Chapter 24: Natto Spaghetti

Chapter 24:
Natto Spaghetti

“Wow…”

Fardania, an elf born in the Shiena woods, looked up at the massive tree towering over her and found herself completely overwhelmed.

Long ago, two of the great dragons known as the “Seven Overlords” had used their fierce breath to carve great scars into the giant tree. Those dragons were Gold, renowned for its immense greed, and Red, whose ravenous nature was legendary.

Half a year had passed since Fardania left her home and began her journey. This time, she found herself in the center of the great sea of trees, a place that had prevented all non-elves from entering for many years. There were all types of monsters roaming the forest, not to mention the many magical barriers the elves had set up. If one didn’t know how

to make use of the forest’s blessings, there would be no way to survive the journey to its center. It was so vast that it took half a month for Fardania to make her way there.

The giant tree that made this place its home was the reason Fardania traveled here. It was the entrance she was searching for.

The forest capital.

It was the one remaining elven city from the time when the elves ruled the world, when they did battle against the Seven Overlords and the races that worshipped them. During that era, some thousand years ago, the elves had a magical civilization far more complex than the present. But then a great pestilence wiped out most of their population, civilization collapsed on itself, and humans took over as the dominant species. It was then that the elves began to dwell in small villages in the lush forests around the world, choosing to live their lives closed off from the other races. The forest capital was the closest thing they had left to a “nation” of their own.

“So, this is where Dad’s friend is…” Fardania said.

Inside her bag was a letter her father had sent after her with his familiar. Fardania gently placed her hand on it. He was clearly worried about his young, impulsive daughter and her journey alone, so he’d sent her a letter of introduction to his old friend in the capital.

When I was but a child of a hundred years old, I traveled across the human world with this man as my guide. I recall him being quite the foodie. In fact, he’s still researching food to this very day, I imagine. If you have nowhere else to go, I recommend paying him a visit.

So her father had written in the letter.

If she was going to surpass the master’s otherworldly cooking, she had to know her own world first. In order to do that, she had to pay a visit to the capital of the elves, the place where her people’s wisdom dwelled.

“Great,” she said. “I should at least be able to get through this myself.”

The massive tree in front of her was the entrance to the capital. Fardania approached and sighed in relief after inspecting the magic cast on it. It was a type of barrier magic designed to keep monsters away and prevent outsiders from entering, and it took someone with immense magical talent to even temporarily break. One could say it was the pinnacle of all elven knowledge.

The barrier essentially warned that those who were not practitioners of the magical arts were not worthy of entering the capital. Fardania, who had trained in the magical arts under her father, was at least capable of opening a hole big enough to enter.

“Dad wanted me to contact his friend via telepathy once I got here so he could open the door for me,” she thought. “But…it’s faster if I just do this myself.”

Fardania began to work on breaking the magical lock. She figured that once she broke through the barrier, a second kind of magic, perhaps a warning of some kind, would activate. This would inform the people on the inside that she had come, which worked out quite nicely.

Fardania was a pure-blooded elf of the Shiena woods. There shouldn’t be any issue with her visiting the capital. And so, she weakened the barrier for a brief period, stepping foot into the elves’ last true domain.

***

Meanwhile…

“Oh? The barrier’s being tampered with.”

Christian noticed the disturbance while working on research inside his mansion, which was built into the massive tree.

“Hrm, they appear to be quite skilled.”

The elven man was currently in charge of monitoring the barrier protecting the forest capital. As an elf now in his fifth century, Christian was among the youngest in the city, but his magic and sword skills were second to none. His time in the human world had been quite fruitful. The barrier protecting the city was also equipped with another high-level spell that would automatically trigger a warning.

“They’re not even trying to hide their presence. My guess is that we have an elven guest,” Christian said aloud, pondering his own theory.

It was clear that whoever tampered with the barrier only did so temporarily to allow themselves time to enter. Christian couldn’t imagine that the visitor hadn’t noticed the warning magic, given their skill, theorizing that this was a sign that they didn’t mean to hide their presence. A sign of their intent, so to speak.

“Something about their technique feels familiar…” he muttered. “Ah, could it be that she’s finally arrived?”

Christian noticed that the caster’s technique resembled an old friend of his that he traveled with some fifty years prior. He had received a letter from this man via his familiar half a year ago.

My daughter has left on a journey, seeking to invent a new type of food. I imagine she’ll probably head to the forest capital first. When she gets there, please look after her.

There was more to the letter, but that was undoubtedly the most important part. The rest of it was filled with Christian’s friend talking about how adorable his daughter was and how she’d come to resemble his wife. It even included a warning about how he wouldn’t show his friend any mercy should he try to lay his hands on the young lady.

“Well then, I’m sure if I wait here, she’ll find me eventually. Now that I think about it, the door should be appearing today…”

If she’s trying to invent a completely new cuisine, that place might be a good place to start.

After all, it certainly had done so for Christian. It was that very restaurant that propelled him to begin his search for something new in the first place.

***

After breaching the massive tree’s barrier, Fardania stepped foot into the forest capital for the first time.

“This is the place, right?”

The capital was filled with countless houses made from the wood of the living tree. One of them belonged to her father’s friend, Christian. It didn’t take long to locate his home after asking a fellow elf walking by.

“Christian’s house has had this weird smell coming from it for the past ten years,” she was informed. “You’ll recognize it immediately.”

Fardania wasn’t entirely sure what the elf meant by this at first, but after walking around for a bit, it became clear. She could smell his house from a distance. It was like something was rotting.

“Excuse me…” she called. “Long time no see, sir.”

Fortunately for the young elven woman, the master of the house made his presence known immediately. He had golden hair and green eyes, and wore a thin mythril sword at his waist, no doubt infused with some type of magic. To the average human, who had trouble discerning elven ages, the man only looked to be a year or two older than Fardania. However, to the eyes of an elf capable of seeing the flow of magic, it was obvious he was even older than her father. His strong magical power spoke to that.

According to Fardania’s father, Christian was some hundred years older than him. He also lived alone. Elves also typically didn’t hire help, instead choosing to make helper golems for themselves. Considering the man standing before her looked just like the person in her memories from when she was thirteen years old, she was certain this was Christian.

“Yes, Fardania, was it?” the elf said. “I heard everything from Edmond. Your lifting of the entrance barrier was quite clever. There aren’t many elves who can undo it at just past a hundred years old, even here in the forest capital. You truly are Edmond and Matilda’s daughter. I’m quite impressed.”

“Thank you very much, sir.” Fardania accepted Christian’s honest praise, albeit a bit shyly.

“Please, relax. There’s no need to be so formal with me. You are my best friend’s daughter, and you’re already an adult, correct? Treat me as you would a friend,” Christian responded, voicing what had been on his mind since she’d arrived.

“Underst—okay. Glad to be friends, Christian.”

“Likewise, Fardania.”

The two elves shook hands, symbolizing their new friendship.

“So, uh, what’s with the smell? Is there something rotting in here?”

It didn’t take long for Fardania’s eyes to sparkle with curiosity. She immediately asked Christian what was on her mind, and the older elf couldn’t help but grin on the inside.

Christian laughed. I see. She’s rather outspoken.

“I suppose you could say that I’m doing research on rotten elf beans.”

Fardania raised her eyebrow in response. “…What?”

She knew what elf beans were. Long, long ago, when the elven armies were off on an expedition, they had discovered a crop with strange powers. The crop had the ability to revitalize dry ground when planted and grown in it. The beans were used to regrow barren forests as well. As such, it was a popular crop to grow among elves, and frequently eaten too. Fresh elf beans were a beautiful green color, while the dried beans were closer to a light yellow. Boiling would give them a gentle sweetness, and they were quite delicious. Even Fardania’s hometown had a stockpile growing in the forest, though not in great quantities.

“But why would you rot them?” she asked.

Despite her knowledge of the beans, Fardania didn’t see the point in rotting them. Drying them would prevent rotting from ever happening in the first place, and most elves could use magic to prevent foods from rotting at all.

Preserving foods for hundreds of years required the use of magical tools, but if one wanted to save something for a few days, it wasn’t very difficult. At least not to a race full of talented magic users. Fardania herself had done this multiple times, often using magic to preserve the rice balls she purchased from the restaurant so she could enjoy them over multiple days. If she could use that kind of magic, there was no way Christian, an elf more long-lived and powerful, couldn’t.

“Well, I’m not really rotting them.” Christian took a moment to think before rewording his answer. “Do you know what cheese is?”

He’d decided to start with the basics, a food that most elves had little contact with.

“Cheese?” she asked. “That’s a food that humans make, right? I believe it involves taking beast milk and letting it sit in the dark for a long period of time without any kind of preservation magic, cultivating mold in it. Normally, it should just go bad. But apparently it doesn’t, and humans even find it delicious.”

Fardania had traveled the human world for quite some time before finding her way to the forest capital. While she wasn’t terribly familiar with the food, she had at least heard of it. Needless to say, she’d never felt the need to eat it herself, so she didn’t have the slightest idea what it tasted like.

Christian nodded. “Precisely. Humans call the process ‘fermentation.’ Human alcohol is apparently made in a similar way. It’s one of the preservation methods they came up with due to not being able to use magic as easily as we can. I’m currently trying to use that technique on elf beans.”

Christian spoke to Fardania about the details of his current objective. Because elves could use magic to preserve a food’s freshness, the concept of “fermentation” would never cross their minds. Christian was the only one doing research into it.

“So, does it work?”

“Indeed it does… I’ve eaten the real thing before,” Christian nodded his head and responded. He had seen what the “finished” product looked like. All that was left was to replicate it.

“Wait, where? They have them here in the capital?”

Fardania’s curiosity was on the receiving end of a shock after discovering the existence of something she’d never heard of before. “Fermented” elf beans… Perhaps they could be of some use in her own food quest.

“Not in the capital… Er, well I suppose it’s sort of in the capital?”

Fardania was confused by Christian’s vague answer. Unable to parse his meaning, she asked for an explanation. “What do you mean?”

Christian cleared his throat. “About ten years ago, a door to another world appeared in the forest capital. This door is connected to a restaurant on the other side, and it serves a dish using fermented beans.”

As the man in charge of monitoring the city’s barrier, it was Christian’s responsibility to inspect the door. This was what led to his new research.

There was also one other thing that Christian wanted to confirm. A question had appeared in his mind when he first read Edmond’s letter.

What exactly could cause a proud, young, passionate elf woman, talented in the culinary arts, to suddenly leave her peaceful home in search of making a “new food”? Christian thought it highly possible that, like him, she had eaten something delicious made by someone other than an elf.

“Wait, you can’t mean…” Fardania immediately knew what Christian was referring to. It was the very same thing that had become the trigger for her own journey.

“Judging by your reaction, you must be familiar with it as well. The Restaurant to Another World.”

And just like that, Christian’s theory was proven true.

***

Christian and Fardania entered the Restaurant to Another World, greeted by the sounds of the magical bells ringing.

“Welcome! Oh, this is a rare pairing,” the master remarked upon seeing the two elves.

On one side was the young elven man, a regular at the restaurant. On the other was the elven girl who had been popping up every now and then over the past year. He’d never seen the two of them come together.

“Yes, she’s the daughter of a good friend of mine,” Christian explained. “I’m treating her today. Can I get the usual? Two orders of natto spaghetti, no eggs. Much obliged.”

Christian once made the mistake of eating the spaghetti with eggs, so he now made it a point to bring them up every time he ordered.

“You got it!” The master nodded his head and went into the back.

“Natto spaghetti… That’s something us elves can eat?” Fardania asked Christian after watching him take care of things.

Elves couldn’t eat meat, fish, eggs, or milk. Fardania had incorrectly assumed the only dishes at Nekoya that didn’t utilize these ingredients were the tofu steak and the fried rice balls.

Just how many dishes does this place serve?!

The depths of Nekoya’s menu made Fardania anxious.

“Natto spaghetti has a unique smell to it, you see. It’s not very popular with the other customers. I’m the only one who orders it, actually.”

Christian explained the dish to the young lady in front of him. It took a great deal of courage to order something described in the menu as “a noodle dish topped with rotten beans.” When he first visited Nekoya, the current master had just taken over. If he hadn’t recommended the dish to him as something without meat, fish, eggs, or milk, he likely would have never thought to order it for himself. That said, Christian had been the dish’s number one fan ever since that fateful day.

***

And so, their food finally arrived.

“Sorry to keep you waiting! Here are your orders of natto spaghetti!”

A young demon waitress who looked about the same age as the two elves set their meal down atop the table. Both plates were full of slim, yellow noodles. Sitting on top of them were thinly sliced, black, paper-like objects, dark green herbs with a strong scent, and some sort of sauce with beans that looked surprisingly similar to elf beans but darker in color.

“Let’s eat. Fear not, it’s quite delicious.” Christian held his silver fork and lightly mixed the natto at the top with the spaghetti below it. He then wrapped a helping of spaghetti around his spoon and took a bite. It was as delicious as always.

Natto spaghetti was always a treat. Christian only recently managed to replicate natto’s unique stickiness and scent in his own research. The rich flavor was a combination with something salty, likely mixed in with it beforehand. Then there was the uncooked herb with its unique flavor and the black, paper-like substance. It had the same savory taste as the grass of the sea. These flavors fused with the light, wheat taste of the noodles to form a singular new flavor profile.

It looks like she’s taken a liking to it as well.

Christian glanced up at Fardania while he ate his spaghetti. She also ate in dead silence. Her own eating speed matched Christian’s, the spaghetti disappearing off her plate in front of his very eyes. She was clearly enjoying her meal.

Hm. She seems to be contemplating something.

Christian almost immediately realized what Fardania was pondering while she ate her serving of spaghetti.

She’s analyzing the flavor?

That made sense. If she were truly researching food as she said she was, of course she’d focus on the flavor. Christian turned his focus back to his own meal.

***

Christian had no way of knowing. He had no way of knowing what she was really thinking, or what she would soon do.

***

The incident happened after the pair had finished their plates of natto spaghetti. Fardania turned her attention to the waitress collecting their plates.

“The natto stuff in this dish, um… I’d like to try it with rice. Is that possible?”

She asked as though it were the most natural question in the world.

Wh-what?!

Meanwhile, Christian was stunned into silence by Fardania’s words. Natto was a type of sauce used on noodle dishes. For ten years, the researcher had simply assumed this to be the case. And yet, here was this young lady, completely flipping that idea on its head after a single sit-down.

I-Impossible! There’s no “natto rice” anywhere on the menu!

However, the demon waitress simply tilted her head in response to the question.

“Um… Hold on just a moment. I’ll go ask the master,” she said, retreating to the back.

It wasn’t long before the master reappeared, carrying a small bowl filled with white rice, a plate with sliced, thick green herbs on top, and a dish with some sort of yellow sauce. There was even a glass bottle similar to the ones already on the table. Last but not least, he carried a bowl filled with natto. “Geez. We’re supposed to serve western cuisine…” he muttered as he approached their table.

The master lined the various dishes up in front of Fardania.

“Make sure to stir the natto thoroughly,” he instructed “Once you’ve done that, mix in some of this dashi soy sauce and pour it all on top of the rice. Feel free to use as much onion and mustard as you’d like. Just be careful. Too much of the latter and you’ll feel it in your nose. Take it nice and easy.”

“Got it,” Fardania said. “Oh, and could I also get two fried rice ball sets? Make one of them miso flavored. Nice and strong.”

“You got it. Sit tight.” The master turned to leave for the kitchen.

“E-excuse me! Could I have the same…? I’d like an order of natto rice, please!” Christian simply couldn’t help himself.

“Roger that. It’ll be right out.”

And just like that, Christian found himself face to face with the same dish that Fardania ordered.

“Mm, I knew it! Natto pairs super well with rice!” Fardania looked like a small child happily enjoying her food.

Christian couldn’t help but feel slightly panicked watching her eat, so he began digging in, too. First, he stirred the natto, making its texture that much stickier. He didn’t care and continued stirring. Next, he mixed in some of the dashi soy sauce. Christian had a hunch that this was the same ingredient used in natto spaghetti. The elf continued stiring it all together. Finally, he added a dash of the green herbs and yellow stuff, taking care not to use too much. He took a quick bite of his mix so he could make the right adjustments.

This is definitely natto. And this…

The saltiness of the dashi soy sauce fused nicely with the sticky texture and taste of the natto. Meanwhile, the addition of just a wee bit of onion and mustard—used as a secret flavor in the noodles—gave it all a bit of a punch. This was Christian’s first time ever eating natto by itself in this world, but it was quite delicious. After making sure it was just to his liking, he added it to the bowl of white rice.

All it took was a single bite. Christian trembled from shock.

It was good. The natto had the flavor of the earth. When paired with the warm, white rice, it became that much tastier. If he were to put it into words, it reminded him of his friendship with Edmond… The feeling of traveling with a close friend for years on end. That’s how well they went together. The vaguely sweet but simple flavor of the rice fused with the strong flavor and aroma of the natto to become its own new, delicious experience. Natto existed to be eaten with rice. The flavor Christian experienced was so strong it led him to this very conviction.

At the same time, this was also the taste of defeat. The young woman sitting in front of him, his best friend Edmond’s daughter, had yet to even live a third as long as he and was still so far ahead of him in terms of her pursuit of flavor. She had a powerful appetite, refusing to be tied down by common sense and, perhaps most importantly, had the reckless bravery to boldly take on new challenges…

Ah, to be young again.

Christian made peace with himself. The young woman in front of him was already a full-blown connoisseur of flavor.

After leaving the Restaurant to Another World, Christian informed Fardania of something important.

“What?! Rice exists in our world?!” Fardania was dumbstruck by her new friend’s words.

She simply didn’t expect rice to exist on their side of the door. She’d been traveling for a year now, stopping by various elf villages and human towns, but not once had she come across the fluffy, white grain.

“Indeed it does. Across the ocean on the Western Continent, dishes with rice are quite common,” Christian explained, nodding his head in response to Fardania’s outburst.

The older elf had spent many more years of his life, a century or more, traveling across the world. While rice was extremely rare on the Eastern Continent, it was more common than wheat over on the Western Continent. People there ate it daily. While it didn’t taste much like the rice served in the Restaurant to Another World, it was most certainly a similar crop.

“Wow… I had no idea.” Fardania’s eyes sparkled.

Rice.

This was the crop she sought. If she was going to make a dish better than anything at the Restaurant to Another World, she was going to need rice. This was the very moment Fardania’s next objective was decided.

Haha, she really is quite young.

Seeing Fardania burn with passion, Christian decided to give her something.

“Fardania, here. Take this.” He handed her a small pot filled with his prized treasure.

“What’s this? Wait, it’s a little different from the stuff on the rice balls, but this is miso, isn’t it? You can make miso by rotting—er, fermenting elf beans?!”

It took only a single peek into the pot for Fardania to figure out what it contained. Its red and brown earthy color made it obvious. The research into fermenting elf beans Christian was conducting had already born fruit. Fardania never imagined for a moment that one of that restaurant’s staple foods could be made in her world.

“That is correct. After many long years of research, I accidentally stumbled upon the recipe for elf bean miso.” Christian nodded. His current goal was to find a way to purposely make it. But at the moment, this was all the elf bean miso in the entire world.

“Take it with you,” he said. “Your favorite food is miso, is it not?”

“Thank you so much for everything,” she said.

Fardania politely accepted the pot, clearly moved by his actions, and stuffed it into her magic bag. This was something truly precious. She had to take good care of it.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

“Yes, take care. Even with the life span of an elf, it’s a wide world out there.”

Fardania began her journey anew as Christian watched from afar. Her destination was just beyond the ocean.

The young elf’s pursuit of flavor continued.