Chapter 7: Barbecue with Fresh Vegetables

“Then let us go.”

《I’m gonna get something big today. You just watch!》

《Master — Sui’s gonna go pew-pew a whole bunch and get lots of good stuff~!》

“Sure. I’m looking forward to it.”

“At any rate, you know what you need to be doing, yes?”

“I know, I know already. I’ll get it ready.”

Fel nodded, satisfied, before leading Dora-chan and Sui into the forest.

“He told me to get it ready, but......”

We had come to the forest after our visit to the Adventurer’s guild. After an early lunch, Fel and the others went out hunting. During our early lunch, Fel had remembered something......

“Oh yes, we have not eaten the chimera’s meat yet. What happened to that?”

To be honest, I panicked a little. I was purposefully not using it.

I mean, with how it looks...... it has a lion’s, a goat’s, and a dragon’s head (albeit, the dragon part looks more like an alligator), with a venomous snake for a tail. Anybody who lays eyes on that thing would think twice about eating it.

My Appraisal said it was edible, even going so far as to say it was the highest grade of red meat which could be grilled or boiled, but I couldn’t help being a little skeptical. And even without the chimera meat, I had lots of other meat in store, so I had never had to use it until now. But Fel wouldn’t let it go......

Even if I use something else, Fel will probably be able to tell since he’s already tasted it, too. I guess I’ll just have to give up and use the chimera meat.

I took the chimera meat out of my Item Box.

“The meat’s a really pretty red, but that’s just the meat......”

If I wasn’t told that this was chimera meat, then I’d probably happily use this.

“For now, I won’t know what it’s like until I try some...”

In order to see the flavor for myself, I cut off a small bit of the meat and seasoned it with salt and pepper before grilling it.

“I’m eating orc meat easily now. Chimeras are fine. Yeah, totally fine.”

It was the same for orcs too. I used to have an aversion to eating them, but now they were just like any other meat to me. While telling myself it’d be fine, I took the piece of meat and nibbled at the edge of it.

............It’s good, I think.

I then bit off about half of the remaining piece of grilled meat. I chewed slowly and deliberately.

............

“Sooo goooooooood...”

Appraisal tells no lies.

With every chew, the umami practically oozed out. It tasted similar to beef. I had once had some New York-style dry-aged beef at a restaurant. This was similar. Back then, I had been really impressed. I remembered thinking to myself, So, red meat can taste this good...

The strong flavor of this meat, which burst out with every chew, would enchant even somebody who only tolerated meat.

“I really was just prejudiced about its looks. If it’s this good, it doesn’t matter that it’s a chimera. Haha!”

Now the problem was how to cook this meat. It’d be a waste to slice meat this good too thinly, so I might as well make something big and hearty that you could really sink your teeth into. If I wanted to maximize the taste of this meat, it had to be a steak. And I’d only season it with salt and pepper.

However, just steak on its own is kind of boring. I should make one more dish......

Since Appraisal said it was good boiled too, I could make a stew, but it’d take too long to cook it enough to be soft and tender.

Hmmm...... Ah, how about frying it? It tastes close to beef, so it might be nice to fry it like a beef cutlet.

Chimera cutlet? Right — let’s do that.

With that settled, I needed to shop for ingredients. I’d need flour, eggs, and panko breadcrumbs for the crispy coating. Simple would be best for enjoying this cutlet, so just wasabi soy sauce should be good for the dressing.

In that case, I’ll need good quality wasabi and soy sauce.

“Oh, this looks good.”

I was looking at a naturally-brewed fresh soy sauce. It was a little expensive, but for something as good as chimera meat, it had to be high quality.

I also bought an entire fresh wasabi root, which I planned to grind myself. And I found some salt extracted from roasted seaweed that seemed like it would go well with the cutlets, so I decided to buy that too. I’d used that kind of salt before; it was a larger grain, and milder than normal salt. It was quite good.

“Now then. Let’s start with the steak.”

For the steak, I used the usual method to grill it with aluminum foil.

I used the pepper in the grinder that I’d bought before, and I used the salt I’d received from the members of Shadow Warrior back in Aveling. I was told it was rock salt from Mt. Yermolay.

I ground up some of the pink-colored rock salt to try it. It had a pleasant taste, mild and round.

Thus, I made chimera steak seasoned with freshly ground pepper and rock salt.

*Gulp*

“...Taste-testing is the privilege of the cook, right?”

I took a bite.

“Ahh~, delicious.”

Every time I chewed, the meat’s juices spilled forth, reinforcing the feeling that I was eating really high-quality meat.

I almost can’t help myself...

I somehow managed to suppress the urge to keep eating and started on the next dish, the chimera cutlet.

I seasoned both sides of the chimera meat with the same salt and pepper I had used on the steak just now. Then, I thinly coated the meat in flour before dipping it in an egg wash to help the panko stick on properly. Once that was finished, I fried it in hot oil until it turned a light brown.

While being careful not to burn myself on the nicely browned chimera cutlet, I cut into it.

*Crisssp*

Every slice was accompanied by a satisfying crispy sound.

“Great, it turned out well.”

The inside was medium rare, the best possible outcome.

“Heheheh, now a taste test......”

I grated a small amount of wasabi on the freshly fried and sliced cutlet before taking a piece, dipping the end into the fresh soy sauce, and taking a bite.

“This is so amaaaaaziiing...”

The breaded surface was nice and crisp, and the meat inside was soft and juicy.

The crunchy bite and rush of meat juices tastes so good with the wasabi and soy sauce.

“This is irresistible.”

I couldn’t stop myself from taking a second and even a third piece.

“Wait, I can’t just keep eating this with wasabi and soy sauce. I need to try it with that seaweed salt.”

For the next piece, I tried it after adding some of the seaweed salt.

“Ohhh~, this is pretty nice too.”

The seaweed salt was slightly sharp and brought out the taste of the meat. I ended up having a second piece with this seasoning as well.

“Oh no, I need to stop. It was so good I ate too much. But could this be good enough to rival dragon meat?” I talked to myself about the chimera’s tastiness.

The chimera wasn’t as big as a dragon, so there was less meat. There was only enough for this meal, and at best two more after. And I was almost out of earth dragon meat, too......

I’m going to have to carefully consider how and when to use the meat, won’t I... Good meat always goes away fast. Well, there’s still lots of tasty meat available in this world, so I’ll probably get more later anyway.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“We are back.”

“Oh, welcome.”

My familiars had returned from hunting.

《I’m so hungry~.》

《Sui is also hungry~.》

“I have food ready. More importantly, how was the hunt?”

《Well... Fel?》

“Hm. We had bad luck today.”

《Sui couldn’t go pew-pew much today...》

I checked inside the magic bag Fel was carrying.

Three red boars, four cockatrices, and......

“This is really big. Is it a goat?”

It was a huge black goat, around twice as big as normal. It had curved horns and a very muscular body.

“That is a monster called a black goat. Its meat has a peculiar flavor, and I do not like it very much. But it is what we found, so we hunted it.”

When I used Appraisal, I found that it was a B-ranked monster, and that its meat was edible but gamey. Fel was right.

Now that I think about it, I’ve never had goat before. But I have heard that it’s very gamey. It might be fine to just sell the whole thing.

《That’s it for today,》 Dora-chan said sadly.

“Well, days like this happen. It’s amazing you got even this much. Also, I can butcher red boars and cockatrices myself in a pinch if I have to, so there’s no problem hunting as many of those as you can.”

《You say that, but...》

《Sui wanted to go pew-pew more...》

“There is no helping it. Any large monsters within my detection range today were too far away.”

“Now, now, there’s always next time. More importantly, you’re all hungry, right? Let’s eat.”

“Indeed. The meat is......”

“Of course, it’s the chimera meat you wanted.”

I served everyone a plate with steak on it.

“The meat is amazingly delicious, so I just seasoned it simply with salt and pepper.”

My familiars quickly dug in.

“Mm. Good!”

《I’ve never eaten chimera before. This is really good meat!》

《So delicious—!》

“It really is, isn’t it? Even though it looks like that.”

Everyone was eating, engrossed by the delicious flavor of the chimera. Even I, who ate quite a bit while taste testing, couldn’t help myself.

“The salt and pepper is good, but steak sauce should work too. Want any?” I asked Fel, who loved the stuff. He nodded, so I served him another steak with his favorite garlic-flavored steak sauce on top.

“This is delectable. The salt and pepper were plenty good, but I honestly prefer this. This flavor further brings out and emphasizes the flavor and umami of the meat,” Fel said, continuing to chow down.

《Ah, I want some too.》

《Sui wants some too—!》

Seeing Fel enjoy his so much, Dora-chan and Sui jumped on the bandwagon and asked for the steak sauce. When I complied, they seemed like they really enjoyed it, saying, 《This is good,》 and 《Sui likes this too—!》

Going with the flow, I also added the steak sauce to my own portion. The garlic flavor really whetted the appetite, and I couldn’t stop eating.

“Oh, it’s all gone. This garlic flavor is dangerous.”

I need to be careful not to eat too much — there’s still another dish waiting in the wings.

“I made another dish. I tried frying the chimera meat in oil. You can have this with some wasabi and soy sauce, or with seaweed salt. Wasabi’s a little bit spicy. Would you rather not have that, Sui?”

《Hmmm, Sui doesn’t like spicy things, but Sui will try a little—.》

I served them two cutlets each, one with the soy sauce mixed with wasabi, and the other with the seaweed salt.

Sui was just trying out the wasabi and soy sauce, so I only gave it half of a cutlet for that one.

“This is delicious. This one especially.”

It looked like Fel clearly preferred the soy sauce mixed with wasabi. Fel said that the seaweed salt wasn’t bad, but the wasabi and soy sauce went really well with the meat with its sharp, biting spices.

《I prefer this one with the seaweed salt.》

It looked like Dora-chan liked the one with the seaweed salt. While he didn’t hate the wasabi mixed with soy sauce and the potent spices that brought out the meat’s flavor, the seaweed salt allowed the umami of the meat to hit him even harder.

“How about you, Sui?”

《Hmm, this spicy one isn’t good. This salt here is much better—!》

As I expected, the spiciness was too soon for Sui’s child-like tastes.

Sui said that the seaweed salt was good, but there should be something else that would suit Sui’s tastes better.

“Eat this for now Sui. There’s something else I think you might like, so wait a bit.”

I served Sui another cutlet with seaweed salt and got to cooking. I bought a can of demiglace sauce with my skill and started heating its contents on a frying pan along with some ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Then, I added a little sugar and butter before checking the taste.

“Yeah, this is good.”

I put the finished demiglace sauce onto some chimera cutlet.

“Here you go, Sui.”

《Wooow~, it smells good!》

Sui absorbed the chimera cutlet with demiglace sauce.

《So delicious~. Sui likes this the best—!》

It looked like the demiglace sauce fit perfectly with Sui’s tastes. It must have actually really liked the demiglace sauce, as Sui ate piles of it.

“Mm? What is that? It looks good. Give that to me too.”

《I want that too.》

Fel and Dora-chan, who had seen what happened, asked for the sauce too.

“You too, guys? Wait a second.”

I served Fel and Dora-chan some cutlets with demiglace sauce.

“Mm, this is pretty good as well.”

《Yeah. It is.》

It seemed that, unexpectedly, Fel and Dora-chan took to the demiglace sauce quite well.

《More—!》

“Already? Hold on.”

“More for me as well. I want both steak and this cutlet.”

《More cutlet here too. With the seaweed salt.》

“You guys too?”

I readied extra portions for everyone. And just like that, we enjoyed the chimera meat until dusk.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After my familiars had gone to sleep, I went to the living room.

“Now then. One more thing to do. I need to make my offering to Demiurge......”

I retrieved the cardboard box with Demiurge’s offering in it from my Item Box.

I had sent my offerings to Ninrir and the others yesterday, but I didn’t think it was proper to lump Demiurge in with the rest, so I had delayed by a day. Just like I had done for them, I was leaving Demiurge’s offerings in the box.

“Please accept this gift, great Demiurge.”

＜Ohh, thanks for doing this so often~. Hm? It’s in a box today?＞

“Yes. I thought that it would be more exciting to have to open it.”

＜You’re right about that. Then I’ll open it now.＞

As Demiurge spoke, the cardboard box disappeared. I could hear the sounds of it being opened.

＜Oh! You gave me this bottle before.＞

“Yes. All three of those bottles may be from the same brewer, but one of them is a Junmai Daiginjo, the other a Ginjo, and the last a special Honjozo. The point of the set is to try out different types of sake from the same brewer.”

＜Is there a difference? If they are all from the same brewer, they should be pretty similar.＞

“Uhhh, the difference between the three types is... Basically, the method of brewing them is different. There are differences in how polished the rice is, how much yeast there is in the mixture, the amount of extra alcohol added in, the temperature it’s fermented at, and other stuff. There’s a lot of differences like that, so even if the brand is the same, the flavor ends up very different. This set is something picked out so you can discover and enjoy those differences.”

＜I see. The flavor of sake is truly a well that runs deep. I will try these tomorrow with my supper.＞

“The usual Kantsuma snacks are there too, so please feel free to enjoy those with your alcohol.”

＜Indeed, indeed. Those really pair well with sake. I’m looking forward to it. Ho! Ho! Ho!＞

Demiurge’s calm laugh rang through my head.

＜By the way, how were they?＞

Ahh, the gods, right?

“If you’re talking about the other gods, they contacted me the day before yesterday,” I reported.

＜I see. So that was why they were so happy.＞

“Was it that obvious?”

＜It was. Ninrir was even humming a tune while skipping along.＞

Ninrir...... I know you’ve finally gotten your hands on some sweets after an entire month, but isn’t that just too much?

＜However, from what you said, they seem to have sincerely repented.＞

“Yes. It seems your punishment worked wonders. They all apologized, and Ninrir even cried.”

She had been absolutely wailing. The other gods seemed haggard too, just judging from their voices. Then, after all of them got what they were longing for, it seemed like they were on cloud nine even though they were so meek and quiet before.

＜I see, I see. It seems they’ve grown at least a little.＞

Demiurge sounded a little relieved. I supposed that, to him, that meant that the gods, who had grown a little too big headed, had learned their lesson.

＜I can’t go around apologizing to just anyone. I am a god, after all. However, no matter who a person may be, they must make amends for causing trouble.＞

Well, it wasn’t that much trouble, but I can’t deny they were being selfish.

＜It seems that they’ve repented, so it would make me happy if you would play along with them for a while more.＞

“Okay. I’ve had them agree to offerings only once a month, so it’ll be fine.”

It’s only once a month, and they won’t micromanage me, so it’ll be a lot easier than before.

＜If they start getting too selfish again, tell me right away.＞

“Hahaha! If that ever happens, I won’t hold back.”

＜Good. Well then, later.＞

“Yes, later.”

My connection with Demiurge cut off with a snap.

It really is reassuring to have the God of All Creation in your corner. Well, it looks like those other gods were all sorry too, so there probably won’t be too much trouble in the future.

“Now then, I’ve finished what I needed to with Demiurge — let’s sleep.”

I joined my familiars in the master bedroom.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After breakfast, I headed to the field.

“Good morning, everyone.”

In the field, the Tony and Alban families as well as the security team were busy harvesting the honeydews, watermelons, cucumbers, and the like that were ripe.

“Good morning, Mukohda.”

“Good morning.”

Tony and Alban, the heads of their respective families, greeted me before the others chimed in and I heard a chorus of “good mornings.”

“Morning big brother Mukohda! Look, look! They’re huge!” Lotte said, holding up a large, round tomato.

“Ohh, they are huge.”

“Right? The others are really big too! Over here!” Lotte pulled on my hand and led me into the field.

“Sorry for harvesting without your permission, Mukohda. It grows so fast that if we left it alone any longer, they’d start to rot.”

Alban, who was harvesting eggplants, turned towards me and apologized.

“No, I think you made a good decision. It’ll be a waste to let these beautiful specimens rot after we took so much trouble to raise them.”

Honeydew melons, watermelons, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, corn, and squashes... every single one of the seeds that we planted grew well. In fact, they had grown so well that they were about fifty percent larger than normal. I worried that they would be lacking in flavor because they were so big, so I picked some corn from a stalk that happened to be nearby.

“Yep, it’s huge. The beard-like hairs here are nice and tufty too. It’s also pretty hefty.”

I peeled the ears of the corn and found the cob packed with firm, whitish beads.

“The whiter the corn is, the sweeter it is, right?”

It was possible to eat corn raw, so I nibbled off a piece of it.

“So sweet! What the hell, this is super sweet!”

Each piece of corn was firm and juicy, as well as shockingly sweet.

“Huh? Is corn supposed to be this sweet? This is way different from any corn I’ve eaten.”

I had a sneaking suspicion, so I used my Appraisal......

【Corn】

Corn, a vegetable from another world. Having been exposed to abundant nutrients as well as this world’s magic atmosphere, it has grown to become a specimen of the highest quality. Each stalk only produces ears once.

It really was because of the fertilizer. And the atmosphere, too — that apparently influenced things.

It’s true that magic didn’t exist back on Earth... Wait, then are the other ones like the corn?

I suspected as much, so I used my Appraisal on the other plants too. They were all the same as the corn — all of the highest quality.

Well anyway, them being so good and delicious doesn’t cause any problems, so that’s fine. But they all said they’d “only produce once,” or something to that effect. That means that in order to grow more, we will need to plant seeds once again. It’s too bad, but I can buy as much as I want from my Online Supermarket, so it’s not really a problem.

“Mukohda, we’re done.”

Alban was holding a bag that I had bought for daily use. Inside, I could see obviously fresh and juicy cucumbers with a very enticing green color. The others also had bags in hand that were filled with vegetables and fruits.

“There were more than I thought.”

“Yes. And they’ve all grown to a size I’ve never seen in my life.”

The plants that were grown in this field grew so well it even surprised Alban, the former farmer.

“Okay then, let’s taste test these right away.”

“Yaaay! Lotte wants that sweet one we ate before!”

“The honeydew and watermelon, huh?”

They had probably all had breakfast, so I decided to go with Lotte’s desire and make a dessert with honeydew and watermelon.

“Right then. I’ll go get Fel and the others, so wait here.”

I had everyone wait while I went back to the main house to call my familiars.

I couldn’t have anyone else do it, since they all freeze in front of my familiars without me there. Sui the slime aside, they were all scared of Fel (a big wolf) and Dora-chan (tiny, but a dragon). Even Lotte, the epitome of freedom and the uninhibited, wouldn’t carelessly go near Fel and the others. Although she was probably thoroughly lectured about doing so from her parents. It did seem she held some interest, though. In any case, I had to be the one to call them myself.

Once I came back with Fel and the others in tow, I had Aija and Thereza help cut the honeydew and watermelon. Just like before, I removed the rind for Fel and the others before cutting them into cubes and serving in a dish.

“All right everyone — try some.”

The instant the fruit went into everybody’s mouths, they all shouted, “Sweet!”

Lotte was eating voraciously, the sides of her mouth dripping with juice.

Sui, who liked sweet things, also seemed happy, saying, 《This one is sweeter than the one before. It’s delicious.》

It looked like Fel and Dora-chan also liked the fruit. They were wordlessly stuffing themselves.

“I should try some too. I’ll start with the honeydew.”

Lured in by the sweet smell of the honeydew, I put a piece in my mouth. The melon was ripe and juicy and of course sweet. It practically melted in my mouth with every bite.

“This is crazy sweet. It really is better than the ones from before.”

Sui was right, it was sweeter and better than what I could buy from my Online Supermarket. I tried the watermelon too, and that turned out to be the same as the honeydew: juicy and sweet. All of us enjoyed the amazingly sweet watermelon and honeydew to our heart’s content.

But, if these are so amazing, it makes me want to try the others... Hmmm...... It’s time for...

“Right. Everyone, you can all have the day off. Let’s have a barbecue!”

“Mm? Is barbecue that one where you use charcoal to cook meat? That is good. Cook a lot of meat.”

《Meat cooked with charcoal? That stuff smells really great, and tastes just as good!》

《Good smelling meat! Sui wants to eat lots!》

After hearing the word “barbecue,” Fel and the others were excited.

Hey, it’s not going to just be meat. The purpose of having a barbecue this time is to eat the vegetables we just harvested.

“E-Excuse me, the day off......?”

Tony looked troubled. The others also had similar expressions.

“It’s thanks to all of your hard work that the grounds have become nice and pretty, and the same goes for the inside of the house too. It won’t matter if you all take one day off.”

In response to what I said, the expressions of the members of the Tony and Alban families got a little happier.

“It’s the same for the security team. There’s no one stupid enough to attack in broad daylight.”

“True, it’s thanks to you those annoying bastards are gone,” Tabatha replied.

“Only the biggest of idiots would attack an S-ranked adventurer’s house in the first place. And only those who would be brainless even by those idiots’ standards would attack an S-ranked adventurer’s house when they don’t even know if they’re there or not. Anybody who’d do that deserves to die,” Barthel said. The other members of the security team all nodded and said, “Yep.”

“Which means there’s no problem taking a break today, right? Thereza, Aija, and you too, Selja, I need help preparing the barbecue.”

If I had to make enough food for everyone, including my familiars, there would be a ton of prep work involved, even if it was just cutting the meat and vegetables.

“Umm, I’d like to... the field......”

Alban was sounding hesitant, attempting to restrain himself.

“Then can I get you to help pull out the seedlings?”

“Yes!”

Tony and the security team volunteered to help Alban. The work was done quickly, and the field was left empty.

“Mukohda, is it all right for me to plant potatoes?”

Alban told me that some of the potatoes they’d bought had sprouted eyes and couldn’t be eaten any more.

“Of course. You’re the one responsible for this field Alban, so use it as you like. Ah, also — I need to hand this over to you.”

I gave him some extra vegetable seeds, including lettuce and cucumbers, as well as some fertilizer.

“A-Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah. However, it seems like these crops only bear fruit once, so be careful about that. Also, about this fertilizer......”

I warned him not to put in too much, explaining that a little less than half the cap would be fine for the watering cans I had given them.

“Right then. I’m going to go prepare the barbecue. Aija, Thereza, Selja, let’s go.”

I took the three of them back to the main house, with Fel and the others following me.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We split up the work for preparing the barbecue and got started.

I had Aija, Thereza, and Selja cut the vegetables. For the lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes, we just made them into a salad since they’d be best eaten fresh. The eggplants would be grilled with the skin on, and the corn would be steamed, so we left those as they were.

The squashes were huge and their rinds tough, so I cut them into pieces. I would have struggled to cut the squash before, but now with my current level, I could easily do so without much effort.

I took out the seeds, cut the squash into thin slices, and left the rind on. It was darkly colored and looked sweet, so I was really looking forward to eating it.

Next was the meat.

“All right everyone, this is how you cut blue bull and orc meat.”

We were cooking for a lot of people, so I needed those three to prepare a lot of meat. Meanwhile, I would be preparing something else with a different meat.

“I’m going to make that with rockbird!”

I used all the rockbird meat I had left to make Jamaican jerk chicken.

Before I came to this world, I had searched it up on the internet when I had heard how delicious it was, and after making it myself, I had to agree.

I had been craving it, and it would be even better after grilling it. As I was now, it would be easy to make something delicious.

First, I needed ingredients from my Online Supermarket. I bought lemon, onions, garlic, and jerk chicken seasoning, which would be the anchor of all the flavor. Jerk chicken seasoning came in powdered form, as well as a goopy, saucy marinade in a bottle. I always recommended using the marinade since it would soak into the meat better.

While I was shopping, I also bought the usual barbecue sauce and the charcoal I’d need for the grill.

“Now then. Let’s get started on the jerk chicken. Though it’s not going to be that intensive.”

First, poke some holes into the rockbird meat with a fork, and squirt some lemon juice on top before letting the meat sit for a while. Then, take a vinyl bag and put in some grated onions and garlic, as well as the jerk chicken seasoning...

I also threw in a little honey I had on hand. With the marinade ready, I put the rockbird meat into the bag and massaged the flavors into it for a while, before leaving it alone to marinate.

“Right, let’s go back to everyone else.”

I stored the huge amount of food in my Item Box and joined the rest of the party.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Okay. Everyone has some sauce, right?”

I passed around forks and a bowl of sauce to everyone.

“I’m going to start cooking the meat now, so just take what’s finished as you please and add the sauce. Also, this squash is already done. I tried a little bit just now, and it was very sweet. You can eat it as is.”

As for my familiars, I set aside their portions on their own dishes.

“Here you go.”

They happily dug into the meat coated in the sauce.

“Mm, this is good.”

《I really love meat cooked with charcoal.》

《So delicious!》

Grilling with charcoal really does make the meat taste different.

“Delicious!”

“The grilling imparted some flavor and smell to the meat. This is great.”

“It’s amazing paired with this sauce.”

The Tony and Alban families, who got on really well, were pecking at their food together. As for the security team... Yep, they were gobbling down the food without a word.

Hey now, you don’t have to eat that fast. There’s still more. Oh. Looking closely, two of them are crying.

“Ahh, meat’s so good......”

“Agh, I love meat......”

The idiot twins were overcome with emotion, their faces stuffed full of blue bull.

Even though they liked meat enough to cry about it, the two of them still wouldn’t touch the orc meat. What had happened before must have turned into quite the traumatic episode.

Well, they’ll probably get to eating it again eventually.

“Ah, don’t just eat the meat. You all need to try this salad, too. I prepared a lot of different dressings, too.”

“So, we’re supposed to eat these raw vegetables with this, uh... ‘dressing?’”

“That’s right, Alban. This here is sesame dressing, this one is Japanese dressing, and this one is French dressing. I recommend the sesame — its savory flavor is great.”

“I see. Then I’ll go with that.”

Alban did as he said and tried some salad with sesame dressing. He must have really found it to his liking, as he started giving some to his wife, Thereza, and his kids too.

Salad really is the staple for vegetable dishes. I need to eat some later, too. But first I want to have some meat. I can’t help myself after experiencing the smell.

I put the next batch of meat on the grill and ate some of the meat that I’d set aside for myself.

“Yep. It’s good. This sauce really is the best for this sort of thing.”

“Hey. More meat.”

《Me too!》

《Sui too!》

“Sure, sure. Wait a little.”

I grilled a mountainous extra serving of meat for Fel and the others.

Oh, looks like the eggplant is finished — it turned out well. Grilled eggplant is perfect when the skin just starts to burn.

“Aija, take over please. Everyone loves their meat so make sure you put on a lot of it.”

I left the grill to Aija and called out to Fel after taking a bowl from my Item Box.

“Fel, can you make some ice in this bowl? Just some small pieces will be fine.”

“How annoying. I am eating.”

“Yeah, sorry. But I need it to peel the grilled eggplant.”

“Fine. Here.”

The bowl was filled with ice shards.

“Whoa! Too much!”

I didn’t want to waste it, so I transferred the extra ice to my Item Box. Once that was done, I added water to the bowl of ice and soaked the grilled eggplant in it for about thirty seconds. I’d scored around the eggplant’s stem before grilling, so I just had to peel the skin off starting from there, and it all came off easily. Then, I cut the eggplants into bite-sized pieces and lined them up on a plate before sprinkling some bonito flakes and mentsuyu on top......

“The grilled eggplant is done.”

I served it up. The children and security team weren’t very happy with it, but Alban, Thereza, Tony, and Aija were wolfing it down. It clearly hit the mark; they all said it was delicious. Of course, I enjoyed some myself.

Grilled eggplant’s amazingly delicious.

Meanwhile, the steamed corn was turning out great. It was sweet, so it was immensely popular with the children. Kosti, Selja, Oliver, Erik, and Lotte were all entranced by it. Even Peter, who surprisingly liked sweet things, was already onto his second cob.

I liked corn myself, so I added more to the grill.

Still......

“This barbecue is making me want some booze...”

“What? Booze?!!”

Barthel the dwarf instantly picked up on the word booze.

“I-Is there any? Tell me!”

“Want some?”

“Of course. My life here is several times better than my life as an adventurer, but there’s only one downside. And that’s the fact that there’s not enough alcohol.”

“Huh? But haven’t you been going to buy alcohol regularly, Barthel?”

I’d heard that Barthel would always go into town for alcohol on his days off, though.

“Of course, but I want to go all out sometimes.”

Well, he is a dwarf.

“All right then. Let’s put aside manners and social standing for today. We’re all drinking,” I said, and the adults (especially the security team made up of former adventurers) all gave a hearty shout of excitement.

I quickly set to buying canned beer for the adults and juice for the kids.

“This bottle of juice is for the kids. Just unscrew it like this to take off the lid. And the adults get this canned beer. Open up the top like this so you can drink out of it.”

I taught everyone how to open their drinks.

“Right. Everyone has a drink, right? Cheers!”

“““““Cheers!”””””

*Glug-lug*

“Aaahh! Amazing! I never thought cold booze would be this good! This just stirs my appetite for meat!”

“It really is good! The feeling as this cold stuff goes down the hatch is just the best!”

“Good booze and good meat. We’re living the life!”

Heheheh, I know right? Bu-u-ut! There’s still something that goes even better with beer. And that’s what I got started on yesterday. It should be just about done marinating.

“Okay! I’m going to go grill some meat that’ll go even better with this beer.”

Using Earth magic, I created a table to set my vinyl bag on. I proceeded to move the rockbird meat from inside the bag to the grill. While the meat cooked, a spicy smell started to waft throughout the area.

“W-What’s this delicious smell......?”

“It’s making me hungry...”

Everyone’s gazes were fixed on the jerk chicken.

Grill one side, then flip... Right. This should do it.

“Here, help yourselves,” I said to everyone else, who started happily munching on jerk chicken as I piled up Fel and the others’ servings in their dishes.

“And for you.” I served Fel and the others.

“Oh? This dish smells very different. Hm...... Yes, this is quite good. It could stand to tingle a little more, though.”

《Oh ho! It’s just a little tingly, that’s perfect.》

《Yeah. It tingles, but it’s delicious!》

The jerk chicken was well received by Fel and the others too.

“Oh! This is irresistible! It’s perfect with this cold alcohol!” Barthel said after taking a huge swig of beer. I was using the extra ice Fel had produced earlier to cool the beer, but at the rate Barthel was going, he’d down the lot.

“Hey! Barthel, you’re drinking too much!”

“Yeah!”

The idiot twins protested, but Barthel didn’t seem to care.

“It’s first come, first served for these things!” he said as he opened up yet another can.

“Waaagh! You opened another one!”

“Hahaha, there’s more beer. I told you today was free, right? Drink as much as you like.”

I added more cans of beer to the cooler and opened my second can.

“Ohh! You’re the best, Mukohda!”

“You really are!”

“You guys change your tune quickly, don’t you? Geez. Hahaha!”

“Hey, I want more!”

《Me too!》

《Sui too!》

“Sure. Just wait.”

I sent another pile of jerk chicken my familiar’s way.

“Eat lots.”

“We’re eating too!”

“Of course!”

Everyone had a beer in one hand as they gathered around the spicy jerk chicken.

Barbecues really are better with lots of people.