Volume 3, Chapter 16 – Yianshui Sightseeing and Gourmet Tour

Two weeks after departing from the settlement at Crescent Moon Spring, we arrived at a town called Yianshui, said to be a major transportation hub of the Red Sky Empire.

We were no longer in the desert. While the climate was still somewhat dry, there were fields and a flowing river.

Once we cleared the desert, we left our camels behind and rented a carriage, which made our travel speed much faster.

“So, what does Fiene-san plan to do?”

There was a reason Marco-san asked this.

From here, it is about a week’s journey by carriage east to reach the imperial capital, Yan’an. However, our destination, Jinsha, lies deep within the mountains to the southwest.

The only road to Jinsha leads from a town called Chi Tien, and apparently, reaching that town from Yianshui requires about ten days of trekking through mountain paths.

For reference, it takes about ten days by carriage to get from the imperial capital to Chi Tien.

If we wanted a safe and comfortable carriage journey, going via the capital would be the better route, but that would be a loss of one week.

Furthermore, since Marco-san has already found out that I am a Saint Candidate, I might get dragged into all sorts of trouble.

If I had to stay for several days, or worse, ended up being summoned before His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, that would be a disaster.

“I think I’ll head directly to Chi Tien from here. Thank you for everything up until now.”

“I see. Tsk, what a shame.”

Even if he clicks his tongue that softly, I have good ears, so I can hear everything.

“Well, to pray for the success of Fiene-san’s journey, I’ll treat you all to dinner tonight. After all, you helped my friend’s family back at Crescent Moon Spring.”

“In that case, we won’t hold back. Lu-chan, Marco-san says he’s treating us to dinner tonight!”

“Yay! Thank you, Marco-san!”

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Lu-chan’s appetite is still within the realm of common sense, so I suppose it’s fine.

I’d feel more hesitant if it were Liera-san.

“Alright, I have some errands to run in town, so go ahead and do some sightseeing. I recommend the Grotto Temple. If you walk straight south down this road, you’ll get there in about an hour.”

With a “see you later,” Marco-san and his group walked away.

It was currently around noon. If we grabbed a quick bite somewhere and then visited the temple, the timing would work out perfectly.

“Well, since we’re here, let’s go see this Grotto Temple.”

We began walking south down the street. The more I looked, the more I noticed that the town was lined with Chinese-style buildings. With rows of houses featuring tiled roofs, the atmosphere was quite different from any town we had seen so far.

To use an analogy from my previous world, it felt like the Chinese gateway to the Silk Road.

Well, I don’t actually know where that gateway is, so it’s strictly just an impression.

As we walked, delicious smells wafted from the shops. One sign read “Beef Noodles.”

“Lu-chan, does that shop over there look good?”

Lu-chan began to sniff the air.

“Onee-sama, let’s go to that shop over there instead!”

Lu-chan marched off in high spirits, and we followed her lead.

Guided by Lu-chan, we entered and sat down in a slightly grimy establishment that had the atmosphere of a typical, slightly shabby diner meant for ordinary people.

“Welcome.”

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Water was placed on the table with a blunt gesture, and menus were handed to us.

“I’ll have this beef noodles.” “Me too.” “I shall as well.”

Since I didn’t really understand the menu, I ordered the beef noodles.

“Ah, I’ll have this beef noodle dish, and this lamb and vegetable chili oil noodle dish, and this stewed lamb offal soup, and the chicken and vegetable doubanjiang ¹ Doubanjiang is a savory, spicy Chinese fermented paste made from broad beans (fava beans), chili peppers, soybeans, salt, and wheat flour. stew, please!”

Her appetite was as relentless as ever. I find it amazing that she can order so many unknown dishes and have them all turn out to be delicious.

After a while, the bowls were brought out. Oh, they even have chopsticks and Chinese spoons.

“Let’s eat.”

I blew on the noodles to cool them down and took a small bite of the piping hot noodles.

It had a unique aroma, but the light, salty broth clung to the noodles and tasted great. I didn’t know what kind of broth it was, but it was simply delicious.

As expected of a shop chosen by Lu-chan.

Shizuku-san was eating with loud, slurping sounds.

Ah, somehow this feels nostalgic—this way of eating by slurping.

The thing is, Chris-san thoroughly corrected me, and the habit of slurping noodles loudly has completely disappeared from my life.

Apparently, in the White Moon Kingdom and the Blue Star Republic, slurping noodles—though they are pasta rather than Chinese noodles or soba—is considered a breach of etiquette on a fairly embarrassing level.

Since I often have to show my face around the nobility, acquiring table manners was somewhat essential, but once I got used to the stiff etiquette, it didn’t bother me that much.

Meanwhile, Lu-chan was munching away on noodles that were clearly boiling hot.

“Lu-chan, your choice of restaurant today was spot on as well.”

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“Ehehe. I just sort of know when a shop is going to be tasty~♪”

She said this with a look of pure bliss on her face.

“Onee-sama, I’ll give you a bite of each!”

“Thank you, Lu-chan.”

Lu-chan shared a bite of the other three dishes with me. The price of those bites was half of my beef noodles.

The chili oil noodles had a mysterious taste. It was a thick, spicy meat miso made with lamb—it was probably closest to a spicy version of zhajiangmian ² Zhajiangmian is a classic Chinese noodle dish that translates to “fried sauce noodles”. I .

Vegetables and noodles were mixed in, topped with a massive amount of chili oil.

It was delicious, but perhaps a bit too spicy for me. My tongue was tingling.

Then there was the chicken and vegetable doubanjiang stew. It was red. It looked spicy just by looking at it. It took some courage to try it, but I steeled myself and brought the spoon to my mouth.

“#@!#$&!?”

In the next instant, I hurriedly drank water to wash the red hazardous material down into my stomach.

Even so, the heat wouldn’t subside, so I downed the stewed lamb offal soup in one go.

I couldn’t taste a thing.

“Ah, Onee-sama, was it too spicy after all? I thought it might be a little spicy too.”

Noticing my state, Lu-chan continued to eat the doubanjiang stew with a perfectly calm expression.

…

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…

…

After writhing in agony from the spice, I finally managed to speak once things settled down.

“Lu-chan, you’re really strong with spicy food.”

“I love anything that tastes good!”

“If you ever contract a spirit, Lu-chan, I’m sure it’ll be a Food Spirit.”

“Ah, that sounds great! Being able to contract with a spirit that can produce delicious food at any time sounds like a dream~”

“I think you’d be happy if you learned how to cook yourself, Lu-chan.”

“Eh? But I like eating!!”

Lu-chan puffed out her chest proudly.

“No, I don’t think this is the part where you should be proud…”

“Onee-sama, don’t worry about it! Because this food is just so delicious♪”

Watching Lu-chan happily shove food into her mouth made me feel like it didn’t even matter anymore.

Lu-chan, who also polished off the rest of the beef noodles I couldn’t finish, looked completely satisfied.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Having filled our stomachs, we set off toward the tourist attraction, the Grotto Temple.