Chapter 62: Rice Burger

Chapter 62:
Rice Burger

As soon as the master heard the bells in the other room ring, he stopped working in the kitchen and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 6:30 a.m.—a bit too early for Aletta and Kuro to have arrived.

“Master, are you here?!”

The familiar, somewhat shrill voice calling from the entrance belonged to a young lady who visited Nekoya often. Since she basically appeared at random, however, she wasn’t quite a regular.

Her name was Fardania.

The master remembered her quite well. The first time she visited the restaurant, she’d demanded a meal free of meat, fish, milk, or eggs. She struck the master as a picky eater, which meant making all sorts of modifications to his dishes so that he could feed her properly.

At first glance, Fardania seemed to be around the age of a schoolgirl. However, she was an elf. According to one of the master’s older regulars, elves had extremely long life spans and showed few signs of aging, so it was entirely possible that Fardania was much older than she appeared.

“Aye, I’m coming.”

Either way, Fardania was a customer.

The master made his way to the dining hall, where two people stood at the entrance. He gave his visitors a puzzled look. The long-eared elf with golden hair—complete with a bow hanging over her shoulder—was, of course, Fardania.

The master didn’t recognize the young woman behind her, however. Her clothes were similar to Aletta’s usual garments, and she had slightly unkempt braided brown hair and long ears. Judging by the latter, she was probably also an elf. As far as the master could tell, the girls appeared to be around the same age.

The young lady hid behind Fardania’s back, but since she was slightly taller, she wasn’t very well concealed.

“She’s with me,” said Fardania. “I’d like to grab a bite. Is now a good time?”

“Um… Well, sure. Yeah. It might take a few minutes. Is that all right?”

Fardania could tell that the master was a bit confused, so she simply nodded.

“No problem,” she replied. “Oh, and you can serve anything. Just make sure not to use any meat, fish, eggs, or milk. She can’t really eat that stuff.”

Once Fardania had given the master the necessary instructions, she turned to her companion.

“Let’s go, Alice. Don’t worry. This human is a genuinely skilled cook. He even makes meals we elves can enjoy in peace.”

“Okay…”

As Fardania took Alice’s hand and sat her at one of the tables, the master brought the pair lemon water and warm towels.

“Here you go,” he said. “Hang in there. The food’ll take a little while, and what I can prepare right now is a bit limited. Will that be all right?”

“Of course.” Fardania took the water and towels. “I leave it to you.”

“Take your time and relax,” the master replied.

After the master left, Fardania wiped her hands with the moist cloth and looked at the “young girl” in front of her. Alice’s eyes darted around the restaurant nervously, but with great curiosity.

Fardania had acquired quite the companion. From Alice’s magical powers and facial shape, Fardania could tell that she was still a small child.

Crap. I’ve got no experience looking after kids. It wasn’t common for elves to have siblings, so Fardania wasn’t sure how to interact with someone Alice’s age.

As for how any of this came to be, we must go back in time to the night before.

***

Alice wandered through the forest fearfully. The growls of all manner of beasts filled the dark woods.

Why? How? Her mind was spinning in circles.

It had been thirty years since Alice was born and twenty years since she’d learned to speak. She knew her father, mother, and many siblings—as well as the other townsfolk—always said that she was a bit of a dummy. But even she understood what was going on in this situation.

I was abandoned? What do I do? What do I do?!

Alice stared into the dark forest surrounding her. However, the moon and stars were nowhere to be seen, making everything pitch black.

Lacking the instinct to conserve energy, Alice wandered aimlessly. The young girl simply wanted to escape the darkness. She fell time and time again as she bumbled through the forest, ears pricked.

***

Alice had been born in a small half-elf village in a corner of the Duchy. Perhaps because of the region’s traditions and long history, it was easier for changelings to grow up there. Thus, the Duchy had more half-elf residents than most countries.

Rejected by society at large, the half-elves had come together and made their own villages, living in poverty. This tended to be more common in the Duchy than any other nation. The half-elves married one another, giving birth to more half-elves, who went on to maintain the village.

Alice had two half-elf parents. However, she was different from the other villagers, and not in a good way.

When she was first born, at least, there seemed to be no problems. If anything, she had stronger magical powers than the average child, but she was still welcomed into the world.

When she turned twenty, even thirty, she still had less than half the knowledge of other children her age. She often repeated the same mistakes over and over again, as foolish as a small child.

She was also clumsy and incapable of doing household chores that kids ten or twenty years younger could complete. In fact, some seven- and eight-year-old girls were more capable than she was.

It didn’t help that she was also a picky eater. She refused to drink milk or eat cheese produced by the village’s ever-important cow, instead making a face at the scent of dairy. Even once she was technically of age, and had become an “adult” capable of bearing children, nobody thought of taking her as their wife. She simply lived at home with her parents.

When an epidemic hit the village, Alice’s parents were stolen from her, along with about half the village’s residents. The very same parents had doted on Alice, saying that no matter how clumsy or dumb she was, she was adorable.

It was then that Alice’s remaining siblings finally abandoned her. They simply lacked the time or resources to look after someone who couldn’t care for herself, especially when they had to focus on rebuilding the village.

This led Alice’s siblings to leave her alone in the forest.

Someone’s here!

Largely due to luck, however, Alice’s actions bore fruit. Her eyes made out light within the dark forest. The warm orange glow signaled the presence of people—even Alice knew that much.

She hurried forward with a smile, staring at the light in the distance…and tripped and fell to the ground.

***

That night, Fardania was camping in the middle of the woods. She tossed the mashruums she’d picked in the forest and the cobbler’s tubers she’d bought in town into a pot, boiling them over the campfire. She also added some miso Chris had given her as a secret ingredient. Boom—soup.

“Hmm.” She took a sip. “This seems about right.”

Satisfied by the flavor, Fardania put out the flames and summoned a small spirit that produced light, illuminating the area.

About a year had passed since Fardania left her home forest. Her path up to that point had accustomed her to life on the road, to some extent.

Now then… Hmm…?

Just as she was about to eat dinner, Fardania’s long ears twitched, picking up the sounds of movement.

“Who’s there? Come out at once!”

The noises were too loud to have been produced by woodland creatures, so Fardania took an attack stance, calling out.

“Aaaaaah!”

Perhaps surprised by Fardania’s fierce yell, a little girl fell from the underbrush and onto her face, her clothes covered in dirt.

Fardania released her stance and tilted her head in confusion. What’s a child doing here?

“Hey, you!” she said, extending her hand to the girl. “What are you doing, wandering around a place like this at night? It’s dangerous for children to be out right now.”

“Um…um… Everyone told me to go to the forest today,” the girl answered.

She was only a bit taller than Fardania.

I suppose I shouldn’t expect a girl her age to explain properly. But I don’t remember an elf village in these parts. Hmm…

Fardania kept her eyes on the girl as she considered the situation. Why in the world would a child her age be wandering the forest alone at night?

***

As far as Fardania knew, there were no elf territories in the area. If there were, she wouldn’t be camping in the middle of nowhere.

Elves weren’t always friendly when interacting with other races, but they were typically very kind to each other due to their dwindling numbers. This made the situation all the more puzzling. No elf would ever abandon their young in the forest at night.

Which means… Fardania recalled a story she’d once heard in a human town.

“Wait,” she said to the girl. “Are you from the half-elf village in this area?”

Fardania had heard that there was one nearby.

“Mm-hmm.” The girl nodded.

“I see. What’s your name?”

“Um…um… I’m Alice!” the girl answered excitedly. Her stomach rumbled.

“Alice, would you like supper?”

Fardania offered some of her fresh soup to the child.

“Yeah!” Alice nodded firmly.

She then took a portion of her hard bread and split it with the young girl as well.

She’d only brought enough for herself, so giving Alice a chunk meant the meal wouldn’t be particularly satisfying. Nevertheless, faced with a hungry child, Fardania couldn’t possibly do nothing.

“Ah! This soup is tasty!”

How terrible… Rage filled Fardania as she watched the innocent girl eat.

It didn’t take much thought to figure out exactly what was going on. Fardania could tell Alice was a changeling.

Changelings tend to be born to two half-elf parents, but I heard they normally end up being human…

Usually, half-elves were parented by one human and one elf. However, two humans or two elves could birth a half-elf changeling.

“Changeling” also had another meaning. When two half-elves had a child, they stood a good chance of ending up with a human or full-elf changeling.

If the child was human, it wasn’t much of a problem. Humans aged faster than half-elves. However, their growth rate—in other words, the time it took them to become adults—was no different.

It took humans only fifteen years to become adults capable of living on their own and giving birth to their own children. This meant they could live in half-elf villages, or even head off to human towns, with little issue.

In comparison, elves aged slowly. For approximately the first century of elves’ thousand-year life spans, their minds were essentially those of children, even if their bodies weren’t.

She was probably way too much for the half-elf village to handle.

An elf’s appearance didn’t change much from birth to death, so you had to discern their age from the amount of magical power within them. Fardania guessed that Alice was, at most, thirty years old. In other words, still just a child.

Alice was really nothing but a little kid compared to humans and half-elves the same age. It wouldn’t have helped that in the outside world—the human world—thirty years was a considerable amount of time. Fardania had learned that much in her travels.

Humans thought that living a hundred years was an extraordinary feat. Meanwhile, half-elves typically lasted around two hundred years before moving on to the next life. Those who survived to three hundred were fairly unusual. That difference in life spans must have led everyone Alice knew to abandon her.

Fardania peered at Alice, who was now sleeping peacefully, her belly full of hot soup. I’ll chat with her about it tomorrow.

She placed her blanket atop the small girl with a gentle smile, like that of a mother caring for her daughter.

***

And so, the next day…

“Hey, wake up! Far, there’s something weird here!”

Just after sunrise, Alice woke Fardania from her slumber within the defensive barrier she’d put up to keep away monsters and the undead.

“Nnm… What is it? Wait, wha…?”

Fardania sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes, only to see a very familiar object: an oak door illustrated with a cat.

This magical object was said to appear in spots with strong magical energies. In this case, one such spot happened to be several feet from where Fardania had slept.

“I guess it makes sense,” Fardania mused. “I noticed that this place’s magical energies were abnormally strong.”

“Hey, hey! What is it?” Alice asked Fardania nervously. She’d never seen anything like the strange door.

“Nothing bad.” The older elf smiled in an attempt to calm Alice. “That door connects to a different world with all sorts of tasty… Hey, wait!”

After listening to only half of Fardania’s explanation, Alice unhesitatingly ran to the door, turning the handle with all the gumption of a child. Fardania followed after her as quickly as possible.

The door opened, surprising Alice with the sound of bells.

The older elf walked past her and entered first.

Perhaps because Fardania was earlier than usual, there wasn’t a soul to be found in the restaurant—no customers or even waitresses. Fardania called to the master worriedly.

“Master, are you here?!”

“Aye! I’m coming.”

As luck would have it, the master was awake. Fardania heard him reply from the kitchen before he came out. He seemed to have been preparing the day’s food.

Thus, the two elves became customers at the Restaurant to Another World.

***

Just as Fardania finished thinking over the past day’s events, their food arrived.

“I’m real sorry. The fresh rice isn’t quite done cooking, so I made this with cold rice,” the master explained, setting their food in front of them.

“This here is a mixed vegetable tempura rice burger,” he added. “Don’t worry, I didn’t use any eggs.”

Alice sniffed the burger and raised her voice cheerfully. “Woooow…!”

In front of the girl were foods she’d never seen in her life—a bright yellow something-or-other sandwiched between two brown things on a pretty white stone plate. The delicious aroma wafting from the meal made her stomach rumble.

“Hey, hey! Can I eat?” Alice asked Fardania.

“It’s probably still hot, so make sure not to burn your tongue, okay?” Fardania said, with a hint of a smile.

“’Kay!”

Alice paid careful attention to Fardania’s words and then immediately turned her attention to the food.

Using her hands, which she’d cleaned with the hot cloth while she waited for the meal, Alice lifted the brown object off the plate.

As it got closer to her face, the scent invited Alice to dig in. She could resist no longer.

With little care for table manners, the girl opened her mouth wide and bit into the burger.

It’s so hot! But it’s super tasty!

The flavor bursting in her mouth stunned Alice.

The first things she tasted were the bread-like objects sandwiching the inner ingredients. Their crispy surface allowed their soft, white insides to spread across her mouth.

This hot, bread-like food was filled with a delicious flavor that normal bread just didn’t have. It was sweet but salty. It smelled amazing and tasted delicious. The explosion of flavor that Alice tasted in her first bite was completely new for her—more delectable than anything she’d ever eaten in her short life.

It wasn’t just the bread-like food. The stuff sandwiched in between was also impossibly tasty. So were the thinly cut, bright orange karoot pieces and the root-like filling.

With each bite, the insides proved crunchier than the “bread” on the outside. They were sweet, salty, and a bit spicy. The fillings combined with the flavor of the bread-like stuff to create something positively transcendent.

Alice savored the food.

***

On the other hand, Fardania couldn’t help feeling defeated yet again as she calmly tasted the meal in front of her.

This is exactly the same as his grilled rice balls.

It didn’t take her long to identify the bread-like objects sandwiching the ingredients. Though their shape differed—each piece was a flat circle—they were obviously grilled rice balls with soy sauce.

They tasted salty, like soy sauce; savory, like the ocean’s scent; and slightly sweet, like sugar. Fardania also caught the taste of alcohol. She was more than aware that the rice balls’ slightly burnt flavor and scent were a delight all on their own.

Mixed vegetable tempura, eh? Can’t say I’m familiar with that.

From the dish’s name, Fardania concluded that the “mixed vegetables” in question were coated in flour batter and fried in oil—a complex process. She recalled seeing a similar cooking method when she’d last visited the Empire.

So he flavors the vegetables, coats them with batter, and fries them. I bet the latter part of the process is what’s called “tempura.”

Root vegetables were typically good at absorbing flavor, so they were perfect for soup and also tasted great in any kind of rich seasoning. Fardania was well aware of this.

The sweet karoots smelled ever so faintly of earth. On top of that, the soy sauce contained just a dash of sugar. All the flavors, including the fried crust, came together to create a tremendous feeling of satisfaction.

He got me again. Damn… Just one of these won’t be enough.

Fardania thought silently as she sipped miso soup. The broth contained fried tofu, a mysterious savory something-or-other that smelled of the ocean, and thinly cut oranie. The latter vegetable, available on the Western Continent, had recently become farmable on the Eastern Continent as well.

All this analysis took place as Fardania ate her food. By the time she’d figured out how the dish worked, her meal had vanished from the white plate.

I could go for a little more, actually.

Fardania glanced up to check on Alice.

The young girl’s facial expression made it clear that the meal was delicious, but not enough.

“Master, could I have two more orders of the same? One for me, and one for the girl here.”

“Aye. I’m already making them, so hold tight.”

Fardania chuckled at the master’s response. She felt as though he’d seen through her completely.

Whatever. I’ll forgive you, just for today, because of the girl.

The young elf decided to enjoy the “rice burger” instead of picking a fight. It had been some time since she’d last eaten a meal with another person. As someone on a quest, with a very specific goal, moments like these were important to Fardania.

***

The two elves exited the restaurant as the sun rose farther into the sky.

It’s about time I head to the next town, but…

Fardania prepared her things while Alice watched. The child’s silence was likely due to her full stomach. The older elf looked at the young girl abandoned by her town and family. Even if Alice went back home, she’d never truly be happy. That knowledge drove Fardania to speak.

“If you’re interested in gourmet cooking, would you like to come with me?”

It was pure happenstance that Fardania had run into this young elf on her journey. If she took the girl with her, Alice would undoubtedly delay her quest by at least a decade.

Things were dangerous enough for a single female elf traveling the world. Fardania had fought off monsters and all manner of bandits during her time alone. Although she was skilled for her age, and confident in her abilities, she wasn’t talented enough to fight with such a significant burden.

Despite knowing all of this, however, she couldn’t just abandon the girl. Alice’s young age wouldn’t let her.

“Um…um…” Alice tilted her head. It wasn’t clear whether she truly understood the question. “Will I be able to make rice burgers, too?”

“Probably.”

Fardania couldn’t give a definitive answer. After all, she still hadn’t even figured out how to make soy sauce. That said, she was eager to discover the recipe.

Perhaps Fardania’s feelings had come through. Alice grabbed her hand gently. “’Kay, I’ll go with you!”

She was still terribly young, but deep down, Alice understood. She had no home in that town, where her siblings would always look at her as an “other.” Her kind mother and father were no longer there for her.

“Wonderful. I’m looking forward to traveling together, Alice. How about we swing by a human town first? We have to get you ready for our trip!”

Fardania accepted everything as if it were the most natural choice in the world, readying her new travel partner for the road ahead.

***

Years later, Alice came to be known worldwide as the founder of elven cuisine and Fardania’s star pupil. This was the very beginning of their journey.