Chapter 497

Sea Voyage
On the second day of the journey, I decided to cook in the small kitchenette available in my room.

"Alright, let’s make a variety of dishes~"
"”Lots and lots of dishes~””
"Indeed, I shall give it my all."

The plan was to prepare meals for the dungeon, some snacks, and also bulk-cook dishes for Kaiser to take home.

"Takumi, I have a favor to ask..."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Could you perhaps cook something using Blue Dragon meat?"
"Blue Dragon meat, huh~"
"Yes, it’s yummy even when simply grilled, but I am certain it would be even better with your touch."

True, the grilled Blue Dragon we had was delicious.

"”Ohh~ Wanna eat! Wanna eat!"”
"Allen wants to eat curry!"
"Elena wants that! Uhh, kabayaki!"

Since it’s from the sea, would it be called seafood curry? Well, dragon curry, perhaps. That sounds tasty too, but kabayaki with a sweet and savory glaze also seems appealing.

"Hmm..."
"”Is it a no?”"
"No, it’s just the smell... If this expensive-looking room ends up smelling like curry, that’d be a problem."

Would that issue arise with any other dish as well? Perhaps as long as the air is ventilated constantly, it won’t be a problem?

"Takumi, you can use Light Magic, can’t you? Then why not use a purification spell?"
"Would purification magic remove smells too?"
"Since it’s magic aimed at cleansing, I believe it would work. In general, magic is heavily influenced by the user’s thoughts, so if you envision purifying the air, it should work."
"... Makes sense."

Indeed, thought plays a significant role in magic. I remember how I couldn’t use water magic at one point simply because I hadn’t thought about the distinction between "creating" and "manipulating" water.

"Alright then, let’s start with dishes that don’t produce much smell and test the purification. If it seems fine, we’ll make curry last."
“"Yay~”"

So, we decided to start with soup and snacks.

"Allen wants tulli Soup!"
"Elena wants clam soup!"
"Oh, that’s a good choice."

The first dish would be a tomato-based clam soup. Time to get cooking.

—Ding♪

"Hm?"

Just as the tomato soup was ready, I heard a familiar sound in my head.

“”Oniichan?””
"Takumi, what’s wrong?"
"It seems Syl sent a message card."
"From the Wind God-sama? What does it say?"
"Let’s see... Looks like he wants some food."

Specifically, the message read: "I’d like to give my subordinates some food or sweets. Could you make something? Of course, I’ll offer an appropriate reward." It didn’t sound like something from a god at all.

"Hmm, even the Gods are captivated by Takumi’s cooking!"
“Oniichan’s cooking is so tasty, after all!"
"As expected of Allen and Elena’s Oniichan!"

Though it wasn’t normal, Allen, Elena, and Kaiser accepted it without question.

"If it’s for his subordinates, he’ll need a fair amount, right?"
"Soup?"
"Rice?"
"That might be good. How about... a hearty miso soup and seasoned rice?"
"”That sounds good."”

Since there were no specific requests, I decided on dishes that could be portioned out easily based on the number of people.

"For the soup... let’s use Orc meat, leeks, taro, white radish, burdock root, and konjac fruit."
“"Lots of ingredients!”"
"It’ll be hearty. As for the rice, what should we use?"
"”Shellfish?"”
"Good idea. Let’s make shellfish rice."
"Allen wants to eat too!"
"Elena does too!"
"Alright, we’ll make enough for ourselves as well."

Since we’d recently stocked up on seafood, all the ideas coming to mind were sea-based dishes. Not that it was a bad thing.

"For the soup, we used clams, so let’s use scallops for the rice."
"”Yay~”"

I prepared two rice cookers and made scallop rice in both.

"And it’s done!"
“”Ohh~””

The miso soup—actually, Orc soup—was portioned out for us, while the rest was sent in a large pot.
The rice was sent directly in the rice cookers, with a note asking for their return.

—Ding♪

The response came almost immediately.

— Ding♪
— Ding♪
— Ding♪

"Whoa?"

There were multiple responses. Curious, I checked and found several items had been delivered.
Among them was another message card. It expressed gratitude, mentioned a temporary gift, and said to let them know if I needed anything else.

"Errr… Wow! A teleportation device!"

The temporary gifts included pots and pans, but nestled among them was a teleportation device. I had planned to give one to the Ruven family after acquiring it in the dungeon, and another to the Risner family when I obtained a second… Did Syl read my mind again?
Teleportation devices are rare on the surface, but as they’re under Syl’s domain, he likely had easier access to them. Perhaps he thought it fitting as a reward since he knew I wanted one? Whether it was mind-reading or spying, suspicions arose once more.

"... Sigh."

It seemed not just Syl but other gods were watching us as well. I might just have to accept it~
For now, I was grateful for the teleportation device, which could now be shared equally between the families overseeing us.

"Alright, let’s start on the next dish. Oh, that’s right. —Purification."

I almost forgot, but I remembered just in time and tested the purification magic, imagining odor removal.

"”Ohh~ Feels fresh!"”
"Mhm, the air does seem cleaner!"
"Looks like it worked. Now we can make curry without worrying."
"”Yay!”"

The purification magic successfully cleaned the air, so I made plenty of the requested Blue Dragon curry.
Instead of sweet treats, today’s snack was freshly made curry. It turned out to be absolutely delicious. I was once again reminded of how tasty dragon meat is.

What do you think about this chapter?