Bonus Short Stories

Mukohda’s Cooking Class ~Cooking with Sui~

“Now then, what should I make for dinner~?” I whispered to myself. I was in the kitchen, pondering what to make for dinner.

《Meat~!》

“Woah! Oh, Sui. You’re here.” I thought I was alone, so the reply startled me. “Hm, you all do like meat... Actually, it’s more like none of you will eat it if it isn’t meat. So yeah, I’ll definitely be cooking meat.”

《Yaaay!》

......

Sui was still in the kitchen. I felt like a gaze was being leveled at me.

What?

“Uh, what’s up Sui? I’m going to be using fire, so it’s dangerous to be here.”

《Sui is strong, it’s fine. Hmph!》 Sui said, not moving an inch.

“Seriously, is there something you want?”

《Umm, uhhh, Sui kind of wants to cook too~...》

“I see... But I already told you, I’m going to use fire, and blades too...”

《Sui can’t?》 Sui was already starting to shake in sadness......

“I-It’s not that you can’t. Definitely not. But you have to listen to what I say and be careful.”

《Okay!》 Sui showed its joy by bouncing up and down a few times.

But...

“Really... what should I make?”

I continued to ponder that while Sui watched me, excitedly bobbing left and right.

If I’m going to be making it with Sui, then I can’t do anything too complicated. Yeah, it has to be simple...

“Ah...” I remembered the huge amount of ground meat I’d prepared a while back with Sui’s help.

“Right. Let’s make meat soboro.”

《Soboro?》

“That’s right, Sui. Remember? You helped me make a whole bunch of ground meat before, right?”

I plopped a bowl filled to the brim with ground meat down on the table from my Item Box.

《Ahh! Sui helped turn the thing to make small meat!》 Sui was talking about the special mithril mincer it had made. I had Sui turn the crank for the mincer, grinding up large amounts of orc and bloody horn-bull meat. While Sui’s special mincer was very effective, it was still tiring to have to make large amounts by myself. It had been a big help when Sui said it wanted to help.

“You helped make this ground meat, Sui, so let’s cook with it.”

《Yeah, okay!》

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Sui, are you ready?”

《Sui is ready!》 Sui snapped a tentacle straight up and made an excited reply.

Normally, I went for a sweet and salty soy sauce flavor, but just doing the usual would be boring. So this time, I decided to go with a miso flavor.

“All right then, I’ll be putting the seasoning in this bowl, so once I give it to you, please make sure to mix them really well.”

《Okay!》

“Inside the bowl goes sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, and miso and...” I squeezed out a tube of grated ginger. Meanwhile, Sui was paying rapt attention to what was going on.

“Here, please mix this.” I handed Sui a whisk to make it easier.

《Okaaay!》 Using the whisk, Sui set to mixing up the seasoning.

“Good. Well done. Once the seasoning is finished, next is the meat.”

Oil up a hot frying pan and put in some orc meat...

“Take four chopsticks and use them to cook the meat until it’s loose, just like I’m doing. And make sure that the ground meat doesn’t burn or stick to the pan.” I showed Sui an example of how to do it first.

I picked up Sui and situated it in front of the burner, and Sui used its tentacles to skillfully manipulate the cookware.

《Master — how is it?》

“Nice job. You did great, Sui.”

《Ehehe~...》

Sui had messed up a little bit, but that just added to its charm.

“Right. Once the color of the meat changes, it’s about finished.”

《You’re right~! The meat looks all white-ish!》

“Now, this is where you add in the seasonings you just mixed, Sui.” I dumped the bowl of mixed seasonings into the frying pan. “Sui, make sure to use your chopsticks to help cook the meat. And make sure it doesn’t stay in one place and burn.”

《Okaaay.》 Sui continued to use its chopsticks to stir the orc meat around to cook it. The nice scent of miso gently rose from the pan, and Sui stopped stirring.

“Sui, it’ll burn.”

《Ah!》 Startled, the slime hurried to resume stirring.

Eventually...

“All right, we’ve cooked off all the moisture, so it should be good now,” I said, turning off the magic stove. “It’s done.”

《It’s done!》 Sui must have been really happy, as it started swinging the tentacle that was holding the chopsticks upwards.

“H-Hey, don’t swing around chopsticks like that.”

《Sorryyy~.》

“Heheh, do you want to give it a taste test?”

《Yeah!》

Sui and I used spoons to scoop up some warm and freshly done orc meat miso soboro and brought it to our mouths.

“Good, it’s turned out well. It’s delicious, isn’t it?”

《It’s so goood~!》 Sui wiggled left and right with the spoon still inside it.

“Miso flavored soboro is delicious, right? The miso really gave it such a deep flavor, don’t you think?” As I reflected on the taste of the miso soboro, I noticed a tentacle stretching forward suspiciously...

“He, that’s enough.”

《Gyah!! Sui got caught~!》

“There’s no time to be snacking, Sui. We still need to make a lot more of this.”

《Uncle Fel and Dora-chan eat a lot, after all~.》

“Hahaha! You know you eat a lot too, Sui.”

《Hehehe, yeah. Sui eats lots too~!》

“So we’re going to need to make a lot more.”

《Okay!》 Sui and I continued to cook up more orc meat miso soboro.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

.........

Sui focused intensely on Fel and Dora-chan, who had bowls in front of them.

“H-Hey, what is this?”

《It’s hard to eat with Sui staring at us like that...》 Fel and Dora-chan’s expressions were stiff and tense.

“Sui was the one that made that orc meat miso soboro bowl. That’s probably why he’s like that.”

“I was wondering why I could not see Sui anywhere. So that is what it was doing.”

《Ummm, Sui made this while master taught Sui!》

I packed white rice from a clay pot into Fel’s large, deep dish, before adding on a heaping helping of the orc meat miso soboro that Sui made. Then, I made a small divot in the center and put a soft-boiled egg inside. Lastly, I sprinkled some white sesame on top to finish off Sui’s special orc meat miso soboro bowl.

By the way, Sui said that it wanted to try cracking the soft-boiled egg on top, so I let it try. Though I felt really nervous about it.

I bet Sui’s really anxious about whether or not everyone will think that the miso soboro bowl that it made was delicious.

“Hurry up and eat it.”

“O-Okay.”

《Y-Yeah.》

Slowly, hesitatingly, Fel and Dora-chan started to eat the food.

《Hey, hey, hey, how is it?》 Sui relentlessly asked Fel and Dora-chan.

Hey, hey, hey, stop rushing them for impressions.

“Y-Yes. It is good, Sui.”

《Yaaay!》

Upon hearing Fel’s reply, Sui bounced around like it was doing a little jig.

《Hey, hey, what about you, Dora-chan?》

《Y-Yeah... I-It’s good.》

《Yaayyyyy!》 Sui resumed bouncing its little dance.

“Okay okay, I know you’re happy, but you should eat too, Sui.”

《Okaaay!》

Sui started digging into its share of the orc meat miso soboro bowl.

《Eheheh, it’s so good~.》 Sui seemed extremely pleased.

And right besides Sui, Fel and Dora-chan secretly started a whispered conversation with me.

“Hey, stop letting Sui cook.”

《Yeah.》

“Why?”

“I cannot properly taste the food if I am going to be rushed for opinions like this.”

《Exactly. And since it’s Sui, we can’t really be honest either.》

“Ahaha! Well, isn’t it fine every once in a while? You can play along at least a little bit, can’t you?”

“You say that, but...” Fel scrunched his nose, and both he and Dora-chan moaned, seemingly troubled.

“I’m sure this is just a phase. Sui’s at the age where it wants to try things out.”

That only caused their expressions to grow worse. Even so, Fel and Dora-chan completely polished off their shares of the food.

Rumors in the Divine Realm ~Ninrir~

Among all the lower-ranked gods that served the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir, the most popular topic of discussion recently was how she’d changed. And although the people around her had of course noticed, the person herself hadn’t.

Or maybe she was just pretending not to...

Even while her changes were becoming the hot topic among her followers, Ninrir kept living her slothful life. All her followers worried over whether they should tell her or not.

Meanwhile, Ninrir continued to live indolently, ignorant of the worries of her followers.

“Hmmm... I’m so bored...” Ninrir muttered as she lay down on her bed, spacing out. “But I don’t want to move right now. Maybe I’ll just take a nap...”

There just might have been a servant passing by Ninrir’s room at that moment. And that servant may have heard Ninrir’s muttering. If so, that servant probably retorted in his heart that it isn’t that Ninrir doesn’t want to work right now, it’s that she never wants to work.

“No, wait a second. That’s right! I still had some of that!”

Ninrir went digging around in her special divine Item Box with basically infinite capacity.

“Found it!” Ninrir had in her hand a small object wrapped in something colorful. It was a candy that she’d obtained through Mukohda. She’d forgotten about them at some point, and there were several more left in her box.

Ninrir undid the wrapper and tossed the round candy into her mouth. As she rolled the candy around inside, the sweet flavor of fruit spread throughout.

“Muheheheh, it’s so sweet~. Sweets are so nice~.”

Ninrir flapped her legs happily on the bed. Then, she suddenly sat upright.

“But this amount isn’t satisfying enough,” she sighed. “Why can’t he ever be nice and attentive and make his offerings early~?” Ninrir groused, blatantly ignoring the fact that she was the one who ate all of his offerings almost immediately, even though she received a massive amount every time.

“Well, I know it’s useless to expect anything out of him already. He’s just so dense when it comes to this stuff... He’s even started talking back and saying mean and stingy things. In the first place, he......” Ninrir sat cross-legged on her bed while she complained to herself.

“Ugh... this feels a little tight...”

Well, of course. When you cross your legs like that, your clothes are going to feel tight if they aren’t at least a little loose to begin with.

That is, Ninrir’s clothes, which used to be a little loose, had been gradually becoming less so.

But Ninrir hadn’t noticed the fact that she’d been gorging herself on enough sweets to even change a god’s physique, which wouldn’t happen under most circumstances.

So, Ninrir’s introspection ended with “It’s probably nothing,” and she once again lay down on her bed.

The servants who looked upon Ninrir’s transmogrified body all murmured among themselves.

“Miss Ninrir’s definitely gotten fatter, hasn’t she...”

“Yes. She used to be so slender it made people jealous, but...”

“We can’t really get sick, and our bodies don’t change, so it’s hard for us to get fat or to slim down. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be... right?”

“““Just what happened?”””

Completely unaware that her servants were whispering about her behind her back, Ninrir was lazing around on her bed, scratching an itch on her butt. Her servants, seeing that, all heaved a collective sigh.

“She’s basically one of those ghoularr sea lions* that live in the northern sea, isn’t she?”

“That’s going too far, isn’t it? She’s not that fat yet. But I get the feeling that it’s only a matter of time...”

“Her previously slender body became like that in such a short time, after all...”

The servants all thought back to when Ninrir used to be slender.

“““Fare thee well...”””

*A monster that grows to be around 5m long and resembles a sea lion. It lives in the northern seas. Its biggest distinguishing feature is how fat and round it gets. It eats smaller aquatic monsters and is very gluttonous. If it feels like its meal will get stolen or interrupted, it will even attack monsters larger than it. It is often used as a comparison to fat people.

Rumors in the Divine Realm ~Kisharle~

“Hmhmhmm~♪ Bath, bath, ba-a-ath~♪”

While humming a song, the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle, headed towards her bath. She was followed by several lower-ranked gods who sighed, awestruck by her beautiful form.

“You’re so pretty every time I see you, Lady Kisharle......”

Her perfectly curvy figure was the ideal and envy of women everywhere, and her almond-shaped eyes gave off the impression of a bewitchingly beautiful woman. There were many lower-ranked gods that admired her for her looks alone. Many of Kisharle’s followers and servants volunteered for the position, so she was surrounded by her devoted fans.

“Yes, but don’t you think she’s gotten even prettier recently?”

“I think so too. She was so worried about her skin, but recently it’s been so smooth and vibrant.”

“That’s not all though. Her hair has become silky and glossy too......”

“““Ahhh~, she’s so dreamy......”””

Kisharle’s servants all melted as she passed by.

“Oh, that reminds me. I heard that her hair and skin are becoming the cause of rumors among the other gods’ servants as well.”

“I’ve heard about that too.”

“Me too.”

“This might be something only we can notice since we serve Lady Kisharle and come into close contact with her regularly, but... doesn’t she smell really nice?”

“So you noticed that too? I’ve been thinking that for a while now.”

“Same here. Like, the smell of flowers just comes wafting off her, doesn’t it?”

“And it fits Lady Kisharle so well...”

The servants put their hands to their chests as they stood for a moment, enraptured by the memory of that smell.

“I might have a clue as to the source of that smell.”

“Me too.”

“And of course, I do as well.”

The servants all looked at each other and nodded.

“It’s got to be the bath, right?”

“Yes. I think the cause is the ‘shampoo’ and ‘hair treatment’ that Lady Kisharle has started using recently.”

“There’s also the ‘body soap’ that she’s been using to wash herself with.”

“The nice scent is especially strong just after Lady Kisharle is fresh out of her bath.”

“Still, I’ve never seen anything like that before...”

“I wonder where Lady Kisharle got her hands on them?”

“I want to try using the same things Kisharle does...”

The servants all took a moment to imagine what it would be like to use the same products and get even a little closer to Lady Kisharle, their object of admiration.

Meanwhile, Kisharle had finished her bath and was walking down the hallway to her room.

“Oh my. What are you all doing in a place like this?”

“““W-We’re very sorry!”””

“Haha, it’s fine to talk, but keep it in moderation, you hear?”

With that, Kisharle left, smiling.

“She smells nice...” One of the servants whispered.

But Kisharle heard it. “Oh, you can tell? This scent is very nice, isn’t it?”

The servants all nodded furiously.

Kisharle, in a good mood, said, “Wait just a minute, please,” and returned to her room. Then...

“It’s different from the one I use, but this one still smells pretty nice. I’ll give it to you,” Kisharle said, handing them a rose-scented bar of soap.

“A-Are you sure?!” The servants were all surprised over the sudden gift.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m not using this soap anyway.”

So the servants gratefully accepted the gift.

“It smells nice~!” They were entranced by the smell of the soap.

“All right then. Later!” Kisharle said as she returned to her room to do her daily skincare routine.

Rumors in the Divine Realm ~Agni~

Agni was in a large yard on the grounds of her palace.

“Come on, come on, come on! You’re all way too weak! Come at me!”

Today, just as always, Agni had roped the lower-ranked gods into spearmanship training with her.

After seeing their comrade get blown away, the other low-ranked gods that were roped into morning practice were trembling in fear, thinking they were next.

“Like, hasn’t Agni been really energetic lately?”

“Yeah, I thought so too.”

“There’s been rumors about Agni being more energetic among the gods from other houses too.”

“So that’s why the training’s been harder these days...”

“Yeah, exactly. Oh, did you know? There are more people trying to skip morning practice now since it has become so harsh.”

“Yeah, I heard about that too. But all they did was say, ‘I’m feeling a little under the weather,’ right?”

“They’re idiots, aren’t they?”

“They sure are. Agni just yelled at them, saying, ‘You idiots. You’re still gods, even if you’re low-ranked. As if a god could ever be sick enough not to train!’ And then she punished them herself.”

“So the reason why more people have been claiming that upper-ranked gods have asked them to do stuff and not joining morning practice is...”

“Because we know that being under the weather won’t work as an excuse.”

They all sighed.

While some of the lower-ranked gods were talking, the training continued.

“Raaaahh!”

“Gah!”

Unable to stop the spear that Agni swung at him, the low-ranked god was blasted away.

“Who’s next?!”

Agni, who was exploding with energy right from the morning, looked around at the lower-ranked gods.

Their ranks were filled with whispered squabbling over who should go.

“You go.”

“No, you go!”

However, if the gods didn’t reach a conclusion soon, Agni would get frustrated. And when Agni got frustrated, the training got even harder...The gods knew that, so one of the lower-ranked gods that was a veteran of these sessions eventually volunteered.

“I-I’ll go!”

“Nice, nice! Come on!”

“Hiyaaahh!”

The brave veteran charged at Agni.

“Haahh!”

The two spears met with a clang. But...

“You move pretty well, but you’re still a long way from being able to fight me! Take this!”

Agni used her brute strength to send the lower-ranked god flying.

“Argh... D-Damn...” the defeated god groaned before he lost consciousness.

The other gods, who saw it happen, turned pale.

“Whew, I worked up a good sweat. I guess this is enough. Right, morning training is done for today!”

Hearing that, the low-ranked gods all breathed a sigh of relief.

On the other hand, Agni returned to her room with a spring in her step.

“Heh heh heh... Now that I’ve worked up a good sweat at morning training, I’m looking forward to this~!” Agni said as she reached her room. She stuck her hand into the usual pot.

Ever since Mukohda taught Agni that beer was much better cold, she started storing it with ice and water in a special pot she made that would prevent condensation from forming.

Agni fished out an ice-cold beer from the pot. With practiced motions, she pulled open the tab and chugged down the beer like it was water.

“Aaahh! So good! This is it! This is what life’s all about!”

Even though it was still morning, she began to drink.

“Beer is just the best after a good amount of exercise!”

Agni was feeling good, haven been able to enjoy her favorite drink in its best condition. She brought the can up to her lips again to take another chug, but...

“O-Oh. It’s already empty.”

Agni shook the can to make sure it really was empty before turning her attention to the cooling pot.

“If I drink too much, then I’ll get complaints about how much I’m drinking, won’t I? But... it should be fine sometimes, right?”

Agni gave a flimsy excuse before reaching into the pot for a second can. Though she said, “once in a while,” she’d been doing the same thing for several days straight —a fact she completely ignored.

*Psshhht* *Glug glug glug*

“Aaahhh~, beer is so amazingly good!”

Rumors in the Divine Realm ~Rusalka~

When people refer to “Miss Ruka,” they mean Rusalka. The young Goddess of Water was famously silent and inexpressive. But recently, she was much more expressive than usual.

She had never made those expressions for or about anyone, but sometimes she would suddenly break into a small smile, or seem sort of sad, or look like she was worrying about something.

Miss Ruka had become quite expressive indeed. And her servants all found that very endearing. The change had become the hot topic among them.

“Hey, hasn’t Miss Ruka kind of gotten... softer, recently?”

“You thought that too? I agree!”

“She still doesn’t talk, but she’s way more expressive than she used to be.”

“Right?”

“For sure.”

“Ah, a little while ago, I saw Miss Ruka smiling!”

“Aww, I’m so jealous... I only managed to see her wrinkling her brow like she was worrying about something.”

“I saw her looking down all sad.”

Ruka’s servants excitedly talked about how their master was doing recently. Then...

“Ah, it’s Miss Ruka.” One of the servants spotted Miss Ruka. “It looks like she’s deep in thought.”

The servants saw Miss Ruka with crossed arms and closed eyes, either nodding or shaking her head at intervals.

“She’s started counting on her fingers.”

“I wonder what she’s counting?”

The servants continued watching their master while wondering what she was doing. Miss Ruka counted with her fingers, repeating the process several times before giving a firm nod. Then...

“Ah, she’s laughing.”

“She really is!”

“What an adorable smile~!”

Seeing Miss Ruka’s expression gave the servants a warm feeling. Meanwhile, the goddess herself must not have noticed that she was being watched, since she started skipping down the hallway with a smile on her face.

“Miss Ruka’s skipping?!”

“Something must have happened that made her really happy!”

“We’re so lucky that we managed to see this!”

The servants started speaking louder because of their excitement over seeing their master do something unexpected. Miss Ruka must have heard it, since she immediately stopped skipping and started looking around. The servants all panicked, covering their mouths with their hands and hurrying to hide somewhere.

Miss Ruka tilted her head in confusion and probably concluded that it was just her imagination, as she once again began skipping down the hallway.

Once she’d disappeared, the servants all breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was dangerous, Miss Ruka almost found us.”

“Yeah. But I was so surprised that Miss Ruka started skipping!”

“Me too! She’s always so quiet, so it’s all the more impactful.”

The servants nodded at each other, excited.

“It seemed like she was having a lot of fun, though, right?”

“It really did. I wonder what happened?”

“It’s got Miss Ruka looking so happy. I’m really interested in finding out.”

The servants looked at each other, and in perfect sync, all silently decided to follow after their master. As they quietly chased her, taking care not to be found, they saw Miss Ruka entering her room. The servants peeked inside, and they saw their master with her hand in her Item Box while shaking her head.

“I wonder if she has something in her Item Box?”

“Something that has her so excited...”

“Something that we’ll be able to see.”

The servants quietly concentrated, trying to see what their master would fish out... But she suddenly turned around, and Miss Ruka’s eyes locked on theirs.

“......”

For a while, both sides were completely silent...

“Do you... need something?” Miss Ruka asked, leveling a steady gaze at her servants.

They hurriedly replied, “N-No.”

“W-We were just passing by.”

“Th-That’s right.”

“Y-Yes, exactly.”

Flustered, the servants gave their excuses and hurriedly left. After seeing them off, Miss Ruka muttered, “I was just at the best part...” before regrouping and once again looking into her Item box.

“Which one should I have......?”

Unlike a certain other Goddess, Miss Ruka wanted to be able to enjoy her treats for a long time. She’d already made a proper plan and schedule, so she still had enough otherworld ice cream to be able to pick and choose flavors.

“In the end, it has to be vanilla...”

Miss Ruka ended up choosing her favorite flavor. Taking the cup in hand, she took a spoon to the vanilla ice cream and brought some to her mouth.

“Amazing.”

With that one word, a smile bloomed on Miss Ruka’s face wider than any of her servants had ever seen.

The Arrival of the Fried Egg Fad

“Here’s this week’s groceries.” I handed a week’s worth of meat and other things to Aija and Thereza, who handled all of my slaves’ food.

“I also threw in some extra eggs,” I added, to which the two of them smiled.

I wonder though, why don’t they ever get tired of having so many eggs? I’m giving them a rather large amount this week too.

“Thank you very much. With this, we can have fried eggs.”

“Everyone loves fried eggs.”

The two of them spoke with glowing expressions.

“So you really were having fried eggs...”

“Yes. We started serving them after being taught by you, Mukohda.”

“It feels rather extravagant in the morning, so it’s very popular.”

On their first day, I had cooked them all fried eggs as a low-effort breakfast.

I mean, all you do is crack an egg and cook it. Plus, it goes great on toast.

I served it as a way to cut corners that day, but everyone was thrilled that they were able to eat them. I later learned that eggs in this world were a rare ingredient that was hard to get ahold of. I’d just been using my Online Supermarket to buy eggs, so I’d never really cared to learn that.

Apparently, people in this world had only recently started to tame bird-type monsters, so towns of Karelina’s size were starting to see eggs being sold in small numbers. Even so, that didn’t change the fact that from a commoner’s point of view, it was a very luxurious thing to eat.

At any rate, when they first ate the fried eggs, they were all very grateful, so I made sure to give them eggs whenever it came time to restock their groceries. At first, that caused them all to shrink back, saying that they couldn’t accept such an expensive thing on top of all the meat they were getting. Thanks to Fel, I always had tons of meat on hand, so I had been sharing some with them.

I had tried to convince them by saying, “If I buy them with my skill, it’s only 2 copper for a pack of ten. In the world I came from, eggs are really cheap, and meals like the fried eggs I served you are actually really common for breakfast.”

That finally got through to them, and Aija and Thereza had apparently spread that information to everyone else. That led to them all asking for fried eggs for breakfast, and the dish became really popular. They kept saying that they wanted to eat it again, so Aija and Thereza sheepishly made a request of me. “We don’t need as much meat, so could you please give us more eggs?”

“That’s fine. I can get you as many eggs as you want and you can still have your meat.” Thus, I had been giving them more and more eggs.

Since then, I had also taught Aija and Thereza some other easy egg recipes like omelets and scrambled eggs. I figured they’d eventually crave some variety, but it seemed fried eggs never fell from being their most popular dish. “Fried eggs show off the deliciousness of the egg the most, and the flavor changes depending on the seasonings you use, so you won’t get tired of it even if you eat it every day,” they said.

Yep, that’s true. Fried eggs with runny yolks are to die for. Well, the yolk part depends on the person, I guess. The people of this world don’t like to eat raw food, so that seems like a tall hurdle for them to accept runny, not-quite-done yolks. All of my slaves liked their fried eggs well-cooked over a low heat. When you think about it, even if it’s a super-simple dish that just requires cracking an egg into a frying pan, it can vary a lot in flavor depending on how long you cook it and what seasonings you use. I suppose there are some dishes that can hit the spot no matter what your preferences are or what you feel like at the moment.

Fried eggs sure are deep and complex, huh?

I idly asked Aija and Thereza, “So what do you two think is the best with fried eggs?”

“I think Worcestershire sauce is best. The strong and complex flavor really pairs well with the egg as well as the toast on top of that. Worcestershire sauce is peerless.”

Aija was in the Worcestershire camp. Thereza, on the other hand...

“No way, salt and pepper are much better! They don’t get in the way of the egg’s original flavor. If you want to actually taste the egg and not the sauce, salt and pepper is the way to go.”

Thereza was in the salt and pepper camp.

“What?! No way, Worcestershire is......”

“You’re delusional! Salt and pepper is......”

Both Aija and Thereza refused to back down.

Even in an entirely different world, the question of what to put on fried eggs still caused controversy.

“Which one do you think is better, Mukohda? It has to be the deep flavor of Worcestershire sauce, right?”

“No way, salt and pepper is better since it doesn’t overpower the egg’s flavor.”

Hey now, why’re you involving me in this?

Well, I was asked, so I replied, “I do like Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper, but if I had to choose, I think soy sauce is the best.”

Aija and Thereza looked at me with doubtful expressions.

“Soy sauce is fine if you only use a little, but it’s so salty...”

“Yeah. It also smells kind of...”

Hey! Don’t you dare diss soy sauce in front of me!

A Chat Between Tony and His Wife

“They’re both asleep.”

“I see. Want some of this?”

I offered some of the wine I was sipping to my wife, Aija.

“I’ll have some,” she said, retrieving her cup.

I poured some wine into the cup she put down, which was made out of glass so astonishingly clear I would swear it wasn’t of this world.

“No matter how many times I see it, it never ceases to amaze me......”

“I know. I never thought we’d ever even see a glass cup.”

Glass products were always exorbitantly expensive. Enough so that the only ones who could ever afford them were nobles or merchants. The fact that we were using some right now as slaves was like a dream come true. The glass was also startlingly clear. It couldn’t even be compared to the glass cup I managed to get a glimpse of once when I went to a noble’s house for work.

The two of us continued to look at the deep red of the wine showing perfectly through the cup. Then, we both took a sip of the delicious wine.

“Is this wine different from what we had last time?”

“Oh, good job noticing. I told Mukohda that we enjoyed the wine we got, and he said, ‘Oh, the two of you like wine. Then you’ll probably get bored of always having the same one, right?’ Then he gave me several different bottles of wine.”

Mukohda tended to give us other supplies on top of the regular ones for daily life.

“My, again? But if that was just for us...”

“Haha! Mukohda wouldn’t do that; you know this already. The others got things they liked as well.”

“Heehee, that sounds like him all right. We’re slaves, but our master is just too good a person.”

“Ahaha! No joke!”

What Aija said was undeniable. From what Mukohda told us, it seemed that he came from a different world. According to him, his world had long since abolished slavery. There existed something called “human rights” that protected a person’s “inalienable human dignity.” Which meant that everybody was guaranteed a minimum quality of life.

I didn’t really understand with my limited education, but none of that changed the fact that we were slaves.

Nevertheless, unlike other countries, this country didn’t abuse their slaves. In exchange for their freedom, they were guaranteed a place to live and food to eat. And if they weren’t provided that, their owner would be punished.

So I could say this with certainty: the “minimum” that Mukohda talked about wasn’t the minimum at all. Our life right now was so unencumbered and plenteous that it almost made me forget that I was a slave.

“I wonder though, is it really all right for us to live like this?”

“It’s fine, I’m sure. Mukohda’s the one that wants us to live like this, after all. You know, even with how good we have it, he’ll still ask me if we’re troubled in any way, or if we need anything, every time I see him.”

“Heehee, you’re probably right. Living like this is more than enough.”

Exactly. Not only did he give us this magnificent house, he was also giving us more supplies than we need for daily life and even pays on top of that. There’s no way we’d need anything else.

“Ah, right. When he gave me this wine, Mukohda also tried to hand us some ‘wine glasses’ to drink it with.”

“Wine glasses?”

“Apparently they’re glasses specifically for drinking wine. Of course I refused. Even the glass cups we have now are too much for us. I told him that having glass cups just to drink wine was way too extravagant.”

Aija seemed relieved to hear that I refused the glasses.

“We already have to take so much care in washing these glass cups. If we had some wine glasses too, I’d be trembling with nervousness just from having one in my hand.”

I nodded in agreement. I’d be too nervous to even taste the wine if I was holding something like that myself.

“But you know, Mukohda argued that it doesn’t cost all that much to get things from his world with his skill.”

“Heheheh, that Mukohda...”

Mukohda tended to carelessly say things like that, which was troubling. Even this glass cup I was using now shouldn’t be something that someone like me should ever own.

“We really were lucky that we were bought by someone like Mukohda, weren’t we?”

“You can say that again. I owe it to him that I’m able to live like this with my family. If things kept going like that... If we were bought by someone other than Mukohda... I’m sure I would have died by now.”

“You’re right. After all, even though our entire family tried everything we could and went so far as to drive ourselves into slavery, we couldn’t heal your illness.”

“And right now, I’m so healthy that it’s like I was never sick at all.”

“All our happiness right now is thanks to Mukohda. I’ll never be able to repay him for all this...”

“I don’t know if working our entire lives will be enough, but I know I’ll try.”

“Yeah.”

The two of us felt deep gratitude for all the happiness Mukohda brought us.

A Chat Between Alban and His Wife

After the kids all went to bed, I settled in with my evening drink, something I had recently started looking forward to every night. I was drinking the “whiskey” given to me by Mukohda. The beverage had a unique scent and flavor, and was also really strong, so I liked to add a little water. By doing so, I felt that the taste would get a lot mellower and just better overall.

Though apparently my fellow ex-adventurer slaves, like Tabatha and Barthel, can hold their drink and take it neat.

After cleaning up, my wife, Thereza, plopped herself down opposite me with a sigh.

“You want to drink too?”

I offered my wife some, but Thereza shook her head no.

“I’m having this,” Thereza replied in her distinctly country accent, revealing some “umeshu,” an alcohol flavored with fruit. The two of us enjoyed our drinks while snacking on some extra orc and pepper stir fry that was left over from dinner.

“Ahh, amazing,” Thereza said after taking a large swig of her alcohol and breathing a sigh of contentment.

“Still, I wonder if this is really all right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we’re slaves, right? So isn’t our life right now just too good?”

“True...”

I couldn’t deny it. Even though we’re slaves, our lives were totally comfortable at the moment.

“Sorry for saying this, but we’re living better than we ever did as farmers.”

“Ouch. You didn’t pull any punches, did you?”

Our family used to run an orchard in a small village named Sandell. I had inherited it from my father, and enjoyed a meager living, enough so that we could at least enjoy one meal a day.

But we had terrible yields three years in a row, which made even our meager existence impossible to maintain, and the entire family had to become slaves. If we hadn’t, then we would have starved to death. It was an all-too-common tale.

If you became a slave, then at least you’d be able to eat, even if you were forced into hard labor. All of us were prepared for that, our youngest child Lotte aside. But......

“Hahaha! But this life is fine, isn’t it? It’s what our master, Mukohda gave us.”

“But like, living this well just makes me question what slaves even are... you know?”

It wasn’t like I didn’t understand what Thereza was getting at.

“Well, that’s true, but this house and all our food and stuff was given to us by Mukohda, right? Our master keeps asking us if we’re having any problems at every turn, too, even though that’s impossible with how good a life we’re living.”

“Heheheh, true. He also tells us that working too much is bad, and that we should rest at least one day out of the week.”

“Ahahahaha! Exactly! The entire point of slaves is to make them work, right? But he keeps telling us to take a break!” After the two of us had a good laugh over the topic, we took another swig of our drinks.

“We were lucky, weren’t we? That such a nice guy like Mukohda bought us...”

“For sure. He’s so nice to Oliver, Erik, and Lotte.”

“We can’t be thankful enough to him.”

“Yeah, no matter how grateful we are, it won’t be enough. I didn’t mind becoming a slave myself, but I felt so bad about our children having to become slaves too. They’re having so much fun these days, though.”

Thereza was right. Everyone spent every day full of energy and laughter. As a parent, just that was enough to make me happy as well.

Something surprising happened recently, too.

“Our children wrote their names for me the other day, did you know? Kosti from next door taught them how, apparently.”

“Wow, really? That’s great!”

“Right? We can’t even write our own names, but all our children learned how. That’s amazing.”

“At the rate we were going, they would never have been able to do that...” Thereza spoke softly.

But she was right.

“We’re gonna have to do our best to make it up to Mukohda, won’t we?”

“Yeah. It’s all we can do to pay him back.”

Thereza and I resolved ourselves. We continued to talk and drink late into the night.

A Chat Between Former Adventurers

“Ahh~, it’s whiskey time! I can finally drink!”

Barthel and Peter had come back after changing watch shifts with my little brothers, Luke and Irvine.

“You’re being way too loud, dwarf. Can’t you try to come in a little quieter?”

“Hah! It’s finally time to drink, so no.”

“Finally? You drink literally every day.”

See? Peter’s nodding in agreement.

“Booze is the water of life for us dwarves, you know. We need it every day,” Barthel returned without batting an eye.

“Whenever the shift change gets close, Barthel just won’t shut up about alcohol.”

See? Even Peter, who’s normally quiet, is complaining.

“Oh, stop nagging. That just shows how much I look forward to it,” Barthel threw back before quickly moving for his room. He probably went back to retrieve the booze he was storing there. As if he was following after Barthel, Peter went back to his own room as well. Then......

“Aahh~, this stuff is so good, I never get tired of it!”

After removing his leather armor and leaving his prized hammer in his room, Barthel came back with a bottle of liquor in hand and quickly started drinking.

“Geez, and you immediately start drinking. Look, here’s some food. You eat up too, Peter.”

Our meal was cooked by our fellow slaves, Aija and Thereza, in addition to the food for their own families. But we always ate in our own house.

Today’s meal was stir-fried orc meat and peppers, with potato soup on the side. Barthel continued to drink with his meal, while Peter ate silently.

“You know, we get such good food and good booze. This is a great gig,” Barthel said, and Peter seemed to agree.

“We get to rest regularly like this, too,” I added, since today was my day off.

“I was so surprised to hear we would have days off even though we’re slaves......” Peter mumbled. Barthel and I agreed, laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation.

Well, even if they’re guaranteed a living, slaves usually get worked like mules, after all.

“You know, this isn’t how slaves are supposed to be living in the first place, is it?”

“Gahaha! My life right now is way better than it was when I was an adventurer!”

Barthel laughed happily before downing his entire cup of whiskey, which was poured into an incredibly clear glass cup.

“Yeah, true, since we get a house and food to eat every day for free.”

As long as we stayed here, there was no need to worry about a place to live or food to eat. Just that was enough to make us grateful.

“That’s not all. He also gives us everything else we need for daily life too. He even supplied us with leather armor and swords since he said we’d need it for security,” Peter added, and Barthel and I nodded in agreement once again.

“Right. These are about the same quality as the leather armor I bought for myself as an adventurer. And I was B-ranked, so I used a pretty good set. And these are just as good!”

“This is actually way better than the set I used as an adventurer. Like, what kind of eccentric buys something like this for a slave?”

Back when I was an adventurer, I was so desperate to get the best weapons and armor I could, and yet... Look, Peter’s nodding in agreement. He feels the same way.

Peter used to be D-ranked, so it looked like he’d been through a lot. He probably felt the pain of having to scrounge up for equipment way more than me. When it comes to an Adventurer’s income and expenses, you barely break even as a C-rank. Under that, you live day to day like a pauper.

“I only became a slave because I refused to let go of my hammer, but I guess I made the correct choice.”

“What? As if. Normal slaves don’t get it this good, you know? We were just lucky. Insanely lucky.”

“Gahaha! You got me. Tabatha’s completely right, it might just be that we were insanely lucky.”

Having heard us, Peter mumbled, “We might have used up an entire lifetime’s worth of luck.”

“Wahahahahahaha! Maybe! But I’m fine having used up that much luck. We’re living like this even though we’re slaves! We even get spending money!”

Peter and I nodded furiously in agreement. Even though we were slaves, we were given a fairly large amount of spending money. Nowhere else in the world treated their slaves this well.

“This is all thanks to Mukohda...” I said, and Barthel and Peter were once again sent into a nodding fit. I didn’t say it, but I had my little brothers to take care of, so when I became a slave, I spent every day worrying about what was going to happen.

But thanks to being bought by Mukohda, we were living like this.

And yet......

“If we keep living this peacefully, I worry that my sword skills will rust...”

“Indeed. With this lifestyle, all the instincts and reflexes we’ve cultivated as adventurers will probably fall by the wayside.”

“It’s just too peaceful.”

“What a problem to have...”

Eventually I’m going to have to try and get Mukohda’s permission to go into the nearby forest to train, won’t I? Normally, slaves aren’t that free, but Mukohda would probably allow it as long as I tell him why.

The Rejuvenated Earl

Normally the start of the social season would be a depressing thing, but not this year. Finally, it was time to partake in the first social gathering of the season, a party.

Gaze upon my new form, all of you!

I was dressed in my best, smiling as I touched my thick, dark brown hair that was smoothed down.

I feel like I’m ten — no, twenty years younger.

I thought back to my last meeting with Willem, which was the turning point in my follicular fortunes. Willem was the guildmaster of the Adventurer’s guild in Karelina who had approached me two months ago. I’d already known Willem for a while, so at first I thought he’d finally given up and started wearing a wig. He told me about his fear of his receding hairline, which only further receded as the years went by. I had the same worries, so we became close, and whenever we met, we’d exchange information on different hair growth medicines.

As if to mock all that effort, he had no longer shown any signs of ever having had a receding hairline. Instead, his thick mane positively flowed in the wind.

The last time I’d seen Willem before that was a couple months prior. I knew from experience that there was no way for him to have grown that much hair in such a short amount of time, so I had assumed that it must be a wig.

No matter how bald I became, I strongly objected to wearing a wig, because in the end it was still fake. It had reached the level of a conviction for me, so I’d sworn an oath to never resort to such an unnatural look. So at the time, I’d secretly harbored feelings of pity for Willem. But then he told me that it wasn’t a wig.

On a closer look, I could see that there were none of the telltale clues of fakery — the thick brown hair actually looked natural. But I couldn’t bring myself to believe him so easily, especially because I’d never heard of any treatment that could accomplish such a feat, even in my vast experience with many different hair tonics.

I said to Willem, “That’s a wig. Don’t lie to me.” To which he replied, “You can touch it if you want. Then try telling me it’s a wig.”

Since he was going that far to insist it was real, I touched his hair, and it was as he claimed. The hair had firm roots growing straight out of his scalp. To my absolute shock, it didn’t budge even when I pulled on it. I asked him what he had done.

It turned out that the cause of Willem’s full head of hair was a “hair growth shampoo” given to him by an S-ranked adventurer named Mukohda who had settled in my territory. That adventurer had a Fenrir as a familiar and was being watched by the state. He was important enough that there was a blanket notice to not make contact with him. The fact that the “hair tonic” and “hair growth shampoo” were procured from this man lent credibility to its purported effects.

At any rate, I had Willem make plans for a meeting with Mukohda as soon as possible.

When I finally met that adventurer, he turned out to be a normal-looking man with a plain face that could have blown in from anywhere, though the Fenrir projected so much power it practically knocked the wind out of me.

Just as I’d heard from the capital, Mukohda seemed to have good control over his powerful familiar. Although I first thought that I had ended up saddled with a troublesome resident, I now believed this may have actually been a godsend.

Moreover, he turned out to be quite attentive. Along with the “hair growth shampoo” and the “hair tonic,” he also gifted me a set of soaps and shampoos that had recently become popular in the region. My wife and daughter were really interested in these ones in particular, as it happened.

I immediately tried out the “hair growth shampoo” and “hair tonic,” and surprisingly, they showed their effectiveness on the first day. I definitely felt a small amount of growth on what used to be my completely smooth head. Three days later, I could clearly see dark brown hair growing on my head, though the coverage was still thin.

Having directly confirmed the results, I started to use the “hair growth shampoo” and “hair tonic” even more diligently. After a week, I had a thick and full head of hair, and it was like I’d never been bald. Even my wife and daughter were surprised.

When I met up with my eldest son several days ago, whom I left in charge of our residence in the capital, well... Hahaha! Just remembering it brought a laugh to my lips. I couldn’t imagine a more surprised look than the gobsmacked face he made when he saw me and cried out, “F-F-Father?!” No, not even if I tried.

I imagined my second son would be just as surprised whenever I next saw him, since he was currently out in the sticks on military duty.

Still, this must be good news for my sons, since I imagine that they can’t help but imagine that they are looking at their own futures whenever they’ve looked at my bald head before.

At any rate, that doesn’t matter right now. It’s finally time. Finally. Right now, I am more confident than I’ve ever been. And I’m also more grateful than ever that Mukohda decided to settle down in my territory. After all, he said that he’d give me priority for his “hair growth shampoo” and “hair tonic.”

Anyway, there’s no doubt that I’ll be the center of attention at today’s party. Hehehehe, I’m so looking forward to it.