Chapter 131

Chapter 131: The Heavenly Kaymak

I had exchanged goods with the Golden Goblin Lug dozens of times.

A chest sat in the wide hall of the dungeon I had created.

Whenever I filled the chest with food, the Golden Goblin would place whatever rare-looking items he had in the opposite chest.

We were conducting non-face-to-face transactions.

However, none of the exchanged goods so far had been particularly useful.

'Of course, there were some valuable-looking treasures, but they cannot be used in cooking.'

What I valued most were items I could use in cooking.

Like the Arcana Mana Herb juice I had once exchanged with the goblin.

I had made Mana Potion Juice from the Arcana Mana Herb and sold it, reaping enormous profits.

That was still ongoing.

'Maybe it is time to cut off the trades.'

Just as that thought crossed my mind.

When I entered the dungeon hall I had been using for trades, Lug the Golden Goblin was there.

This was the first time I had come face to face with Lug since our initial trade.

Startled by my sudden appearance, Lug flinched and backed away.

I greeted him nonchalantly.

"Lug, what a coincidence running into you like this. Have you been well?"

"I have been well......!"

"The trade goods have not really been to my liking, but do not be scared. I am not going to eat you."

"Understood......!"

Lug then continued.

"This is not a coincidence, human. I have been waiting."

"Why were you waiting?"

"Because of this."

Lug turned his body and pointed beside the exchange chest.

Next to it, a medium-large monster resembling a water buffalo was tethered to a pillar.

"Is that monster this trade's goods?"

"Correct. A very valuable monster. I prepared something proper this time! I know my trade goods have been lacking!"

"So you did know?"

"Of course I knew! The portions of food you gave me kept shrinking, so how could I not!"

As Lug said, I had been gradually reducing the amount of food I placed in his chest.

Because the items Lug placed in my chest had not been to my liking.

A trade needed to have roughly equal value, but I had been consistently taking the loss.

So I had been reducing the food portions.

'Lug, the little guy has some awareness after all.'

It seemed Lug had been secretly worried that I might cut off the trades entirely.

Lug continued.

"So I prepared something special and waited."

"And that something is this water-buffalo-looking monster?"

"Correct! You can milk this monster. The milk is incredibly rich! Other monsters love it!"

"Oh......? Really?"

I was intrigued.

I wondered what the milk would taste like.

"MOOO!"

The monster bellowed at us as we talked.

"It is big, but gentle."

"Pullos are naturally docile monsters. If you tame them from infancy, they become even gentler. This one was likely raised from a young age."

"Is that so? But where did you get the Pullo?"

"I untied it from an Orc tribe's dungeon and stole it."

Poor Orc tribe.

But a windfall for me.

"Are you satisfied with this trade, human?"

"Very much so. I will give you double the food this time."

"Ooh! Thank you!"

I gave Lug a generous haul of various foods, including Applecherries.

Lug stuffed them into his golden sack and, stepping into the portal he had opened, called back.

"I will find good trade goods again next time!"

"I will be looking forward to it."

Lug left.

Only the monster named Pullo and I remained.

I slowly brought my hand toward Pullo's head.

Pullo lowered its head slightly and calmly accepted the touch.

"Pullo, I look forward to working with you."

"MOOO!"

I untied the rope from the stone pillar, took hold of it, and headed for the Rift house.
***
Ria was quite surprised to see the Pullo I had brought home.

"Seon-u, is that monster a Pullo?"

"Huh? You know about Pullos, Ria."

"Of course I do. I heard it is one of the rare monsters bred by the royal family on the Continent of Bellinta. The milk from a Pullo is supposed to have an incredibly refined taste."

"Really?"

That made me even more excited to taste the milk.

"I will tie it up in the forest for now."

"All right."

I led Pullo's rope toward the outer forest.

I tied the rope to a suitable tree.

Pullo immediately began grazing on the grass.

"MOOO!"

Its eyes widened and it ate faster, as if the grass were delicious.

"The brush around our house is unusually lush and green."

Probably because this was a forest near where a Dryad lived.

"Eat plenty."

That way it could produce fresh milk.

"MOOO!"

While I was watching, Benny came over.

"Seon-u, what is this monster?"

Even though he was from Bellinta like Ria, he did not know about Pullos.

"It is a monster called a Pullo. Apparently you can milk it."

"Oh, so you are planning to raise it and milk it periodically."

"That is right."

"Then shall I take charge of raising the Pullo too?"

"Would you?"

"Of course! I will raise it just as well as the Horn Rabbits."

"Then I will leave it to you."

"Understood!"

Benny seemed to have a natural aptitude for raising monsters.

He was doing an excellent job raising the Horn Rabbits as well.

When Benny appeared, the Horn Rabbits would snap to attention in unison.

'The sight of those disciplined Horn Rabbits was quite the spectacle.'

Anyway, after a long wait, Pullo finished its meal.

Then it was time to try milking.

I put on latex gloves.

I prepared a clean container and began milking.

Fresh-looking milk streamed steadily into the container.

'At least nine liters came out.'

The ten-liter container was nearly full.

Quite a large yield in one session.

I took it, poured it into a large cauldron, and pasteurized it at low heat for twenty minutes.

Then I brought the cauldron to the Glace Mushroom cultivation area to cool it down.

Now I had fresh, drinkable milk.

"All right, Ria, try some."

I ladled milk into a cup and handed it to Ria.

Ria took the cup and gazed down at the Pullo milk with a meaningful look.

"Thank you, Seon-u. I never got to try this even on the Continent of Bellinta, and now I get to taste it thanks to you."

"You never had a chance to try it in Bellinta?"

"I did have one chance. When I was sixteen, before I came of age, I visited the Imperial Palace just once. With my father, at the Imperial Family's invitation. Pullo milk was served among various refreshments."

"Then why did you not drink it?"

"Well...... the reason they invited us to the palace was not to my liking."

"What was the reason?"

"His Majesty the Emperor wanted to arrange an engagement between me and the Crown Prince."

"Ah......"

So something like that had happened.

Ria, reading my expression, quickly added.

"To get straight to the point, my father and I declined His Majesty's proposal. So there is absolutely nothing for you to worry about."

"Yeah, I figured as much. I am not worried, so do not fret."

"Right. Anyway, I told His Majesty that I was going to marry my sword, and refused."

"And yet that same Ria married me and became a mother of two."

"Hehe! I know. The me from back then could never have imagined it."

So Ria had gone through something like that.

A sudden curiosity struck me.

"What was the Crown Prince like?"

"An insufferable human who thought he was the greatest thing in the world."

"How so?"

"The first time I got involved with the Crown Prince was when he visited our territory. He picked a fight with me while I was training, claiming he was more talented at swordsmanship than I was. When I ignored him, he challenged me to a spar. Against fifteen-year-old me, no less, when he was a full five years older."

"......The man was out of his mind."

A fifteen-year-old girl and a twenty-year-old strapping young man.

The difference in weight class alone would have been enormous, yet he challenged her to a spar.

Even so, I was sure Ria had won.

"So you sparred?"

"Yes, he kept pestering me, so I beat him to a pulp in the spar."

"Ha ha! I knew it."

"He held a grudge against me for that and kept bothering me ever since. The Emperor's invitation to the palace for the engagement was probably at the Crown Prince's request too."

If that was true, then the Crown Prince really had been insane.

If he could not beat her, he would possess her. Something like that, perhaps.

In any case, the Pullo milk had led me to learn a little more about Ria.

Ria then tasted the Pullo milk.

After tasting it, she nodded.

"Oh? So this is what it tastes like. It is richer and more flavorful than regular milk. But I think it could be polarizing."

"Is that so? I should try some too."

I took a sip from my own cup.

I held the milk in my mouth and carefully assessed the flavor.

'There is no fishy taste, but it is certainly excessively rich.'

It possessed an intensely nutty flavor, but the richness was almost overwhelming.

Perhaps because the Pullo resembled a water buffalo, the taste was closer to the rich milk of a water buffalo than a dairy cow.

Water buffalo milk was high in fat.

That was the secret behind the rich, nutty flavor.

'Of course, the Pullo milk tastes far better than water buffalo milk.'

I could understand why the royal family of the Continent of Bellinta drank it.

In any case, if the milk was high in fat, there was something perfect I could make with it.

That was kaymak.

But first, I needed to make fresh cream.

"Ria, I will make you a delicious treat with this milk."

"Really? I look forward to it."

"It will take a few days, though."

"A few days is nothing."

I dove into cream-making.

Making real fresh cream was quite difficult.

True fresh cream, made without egg yolks or butter.

It required considerable effort and care.

I began the process.

I would make pure fresh cream without egg yolks or butter.

First, I brought seven liters of milk to a rolling boil.

After cooling it down.

'Perfect timing, I have this.'

In my hand was a Magical Engineering device.

A prototype jointly created by Dr. Jack, Ashley, and Maxim.

It was a Magical Hand Blender.

Being a prototype, it was rough and unpolished, but it was better than nothing.

I activated the blender and mixed the cooled milk.

Then I boiled it again.

I repeated the cycle of cooling, mixing, and boiling four times.

The process took two days.

Then I let it rest at room temperature.

Once a fat layer formed on top and the skim milk separated below, I skimmed off the fat layer.

One pass through the blender turned it into cream.

'This is real fresh cream.'

Pure fresh cream without butter or egg yolks.

With the fresh cream made, I moved on to the next step.

I poured the cream back into a large rectangular pot and added a small amount of raw milk.

I brought it to a simmer at low temperature while using the hand blender to create foam.

I ladled it up and gently poured it back to evaporate the moisture.

I let it cool again and rest at room temperature for two hours.

Once a film formed on top, I covered it with cheesecloth and placed it near the entrance of the Glace Mushroom cultivation area, the natural refrigerator.

Twenty-four hours later.

'Finally, the last step.'

When I removed the cheesecloth, the surface fat layer had solidified firmly.

I put on food-safe gloves and carefully rolled up the fat layer.

Beneath the fat layer was the skim milk from which the fat had separated.

'The separated fat layer is the kaymak.'

Authentic kaymak, made in the traditional method that was supposedly hard to find domestically.

Most places in Korea that sold kaymak were selling imitations.

Domestic dairy cow milk was too low in fat to make proper kaymak, and the time investment made it financially impractical.

I cut a piece of the kaymak, placed it on a plate, and drizzled honey on top.

Not just any honey, but Great Honeybee Honey.

Then a system message appeared.