Chapter 4: Mukohda’s Party Consumes the Bounty of the Ocean

As soon as we got back to the house, my familiars...

“I am looking forward to dinner.”

《I’m looking forward to that good food, got it?》

《Master, make something good, okay~?》

They all said stuff like that, full of expectation...

I got through the moment by replying, “Got it,” and now I’m in the kitchen... what should I make...

For the moment, I decided to try a bit of the kraken, sea serpent, and aspidochelone to see how they tasted.

Let’s see... The kraken is...... Yeah, it’s just a regular squid. Even though it’s that big, it’s not tasteless or anything. But it’s just a little bit elastic in the mouth, so it kind of feels like eating cuttlefish. If it’s like this, then just using it like regular squid for food seems to be fine.

The sea serpent is...... Yeah, just like I thought, it tastes like black and red serpent. Or rather, it tastes vaguely like chicken. Both the black and red serpents were really good as karaage... It might be good to make sea serpent into karaage too. Or something that would usually require chicken.

The aspidochelone is...... Yep, it’s just like Appraisal said, “The highest class of white meat.” This one would probably be great cooked in any way.

I decided to treat the kraken like regular squid. Truthfully, grilling it on a charcoal grill like one would a fish would be great, but I didn’t have one at the moment, so I’ll use a frying pan. I also went with salt-cooked kraken and vegetables. I liked squid, so I would make two dishes. For the sea serpent, I planned on making karaage, since it couldn’t miss. It tasted similar to black and red serpent, so it should be delicious, and everyone liked karaage, too. Finally, I decided on aspidochelone cooked with a sweet vinegar ankake sauce.

I had time for now, so I decided to make several dishes, making sure each one wouldn’t require too much time to cook.

First is getting ingredients off of my Online Supermarket. I have all the seasonings and sauces I need for grilled squid, so it’s just the ingredients for the salt-cooked kraken, huh? It didn’t matter what vegetables I used, so I went with asparagus and red bell pepper for color. I also went with raw garlic and ginger. I already had garlic, so I just bought the ginger, and I had all the seasonings I needed, so that was it. I make karaage a lot, so I have everything already and I don’t need to get anything else. As for the white meat fish, I needed onions, carrots, and peppers for the ankake’s vegetable portion, as well as enoki mushrooms and boiled bamboo shoots. And I also picked up some ketchup because I was out of it.

Now then, I’ve got all I need, so I guess let’s get started.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, start marinating the sea serpent meat in both soy sauce and salt-based tare. Meanwhile, start on the next dish: the grilled squid to be made from kraken. Start off by mixing together sake, mirin, soy sauce, and grated ginger to make the sauce. Grated ginger from a tube works fine, but freshly grated ginger will give it a better taste. This time, I had fresh ginger already, so I grated it myself.

After cutting down the kraken into easier-to-eat pieces, start cooking it in an oiled frying pan. Once the kraken turns white and is cooked through, mix it around in the sauce. Quickly coat the whole piece of kraken in the sauce to finish it.

~◇~◇~◇~

Eating this with mayonnaise on top is delicious. Ahh...no good no good, I need to move on. I was just about to bring out some mayo... That was close.

I split up the grilled squid and plated everyone’s portions. I had extra, so what was left was thrown into my Item Box while still in the frying pan. Next would be the vegetables and salt-cooked kraken.

~◇~◇~◇~

Cut a lattice pattern into the kraken meat before rendering it into bite-sized pieces, and mince the garlic and ginger. Use a peeler to remove the hard bottom skin of the asparagus before cutting it into diagonal wedges of around 5cm. Then, remove the seeds from the red bell pepper before cutting it into slightly large strips.

Oil up a heated frying pan, and lightly sauté the asparagus and red bell pepper. Once they’ve been heated through, remove them from the pan. Oil up the same frying pan again, and sauté the minced garlic and ginger until they release their fragrance before adding in the kraken and continuing to cook. Once the kraken meat turns white, add the asparagus and red bell pepper back in. Then, add in salt and pepper, sake, and chicken broth, and bring the solution to a boil before thickening it with potato starch dissolved in water to finish it.

~◇~◇~◇~

It looks really colorful and pretty because the asparagus and red bell pepper aren’t too overdone, doesn’t it? After plating these as well, I also put the leftovers still in the frying pan into my Item Box. Since frying would take a lot of oil I was going to leave that for last, so next would be the aspidochelone cooked with sweet vinegar ankake.

~◇~◇~◇~

Slice the aspidochelone meat into appropriate sizes. Thinly slice the onions, and cut the carrots, peppers, and boiled bamboo shoots into strips. For the enoki mushrooms, cut off the foot of the mushroom and untangle the different pieces. Take the cut aspidochelone meat and season it with salt and pepper before lightly coating it in potato starch. Using a largeish amount of oil, the next step is to fry the meat in the frying pan. Once the sliced chunks turn a light brown and it’s been cooked through, take the meat out of the pan to rest for a while.

Since there’d be leftover oil in the pan used to fry the meat, use the same pan to cook the vegetables. Sauté the onions; once they become clear, add in the carrots, peppers, and boiled bamboo shoots and continue to cook until they soften up a little. Then, add in the enoki mushrooms. Once all the vegetables have been cooked through, add a little water, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, sugar, and ketchup and bring the whole thing to a quick boil before adding in potato starch to thicken it up.

With all that done, plate the aspidochelone slices along with lots of the sauce with vegetables in it on top to finish out the dish.

~◇~◇~◇~

I put this in my Item Box as well, along with the extra cooked aspidochelone meat and sauce still in the frying pan. And since everyone liked karaage and would probably want a lot, I made bunches and bunches of it.

“Whew~, I’m done.”

After plating everyone’s portion of karaage as well, I shoved the tray, now piled high, into my Item Box as well. Now then, let’s go over to everyone. They’re probably hungry.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Ohh, finally. We have been so hungry, we were about to go over to you.”

《It’s true. Geez.》

《Sui is also starving~.》

“Sorry, sorry. In exchange I’ve got lots of different food,” I said, before serving everyone their dishes. “This one is grilled kraken, and this one’s a salt-cooked kraken with vegetables. And this one is white meat aspidochelone cooked with a sweet vinegar ankake, and sea serpent karaage.”

“It loses points for having vegetables, but well, it looks delicious.”

Fel really hates vegetables, doesn’t he? Well, he’s still eating it even if he complains, so it’s fine I guess.

《Ohh! It all looks so good!》

Dora-chan, you’re drooling.

《All of it looks delicious~.》

Sui looks like it was just going to go ahead and start enveloping the grilled kraken right away.

Right, right? Doesn’t the grilled kraken look good? Wait, I have to put that on! “WAIT A SECOND!”

“Mg...... what?”

Oh my, Fel already started eating his grilled kraken.

《Aw come on, you can’t do that just before we’re about to eat.》

《Master~, Sui wants to eat~.》

“Sorry, sorry. But the grilled kraken will be more delicious if you put this on it.” I took mayonnaise out of my Item Box and put it on everyone’s grilled kraken.

“Grilled kraken really does need mayo. Yeah, it’s fine. Go ahead and eat.” Everyone started eating the grilled kraken after I put the mayo on it.

“Ohh, you were correct. Adding this white stuff makes it more delicious.”

Right, Fel?

《Mm, I love this elasticity. And I could get really hooked on this taste, too.》

The combination of the kraken’s texture, the soy sauce, and the mayo is the best, right?

《This is so goo~d.》

It looked like even Sui the gourmand liked the grilled kraken.

“This thing called karaage really is delicious.”

Looks like Fel started on the karaage. He really does love that stuff.

《This other cooked kraken is good too.》

Seems like Dora-chan really took a liking to kraken meat. It’s good, I know. I like it too.

《This fishy with this sauce is just a little sour and it’s so tasty—.》

And for Sui it’s the sweet vinegar ankake, huh? I tried a little bit of that too, and it turned out great.

Now then, I should start too. First is the grilled kraken. Yep, it’s good. Mayo really was the right idea. Ahhh, I want some beer. Next is the aspidochelone with sweet vinegar ankake. Hmmm, this one makes me want white rice.

I opened up my Online Supermarket and bought some beer and white rice. This time, I chose A-company’s dry beer, since it seemed like it would pair really well with the grilled squid.

“Ahhh, this sweet vinegar ankake and salt-cooked squid really goes with rice...”

Using the aspidochelone with sweet vinegar ankake and salt-cooked kraken with vegetables as side dishes, I surrounded them with rice.

“More. I want this kraken that has been grilled, and this karaage.” Fel came in with the usual order for more.

Grilled kraken and karaage right? I plated his extra order and served it to him. Of course, I added the mayo to the grilled kraken.

《Sui wants more too~. Uhhh, Sui wants...all of it—.》

A-All of it? I served Sui more of everything. W-Well, eat a lot and grow bigger, I guess. Wait, it’s already big. Sui’s a huge slime, after all.

《This is just the usual, but you guys eat way too fast.》 Dora-chan said, looking exasperated.

After all, even though I brought out way more than usual, both Fel and Sui put it down in a heartbeat. I’ll need to secure some grilled kraken and sea serpent karaage for my beer before everyone finishes all of it.

I put some mayo on the grilled kraken and popped it in my mouth. “Ohh, so good~.”

And......

*Pssht* *Glglglglglg* *Ppphaahhh*

“Yep, the best.”

Next, I popped some sea serpent karaage into my mouth. This one was juicy and delicious. It tasted like black and red serpent, but sea serpent may be just a little softer when it hits the fryer. Yep, yep, it’s delicious.

*Glglglg*

“Both the grilled kraken and the karaage go great with beer~.”

Seafood really is awesome. I feel that even stronger because of all the meat we’d been eating.

“Man I just love the bounty of the sea. It’s delicious.”

“Indeed. It is really nice once in a while.”

《Really. How many decades has it been for me? I’d never been near the sea all that much in the first place.》

《Hey, hey, you know? What was that salty water, the ocean? It was Sui’s first time eating stuff from the ocean~. It’s suuuuuper delicious~!》

It really was the right choice to come to the sea. Let’s get a lot of stuff from tomorrow’s morning market.

“Ah, tomorrow morning I’m going to the market. They have stalls there, so we’ll be eating out for breakfast.”

“Hohh, if that is the case we will be able to eat fresh things, right? I am looking forward to it.”

《Human stalls, huh? I wonder what they’ll have? I’m excited.》

《Master—, can Sui eat a whoooole lot?》

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

Looks like everyone’s looking forward to the morning market. I’m excited too — I wonder what kind of fish will be there.

《Ah, master — more of this fishy, please.》

Sui still wants more? I plated and served Sui some more aspidochelone with sweet vinegar ankake.

That day, we thoroughly enjoyed the bounty of the sea that everyone managed to catch.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Welcome! Welcome! It’s all cheap~!” A cheerful voice rang out into the crowd. We were at the morning market near the port.

“Hohh, there are quite a few species around.”

I was wondering how it would be since this was another world, but there were more different kinds of fish than I’d imagined on sale. The fish were of all kinds, big and small, and some of them even made me question whether or not they were edible. It was the same for shellfish too; there were even ones that looked just like manila clams, or some that looked like scallops. Well then, I’ll just have to buy a whole bunch of different stuff then, won’t I?

I walked around the morning market. Although people were shocked at first seeing Fel and the others, as soon as they understood that they were familiars they were unexpectedly okay with it. It seemed that the old men selling fish here were all fishermen too, so they had guts. The old ladies were...... Hm, well they’re basically the strongest in any universe, aren’t they? They just don’t sweat the small stuff.

With Fel and the others in tow, I continued to walk around the morning market and bought a huge amount of all different kinds of food. The first thing I bought was a fish that looked a lot like mackerel, called mackeren. It was a very popular fish in the area and was eaten often. The guy manning the store said it was really delicious grilled. It looked like it’d be great used in miso mackerel, so I bought all the store had.

When I asked if it would be alright to buy out the store......

“As you can see, this place is full of fish. Even if one place sells out of fish, other places have the same ones anyway. Don’t worry about that stuff and just buy all you want,” said the older guy.

I see. Just as he said, the morning market was teeming with stalls selling fish. Of course, no store would only sell only one type of fish, so it seemed like it was natural for several stores to be selling the same thing. Just as he claimed, even if one store sold out, other stores would still have it, so there wasn’t really any need to pay attention to that.

After that, there was a fish that looked exactly like a salmon, called salmen. It was a little bigger than normal salmon, but its meat was pink, and it looked exactly like salmon. Apparently, this fish was also popular in the area. According to the lady in the store, this one was also delicious grilled. Salmon could be used in a lot of different dishes, so I also bought out this store’s supply.

The next one I noticed was a fish that looked a lot like horse mackerel. It was called mackero, and it was treated like junk food. I was told that it’s only use was as dried food. It looked exactly like a horse mackerel though. My instincts were telling me that it’d definitely be delicious fried. It was incredibly cheap at just 3 copper for an entire bucket, so I bought all I could of this as well.

Just like that, I spent time walking around the morning market and buying whatever I felt like......

“Welcome, welcome! It’s Berléand’s famous tyrant fish! They’re fresh, just caught today! Now buy it! Buy it all!”

Tyrant fish, huh? That’s the fish that those guys in Shadow Warrior praised so much, right? I definitely need to get some.

I headed towards the store that was selling tyrant fish, and saw the fish that seemed to be the tyrant fish displayed boldly. The fish, which was almost 2 meters across, looked exactly like a pirarucu, the world’s largest freshwater fish that only lived in the Amazon river. If I were to reach for difference, just about the only point would be its mouth full of sharp teeth, and that it lived in the ocean.

“Excuse me. I’d like a tyrant fish.”

“Sure! Thanks fer tha business! Tyrant fish is great grilled or even in soup, you know—.”

Grilled or in soup, huh? Looks like they really don’t eat anything raw. But, I guess I’ll at least try asking......

“Uhm, do you not eat them raw?”

“Raw?! Of course not, that’s idiotic! If you eat it raw you’ll die!!” said the old man quite forcefully. “Wait, bro, could you be a foreigner?”

This country was largely inhabited by people with Anglo-Saxon features, and although black hair wasn’t impossible, it was rare, so it seemed that was the impression the guy working the store got. So I rode that misconception.

“Yes, well...”

“I see. There’s countries without access to the ocean, so I guess you wouldn’t know. Then I’ll tell you so you won’t die......”

And when I listened to the guy talk, it turned out parasites really did exist. It was called the vorbalas fishworm, and it seemed that it was a parasite that could infect anything that lived in the ocean. Apparently this parasite lived in between a fish’s skin and meat, and laid its eggs there. It wasn’t an especially rare parasite, and it didn’t affect the fish that was its host, so it seemed like it happened often enough that fish with the parasite were sold in this market. But if that parasite were to infect a human, it’d be pretty bad. It would eat through your innards, and in the end it would kill its host. And since that would only take a short week to ten days, it was way too strong. However, this vorbalas fishworm had a very decisive weakness, and that was heat.

“The vorbalas fishworm lives in between the fish’s skin and meat, you see. So even if it’s just for a little bit, heating it up is very important.”

According to him, it would be fine as long as you grill, boil, or even roast the fish for even a little. Yeah, not eating it raw really was correct. Or rather, when I ate that giant talepo tataki before, in hindsight I really shouldn’t have been thinking from Japanese standards. It was pretty good, but the unspoken question of, “What about parasites?” had me pretty worried.

Since I was fine even after a while had passed, I felt relieved. But there’s gotta be parasites for land monsters and animals too, right? I don’t think I’ll ever be eating any meat that’s close to raw again. When I asked the guy about it anyway due to the flow of conversation, I was told that there really were parasites for land creatures. It was similar to the vorbalas fishworm, and it was also weak to heat. It looked like I was safe because I gave one side of the giant talepo a quick sear just in case.

Th-Thank goodness.

“In any case, the most important thing is to heat it, at least a little,” said the guy at the store, nodding to himself.

I’ll keep that in mind.

So although completely raw is out the window, a quick sear like with tataki is fine, huh? That being said, I’d just heard about the vorbalas fishworm. I don’t think I can work up the courage to eat tataki anytime soon. There’s a lot of ways to enjoy food without eating it raw, so for now I’ll just enjoy seafood by boiling, grilling, frying, or even steaming.

“So, bro, how many tyrant fish do you want?”

“Ah, I’ll take all the slices you have there, and can I get you to butcher this one, too? Then I’ll buy the rest you’ve got.”

“You sure you’re good on money, bro?” the guy asked, a little bewildered at how much I was buying.

Well, that makes sense. Including the sliced meat, it’d be about three whole tyrant fishes’ worth. Also, since tyrant fish are at least nominally a monster, they’re more expensive than other fish.

“It’s fine. Even if I look like this I’m a pretty high-ranked adventurer.”

“Ohh, is that so? Then please wait a second.” With just those words, the guy started filleting the tyrant fish. Clearly, I wouldn’t be good enough to do that myself for something that big. Leaving stuff like this to the pros is the best choice.

He took no time at all to finish butchering the fish, and I took it along with the displayed slices. All in all, it was 2 gold. Even though it was expensive compared to other fish, all this tyrant fish was still cheap at just 2 gold. As expected out of a port town. It’ll all be fine if I just throw it into my Item Box, so let’s keep buying.

The next things that caught my eye were shrimp and crabs. There were vermillion shrimp that looked like tiger prawns, but quite a bit bigger, and a prettier scarlet color. Bronze king crabs, which looked like red king crabs: these were also quite a bit bigger than their counterpart in my world, aside from the bronze color. There’s no way shrimp and crab could be bad. Thinking I couldn’t go wrong since I saw quite a lot of locals buying this stuff, I also bought out all the shrimp and crabs in the store.

I also bought some shellfish that looked like manila clams in both appearance and size. In this world, they were called mini clams. And they were packed full into buckets, and sold at next-to-free prices due to them being so small. Of course, I bought all I could. They’d be good in miso soup, or steamed with salt and some sake, or even in western clam chowder.

Also, there were the big hard clams that those guys in Shadow Warrior told me about. Just as I’d heard, they were huge,about the size of my palm. I also bought as many of them as I could, and I also bought out their small hard clams, a smaller version of big hard clams, which were slightly larger than my fist. Small hard clams were a little bigger than normal Asian hard clams in my world, so I think they’d be perfect for barbecue.

Afterwards, I also bought some yellow scallops, which were similar to scallops in my world. They were around twice as big as regular scallops, and their shells were yellow. But the inside was the exact same as a regular scallop. Since these were also good grilled, they were a favorite in food stalls. Of course, I bought as many as they had.

I felt like I wanted to look around a bit more, but it seemed like Fel and the others were getting fidgety because they were hungry, so I decided to end it there for the day. But, it was all so cheap. There was so much variety, too. Just what I expected out of this seaside town. Even though I bought so much, I still didn’t quite manage to spend 5 gold. Still, it would only amount to a scant couple of meals for Fel and the others’ stomachs. I swore to buy as much seafood as I could while we were here.

“Now then, let’s go try out some of these stalls.”

“I was getting tired of waiting.”

《Really.》

《Sui is so hungry~.》

“Sorry, sorry. It looks like there’s a lot of stalls, so cheer up. Let’s try a bunch of them.”

“Mn, are any of them okay?”

“Sure.”

“I see. Then let us start from the beginning. Dora, Sui, we are going.”

《Yeah!》

《Sui will eat lots~.》

I headed for the food stalls, following after my familiars who were moving speedily.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The stalls were lined up around a certain plaza in the morning market. The first one that Fel and the others laid their eyes on was one that sold grilled fish. I wonder what kind of fish it is? They were serving slices of it. The fragrant smell of the grilling fish stirred the appetite.

“Okay, we are eating this fish.”

《Yeah!》

《Fish~!》

Looks like everyone’s raring to chow down.

“Excuse me.”

“Hey! Welcome.”

“I’d like all the fish that’s already cooked here, as well as all the fish you’re grilling right now.”

When I said that, the older guy manning the stall froze in shock. When I explained that I’d be eating along with my familiars, he understood.

“What kind of fish is this?”

“It’s mackeren. It’s fresh, so it’s good—!”

That mackerel-looking fish named mackeren, huh? Looks like the only flavoring is salt, but it looks pretty fatty and delicious. I paid the man, and took the fish. Looking at the stalls, they wanted you to bring your own utensils, and there were people buying them as well, so that’s what I did.

For my familiar’s portions, I took their personal dishes from my Item Box and piled the fish inside. I ate mine still skewered.

We moved somewhere where we wouldn’t be in the way, and everyone started eating their fish.

“Hm. This is pretty good.”

《Yeah, it really is so good because it’s fresh.》

《Fish is so tasty~.》

“It’s just salt for flavoring, but this mackerel’s fattiness is really tasty.”

Everyone was satisfied with the flavor. All the fish in their dishes quickly disappeared.

“Okay, next.”

《Next! Next~!》

《Sui wants more~.》

The next stall they went to was selling soup with shellfish and vegetables in it, and it smelled delicious.

“What a nice smell. What kind of soup is it?” I asked the old lady manning the stall.

“This one? This is a soup made by taking big hard clams, cutting them into large chunks, and boiling them slowly with vegetables. It’s good, try some.”

Of course I will. All my familiar’s attention is glued to the soup, after all.

“Well then, can you fill up each of these dishes?”

“Sure thing. Thanks!”

I paid the lady at the stall, and had her quickly ladle out the soup into everyone’s dishes. Of course, I also had a large soup bowl for myself. Everyone quickly started eating.

With lots of clams inside, it’s really got some texture. This one is also probably only flavored with salt, but with the sweetness of the vegetables and good broth made with the giant hard clams, it is delicious. I worried about big hard clams, thinking that they might be more tasteless since they’re so big, but apparently that isn’t the case. It makes for good, solid broth, and the meat is soft and delicious. This soup is light and easy to eat. It’s great. I could drink this just about forever.

“Hey.” Around when I was half finished with the soup, Fel...... “I want more.”

《Sui also wants more.》

Fel and Sui had finished in the blink of an eye. More already?

《I want some too, but if I do that then I probably won’t be able to fit what’s next. It’s too bad, but I’ll hold back on it.》

Dora-chan also looked like he wanted some, but he decided to refrain. Dora-chan also eats a lot when compared to someone like me, but he isn’t nearly at the level of Fel or Sui. If he eats here again, he won’t be able to fully enjoy all the stalls anymore. I paid, and had the old lady give Fel and Sui another helping.

“Hm. This soup is light, and is in itself pretty delicious.”

《Sui also likes this~.》 Fel and Sui finished their second bowl quickly as well.

“We are going to the next one.” With Fel in the lead, the next stall we went for was one that was grilling both giant and small hard clams. Just from looking, I could tell there was no way this would be terrible. The giant and small hard clams would pop open due to being grilled. There was a sound coming from the plump, thick meat inside and the boiling essence of clam that was pooled around the meat......

*Shlrrp* I was drooling. Looks good. There’s no mistake. It’s definitely going to be delicious.

《How many do you want?》

Each giant clam was big, so I asked them through telepathy how much they wanted.

《I will have ten for now.》

《Hmmm, I’m fine with three.》

《Sui wants to be the same as uncle Fel with ten!》

I paid what I owed, and I took everyone’s giant hard clams and dumped the meat and juices out of the shell and into their dishes since Fel and the others wouldn’t be able to eat it with the shell still there. When I served them their dishes, all of them quickly started chowing down.

“Hohh, this is good.”

《Yeah. Every time I bite into it, there’s a burst of delicious juice.》

《So good~.》

It seems like the grilled giant hard clams are popular with all three of them. It looked good right from the start, after all. I should eat, too.

I took one each of the giant and small hard clams and compared them. Still, every time I see the giant hard clam, it seems bigger and bigger. I feel like I’d get full from just one. Now then, let’s try it.

I bit into the giant hard clam’s plump and tender meat. Instantly, the clam’s umami spread throughout my mouth. With every chew, the clam’s savoriness flooded out.

This is delicious! The tender meat gives it a good texture, and more than anything it tastes good. And just as its appearance suggested, it’s like an Asian hard clam. Why is this clam so delicious? If it’s this good just by grilling it, how delicious would it be with some soy sauce? I’m definitely gonna do a seafood barbecue.

I continued eating bite after bite, before slurping down the juices left in the shell, too.

“Hahh, that was good.”

Next was the small hard clam. I downed the entire thing in one go. The umami spilled over and filled my mouth. It’s the same flavor as the giant hard clam. Just like its name, the small hard clam is just a tiny version of a giant hard clam, huh? But the texture is a little better with this one. It’s got just a little more bite-back. The giant hard clam was softer. This one also seems like it’d be great with some soy sauce. This is definitely going into the seafood barbecue.

After that, we enjoyed food like grilled vermillion shrimp which resembled tiger prawns, bronze king crabs that were like red king crabs in both grilled and boiled form, and an acqua pazza with lots of different seafood boiled in it.

Dora-chan and I tapped out in the middle, but Fel and Sui just kept happily going around the stalls.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

It was almost noon before Fel and Sui were finally satisfied.

“Hm, that was good.”

《It was so good~. Sui is fuulllll.》

Well yeah, with how much you two ate.

《You all eat way too much.》

Dora-chan was a little exasperated at Fel and Sui’s appetites. But Dora-chan also ate quite a bit, and his stomach was bulging. Like this, they probably won’t need lunch, huh?

《Aahhh no good. It’s too hard to fly.》 As he said that, Dora-chan clamped onto the back of my head.

“D-Dora-chan?”

《It’s too hard to fly because I ate too much. You’re the master so you should at least take care of your familiars.》

That’s not......

Dora-chan was totally intent on riding around on me, clamped onto the back of my head with his legs on my shoulders like I was giving him a shoulder ride.

“Hahhh~, fine.”

《Now, now, where to next?》

“Next is the Adventurer’s guild. We have to go pick up the money for selling off the kraken, sea serpent, and aspidochelone parts from yesterday.”

《Then, let’s go to the Adventurer’s guild!》

“Fine, fine. Wait, huh? Where’s Sui?”

Sui, who was at my feet until just a moment ago, wasn’t there anymore. When I looked around trying to find Sui, Fel said, “If you are looking for Sui, it has been in your bag for a while now.”

When I gently peeked into my bag, I found Sui sleeping. So fast! Now then, let’s regroup and head for the Adventurer’s guild, I guess.

While still giving Dora-chan a ride, I followed Fel to the Adventurer’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When we entered the Adventurer’s guild, I got stared at since I was giving Dora-chan a shoulder ride. When I ignored the stares and proceeded to a receptionist, I found said receptionist also staring, and her cheeks were twitching, too.

If you want to laugh, just do it. Actually, can’t you just get off already, Dora-chan?

Afterwards, I was quickly led to the 2nd floor and the guildmaster’s room.

“Ohh, you’re here...... Wait, what the hell is that?” Marcus said after looking up from his desk and seeing me.

“It’s, umm... Just think of it as my familiar’s whims.”

“R-Really?”

“Really.”

Yeah, please just leave it at that. I-I haven’t become Dora-chan’s taxi or anything, I swear.

“I’ll just finish this one now, so please sit down over there and wait.”

“Okay.”

I sat down on the chair and talked to Dora-chan using telepathy.

《Now, now, get off Dora-chan. Sit next to me.》

《Fine, fine.》 Giving off a reluctant feeling, Dora-chan climbed off and sat next to me.

I felt relieved, having a literal weight off of my shoulders. I mean, Dora-chan was unexpectedly heavy.

I sipped on a tea that was served by an employee which had a similar toasted-rice fragrance as genmaicha. I quietly glanced over at Marcus, who was fighting with his documents. Just looking at him, I figured that Marcus would be extremely active, gung-ho, and reckless during his active years... But now that he’s a guildmaster he seems to have a lot of trouble with all those documents, huh?

After about ten minutes of waiting, Marcus finally finished cleaning up his paperwork and left his desk.

“Sorry for making you wait. When you get to be a guildmaster, there’s a lot of paperwork, and no matter how you shake it, I’m terrible at it. I always end up taking more time than normal.”

No matter how I look at him, Marcus is the jockish type, after all. He’s probably better at moving his body.

“Well then, hopping right into it: let’s talk about how much we owe you for the kraken, sea serpent, and aspidochelone yesterday. First is the kraken. Eyes, mouth, suction pads, and magic stone — all told, it’s 628 gold.”

Ohhh, yep, it’s S-ranked alright. According to Marcus, the rating on the magic stone said it really was high quality. The stone from the kraken was pretty big, after all.

“Then, next is the sea serpent. The materials for this one would be its skin, bones, fangs, and magic stone. All in all, it’s 659 gold.”

Oh this one is worth a lot too. The sea serpent’s also S-ranked, after all. From what Marcus said, since there hasn’t been a sea serpent caught in thirteen years, its materials went up in price. Apparently the buyers for its skin and fangs were already decided. It seemed that said buyer was a local weapons shop. I had no idea how they got their info, but they heard about it way too quickly.

Both the sea serpent and kraken had their magic stones valued most highly. They were both huge, after all. As I thought, the bigger a stone is the more expensive, huh?

“Last up is the aspidochelone. This one is the scales, bones, and magic stone. Totaled up, it comes out to 452 gold.”

So the aspidochelone turned into quite the sum too, huh? I’d heard it was on the lower end of S-rank, so I thought it’d be a little lower. Not to mention I took all the meat, which would have raked in the most money after the magic stone and scales. Since that was the case, I wasn’t expecting much, but it went all the way up to 452 gold.

“Finally, that comes out to 1739 gold. Also, the reward for defeating the kraken is 400 gold. With that added in, it’ll be 2139 gold.”

Oh, and the money pile grows ever larger. Thanks to Fel, I’m just saving up more and more of it.

“I’d heard from old man Jöran that paying in large gold coins is fine, right?”

“Yes, please.”

I have more than enough money, after all. I’d be happier getting anything I wouldn’t use right away in large gold coins.

“Okay then. Here’s 213 large gold coins, and 9 gold coins. Please confirm the amount.”

Uhhh... 1, 2, 3............ 213 large gold coins and 9 gold coins. Yep. It’s all here.

“Yes, it’s correct.”

“And as for the dungeon drops we talked about before......”

Right, right. I have the list here, but I haven’t given it to Marcus yet.

“I’ll hand over the list of what I have left,” I said, and gave it to him.

“Ohhh! There’s quite a lot. As expected of the conqueror. Actually, is there really this much left after you sold some in Dolan?”

“Yes. They mainly focused on the numerous hides and magic stones in Dolan, so I have most of the other stuff.”

“It really is first come first serve for those things, huh? We wanted hides, too...”

They did say that hides for leather armor were in demand everywhere. So he wanted some for the guild, huh? But......

“If it’s hides, I have them. Stuff like a vaasuki’s hide, or a manticore pelt, or Gustav’s hide.”

“Youuuu... If I went for something expensive like that, I’d be done with only a single piece.”

Tch! So I can’t sell off the drops from the lower floors here, either huh? As for stuff that I haven’t sold yet, there’s that, too— the earth dragon’s parts. I still have its blood and eyes and innards and such. Even if the hides are impossible, the Adventurer’s guild here in Berléand is pretty big, so I guess I’ll just push as much as I can onto them.

“Outside of the stuff I got from the dungeon, I also have this. Will you buy it?”

I produced some of the earth dragon’s materials to show him: a bottle of blood, and another one with an eye in it.

“This is?”

“An earth dragon’s blood and eye.”

“Bpphhth!”

Ah, a spit take. Y-You don’t have to be that surprised, you know?

“Y-Y-Y-You! You finished off o-o-one of those?!!”

No, I wasn’t the one that did it. It was Fel.

“Hahh... an earth dragon, huh......? Now that I’ve seen it, I want some earth dragon materials too... Especially the blood, there’s a lot of uses for it... But I want the dungeon drops, too...... I want to think on this awhile, so can you wait a couple days?” Marcus said, and I assented.

If I stockpile too much, it’ll be a huge hassle to manage it all, so I’d be glad to get rid of anything when I can.

Okay, now that we’re finished here, let’s go back.

Saying goodbye to Marcus, we left the Adventurer’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

My three familiars were taking a nap in the living room.

Now then, what should I do? Even if I wanted to prepare for dinner, there’s nothing especially hard to do today. With all the fish we’ve been eating, it makes sense for Fel and the others to want some meat......

“The fish here is good, but it has gone on too long. I want meat for dinner,” Fel had said earlier. Dora-chan agreed:

《He’s right. I really want to eat some solid meat. Ah, that sauce that was salty and sweet and you used it to grill... What was it? Uhhh... Ah! Yakiniku bowl! I want yakiniku bowls!》

And Dora-chan had even started going on about how he wanted yakiniku bowls.

《Sui also wants meat. Sui wants yakiniku bowls—!》

Sui then hopped on the wagon too, and started saying it wanted yakiniku bowls as well.

Everyone loves meat by nature, after all.

That being the case, I ended up just agreeing to make yakiniku bowls for dinner, since it was just grilling the meat and coating it in the sauce. I’d need to steam some rice, but that wouldn’t take all that much time, either. And so, I’m bored.

While I was idly spacing out, wondering what I should do, I started feeling like I was forgetting something. What was it......? ...............Ah!! I forgot to make my offerings to the gods! I did it before we left Nijhoff, so it totally slipped my mind. It’s been over a week. Oh no. There’s gonna be some sort of oracle soon, like this.

Okay, I’m free, so let’s just do it right now.

I moved to a room on the second floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone. Are you there?”

I thought I heard some fuss going on, but a voice immediately rang out.

＜YOU! YOU FORGOT AGAIN, DIDN’T YOU—!!＞

＜You’re finally here...＞

＜Geez, stop forgetting your promises, man.＞

＜......No... forgetting.＞

＜You! It’s unreal that you forgot!! You heathen!!＞

＜Yeah! We were just about to go wild if you took any longer!＞

One of them spouted something dangerous. Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen.

＜Did you forget that you promised to do this once a week, otherworlder boy?＞

This voice is Kisharle, huh? She’s really sharp... I have a bad feeling......

＜You broke your promise, so I think you should change our allowance from 6 silver to a gold, right?＞

Yep. There it is.

In response to Kisharle’s suggestion, the other gods all agreed, saying things like, “Yeah! Yeah!” and “Indeed, what a great idea.”

I did forget, but to raise it from 6 silver all the way to 1 gold at once... Hmmm...

＜You broke a promise to us gods, otherworlder boy. You know what that means, don’t you?＞

If you put it like that...... It is all my fault for forgetting... Well, I have money. I guess it’s fine just this once.

＜Oh my, I didn’t mean just this once — I meant from now on.＞

“Whaaat?!”

＜You know, you broke a promise to the gods. And just because you forgot. You get it?＞

Ghh...... It’s the truth, so I can’t say anything back...

＜And we’re saying that we’ll let it go if you just let us have 1 gold’s worth from now on...＞

Gnnrrrrr... Kisharle really is sharp... Hahhh, fine. It was my fault this time, after all. And I have a feeling I won’t be able to win no matter what I say.

“I understand. From today on, I’ll up it to 1 gold.”

When I said that, all the gods cheered.

＜As long as you understand. And don’t you forget it.＞ I heard Kisharle say. I’d never seen her face, but I imagined she looked incredibly smug right now.

＜Well done, Kisharle.＞

＜Yeah.＞

＜......Good.＞

＜Good job. You’re better than I thought, Kisharle.＞

＜I already thought you had a way with words, woman. As expected.＞

Hahhh, fine. Let’s just get this over with.

“Okay then, from now on you all have 1 gold. First is Ninrir, right?”

＜That’s right, it is I! I want the usual cakes from Fumiya. That round huge cake from before would be best!＞

Fine, fine. Whole cakes, right?

＜Ninrir, are you sure that’s okay?＞

＜What do you mean?＞

＜Haven’t you gotten fatter recently after scarfing down that huge cake by yourself?＞

＜Gnhh......＞

These voices are Kisharle and... Ninrir, the disappointment? Just like I thought, she ate the whole cake by herself, huh? And all at once, too.

“Uhmm, you know that that large round cake is usually cut into pieces and shared between several people...”

＜Sh-Shut up, shut up, shut uuuppp! You have no right to tell me h-how to eat what I want!＞

Woah, she blew up. Yep, the divine disappointment strikes again. If you’re going to put it like that, it’s fine, but don’t come complaining to me when you’re fat. I’m begging you, take responsibility for your own actions.

I picked up the whole cakes that Ninrir wanted. With 1 gold, there was quite the amount. I’d picked out a small-sized whole strawberry shortcake that had strawberries inside the cream layers of the cake, a small-sized whole chocolate cake that also had strawberries on top as well as layers of chocolate sponge sandwiching chocolate cream, a strawberry tart just full of strawberries, and an apple pie. Seeing it, Ninrir got all excited and started yelling at me to hurry and give it to her.

Still, does she really plan to eat this all by herself? Please take responsibility for yourself.

“Next is......”

＜Yes! Yes! It’s me~.＞

Kisharle. Then, of course...

＜Of course, I want beauty products~. Since we have 1 gold this time I’d like something that seems really effective.＞

Should I start getting into the really expensive stuff? There’s no end to this sort of thing, after all.

I remembered my sister showing me a magazine and pointing out what she wanted. I did a double take back then when I noticed the price. It was a surprising 108,000 yen (tax included). I thought it was a joke. It’s over 100 thousand you know? That’s ridiculous.

I wondered if there’d be anyone that would want to buy it, but given how there was actually such a person right in front of me, I could only marvel at how scary a woman’s tenacity for beauty is.

Leaving those memories aside, I need to choose what to offer to Kisharle. My Online Supermarket was basically the same as the one I used back home, and for some reason it stocked all of the famous domestic cosmetics companies’ main series products. When I looked at the page... Oh, how about this one?

“How about this one, Kisharle? This face lotion and cream come out to exactly 1 gold. It says it brings some bounciness back to the skin and will set you onto the path of a youthful complexion.”

After I said that, I heard some rattling sounds.

＜Y-Youthful skin?! That one! That one that one!! Give it to me!＞

So she really is at that age when you start having to worry about your skin. But I’m kind of curious. Just how old is she?

＜Ohoho, asking a girl her age is a breach of manners.＞

......*Shiver* Urgh, somehow I got the chills.

“Ah, right. What will you do about the 1 silver you had saved up from last time?”

＜You raised our budget to 1 gold, so I’ll graciously let it go. In exchange, find me something good next time.＞

It seems she’ll let it go. Still, I had to raise their allowance to 1 gold, though. It’s a complicated feeling.

I bought the lotion and cream for Kisharle.

“Uhh... Next is Agni, right?”

＜Yeah! It’s me. I really do just want beer. And some good snacks if you have it.＞

Beer and snacks, huh......? With a single gold, I could get a case of beer, couldn’t I? Let’s see... Oh, they’re selling a case of A-company’s premium beer. Agni said it was good too, so let’s get it. And a six-pack of K-company’s premium beer and Y-bisu beer like usual. Also, let’s get a 6 pack of S-company’s premium beer as well this time. Since it’s gotta be fried stuff when talking about beer snacks, I bought mostly fried foods for side dishes.

“Next is......”

＜Me, Ruka. I wasn’t sure, but I decided on the same as Ninrir.＞

Looks like Ruka was also charmed by the wiles of cake, huh? But is that fine? Please, take responsibility yourself.

＜It’s fine. Unlike Ninrir, I am still growing. So I won’t get fat.＞

Ah. I-Is that right?

＜Y-Y-You know, I-I’m not fat either!＞

Ah, I can hear Ninrir, the divine disappointment. You know, that shrill voice is basically like you’re admitting it.

I bought the same cakes for Ruka as I did for Ninrir.

Next is, of course......

＜Next is us!＞

＜Yo! We were waiting.＞

＜＜One gold for each of us, huh? Geheheheheh...＞＞

‘Geheheheheh?’ Please don’t laugh all creepy like that.

＜First would be the usual whiskey, yeah. Can’t do without that.＞

＜Right?＞

＜As for everything else, I think it’d be good to get stuff we haven’t tried before......＞

“Ah, if that’s the case, how about some of the stuff that was too expensive before?”

Up until now, there were quite a number of whiskies from S-company that were too expensive to buy.

＜Ohh, that’s a good idea. How about it, Blacksmithing God?＞

＜Indeed. I think it’s a good idea, too.＞

“How about this one?” The one I pointed out to the two of them was a black labeled American whiskey that was so famous even I knew of it. It also said “premium whiskey” on the label, so I thought it’d be a great idea.

＜Oh, we haven’t tried this one before.＞

＜I don’t remember this one... I think it’s fine, how about you, War God?＞

＜I like it too.＞

And so, in the cart it goes. Also...... I don’t think I’ve gotten this one before, either.

“What about this?”

It was a Scotch whisky in a green bottle.

＜I don’t remember drinking this one, either.＞

＜Yeah.＞

So in the cart it goes, too. And then...... Oh, this one’s perfect for the amount they have left. Might be good.

“How about this one for last?” It was a Japanese single-malt whisky.

＜I don’t think we’ve seen this one, either.＞

＜Same here.＞

So this one gets bought too. Whew, all that’s left is to sort them out onto their cardboard altars.

“Please accept this, everyone.”

The items on top of their cardboard altars disappeared. And the cry of excitement from the gods was quickly raised.

Good, it’s finally over. I just get really tired of having to deal with these gods.

Of course, I made the requested yakiniku bowl for dinner. I used wyvern meat with a long-selling popular yakiniku tare, and everyone was happily scarfing it down.

Yep. Yakiniku bowls are never a mistake. But, tomorrow it will be fish again. I have the ingredients, so it’ll finally be time for a seafood barbecue.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We had a light breakfast. Well, Fel and the others still had lots of meat, though.

I told everyone that we’d be having a seafood barbecue for lunch. I was currently preparing for said barbecue.

I’ve made sure that all the sand is out of the shellfish, so those are okay. I’m planning to grill the shrimp whole, so I’ve only deveined them.

Once that was done, I moved on to the crabs. They’re pretty big, so it’d be best to cut off their legs before grilling, huh? I steadily cut apart the crabs.

Oh, and a foil bake would be good, too. I have that salmen that’s exactly like salmon, so let’s make it a chanchanyaki-style roast with miso.

I filleted the salmen. It was huge, so I had some trouble, but I somehow managed it. Choosing to ignore the fact that my attempt was slightly ugly this time, I kept on filleting another four of them.

All I needed was some vegetables after that. Let’s get the vegetables along with everything else I need from my skill. Opening my Online Supermarket, I picked through the vegetables.

The ones we had for our last barbecue were great, so let’s just get the same ones: shiitake mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, and corn, right? The shiitake and peppers seem like they’d work in the foil bake, too. If we’re going for that, I should get some onions and carrots too, huh?

I also got some enoki mushrooms, which I would definitely need for a foil bake. Enoki mushrooms were cheap and had good flavor as well as texture, so they were really good for using in all kinds of dishes.

Now that the vegetables were sorted, it was time to prepare them for the barbecue. The peppers and corn would just be grilled as is, so they could be left alone. I bought whole ears of corn; grilling it like that would kind of steam it, which brings out its flavor. For the shiitake mushrooms, I cut off the foot, and used a peeler for the asparagus to take off its hard skin. As for the onions and carrots, I just sliced them into thick pieces.

Lastly were the preparations for the foil bake. The plan was to make two types of foil bakes: the chanchanyaki-style with salmen, and, since I had white-meat fish too, I decided on tyrant fish flavored with lemon butter and soy sauce. It was a pain to choose, so I just used the same vegetables for both of them.

Take the feet off of the shiitake mushrooms and cut them thin, and halve the onions before cutting those thin as well. Cut the carrots and peppers into small strips, and untangle the enoki mushrooms after cutting off the feet...

Let’s do the chanchanyaki-style salmen first.

~◇~◇~◇~

Smear some butter on the aluminum foil and spread around some onions. Then, lay the salmen that’s been cut into appropriately-sized pieces on top and lightly season with salt and pepper. For Fel and the others, I made sure to cut the pieces larger than usual. On top of that, lay down lots of shiitake, carrots, peppers, and enoki mushrooms.

Then, mix miso, sugar, sake, and mirin together to make a blended seasoning, and put some butter on top of that before wrapping the whole thing in foil to complete the preparations for chanchanyaki style salmen foil bake.

~◇~◇~◇~

I did about the same thing for the tyrant fish foil bake flavored with lemon butter and soy sauce. Spread some butter on foil and spread the onion, lay the tyrant fish slices on top of that and season with salt and pepper. Lay the vegetables on top of the fish, and put some more butter on top before wrapping up the foil. Putting the lemon and soy sauce on right before you eat it makes it more delicious.

Okay, now I’m all prepared for the seafood barbecue. So let’s get into this in the spacious yard.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Is it not done yet?”

How many times have you asked that, Fel?

“Just a little longer.”

All three of my familiars were staring fixedly at the seafood currently cooking on the barbecue grill. The yellow scallop, which resembled an earth scallop, opened with a pop, showing the face of its meat to the world. The other shellfish followed right after. They all looked truly delicious.

Just put on some soy sauce... there we go.

“Okay, it’s good.”

Scooping the yellow scallop out of its shell, I threw away the inedible parts and just plated the meat in a dish. I did the same with the big hard clams and served them out.

“Hm... It is more delicious than the ones we ate at the stall yesterday.”

《Yeah. It really does taste different when you cook it.》

《Master — it’s delicious—.》

Heheheheheh, right? Right? It’s because I have this godly seasoning called soy sauce, which only I can get in this world. Not only that, but soy sauce fits perfectly with seafood. There’s no way something with soy sauce on it wouldn’t be delicious.

I’ll eat too. Let’s start with this yellow scallop. The meat was plump and... Anyway, it was really big. I stuffed my face with its bulk.

“So good!!”

It tasted exactly like a scallop. Every time I chewed, its umami spread throughout my mouth. It was perfect with the soy sauce.

Hahh~. I’m so happy. It’s just nice eating good food, isn’t it?

Mm, it’s about time to move onto these, huh?

“The shrimp and crab here are done too. Want some?”

I salted the vermillion shrimp, which were like tiger prawns, and grilled them whole. I also grilled the bronze king crab, which resembled red king crabs as well.

“I do.”

《Me too.》

《Sui too—.》

I was told that leaving the shell on the vermillion shrimp was fine, so I just threw those in, but I took the meat from the bronze king crabs out of their shells before putting them in the dishes and serving them out. According to Fel and the others, if it’s only as thick as the shell on a vermillion shrimp, then leaving it on would increase the savoriness of the shrimp. The shells on the giant hard clams, yellow scallops, and bronze king crabs weren’t completely inedible, but they were really hard, after all, and would hurt their mouths, so it was better to not have them.

I peeled the shell of the vermillion shrimp before eating it, though. When I peeled back its red shell, the plump, jiggly, and delicious-looking meat showed itself.

When I bit into it, the sweetness and texture of the shrimp was...... It was just what I expected of shrimp: awesome. Shrimp is delicious!! It was pretty huge, but I finished it almost immediately.

Next was the bronze king crab. First, I’ll try it as is. I just love that savory smell. I stuffed my face with it, and my mouth was filled with the crab’s juiciness and sweetness. Hahh~, why is crab this good, I wonder? Next, let’s eat it with soy sauce. Hmmm, yep, it’s great with soy sauce. Ah, right. There’s something else I can do with this...

Mix the crab’s brown meat from its shell and the other crab meat... It’s brown meat-flavored grilled crab.

“Ohh~! This is awesome!”

“Hm? What? What you are eating looks good. Give me some too.”

《Me too.》

《Sui wants some too—.》

I served everyone some grilled crab dressed with its own brown meat.

“Oh! I have never experienced this flavor before. How rich and delectable.”

《Yeah, it’s great.》

It went over well with Fel and Dora-chan, but it seemed that wasn’t the case for Sui. Looks like that kind of flavor is too early for Sui.

This is making me want some beer. Opening my Online Supermarket, I bought some beer that was apparently A-company’s newest product. Richness and sharpness seemed to be the beer’s selling points, so it looked like it would fit well with this seafood barbecue.

Oh, looks like the chanchanyaki-style salmen and tyrant fish foil bakes are done, too.

To finish the tyrant fish foil bake, I opened it up and poured on some lemon juice and soy sauce.

“Hmhm, this is delicious, too.”

《This salty-sweet one is great. And this one is just a little sour. It’s refreshing and tasty.》

《This fish is delicious~.》

Thank goodness both of them went over well. Now then, I should eat too.

The chanchanyaki is delicious because I used a sweeter miso. Salmon really does pair great with the sweeter kind — the taste makes me want white rice. As for the lemon butter and soy sauce flavor, the butter and soy sauce match perfectly with the lemon and pair nicely with the white meat of the fish. And it’s great that there’s so many vegetables.

They’re all fantastic. This is all because I was able to get some fresh seafood. Seafood barbecue’s are the best!

After that, we all thoroughly enjoyed our seafood barbecue.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Today, we’d gone to the Adventurers guild in the morning. Without even having to go to a receptionist, we were immediately shown to the second floor guildmaster’s room. When we entered, Marcus was already waiting for us.

“Hey, you’ve come. Please have a seat.” I sat down in a chair across from Marcus.

“Man, I gotta tell you, I had a lot of trouble choosing. Not only were there so many things to choose from the dungeon, but you went and showed me the earth dragon parts, too.”

“So, did you decide on what you wanted to buy?”

“Yeah.”

The items from the dungeon that Marcus decided on were: orc testes x31, minotaur’s iron axes x15, orc king testes x1, red ogre magic stone (medium) x1, giant killer mantis scythe x38, murder grizzly pelt x21, giant centipede shell x3, killer hornet poison stinger x286, and mimic treasure chest (small) x1. And for the earth dragon materials, he decided on two bottles of blood.

“You don’t see dungeon or earth dragon materials like this all too often here, so I really wanted to buy more, but this really is the limit...” Marcus said, seeming slightly regretful.

But he bought some of the earth dragon blood, so I was happy that they took more than I expected. Of course I couldn’t just hand over the items here, so we decided to move to the storehouse.

“You probably expected this with how much we’re buying, but it’ll take a while to inspect all the items. Can you wait until tomorrow afternoon?” Marcus asked as we were moving to the storehouse.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

He did buy quite a lot. At the moment, I didn’t have much else to do other than stock up on seafood, so it was no problem at all.

Reaching the storehouse, I produced the items that he wanted. Once I was finished, Marcus called out to me again.

“Sorry, sorry — there was a message for you. The messenger came early in the morning — apparently, they have something to tell you, so they want you to come to the Merchant’s guild.”

From the Merchant’s guild? I am registered to the Merchant’s guild, at least formally...... What is it? Well, let’s just go there for now, I guess.

I headed for the Merchant’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Alright, now that I’ve come all the way to the Merchant’s guild, I wonder what they want? Entering the building, I first went to a receptionist.

“Uhm, my name is Mukohda, and I was told to come to the Merchant’s guild......”

I showed my Adventurer’s guild card as well as my Merchant’s guild card to the receptionist, just in case. When I did, I was led to a conference room in the back. I asked if it was fine for Fel and the others to come with me and they said yes, so my familiars followed. The guildmaster of the Merchant’s guild — his name is Gelt, I think — anyway, Gelt was sitting in his chair, along with a lanky man that seemed to be around 40.

“Welcome to the Merchant’s guild. Now, now, please sit,” said Gelt, and I sat next to the lanky man. Fel and the others waited behind me.

“I met you briefly before, but once again, I am the guildmaster, Gelt. Pleased to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“I’ve heard of your exploits. You conquered Dolan’s dungeon, yes? Also, you defeated the kraken that was causing this town’s problems — you’re a rising star, aren’t you?”

Is it just me, or did Gelt’s eyes just flash ominously for a second?

“Yeah, well......” All those accomplishments were thanks to Fel, though. He probably didn’t call me all the way here just to flatter me. What does he want?

“Uhhh, so, what sort of business do you have with me?”

“Ohh, sorry for getting off track. To tell you the truth, I’ve been in touch with Lambert’s company from Karelina. He wanted me to introduce you to his store here.”

According to Gelt, the Merchant’s guild has a teleportation device just like the Adventurer’s guild, which they use to send letters back and forth. Unlike the Adventurer’s guild, they didn’t have one in every branch, but they were placed in large settlements like here, in Berléand. So apparently he was using that device to communicate with Lambert.

“I am Adrian, and I manage our stock. Pleased to meet you. I have been ordered by our president to come to Berléand to meet you, Sir Mukohda.”

It seemed that Adrian got the message because he was close to Berléand already. So this is all Lambert, huh? Could it be, he’s already running low on that stuff?

“Well then guildmaster, from this point on our discussion will be private, so...” said Adrian, and Gelt replied with, “You’re right,” rising from his seat.

“I still have something to talk to you about, so please see the receptionist before you leave, Mukohda,” Gelt said before leaving the room.

“So? What does Lambert have to say?”

“Yes, he said that if I showed you this letter, you would understand,” Adrian said, as he handed me a letter.

When I read it...... It really was about those soaps and shampoos. It seemed that they sold quite well, enough that they had to limit the amount a customer could buy at once. The letter said that even with those measures in place, their stores were running low, and he wanted some more as soon as possible. That was why they used the Merchant’s guild’s teleportation device to contact me.

Lambert wrote what he wanted: 1000 of the cheaper soaps, 500 of the rose scented soaps, 1000 bottles of the shampoo with conditioner, 400 bottles of the shampoo and hair treatment, and 100 hair masks. The total price was 1185 gold. That was surprising enough on its own,, but the fact that the demand was so high even with a strict limit per customer made me want to shout. Now, word of the quality of the products had spread among women, and younger girls especially were coming to buy them. All that just means that women in any world want to be beautiful, huh?

“I have read the letter and understand the situation. I will prepare it by tomorrow morning.”

“Understood.”

I told Adrian about the house I was staying in during my time in Berléand, and asked him to come tomorrow morning. Now then, I’ll need to start preparations myself. I’ll have to stop by a general store to buy wooden boxes and pots, won’t I? It’ll be tough doing this much all by myself, but there’s no way I could show the plastic containers and stuff they come in to natives of this world. And more importantly, it was Lambert, who had taken very good care of me, requesting it, so I’ll just have to suck it up.

My conversation with Adrian was finished, so after leaving the room I did as Gelt asked and went to see a receptionist.

“Excuse me. My name is Mukohda and the guildmaster, Gelt, told me to talk to you before I left...” I said, and the receptionist replied, “Please wait a little,” before getting up. It didn’t take long for Gelt to come over.

“Sorry for stopping you on your way home. There was just something I had to ask you for, no matter what......”

Apparently, Gelt also wanted to buy what I got from the dungeon. It was true that materials from the dungeon were rare here, so it seemed that the Merchant’s guild also wanted a stake. Just like the guild in Dolan, they especially wanted jewelry and gemstones. That would be the case, wouldn’t it? I remembered that bitter experience I had in Dolan.

I don’t know how much gems are worth, so I don’t think I’d be able to win against experienced old merchants. It’s a bit sad, but I can only imagine myself being played around with.

“Uhm, I don’t mind selling it, but could it be through the Adventurer’s guild?” I said, and after a pause Gelt gave the OK.

Even if there’s a fee, it’d be better to have someone well versed in gems from the Adventurer’s guild with me, I think.

“I’ll go talk to the guildmaster of the Adventurer’s guild, Marcus, about it, so I think I can do this tomorrow or the day after. I’ll be in contact in case the Adventurer’s guild needs to extend that timeline.”

“I am here almost every day, so any time that is convenient for you is fine with me.”

“Okay.”

We left the Merchant’s guild while being seen off by Gelt.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Sorry for troubling you so early in the morning, Adrian.”

“No, no, this is work, too. Well then, this is the money we owe you. Please confirm the amount.”

1, 2, 3...... 118 large gold coins and 5 gold coins makes 1185 gold coins.

“Yes, it’s all correct.”

“Okay then, I need to get back to Karelina as soon as possible, so excuse me.”

“Travel safe. Ah, please give my regards to Lambert.”

Adrian, who dragged along a party of adventurers to guard him so early in the morning, set off for Karelina.

“Whew, it’s over. I somehow managed to make it.” I was up late yesterday repackaging shampoos and soaps all by myself. It was just simple work like taking the soaps out of their wrappings and packages to pack them into boxes, or pouring the shampoo with conditioner or other shampoos into pots, though. Still, with the amount being what it was, it took quite a while.

However, I was getting it done more efficiently than the last time I had to do it. And that was all thanks to there being a super huge size that was the equivalent to 6 of the regular-sized refill packs for the shampoo and conditioner, and the shampoo and hair treatment. I didn’t remember it being there last time, but I saw it this time.

I didn’t look too closely, but I suspected that the selection had grown a little thanks to my level rising. It was still just a supermarket, so even if they increased their stock, it was boring stuff like having new sizes of things like this, though. So thanks to that, although it was hard, I somehow managed it without having to stay up all night.

Still......

“Huawwhhh~, so sleepy...”

I was still a little lacking in sleep. I’ll have to drink a stronger coffee to wake up, won’t I? We have to head for the Adventurer’s guild after breakfast, after all.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

They definitely remembered my face at the Adventurer’s guild over these last few days, because as soon as I entered, I was led to the 2nd floor.

“Can you sit and wait a little? I’ll finish quickly,” Marcus said, so I did as asked. It looked like they were checking the money they were handing to me, because he was rifling through a bag with an employee.

Once that was finished, Marcus sat facing me. “Sorry about that, I had to make sure of the amount we were handing you. So......” Marcus was checking a paper; it must have had the details of this transaction written on it.

“I’ll be breaking down the sale for you. For the dungeon items: the thirty-one orc testes will be 24 gold and 8 silver; the fifteen minotaur’s iron axes will be 30 gold; the orc king testes, 13 gold; red ogre magic stone (medium), 80 gold; thirty-eight giant killer mantis scythes for 76 gold; twenty-one murder grizzly pelts for 52 gold and 5 silver; three giant centipede shells for 246 gold; 286 killer hornet’s poison stingers for 143 gold; and a mimic treasure chest (small) for 188 gold. All in all, that’s 853 gold and 3 silver.”

Even just the sale of dungeon materials came out to quite the sum, huh?

“After that is the earth dragon blood, and I’ll be buying that from you at 180 gold a bottle. So for two bottles, that’s 360 gold. Since it’s a really rare thing to see, I marked it up a lot for you.”

Ohh! 180 gold for one bottle? That’s better than when I sold some at Dolan.

“So, with both sales together, that’s 1213 gold and 3 silver. I’ve prepared it in large gold coins again. Please check it.”

Sure, sure. Uhhh, 121 large gold coins, 3 gold coins, and 3 silver? Looks fine to me.

“Yes, it’s correct.” I stored the money into my Item Box. Ah, I have to ask him about that stuff with the Merchant’s guild.

“Marcus, I have something I want to talk to you about......” I told Marcus that the Merchant’s guild also wanted to buy my loot from the dungeon.

“So you see, it seems like the Merchant’s guild especially wants to buy things like gems and jewelry, but I’m not too familiar with the prices those things fetch......” I told him what happened with Dolan’s merchant’s guild.

“I see. Adventurers would be ignorant of that sort of thing. Actually, that’s really sharp of that guy from Dolan, Ugohl. He’s good.”

“You know of Ugohl too?”

“Well, I am acquainted, at least. It’s actually a pretty famous story, that Dolan’s guild only runs because of the sub-guildmaster, Ugohl.”

Is it? I didn’t know. But it’s completely correct, though.

“Their guildmaster used to be an S-ranked adventurer, but I hear that he’s a weirdo that only does things that he likes when it comes to his job.”

...............Elrand, you’ve got some real bad rumors floating around about you. Well, for rumors, they’re all pretty much exactly correct, though. He leaves everything he doesn’t feel like doing to Ugohl, and he goes crazy when it comes to dragons, after all.

“You mean Elrand, right? The guildmaster from Dolan? It’s true he was weird......”

“You knew him? I see. You were in Dolan before coming here, after all.”

“Yes. He was a really strange person. Loved dragons. Hahaha...”

He looked like he would have rubbed his cheek up against that earth dragon corpse, given half the chance... He’s not a bad guy, but truthfully his unnaturally intense dragon LOVE has me creeped out. W-Well, let’s just drop the subject of Elrand for now.

“Getting back on track, I’d like to go to the Merchant’s guild with someone who knows how to assess the value of gems and the like. Of course, I’ll pay for the service.”

“If we’re talking about the person who’s most familiar with ‘gems and the like,’ that’d be her, huh? Right then, I’ll introduce you, so come with me.”

The person that Marcus introduced me to after I followed him was a plump woman in her mid-40’s that seemed to be a veteran here, even by guild standards. Her name was Charlotte.

“Charlotte here is the most knowledgeable on what you need here in the guild.”

“What’s going on, Guildmaster?”

“Well, you see......” Marcus explained the situation to Charlotte.

“My, my, that sounds very fun, doesn’t it? Gem and jewelry sales don’t happen very often from the guilds here; this is going to be worth the challenge~.”

Charlotte’s really excited about this...

“I’ll join in for future reference. Is that fine?”

“It is, but is that really fine with your schedules?” When I asked after their schedules, it seemed they were all free after noon tomorrow, so we decided to go to the Merchant’s guild then.

“Well then, I’ll come back tomorrow after noon,” I said.

“Yeah, we’ll be waiting,” Marcus replied.

“I’ll be waiting, okay~? I’m looking forward to it,” said Charlotte.

I left the Adventurer’s guild while being seen off by both Marcus and Charlotte.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The next morning, I did my best to get as much seafood as I could from the morning market. They must have stepped on the gas in terms of their work after the kraken was defeated, as the market was already much livelier than the last time we came. They were selling an even larger variety of seafood than before, too. Thanks to that, it had gotten much more fulfilling to shop for seafood. I managed to get more of the salmen which looked just like earth salmon, as well as Berléand’s famous tyrant fish. I also managed to get more of the tiger prawn-like vermillion shrimp, the red king crab-like bronze king crab, big hard clams, which were basically huge Asian clams, and finally the earth scallop-like yellow scallops, because they were all really, really good in the end.

This time, I also found ooisters, which looked just like earth oysters, so I went around several places and bought lots of them. I just had to, since they were about twice as big as regular oysters, and their meat was plump and soft-looking. I was tempted to just eat one raw with some lemon juice on top, but as one would expect, I really couldn’t go through with it. I didn’t want to die, after all. Especially not to something like parasites. Not in a million years. So eating it raw was out, but oysters were plenty good cooked, too.

Fried oyster is great, and making them into a gratin would be a good idea, too. As soon as I started trying to think of ideas, they just came spilling out. But I had no regrets. *Gleam*

Also, I bought a fish that looked just like sea bream, called brebream, though the brebream was quite a bit bigger than bream was, at over a meter long. I obviously wouldn’t be able to butcher it myself at that size, so I asked the guy at the store to fillet it for me. The meat was white and felt like sea bream, so it seemed like it’d be great whether I sautéed, boiled, or steamed it. This time I made sure to get the skull and bones, too. The guy at the store looked like he was really confused as to why I wanted it, though. I could make fish head soup with it.

Once I was finished going through the morning market, of course we sampled the food stalls. It looked like there were stalls we didn’t manage to get to last time, so Fel and the others were happy, too. We spent the time before I had to get to the Adventurer’s guild enjoying their fares.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When we entered the Adventurer’s guild, Marcus and Charlotte came out to greet me immediately.

“Hey, you came.”

“We were waiting. It’s finally time for the Merchant’s guild, isn’t it? I’m so excited~.” Charlotte was all smiles.

“Sorry for the trouble. I’ll be counting on the two of you today.”

“Well, I’m just along for the experience, though. Okay then, let’s hurry to the Merchant’s guild.”

“Yes.”

We headed off for the Merchant’s guild.

After entering the Merchant’s guild, when we went up to the counter, Gelt had already come out before we could ask them to call for him.

“Ohh! Sir Mukohda, I’ve been waiting for you. Hm? So you’re here with the guildmaster of the Adventurer’s guild, I see.”

“It’s been a while, Gelt. I’m just here to observe and learn.”

“I see. Now, now, this way.” We followed Gelt to a negotiation room.

After we entered the negotiation room, we were followed in by a long bearded man with a good physique who looked to be around 40.

“This is Heinz. He appraises gems and the like for us here,” Gelt introduced him.

“This is Charlotte. She can assess the value of gems as well, and she works for us. Please treat her well.” Marcus also introduced Charlotte.

............W-What’s up with this uncomfortable atmosphere...

Not only Gelt and Heinz, but even Marcus and Charlotte were smiling that smile that didn’t reach their eyes.

This is looking like a fight between the Merchant’s and the Adventurer’s guilds, isn’t it? Everyone’s so scary. In times like this, it’s best to just get things over with.

“Uh, uhm... Gelt, you want to buy the gems and jewelry that I picked up in the dungeon, so for now is it alright if I just take them out here?”

“Ah, please wait a second,” Gelt said, before spreading out a soft cloth that he’d prepared on the table.

“Please, go ahead.” I placed the items on the cloth. A sapphire (medium), alexandrite (medium), and a yellow diamond (large), along with a tanzanite necklace.

“How exquisite.”

“I sold most of them at Dolan, so there isn’t a lot left......” I sold quite a bit to that Merchant’s guild, after all.

Heinz started inspecting the items with an, “Excuse me.”

“This is...... As one would expect from a dungeon, they’re all wonderfully exquisite pieces. Clear as day, and without a single scratch to be seen. Especially this yellow diamond...... In my entire life, this would be the most expensive gem I have ever seen,” Heinz said, staring passionately at the teardrop-cut yellow diamond.

“As I thought. Colored diamonds are rare, after all. Still, for it to be yellow......” Gelt said, his gaze also fixed on the yellow diamond.

If I remember right, yellow is prized because it’s perceived as being good luck for money, right?

Gelt and Heinz held their own little two-man conference in whispers. They’re probably discussing whether to buy the yellow diamond, aren’t they? However, this is something that the Merchant’s guild in Dolan wouldn’t buy. It was something that their veteran appraiser, Ruslan, ranked as the best in the world, after all. Even I wouldn’t let it go for just a ‘reasonable’ sum. Oh wait, would they be interested in those too, if they wanted gemstones and jewelry?

“Excuse me, I also have this, if we’re speaking of jewelry.” I brought out my two mimic treasure chests (large).

“Ohh! Treasure chests this large are rare. This is my first time seeing one,” Heinz said excitedly, before starting to carefully go over them. “These are decorated with...... This one has emeralds and diamonds. The emerald is pretty large, and though the diamonds are small, there are a lot of them. This one here uses diamonds and aquamarines to accent a sapphire. Hm, they’re both wonderful pieces with good design.”

Looks like they’re interested.

“Well then, if you would please wait a while...” Gelt said before leaving the room with Heinz. I put everything back into my Item Box. Then, all three of us waited while drinking the tea we were served.

“My word, though. Dungeon-spawned stuff is amazing. Those were really wonderful pieces,” Charlotte said, seemingly moved.

“I have no idea about this stuff, but is it really that awesome?” Marcus asked.

Male adventurers are all like that, aren’t we?

“Yes. Heinz just said this earlier, but the yellow diamond was especially amazing. Most likely it’ll never go for below 2500 gold, even at the lowest,” Charlotte said.

“J-Just that thing is 2500 gold......” Marcus marveled.

“Of course, the other stuff was good too. I especially like the tanzanite necklace. Tanzanite itself isn’t seen too often, and the gem itself is so big. The design is a little dated, but that’s just fine. You can just take out the tanzanite and put it into another ring or necklace, or whatever you wish,” Charlotte explained.

Ahh, right. I was told it was out of style in Dolan too, but now that I think about it, it’s true that you can just take out the gem and set it in a more fashionable piece. I see... I never had any interest in accessories or jewelry so it never occurred to me.

While I was busy being impressed by Charlotte’s insight, Gelt and Heinz returned.

“Sorry for making you wait. Now then, as for what we’d like to buy......”

Gelt wanted to buy the sapphire (medium), the tanzanite necklace, and the mimic treasure chest (large) with the emerald.

“As for their prices, how does 310 gold for the sapphire (medium), 230 gold for the tanzanite necklace, and 380 gold for the treasure chest (large) with the emerald sound?”

I can’t answer even if you ask me that, I don’t know how much these things are worth. And just for this occasion......

“How about it, Ms. Charlotte?”

“If you’re asking my opinion, I think the price is a little too low on the tanzanite necklace.”

After Charlotte made that statement, Heinz and Gelt wasted no time in rebutting, as one would expect of seasoned merchants:

“As you can tell just by looking, this tanzanite necklace’s design is too old.”

“We took that into account and gave you that number...”

But Charlotte just said...... “That’s strange, isn’t it~? I know the design is old-fashioned, but wouldn’t it be fine to just take out the tanzanite and set it in a more fashionable ring or necklace? The tanzanite in that necklace alone is worth 230 gold, so I still think it’s too low a price...” Charlotte said, prompting Gelt and Heinz to start whispering to each other again.

“I don’t think it’s too cheap, but if you insist...... how about 250 gold?” They asked me, so I threw it over to Charlotte with a, “How is it?”

“Normally that’d be fine, but this is from a dungeon... The color is clear and there are no flaws in it at all, so with its quality in mind, it should be worth a little more, I think.”

“Then we can make it 260 gold. But any more than that......” Gelt said, as if trying to rein in Charlotte’s speech.

“Is it fine to assume that you are not in desperate need of money at the moment, Mr. Mukohda?”

“Yes. Not especially......” Money just keeps piling up in my possession, so no I’m not troubled for money.

“If that’s the case, then not selling to them here and keeping it for another town is certainly an option. If you go to the capital, then you can probably get a better price for it.”

It’s not like I need the money, so doing what Charlotte says really is an option, isn’t it? It’s not like I’ll be going to the capital or whatever right away, but I have an Item Box, and just keeping it to sell eventually if that time ever comes won’t bother me in any way.

“W-Wait a second. If you’re going to be like that, we can work out 280 gold somehow. Please, sell it here at our guild.” When Charlotte brought up the capital, Gelt started to panic.

I looked over at Charlotte; she was smiling.

“Yes, please,” I said, and Gelt smiled, relieved.

Now that that was settled, I once again produced the items that I’d retrieved from my Item Box, placing the sapphire (medium), the tanzanite necklace, and the mimic treasure chest (large) with the emerald onto the table.

“Okay then, we owe you 970 gold, yes? I will go get that now, so please wait a while.” After Heinz left his seat, another employee entered after a while and handed a bag over to Gelt.

“Now then, here is your money. With the amount being what it is, I’ve prepared it in large gold coins. Please confirm the amount.”

1, 2, 3...... 97 large gold coins makes 970 gold. “Yes, there’s no mistake.”

“Thank you for selling us your treasures from the dungeon today. Pleasure doing business with you,” Gelt said with a smile, now that the sale was over.

“No, thank you.”

All’s well that ends well, I guess. But it really was the right decision to get Charlotte to join me. I have no clue about this kind of stuff, and thinking in hindsight, perspective really does change depending on the person.

With the sale done, we all left the Merchant’s guild.

“Ah, right. How much do I owe you two for that just now?” I asked Marcus.

He replied, “No charge this time. Of course, we’ll be giving Charlotte a special bonus from the guild for her excellent work today.”

“Really? Wow, that was such a nice job, to think I would also get a reward on top of getting to see those top shelf items...” said Charlotte, grinning from ear to ear.

“Is that really fine, Marcus?”

“Yeah. Thanks to you, our guild’s made a lot of money. I feel like something bad will happen if we keep profiting from you like that without giving back.”

What, really? W-Well, if he’s going to put it like that, then I’ll just accept it gratefully...

With that settled, I no longer had to go back to the Adventurer’s guild. So, after saying farewell to Marcus and Charlotte on the road, we headed back home.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Now then, it was time for dinner. I’d already decided on today’s menu.

Heheheheheh, I’m going to make fried oysters (fried ooisters?) using the ooisters that I’d bought from the morning market. With lots of tartar sauce on top...... Yeah, it’ll be great. Urgh, I almost drooled just thinking about it. Okay, let’s get to it.

First up is getting ingredients with my skill. The ooisters come in their shells, so I’ll need some gloves and a knife and table to open them, won’t I? And I’ll need some flour, eggs, and raw panko for the breading, as well as cabbage for garnish.

I was planning on making my own tartar sauce this time, so I put in some extra eggs, and also some mayonnaise. The pickles I used for my homemade tartar sauce came minced in a bottle. I started using it after seeing it on the site, and it was really convenient since it also had minced onions and paprika in it. You could make homemade tartar sauce really quickly just by mixing in some mayonnaise.

Though I also mix in some hard boiled eggs for flavor. Doing that makes it taste really good... Oh right, I’ll need this potato masher to mince the egg for mixing into the tartar sauce. It had holes in the head, like a net. Using a knife to mince eggs always gets some egg stuck on the knife, so it’s kind of awful, but using this makes it quick, easy, and clean.

Okay. With this potato masher, that completes my preparations.

I had to start by shelling the ooisters, but that would take a long while, so at the same time, I was steaming rice and boiling the eggs I’d be mincing for my tartar sauce. After preparing the rice for steaming and the water for boiling the eggs, it was time to shell.

It might be about time to start stockpiling food for our trip to the next town. Maybe I should shell some extra on top of that too, I might want to use some in other dishes.

I diligently started shelling ooisters.

“Whew~, this should be fine.” They were all huge, and I went through a lot of them.

Next was washing off the slime and sand and stuff, and then preparing for the actual cooking. Put the meat into a bowl along with some salt, flour, and potato starch, and knead lightly. Then, add in some water and gently stir, allowing the impurities to fall off and dirty the water. Dump the dirty water, replace it with fresh water, and repeat. Doing this about three times should be okay.

With the preparations finished, I put about half of them into a strainer and stored it in my Item Box. While I was shelling, the rice finished steaming, and the eggs finished boiling.

I finished the most annoying part, the shelling, so all that’s left is frying the ooisters... But let’s mince the cabbage garnish and make the tartar sauce first. Fel and the others don’t really bother with the minced cabbage, so let’s make a little less of it.

Next is the tartar sauce. After peeling the finished hard boiled eggs and halving them, put the halves into a bowl and go at it with the potato masher. Then, just mix it into the bottled minced pickles along with mayonnaise, and that’s it: that’s the super easy homemade tartar sauce done. I didn’t do it this time, but adding in some lemon juice adds a hint of lemony tanginess to it, and it’s great.

With the minced cabbage garnish and the tartar sauce finished, it was finally time to fry the main dish.

~◇~◇~◇~

Wipe the meat with a paper towel to remove excess water, and then dredge it in flour. Then, after coating it with the egg wash, thoroughly cover it in raw panko with both hands. I strongly recommend raw panko for frying — it’s crispy and delicious.

Once the panko is stuck on, fry it at high heat, around 180 degrees, until it’s evenly cooked and light brown. Then, it’s finished. Overcooking it will make the whole thing too tough, so the iron rule is to fry it quickly.

~◇~◇~◇~

*Gulp......*

The extra-large ooisters were fried to a glowing light brown. They looked especially crispy and delicious. Yeah, I just have to give it a taste test, don’t I? Now then, add some homemade tartar sauce, and... *Crssp*

“Ooooh, juicy. This is great.”

The flavor was exactly that of an oyster. But it was huge, so there was a little more bite-back. Yep, it’s great. Okay. Let’s keep going.

“Okay. That’s all of them.” I plated the fried ooisters next to the minced cabbage garnish on the plate. After flavoring with lots of homemade tartar sauce on top, the dish was complete. I put the dishes of fried ooisters on the trolley and went to the living room.

“Dinner’s ready—!”

“Ohh! You sure kept us waiting.”

《I’m so hungry—!》

《Sui is also hungry—!》

I served everyone their dishes of fried ooisters.

“Hm? What is this? This does not smell like meat,” Fel asked, sniffing the food.

“Yeah. I fried up the ooisters that I bought at today’s morning market. It’s delicious.”

“Is it really? Hm............ Ohh! You are correct, this really is delicious. I only saw it grilled or in soup at the stalls, but this dish definitely works. Indeed, it is delectable.”

Seems that Fel likes it. He complained about only seeing it in soup or grilled, but that’s the case with everything in this world, isn’t it? I’m just about the only person that will fry things. But if you’re gonna cook an oyster anyway, it’s gotta be fried, right? They’re good sautéed or in a gratin, but frying really is the best.

《Wow, this is crisp and delicious! And the juices just come bursting out from inside!》

That’s right, Dora-chan. The best points of fried oyster is the combo of its crispness and juiciness.

《Master — this white sauce is great with the food. It’s sooooo good.》

Yep, yep, that’s just like Sui. It’s just gotta be tartar sauce with fried oysters, right?

Right, let’s eat too.

For my meal, I had white rice and miso soup to go with the fried oyster main dish, although it was an instant miso soup. It’s kinda like some sort of fried oyster set meal, isn’t it? Start off with the main dish, an extra-large fried oyster with lots of tartar sauce on top......

*Crrrnch*

I already knew because I had a taste test, but it really was delicious. The extra-large, plump fried oyster’s abundant juice, full of umami, burst out. Fried oysters are so good...

*Sslrrp* It’s instant, but the miso soup still hits the spot. And now some white rice, and some more fried oyster... So tasty. It’s so nice to have some seafood as an option. Just that fact made it worth it to come here.

“More.” 《More.》 《More.》

Fine, fine. Looks like everyone took to the fried oysters, huh? I served up more dishes of fried oyster to everyone.

“Give me a lot of that white sauce.”

《Me too.》

《Sui too.》

The tartar sauce is popular too, huh? I added lots of tartar sauce to the fried oysters. Tartar really is the best choice for fried seafood. Oh yeah, I got some fish that was like horse mackerel too, didn’t I? Might be worth frying that next time. Ah, the yellow scallops... Those might be nice fried too.

With those thoughts in mind, I enjoyed the first fried oyster since I came to this world. Fel and Sui, just as usual, had several more servings.