Bonus Short Stories

Bonus Short Stories

Ugohl’s Family Get-Together

“I’m back.”

“Welcome home, dear.”

I handed the basket in my hands to my wife, Thyrza, who came to greet me.

“Oh my, what’s this?”

“A present. You know, the guy from before......”

I’d already received a sweet called “cake” from Mukohda before. I told Thyrza that he returned to this town recently, and that he gave us a present because I’d been taking care of him.

“Oh, is that right? Sounds like he’s actually taking care of us,” Thyrza said happily.

She probably thinks it’s more sweets inside. Common people like us don’t get to enjoy sweets very often; Thyrza and my children were very happy with the sweets I received last time.

But this time, it wasn’t just sweets — of course, there were sweets, but I also received something even more amazing.

“Thyrza, try to remain calm and listen. To tell you the truth, it’s not just sweets. I also received some dragon meat.”

“............Huh?” Thyrza’s expression was blank with shock.

“Dragon meat, I said. To be specific, red dragon meat.”

“Red... dragon......” Thyrza hurriedly checked the contents of the basket. Inside, there was a hunk of meat wrapped in leaves. I already checked myself, so I knew it was there.

“This... it’s really............”

“Yes. It’s red dragon meat.”

“Dear, what did you do?!” Thyrza cried, trembling because of the meat she found in the basket.

I know how you feel. Even royalty and nobility may only get to have something like dragon meat once in their lives. And I just took one home that was given to me as a souvenir. Still, it’s not like I asked for it myself.

“Calm down, Thyrza.”

“As if I could calm down! It’s dragon meat, you know?! Dragon meat! Is it even possible to get something like this for free?! Dear, did you beg him for it or something?!”

I see, so that’s what Thyrza is worried about. But no matter how worried she is, I really didn’t do anything......

“Listen to me, Thyrza. Mukohda’s rank as an adventurer is the highest, S-ranked. There are only a few of them, but any adventurers who can reach that height are all uncommonly strong. But you know, from what I can tell, Mukohda is far and away stronger than even other uncommonly strong S-ranks. After all, the familiars he has following him are all abnormal. This hasn’t been made public, but this wasn’t his first time defeating a dragon,” I said, and Thyrza’s jaw dropped again.

Defeating one dragon was already a great feat, so of course she’d be surprised hearing it wasn’t his first time.

“He brought in an earth dragon before. And this time it was a red dragon. And Mukohda keeps all the dragon meat from the dragons he brings in instead of selling it to the guild. Actually, he does that for all his edible monsters. He enjoys all the meat of the monsters he brings in along with his familiars.”

Thyrza was once again shocked after hearing what I said.

This held true for all of the Dragon’s parts, but by selling the meat one could live in leisure their entire life. That was why, when one thought about it, keeping the meat for himself was a rather eccentric thing to do.

“So, right now Mukohda has all of the dragon meat off a red dragon on him. This piece I was given this time is just him sharing a little, apparently.”

“Just sharing a little dragon meat......”

From my perspective, that’s a really strange thing to say, but it’s probably actually true for Mukohda.

“He has enough that he even brought the guildmaster and I red dragon meat in between two slices of bread and called it ‘refreshments.’”

“So Mukohda must be a really great person. I totally thought that he pushed the dragon meat onto you and asked you for something ridiculous in return, since you’re so nice.”

“Ahahahahaha! So that’s what you were thinking. Mukohda’s not that kind of person. You call me nice, but I don’t even come close to him in that category.”

“Heheh, seems like it.”

“He told us to enjoy it as a family, so let’s not waste this chance and enjoy it tonight.”

“Yes. I’ll go all out today and use the pepper. I’m getting all tense, thinking that I’m going to be cooking dragon meat.”

“You’ll be fine, you’re good at cooking. I know you’ll make that already delicious dragon meat taste even better.”

“Aww, dear, you won’t get anything by flattering me, you know?”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Woww~, it’s meat!”

“It smells so nice~!”

Seeing the grand meal placed on the table, my children gathered in front of it.

My oldest son, Michael, is 6 years old, and my oldest daughter, Milana, is 4. They’re both precious children to Thyrza and I.

“Yes, yes, now settle down. We’re going to pray before we eat.”

““Okaaayy.””

““O Goddess of Earth, Lady Kisharle, we humbly partake of the fruit of this great earth!””

Although their speech was slow and unsure, they never got stuck or tripped over their words. I couldn’t help but smile, seeing the evidence of Michael and Milana’s daily growth in front of me.

“This meat is so bii-ig.”

“Looks goo-ood.”

Seeing Michael and Milana’s glittering eyes after seeing the thick meat, Thyrza and I also broke out in wide smiles.

“Heheheh, you know, that meat is something special your dad got from an adventurer he knows.”

““The meat is special?”” Both Michael and Milana tilted their heads in confusion.

“That’s right. The meat is special. What kind of meat do you think it is, Michael? Milana?”

“Orc, maybe?”

I shook my head no to Milana’s guess.

“Hmm, dunno. What kind of meat is it, dad?” Michael asked after failing to figure it out after a long stare. I answered: “You see, that’s dragon meat.”

“Whaaat, dragon?! You can eat dragons?!”

“Wooow! Big brother, it’s dragon meat!”

Both Michael and Milana’s eyes were wide as saucers.

“It’s really delicious, so try it.”

““Okay!!””

The two of them tried their best to properly cut out a portion of the meat, and, having succeeded, popped the pieces into their respective mouths.

““Mmmmmm!””

“It’s good!”

“So gooood!”

Michael and Milana’s faces were consumed by a smile.

“Hahaha! Right? Right? Just so you know, even kings rarely get to eat dragon meat.”

“Wooww, so this meat is amazing, isn’t it~?” Milana said, popping a second morsel into her mouth.

“This meat is really good! I wonder if adventurers always get to eat meat this delicious? If that’s the case, maybe I’ll be an adventurer when I grow up too,” Michael (who had a tendency to eat a lot) exclaimed.

“Now now, Michael. Not all adventurers can hunt dragons, you know? In fact, the adventurer who gave me this meat is S-ranked, the highest rank of adventurer. You need a lot of luck, ability, and dependable comrades to become S-ranked. Also, regardless of ranks, being an adventurer means risking your life. It’s a really tough job, so you don’t have to decide if you want to be one right now. You’re going to school next year, Michael, so your dad here thinks you should learn as much as you can, and then decide after that. There’s a lot of jobs other than adventurer out there in the world, after all.”

“I see... You might be right, dad. I mean, I kind of want to become a chef, too.”

Thank goodness, I somehow managed to suppress his desire to become an adventurer for now.

None of what I said applies to Mukohda, though. He’s just special. Well, more like it’s his familiars that are special.

I don’t know if I’m qualified to say this as a former B-ranked adventurer, but the job of adventuring is honestly not worth it. On top of always having to risk your life, if you don’t at least become C-ranked, it’s basically impossible to earn spending money. I can’t allow my cute Michael to settle on such a worthless job.

“Okay then, I’ll be the wife of the adventurer who gave us this meat!” Milana said innocently, causing me to freeze on the spot.

“Wi-... -fe?”

“Yeah! Isn’t becoming an ‘essranked’ adventurer really hard? So if I become the wife of that ‘essranked’ adventurer that gave us this meat, I’ll be able to eat lots of good food!”

“No, no, I think that’s going to be impossible. After all, your ages are just too different, Milana.”

“Whaaaat? I can’t? But mom and dad’s age are super far apart too...”

Grk......She hit me where it hurts. It’s true that Thyrza and I are twenty years apart in age. BUT! I won’t hand my cute Milana over to anybody! I don’t even want to think about her as a bride!

“Heheheh... Dear, from what you’ve told me, he sounds like a very good person, so he might not be a bad choice. It seems like he has a tendency to be too nice, but he can also be considerate enough to give you snacks and dragon meat.”

“Even you, Thyrza......”

“Mom, the adventurer who gave us this meat is also the adventurer who gave us the sweets?”

“That’s right.”

“Wooww~, then I really do want to be the wife of the adventurer who gave us this meat! Because the meat was delicious, and the sweets were super delicious!”

“Grrrrr~... No, I won’t hand her over! I’ll never let Milana become a bride! I’m not giving Milana to you, Mukohdaaaaa!”

“*Sigh* Dear......”

Mukohda Attempts to Butcher by Himself

“Do it like this... and hup! That’s one done for now.”

I had been taught how to butcher monsters by Elrand, but I was afraid I’d start to forget if I didn’t keep practicing. So today, I was planning on trying to do it by myself since I had some free time. And practicing butchering came with the fringe benefit of getting more meat.

I was going to be butchering a cockatrice I had on hand. Fel and the others usually killed a lot of them when hunting, so it frequently appeared on the menu for us.

“Still, this thing is really convenient, isn’t it?”

I was talking about the vampire knife I’d obtained in Aveling’s dungeon. It was a really ominous knife described as being “ever hungering for blood,” but that made it perfect for draining blood from meat. If I had to drain blood without it, I’d probably just fail.

The stench and color of blood is really... stimulating, after all. But with the knife, all I have to do is stab it into the monster and draining blood is just that easy. Thanks to this knife cleanly and completely draining monsters, I don’t feel any aversion to butchering monsters, so work goes smoothly.

“Great. Let’s keep going with the next one.”

While remembering what I was taught, I carefully walked myself through the steps of taking apart monsters. Once I’d gone through five cockatrices and got a decent amount of meat, I decided to stop there.

“Whew~, it’s over.”

I managed to cleanly remove the innards too, so I thought I did a pretty good job. But I wouldn’t be using the meat today. The innards, either — I was going to save those to eat later. What I was going to do now was prepare the cockatrice meat to eat tomorrow.

When I looked at the cockatrice’s bone-in thigh meat, a strong craving for roast chicken welled up inside me. More specifically, the salty-sweet stuff they start selling around Christmas.

It felt so good to take a huge bite out of those things. The food paired well with beer, too. I made it once myself; after a night of marinating in the refrigerator, the flavors were all nicely soaked in. It was delicious.

And in a happy coincidence, the place we were renting just happened to have a refrigerator-like magic tool in it.

It’s like the world’s telling me to make it, right? So, let’s start preparing to make roasted chicken leg, or rather, roasted cockatrice leg.

First, stab the bone-in cockatrice thigh with a fork to open up some holes so the flavors seep in better...

While I wanted to eat roast chicken leg, the cockatrice’s bone-in thigh cut was too big and it would be impossible for me to eat, so I decided to use a different cut.

Now, let’s open up some holes in this cut too.

Once the meat was prepared, the next step was to make the marinade.

I prepared a huge vinyl bag to marinate the bone-in cockatrice thigh cuts in. In the bag, I added sake, soy sauce, mirin, honey, and grated garlic and ginger (both from tubes) before mixing it all together in the bag. Then, I added in the meat cuts and massaged them. After that I left them to rest in the refrigerator-like magic tool overnight.

I’m really looking forward to this marinated roast chicken.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Heheheheheh, it’s finally time to cook the meat I prepared yesterday. Ohh~, looks good and ready!”

Now all I have to do is roast this in the oven.

The oven that was installed in this kitchen was big, but not enough for us.

After all, my group is made up of huge gluttons. The amount they eat is no joke.

So, I took out my magic stove and used its oven as well.

After spreading out a cooking sheet on the tray, I lined up the cuts of cockatrice meat that were soaked with flavor. Then, I put them into the preheated oven to cook. Meanwhile, I would occasionally use some extra sauce to baste the meat using a brush all while watching the roast......

“Just a little more, I think?”

After basting the meat again, I checked how it was doing. Deciding that it needed a little more time, I closed the door once again.

*Gulp*

I heard a loud sound from behind me. When I turned around......

“Fel, Dora-chan, Sui......”

The gluttonous trio were lined up, staring at the oven.

Well, it is letting off a good smell. I get how they feel, but it’ll still take a little longer.

“I-Is it done yet?”

《Agh~, this smell is driving me wild!》

《“Sui wants to hurry and eat~!》

“It still needs a little longer. I’ll serve you when it’s done, so wait over there!”

“Mmrr, hurry up.”

“Even if you tell me to do that... There are times when good food takes a while to cook.”

The gluttonous trio disappointedly returned to the living room after hearing that. Watching them from behind, I smiled exasperatedly.

“Even though ‘just a little more’ is just ten minutes...”

After watching the meat cook for a while longer......

“Right... That should be good.”

I retrieved the finished roast cockatrice from the oven.

“Mmm, smells good.”

I almost want to just bite into it now, but that hungry hungry trio is waiting in the living room for this...

I brought out the finished roast cockatrice to my gluttonous trio. They all jumped on the food as if they had been waiting for far too long.

They feasted silently, entranced. Fel was even crunching down on the bones.

Well, I can’t deny that this thing is irresistible just from the smell alone. Now then, I should eat too.

“Whoops. Before that......”

*Pssshhh*

*Glugluglug*

“Whew~, beer is so good.”

And a taste of the roast cockatrice...

“This was a huge success. It’s delicious!”

It’s not thigh meat, but it’s still good. As expected, this thick, sweet-and-salty sauce is amazing.

While I was eating the roast cockatrice, with its heavy flavor, of course......

*Glugluglug*

*Pphhaahh~*

“This! This is just the best!”

Confessions of a Dungeon Core ~Aveling’s Dungeon~

I am the core for a dungeon in a town named Aveling.

By the way, my dungeon is named after the town - hence, Aveling’s dungeon. But the town only sprouted because I was here, not the other way around. So don’t get that backwards.

Anyway, setting that aside...

Just recently, my dungeon was finally (or rather, for the first time in 200 years) conquered.

The ones who managed this were a human and an elf, along with a Fenrir, a pixie dragon, and a slime. It was a strange group of adventurers.

While I was observing this strange group, I came to understand that the human had tamed the Fenrir, pixie dragon, and slime.

If it was the long-lived elf, who was strong, I would have barely been able to believe it, but I thought it was weird for the human to have tamed a Fenrir.

For starters, are Fenrirs even tamable by humans? Fenrirs are supposed to be legendary magic beasts, right?

I had thought to use one in my dungeon too, but since I was too weak, I couldn’t produce one. How did he manage it when I couldn't?

There was the pixie dragon, too. I didn’t have any in my dungeon, but just at a glance, I could tell that he was filled with unimaginable magic power, and very strong.

Even the slime was a far cry away from the usual small fries, even though common sense says they were the type of weaklings to place around the first floor.

It didn’t seem like the human himself was that strong, but the rest of them more than made up for it, so I continued to observe them all as ones I needed to be careful of.

But still, at the time I had confidence that my dungeon would be able to deal with them. My dungeon was conquered once before, but I learned from that and continued to strengthen each of my floors so that there were no holes in my defenses, even as I expanded.

My hard work paid off, and while I can’t say I was completely satisfied, I was aware that it really came together. I followed the common guidelines for dungeons, placing weak monsters on the shallow floors to call in the adventurers (or rather, the humans that would become our nourishment) to explore deeper and wider. And the deeper they went, the stronger the monsters got, making progress harder. And I spread some undead floors around to crush the wills of the adventurers, too.

In my opinion, I achieved a perfect balance with this layout. As proof, many adventurers did actually seem to break in the undead floors.

Just like that, I continued to pile up the fruits of my efforts. This dungeon as it is now can be said to be the crystallization of all of my hard work.

No matter if there’s a Fenrir, it shouldn’t be easily beaten.

............I did think that... once upon a time.

Like, what the hell!? The speed they’re progressing at is just nonsense!

That lone makes me want to yell out my complaints, but the elf, Fenrir, pixie dragon, and slime all basically ran over all the monsters I hand-selected to fight them like they weren’t even there.

And while I was still reeling from that, they passed through the middle floors and got to the lower floors. I hadn’t seen anyone get past the 17th floor lately, but they easily went past that wall. The strength of the Fenrir, the pixie dragon, and the slime strength just wasn’t normal.

Actually, I know that Fenrirs are powerful, but are pixie dragons really supposed to be that strong?

I know they’re no pushovers, but it was way tougher than I expected.

The slime, too. When did slimes become able to shoot acid like that? Everything about that group is just ridiculous and overblown.

I panicked a little when they passed the 17th floor, but I still figured it would be okay, since I had some really ferocious monsters placed on the 20th floor and below. But they still just charged through like the monsters weren’t even there.

Then, the ridiculous group finally made it to the last floor, the 26th. At that point, I was feeling the danger, like a stone had dropped in my gut (and I don’t even have a gut).

But since the 26th floor was my last bastion of defense, I had placed down some really powerful undead there. When I remembered that, I figured that even this group couldn’t just break through them so easily. I’d deployed a whole horde of undead like ghouls, mummies, all types of skeletons, wraiths, and liches, and even an emperor lich for the last boss. My defenses were perfect.

At least, I thought they were......

Geez~, what the hell! WHAT THE HELL!!!! Isn’t that weird?! Isn’t that strength just weird?!

Even I got shivers from how easily they busted through the 26th floor. They’d finally reached the bottom level.

But I still kept telling myself it’d be fine. After all, the boss of the last level was the strongest monster I could manage to summon, a hydra. The hydra’s hardiness was on a whole other level. Of course, its strength left nothing to be desired, either. Even with a Fenrir, there was no way they’d match up to a hydra.

The hydra had nine heads, and as long as all nine of them weren’t killed at once it wouldn’t just die. Even they wouldn’t be able to kill all nine of the hydra’s heads at once, right?

............No, they did it. Easily, too. It was a Hydra, you know?! A hydra!

Not even a Fenrir would be able to attack nine heads at once, and even if the pixie dragon and slime helped, at most they’d be able to hit seven at once. So I didn’t think the hydra would die so easily, but......

The Fenrir, pixie dragon, and slime each killed three heads.

The hydra died instantly.

Instantly! Seriously, I’m just done.

At any rate, they already beat the dungeon, so there’s nothing to be done. I just have to keep making the dungeon stronger, so that it won’t get conquered again. I’ll steel my resolve again and try my best.

But for right now, just leave me alone. I hope that ridiculous group never comes into my dungeon again. That’s the only thing I wish for, wholeheartedly.

The God of All Creation Likes Japanese Sake

I poured some sake into my favorite mithril cup and took a big gulp.

“It seems to be different from what I drank last time with Earth’s God, but this is still pretty darn good. Japanese Sake is as scrumptious as I thought it would be.”

I had a pal, the god who managed a place called “Earth.” He shared some special sake he’d become a fan of recently, and it was far better than anything I’d expected.

And just when I started hankerin’ for more, I learned of a fellow by the name of Mukohda, who’d been summoned from Japan, a country from my friend’s world. It just so happened that Mukohda obtained a ‘specially interesting skill when he crossed over to my world: it was a skill to obtain goods from Earth, or more specifically, from Japan, where Mukohda hailed from.

Well, he couldn’t obtain everything, but it seemed like he could certainly obtain sake, so I politely asked him to provide me with some. And I did tell him that I wouldn’t pester him with oracles like the other gods.

After all, those idiots were ganging up on him and routinely harassing him. Honestly, how can they even call themselves gods?

And yet, Mukohda listened to their selfishness. He was truly too nice. Maybe he didn’t mind too much since he was given their blessings in return, though.

However, now that I’d learned about their hijinks, I couldn’t just let it slide. As punishment to those fools, I took all the items that Mukohda had just offered them, and placed them under house arrest for a month.

There was a storm of complaints from those half-wits, but there was no way I would cave to their bellyaching. As soon as I asked them, “Would you like to make it two months?” they instantly gave up and went back home, bawlin’ all the while.

How is it that they can be so much trouble?

“Well, that’s enough about them. Now is the time to imbibe some sake.”

The scent of fruit wafted gently from the sake-filled cup. “Words can’t do justice to this wonderful bouquet.”

Japanese sake was made from a grain called rice, but I could smell a sweet, fruit-like smell coming off of it. It was real mysterious. I liked that the fruity taste refreshed the palate and how easily it went down.

“That’s what makes it so irresistible.”

I refilled my cup with sake; it had become empty before I even realized it.

“That’s right. Mukohda said that he sent along some vittles to go with this sake, no? Lessee here......” I rifled around in the box that contained all the items I’d been given.

“This should be it. He said that this was something to be eaten as-is. If memory serves, I have to raise this tab, then pull back, and the lid should open......”

*Snap!* *Fsssss*

“Ohh, it’s open. Hm, is this some type of shellfish? Let’s try some.”

I jabbed at the shellfish, which was immersed in oil, and brought it to my mouth.

“Oh-ho! This is delicious.”

I couldn’t put in words how flavorful the shellfish was, but its savory taste spread through my mouth.

“Oh no; if I eat this, I’ll go through the sake even faster,” I said to myself, continually chugging down sake.

“Hoo boy~! I love this.”

And once again, I reached for more of the shellfish snack.

“Hm. This strong flavor goes well with sake.”

After chewing on the shellfish, I reached for my mithril cup again.

“Mm, empty already......?”

I considered calling it a day here, but the taste of this sake was just extraordinary. The feeling of hankering for a little more wouldn’t stop percolatin’ inside me.

“Holding back isn’t good for health. This should be fine once in a while... Okay, just one more.”

I reached for the bottle of sake that I’d already opened, but then the bottles I hadn’t opened yet caught my eye.

“......Let’s try a new one.”

There were still two bottles I hadn’t touched yet.

Hmmm, which one should I pick......?

“All right, it’s settled — this one.” I popped it open and poured it into my mithril cup.

“Oho! This one smells good too. But it’s different from the one before. It does have the smell of fruit, but this one is sweeter. How does it taste?”

I audibly quaffed the new sake.

“Mmm, this is quite delicious. The taste is so bracing it almost has a sharpness to it, but the mouthfeel is still round and mellow. Hmm, they’re both delicious. It’s hard to say which one I prefer.”

With the shellfish to keep me going, I steadily chugged through this cup as well.

“It’s already gone. Too bad, but I need to stop here for today.”

I really wanted to keep going, but if I continued drinking like a fish, it would all disappear down my gullet before I knew it.

Feeling like I was being pulled by the short hairs, I put away the bottles of Japanese sake.

“Well, I still have one bottle I haven’t opened, so let’s enjoy that one tomorrow. From what Earth’s God said, there’s a near infinite variety of sake, so the point is to enjoy as many of them as possible.”

Mukohda said he’d give me more, so it seems like I’ll be able to enjoy a lot of them. So I’ll look forward to that while I continue watching over Mukohda.

Mukohda’s Cooking Class Part 6

We were taking a bit of a trip on Fel’s request.

Although in all respects it might have seemed like I didn’t mind it, camping out for days on end takes its toll. So we stopped at a town, just for two or three days.

It was a small town, and you could count the number of inns on one hand. We were staying at the only one that happened to allow familiars. As always, I was borrowing the backyard to make food when......

《Hey, who is that brat?》

《Does that little pissant have something she wants out of us?》

《Dunno.》

There was a little girl of about ten years, with her brown hair in braids, peeking over at us from behind the support beam of the familiar’s shed.

If I remember right, she’s the innkeeper’s daughter, Liliana......

When I first met her, she hid behind her mother’s leg, and she seemed like a shy, quiet, well-behaved child.

Just what does Liliana want with me......?

《Hey, hey, did you want something?》 At some point Sui had moved over to Liliana’s feet, and it poked at her leg with a tentacle.

“Kyah!” Liliana, who hadn’t noticed Sui approaching her, jumped upwards in surprise.

I locked eyes with the girl.

“Uh, umm...... Sorry!” Liliana apologized before trying to run away.

I hurriedly stopped her. “Wait a second! Didn’t you have something you wanted to ask me?” Liliana, hearing my question, stopped on the spot.

“.........”

“I won’t know what you want if you just stay quiet like that. It’ll be fine, just ask,” I prodded, trying to sound as kind as possible, until Liliana finally seemed to steel herself.

“Uh, uhh, mom and dad’s anniversary is soon. So......”

...Summarizing what Liliana said, she basically wanted to make something delicious for her parents’ anniversary. That’s when she saw me cooking in the backyard and had the idea that she could ask me to teach her how to cook.

“I see. Your parents, huh?”

“Yeah...... Please, teach me how to cook,” Liliana asked, clasping her hands in front of her chest like she was praying.

What a really nice kid. Full of filial piety. Well, that’s great and all, but just how good is she at cooking? I can’t allow someone else’s child to get hurt, and that’ll affect what kind of dish I teach her, so I need to ask her.

“So, have you cooked before, Liliana?”

When I asked her, Liliana shook her head, seeming troubled.

So she’s never cooked before. “Then what can you do?”

“Uhh, I helped peel potatoes before.”

“Huh, that’s amazing,” I praised her, and Liliana started to act shy and a little embarrassed.

If she can peel potatoes at that age, that’s good enough.

“So what kind of ingredients can you get? I’ll use that to decide what to teach you.”

After a little bit of thought, Liliana replied, “I think I can get dad to share some potatoes and sausages.”

Hm, potatoes and sausages? If that’s the case, then there’s a perfect dish that uses both of them. It’s easy to make too, so Liliana can even do it herself.

“All right. Then I’ll teach you a dish you can make with potatoes and sausages, Liliana,” I said, and Liliana’s face just lit up.

For Liliana’s sake, time to open up an emergency cooking class.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“All right, the potatoes are all peeled, right?”

“Yeah! I do it all the time, so they’re perfect.”

“Then cut them in half like this, before cutting them again into thin slices.”

“Got it. I’ll try.”

With a serious expression, Liliana used her favorite knife, which she always used to peel potatoes, to cut them thin like I showed her.

If we had access to a microwave, we could cut the potatoes thicker and just heat them up, but given the lack of a microwave and the fact that I was trying to keep things simple this time, I decided to just cut them thin so that the heat would penetrate better.

“Take the thinly sliced potatoes and soak them with water like this,” I said, demonstrating with a bowl of water.

“Why?”

“Err, have you ever had potatoes turn a weird color after you cut them and just cooked them like that?”

“Oh, yeah, maybe......”

“This is so that doesn’t happen. Also, potatoes are full of starch, so if you don’t do this before you cook them, they’ll stick together, and that looks bad.”

“I see~.”

“Since you’re going to be giving this to your parents, you don’t want it to look bad, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s start cutting the sausages while they’re soaking. Do it diagonally like this.” I cut the sausages into slices about 5mm thick. Liliana tried to imitate me as she cut the sausages.

“Now that this is all done, we’re moving on to cooking. Look closely.”

~◇~◇~◇~

Oil up a frying pan and start cooking the potatoes after they’ve been dried off. Once the potatoes have turned clear around the edges, add in the sausages and give them a light sear together before seasoning with herb salt. (I really wanted to add pepper too, but pepper’s really expensive in this world. This time, I used herb salt I obtained in a town that I’d stopped by before. Liliana’s family, or in other words this inn, had their own herb salt using their own dried herbs, so I could probably get away with at least this much.)

After that, just keep pan frying until a little burnt color starts to appear. Then, the dish is finished. That’s when you need to taste test it, and then add more herb salt if the flavor is too thin.

Lastly, plate everything up, and sprinkle on some dried parsley for color. I’d already confirmed that this world had a dried herb that resembled parsley, so I didn’t think that would be a problem.

~◇~◇~◇~

“Here. This is a potato-and-sausage stir fry with herb salt seasoning.”

“Wow~!”

“How is it? It’s easy, right?”

“Yeah! Even I can do this!”

“Okay, now try eating it so you know how it tastes.” I urged her on. Liliana skewered a potato and sausage together with her fork and shoved them into her mouth.

“Issh gud.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I ate some too. As I expected, it needed pepper for the taste to really come together, but it still wasn’t bad.

Liliana and I continued chowing down, and the plate was soon empty.

“All right then Liliana, do your best.”

We’re going to be leaving this town tomorrow, after all. So this is all I can do for you.

“Thanks, mister! I’ll do my best and make my mom and dad happy!”

Come on Liliana, at least call me big bro...... If you keep calling me mister like that, that’s gonna make me sad...

While I was hanging my head in depression over Liliana’s chosen form of address, she said, “I’ll go practice on my own now,” and left.

That was when I felt a weight on my bowed head and shoulders. Fel was on my left shoulder, Dora-chan was on my right, and Sui had gotten on top of my head.

“Are you planning on just having us smell the food but not get to eat?”

《You’ll give us that food, right? Of course, right?》

《Sui wants some tooo!》

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

“Fine, fine. I’ll make some more. Will that make you happy?”

“Put in extra sausage.”

Of course, Fel asked for more sausage.

《Ohh, that’s a given.》

《Loooooots of meat!》

Dora-chan and Sui raised their voices in agreement.

“Fine, fine. I get it!”

First Time Cooking

My name is Liliana. My family runs an inn in the town of Forsius.

I wasn’t that good at talking to other people, so I couldn’t work at the reception desk like mom does, but I didn’t hate helping out where I could, like cleaning rooms after customers leave, or helping dad, who works in the cafeteria on the first floor, by peeling potatoes.

It was a lot of work sometimes, but when I helped out, I got to talk to a lot of customers, so it was fun. We got customers like merchants from way bigger towns than this one, like the capital, or adventurers that traveled from town to town a lot, and sometimes even customers from another country altogether.

I want to go to another town someday too...

Recently, a new customer started staying with us. He had a sorta strange face that you don’t really see around here. He was kinda old and had three familiars with him. There was a big wolf and a small dragon, and also a slime.

The big wolf was kinda scary, but I wanted to try touching the small dragon and the slime... I won’t do it because they might get mad if I did, though.

So the strange old adventurer guy would do strange things. He wouldn’t eat at my dad’s cafeteria, but instead he cooked for himself. And he even ate with his three familiars.

But you know, all the food he made smelled really good. So I thought that the old adventurer guy was good at cooking, and I was a little jealous of his three familiars.

But I had an idea while I was watching the good-at-cooking-old-adventurer-guy. And it was about my mom and dad’s anniversary, which was happening soon.

I always wanted to give them a present. But I could never think of something that would be good. But seeing that older adventurer cook good food, I thought it would be nice to have mom and dad eat something I made.

But I’ve never cooked before...... I’ve peeled potatoes, but actually using a knife to cut things or using fire to cook things was still too dangerous for me, so dad wouldn’t let me try it.

Even though I want to cook delicious things for mom and dad... Will that old adventurer guy teach me how to cook, I wonder?

While I was thinking about that, I was peeking in on the older adventurer guy in secret, until I got found out.

He asked me what I wanted, so I told him about my mom and dad’s anniversary. Then, I told him I wanted him to teach me to cook.

I thought it might be no use, but the old adventurer guy did actually teach me. It was something that would be fine even for me, since it was my first time.

When I told him that I would peel potatoes to help out, and I could only get potatoes and sausages as ingredients, he taught me an easy dish with just those ingredients. It was something called, “potato-and-sausage stir fry with herb salt.”

First, peel the potatoes, then cut them thin, and soak them in water...

From what the older adventurer guy told me, if I didn’t put the potatoes in water, they’d turn weird colors and stick together when I cooked them. That was the first time I ever heard that.

Then, cut the sausages diagonally. Once that’s done, put oil in a frying pan and start cooking. Ah, when you’re cooking the potatoes, wait until the edges get a little clear before putting in the sausages. Once they’re all mostly cooked, season it with salt that has dried herbs in it. Then keep cooking for a little while longer, until it's just a little bit burnt looking. That’s when it’s finished.

Then, taste it to see if it needs more salt, he said.

After that, put it all on a plate, and sprinkle some of this dried green herb on top. That’s so it looks better.

The older adventurer guy let me try some of what he made with me, and it both smelled good and was super delicious. I never knew sausages could be used like this. I mean, I totally thought sausage was just something you cooked and ate by itself.

Even though this food was really delicious, I still thought I could make it myself, so I was really happy.

Then, the day after he taught me how to cook, the older adventurer guy left town. Since he taught me how to cook, I practiced several times more by myself in secret after that.

At first I would overcook the food or I wouldn’t season it enough, but the last time I tried, it came out delicious.

And today was my mom and dad’s anniversary. It was finally time to cook for them.

◇　◇　◇　◇

“Mom, dad, wait here a little while. Don’t go anywhere, ‘kay?”

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“What happened, Liliana?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry!”

I sat mom and dad down in the cafeteria and told them to wait a little.

“All right. It’s okay. It’ll be delicious as long as I do it like I did before.”

Though I was a little nervous, I began to cook the recipe taught to me by that older adventurer guy.

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

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

......

“Whew, it’s done. And it tastes perfect.”

I put the dish, which turned out perfectly, on a plate, and I brought it out to mom and dad.

“Mom, dad, happy anniversary! I made this — try it!”

“Liliana......”

“You......”

“Hurry! Hurry!”

I urged mom and dad along cuz I wanted them to eat already.

“Liliana, this is delicious.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t lie. Haha..... It really is delicious, Liliana... *Sniffle*...”

“It really is, Liliana.”

“Hey mom, why is dad crying?”

“Heheheh, it’s because he’s so happy.”

“I see.”

From what mom said, dad was crying because he was so happy. Suddenly, dad looked at me even while crying.

“Hagh! ......Your dad never taught you how to cook, Liliana. Did someone else teach you this?” he asked through his tears.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Who was it?”

“Um you see, he was staying here just recently......”

I told mom and dad about the old adventurer guy with the three familiars that stayed with us recently.

“Son of a...! So it was that damn adventurer?! I’ll never let him have my Lilianaaaaa!”

“Geez, dear......”

I didn’t really understand why dad was yelling, but I was really glad that both mom and dad said it was good!

After that, our inn gained another signature dish.

Selja’s Secret

My name is Selja, and I’m almost nine years old.

There’s four people in my family: my mom, dad, and big brother. We’re working together with our neighbors, Uncle Tony’s family, as well as Tabatha and some other former adventurers, for Mr. Mukohda.

After coming to Mukohda’s house, every day’s been really fun, even though just a little while before, all I could do was worry about what would happen to us.

We’re all slaves, all of us: my family, Uncle Tony’s family, and the former adventurers too.

I thought being a slave was something way more sad and painful, but I was totally wrong.

Both mom and dad said that’s how it normally is, and that we’re only able to live this well because Mukohda, who’s like a god, bought us.

I think they’re right. After all, our life as slaves now is way better than our previous life. Before, we lived freely, but we weren’t well off.

Dad was a gardener, and he helped maintain the estates of nobles and rich merchants.

But then, mom got sick......

Dad did all he could for mom. He managed to scrounge up money for potions that were normally too expensive for us to get our hands on, and he even donated a lot of money to the church to have a priest cast healing magic. Even my big brother and I helped by taking care of the house as best as we could while mom was sick. But mom just wouldn’t get better......

And the debt from the cost of potions and donations to the church just kept piling up. Dad couldn’t keep up with what he earned just from his job......

So all of us became slaves as a family. But dad was still trying his hardest, and he asked to be sold to someone who would buy us as a family. While we were still waiting to be sold by the old man who was the slave merchant, I was really worried about what kind of person we would be sold to, and if we would be bought together as a family and stuff.

So when we finally got sold, I was so nervous I was actually feeling sick. But when I learned that we were all bought together and we didn’t have to get separated from each other, I felt just a little relieved.

It turned out we weren’t going to get separated, but I still thought that we would have to do a lot of hard and painful work, since we were still slaves. But I was going to deal with it, since at least I’d still be together with my family. I thought I would have to try my hardest, with mom still sick.

Though I was still a little nervous, we were led to the house of the man that bought us, Mukohda.

Mukohda was a really amazing adventurer with a bunch of really strong-looking familiars following him. And we were told to work at his amazingly big house. I thought we were going to be made to start working immediately, but......

My stomach rumbled, and Mukohda, who realized that I was hungry, gave us some food. It was really delicious. I was embarrassed that my stomach rumbled, but I got to eat bread that was sweeter and fluffier and more delicious than anything I’ve ever had before, so I was really happy.

I’m not sure how he did it, but it had something to do with Mukohda’s skill, which can summon lots of food or something. That’s how he got the bread, I guess.

I thought that was really amazing, that he could summon food this delicious. I figured work would be next after eating the fluffy bread, but I was wrong. Next, he showed us to where we would be living.

When I saw it, I was really surprised. I mean, it was way bigger than the house we lived in before. And there were three of those houses too. One house was for us, the other one was for Uncle Tony and his family, and the last one was for the adventurers.

He then gave us the pots and utensils and stuff we needed to live in them.

I was really surprised. I had to ask my mom and dad, “We are slaves, right?”

And after that, he even healed my mom’s sickness!

Because of all of dad’s efforts, mom’s illness stopped at her being able to barely live a normal life, but she wasn’t fully healed. If she went even a little too far, her condition would quickly worsen.

But Mukohda gave mom a potion. Mukohda said it was an elixir, and when mom drank it, her body glowed and she was healed!

All of us were so happy we cried.

That night, the “hot pot” that Mukohda fed us was really delicious... I’d never eaten fish before, but when I tried it, it was super delicious. Also, I ate the meat of a monster called “rockbird.” The adventurers were surprised since it was a really expensive meat from a monster. I wondered if it was really all right for us to eat it, since we were slaves, but Mukohda said he could get as much of it as he wanted, so we shouldn’t hold back.

The rockbird meat was so good...

After that, we started working at Mukohda’s house, but it wasn’t hard at all. In fact, every day was really fun.

Everyone — mom, dad, big brother, Uncle Tony’s family, and even the adventurers — looked like they were having fun every day, even though we were slaves.

I’m so glad that we were bought by Mukohda.

It became like a habit for mom and dad to say that they could never show their gratitude enough to Mukohda, and I thought the same way. Mukohda’s a really kind and good person, after all.

This is a secret that I haven’t told anyone yet, but when I grow up, I want to be Mukohda’s wife.

It’d be nice if that comes true...

Fel, Dora, and Sui Discuss Meat

The following conversation takes place entirely via telepathy.

“That red dragon meat we ate before was so good~...”

“Indeed. I am always reminded: dragon meat is first-rate.”

“Dragon meat was super good, wasn’t it?”

The gluttonous trio were remembering the red dragon they had the other day, entranced by the memory.

“The more I chew, the more meat juices just burst into my mouth......”

“Indeed, indeed. The higher quality the meat, the more flavor and juice it has.”

“You know, you know, it’s really good, and Sui can eat tons of it~.”

The conversation about red dragons between the three of them was lively, showing no signs of stopping.

“Dragon meat really is on another level.”

“Especially since obtaining it is so rare.”

“You say that, but you also got an earth dragon, didn’t you Fel?”

“True enough. When you get like me, as long as you know where they are, dragons are fairly easy to hunt,” Fel said, sounding somewhat proud.

In return, Dora snorted, saying, “Hmph! Brag all you want. Anyway, cooked meat gets even better when you put that steak soy sauce on, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed. It would not be too much to call that seasoning magic.”

“It’s like cheating, how dragon meat becomes even more delicious with that stuff.”

“That was so good~.”

“He says that just salt and pepper is best for tasting the flavor of the meat, and of course that is good, but having meat with steak sauce is also delectable. Especially that garlic flavored sauce; that one is just special.” As Fel spoke, drool threatened to leak from the edges of his mouth.

“So you like the garlic flavor, Fel? I like the grated vegetable flavor myself. Personally, I think the flavor of the red dragon meat pairs best with the grated vegetable-flavor steak sauce.”

“Hm, it is true that one was not bad.”

“Uhh, you know ー Sui, you know? Uhhh...... Sui liked all of them!” Sui spoke while happily bouncing around.

“Sui~, if you just say that, that ends the conversation. Well, it’s true that they were all delicious, though.”

“Fuhaha! Sui is correct, they were all delicious, that is true.”

“Oh right, I had something I wanted to ask you, Fel.”

“What is it?”

“Both the earth dragon and the red dragon were on their own level of deliciousness. Have you ever had other dragons?”

“That is what you wanted to ask?”

“Yeah. If they’re that good, wouldn’t you be interested in how other dragons taste?”

“Dora, you sure ask some strange things, even though you are also a dragon.”

“I mean, that’s true, but even if I’m a dragon, it doesn’t mean anything if they’re not a pixie dragon specifically.”

“Hm, you might be right about that.”

“So, what’s the answer?”

“Other than earth dragon and red dragon, I have eaten green dragon and blue dragon, as well as ice dragon.”

“Oohhh! That’s quite a lot!”

“Yes, well.”

Fel sounded like he was bragging, slightly.

“So, how did they taste? Are they delicious, seeing as they’re dragons?”

“Indeed, they were delicious. However, the ice dragon is of a slightly different nature to other dragons, you see. Ice dragon meat is more like fish than actual meat.”

“Whoa~, is that so? I want to try some.”

“Sui wants to try some toooo!”

“Fuhaha! There might be a chance to in the future.”

“That’d be nice.”

“Yeah~.”

“Mmm, all this talk of dragon meat has made me hungry.”

“You too, Fel? I’m the same.”

“Sui is also hungry~.”

The gluttonous trio locked eyes.

“Since we have talked about dragon meat so much, do you not think that we might as well eat dragon meat?”

“Yep, yep, you’re right. It did make me want to eat dragon meat.”

“Sui also wants dragon meat...”

“Let us push him strongly for it.”

“Agreed!”

“Let’s ask master~.”

The gluttonous trio scampered over to Mukohda with light steps.

After that, Mukohda had to field a fierce attack from the three of them saying, “We want to eat dragon meat!”