Chapter 5: Beef Stew

Chapter 5:
Beef Stew

Saturdays at the Restaurant to Another World started with kitchen prep, just like any other day there.

It was six in the morning. After rising from his bed in Nekoya, also his home, the master cleaned himself up as per the usual and headed down from the third floor of the building to the elevator used for transporting ingredients. From there, he made his way to the first floor where the restaurant was located.

On Saturday mornings, the first thing he prepped was the beef stew. He would grab the largest pot in the restaurant and fill it to the brim. After stir-frying the vegetables and beef in his trusty wok, he then moved them into his stockpot and boiled it, removing the fat on top when it was done. For his next step, he’d pour in the custom demi-glace sauce that he kept refrigerated and boil it all together. The master was always careful to take his time with this.

Besides the options designed for sharing amongst multiple people, the beef stew was the most expensive dish on the Nekoya menu. That said, a single serving was still only one thousand yen, as per the rules of the restaurant. The former master believed that it was impossible to make proper Nekoya-style beef stew without making a ton of it, which was how cooking enough for one hundred servings became a kind of tradition.

Despite all of his prep work, there weren’t actually that many customers who ordered beef stew. Unlike the war zones that were the weekdays, Saturdays at Nekoya was relatively peaceful, meaning that the master could manage things on his own. Of the many menu items at the restaurant, there just weren’t that many people who wanted to pay a silver coin for what was described as “a boiled beef soup.”

The customers that did happen to order it were no less surprised by its taste, but even then, there were few who would pay a silver coin (at Nekoya, one copper coin was equivalent to about hundred yen, a silver coin 1,000 yen, and a gold coin 10,000 yen) for the meal.

Yet somehow, in the last twenty years, there had never been a single time that there was leftover beef stew. As for why that was…

The Red Queen’s nose twitched, signaling that the time had come.

Is it time?

The Red Queen was capable of picking up on even the slightest of magical currents, which made this no different. The scent was coming from below the Red Queen’s stomach, radiating from a golden mountain that would make any human lose their mind with greed. It was a huge pile of gold and treasures that she spent thousands of years gathering for herself.

The Red Queen spread her wings and let out a roar to signify her excitement. The mountain below her quaked, petrifying all those who lived there. Her massive claws, stronger than any sword in the entire world, were capable of splitting a crag in two with a single strike. She used them to rake her mountain of treasures apart. After doing this multiple times to all of the precious treasures she’d collected over the years, she revealed her most prized possession hidden beneath it all.

There it is.

The object that the Red Queen was searching for finally showed itself to her: a black door with a picture of a cat on it, bathed in magical energies. The faint aroma leaking from the other world on the opposite side of the door left the Red Queen intoxicated for a moment.

“You called, my queen.”

While she indulged in this sensation, the red balrog butler who had long served as her right-hand man responded to her earlier roar, bowing his head deeply. Despite his looks, his unflinching loyalty to the Red Queen always elicited a satisfied nod from her.

“I’m going out. So…”

The Red Queen’s body began to rumble as she used her incredibly rare, profound energies to cast a magic spell.

The spell in question? Transformation. Immense billows of flame engulfed the Red Queen, making her giant body seem to melt away like ice. The flames shrank smaller and smaller, eventually leaving behind but a shadow before vanishing. That shadow belonged to an unbelievably beautiful woman.

Her red hair shone like fire, and her perfect skin glistened bronze. As for her age, she appeared to be in the prime of her life. Her fiery eyes, vertical golden pupils, and the crimson horns just above her ears revealed her true identity. The woman stood there, proudly exposing her perfect, nude body, and issued a command to her underling.

“Prepare me a dress. The usual one. Understood?”

“Yes, my queen. As you wish.”

The Red Queen rested against her golden treasures as she watched the balrog bow his head and leave to fetch her clothes.

“Goodness, this is rather shameful. I’m over 100,000 years old, and yet I can’t bear to wait for even a few moments.”

The Red Queen’s eyes were locked upon the black door to another world. Long ago, she formed a contract with the human on the other side. She promised only to visit his Restaurant to Another World as the last customer of the day. Many years ago, she’d visited the other side and ended up shooting a terrifying glare at one who dared to partake of her treasure.

“You’ll cause trouble for the other customers, so could you please stop?” the human master warned her.

The Queen was a proud beast who cared little for promises made to humans, but she understood where he was coming from. Indeed, to dine alongside her, one of the six great dragons, would be unpleasant for creatures that couldn’t even stand against the simple-minded lizard beasts that lived on her mountain. Not to mention that should she not abide by their shared promise, the master would not serve her the thing she wanted. If holding up her end of the bargain meant she had something to gain from it, she would continue to do so.

With their agreement in mind, the Red Queen waited until nightfall, that certain aroma leaking through to her side of the door.

“It is time, my queen,” the balrog intoned.

The Red Queen rose to her feet upon hearing her butler’s voice. “Indeed.”

“Please enjoy your meal.”

“I will.”

The balrog dressed his master with a level of care that should have been impossible for a beast as huge and imposing as him. She wore no jewelry or makeup, for she herself was the most beautiful thing in this world. There was no need for anything else.

“I’ll be on my way.”

“Please take care, my queen.”

With her preparations complete, the Red Queen grabbed the object her balrog butler brought to her. It was a huge silver pot shaped like a tube, polished to perfection by her underlings. The object in question was so large that a human would struggle to carry it with two hands, never mind one. However, the Red Queen carried it as if it were light as a feather. She opened the black door and stepped into the restaurant.

“I’m here, Master,” she said, announcing her presence.

“Welcome! What can I get for you today?”

The master, used to their back and forth, asked her the same thing he did every time.

“Is it not obvious? I only request one thing.” The Red Queen placed down her pot and announced her order. “Beef stew. I’ll start with one bowl.”

That was the name of the delectable dish that befitted a queen such as her. It was the same dish she had come to order over the last twenty-four years since the mysterious black door first appeared in her castle.

It had been seven days since the Red Queen had come face to face with this most immaculate of dishes. Wafting before her was the complex aroma of various vegetables, meat, and spices. She made sure to enjoy this delightful scent first. She was intoxicated by its smell; simply frying or boiling meat and vegetables could not produce such a scent as entrancing as this.

“This is it. This is the aroma that tempts me to no end.”

The beef and vegetables had been boiled to perfection in the soup’s thick, rich broth. It held flavors from another world that could not be found in her own. The Queen’s prior favorite, a roast beef she would make for herself, barely counted as food in comparison.

“I shall partake, then.”

The Red Queen took a deep breath, gulped, and dipped her spoon into the soup. Just enough for one mouthful. The rich, condensed flavor of the meat and vegetable soup spread throughout her palate. The beef was boiled after being lightly roasted, then combined with the sweetness of the unknown boiled vegetables, and then further seasoned with a variety of spices and herbs. After that, it was simmered again, this time with some sort of alcohol. Yes, this was exactly the same delicious dish she’d enjoyed seven days prior.

“Positively delicious!”

The beef stew struck right to the Red Queen’s stomach, making the words spill from her lips. She repeatedly brought her silver spoon back and forth between the bowl in front of her and her mouth, unable to control herself. After enjoying the soup to her heart’s content, she turned her attention to the orange vegetables, slow-boiled until they were tender. In the same spoonful, she took up some of the light yellow vegetables that were later added to the soup to hold it all together. The Red Queen brought the spoon to her mouth.

“Mm. As always, the broth and vegetables are quite good.”

The combination of the soft, almost melting orange vegetables and the crisper light yellow mixed well with the flavor of the soup, leaving a pleasant warmth in her mouth. Normally, the Red Queen despised vegetables; she considered them “feed for the long ears.” However, when combined with a rich soup such as this, she adored them.

She continued to eat spoonful after spoonful of vegetables, chasing them with sips of the soup. She made sure not to touch the one part of the dish that she adored the most. The Queen was the type of woman who liked to leave the best for last.

“Now then…”

After enjoying the flavor of the vegetables and finishing just about half of the beef stew, the Red Queen decided it was time to head for the main course. It was the ingredient that made the beef stew what it was: in other words, the beef. She grabbed a spoonful of the meat, precut in such a way as to fit in a human’s mouth. The Queen gulped at the sight of the beef; it was so fork-tender that it looked like it might fall apart at any moment. She took a bite.

There were no words. The beef melted away in her mouth. There was no time for her to voice her approval. She wanted to use every precious moment she had to enjoy the food.

Ah.

The meat eventually vanished down the Queen’s throat, and she sighed deeply. No matter how many hundreds, no, thousands of times she repeated this moment, she would never grow tired of it. She hurried to the next spoonful.

The savoriness of both the vegetables and the meat melded together in the soup, making for a complex flavor profile. While the vegetables had grown more soft and flavorful, the beef had been boiled perfectly. Each spoonful of this magnificent creation came with a different experience, urging her to take yet another bite. To the Red Queen, it was as if the beef stew held some kind of magic in and of itself.

As always, the Queen took her time with the dish, thoroughly enjoying it until finally finishing off the remaining meat. She stood up from her table.

“Master, the usual. I trust you understand, yes?”

As per agreement with the previous master, she handed the man two gold coins. She felt this was too little for such a dish, but since this was the agreed-upon sum, she did not argue. A long time ago, she attempted to give the old master a pot full of gold in exchange for the beef stew. He immediately turned her down. “We don’t overcharge, and we don’t do discounts. That’s just how it is!” The older man told her that one gold coin would suffice, but the Red Queen managed to convince him to accept two. That agreement remained unchanged, even with the current master.

“Yup, you betcha. Go right ahead and take it with you.”

The master took the heavy gold coins from her, each imprinted with the face of an elfin individual and stuffed them into his pocket.

“That I shall.”

With the master’s permission, the Red Queen made her way into the sparklingly clean kitchen. It was there that she found what she was searching for.

There it is.

Unable to contain her excitement, the Queen let out a sigh of flames. Inside the kitchen was a small (though large for a human) pot filled with beef stew. Its fragrant aroma filled the tiny room.

“I’ll be taking this, Master.”

The Red Queen placed the lid on the pot to prevent the precious beef stew from spilling out and lifted it as though it were light as a feather. She could feel the warmth of the pot through her hands. This filled her with a quiet joy as she cheerfully rushed to the exit.

“Farewell, Master. I’ll be back.”

“Much obliged. We’ll be waiting for you!”

The master politely opened the door for her, and she left the restaurant. She stepped down on the mountain of gold just beyond, making sure not to spill the contents of her pot. As soon as the door behind her closed, it vanished, leaving the mountain in its natural state.

“Welcome back, my queen.”

“Mm. Clean this.”

The Red Queen immediately took her dress off and tossed it at the balrog. She undid her magic, placed the pot of beef stew down on a flat surface, returned to her true form, and buried the spot where the door was under gold once more.

Now, it’s time to enjoy this.

The Queen then carefully grabbed the pot with her claws, capable of emitting heat that could melt any steel, and lightly heated its insides until it was perfect. She brought her mouth—filled with sharp teeth—close to the pot, stretching her tongue out to taste the beef stew.

The soup was delicious when she ate it in human form, but it was even more delightful when she could eat it little by little in her true form.

If only the master could make more…

The Red Queen continued to savor the beef stew in front of her. She would enjoy it until the stew eventually ran out a day later.

A terrifying, legendary creature said to have defeated the armies of the elves and their golems and chimeras by herself—she was also one of the Restaurant to Another World’s biggest eaters. The Red Queen’s meal had only just begun.