Chapter 709

Prep, Prep!
Leaving behind the lingering suspicion of my Oniisama’s yandere tendencies, we returned to the manor in our territory and then immediately transferred to the royal capital residence.

“Thank you very much. We’ll be taking our leave now…”

No sooner had we arrived at the royal capital residence than Sei said that and headed straight for the Bastea Company’s royal capital branch.
Mariel-chan and I stayed the night at the capital residence, then returned to the academy the following day.

“All right then, let’s at least get the prep work done.”

As soon as we reached the special dormitory, I headed straight for the kitchen and started my preparations.

“Let’s see… we’re just doing a test batch for now, so… about this much?”

I poured the dried soybeans into a colander with a zaraa-zaraa sound and rinsed them with water.

Then, I soaked the soybeans in water overnight.
For one cup of soybeans, the amount of water is… hmm, I think I heard about three times that amount?
I divided them into three bowls, soaked each portion in water, and called it a day.

“Cristea-san, is there anything else I can help with?”

Mariel-chan, who had helped me wash the soybeans, asked while letting out a little fuu of relief.

“That’s all for today… ah, right! There is something I’d like to ask you, Mariel-chan.”
“Eh? I-if possible, could it be something other than cooking?”

Lately, maybe because she’d gotten used to making salads for Ruby’s meals, she’d been producing Dark Matter less often, but she still didn’t have much confidence when it came to cooking.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Umm, I want a piece of cloth made from coarse fabric, kind of like bleached cotton, about this size.”

When I roughly indicated the dimensions with my hands, she murmured, “Hmm, I’ve got a general idea of the size…” and jotted it down.

“After we mash the soybeans, we’ll wrap them in it and squeeze out the soy milk.”
“Fwoah, soy milk! Up until now, we’ve only eaten it at the soy-milk-and-okara stage, but this is what turns into tofu!”

That’s right, at my family home, we’d tried countless times, but since the results were never satisfactory, we’d just enjoyed the leftover soy milk and okara in other tasty forms.
This time, though, it was finally going to bear fruit.

“Oh, and maybe this size too.”

Big enough to line the inside of a small colander and still wrap everything up nicely, I think?

“Hmm, hmm… If I remember right, fabric like bleached cotton is for crossdressing cosplay… ah, ahem-cough! I mean, I’ve secured plenty of it, so it’s no problem!”

… Hm? Mariel-chan, what did you just say?

“W-well then, I’ll head back to my room!”
“Ah~!… She’s gone.”

Mariel-chan hurried back to her room, so I prepared rice and dashi for tomorrow’s breakfast, then transferred the side dishes and rice balls we’d been given on the way back into the dining hall’s Magic Box for dinner. After that, I returned to my room until it was time to eat.

When dinner time came and I headed to the dining hall, it seemed Sei had just gotten back as well, and we ran into each other in the entrance hall.

“Oh, welcome back.”
“Yeah. I’m back.”
“You haven’t had dinner yet, right? We’ve got side dishes we brought from home today, so I was thinking we’d eat those. They’re in the dining hall’s Magic Box, so help yourself whenever you like.”
“Then I’ll join you.”

Instead of returning to his room, Sei headed to the dining hall with me, walking alongside me.

“Ah, Cristea-san! About the cloth, are these sizes okay?”

When we entered the dining hall, Mariel-chan spread out several layers of cloth cut to the sizes I’d specified.

“Eh, you already prepared them? Thank you!”
“It’s just measuring and cutting, so it didn’t take long. I don’t need to finish the edges, right?”
“That’s right. If you pull out a few of the weft threads, it won’t fray as easily as you use it. And if you sew it, that part won’t dry properly, and that could turn into a breeding ground for bacteria.”
“I see.”

I took the cloth, quickly cast a Cleanse spell on it, and stored it in my inventory for the time being.

Since everyone had gathered by then, we took the food out of the Magic Box and sat down for dinner.

“Cristea-sama, was that cloth for making tofu?”

Suzaku-sama asked with sparkling anticipation.

“Yes, it is. I plan to use it when separating the soybeans into soy milk and okara.”
“Ufufu, to think the day would come when we could enjoy tofu here… Tomorrow, I’ll help as well, so please do let me taste the freshly made tofu.”

“Y-yes. Please do…”

Is she that enthusiastic about tofu?
Now that I think about it, Suzaku-sama does like pudding and other wobbly, jiggly foods.

Ugh… even if it’s just a test batch, I really can’t afford to make something weird now…

Deciding that I’d wake up early tomorrow to start the tofu prep, I turned in for the night.

Please let the tofu turn out delicious tomorrow.

What do you think about this chapter?