“After that, cut the Goblin meat into appropriately-sized pieces. I don’t have a blade, so I’ll be using my own claws, but I’ve cleaned them properly so rest assured,” said Vandalieu, cutting the meat with his claws. The villagers groaned once more.

“After the meat is cut, place it in a barrel with the grass juice,” he continued. “In this case, let us take care to make sure that the meat is submerged in the grass juice. Place a lid on top, leave it for a day and it is complete. For this demonstration, I have prepared the completed product.”

“Eh? When did you do that?” a perceptive villager asked.

“I used my Familiar Spirit powers to prepare it,” Vandalieu replied. He couldn’t tell the villagers that he had actually used the Inanimate Aging spell to turn it into a one-day-old state, so he deceived them forcibly. “This is the finished Gobu-gobu,” he said. “Please go ahead and try some.”

He opened the barrel and placed some of its contents, which resembled purple meat, onto plates. Seeing this, the villagers instinctively took a step back. This was the normal reaction for anyone being told to eat purple meat.

“I-is this really edible?” the village chief asked.
“Of course,” said Vandalieu. “Shall we eat it together?”

“N-no! Itadakimasu.” The village chief took a piece of Gobu-gobu and shut his eyes tightly as he bit into it. But as he continued chewing several times, his frowned eyebrows began to relax. “This is… not delicious, but it is not unpleasant and there is no stink,” he commented.

Hearing the village chief say this, the villagers timidly placed the Gobu-gobu into their mouths.