Sea Spirits, dinner, and rice.
I stored the Dangerous Octover in my pouch. I was thinking it would be a pain to deal with the slimy thing, but the pouch took care of it. How convenient! I have decided to take it seriously from now on!
“Miracle Diva-sama!”
“That’s not my name.”
The Nereis elder sister approached me in a fluster. She ignored my denial.
“It’s an emergency! The Dangerous Octover had woken up due to the influence of Spirit King’s rampage, and is headed over here! Please, quickly evacuate!”
This elder sister took the trouble to come and inform me even though it might be dangerous. I silently took out the foodstuff I had just put away from my pouch.
“………… Eh?”
The Nereis elder sister froze up. Does she perhaps not know what this is? It gets quite flabby out of water, after all.
“If it’s about the Dangerous Octover then we defeated it just a while ago. Since we are here, I would like to hunt at least one more, are there any around the neighborhood?”
“………… Eh?”
The Nereis elder sister was “Eh?”-ing me since a while ago.
“My little sister is… um, weird in many places. Please excuse her.”
“Huh!? What do you mean by that, Niisama!?”
“I meant exactly what I said! Stupid little sister! You shouldn’t be looking for such giant monsters out of your own initiative!”
I looked at Dirk and Martha. Dirk averted his gaze. Martha was… smiling, but looking carefully, her eyes were swimming around. Dirk seemed to have made up his resolve and bowed his head to elder brother.
“Sorry, Ru. Recently, we have been often subjugating SS-rank monsters that I now find it normal… so I also thought it would be fine this time as well.”
“What’s going on with Rosarin then!? What is your goal!? Are you aiming to become an adventurer!?”
“My ultimate goal is a house on a hill with a view of the sea where I want to spend my retirement flirting with Dirk.”
“Then there’s no need to complete subjugations, no!?”
“I am collecting ingredients, you see… the subjugations are only a by-product. I am preparing to face whatever future comes at me.”
“… What are you planning on fightiiing!!”
My elder brother’s cry echoed. At any rate, I’m getting ready to fight the evil. If my prediction is correct, how much preparation I do in these seven years and the heroine should be the key.
“Miracle Diva-sama.”
“I told you to stop calling me that. I’m Rosarin.”
The ignore skill level of this Nereis sister is too high!
“What materials of the sea do you desire?”
“Let’s see, Tear pearls, Crystals of Grief…”
I spoke about the materials I needed. The elder sister took a… that’s kelp, right? And started taking notes. She engraved what I needed on the kelp with a sharp rock.
“Understood. We, the Nereis, shall gather the materials the Miracle Diva-sama desires and present them to you. The monster materials won’t be possible for us, but you can leave the gatherable materials to us!”
“I’m telling you to call me Rosarin… no, you don’t need to do that much for me, you know? Just tell me where to find them…”
“No, we ought to thank you for saving our lord! I shall investigate about the Dangerous Octover, too! … Please sing for us again if you are willing to repay us.”
Winking at me, the Nereis sister dived into the sea as soon as she finished talking. Oh well, I guess? It’s true that they are used to the gathering, so they will surely get the job done, and I am expecting some failures, so having lots of material would be for the best.
When we returned to the fishing village, there was a festival. What happened?
“We are now able to fish again thanks to Martha-chan’s young lady! Come, come here!”
“A, awawa…”
I was dragged away by the powerful aunties without being able to resist. And currently, we were… no, Dirk and I were… sitting in seats resembling a press conference. How did it turn out like this!?
“Thank ye very much.”
Granny, stop praying! I do not have any divine powers!
“Meat Saintess, it’s finally your fish debut, huh. Wouldn’t it be better to just call you Food Saintess instead? Miss Vegetable Hero.”
“Bufu!?”
“Kuh…”
“”Gyahahahahaha!!””
“Pu…”
“D… don’t… pufu… laughaha….”
Everyone burst into laughter with Cidar-kun’s remark. What a fellow! I laughed a bit myself! That was brilliant for an enemy!
Laugh if you want to laugh. I won’t get angry or anything. I will just receive Milfi’s gentleness…
“Thank you… this village… I thought we would have no choice but to keep getting food from the forest. But if we hunted too much, the adventurers would eventually stop coming, and we would make enemies of the professionals, so our lives would only get harder.”
As expected of Martha’s birthplace. They had the idea of hunting monsters in the forest if the sea was off-limits.
“Moreover, it’s been a while since we had fish. Kaachan and others were fired up and made a feast, so eat up!”
Clam chowder, meuniere, fried seafood, soups… fresh seafood… a heap of sashimi! Soy sauce… no, is this fish sauce?
“Excuse me, can you give me some small plates for tasting?”
“Yes, here you go.”
I took out some soy sauce, wasabi, and a grater from my pouch. No, when it comes to fresh sashimi, soy sauce and wasabi is the way to go! My elder brother found and grew the wasabi for me. Wasabi is a favorite among adults at our house, and is on the menu on snacks that go well with drinks.
“Delicious…! Dirk, this is delicious. Try it.”
“Mugu… it certainly is better with this shoyu.”
I shared it with everyone in the village. It was popular. Speaking of which, rice is essential when it comes to sashimi! I want to eat rice!
“I will go cook for a little.”
I retrieved my cooking utensils from my pouch and placed rice into the water.
“Excuse me, could anyone take me to the kitchen?”
After washing the rice, I cooked it fluffy with magic. I want to eat sushi. While at it, I sliced and boiled a part of the Dangerous Octover’s tentacle. I prefer boiled octopus over the raw octopus.
After the sumeshi (vinegared rice) was done, I returned.
“What did you make?”
“Plain rice goes very well with sliced raw fish. First, you take the freshly cooked rice, mix it with some salt, sugar and vinegar, and eat up.”
“Yummy! As I thought, Rosarin’s cooking is the best in the world.”
I live for this smile! I am happy. I scooped sumeshi from the bowl, laid some kaiware (daikon sprouts) on it, and prettily arranged a sliced raw fish on top. Finally, I sprinkled some nori (seaweed) on top and it was done! I made the seaweed myself from the seaweed my elder brother picked up at the beach earlier.
“Wow, the fish is arranged beautifully like a rose.”
“Would you like to try it too, Milfi?”
I made a similar one for Milfi.
“You can add soy sauce, or you can eat it plain, it’s delicious either way.”
“Hau… yummy.”
“Rosarin, me too!”
This pattern… isn’t this similar to the Wolfanea’s endless barbecue? I thought the nightmare would be repeated, but thankfully, the aunties came along, and I only had to cook the sumeshi.
I’m tired, but it’s good that I was able to propagate rice in this village, I guess?
The dinner passed peacefully like this.