quest details.
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Quest: Subjugation of Jerimnir
Quest Grade: Legend-grade
Quest Contents
- Subjugation of Jerimnir, the boss monster of the S-rank dungeon 'Den of the Bloody Boar.'
- Capture Jerimnir with its internal organs and muscles intact.
- Offer the subjugated Jerimnir’s corpse whole as tribute.
Quest Reward: Undetermined (Estimated to be Legend-grade)
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“What kind of absurd difficulty is this?”
To catch a monster while leaving its muscles and internal organs intact.
It was natural for muscles to be damaged whether stabbed with a knife or hit with magic.
This was tantamount to telling the Hunters to fight with their hands and feet tied.
“What in the world is the purpose of catching it like this?”
The Hunters never imagined the purpose was to procure intact pork.
Hunters who had tried to challenge it, driven by greed for the reward, gave up on attempting the quest, shaking their heads at this absurd difficulty.
Of course, Hunters and guilds confident in their abilities had no intention of giving up.
“It’s a Legend-grade quest. The reward is obviously Legend-grade. Our guild must take this.”
“Hurry before another guild snatches it!”
As famous guilds and Rankers from around the world moved, there was one Hunter moving quietly alone.
“‘Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield,’ I will surely grant your wish.”
The woman rising to her feet after finishing her prayers at an altar was Yun Jinha.
An A-rank Hunter contracted with Thrud, known by the epithet 'Valkyrie.'
And in the world, she was also called a 'Berserker,' a Hunter mad for battle.
* * *
One week since last speaking with the Constellation, the Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield.
“Quiet and peaceful, nice.”
I hummed as I washed the piled-up dishes.
After asking the Constellation to procure ingredients, no messages had come for a while.
Thanks to that, I was able to enjoy a quiet and peaceful daily life.
“Though it’s peaceful in the sense that I’m busy with restaurant work.”
Still, it had already been 10 years since I took over and started running 'Yeonseong’s.'
No matter how busy the restaurant work got, it had become routine, so I never felt it was hard.
Cooking at the restaurant and serving customers was much better than being hounded by Constellations. Yep.
“Shall I watch the news?”
I took out my smartphone to check the news while I had a moment after finishing the dishes.
The news I was going to check was Hunter-related.
After the Gate Incident, dungeons and Hunters were already a social phenomenon inseparable from daily life, so I had to check every time.
What if a dungeon suddenly appeared in our neighborhood?
You could get helplessly caught up in the dungeon and suffer damage, or conversely, Hunters coming to clear the dungeon could become customers and increase sales.
To prepare for this, you had to check the news.
“The biggest issue these days is definitely the Legend-grade quest.”
The world had been abuzz with the Legend-grade quest since a week ago.
The quest contents were only shared with Hunters wishing to participate, and ordinary people didn't know them.
I was an Awakened too, but I was practically close to an ordinary person, so of course I didn't know the quest contents.
But rumors that the quest's difficulty was abnormally high were widespread.
And new news about the quest had appeared.
“Huh? Looks like someone cleared the quest?”
Perhaps because it had just been cleared, the breaking news only had the headline saying the quest was cleared, with no mention of the quest contents or rewards.
But even that was enough to set the internet abuzz.
“Well, I guess it has nothing to do with me.”
Awakened like me who didn't work as Hunters were ultimately no different from ordinary people.
There was no reason for something that famous guilds or high-ranking Rankers would be interested in to affect someone like me.
That was what I was thinking when—
“Boss, are you open?”
“Yes! Welcome. Take your time looking at the menu and let me know.”
After a lull, customers entered the restaurant again. I put my smartphone in my pocket and sprang up to greet them.
“As expected, quietly running the business is the best.”
Since it was a quest that had nothing to do with me anyway, rather than worrying about rewards, my greater happiness was cooking what I loved and seeing people enjoy eating it.
But just as I was thinking that, a sound shattered my precious happiness.
Ding—
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield lets out a cheer of joy, saying she has procured the ingredients.]
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield urges you to cook quickly.]
“Ah……”
I had a feeling I would need to close the restaurant early today.
Otherwise, I’d end up with neurosis from that Constellation’s message notification sounds.
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield drools at the thought of eating a dish from the lower realm.]
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield stomps her feet, saying she cannot endure it.]
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield……]
No, I think I’m already getting it.
Pressing my throbbing head, I barely finished the restaurant work, closed the door, and spoke toward the sky.
“Give me the prepared ingredients.”
[The Maiden of Power who Roams the Battlefield says an altar is needed to transfer the ingredients.]
“An altar again? Will the one I used before work?”
I rebuilt the altar, which I had briefly left abandoned in the parking lot, back to its original form.
Then, as if unable to endure even that short time, a fierce golden flame blazed up the moment the altar was completed.
And as the flames died down, lying atop the altar was the massive corpse of a wild boar monster, enormous to the point of being SUV-sized.
When would I process that? It was obvious from the start that this would be a hardship.
“I’m definitely getting my reward!”
I shouted loudly toward the sky where the Constellation resided, then rolled up my sleeves.
Now, let’s start cooking a warrior’s dish.