Nodding in agreement, Douga and the president still ate their food before Layotte could get his hands on his. They both had a considerable carrier in adventuring, and as such, had developed some degree of resistance. In addition, with something this simple (with a straightforward flavor) they could have detected most any poison on the spot from experience.
「Speaking of…」
「My Lord?」
「You tell me Aearis has been dining on some rare delicacies. Could she stand to return to the bland meals served at the Temple?」
Layotte asked, as he is washed down what could only be described as meagre. Neither Douga nor Rayna had stopped to ask that question. Douga froze.
「…I must speak with the chef at the Temple. While the dishes are rare, they are not extravagant.」
「I see. So, do they make good food?」
「It may depend on one’s palette, for many of their dishes. Aearis-sama and I have both enjoyed them all.」
「Interesting.」
Layotte cracked (in some sort) an evil grin. As soon as Douga saw this, he regretted mentioning anything about food. Aearis wasn’t the only one unhappy about the dining situation at the castle and Temple.
「Let’s see… We’re going there anyway, can you ask them to cook us one of this strange delicacies?」
「…I will ask him, My Lord.」
Douga wallowed in his mistake of including food in his report, but what he didn’t know, is that it didn’t really matter whether he kept this from his report or not. After a quick discussion about the near future, Douga was left to describe the dishes he had eaten to Layotte with the time leftover. Then, a black-haired man in his mid-twenties entered. In contrast to Layotte’s skinny stature, this man was cool-blooded and handsome.
「Julius Felnork, reporting for duty.」
「You’re here. Faster than I’ve thought. Did you eat?」
「Military rations on the way.」
「Ernest.」
「Yes, My Lord.」
Douga activated the Transportation Stones to Layotte’s cue. All of a sudden, Hiroshi and the rest of the part were looking to get involved with the royal court of Farlane.
***
Burning a hole into yet another steel plate (in a different shape this time) Aearis was daydreaming the possibilities of the dishes about to appear in front of her.
「Jeesh… I was wondering what you’ve been doing, sneaking around…」
「C’mon, what’s the harm?」
「There’s no harm, but…」
Makoto could not have sounded more exasperated looking at the equipment Hiroshi had produced for an afternoon snack. The steel plate in front of Hiroshi looked peculiar to Aearis and Rayna, with a grid of 8 by 12 half-spherical indents in it. It had been processed in all sorts of convoluted ways, radiating enough magic to tip off to most observers that the equipment was magic-powered. Of course, any Japanese person could instantly recognize it.
「Hold on, do we have octopus?」
「Who do ya think you’re talkin’ to?」
With that Hiroshi expertly started pouring oil into the indents. Once the heat was high enough, he filled the indents with some dough (similar but different from the dough earlier) and swiftly threw in the ingredients (including octopus, of course).
「Now, watch this.」
Hiroshi declared with a poker in hand, once he observed that the edge of the dough in each indent began to crisp. Weaving the poker like a swirling torrent, detaching the dough pouring out onto the spaces inbetween the indents. Pushing back the detached dough back into the indents before twirling the poker along the edge of the indent to flip over the ball with obvious expertise.
「Wow wow wow!」
Giving Aearis a glance, who kept uttering in a mix of awe and joy, Hiroshi kept flipping over the octopus balls. His technique was comparable to any professional vendor on the streets of Osaka.
「Amazing.」
「I don’t know if I should be surprised or not…」
「Anyone from Osaka can do this much, even a little kid.」
Hiroshi continued, flipping over the balls repeatedly to cook them evenly. His movements were completely free of hesitation or erroneous movement. He continued that for a while, and once he saw that all of them were cooked well, he placed upon a leaf, which he had turned into a makeshift tray, 8 octopus balls. Then, with expertise, topped them with steak sauce and mayonnaise, along with nori and bonito flakes before sticking a toothpick into one and serving it to Aearis.
「It’s hot, so be careful.」
Hiroshi warned Aearis, who had remained seated with excellent posture, staring at the cooking process with gaping eyes. If she had a tail, it would be wagging back and forth in joy. Before she reached for one, she did her usual glance at Hiroshi’s expression, but it seemed that today she couldn’t restrain herself for long, as she picked up one of the octopus balls. She apparently still heard Hiroshi’s warning, however, as she blew on the piping octopus ball in her hand before carefully putting it in her mouth.
「Hmm!」
The dish did seem rather confusing for the resident of another world. Aearis just rolled it back and forth in her mouth, looking perplexed. Chuckling at this sight, Hiroshi placed some more onto another tray.
「Mmm! This is so good!」
「You learned it in the Mecca of octopus balls, after all.」
The gang rolled the octopus balls back and forth in their mouths as they savored them, finished to a crisp exterior and a gooey filling. By this time, Aearis had recovered from the initial surprise, and began throwing them into her mouth.
「Try ‘em with soy sauce or ponzu. It’s pretty good.」
「Really? I want to try.」
「Here ya go.」
And so, Hiroshi threw the next batch into a couple of bowls, and topped one with soy sauce and the other with green onion and ponzu. He did not hold back.
「This is delicious, too!」
「I remember this from the last time. Ponzu, is it? I love the crisp acidity.」
As Haruna and Aearis cheered him on, Hiroshi started on his portion with a smug expression. Makoto and Tatsuya had already asked Hiroshi “You made the ponzu yourself, too?” and “How did you get the malt you need for soy sauce and miso?” etc., so now they simply ate in silence.
「…Does everything from your nation taste this good?」
「You haven’t seen nothing, yet. Actually, we haven’t been able to get our hands on the most important ingredient, so we haven’t been able to make」
Haruna countered strong to Rayna’s half-serious, half-exasperated question in reaction to the ridiculously elaborate food she had experienced so far. What’s more, the other Japanese members of the group fully agreed with Haruna.
「Right. I’m starting to miss rice, for real…」
「I could go for curry and rice instead of a curry bun, already.」
「Hold it, our number one priority outta be eggs-on-rice.」
「How about rice balls? With bonito, mentaiko, and tuna-mayonnaise.」
「…I miss the beef-on-rice bowls…」
Tatsuya whispered with all of his soul, and every Japanese member couldn’t help but feel the same. They segwayed into more conversation about rice:
「Chicken and egg on rice. Ooh, fried rice!」
「Oh, yeah. Beef curry is good, too, but I miss cutlet curry.」
「Sushi! Sushi!」
They continued listing dishes as they finished their octopus balls. Aearis seemed to be overloaded with trying to imagine what all of these dish could possibly taste like, as Rayna enjoyed her serving of the octopus balls, while failing to contain a chuckle. Then…
「Smells delightful, as always.」
「Welcome home, old man.」
「I’m back. I brought some guests with me. Do you mind?」
「Hang tight. I’ll whip some up. How many guests?」
Do you mind if we have a chat? Was Douga’s full question.
「Actually, I wanted to discuss our future.」
「Settle down, Ernest. He’s offering, let’s gladly accept it. 」
「If you say so, My Lord.」
Douga nodded reluctantly to the suggestion by the tall boy who walked in. Of course, the boy was Layotte. Seeing him, Aearis widened her eyes in a different way than before. She almost opened her mouth to speak to him, but so many words were running through her mind, that she ended up falling silent.
「So, how many?」
「For three of us, please.」
「Sure thin’.」
Disregarding Aearis, Hiroshi nodded to his order, and expertly cooked up some more octopus balls, as before. This managed to distract Aearis, and cause her to gleefully cheer, mesmerized by Hiroshi’s prowess. She had completely missed the chance to say something to her brother, but Layotte seemed to be satisfied seeing his sister’s unaffected joy. Cracking a quick smile, he joined in watching Hiroshi’s work. Even as he was distracted by Hiroshi’s rather performative skills, Layotte was surprised by the almost unbelievably high caliber of the magic-powered item on the table.
「This steel plate is really something. Did you make it yourself?」
「Yeah.」
Hiroshi responded, flipping over the octopus balls left and right. Layotte’s surprise was justified. Most magic-powered items, unlike Enchantments on weapons or armor, expend some form of energy. Hiroshi’s steel plate was extremely energy-efficient. Most magic-powered cookware in a household, even a simple one that heats to a certain temperature when turned on, expends enough magic that would make it difficult for an average person to use continuously for 12 hours or so. However, Hiroshi’s plate could be heated (even by someone with no expertise whatsoever) for 3 days straight. While Layotte had no idea of the significance of these “octopus balls,” he could determine with no uncertainty that craftsmanship of this caliber was completely wasted on a cookware for it.
Of course, everything Hiroshi had crafted within the past six weeks, save for a few exceptions like Haruna’s rapier, were all embodiments of wasted craftsmanship.
「We have another one.」
「I’m impressed you went and created two of something at such a high caliber.」
「…Hmm… Thanks, I guess.」
Hiroshi responded, still cooking the octopus balls, with some hesitation. Makoto picked up something from this, and squinted at Hiroshi and questioned:
「So, you’ve only made two, right?」
「Uhh… Well…」
Still keeping his hands busy, Hiroshi kept muddling his words. He was clearly hiding something.
「I won’t be mad. You can tell me.」
「Which means you’re 100% gonna get mad.」
「All depends on you.」
「…There’s a third one.」
With that, he reached away from the octopus balls for a moment to pull something out of his bag. Makoto raised her brow in protest.
「That’s it! I can’t condone wasting so much ingredients on these things!」
「Why Taiyaki, though?」
「Yeah, Hiroshi-kun. We don’t have red beans or cacao beans. All we can make is custard and matcha flavored ones!」
「Curry and cheese flavors, too.」
「Hiroshi! Haruna! That’s not what I’m talking about!」
Layotte pinched his forehead as if to contain a headache. Hiroshi had produced a cookware (bit of a stretch to call this one a steel plate) with a needlessly detailed cast of a red snapper. There were three pairs of these casts, each connected with hinges. Each pair had a cast of six snappers total, which meant this could produce up to eighteen Taiyakis at a time.
Needless to say, this is a ridiculously ornate machine in this world, and unequivocally a huge waste of ingredients and craftsmanship. At this moment, Layotte knew that what he was told was true. This man’s efforts were in the opposite direction of what it should have been dedicated to.
「Ernest. Julius. Are you sure they can handle it?」
「I can’t say anything, yet.」
「When it comes down to it, My Lord, they will get the job done. Please give them a chance.」
Even as Hiroshi argued over the oh-so-important semantics of his technology, he managed to perfectly cook the octopus balls and handed it over to the newly arrived guests. The longer the party revealed their usual tone, the visitors from court were made more and more nervous