Samples
I changed from the white uniform before I dirtied it and moved with Austin-sama to the dining hall to have dinner with the Stantval family.
There, we met Lilika-sama again, but Lilika-sama who was surprised to see us raised her voice and ended up ignoring Austin-sama’s presence. I also became friends with her older brother——Reinhardt, who was the same age as me and we enjoyed the meal thoroughly.
—————
The next day, while resting in our room after having breakfast, a guide came to inform us that Austin-sama has called us over to get experimenting with the freeze-dry soup.
“Good morning. Have you slept well?”
He guided us to the Stanval house’s kitchen, where Austin-sama was waiting with a smile on his face.
“Yes, we had a good rest.”
“”Slept a lot~””
“Still, is it fine for you to be in the kitchen, Austin-sama? Wouldn’t it be better to carry the finished soup to the lounge?”
“This way is much more convenient. Like this, you can prepare lunch while checking on us if we are not missing any key points.”
“Ehh!?”
It seems that he was serious yesterday about the curry~
Rather, I didn’t think he would make plans so properly. Besides, even if I had to cook lunch, I wouldn’t have a problem if the kitchen wasn’t available.
“Err… how much should I make?”
“You can use all the ingredients there, you can make lots. You don’t have to bother with bread or salad, so you can focus on making the curry.”
Taking a glance where Austin-sama was pointing at, there was a pile of onions, potatoes, carrots, and Orc meat. Of course, the curry powder sold by the Fiji Company wasn’t missing.
“You really are prepared.”
“I’m asking you to do something that isn’t your job. This much is only given.”
“By the way, do you mind if I make something personal on the occasion?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
I checked whether I could make something I personally wanted on the occasion and got a kind permission from Austin-sama.
“Thank you very much. Then, I will get right into work.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
I moved to the place with the pile of ingredients right away.
“”What kind of curry?””
“A normal curry using Orc meat. Can you help me?”
“”Yea!””
First, I chopped up the veggies and meat and placed them in a large saucepan, after stir-frying them for a little, I poured in some water and simmered until cooked. Actually, using soup stock would be better, but since we are making a good amount this time, I will put up with using water.
“”Onii~chan, this?””
“Yup, that’s scum. Please do your best to remove as much as possible.”
“”Yess~””
After asking Allen and Elena to skim the scum from the curry, I checked on Austin-sama’s group, but the freeze-drying of the life magic-using knights seemed to be going well, so they were now focused on mass-producing the soup. They are apparently preparing samples to take with them to the negotiations with Creta.
“”No more scum~””
“Thank you both. This will definitely come out delicious now.”
“”Really?””
I added roux from curry powder and flour I prepared in a separate pot to the saucepan the children cleaned of scum.
Oh, how about I add chocolate as a secret ingredient?
“All that’s left is to mix and simmer it until it’s done.”
“”Can’t wait~””
There was enough time, so I decided to cook it normally without using the Aging magic, and moved to work on the personal project next.
“”Next is~?””
“Next I will make a few soups and turn them into instant soups.”
“Instant soups?”
“That’s right.”
Freeze-dry soup, as the name suggests, is a soup that undergone Freeze and Dry magic process, so to make the manufacturing process unclear, we have decided to call it instant soup.
The instant soup has already been taken in charge by the royal family, so I am unable to sell it. However, there’s no problem in making some for personal use, moreover, there won’t be any problems to gift them to other people, as long as the quantity is not too large.
Therefore, I will make two or three kinds of soups, freeze-dry them and deliver some to Rudolph-san who is leaving tomorrow. The rest will be used as emergency rations for the kids.
“What kind of soup would be good?”
“Err, you see~ Allen likes miso soup!”
“Elena likes tori soup, you know!”
Miso soup and tomato soup, huh.
“That sounds nice. Why don’t we make curry soup too.”
“”Yeah, sounds nice!””
I had the kids help me with a miso soup with plenty of ena grass (spinach) and shii (shiitake) mushrooms. A tori (tomato) soup with lots of cabbage and bacon. And a curry soup with lots of sausages and onions. We made these three kids of soups.
By the time we were done with the soups, the curry I cooked for lunch was also done.
“Takumi, you made some delicious-looking soups~”
“Austin-sama, are you guys done?”
“Yes, we finished safely. Since you made three kinds, they are most likely not for lunch, right? Are you also making instant soups?”
“Yes, that’s right. I was just about to freeze them.”
“They look tasty.”
“… Would you like a taste?”
“Thank you so much.”
When I offered the overly curious Austin-sama a taste, his expression brightened.
Even though he just has to ask if he wants a taste~
“Then, let’s get to freeze them…”
“Leave it to Allen~”
“Leave it to Elena~”
“Eh!? Ehhh!?”
Simultaneously with their declaration, Allen and Elena used magic to make the soups float in the air one by one.
The spectacle of floating liquid was quite stunning.
“”Onii~chan, ice!””
“… Oh, right!——Freeze.”
I was dumbfounded so the children had to urge me to freeze the floating soup.
The frozen soup tumbled down into the pot. Since the soups were floating above the pot, we finished with barely any soup dripping on the ground.
“”Onii~chan, next step~””
“Yep, indeed.——Dry.”
Next, I dried the piles of frozen soups in the pots.
Like this, the operation is complete! The three kinds of soups ended up getting mixed together, but we just have to separate them later~
“That’s some ridiculous method you have here…”
“Hahaha~ that was just an accident, an accident.”
It was really an accident. It’s pathetic, but I got completely led by Allen and Elena…
“We are done here as well, how about we have lunch now?”
“”Lunch~!””
“Indeed. The kitchen has been filled with that fragrance for a while now and everyone is getting restless.”
“”Quickly, quickly~””
Certainly, the knights making the instant soup were stealing glances at us once in a while, but the children seem to be the most restless here.