A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 145: Cooking With Herbs

As they were cooking, a fragment scent whiffed through the air, making even Theo drool at the smell. He rarely ate any plants unless it was absolutely necessary, but for the first time in his life he wanted to eat one without a real need for it.

"What did you do?" Theo questioned Serena as she was cleaning up. "The brown roots smell good."

Serena turned to him and replied, "I just added some herbs to them..."

Though she had to admit Theo was right about them smelling good. Her stomach was practically growling at the thought of trying them.

"Hmm... Do you think it’ll work on meat too?" Theo wondered aloud.

Liz perked up at his words and nodded its head eagerly. "Tell him it’ll work! You can use the same ones you did on the brown roots."

Theo had yet to roast the meat, having only prepared them on skewers. The brown roots took a little longer which was why they were put by the fire first. Of course, the meat would join it soon.

"It could work..." Serena finally said. "We can put some of these leftover herbs onto some of the skewers and test it out... If it’s not enough, I have a few more in my basket."

And a bunch more in her subspace, but Serena didn’t really think that they needed that much. Just a little to sprinkle over the meat.

"Sounds good." Theo nodded his head in understanding. He picked up three skewers and asked, "This should be enough, right?"

"Yeah, let’s work with that for now." Serena agreed.

With that, Theo moved over to where she was sitting and the two sprinkled some of the herbs onto the skewers. Once all three were well coated, Theo placed them next to the others before he began roasting them.

He started with just the normal ones sprinkled with a bit of salt before he moved onto the herb ones. As he was roasting the meat, Serena finished up cleaning. She took the vegetable scraps to the wild birds, checked on the coop before returning.

And when she got close to the hut on her way back, the heavy scent of food filled her nose. The herbs were clearly doing something because everything was smelling better than normal.

She was secretly glad Liz had talked her into this. Well, kind of anyway. However, she wouldn’t tell the system that to its face because she would never hear the end of it.

"It smells good." Liz murmured, forked tongue flickering out for a second.

Serena came to a stop and frowned at those words. She then asked, "You can smell?"

"I have all five senses. Of course, I can smell." Liz stated. "Why did you think I couldn’t smell?"

"I have no idea." Serena mused.

"Hmmm...." Liz went quiet for a moment before it then said, "As the one you helped you discover this, I demand a piece of meat and brown root as tribute."

"We only ’discovered’ this because of my world’s technology... Besides, I’m sure someone would’ve figured this out sooner or later." Serena argued. "Also since when did you eat food?"

"I’ve had that ability always." Liz stated. "The difference is I don’t need to eat, but rather want to."

And with those words, Serena suddenly understood why Liz was eager to get her to make new foods. It wasn’t really to help this world, but more because she wanted to try out said food.

"Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do here..." Serena grumbled as she walked back to the hut.

Liz gave her an innocent look as it said, "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Serena ignored the system after that and went to wash her hands. Kiro arrived a moment later, almost drooling at the smell of food. He never smelt something so good before.

"What’s that smell?" The cub asked eagerly, rushing over to Serena and Theo the moment he washed his hands and face.

"Roasted meat and brown roots." Serena answered. "We added something to the meat and brown roots to see how it would taste... You can try a little and if you don’t like it then you can have the normal ones we do."

It wouldn’t be good to waste food they worked hard to gather and hunt, so Serena figured they were better off only making a little first to try it. If they liked it then they would make a full potion next time.

"Okay!" Kiro nodded his head in understanding.

They waited eagerly for another twenty minutes before the brown roots and meat were done. Theo sent Kiro to fetch bowls before he served everyone food. Since Serena only made brown roots for her and Kiro, she spilt hers with Theo, knowing he wanted to try it.

"Are you sure?" Theo questioned, glancing between the brown root and Serena.

"I’m sure." Serena said. "I have another brown root here and meat still to eat, so this is fine."

Meanwhile Liz gaped at her actions before it muttered, "I can’t believe you’d give him before me. Where’s the loyalty?!"

Serena pursed her lips at the dramatic system, giving it a pointed look. In a hushed tone, Serena then murmured, "You get later."

"Huh?" Theo lifted his head in confusion, wondering what Serena was talking about.

"Ignore me." Serena said, turning to Kiro. "Hey! Slow down there! Your food’s not going to run away."

The cub slowed down before he exclaimed, "Sorry! It just tastes really good. Better than the normal ones!"

Serena shook her head at her younger brother and sighed, "Alright... Just don’t choke okay."

Kiro nodded in understanding and Serena turned her attention back to her food. She kept two small pieces of brown roots and meat to the side for Liz before she took a bite out of her potion.

And the moment she tasted the meat, she suddenly understood why Kiro was scoffing it down so quickly. Because it tasted so good and was indeed better than what they normally had.

It was like nothing she had in this world before.

She turned to Theo and noticed he was quietly eating his food, seeming to be deep in thought. Serena watched him for a moment as she continued to eat.

Finally she asked, "Does it taste good?"

Theo blinked, taking him a moment to realize that Serena had asked him something. He then quickly answered, "Oh yes! It tastes quite good... I’m just wondering if different herbs change the taste of the meat like the type of wood does."

Serena stared at him, feeling like she had awoken something inside this beastman. She had just been here thinking that the food tasted better than normal and Theo was already thinking about how to improve it and change the taste.

"Um... I suppose that could happen." Serena mused. "However, I don’t think we should go testing on every plant. Some might be poisonous if not used correctly."

"That’s true." Theo murmured. "Guess that’s why few have tried adding things to their meat. The best I’ve seen is this honey glaze meat that the Bear Clan sometimes makes... I did hear the Eastern Region makes food differently, but have never seen it for myself."

"Maybe it’s because they have different plants, so they can make different things." Serena said.

"Probably." Theo nodded his head in agreement. "The Horse Clan sometimes brings dried plants from that region, but I’ve never really taken an interest in it because those stalls always make me sneeze at the smell."

Liz perked up again at those words. "Serena, ask him to describe some of those plants!"

"Did you see any of the plants?" Serena asked Theo.

She wasn’t sure why Liz wanted her to ask such a question, but she figured the system probably had a good reason for it.

"Um... most was dried and dark green. I saw a few light brown roots in these weird shapes." Theo answered, pursing his lips as he recalled what he saw. "Oh! And these small, black balls-"

"That’s it!" Liz exclaimed excitedly, making Serena’s ears ring for a moment. "That’s where we can find the pepper!"

Serena was confused about what Liz was going on about before recalling a conversation they had about the plant. It was one of the ingredients she needed for that meat preserving recipe.

Which now made getting contact with the Horse Clan all that more important. They clearly had things she wouldn’t be able to find here, but would likely need for the development of this village.

"Do you know any of them?" Theo suddenly asked, breaking Serena’s train of thought.

"Not quite." Serena answered. "But it does interest me."

Theo looked like he wanted to ask more, but Kiro suddenly came over to them, looking for more food. Serena gave him the rest of hers in exchange for some of his normal ones as the cub found them too bland now.

Seemed those herbs had really changed things for them all.