NOVEL NEXT Chapter 418
Alfred’s letter of return could arrive at any time.
However, I never expected it to be this sudden.
Still, thanks to having organized my belongings in advance for this kind of situation, it didn’t take long to finish preparations and leave the village.
Of course, Mary did the preparations.
“Is there something urgent going on?”
“Not particularly, but it was a message to return since Prince Godwin likely has sufficient manpower and resources now.”
Catherine handed me the letter, suggesting that if things seemed strange, I should see for myself.
The content was a bit lengthy due to various embellishments, but the gist was as Catherine said.
I had no particular complaints about it.
As I was starting to get tired of this laziness, it felt like good timing… but wait.
“Ah, wasn’t I supposed to tell him the kelp recipe?”
Karem scratched his head.
The kelp made by the kids in the village had all been consumed as a snack before the letter even arrived.
If I wanted more, I’d have to fire up the child labor process I previously organized in Border Edge.
The problem was that Karem was currently heading to Coldon.
“That’s not it, maybe it won’t matter after all.”
Godwin’s gaze while eating the kelp was unusual.
More specifically, Alicia’s gaze when discovering delicious dishes.
She was just as active and impressive, but thinking of her different appetite, she’d surely find a way to eat for herself.
Not that I would have to start from scratch.
The raw ingredients were nearby, and the manufacturing infrastructure was intact.
If this way, I could somehow re-organize the cuisine system, I might produce results beyond expectations. Though, winter had to pass first.
It would be a bit hard to get skilled at grilling without burning over charcoal, but I’d get used to it with more practice. Charcoal was just wood laying around anyway.
The real issue was the absence of sesame oil.
Karem thought that far was unavoidable.
Even if it were another season, I could quickly purchase some, but it just had to be winter now, so that was impossible.
In any case, I considered substituting it with the aromatic Akusare Mushroom oil instead.
“That’s interesting in its own right…”
“What do you mean?”
“Grilling kelp with Akusare Mushroom oil.”
“Akusare oil, huh.”
Mary put chopped tomatoes into the pot. She seemed to be imagining it for a moment, staring into the distance.
“Mushrooms go well with seafood, so it might result in a strange yet familiar taste.”
“That’s likely.”
“However, it won’t have the same explosive flavor as when using sesame oil.”
“Indeed.”
“But.”
Mary looked down at the cutting board in front of Karem.
The fish fillet was being prepared in a way she had never seen before.
The part of the hammerhead wrasse that she had given to Karem without turning into sweet and sour fish was now being prepared in a manner she had never witnessed in her life.
It seemed like she was grilling, but the surface was quickly cooked dark while the inside remained raw and was sliced thin.
Earlier, it had been lightly cooked.
Now, she sliced the peeled raw fish into bite-sized pieces and declared it done.
Half of it was mixed with a slight amount of salt, sugar, and vinegar dissolved in kelp water, then placed onto ball-shaped rice to hold it in place and was neatly arranged.
Passengers on boats, sailors, or pirates sometimes eat raw fish, but that’s only in dire situations like being shipwrecked or adrift.
Ah, wait. Now that I think about it, he was a reincarnator.
Mary suddenly recalled Karem’s uniqueness.
“Was eating raw fish common in Karem’s past life?”
“It was that way in the neighboring country rather than mine. They revered seafood like the Kingdom of Seophone does with meat.”
“Raw, you say?”
“Yes. Both cooked and a lot of sashimi were consumed.”
Mary’s cutting of the tomatoes came to a halt.
“That’s a perfect recipe for getting sick, isn’t it?”
True, due to the island’s geography and the meat prohibition order upheld for over ten centuries, the amount of heavy metal accumulation in those who became obsessed with seafood, like the Japanese, was beyond imagination. I’ve also heard that the marine parasitic issue was serious.
“Well… it was an island nation. Plus, wasn’t there something similar with Servianus as well? Carpaccio also uses raw fish, right?”
“Just because you mentioned it, the Seophone people don’t worship raw fish as they do meat.”
“Well, here in Europa, there are seafoods so rare that they can’t be eaten raw either.”
However, Karem didn’t intend to let Mary stew in such misunderstandings and biases.
He wasn’t fond of sashimi, but… salmon sashimi was delicious.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oysters.”
“Oh.”
Mary, momentarily forgetting, lightly tapped her head.
Even in Europa, where dishes using raw ingredients are rare, there was one thing they couldn’t get enough of.
Oysters.
Moreover, the cooking method was simple.
It was all about cleaning the oyster shells, removing foreign matter, and squeezing a bit of lemon juice.
This method was even praised as the best way to eat by the nobles of the Palatino Empire, continued since the Ancient Palatino Empire.
Despite overfishing and the destruction of production areas until now, the flavor had continued to be passed down through tales, songs, and writings like myths and legends, so much so that even those who didn’t know oysters lauded them.
In a time when even a noble in one country found it hard to get, the development of new oyster dish recipes seemed nearly impossible.
There were definitely some making efforts to restore the population somewhere.
However, there were likely far more people wanting to eat it right away.
“Are you seriously out fishing at sea and sowing seeds to grow vegetables when you said you’ll prepare lunch?”
The two quickly presented the prepared dishes at the outdoor table.
As soon as Mary placed a large pot at the center of the table and opened the lid, steam rose from Servianus-style mussel soup.
Before leaving the village, they had thoroughly gathered mussels in Border Edge, adding tomatoes for a new twist to enhance the umami.
The rich aroma of mussels mixed with the scent of the ocean and the sweetness of tomatoes filled the air and made my mouth water just from the smell.
“I made this because I heard Karem’s junior wanted to have it after a long time.”
“Right. But you added tomatoes?”
“I included them for the umami flavor.”
“Tomatoes do tend to pair oddly well with Servianus dishes, but—”
Catherine turned her head towards the cutting board, which Karem had casually placed next to her.
The exotic feeling was overflowing.
“…Didn’t you say you’d prepare some cooked meals?”
“Yep. This is cooking.”
Karem poured a bit of soy sauce into a small bowl and took out a small brush.
“…Undercooked fish fillet, raw fish fillet, and raw fish on top of rice. It looks like it could just jump out at me. Do you have a problem with me?”
Catherine seemed genuinely bewildered as she looked back and forth between Karem and the cutting board.
Yet Karem was serious.
“In my previous life, these dishes made from this fish would be more expensive than oysters.”
“You’re kidding!?”
Catherine grimaced in disbelief.
Karem dabbed the brush into the soy sauce, lightly brushed it on sushi and offered it to Catherine with tongs.
‘Raw fish, huh.’
But even if it looked like this, it was entirely different cuisine in this world, reducing the discomfort and taking the place of curiosity.
And then.
“Then… let’s see—mm?”
The taste was surprisingly not bad.
Contrary to the perception of raw fish, the piece of fillet from the hammerhead wrasse, thanks to its unique oiliness, squished perfectly on the sushi as I chewed.
The tanginess that balanced the richness with saltiness and the flavor enhanced by the soy sauce, with a sweetness of rice that became more pronounced the more I chewed.
It was delicious enough to eat without the rice.
What I liked most was the barely-cooked sashimi on the outside.
“What is this called?”
“It’s called tataki.”
Yeah, these were definitely something Catherine couldn’t help but acknowledge as cooking.
After all, carpaccio was also cooking, and raw oysters served with lemon juice were too.
“Surprisingly… it’s not bad.”
“Right?”
“The reason for brushing the soy sauce later must be because of the dry air.”
The lunch was taking place outdoors.
It was even snowing.
However, thanks to the barrier Catherine set up, there was no situation where the snow fell onto the prepared dishes, but the overall climate was still not favorable.
As a result, the water-logged nature of the fish fillet quickly lost moisture from the surface.
“That and I’ve seen something before. It would have been better if it were salmon.”
“Salmon? Raw? You’ll get parasites that way.”
“But purification magic worked fine. I experimented and found it eradicated the parasites.”
While talking about this, Catherine took a few more pieces and, after enjoying some more hammerhead wrasse tataki, focused again on the mussel soup.
Although half remained, Karem wasn’t disappointed.
‘I thought they would leave more, but it seems they ate more than expected.’
Still, it seemed that cooked dishes suited her palate more than raw sushi and sashimi, as she appeared far more satisfied with the mussel soup.
While Karem diverted his gaze from Mary, who was looking at him as if she had won, he finished off the remaining sashimi and sushi, then extended his empty bowl.
“You made it confidently, yet the reaction seemed lukewarm.”
“Scoop me some broth. What’s with the need to comment, having seen everything from the side?”
“That’s to overtly express that I won and feel superior. Honestly, you ask about the dumbest things.”
“Shut up, and just give me more broth.”
Mary filled the bowl with broth as Karem requested, without any more words.
Slurp—
The taste of that hot, rich mussel broth mixed with the tomato sauce washed away any remnants of defeat Karem might have felt.
No one who loved seafood could refuse the taste of such hot, rich broth on a cold day. Even Karem, who was picky about seafood, gulped down the broth of Servianus-style tomato mussel soup, which proved that point.
‘I bet William would probably enjoy this too.’
At least now, in this chilling winter.
Doo…doodoo….du—
While continuing to eat, suddenly, a faint vibration began to feel, halting their meal.
“What’s going on, an aftershock?”
“No. This is closer to the sound of galloping horses. Isn’t someone racing over from the opposite side of the road in a rush?”
“No.”
Catherine frowned.
“That’s not it either.”
Before Karem could inquire further about what it was, he canceled his question.
No wonder.
Doo doo doo doo doo doo—!
“Can’t that filthy hoof stop alreadyyyyyyy!!!!”
“Hahaha! You catch me if you can!!!!”
The source of the vibrations appeared, emerging with a snowstorm in the distance.
A voice filled with hatred and fury that seemed determined to kill its opponent.
Relentlessly mocking that voice.
Especially the latter.
“Onager?”
Catherine and Mary nodded silently.
Even without clear visibility due to the blizzard and distance across the snowy expanse, it was undoubtedly the Onager leading the charge once Catherine zoomed in.
Behind it, five unicorns with sinister expressions were hot on its tail.
Those guys appeared to belong to the same group of unicorns they had killed earlier, right?
The unicorns began casting magic at the Onager from beyond the right horizon. Distinctive explosions, clashes, and sounds of friction echoed across the distance, illuminating the air with bursts of flame and lightning magic.
As all sorts of curse words akin to filthy internet community posts spiraled about, Karem once again felt his fantasy about unicorns shatter.
If this had happened once, it might have been a coincidence, but twice it meant inevitability, and thrice it meant fate.
“Are unicorns all like that?”
“No, they may be fond of maidens, but that is a rare case. Didn’t I mention this before?”
“No, but look at that.”
“Yeah.”
Catherine couldn’t deny that statement.
If the first unicorn she saw was all like that…
“…Was that the gang of unicorns that attacked us before?”
“Exactly. Even if they happen to be a different group, considering the rare sight of five unicorns, especially so soon since the previous encounter, it’s highly likely we’re seeing the same group again.”
“But why are those ones hunting the Onager instead of me, who hunted one of their comrades?”
“Either way, there’s quite a distance from us.”
The distance between Karem’s group and the unicorn chase was now at least three times as far apart as when the group encountered the unicorns in Border Edge, rapidly widening as time went on.
‘At this rate, hunting is off the table for me.’
A bit regretful, but Catherine cancelled the magic she was about to cast.
“More importantly, why are those five chasing the Onager with such hatred?”
“Maybe they’re envious of how the Onager was treated at Winterhome?”
It was an argument that couldn’t be logically refuted.
“Hearing that makes sense.”
“Or, what’s that thing? Perhaps those unicorns, violated by the council’s chosen maidens, are trying to assassinate those who approved of it?”
“That’s also possible.”
Both opinions were sufficiently plausible and credible, so the three servants nodded in agreement.
However, in a situation where there was no more to be done aside from chatting, the three of them gazed at the snowy horizon, munching on mussel soup until the unicorns completely vanished from sight.