Chapter 41: Seasonings and Young Bureaucrat
The moment Tardolf took a bite of the Cousin-don, his shoulders began trembling uncontrollably.
His grip on the bowl tightened.
The old chef stood perfectly still, his face hidden beneath the shadow cast by his lowered brow.
“U-Um… was it not very good?”
“…Watch who the judges vote for.”
That was all he said.
Then he fell silent.
His expression remained unreadable.
The reaction was so unexpected that unease began creeping into my chest.
Had I messed something up?
Was the seasoning strange by this world’s standards?
While my thoughts spiraled, the judges lifted their spoons and sampled the dish.
The first to react was Raphiel.
Her eyes immediately sparkled.
“The egg is so soft it practically melts on the tongue! The Rockbird meat is wonderfully tender and juicy as well! The texture is simply divine!”
She paused.
Then added with complete seriousness:
“…The quality of the rice is a little disappointing, though.”
“OHHH!! A complaint from the Saint herself!”
The commentator seized upon the criticism instantly.
Meanwhile, King Zigkun slowly nodded as he continued chewing.
“Ho… this is an entirely unfamiliar flavor.”
The king looked genuinely impressed.
“Several complex layers of umami have been woven together into a miraculous balance. Remarkable.”
“The King approves! This could already be decided! Now then, our final judge—the young bureaucrat who looked like he had nothing better to do!”
The narrow-eyed official casually took another bite.
Then another.
Then a third.
Finally, he spoke.
“It’s insanely good.”
That was it.
That was his entire review.
The bureaucrat’s commentary was somehow even lazier than Raphiel’s.
“Judges! Please cast your votes!”
“Eight.”
“Sorry, Tardolf, but my vote goes to Eight as well.”
“I’ll vote for Eight -kun.”
One after another, the judges raised the plaques bearing my name.
Raphiel.
The king.
The suspicious bureaucrat.
All three.
A unanimous victory.
…I won.
A wave of relief washed over me.
Sure, I felt a little guilty about using modern Japanese seasonings.
But a win was still a win.
More importantly—
I no longer had to punch anybody.
Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, Tardolf approached.
His face was unusually serious.
Then—
GRAB.
His massive hands clamped down on my shoulders.
“Boy.”
His voice was low.
“No… Eight-dono.”
“H-Huh? Yes?”
“What exactly did you put into this Cousin-don?”
His eyes burned with intensity.
“I can tell there is sugar. And some sort of sweet alcohol… but beyond that…”
As expected of the kingdom’s head court chef.
His palate was absurdly sharp.
I began explaining the ingredients in detail.
“Uh… the sweet alcohol-like ingredient is called mirin. Then there’s soy sauce, granulated Japanese stock, and—”
“Mirin?”
His eyes widened.
“Sho-yu?”
His grip tightened.
“Wa-fuu-ka-ryuu-da-shi?”
His voice rose with every unfamiliar word.
“Enough! Explain everything in detail!”
“I-I mean, even if you say that, I didn’t actually make those seasonings—”
“Then who did?!”
He practically roared.
“Tell me!”
“O-Okay! I’ll explain! Just stop shaking me!”
This man was terrifying whenever he raised his voice.
“The people who made them were food manufacturers in my world. Basically… merchants and companies that specialize in producing food products.”
“I see…”
Tardolf slowly closed his eyes.
A look of understanding spread across his face.
“So that is why.”
“Huh?”
“The moment I tasted your dish, I saw countless figures standing behind you.”
I froze.
“…Excuse me, what kind of horror story is this?”
“What?”
“The way you phrased that sounded terrifying!”
Tardolf ignored my complaint.
“When I eat a person’s cooking, I can roughly understand the life they have lived.”
“WHAT?”
What kind of absurd ability was that!?
He sounded like a character straight out of a cooking manga.
“However,” Tardolf continued, “your cooking was different.”
His gaze lowered to the bowl.
“Within your dish, I glimpsed lives that were not your own.”
“Lives…?”
“The people who created these seasonings.”
He spoke with absolute certainty.
“Their efforts. Their failures. Their endless experimentation. Their dedication to refining flavor. All of it lingered within the food.”
For a moment, I pictured countless researchers and food developers in Japan working tirelessly in laboratories and factories.
People who had spent years perfecting products I bought without a second thought.
And somehow—
Tardolf had tasted their presence.
What a ridiculous monster of a chef.
Then—
“I want to know.”
“Huh?”
“I want to know everything.”
His eyes blazed.
“Give me these otherworldly seasonings!”
“Wait, what?”
“I shall analyze them completely! Tear apart every ingredient! Recreate them from scratch!”
“Tardolf-san—”
“Come to my kitchen!”
The old chef thrust a finger dramatically toward me.
“You will accompany me until every mystery has been unraveled!”
“That sounds like a lot of work—”
“My cuisine shall evolve!”
“Tardolf-san, I actually want to go ho—”
“I WILL PAY YOU EVERYTHING I OWN!”
“That’s not the issue!”
“LET US GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
Before I could escape, Tardolf seized my arm.
And just like that—
I was dragged out of the colosseum and hauled directly to his research workshop.
◇ ◆ ◇
Half a day later.
The sun had long since set.
Night had fallen over the kingdom.
After promising Tardolf that I would return to the castle tomorrow, I was finally released from his relentless interrogation.
My body felt like a wrung-out rag.
Staggering through the corridors, I eventually reunited with Raphiel and Kirara.
“I’m… exhausted…”
“Eight looks unusually drained.”
“Looks like somebody had a rough day.”
Raphiel tilted her head.
“Eight. What is that enormous sack?”
The bag hanging from my shoulder was so large it looked like something Santa Claus might carry on Christmas Eve.
“Oh, this?”
I awkwardly scratched my cheek.
“Apparently it’s Tardolf-san’s entire fortune.”
“Huh?”
“When I gave him some of my seasonings, he insisted I take it.”
“WHAT!?”
Kirara practically jumped.
She peeked inside.
Then froze.
“Those are all gold coins!”
“Eight is rich.”
“Please don’t say it like that.”
I let out a weary sigh.
“Honestly, I feel terrible. I didn’t even make those seasonings. Being handed a horrifying amount of gold because of them just fills me with guilt and anxiety.”
And there was another problem.
I had absolutely no use for this world’s currency.
Almost all of my shopping was done online through the smartphone system.
Which meant—
This gigantic sack of gold would probably spend the rest of eternity sitting inside my storehouse.
“…You could say it would literally become a stored-away treasure.”
HA.
HA HA HA.
Nobody laughed.
“Tough crowd.”
“Then perhaps you could donate it to the orphanage operated by the temple?”
“An orphanage?”
I looked toward Raphiel.
She nodded.
“Yes.”
Her voice softened slightly.
“The temple shelters children who lost their families due to monster attacks.”
“Children with nowhere else to go…”
The image immediately came to mind.
Kids without parents.
Without homes.
Without anyone to rely on.
The joking mood disappeared instantly.
“Then… please do that, Raphiel-san.”
“I understand.”
She placed a hand over her chest.
“I swear in my name as a Saint that the money will be used for the benefit of those children.”
“Thank you.”
Though her face remained as expressionless as ever, there was a quiet kindness in her eyes.
The sincerity there made me feel strangely embarrassed.
Then—
Ding.
A notification sounded from my smartphone.
“Hm?”
I casually glanced down.
And froze.
“…Wha?”
My hands began shaking.
On the screen, huge letters displayed a message.
『50,000,000 Points Acquired!!』
I rubbed my eyes.
Looked again.
Then again.
Then a third time.
The number didn’t change.
Fifty million.
Fifty.
Million.
“F-F-FIFTY MILLION!?”
My voice cracked.
Why!?
No, sure, the system rewarded good deeds.
Helping farmers.
Doing community work.
Acts of kindness.
I knew that much.
But—
Fifty million!?
“M-Maybe it’s because of the donation?”
“Eight?”
Raphiel looked concerned.
“What happened?”
“Uh… well…”
I explained everything.
The points.
The donation.
The absurd reward.
Raphiel listened carefully.
Then immediately reached a conclusion.
“Eight is rich.”
“That’s your takeaway!? What should I do with fifty million points?”
“Spend them however you want.”
Kirara shrugged.
Raphiel nodded in agreement.
“I feel the same. Those points were earned as a result of your own actions.”
“Is that really how it works…?”
Still.
The moment I truly accepted that I now possessed fifty million points—
A grin spread across my face.
I couldn’t stop it.
I felt slightly guilty toward all the hardworking employees of Japan’s food companies whose seasonings had indirectly helped earn me this fortune.
But apparently—
My greed was stronger than my guilt.
“Fifty million points…”
My imagination immediately ran wild.
“With this much, I can replace that washing machine that’s been breaking down lately.”
My grin widened.
“And I can get a larger refrigerator.”
Wider still.
“Wait! Maybe I can finally buy one of those high-end cordless vacuum cleaners too!”
“Eight -kun sounds exactly like a housewife who just won the lottery.”
Kirara’s deadpan remark landed with perfect timing.
“Hello, Eight -kun.”
A new voice suddenly joined the conversation.
“May I have a moment of your time?”
“Huh?”
Standing in the corridor was the young bureaucrat from the judging panel.
The suspicious-looking one.
The guy with perpetually narrowed eyes.
I blinked.
“Aren’t you the government official who got drafted as a judge because he looked bored?”
“Haha.”
The man laughed awkwardly.
“That’s certainly… a memorable way to be remembered.”
He stepped closer.
“Allow me to properly introduce myself.”
His smile remained calm.
Relaxed.
Friendly.
“My name is Hijiri Naohito.”
My eyes widened.
“…Eh?”
The young bureaucrat continued casually, as though what he had just said wasn’t shocking at all.
“Like you, I’m Japanese.”
He pointed at himself.
“Over here, I simply go by Hijiri.”
Then he extended a hand.
“Nice to meet you.”
“…EH!?”
The revelation hit me like a lightning bolt.
A fellow Japanese person.
In this world.
Standing right in front of me.
And thus—
This was the first meeting between myself and Hijiri Naohito.
The man who would one day become my closest friend.