Chapter 115
With the Golden Apple as an unexpected bonus, Haruto finished breakfast and immediately set out again.
His Food Luck was clearly running high, so he wanted to gather as many ingredients as possible while it lasted.
After walking for over an hour, Haruto came across a rocky region filled with stones of every size and shape.
In an ordinary world, such terrain would usually mean barren, lifeless land.
But this was the Toriko world. Places like this often hid even greater culinary surprises.
Haruto immediately changed direction and headed toward it.
The moment he entered the rocky field, he noticed something unusual.
These were not ordinary cold, hard stones.
They were ingredients.
The black ones were Chocolate Rocks, rich and slightly bitter with a lingering sweetness, carrying the flavor of top-quality cocoa.
The white ones were Marshmallow Rocks, soft and airy enough to melt in the mouth, sweet without becoming overwhelming.
There were also Gamble Rocks that released a faint aroma of meat.
Haruto picked up one about the size of a soccer ball and cut it open.
Hidden inside was a beautifully marbled cut of beef, bright red with evenly distributed veins of fat.
Another, larger rock contained tender pork loin.
The next held thick slices of pork belly.
Each stone was essentially a mystery box filled with an unknown cut of meat.
Haruto found himself enjoying the process far more than expected.
Only after collecting a large assortment of rocks did he leave the area with satisfaction and continue deeper into the hills.
A while later, he arrived at a meadow covered in Hamburger Clovers.
Each clover had four leaves.
Two were soft pieces of bread, one was a perfectly browned meat patty, and the last was cheese.
Combined, the four leaves formed a complete hamburger that could be picked and eaten immediately.
French Fry Butterflies fluttered around the clovers, their wings made from crisp, golden fries that released a salty potato aroma whenever they flew.
In a clearing nearby stood a Hundred-Fruit Tree.
Its interwoven branches were covered in every kind of fruit imaginable—strawberries, mangoes, grapes, peaches, cherries, bananas, and many more.
Fruits from completely different climates and seasons all grew on the same tree.
After gathering a wide selection, Haruto soon discovered a forest of Rice Bowl Trees.
Round fruits hung from vines drooping beneath their branches.
Each fruit contained a piping-hot rice bowl dish.
The chicken cutlet bowls had meat that was crisp outside and tender within. The shrimp tempura bowls held plump, juicy shrimp with a satisfying springiness.
The pork bowls contained soft, deeply seasoned meat over distinct grains of rice saturated with flavorful sauce.
Of course, the region was not entirely harmless.
While Haruto was picking one of the Rice Bowl Fruits, an ordinary-looking green vine suddenly sprang to life.
Caught off guard, he was wrapped tightly before he could move. The vine rapidly constricted around his body with tremendous force.
Haruto flexed his muscles.
The vine snapped apart immediately, splashing green liquid across the ground before going limp.
After freeing himself, Haruto put away some of his earlier carelessness and began observing his surroundings more cautiously.
Not long after leaving the Rice Bowl Forest, an extraordinarily rich aroma of meat drifted toward him on the wind, instantly making his mouth water.
Haruto followed it quickly and brightened at the sight ahead.
A wide grove was filled with Barbecue Trees and Chicken Leg Trees.
The Barbecue Trees were covered in glossy, golden pieces of roasted meat, with rich fat slowly dripping from their surfaces.
The Chicken Leg Trees bore countless roasted drumsticks that released an irresistible fragrance.
Just looking at them was enough to stir the appetite.
Beside the trees, a herd of steaming Whole Roast Pigs wandered lazily through the clearing.
Haruto naturally had no intention of ignoring such a feast.
He carefully approached the herd and prepared to capture them.
Unfortunately, he was still a little too slow.
During the hunt, two of the Whole Roast Pigs panicked and became furious.
The heat inside their bodies erupted, and within seconds they had completely burned themselves, ruining their ideal texture.
...
After spending more than ten days exploring the Beibat Sand Hills, Haruto finally reached the outskirts of a city.
Living alone in the wilderness for so long had left him tired, so he entered without hesitation and decided to rest for several days.
The fragrance of food, the noise of busy streets, and the general bustle of civilization gave him a sense of comfort he had not felt during his long stretch of solitude.
Haruto found a clean hotel, washed away the accumulated dirt, and replaced his dust-covered clothes.
He then sorted through the ingredients he had captured over the past month and separated everything he had collected in excessive quantities.
Afterward, he took them to the local ingredient market and sold them.
The sale earned him a considerable sum, giving him enough money to fund the next stage of his journey.
Once he finished selling the surplus, Haruto turned his attention toward buying ingredients from the market.
Although this was only an ordinary city, the selection was still dazzling.
There were fish and shellfish from the deep sea, countless birds and land animals, bizarre fruits and mushrooms, aromatic herbs, seasoning plants, and every variety of pickled accompaniment imaginable.
Haruto moved from stall to stall, carefully selecting small portions of different ingredients.
None of them were especially rare or high-level, but their variety more than made up for that.
Since Haruto only wanted to experience their flavors, he did not need to buy much of each one.
By the time he finished shopping, he had purchased several times more kinds of ingredients than he had personally captured in the Beibat Sand Hills.
That left him rather excited.
There might not be anything particularly valuable among them, but after eating so many new ingredients, his strength should still improve considerably.
Haruto also gritted his teeth and spent more than half his remaining money on a Melk Knife from the city’s Gourmet Mall.
It was most likely nothing more than a practice piece made by Melk, forged from the tusk of a Capture Level 17 Dinosaur Elephant.
The knife was plain, without elaborate carvings or decoration, yet it still possessed the extraordinary sharpness and durability associated with all Melk Knives.
For Haruto’s current needs, it was more than sufficient as a temporary weapon and kitchen tool. It could handle the vast majority of ingredients he was likely to encounter.
During the following days, Haruto did not remain idle.
He visited nearly every restaurant in the city, from small street stalls hidden down narrow alleys to tastefully decorated mid-range establishments.
Crisp fried dishes, rich soups, and uniquely seasoned grilled foods left his stomach thoroughly satisfied.
In his spare time, Haruto also gathered information from taverns and trading halls.
The most widely discussed recent event was the auction of half a Rainbow Fruit.
The person who had placed it up for sale was Toriko.
A complete Rainbow Fruit normally had a market value of five hundred million yen.
Yet this half alone had sold for an astonishing three hundred and twenty million, far exceeding what half a fruit should theoretically have been worth.
No one found the price unreasonable.
In the Toriko world, the pursuit of delicious food was ingrained into people’s very bones.
Many were willing to exhaust their entire fortunes for the chance to taste a rare ingredient.
Rainbow Fruit was already an almost impossible delicacy to obtain.
Selling above its estimated market value was only natural.
Another piece of news attracting widespread attention was that Zebra, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, had been arrested.
Just as Haruto finished resting, packed his belongings, and prepared to travel toward his next hunting ground, the entire city suddenly became restless.
He did not even need to ask around before learning the cause.
The Puffer Whales, which appeared only once every ten years, were about to return.
The news immediately filled Haruto with excitement.
He could not possibly miss the hunt for Puffer Whales.
Known as the dream fish and one of the deepest sea’s greatest delicacies, Puffer Whales normally lived ten thousand meters below the surface.
Only once every decade did they follow the ocean currents into shallow underground caverns to lay their eggs.
They were rare ingredients coveted by countless Gourmet Hunters and diners.
Within the Human World, their scarcity was beyond question.
A living Puffer Whale alone could sell for one hundred million yen.
If its poison sac was successfully removed, the price multiplied fivefold, reaching an astonishing five hundred million.
Even at that price, supply never came close to meeting demand.
Their extraordinary value came not only from their ten-year cycle but also from the deadly poison inside their bodies.
The slightest mistake while removing the poison sac would contaminate the entire fish.
According to official IGO records, fewer than ten people in the Human World possessed the skill to prepare a Puffer Whale safely.
As a result, only a tiny number of people ever had the chance to taste one.
Some diners were even willing to risk their lives by eating Puffer Whales that had already been poisoned.
Of course, Haruto knew that the real number of chefs capable of handling them was somewhat higher than the official record suggested.
That had little to do with him.
With the Ingredient Deconstruction ability of Gourmet Restaurant, removing the Puffer Whale’s poison should be relatively easy.
Still, it was far too early to think about preparing one.
He had not even seen a Puffer Whale yet.
For now, the priority was successfully capturing the legendary fish that appeared only once every ten years.