BBQ in Phantasmo
Still thinking about the kraken from earlier, I headed to the kitchen.
“Excuse me~”
“Oh! Young lady. Are you alright?”
As soon as I stepped in, Terry hurried over to me.
“Yes, sorry for worrying you.”
I bowed my head.
“No, no, Young lady, there’s no need for you to bow.”
“Exactly. It was clearly the private guard's fault. Giving you ingredients and demanding you cook—who do they think they are…?”
Dolly also came over, voicing her complaints about the private guard.
“By the way, what happened to that kraken from earlier?”
“Ah, we managed to stuff it into the fridge somehow… but it's completely filled with kraken.”
“Ahaha, I figured as much. Do we have tonight’s dinner planned?”
“No, not yet. We’re waiting for the head chef to finish his break.”
“Hmm? Someone call me?”
Right on cue, Mack returned.
“Ahhh. Missy, sounds like you had a rough time. But don’t be too hard on the private guard, alright? They probably brought it back thinking it was a good idea. They just got too focused on wanting to eat something tasty and didn’t think about the poor folks who’d have to cook it. Gahahaha.”
He gave my head a good ruffling.
“I’m okay. I won’t come to hate them or anything… I just don’t want them risking their lives to get ingredients. I think of both the staff and the private guard as family… so I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“… I see. You’re a good girl, Missy.”
“Yeah. She really is.”
“That’s right! Young lady Joan is a reee~ally good girl!”
I didn’t really get why Mack and the others were calling me a good girl, but more than that—what’s with Anny and her smug little grin?
“Oh! That’s right. Have you decided on the dinner menu?”
“Hm? No, not yet. Ah, but yeah, we do need to deal with that kraken somehow…”
“Then let’s have a BBQ.”
“““BBQ!?”””
Ah, come to think of it, we’ve never done that in Phantasmo, have we?
“Umm, it’s a kind of outdoor hot plate dining. At the Lampail mansion, we do it a lot. The staff and the private guard all together. Kind of like a social gathering.”
“Hot plate, huh. We’ve got kraken, shrimp, shellfish—yeah, that works.”
“Alright, let’s get readyyy!”
““““Yeahhh!!””””
We made four types of sauce: green tamaon-salt limon, garnikku-salt, soy-sauce-based, and meso-based.
The ingredients included orc meat instead of beef, chicken, and pork; kraken; shrimp; all kinds of shellfish; tamaon; pippers; eggnas; etc.
Anny and I split up the task of explaining how to prepare the sauces and cut the ingredients, and taught Mack and the others.
Once we’d finished prepping the food, Mack said he’d handle the grill setup, so I left the kitchen to report that we’d be doing a BBQ.
Someone should be in the living room, I think~
Ahh, we’re leaving the day after tomorrow already? That went by in a flash. Maybe I’ll go into town again on the last day. I want to say goodbye to Sacchan too.
Thinking that, I headed to the living room and, conveniently, found Grandfather, Grandmother, Brother Noel, and Brother Gene there.
“Ah, Grandmother. I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Oh? Joan. What exactly are you apologizing for?”
“Um, for the teleportation and the private guard incident.”
“If you feel bad about the teleportation, then just be more careful next time. And as for the private guard, there’s no reason for you to apologize, is there? We already had a very thorough talk with those kids. Something like that won’t happen again.”
“Th-thank you very much.”
“Don’t really get what happened, but sounds like a lot. Still, what’s done is done. Focus on what comes next.”
“Yes.”
“Oh! Also, we decided on BBQ for dinner tonight.”
“Eh!? Woohoo~~!!”
“Why? We’ve never done that here, right?”
Gene looked excited, while Noel seemed confused.
“Because… we have a lot of it…”
““A lot of what?””
“Kraken.”
“““Ahhh—”””
Grandmother, Brother Noel, and Brother Gene all got a faraway look in their eyes.
“But there’s no way we’ll finish it all with how big it is, right?”
“I’ll store the leftovers in my storage and take them home. I want Father and Mother to try some too. Also, since it’s the last day, I’d like to go into town again tomorrow… I want to stock up on fish and shellfish.”
“Wahahaha. With your storage, Joan, you can bring back a whole lot.”
“Then I’ll go with you tomorrow. No telling if something like last time might happen again.”
“Ah, then I’ll go too! I want to eat those skewers you had last time, Joe!”
“Alright then, the three of us will go!”
““Yaaay!””
＊＊＊＊＊
““Young lady Joan, we truly, sincerely apologize for everything this time!””
[We’re sorry!]All the members of the private guard, including Dai and Kira, bowed and apologized to me.
“Umm… I forgive you. But please don’t do dangerous things from now on. There are people who’d be really sad if you got hurt… Now, go ahead and eat lots of the food you brought back.”
[Yes ma’am!]“You were amazing, Jo.”
Brother Noel gently patted my head.
“Come on, let’s dig in!”
Brother Gene handed me a heaping plate.
“Thank you, Brother Noel, Brother Gene. Let’s all eat lots.”
The BBQ was a huge hit with both the staff of Phantasmo and the private guard—everyone seemed to be having a great time in their own way.
I looked over to see Grandfather, Grandmother, Sebastian, Rottenmeier, and Sacchan from the dried goods shop sitting in a circle, chatting cheerfully.
“Sacchan, are you enjoying yourself?”
“Thanks a bunch, young miss. Inviting me over and letting me eat all this tasty food… really, thanks a ton.”
“Don’t worry about it. I invited you as a bribe anyway.”
“Joan, you’re not supposed to say that to her face.”
Grandfather sounded exasperated.
“Ahahaha. So it was a bribe. Well, whatever. So, what do you want?”
“Well, more dried goods and that good ol’ Japanese sake, of course. I’m going to town again tomorrow, so I’ll stop by your shop. I bet you’ve got some, right? S-A-K-E?”
“Ah geez~ can’t beat ya, Missy. Well, now that I’ve had this great food, I’d better repay you properly. Aight, I’ll bring out something real special tomorrow. Make sure you stop by.”
“Thanks, Sacchan. See you tomorrow.”
“That girl’s got a head for business. Hey, Linzy, how about letting me take her in?”
“Haaah… That girl told me even Taiki tried recruiting her. Asked her to join the Shadow unit or marry into the family.”
“What, Taiki too? Ahahaha.”
“Either way, I’m not letting her go.”
“Oh, Will, you’re such a grump as always~”
What do you think about this chapter?
