Turning Trash into Treasure

Over there, by the butchering area, Du Pont sat in a daze, still replaying the slaughter in his mind.

Compared to butchering the cow earlier, he was noticeably more adept at killing the pig this time. Even though he failed the first time, his hands didn't tremble anymore.

Normally, this would mean he'd improved, but the soul of a civilized man still made him feel a deep-seated aversion to such killing.

Maybe a few more kills will do the trick, Du Pont thought listlessly.

"Boulderstone wasn't mocking you just now." As Du Pont pondered, Judy came to his side, patted his knee, and handed him a glass of milk. "Actually, I think he admires you. But Barbarians are mostly used to being undisciplined and rough, so they rarely speak properly and tend to curse. But he's not a bad guy at heart; he just doesn't want you to be as cowardly as those fools."

"Thank you, Judy," Du Pont nodded, a shy, youthful smile on his face. "Hearing your comfort makes me feel much better."

"Haha, how could you become a Mage without understanding these things? But you're still young; you'll get used to it with more experience." Judy pointed to the side. "Although this is just mindless grunt work, sometimes you need to hunt and do rough work yourself when there's no food in the wild. Especially without a Bag of Holding, you have to calculate how much to carry on a trip. You can watch them work."

Du Pont nodded. He saw several farmers working together to lift the fat pig onto a large pot, pouring hot water that had been prepared in advance over the pig's body. Once the fur softened, the Butcher switched to an ordinary long knife and quickly scraped off the hair. Then, he directed the farmers to turn the fat pig over, making cuts on either side of the pig's lower body with a small knife, followed by a single cut to separate the genitals. He then tossed the pig's penis to the hunting dogs that had followed them, looking disgusted.

After removing the filth, they proceeded to chop off the head and open the abdomen. The Butcher's hand, holding the knife, simply rotated around the thick neck, and the large pig's head, nearly half a meter in size, fell off. Several farmers took out large wooden basins that had been prepared in advance to catch the pig's head and offal, while the pig's blood was thrown away with a look of disgust.

Du Pont watched with some regret. These people don't know how to eat.

Over there, the Barbarian Boulderstone was efficient and clean. His movements were extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, he had finished picking the tendons and deboning a leg. The originally complete pig was divided into meat chunks of various sizes according to their position in less than two minutes, and thrown into different wooden basins according to the cut.

Finally, he contentedly plucked a narrow, tender piece of meat from beside the spine, and without washing it, he casually took out a bowl of sauce, tore the meat apart, dipped it, and stuffed it into his mouth, leaving Du Pont astonished.

Damn, isn't he afraid of getting sick eating like that?

Or can this world use magic to prevent pigs from getting sick?

That's probably unlikely. Although the power of magic is sometimes more miraculous than science, magic is released by people or magic circles, and that costs money. Raising pigs with Mages to take care of them would probably be ridiculously expensive.

Boulderstone saw the ghostly look on Du Pont's face. After swallowing the meat in his mouth, he tore off a few more strips and handed them to him. "This is real tenderloin, as tender as Wagyu tenderloin, but with a unique flavor that can be called a delicacy. Want to try some?"

Du Pont quickly shook his head. He muttered, 'Just like Halflings, they don't know good food,' and ate his own meal. After he finished eating, Du Pont asked, "Brother, aren't you afraid of getting worm diseases eating like that?"

"Worm diseases? How would I get worm diseases?" Boulderstone wore a dumbfounded expression. "Have you ever seen fleas grow in meat? Did you get dumber from copying scrolls?"

"I'm not talking about fleas." Du Pont thought for a moment. This guy probably hadn't seen parasites, so he gestured. "Like those worms in fish bellies, flat, white, and like noodles, pretty disgusting."

Boulderstone shook his head. "No, I've even eaten dragon meat. What's this? Let's not talk about this; it'll ruin my appetite." After he said that, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and frowned. "But every few months, my body does feel uncomfortable. Every time I get sick, I go to the Druid to help me with a Remove Disease, and it's basically no big deal."

Du Pont was speechless after hearing this.

Remove Disease is a 3rd Circle Druid Spell, one level higher than his 50 Gold Coins Lesser Restoration. And it was being used on this gluttonous Barbarian.

If he remembered correctly, pork tapeworm disease hadn't been curable for many years even in modern times, and treatment was quite troublesome.

In Faerûn, it was easy; with money, the spell would cure the disease immediately.

Seeing Du Pont's expression, Boulderstone sensed danger. "Are you saying that my illness is because of eating raw meat?"

Du Pont nodded. "That's right. This pig looks relatively clean, but some pigs may carry parasites. Eating it raw makes it easy for them to parasitize in your stomach, where they'll grow inside your body. It's pretty disgusting."

The Butcher looked disbelieving. "Are you trying to trick me? My eyes are good; how could I not see worms longer than my fingers?"

"They're eggs, very small. Besides, you didn't seem to look closely when you tore the meat just now. But this meat looks pretty good, so it shouldn't be a big problem. But in the future, if you see pork with white spots, it's definitely pork with worms. Some people with good stomachs can excrete them when they have diarrhea; those are parasites."

Du Pont's words made the Butcher's face turn ugly. The farmers next to him were the same, and one even threw up. Even the Halfling's face was a little pale, which surprised Du Pont. "Could it be that you've all eaten it?"

"There's a lot of meat with white spots, even beef has it." Judy scratched his head. "But I don't feel uncomfortable."

"Generally speaking, meat is safe when cooked. Those worms don't have fire resistance; they die after boiling in boiling water for a few minutes."

Du Pont's words relieved a few people, but Judy was still a little incredulous. "But sometimes the meat sent to the academy goes through Detect Poison spot checks, and it's never triggered an alarm?"

"First of all, parasites and poison are two different diseases. This falls under the category of disease; detoxification magic is ineffective. Also, it's fine if you cook the meat, but of course, it's best to pick good meat." Du Pont said, looking at the offal. "Alright, stop dwelling on that. Just don't eat raw meat in the future. What are you going to do with these things?"

"The heart and liver taste pretty good; sometimes we boil them in salt water, which is quite delicious." Judy jumped off the bench. "As for the pig's head and other internal organs, they're usually sent to the market to be sold cheaply. These things look ugly and have a strong fishy smell. Except for those penniless poor ghosts who want to use these things to get some grease, basically no one likes to eat this stuff."

"Remember what I told you yesterday?" Du Pont smiled. "I once saw a mysterious book that had ways to process these things, and they taste very good when made."

"Hmm?" The Halfling frowned when he heard this. This was practically an attack on his professional ethics. "Are you talking about the pig's head? I've tried some parts of it, and they can indeed be called unique, but there's too much fat, and the texture is greasy. You don't want to eat it after a few bites, and it doesn't look good. No proper banquet would want it; it might even affect the diners' mood."

"You're right, but the right cooking method can turn waste into treasure. What's more, this pig's head can't be considered complete waste. You know, it's a top-quality ingredient with nine completely different flavors. Compared to its deliciousness, ugliness is hardly a flaw." As he spoke, he pointed to the intestines on the ground. "Besides, these two can be called delicacies, but the cooking method is special."

"Ah, can this stuff be eaten?" Judy looked incredulous when he heard this, but the Butcher remembered something. "In my hometown, if the harvest isn't good and we can't hunt anything, the stomach, small intestine, and pig lungs are usually made into offal soup. But normally, as long as there are enough supplies, this stuff is fed to the tribe's hunting dogs. Like this large intestine, no one wants it even if you give it away. Hey, George, do you guys eat this stuff?"

The farmers shook their heads after hearing this. "Offal porridge with some vegetables and mint can remove the fishy smell, but who would make intestines? It stinks for days even if the dogs eat it. We can't eat this stuff even if we're poor."

"Normally, cleaning is indeed a problem. If it's not handled well, it's easy to get sick and it smells bad." Du Pont nodded in agreement. If he hadn't discovered that magic was really useful, he wouldn't have been full enough to bother cleaning this stuff. "But Mages have a spell called Dust Removal Spell. You don't need to lift a finger to clean this stuff. Once the spell cleans it, just wash it with salt and flour."

The farmers obviously didn't believe him. Judy opened his mouth wide and didn't know what to say for a long time, but the Butcher patted the Halfling's shoulder. "That's interesting. Anyway, this stuff isn't worth much; you can try it. But you have to eat it first."

"What are you saying? Would I have nothing better to do than feed you shit?"

Hearing this, the Barbarian and the Halfling all shook their heads and said in unison, "Hard to say."