Chapter 55

A Tiger Leaves Behind Its Hide When It Dies (2)

Now that I’d made up my mind to butcher it, I headed outside.

As soon as I stepped out, I saw what looked like a pig waddling toward me.

It was Wonmo, his belly swollen after gorging himself on the tiger’s carcass to his heart’s content.

Judging by all the blood smeared around his mouth, he’d had quite the feast.

“Wonmo. Let’s wipe your mouth before you go.”

“Kyuu.”

“No. You can’t go around like that.”

Before Wonmo went back into the cave, I thoroughly wiped his mouth clean.

Maybe I should start brushing his teeth soon, too.

The thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Soon, Wonmo trudged into the cave with sleepy eyes.

Meanwhile, I carefully examined the fallen tiger’s carcass.

‘It really is huge.’

How the hell did I beat this thing?

I still couldn’t quite believe it.

Namu-Ppareumbo had saved my life several times, sure, but even so, this thing’s size was downright unreal.

Its height alone was far greater than mine, and there was no need to even explain how long its body was.

‘It has to be well over five meters long.’

Just as Heavenly Demon had said, it was truly worthy of being called a “Lord of the Mountain.”

Half amazed and half awestruck, I walked around the tiger and examined it.

When I reached its neck, however, I was greeted by a gruesome sight.

‘So this is where Wonmo ate.’

It was the same part of the neck I’d stabbed yesterday with Heavenly Demon’s sword.

The marks left behind by Wonmo tearing into it were still clearly visible.

With Wonmo’s bite strength, he probably wouldn’t have been able to damage the tiger’s hide easily.

It seemed he’d cleverly found the place I’d cut open and happily feasted there.

‘I’d better butcher it quickly.’

At least six hours had passed since the tiger died.

It was fortunate that the weather in the forest was fairly cool. Otherwise, it would probably have started rotting long ago.

“Wait. Has it already started rotting?”

Even if it had, I didn’t really care as long as I could salvage the hide.

Wonmo was an owlbear that could happily eat rotten carcasses anyway, so that wasn’t a problem either.

First, I made a post in the Gallery.

I moved some distance away and took pictures of the tiger.

“Ppareumbo. Stay next to it for just a little longer.”

“……”

“Good. Now extend just two claws… Ah, you can’t?”

For a clear size comparison, I had Namu-Ppareumbo stand beside it as well.

Namu-Ppareumbo readily went along with my request.

He seemed pleased with himself for helping take down the tiger, too.

I also found the severed forepaw and compared its size to my hand, among other things.

I prepared everything thoroughly.

Title: Pictures of the Tiger I Killed

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the giant tiger’s face)

(Photo showing the tiger’s overall size)

(Photo comparing the tiger’s forepaw with my hand)

(Photo of the completely wrecked golden shield)

This is the tiger that attacked me in the middle of the night. I seriously thought this bastard was going to kill me.

If Namu-Ppareumbo hadn’t helped, I would’ve died at least three times over.

└ Heavenly Demon: It appears to be the largest tiger this lady has ever seen. A tiger truly befitting the title of Lord of the Mountain.

└ SwordMaster: Seriously. Even I’ve never hunted a tiger that big.

　└ Wild Grylls: But you guys hunt things way stronger than that.

　└ Heavenly Demon: This lady has fought martial artists far more often than monsters or beasts. I hunted a beast only once, long ago.

　└ SwordMaster: I’ve hunted plenty of monsters because of subjugation orders. That thing looks at least stronger than an ogre.

　└ Wild Grylls: How strong is an ogre?

　└ SwordMaster: You’ll know once you fight one. Still, since you know how to use aura now, it should be easy for you, right?

　└ Wild Grylls: ;;

└ Allfather: Judging by those unusually long fangs, it appears to be a saber-toothed tiger. They’re infamous for being extremely ferocious. You certainly went through a lot.

　└ Wild Grylls: Saber-toothed tigers normally aren’t this big, right?

　└ Allfather: They’re usually half that size. That saber-toothed tiger is unimaginably large.

　└ Isn’t a saber-tooth the same thing as a saber-toothed tiger?

　└ Sounds like the same thing to me?

　└ Allfather: Not at all. A saber-tooth merely resembles a tiger. Its actual appearance is quite different.

└ Praise the Sun: What happened to the shield I gave you? Is it completely wrecked?

　└ Wild Grylls: Yeah. The tiger chewed it up. Still, that shield saved my life.

　└ Praise the Sun: Hmm. I’ll have to give you another one soon. Tell me when you’re done butchering it. I’m interested in that tiger hide.

　└ Wild Grylls: This is my first time butchering anything, and the hide’s covered in blood, so it probably won’t be in great condition.

　└ Praise the Sun: Then I’ll have to think about it. Take the shield first and give it some thought. We’ll make the trade tonight or tomorrow morning, so keep that in mind.

　└ Wild Grylls: Thank you as always. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll give you another mature mandrake.

└ Passing Dwarf: I thought it was just big, but that thing is fucking huge ;; How the hell did you survive?

　└ Wild Grylls: Got lucky. Oh, and at first, I confronted it with the barricades between us. Without those barricades, I would’ve been seriously screwed lol.

　└ Passing Dwarf: Something that size looks like it could just smash through a barricade.

　└ Wild Grylls: Yeah, it broke one. I guess at first it didn’t realize it could destroy them.

└ Grylls. Be honest with us. You just found it already dead, didn’t you?

　└ Wild Grylls: (Photo of the scar on my shoulder) What the fuck did you just say, asshole?

　└ Damn, that scar is insane; I believe you just because of that.

　└ I would’ve been suspicious if you didn’t have a scratch on you, but that scar boosts your credibility lol.

　└ I acknowledge that battle scar!

　└ Now you just need a scar on your face. Every adventurer needs at least one facial scar.

　└ Wild Grylls: Gentlemen. I’m not an adventurer. I’m a castaway. You adventurers are supposed to come rescue me.

　└ Honestly, having no scars is best.

　└ Look at this shameless change in attitude lolol.

└ But Ppareumbo is fucking adorable lolol.

　└ Sometimes he’s even cuter than Wonmo lolol.

Everyone acknowledged my achievement.

Getting recognition from the Gallery filled me with a strange sense of pride.

I closed the Gallery and looked at the enormous saber-toothed tiger.

Now all that remained was to butcher it.

‘Where do I even start?’

Every now and then, the YouTube algorithm had recommended videos of people deboning pigs or cows to me.

But even in those videos, they were deboning animals that had already been butchered to some extent. They never started completely from scratch.

On top of that, the saber-toothed tiger was absurdly huge, so even the preliminary work looked like it would be difficult.

‘Let’s ask the Gallery first.’

Someone had said earlier that if I posted a question about butchering in the Gallery, there would be plenty of people willing to give extremely helpful answers.

Something about butchers working in a profession where they’d get fired if they weren’t friendly, or whatever.

In this world, there were plenty of beasts and monsters like saber-toothed tigers, so being a butcher had significant advantages.

Title: Anyone Willing to Help Me Butcher This?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the dead saber-toothed tiger)

I’m about to butcher this saber-toothed tiger. Anyone willing to help?

Do I basically start by hanging it up?

└ Skin it first. Cut open the belly and peel the hide off like you’re ripping it away. That should make things easier.

　└ That fucker’s so huge that even dealing with the hide looks like it’ll be a pain in the ass.

└ Once you’ve completely skinned it, you’ll need to hang it up, but can you even hang something that big?

　└ Wild Grylls: Guess I’ll have to build a separate frame for it.

So I had to start by skinning it.

I headed toward the saber-toothed tiger’s belly.

In my hand was the dagger I’d prepared beforehand.

‘By the way, it’s still bleeding. Is that normal?’

Blood was still slowly trickling from the gaping wound in the saber-toothed tiger’s neck.

The pool of blood beneath it was continuing to grow, making me wonder whether that was normal.

Wonmo had somehow managed to gorge himself on the flesh while getting blood only around his mouth.

Anyway, the stench of blood was already spreading through the area, so I planned to clean everything up as quickly as possible.

‘Wow. Look how tough this is.’

Just as I’d feared, an ordinary dagger couldn’t even pierce the hide.

If I’d managed to kill it cleanly, I probably could’ve sold the hide for a high price. Unfortunately, it was drenched in blood.

In the end, the dagger only managed to penetrate the hide after I infused it with aura.

Riiip—rrip—rrip—

Starting from the belly, I made a long cut through the hide and slowly began peeling it off.

At first, I tried simply pulling it away, but whenever that didn’t work, I carefully sliced through the stubborn parts with the dagger.

“Ghhhhh…!”

Even rolling the saber-toothed tiger onto its other side was difficult.

I had to circulate mana throughout my entire body just to manage it.

My body was still a little sore, but it wasn’t unbearable, so I managed to turn it over with some effort.

The fact that rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet made things a little easier.

Riiip—rrip—shrrk!

Skinning it alone took thirty minutes.

Removing the sections that had become caked with blood was particularly miserable.

‘I’ll have to clean it with charcoal later.’

‘Heavy.’

Considering the tiger’s enormous size, even its hide was heavy.

The old me would’ve had to use every ounce of strength just to lift it.

Now, simply slinging it over my shoulder was enough.

‘I’ll leave the hide here.’

I looked over the saber-toothed tiger, which now had its pale flesh exposed everywhere except its head.

Aside from its half-severed neck dripping blood, it wasn’t particularly gruesome.

‘…Come to think of it, I need to wash myself too.’

When I cut into the saber-toothed tiger’s neck, I’d practically showered in its blood.

The blood had dried hard against my body, and I wondered how long it would take to wash all of it off.

Like I said earlier, I planned to hang the carcass upside down to make butchering easier, then clean everything up afterward.

If I left it like this, another predator might catch the scent of blood and come looking.

‘If I want to hang this thing upside down…’

Even at a rough estimate, the saber-toothed tiger’s body was well over four meters long.

As I wondered what to do, my eyes landed on the towering trees around me.

Couldn’t I tie ropes around the saber-toothed tiger’s legs and loop them over sturdy branches?

For that, I needed an excellent assistant.

“Ppareumbo.”

“……”

His eyes seemed to be saying, What, asshole?

I bought a suitable rope from the Gallery and tied it around the tiger’s hind leg.

Rather than tying both legs together with a single rope, I tied one rope to each so that its legs could be spread apart.

“Loop this rope over that branch, and this one over the branch on the other side. Got it?”

“……”

“You’re better at climbing trees than I am. I’ll give you more fasting pills.”

Only after I promised him more fasting pills did he finally start moving at his usual leisurely pace.

The problem was that he was too damn slow.

Just watching him was frustrating enough that I eventually carried him over to the tree myself.

Meanwhile, I dragged the tiger over with great difficulty.

It was fucking heavy.

“Couldn’t you climb a little faster?”

“……”

“Ugh. Forget it.”

Next time, I’d just throw him up there.

That would probably be easier.

It took a while, but with Namu-Ppareumbo’s help, I finally managed to hang the tiger.

“Wow. This thing is fucking enormous. How the hell did I kill it?”

Seeing it hanging upside down made me realize all over again just how enormous the saber-toothed tiger was.

It was so huge that I had to tilt my head all the way back to see it properly.

Yesterday, I’d been too frantic to notice, and it had been nighttime, so I hadn’t fully comprehended its size.

Drip, drip, drip—

More blood began pouring from its half-severed neck.

Seeing that, I hurriedly bought a large iron drum from the Auction House.

I planned to put the blood and entrails in this drum.

The entrails could become fish food.

The fish would probably devour them eagerly.

‘I want some makchang.’

Thinking about entrails reminded me of grilled intestines, but I quickly abandoned that thought.

Getting infected with parasites was something I absolutely wanted to avoid.

While I waited for the tiger to finish bleeding out, I started cleaning up.

The first thing I needed to do was wash the dried blood off my body.

‘I should heat up some water first.’

Blood washed off better with hot water.

I used charcoal in place of soap.

While the water was heating, I dealt with the pool of blood.

First, I roughly covered it with soil. Once the blood had soaked into it sufficiently, I scooped the soil into the drum where I planned to put the entrails.

I intended to dump everything into the river together.

“Ughhh…”

Once I’d more or less finished cleaning up, it was finally time to wash myself.

The moment I submerged myself in the pleasantly heated water, it felt like heaven.

I became so relaxed that everything that happened yesterday almost felt like a dream.

I scrubbed myself thoroughly until every blood-covered part of my body was squeaky clean.

‘Some stains are still left. Can’t do much about that.’

There were still faint traces remaining, but they would probably fade with time.

After enjoying my first proper bath in a while, I changed clothes.

I left my uniform as it was, reduced to little more than rags and completely soaked in blood.

‘I can’t afford to waste a single set of clothes.’

I could just wash it properly and keep it.

I could use it as work clothes or something.

Now that the cleanup was mostly finished, I headed back toward the tiger hanging upside down.

There was no longer any blood flowing from its half-severed neck, so it seemed to have completely bled out.

‘There’s this much?’

I’d bought a large iron drum specifically because I’d accounted for the size of its organs, yet it was already half full.

Even considering the blood-soaked soil I’d added earlier, that was a tremendous amount.

“Hmm…”

Now I had to split its abdomen open and remove the entrails.

I crossed my arms and thought for a moment.

Considering how high it was hanging, I’d probably need a ladder.

‘I’ll just buy one. What else can I do?’

Not an ordinary ladder, though.

I needed a step ladder.

I wondered whether something like that was available, and apparently it was.

The reviews even said it performed well.

I bought it without hesitation.

Now that I had the ladder, it was time to begin the real butchering process.

└ First, cut the abdomen completely open and check the condition of the entrails. Normally you’d wash them, but if you’re not going to eat them, you can just leave them as they are.

└ Cut the head off before removing the entrails.

└ For reference, the internal organs of most animals are seriously huge. Keep that in mind.

They really were helpful people.

Following their advice, I began dismantling the carcass.

First, I split the abdomen completely open, exposing all the entrails.

Just as the people in the Gallery had said, the entrails were enclosed within a thin membrane.

Simply cutting open the abdomen didn’t cause them to come spilling out everywhere.

‘Ugh. Still disgusting, though.’

After completely severing the tiger’s head, I carefully began removing its entrails.

If even one of them ruptured, it would be a complete disaster.

Thankfully, I had a strong stomach.

Before long, I managed to remove the hollow organs among the viscera, all enclosed within the thin membrane.

All that remained were the organs clustered behind the ribs—the solid vital organs.

The most important organs in an animal’s body were gathered there.

Once I removed those, the butchering would be finished.

Just as I brought my dagger toward them—

Thump! Thump!

“Uwaagh!”

The vibration transmitted through my hand scared the living hell out of me.

I nearly fell off the ladder, but somehow managed to regain my balance.

Utterly bewildered, I stared at the spot where I’d felt the vibration.

Of all the places in an animal’s body, there was only one that could possibly produce a pulse.

“…Gulp.”

I swallowed hard and cautiously placed my hand against it.

As if to prove that I hadn’t imagined it, I felt the unmistakable beating of a heart.

It should definitely have been dead.

So why the hell was its heart still beating?

I couldn’t understand it at all.

And if I couldn’t understand it, there was only one thing left to do.

Check it myself.

Riiip—

I cut through the thin membrane, revealing the gruesome interior.

Lungs appropriately enormous for a creature of its size.

And then—

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Nestled between them was a gigantic heart.

The dead saber-toothed tiger’s heart was still beating.

……