021-040 · 021-ch17

Chapter 17: Making Udon, or a Statement of Feelings Under That Name

For me as the author, this is where Arc 2 begins.

The protagonist's interactions with the surface become mostly through streaming, and he enjoys adventures on his own.

I'll write about the surface occasionally through bulletin boards and stories focusing on people on the surface.

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"Well then, today I'm making udon using horned rabbit meat and the wheat flour I bought on the surface."

>>Suddenly started food porn streaming

>>What???

>>Wasn't this supposed to be an exploration channel?

>>What's a horned rabbit?

"Ah, horned rabbit—I'll show you the real thing sometime soon. Probably a deep layer monster, I'd say."

It had been a few days since I dropped off Kanata-ojou and Akane-ojou on the surface and returned to my home here in the deep world beyond.

During these three days, I hadn't been able to stream much. Originally, I hadn't intended to go out of my way for streaming, so I was planning to just deploy the drone and do documentary-style streaming as usual, but for the last few days, the content was too much to show casually, so I hadn't been streaming.

And now that I'm streaming again after a long while, I decided to film this, figuring I might as well try a cooking stream.

"Cooking streams, huh. Honestly, even though I said I'd stream, I don't really have a clear idea of what kind of streaming I want to do, so I thought I'd film various things for now."

>>Starting with cooking?

>>Now that you mention it, you probably won't do regular streaming

>>More like video documentation feel?

"Ah yeah, close to video documentation. Documentaries, right? I figure just letting it flow is fine enough. Well, we'll talk about that later—for now, let's start making the udon. Feel free to chat while I cook."

My stream—perhaps because I'm the furthest ahead in the world—has around ten people who've found the channel, and they almost all show up. I've even memorized their account names. In that context, a cooking stream might be a letdown, but since we'll chat too, I hope you'll forgive me.

"Today I'm making meat udon. Beef, usually—I think it's beef, but buffalo live quite far away and I'm out of stock right now. I've got ham and bacon, but that doesn't seem right for udon, so today it's rabbit meat I got nearby."

As I said that, I showed them the rabbit meat that I'd already skinned, removed the organs from, and cut up to some extent, along with the parts I don't eat like meat and tendons, arranged on a wooden board I use as a cutting board.

"Hey, does WeTube allow animal butchering videos? I wasn't sure about that today so I did the butchering and bleeding first."

>>WeTube doesn't allow it but dungeon streaming is lenient

>>Dungeon streaming videos are basically R-15 rated, sometimes R-18—though kids watch them anyway

>>It's fine since it's dungeon streaming

>>Dungeon streaming normally shows blood anyway

"Ah, right. I'll start streaming that side of things too next time, then."

Indeed, when you think about it, dungeon streaming might have adventure-like elements, but fundamentally it's combat with monsters. Sometimes you slash apart monsters, and sometimes explorers get injured. By pre-applying rating restrictions to dungeon streaming, I suppose they make it possible to stream that kind of content too.

Now that that's settled, it's time to cook right away. Today—or rather, in the dungeon's underworld, convenient things like granulated dashi basically don't exist. Plus, I bought bonito flakes and such from the surface this time, but making it yourself takes considerable time and effort. That's why I make meals with what I have, with simple processing. That's my current lifestyle. I want you all to know that.

"The dashi is this. I bought bonito flakes and granulated dashi from the surface too, but since it's a rare opportunity, this time I'll stream it as 'how I usually make meals'—just so you know."

The dashi is made from the bones and heads of river fish I had as sashimi for lunch with soy sauce, and the bones of the horned rabbit I just butchered. The fish is fine, but first I head to the river to remove excess parts from the rabbit bones—like blood vessels and organs that would become scum later.

"By the way, inside the dungeon, water sources are river water. I trust that my body has been strengthened by leveling up and becoming an explorer, so I use it and drink it as is."

>>Is that not okay?

>>If it's the world beyond the dungeon, nature seems clean enough

>>I drink river water normally when camping—is that not okay?

"Bacteria exist in nature too, apparently. So on the surface, even mineral water isn't just pure natural water. I don't mind, but I'm saying if you're worried about it, be careful. Well, though, living alone like I do or in small numbers makes it hard to worry about those things."

Even so, living alone in the deep world of the dungeon, I've given up on or postponed various things. I thought I'd talk about that too, since I have the chance.

"Living alone, you realize how amazing modern society is. Agriculture, for example."

I spoke while throwing the rabbit bones I'd washed in the river flowing right near my base, and the fish bones I'd already cleaned, into a pot and setting it over the fire.

"Like, even if I want to eat vegetables, doing agriculture alone is incredibly inefficient. I'd like to grow vegetables, but I also want to explore. Plus, depending on where I'm going, sometimes I have to leave this place for days or even over a month. Livestock is similarly impossible."

I gave up on fields quite early on. By the way, vegetables I brought from the surface had weaker reproductive power than other plants in the dungeon world, and they'd normally lose to weeds. Right now, I just randomly scatter seeds from dungeon world plants and leave them to grow on their own. It's mysterious that they grow reasonably well in their proper season even so.

"Also, for example, I came with the intention of making things like bonito flakes, but I'm not doing it now. I could manage bacon or ham, but bonito flakes took too much time. Making charcoal is the same—since I'm often out exploring, I don't do it much."

It wasn't survival living so much as I had an aspiration to live doing various things with my own hands without machines. But my resources didn't allow it. Even though I have a clone skill, with my "degraded" skill, one person is the limit, and since my abilities aren't high, I can't be a major labor force. Even if my level goes up and I can use magic, there's a limit to what one person can do.

Modern society forms society with an extremely large number of people, making role division extreme. Those who handle distribution can eat just by doing that, and those who catch fish can eat meat and vegetables too. That's the strength of society.

When it started boiling, I pulled firewood from the stove to weaken the flame, skimmed off the scum, and let it simmer.

"Well, that's why even though I'm living alone, there are quite a few things that can only be done in groups. This colander and bowl are things I bought from the surface too. I've tried making things like this, but since I spend more time going out to explore, I haven't made much progress."

When the scum stopped appearing in the dashi, this time I kneaded the udon dough. I sifted the wheat flour, then worked in salt water while kneading.

>>More like chat stream than cooking stream

>>The cooking part looks normally interesting too

>>Well, there are limits to what one person can do

>>Agriculture is at village level

"That's why I'm not good at dealing with people, but if you ask if I'd be completely fine alone, that's not it either. A big city, a metropolis, and then small villages of ten or twenty people far from there. And I'd make that village my base and go out to explore. Honestly speaking, that's about my ideal."

I don't think it'd be better if humans weren't there. It's just like medieval villages or cities—people gather but there aren't 100 of them, yet there are enough people that they分担 various jobs and do them.

And furthermore, in the countryside, far away, there's a village of about ten people, and the residents there come to the city to trade. Nature remains as nature, and right next to the narrow area humans control, vast nature spreads out.

I honestly think, just by myself, that life around medieval times might be my ideal.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is—everyone, work hard to catch up."

Maybe I talked a bit too much. I thought that, but surprisingly the viewers seem to be accepting it kindly.

>>I'll work hard

>>That'll take quite some time

>>So you want people other than explorers to come there too?

>>That won't work with just explorers, will it?

"Right! I always think that. My thinking is—once explorers secure safety, can't we make forward bases with blacksmiths and merchants and such? Then once a forward base is built further ahead, that should become a completely residential village. Opening up the dungeon, basically."

>>Obviously you'd want that if possible

>>Can it be done?

>>I think that'll be quite difficult

>>Frankly, even explorers aren't used to having their lives in danger

There it is. For surface people living in a safe world, a life where threats are nearby is unfamiliar. Few can step into that.

"Yeah... well, I'll take the long view. Anyway, now I just need to let the udon rest and wait for the dashi to finish."

>>You're not talking about cooking in the end!

>>Ah, I'm getting hungry

>>Let's eat udon later

Certainly, even though I called it a cooking stream, I ended up just talking one-sidedly.

"Then, shall I do a Q&A while splitting firewood while we wait?"