章節 27: The Hunt

The next morning, Takashi and Thomas came out in their training suits after feeding the horses.

Sasha, Christa and Ymir were already waiting by a waterhole with their horses.

"Takashi, they sleep during the days off more than usual, don't you usually run in the morning just after sunrise?" Ymir looked at Takashi and started shooting direct words.

"I didn't think you would know what I do all the time, I should watch myself if I don't want you to eat me." Takashi said with a sad smile.

"Eat you? Your bitter old meat would taste bad, you're not to my taste." Ymir replied with piercing eyes.

Takashi was not angry. That's how this woman talks. Except for being a bit more polite to Christa, everyone in general is treated like this by her. In short, Takashi is relieved that he is not treated any differently

"It's okay, no good fighting in the morning, gotta go straight on for the meat." Thomas said with a motivated smile.

"I'm not talking to you monkey." Ymir said before turning around and starting the journey.

"This witch..." Thomas muttered under his breath.

"Get used to it, maybe she can be your wife in the future." Takashi patted Thomas' shoulder and climbed onto Babas to begin the journey.

"Takashi, don't engage me with a witch like that." Thomas got on his horse and caught up with the others.

"How are you, Sasha?" Takashi approached Sasha, handed his the bow and arrows as he struck up a conversation.

"Happy, I haven't hunted in a long time and I hope I can catch something big today." Sasha said with sparkling eyes.

"Of course we'll hunt something interesting, I'm motivated." Takashi smiled and said nothing more.

There is only one bow, Sasha was motivated and Takashi offered her the bow to take over. Sasha, who was a hunter, had a guaranteed level, not much worse than her father.

They all rode their horses, galloping all the way. After arriving at the site, they tied up their horses somewhere in the dense forest outside the station.

The next step is to walk on foot, the road ahead is already too difficult to walk on horseback, it would be easy to scare off prey with a horse in this place.

Sasha obviously has experience, as soon as I enter the forest, I carefully search for tracks left by various animals, occasionally finding the feces left by some animals not so long ago.

However, soon Sasha realized the horror that was her teammates. Thomas accidentally scared a rabbit. When he found a beaver, Christa exclaimed, and then accordingly the beaver escaped.

Beaver: Damn humans, this old beaver escaped from their arrows, did they really think it would be easy to take me into their stomach?

Takashi couldn't take it anymore and grabbed some plants on the ground. "This won't work if we continue this way, see this kind of wild plant in my hand? We can find some wild vegetables like lettuce, mushrooms and arugula. By having this, we can make some good dishes with the meat that Sasha catches."

Several people were a little embarrassed. Thomas, Christa and the others didn't know how to hunt, on this trip they have been doing them a favor in accepting them. Sasha has a good temperament, but Takashi is not that kind of person.

Thomas wanted to learn how to hunt, but it really wasn't something he could learn in a short time.

"It's okay, we'll find wild plants and Sasha will do the hunting on her own." Thomas replied quietly, a little guilty about the situation.

"Okay, we'll be in the vicinity, let's search and not get too far apart." With the directions given, Ymir, Thomas and Christa walked towards the outskirts of the forest. Without the interference of third parties, Sasha walked into the forest and the process was too quiet.

Some time later, Takashi was searching for edible mushrooms when he heard footsteps behind him. Sensing who it was, he asked, "Are you done foraging?"

"We already have enough wild plants, just wait for Sasha to return." Ymir looked at Takashi with a calm expression. "I didn't think you would trust me at first, I still doubt your true intentions in keeping that secret from you."

Takashi finished picking the mushrooms and pointed out, "What assures me that your ability can't be useful in the future? Besides, there is a possibility that there are many more like us."

"You said your ability was very different, how different is it from normal titans?" Ymir asked curiously.

"I don't know how I obtained this power, but what I am aware of is that I will use it for the future of these walls and all its people. I'm not sure if it's the same in your case, but in every use I make of my ability, let's just say I get sick in a certain way."

After saying that, Takashi remarked, "It's like it consumes me, I'm sure my ability is for a much higher purpose than what the titans represent."

Takashi started to play with the cards he had, he definitely didn't know how to explain his power otherwise. It wasn't related to the titans after all and once his Susanoo made a presence in this world, he didn't know what would happen next.

"A noble motive... Something fantastic, but the tricky thing will be for the humanity inside these walls to accept you. What will you do if they start hunting you as just another monster in this world?" Ymir looked at Takashi blankly.

"Nothing, I'm sure my power will serve in some way. If they decide not to accept me, I will do my best to bring about a change with my own abilities." Takashi said, "I don't need to be accepted, I will build a world for the people I love, only that."

Ymir seemed surprised at Takashi's words, she smiled slightly and didn't say anything until some time later. "If you can prove to me that you will win, I will tell you some things I know about my history."

Takashi smiled and said, "I'll be waiting for that moment, go back with the others, I'll look for Sasha."

Takashi and Ymir parted ways and went in two different directions, after that conversation, he felt much more comfortable with Ymir and knew that he was quite possibly no one with evil ideas.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, when Thomas and the others were a bit impatient, Sasha and Takashi returned with a huge boar tied to a long pole.

Sasha was full of excitement, holding two large rabbits in her hands, "Look, besides the boar that Takashi killed with his sword, I was able to catch these big rabbits."

Thomas: "That's great, I'm starving, I can finally eat meat again."

Ymir and Christa were sorting the freshly picked wild vegetables.

Thomas felt a little regretful. Before he came, he thought he could help, but he only fooled his teammates. No wonder Takashi said he did nothing but collect wild plants.

He picked a mushroom called "Delicious Mushroom" which he picked by chance, "Sasha, Takashi, is it edible?"

Sasha took a closer look and nodded, "Yes, it tastes good."

Takashi also thinks that today's harvest is fine, many corps soldiers who stayed at the base could eat meat today.

Rabbits can be made from mushrooms and wild vegetables.

After Takashi and the others returned to the corps training station, the group headed straight to the base kitchen.

Takashi along with Thomas had been in charge of cleaning the boar, Christa and Sasha cleaned the rabbits.

After everything was prepared, Takashi together with Sasha placed the boar on a spit that he made with the help of string and sticks.

After hours of preparation, Takashi took charge of making the rabbits and completely took over the cooking.

In the kitchen he found green peppers, potatoes, prepared two eggs, some onion, some ginger, plus the mushrooms and the mushroom that Thomas picked earlier, the ingredients are more or less complete to make something good.

Ymir and Sasha were rigorously tending the boar, Christa on her side was preparing the conical utensils, Thomas.... Poor Thomas was depressed waiting for dinner.

To be honest, several people are curious about what Takashi is going to make, but he has also demonstrated good cooking skills before, so no one thinks he will waste ingredients.

Wearing an apron, Takahsi cut the rabbit into parts, marinated them for a while with some ingredients while making a mushroom soup, added various seasonings and then heated animal oil, sautéed peppers and then the meat was added until it was done.

He then made mashed potatoes and along with the mushroom soup, served the rabbit meat in different dishes.

Takashi experimented mostly in this dish with simple ideas from his head, he did not dare to use vegetables that spoil the flavors, after all he does not know very well how to accompany them.

In the evening, five plates with the food Takashi prepared were placed in a corner of the dining room. The boar meat was being split into pieces suitable for all the cadets and some of the instructors who stayed at the base.

Sasha on her side had already activated berserker mode, not paying attention to her image at all, eating profusely, that's why she looks cute, but few people really pursue her and Takashi doesn't think much of romance.

"Takashi, it's so delicious! How did you put all these amazing flavors together?" Sasha asked, covering her stomach in satisfaction. She had initially doubted Takashi's abilities, but he showed her that he wasn't bad at cooking.

"It's delicious, much better than what Ymir has prepared before." Christa said admiringly.

Ymir rolled his eyes, naturally he didn't know how to cook, and neither did Christa.

Takashi was speechless, he didn't quite know what she did but at least it came out well. He took care of the flavors and at least in his previous world this meal was just a meat stew. If he knew different recipes, he could have made more interesting things. Although the method and steps may not be right, the taste is passable and everyone liked it.

"If you like it, I'll write you a recipe later."

"Please give it to me." Sasha has started fantasizing about good days in the future.

Thomas patted Takashi on the shoulder, "At first they didn't trust your cooking skills, but after tasting a lot of your dishes I faithfully support you. Remember to never let this gift you have go dormant, the fries you made the other day were very good in taste and texture. Someday I will show everyone my culinary skills."

Takashi did not speak. This shameless man had no idea what he was talking about. Once, Thomas offered to cook alone, but his fried eggs were burnt!

"What's the smell? It's so fragrant." At this time, some people came over for dinner.

Takashi saw Eren, Armin, Mikasa and the others enter the dining room and greeted them directly to eat together, the boar meat had already been cut and dishes began to be served.

Later, Nelson arrived after a hard day of training, Bertholdt and the others came in curiously. When Takashi looked at this, he shouted, "Come in everyone, the food this time is thanks to the hunting skills of Sasha and Ymir together with Christa who prepared the food."

"Wooo!"

"Enthusiastic applause." 　

In this way, there are more and more people, and the atmosphere is very lively. After a while, more than 20 people gathered who enjoyed the meat for the first time in a long time.

Annie tasted the rabbit and was a little surprised: "I didn't expect you to be able to cook. I thought a guy like you only knew how to immerse yourself in training."

Annie and Takashi are not very familiar, in her eyes she had only seen Takashi train nonstop.

"He took the initiative to talk?" Takashi thought to himself and replied by saying, "Well, I have some skills. But... you don't seem to know how to cook, I'll teach you someday."

Annie narrowed her eyes, Mina was right, talking to Takashi sometimes could make people angry.

Takashi was quickly slapped in the face with a handkerchief. Soon after, Annie started to cut the meat that was served on her table for everyone, she who hadn't come in contact with people much, tonight she gained some friends

"Yeah, I thought he, like Eren, couldn't do anything but train" Ymir interrupted so rudely.

Eren, who was inexplicably affected at Ymir's words, blushed a little, but just as he was about to protest the meat got stuck in his throat and he almost choked.

Takashi looked at this protagonist who on many occasions almost abandoned the mortals, he should take care of him with more attention. 　

Seeing that everyone had almost eaten, Takashi patted Thomas on the shoulder, "Thomas, your help was amazing today. I'm going back to practice, I'll let you clean up here as a token of my friendship."

After speaking, he slipped away without giving Thomas a chance to respond.

Thomas: "Me? Productive?

Leaving Thomas staring at the table with messy glasses and plates.

...

For a while, everyone followed Sasha and Takashi to eat and drink, and the days were pretty uneventful.

However, happy times are always short-lived, one day, when they all saw the figure of the bald instructor Keith, they knew the good times were over again.

Keith: "Guys, we haven't seen each other in many days, do you miss me?"