Chapter 16: Curry Rice

Chapter 16:
Curry Rice

The vicious storm that attacked the island only a few days prior was gone, leaving behind yet another sunny day. Alphonse, preparing to leave his house, thought it was the perfect weather to go outside.

Beneath the sun, Alphonse looked down into the crude wooden barrel he had made himself. The water inside reflected his face. Twenty years ago, the king had gifted him a mithril sword breaker that he’d received from an elf. Now, using that dagger, Alphonse carefully shaved his beard away. He slid off the old sandals he’d made with straw, based on a design he’d seen on the Western Continent. He then slipped on a frayed suit that had clearly seen better days and a pair of holey boots. Alphonse next sheathed his mithril rapier at his waist. Though it was excellent for slaying monsters, it was relatively useless against wild animals. The sword was more of a prop to be hung on a wall at this point. While he usually made it a point to cut his white hair, it had grown out again. He tied it up with some dry grass.

Despite his current appearance, Alphonse was once an admiral in the great Duchy, the nation with the longest history on the Eastern Continent. This meant that even if it wasn’t perfect, he had to dress suitably if he was going to go out. This was especially the case considering he was going somewhere incredibly special: a place he had a twenty-year-long relationship with. This place was simultaneously his singular hope and his savior. Today would likely be his final time visiting.

Holding those thoughts deep in his heart, Alphonse made sure to clean himself up more than usual.

“That oughta do it.”

With his preparations complete, Alphonse made a mark on the wall with his sword. The wall in question was lined with sets of six vertical lines and one horizontal line across each group. These signified how much time Alphonse spent on this island and also told him when it was the “special day.” He could no longer count how many times he’d waited for this day to come.

“Time to go.”

His mind filled with many thoughts, Alphonse said his usual words and exited his house. A quietness settled upon the cave where he lived alone, its walls covered in marks.

***

Alphonse walked down the well-traveled path, arriving at his destination before the sun could settle overhead. It was a small hill overlooking the area. At the very top were patches of thinly scattered grass and a mysterious black door. Alphonse continued to walk toward his destination, now in sight. He quietly gulped. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his step.

“Seven long days…”

Alphonse had been alone for so long that it’d become a habit of his to talk to himself, but he couldn’t help it. His chest was full of expectation. After yesterday’s party, he hadn’t had a single thing to eat. Every ounce of his body was crying for what was beyond the door. Once he arrived at the black object, he immediately opened it and stepped inside. The familiar bell rang out once again.

“Welcome!”

“Yo, Master! Get me some curry rice, please! A large order at that!” Alphonse could barely contain himself, almost interrupting the other man to call out the name of his beloved meal.

He was offered all manner of dishes at the party yesterday, but curry rice was not among them. Of course it wasn’t; the meal didn’t exist in the Duchy’s capital. And so Alphonse’s excitement reached a boiling point and finally exploded.

“Aye, you got it. Hold on just a minute.” As usual, the master chuckled at Alphonse’s impatience and went to the kitchen in the back. The former admiral made his way to one of the seats in the restaurant.

“Curses. Is it ready yet? How much longer must I wait?!”

Incapable of waiting out his empty stomach and expectations, he grew impatient after only a few minutes. Curry rice was food for the soul. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he stayed alive just so that he could eat it again. That was how special it was to him. Nobody else felt as strongly about the meal as he did.

Alphonse cared not about any of the sounds around him. The only thing that mattered right now was the curry rice.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here’s your order of curry rice.”

And so after the longest five minutes of Alphonse’s life, the master set down a large plate of curry rice in front of him.

The huge helping of white rice was topped with brown curry sauce that had large chunks in it. Beside the plate was the small pot filled with bright red fukujinzuke, finely chopped pickled vegetables. Nearby was a glass cup filled with lemon water along with a silver pitcher. Alphonse’s silver spoon reflected the illumination dropping down from the ceiling lights.

Mm, I knew it. Curry rice truly is bliss itself.

The dining table was set. It would be a feast the likes of which he only had once every seven days. The spicy, stunning aroma wafting up into his nostrils from the plate in front of him landed a direct attack on his stomach. In preparation for this meal, Alphonse had avoided eating anything since early in the morning.

“Yes, yes. That’s what I’m talking about,” he muttered.

Alphonse took the glistening spoon in hand and smiled with glee. He immediately dipped it into the mountain of curry and scooped out a spoonful. The curry sauce sitting atop the white rice was filled with meat and vegetables. The visual contrast of the white rice and brown curry sauce was like a work of art. The spoon had effectively become a miniature replica of the larger plate in front of him. Alphonse brought it to his mouth and chewed in silence.

Mm, it’s so spicy!

The first thing Alphonse felt was heat. In the Duchy, spices were extremely valuable and hard to come by. And yet, this dish used them plentifully, allowing it to reach the perfect level of spiciness. It was this heat that assaulted Alphonse from all sides. The first time he ate it, he was unprepared for the kickback. Now that he was more intimately familiar with curry, Alphonse took his time chewing and experiencing all the flavors it had to offer.

Each bite of white rice revealed a unique sweetness. The greasy squares of stewed pork were tender, almost as if they might melt in his mouth. And then there were the two types of oranie incorporated into the dish. One of them had been melted into the curry sauce itself, adding a savory quality to the overall flavor profile. The other was oranie added after the fact, allowed to maintain its original form. This one ended up soaking up the flavor of the curry while also keeping its own sweetness by being cooked over fire.

Those weren’t the only flavors he experienced, either. There were the cobbler’s tubers, a vegetable Alphonse was not familiar with from his time in the Duchy. According to some of the other customers, it was a well-known food in the Empire. These tubers and the orange karoots soaked up the spicy flavor of the curry. They also had a soft texture. All these different tastes melted into one in his mouth.

“Mm, truly delicious.” Alphonse was overwhelmed with emotion as he spoke aloud.

Now that he thought about it, the restaurant had changed quite a bit since he first discovered it. The master that used to run the place was no longer present, and various other little things had changed as well. But one of the few things that stayed the same was the amazing taste of the curry. He would take one bite, then the next, and each taste would only make him hungrier still. By the end, he would grab a bit of fukujinzuke and lemon water, dumping it all into his stomach. As he felt the curry warm him up from the inside, beads of sweat ran down his chin. Yet his hands never stopped moving. They couldn’t stop moving. His spoon would scoop up more curry and deliver it on an express trip to his mouth over and over again.

That was what curry rice was. It was the ultimate fusion of spiciness and a multitude of other savory flavors combined into one, filling his stomach like no other. It was that feeling that led Alphonse to fall in love with this particular dish.

Long ago, the previous master of the restaurant told Alphonse that curry rice was one of the most popular dishes in the other world. He could see how that was the case given how good it was. Whether it be the fruits from trees or the salted meats and fish he normally ate, none of it could compare to this.

Come to think of it, I’ve probably eaten here some thousand times, and yet I still can’t get enough of this curry.

Perhaps because he knew this was his final time visiting the Restaurant to Another World, Alphonse began to grow nostalgic. In retrospect, he wasn’t sure whether it was good luck or bad that he had washed ashore this island as the lone survivor of a shipwreck. Alphonse had fought against the terrifying monsters of the island, all the while exploring its every nook and cranny. It was by pure luck that he had stumbled across the strange black door and first visited the restaurant. Due to his ongoing struggles with the creatures of the island, he had only eaten a handful of fruit over the three days leading up to this discovery. The moment he found out he was in an eatery, he immediately told the master he had money and asked him to serve whatever he had. Since Alphonse had no need of his money, he simply tossed it at the man running the restaurant, who responded to him as such.

“Hm… Well, I guess I can whip you up some curry pretty quickly. That okay with you?”

And so the master presented the former admiral with a plate of curry and rice. Alphonse was thirty-five years old when he came face to face with the strange food. He was tired and running on an empty stomach, and so the spiciness of the dish served as a shock to his appetite, causing him to wolf down the food. He remembered it as if it were just yesterday.

Alphonse ate so much curry that day that he was on the verge of bursting.

After that fateful day, he had visited the restaurant over a thousand times. Alphonse would spend six days surviving the harsh conditions of the island in anticipation of the seventh. Being able to eat curry rice on the Day of Satur became his singular objective.

“As I thought, curry rice is true happiness. Teriyaki, Omelet Rice, and Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl know not of what they speak.”

As he let out a satisfied sigh, Alphonse recalled an old memory from years ago.

He once got into an argument with three fellow regulars. There was Teriyaki, a swordsman from the Western Continent with skills equal to his own. Then there was the terrifying monster, the lizardman hero named Omelet Rice. Last but not least was Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl, a powerful demon warrior with a dignified body and the head of a lion. The argument they engaged in was so fierce that all of them were nearly banned from the restaurant permanently. The four regulars apologized profusely to the master. While it was a happy memory for him now, Alphonse hadn’t changed his opinion since then.

No matter what the other customers said, the best way to eat rice was with curry. That was the simple, unmoving truth of the matter.

“Whew…”

Alphonse cleared his enormous plate in a paltry ten minutes and let out a satisfied sigh laced with the scent of curry.

“Hah, fast as ever, I see.” One of Alphonse’s acquaintances, Pork Loin Cutlet, had been watching him.

“Hmph. I was simply hungry is all,” Alphonse answered. “Master, seconds, please. Make it a large.”

He gave the master his usual serious look and wiped the curry sauce from his mouth with his moist towel.

“You never change. You’re obsessed with curry rice. How do you not grow bored of it?”

“As if that were possible! Curry rice is filled with limitless potential. And you’re one to talk. Why not give a plate of pork loin cutlet curry a try? It’s quite delicious, my friend. Much better than eating it by itself.”

With his stomach full, Alphonse turned his attention to joking with Pork Loin Cutlet.

As far as the former admiral was concerned, the restaurant’s food could be divided into two categories. Things that went well with curry and things that did not. Any kind of fried food or cutlet typically went well with curry. Pork loin cutlet, in particular, went splendidly with the spicy food. He knew this for a fact.

“I refuse. Pork cutlets go best with cutlet sauce and beer. This is an unbending truth of the universe.” The old diviner shook his head like the most stubborn person on the planet.

“Hmph, I see you’re as hardheaded as ever. Anyway, has anything interesting happened recently?” Alphonse asked Pork Loin Cutlet without digging too deeply.

And so the two men shared words as always. This was the only place in the world where people of different nations could peacefully converse like this. Truth be told, this too was one of the reasons that Alphonse fell in love with Nekoya.

Given where he normally lived, even just three days ago he would never be able to experience the second plate of curry rice he was currently devouring.

“Master, you have my gratitude. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

With his second plate of curry rice resting soundly at the bottom of his stomach, Alphonse stood from his seat and gave his final thanks to the master. These words came from deep within his heart. If this restaurant hadn’t been there when he needed it, he most certainly would have died many moons ago. His words were fueled by this truth.

“Oh? Yeah, of course. You’re very much welcome. We’ll be looking forward to your next visit.”

The master seemed somewhat surprised by Alphonse’s words but nonetheless returned them in kind. He knew that the man had been a regular since his grandfather ran the restaurant, but as far as he could recall, this might have been the first time he’d ever been thanked face to face. Since Alphonse had paid for all his meals years in advance, he normally just stood up and left without saying anything once he finished.

“One day, I’ll be back.”

Thoughts of the future ran through Alphonse’s mind as he felt a tinge of sadness hit him. He left the restaurant behind, wondering when he’d next be able to visit, if ever.

***

A brief period of time had passed since the former admiral’s final visit to Nekoya. He watched the island he lived on for many years grow more and more distant, letting out a sigh.

“Admiral Flugel, is everything all right, sir?”

The noble officer nearby checked in on Alphonse. The man standing nervously before him was none other than Alphonse Flugel, once said to be the strongest admiral in all of the Duchy. Some twenty years ago, on his way to the Western Continent while serving as a bodyguard for a merchant ship, the admiral was forced into battle against the lord of the ocean, the kraken. In exchange for saving the merchant ship, the legendary admiral went down with his own and had never been seen again. The deserted island he washed ashore was far away from any ship routes, forcing him to survive on his own for all these years. The noble was incredibly surprised to find him all the way out here.

An average person would have long since succumbed to despair and either ended things on their own or fallen to any number of illnesses and injuries. But this man had survived. He defeated the vicious beasts of the island, abiding by the laws of the wild, and survived for twenty years all on his own.

Damaged in a rough storm out on the ocean, the noble officer’s military ship had been pushed off course. Looking to repair the ship, he and the rest of his crew decided to set anchor at an island nearby. It was three days later that they ran into Alphonse, who at the time looked like some kind of wild man. The repairs finished an additional three days later, and after letting the former admiral take one last stroll around his home of twenty years, they boarded their ship and went on their way. They were now headed for the Duchy, their beloved homeland.

“Now that I think about it, waiting for seven thousand days in a row is completely different than waiting for seven days a thousand times, huh?” Alphonse whispered as he watched the island grow distant.

“Excuse me? What do you mean, sir?” the officer asked.

“It’s nothing. Just an old man’s musings is all.” Alphonse chuckled at the officer who clearly had no idea what he was talking about.

I wonder if there’s a black door somewhere in the Duchy.

Alphonse heard from the other customers that the black doors appeared all over the world in different places. Given that so many of them were from completely different continents, this made sense. That meant it was entirely possible that his beloved Duchy might be home to a door or two as well.

I’ll have to do some digging around.

Either way, Alphonse was now over fifty years old. His role as admiral had long since passed, and he heard that his position as head of the Flugel family now belonged to his son. This meant that after returning home, he’d have all the time in the world. He decided to dedicate some of it to trying to reunite with his beloved curry rice.

If I remember correctly, one of the new regulars was a knight of the Duchy.

Recently, Teriyaki had brought a knight dressed in what seemed to be a Duchy uniform to the restaurant. The man was in love with the kind of fried shripe one would put atop curry. Alphonse now had the confirmation he needed. There was a door in the Duchy. He simply had to find it.

Time to do some searching once I get home.

The military ship continued to rock back and forth on its way to the Duchy, carrying a newly determined Alphonse.

***

Three months later, Alphonse arrived at his destination. It was a little cabin out in the wildlands, outside of the capital of the Duchy. He traveled there by horse.

“I knew it. There it is.”

Despite being free of the island, Alphonse still often spoke to himself. He stared at the incongruous black door set into the cabin.

The former admiral was dressed completely differently than he was on his last visit. While his rapier and sword breaker were still present, his clothes were fresh and clean, and his brand new shoes shone in the light. Alphonse’s beard had been trimmed by the finest barber in the Duchy, and his hair was cut short.

He looked as a noble and former admiral of the Duchy should. The reason he had no bodyguards accompanying him was because he had long since retired to a quiet life.

“To think it was this close,” he murmured.

It had taken Alphonse about a month to reach the capital of the Duchy. From there, it took an additional two months of talking to traveling halflings and following the trail of fellow regulars before finally getting the info he needed. Alphonse excitedly opened the door, the sound of a familiar bell ringing in his ears.

“Welcome… Oh? Long time no see, Alphonse!” the master said.

“Indeed, it has been quite some time! But first, get me some curry rice! Right this instant! I haven’t had any for three whole months, dammit!”

And thus, Alphonse shouted out his order once again.