Yonesuke
Thanks to Belle, I was able to smoothly explain rice to Belle’s father and Hans. Since polishing can be done with wind magic, I had Brother Gene handle it. As for cooking the rice, I’ll be teaching the method in the kitchen tomorrow. And the way to eat it was…
“So good!!”
“Hey, Brother Hans! Don’t take it all!”
“Shut it, Eric! You’re always eating this kind of delicious stuff… not fair!! Oh—this one’s amazing too!!”
From my Storage, I’d brought out yakiniku rice bowls, assorted rice balls, bamboo shoot takikomi-gohan, and even Giant Snake bowls. Everyone was freely helping themselves to taste-testing. The rice balls came in five kinds: grilled (soy-sauce flavor), grilled (miso flavor), orc shonga-grilled, salted, and salted grilled sharmon—a fish like salmon. Incidentally, sharmon roe was marinated in soy sauce too.
“The plain salted rice ball really brings out the rice’s sweetness.”
“Husband, these bamboo shoots can also be harvested in our land. Strange, though—it tastes nostalgic even though I’ve never eaten it before.”
Looks like both Belle’s father and mother understood rice’s deliciousness.
“Young Lady Joan, you really do love cooking, don’t you? And not just that—it’s delicious. I’ll end up getting fat from eating too much.”
Lady Isabella too was already on her third—or was it fourth—rice ball.
I’ll give Belle’s mother and Lady Isabella some dried fruit later.
Good thing I’d checked with Mother before coming. As expected of her—almost prophetic—she’d said, “This time it’s fine, since everyone will end up eating too much of Joan’s food anyway”.
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“Thank you for having me today!”
““““Thank you!!!””””
The next day, after morning tea time, I came to the kitchen with Belle.
By the way, during morning tea, Belle’s mother and Lady Isabella leaned forward and bombarded me with questions about the dried fruit’s effects. They wanted to arrange regular purchases, but since that needs Father and Mother’s approval, I put it on hold. The two of them left for the couturiers in the capital right after breakfast.
Of course, I’d sworn them to secrecy about the dried fruit.
Later, I’ll stop by the Adventurers’ Guild to borrow a teleportation circle for letters from the Guildmaster and contact Father…
The cooking team at Belle’s estate consisted of five people.
According to Belle, the head chef, Mr. Athos, was a taciturn man with dark gray hair and a mustache, but fiery passion when it came to cooking. The sous-chef, Mr. Porthos, was huge both vertically and horizontally, with short brown hair, and a big eater. Then there was Mr. Aramis, with long orange hair tied back and handsome features—popular not only with the servants but even outsiders. The black-haired Mr. D’Artagnan was the mood-maker and a jokester, apparently a former adventurer, light on his feet. Lastly, the only woman, Kitty, with navy hair in a ponytail—cute face, but sharp tongue.
“First, please try these.”
I opened my Storage from my pouch and laid out the five kinds of rice balls I’d served last night.
“So these are…”
Chef Athos took the lead, choosing a salted rice ball.
“Then I’ll take this one.”
Sous-chef Porthos picked the orc shonga-grilled.
“Alright, I’ll go with this.”
Aramis chose the miso-flavored grilled.
“I’ll take this one!”
D’Artagnan grabbed the soy-sauce grilled.
“Guess that leaves me this one.”
Kitty ended up with the salted sharmon.
Cautiously, the five of them took bites.
““Delicious!!””
““So good!!””
“It’s wonderful.”
After that, they chewed in silence, savoring.
“To think we can actually eat that rice…”
“With this, I could eat a dozen.”
“We’ve been wasting something precious all this time…”
“As animal feed, no less…”
“Just let the animals eat grass from the field!”
From the top: Athos, Porthos, Aramis, D’Artagnan, and Kitty.
Kitty’s words reminded me suspiciously of a famous line from some old movie, “Flyin’ Something-or-Other”. Probably just me, though.
The method of rice polishing had already been taught to the kitchen by Brother Gene before heading to the Adventurers’ Guild, while I was being grilled with questions from the ladies…
So I started teaching from the basics—washing the rice and managing the fire. When I explained with the phrase “First, gently-gently, then gradually stronger…”, they mistook it for a chant and looked on guard.
But hey, I’m Null after all—too bad!
And so, when the rice finished cooking, the cooking team leaned over the steaming pot, as if bathing in the smoke of an incense burner at a temple. Not that it brings any blessing.
“Alright, now—rice straight from the pot will clump together, so you have to fluff it a little. But don’t overdo it either… There we go.”
“Oh, it’s burnt…”
“That’s called okoge, the crispy rice crust, and it’s delicious… Here, Mr. D’Artagnan.”
“Eh? H-hot… ah! Mmm, toasty and good!”
“Right? Everyone, try some too.”
“Delicious… it really adds the perfect accent.”
“There’s only a little at the bottom of the pot—so is this a rare treat?”
“Exactly. Rare indeed. Haha… a special privilege for the cook… Here, Belle.”
“Thanks… Mmm, yummy!”
It was immediately decided to serve rice for lunch. Athos tucked the pot into a time-stasis bag for later.
When they offered me thanks for teaching, I asked instead to be shown the pantry and cold storage. Even Belle was shocked, along with the cooking team.
Well—I mean, wouldn’t you be curious too?
I was wondering if I could make some side dishes or sweets from the Burst domain’s local specialties.
If I had a giant rice paddle, I could probably wave it around like a free pass and snoop about like Yonesuke, but since I don’t… guess I’ll just have to ask Daniel from the woodworking workshop to make me one when I get back.
What do you think about this chapter?
