"Meow, you really do know your stuff after all, you chubby fellow, meow."
The Felyne Chef circled the large chunk of Gobul liver sitting on the stovetop, again and again, occasionally reaching out a paw to press and prod the purplish-red liver.
"Of course! When it comes to knowing good food, I won't lose to anyone!" Jara declared proudly, patting his belly.
"Is there some special meaning behind it?" Isis asked curiously.
She loved to eat, but couldn't exactly call herself a connoisseur, and she didn't go out of her way to study such things.
Take her beloved Altaïr-style thick-cut fried bacon, for example. If you placed it before Jara or the Felyne Chef, they'd probably call it "not bad," but they would never consider fried bacon some rare delicacy.
Faced with Isis's question, the Felyne Chef answered in great detail, "Of all meats, liver is the trickiest to keep fresh, meow. Even the slightest spoilage will ruin the flavor completely, meow.
"The two most common preservation methods are curing and freezing, meow. The former alters the flavor; the latter is troublesome to handle, costly, and also affects the texture to some degree, meow.
"Gobul liver is especially unique, meow. This kind of liver has very high water content, so simple curing or freezing will seriously degrade its quality, meow.
"The only proper method is a light cure, letting some of the moisture seep out before freezing, meow. Only this way can its flavor be preserved, meow.
"Hardly any Hunters go to such trouble, meow. Anyone who remembers to bring a bag of salt or a few Ice Crystals to handle the livers is already considered meticulous, meow.
"But this piece of liver, now this is exemplary handling, meow! Once it thaws naturally, I'm confident I can make an outstanding dish, meow!"
"Then I'll leave it in your hands!" Jara rubbed his plump hands together, looking for all the world like a fat fly.
It wasn't just the most gluttonous pair, Jara and Isis. Even Altaïr, who didn't place much importance on fine food, found his interest piqued. He wanted to try this Gobul liver and see just how different it was from the Cephalos liver hailed as a Desert delicacy.
The only one indifferent to the large slab of liver was Nymera. Her gaze was fixed on the stacks of steaming baskets.
These cooking implements, rarely seen in the Old World, stirred a sense of fond familiarity in her. She planned to find a moment later on to ask the Felyne Chef whether he could make Dango.
"All of you, go take your seats, meow! I'm getting to work, meow!" Seeing such a rare fine ingredient, the Felyne Chef was now thoroughly fired up.
His perpetually squinting eyes opened a slit. With a cleaver and a large iron ladle in hand, he charged at the stove with a meowing cry.
"You two have grown pretty fast." Jara wiped his large, fatty palms casually across the tabletop, which passed for cleaning, and the four of them plus one Felyne settled around it.
"I figured you'd be promoted to 4-star. After all, both of you were already 3-star when you left Val Habar back then.
"But seeing the gear you're wearing, this isn't equipment an average 4-star Hunter could get their hands on. Seregios, Glavenus... heh!"
Jara's plump jowls wobbled. "So, where did you run into that Seregios? I'm actually pretty interested in them."
"Altaïr ran into one in the Jungle a couple months back," Isis answered for him, then asked curiously, "Were you thinking of crafting the Regios Armor Set? Or the Seregios Insect Glaive?"
Considering the stout fellow was an Insect Glaive user, the effects of the Regios Armor Set would indeed suit him well.
"Nah, nah." Jara shook his head. "Yian Kut-Ku claws are famous as a delicacy, and Seregios are Monsters that also use their talons as a primary weapon. I've really been wanting to find out whether Seregios talons taste any good."
"I knew it." Altaïr buried his face in his hands.
Meeting Jara for the first time, Nymera found this big fellow quite amusing and couldn't help but tease, "Rathalos also uses its hind talons as its main weapons. Has Mr. Jara ever considered trying those?"
"I have. Inedible." Jara curled his lip. "All bone and Venom Gland, with very little meat, and most of that saturated with toxins. On the other hand, the Rathalos tongue, ribs, and tail are all excellent ingredients."
Nymera's smile stiffened slightly. You actually tried it?
Once on the topic of rare ingredients, Jara couldn't stop talking. "Oh, right! Rathian too. A Rathian's belly meat and tenderloin are the pinnacle of meat. The flavor... anyway, you two absolutely have to give it a try when you have the chance.
"And Glavenus too! You didn't miss out on the Glavenus fillet, did you?"
"We've tried Glavenus loin. It was incredible. So Rathian meat is actually edible too?" Isis licked her lips. "What a shame. When we hunted that Rathian, I should've taken the chance to harvest some."
"I'll write you a list of Monster ingredients later." Jara beamed happily, like he'd found kindred spirits. "Even if you're not specifically hunting for ingredients like me, when the chance comes up on a Hunt, don't let the good stuff go to waste."
Something suddenly dawned on Altaïr. "Jara, have you also been promoted to 5★?"
"Exactly." Jara raised a thumb as thick as a carrot. "Before, I had no goal. I spent every day just wandering between snack stalls.
"Then one time, in the Desert, I met an Old Hunter. After he treated me to a meal of Nibelsnarf throat meat, I finally realized that these wild, primal delicacies were what I should truly be seeking!
"The wilderness crawling with Monsters is nothing like snack stalls. If you want to get ingredients instead of becoming them, of course you have to put in some effort!"
As he spoke, Jara bent his arms and struck a bodybuilding pose.
His plump arms were round and meaty, with no visible muscle definition, but the tautness of his skin made it clear that this guy's muscle mass was no joke.
Slam! Isis suddenly clapped both hands onto the table. "Jara, my man, I've got a question for you."
"What?" Jara blinked, caught off guard by how suddenly serious Isis had become.
Altaïr, however, had already guessed what was coming. Right now, all he wanted to do was bury his face in his hands again.
"Between Gravios and Lagiacrus, which one tastes better?"
Jara froze for a few seconds, then clapped his hands loudly. "Then you've definitely come to the right person!"
"Hold on a moment." Nymera made a "pause" gesture toward Jara, then turned to look at Isis.
The Gunner's usually warm and gentle smile had taken on a slightly dangerous edge.
Although she could be a bit scatterbrained at times and knew how to have fun with even someone as eccentric as Lambert, when it came to serious matters, she was an extremely earnest person.
Hunting a Lagiacrus or hunting a Gravios was an important decision that would determine Isis's main armor set for a considerable time to come.
How could that be decided for a ridiculous reason like "which one tastes better"?!
Feeling prickly all over under Nymera's smiling gaze, Isis quickly waved her hands. "I didn't mean it that way... well, okay, maybe I meant it a little bit.
"Look, Nymera, from an armor performance standpoint, the Lagiacrus Armor Set and the Gravios Armor Set each have their advantages, but there isn't one that's strictly better than the other, right?"
"True," Nymera admitted with a nod.
The Lagiacrus Armor Set emphasized agility and stamina, while the Gravios Armor Set focused more on raw power. They simply had different strengths; neither could be called superior.
"It's the same with hunt difficulty. Gravios has thick, tough hide, can unleash high-temperature heat-ray breath attacks, and can even dive into lava. The Volcano is also swarming with High Threat Level Monsters.
"Lagiacrus is adept at releasing electric shocks, and the hunt is very likely to involve underwater combat, which is equally dangerous.
"No matter which one we hunt, we'd need extensive targeted preparations. There's no real case to be made that one is harder or more dangerous than the other."
By now, it wasn't just Nymera; Altaïr and Clawdia were also nodding along.
"So I really did think about it. I thought about it really hard! I've been thinking ever since we left Uncle Smithy's place, and I just can't choose!"
Isis clawed at her hair frantically. "In life, sometimes you face dilemmas where either choice seems fine, but the moment you pick one, you start thinking how great the other would've been too!"
"...I have no rebuttal." Nymera pressed her fingers to her brow.
Heavy Bowgun or Light Bowgun? A Felyne or a Palamute as a hunting partner? Bunny Dango with brown sugar syrup or sweet soy sauce?
She struggled with those kinds of choices herself.
"So what was your original plan for deciding?" Altaïr folded his arms on the table and asked, "If you weren't going to ask Jara which one tastes better, I mean."
"Flip a coin." Isis pulled out a coin.
"...Then by all means, ask which one tastes better."
(Translated by yourtl.app)