Role

Chapter 5

I took the blacksmith's arm back to the shop, put it on my table, and got to
work. I had to use my smaller knives, because on a job like this you don't
want to just cleave up steaks. It's very frustrating to eat a circular steak
around a circular bone, you know? Well, you would know if you had attended
the Udgaardian School of Butchery Correspondence Course. It's very
prestigious.

So I butchered the arm into pieces that resembled beef tips. Then I
tenderized them, and put them through a dry aging process. The result was
deeeelicious! I served them to the butcher and his family, cooked rare, and
with a nice glass of red wine.

When the butcher's wife inquired as to where I got the meat, I explained
where it came from and what an amazing deal I got, what with it being free
and all.

Well if she and the butcher didn't just have a cow right then. You would have
thought I did something terrible! Next thing I know they are sticking fingers
down their throats and raving madly about not eating meat sourced from
people. "We knew John the Blacksmith!" doesn't seem like a good reason to
waste meat, if you ask me.

When I tried to explain that most of my steaks were, in fact, from people
they really lost it. Then the butcher said two words that made it impossible
for me to work for him anymore.

"You're fired!"

Clearly, I was wrongfully and unfairly terminated from a job I studied hard
for, and was exceptionally good at. Now I am going to have to go out and find
a new position, but it's going to be really hard with a termination on my
record. I also can't use the butcher as a reference.