Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 318: The Takoyaki Pan is Finished… But?
And so—after many twists and turns—Rest somehow managed to complete the development of a takoyaki pan.
“Wait… you bent a steel plate to make this?”
“Yeah… was that strange or something?”
“Normally, you’d make a mold and cast it. You didn’t know that?”
Just to be sure, Rest had taken his creation to the village’s only blacksmith to get it checked. In response, the old man gave him a baffled look as he tapped the plate with his finger and let out a wry laugh.
“A mold…”
He at least knew the word.
It referred to pouring molten metal into a cast to make something like a sword.
He vaguely remembered reading in a magazine from his past life that hand-forged Japanese swords were better than mass-produced cast ones.
“But… there wouldn’t be a mold for something with so many little hollows like this, right? Making one from scratch would take too much effort…”
“No, no, no, Rest-sama. Making a mold’s not that much trouble at all. Just shape and harden some soil or clay, and you’re done. Bending a steel plate into something this complex takes way more effort. Must’ve been tough, huh?”
“……”
It was tough.
He had gone through countless trials and errors. Just getting those indentations into clean hemispheres had taken insane precision and nerves.
“All that effort was for nothing…”
“You should’ve just asked me from the start.”
“Well… you looked busy, so I figured I’d do what I could on my own…”
Being the only blacksmith in the village, the old man was always swamped with work. So Rest had decided to take care of everything after just receiving the steel plate.
“For a noble, that’s mighty admirable. But next time, don’t hesitate to ask. You saved this village. I’d never say no to a favor from our benefactor.”
“…I’ll take you up on that.”
At the blacksmith’s words, Rest nodded with a somber look.
It was exactly because he could manipulate metal with magic that he’d ended up going the long way around.
Trying to solve everything with magic was a common bad habit among mages.
If it had been something he truly couldn’t do, he would’ve just left it to a professional from the start and saved himself the trouble.
(So in the end, I was trapped by my own mindset… I really brought this on myself.)
He began to wonder: how was a takoyaki pan made in the other world? Maybe it was the power of science—the magic of that world.
“Still… it’s such a weird-shaped tool. Rest-sama, what do you even use this for?”
“Ah… it’s cooking equipment.”
Rest replied, a little disheartened by the question.
“I’m planning to make a special dish with it. If it turns out well, I’ll serve it to everyone in the village—so look forward to it.”
“Oh, now that’s great! Make sure it goes well with booze, alright?”
“Hahaha…”
As Rest let out a dry laugh, Celestine arrived.
“Rest-sama, so this is where you were.”
“Celestine… is something wrong?”
“The items you requested have been secured through the merchant. They’ve already been delivered to the inn.”
He had asked Celestine to procure the ingredients for takoyaki. It hadn’t even been that long since he made the request…
“They weren’t all that rare, after all. They had some in stock, so we got them quickly.”
“Excellent.”
“Also… some fishermen came by and dropped off part of their catch. What is that creepy creature?”
She must’ve been referring to the octopus.
Apparently, the fishermen had managed to catch some more.
“You said you’d be making a new dish, but… surely you’re not planning to feed that thing to people, are you?”
“Bingo. But that’s not a monster—it’s a kind of seafood. It looks weird, sure, but it tastes amazing.”
“I-I see…”
Celestine’s face paled slightly.
Apparently, even in this world, octopuses were considered creepy creatures.
The fishermen hadn’t seemed to mind much, but if he tried to serve it to nobles, there was a chance they’d refuse to eat it.
(Even though they’re fine with eating monster meat, they balk at octopus? I don’t get it… Yuri would probably eat it without hesitation, though.)
“Well, just wait and see. I’m going to cook up something amazing!”
Now that he had both the takoyaki pan and the ingredients, all that was left was the actual cooking.
Determined to shake off his earlier failure, Rest let out a hearty laugh and lifted the iron pan he had crafted with his own hands.