Chapter 81 – Real Frog Food

The mansion where those who were thought to be suffering from labor cough were gathered was close to the duke’s house.

It is said to be the residence of a vassal of the duke’s family, about 10 minutes away by foot or 2-3 minutes by horse-drawn carriage.

The servants are staying at home. I didn’t want to bring them to a place where sick people were gathered.

The treatment itself would have taken less than an hour even if I had seen everyone, but it took the whole morning because Sasha-san introduced me one by one to the patients and had conversations with them.

“Are you all right, Mother-in-law?”

I asked Sasha, who was slumped over in the carriage on the way home.

“I’m a little tired Luke-san, thank you so much for today. I was really surprised that my friend, who had been in a coma, recovered enough to have a conversation.”

“Because I made her drink my master’s special [Nutritional Tonic].”

“It is an amazing medicine. Can you mix it too, Luke-san?”

Iris’s eyes twinkled at Sasha’s question, but unfortunately, Luke hadn’t obtained it.

“I have enough proficiency level in [alchemy magic], but my basic race level is not enough, so I can’t concoct it. My master says that for some reason I can’t do it unless my race level is 30 or higher.”

“Luke-sama, why is it that you can make [Advanced Recovery potion], but not [Nutritional Tonic]?”

Iris asks a question with great interest.

“He thinks that perhaps it is treated the same as the [special grade recovery potion], but even the master doesn’t know why.”

“Will I be able to make it too?”

“Iris, you need to learn [alchemy magic] first.”

“I see… It’s a pity. I have no aptitude for [alchemy], so I give up.”

“Although it’s difficult to learn, [Alchemy] is a combination of the holy and dark attributes, so it’s not as if you are unqualified. You’re originally a Holy attribute specialized type, and although there are individual differences, you were born with a [subspace storage] of the Dark attribute, so you should have an aptitude for it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It takes a great deal of time to activate the first [Extraction] or [Separation] magic, so many people give up because they think they don’t have the aptitude for it. Those who have a very high aptitude for it learn it quickly, so they start learning it at the same time in class, and those who can’t do it after a year give up because they think they don’t have the aptitude for it.”

“If you can’t do it after one year and your aptitude is still low, then you might as well give up. It would be more meaningful to study elective subjects in the third year by choosing subjects in which you have a high aptitude.”

In the first year of the academy, everyone learns the same basic subjects in common subjects, but from the second year, in order to develop one’s aptitude identified through the first year classes, students can choose the major they want to study in common basic studies plus elective subjects.

There are three systems of the same water magic: attack magic, support magic, and recovery magic, and Luke-kun specialized in recovery and wasn’t good at attack magic.

I am not afraid of any attribute or system now that I have received blessings from the gods of each attribute for defeating the evil gods in exchange for my soul, so I will be good at offensive magic if I train.

I would like to choose my second year major after listening to what Iris wants to do.

“Haha, when I asked my master, he laughed at me and said, “How much training did you get after a year of study in class?”

“What do you mean? They all worked so hard, didn’t they?”

“Oops……we’re at the Duke’s house already.”

“Luke-sama! If you stop talking here, I’ll be too anxious to get anything done!”

Well, I guess you’re right. She’s so desperate I could almost laugh.

“I’ll send

mother to her room to rest until lunch, and we can talk about the rest of the day over a cup of tea in my room.”

******

“The question is how many times a student actually performs magic in a year just because he or she learns [alchemy] once a week in his or her major class. Pharmacy is very expensive, so the classes are mainly classroom work, and there are very few practical classes. Don’t you have a lot of practical classes.”

“That’s right. Because the practical training requires actual medicinal herbs. Outside of class, you have to practice by buying medicinal herbs at your own expense, so it’s tough for students who don’t have money.”

“You know. In my case, my master cultivated rare and precious medicinal herbs in the royal palace, and various kinds of medicinal herbs were delivered from the temple every day, and I was forced to practice until I ran out of magic power. Even if you did a year of classes, you only practiced using medicinal herbs a few dozen times, right? For me, who was delivering thousands of herbs a year, I can only say that there wasn’t enough practice.”

“Thousands of herbs?”

“Even if you can’t use [Alchemy], you can make intermediate level recovery medicine if you carefully select materials, so there’s no need to go into debt to learn something that will bankrupt your house.”

“I don’t think it’s necessary to borrow money to learn it, but the effect of the recovery medicine extracted by [Alchemy Magic] is much different from the one made by ordinary mixing. I would like to learn it if I could.”

“Even medicinal herbs for beginner-level restoratives cost five silver coins per bunch. If you don’t have enough money, you’ll lose heart before you succeed with the first one. I will teach you how to learn efficient [alchemy magic] when we get back to the academy.”

“Yes, Please!”

Wow… Iris at times like this is really cute with a good smile!

******

Yesterday I said I didn’t want lunch, so it’s not prepared. That means I have to make it.

I was going to prepare it in the morning, but I didn’t prepare anything because I had to spend time outside for treatment.

I think I’ll just use that one from yesterday: …….

Instead of cooking in the kitchen, I’ll put a cloth on the dining room table and put two magic stoves there. Cooking demonstrations are fun to watch, and the hot, freshly prepared food that is served right after it is finished in front of you tastes even better.

“Luke-niichan, what are you going to feed us this time?”

Lara-chan asked me after seeing my preparation work.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what you would serve us.”

Mifa and Sasha-san’s expectations were a little too high, probably because they had eaten my food last time.

Lara, Anna, and Sasha have already arrived at the cafeteria and taken their seats. Of course, the school students are there as well. The head maid and two maids are also keeping a close eye on me to make sure I don’t cause any problems.

“I was thinking of cooking the frogs I caught yesterday….”

The chief maid, who knew it was a frog, glared at me.

“Eh—-Frogs?”

“What kind of food are you going to make me eat?”

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.”

Iris and Anna weren’t so keen on the idea because it’s ghetto.

I quickly prepared the food before the chief maid stopped me.

I heat the oil in a deep frying pan. This time, rapeseed oil is used.

I put out the stringy frog meat attached and explain the ingredients to Sasha-san.

“This red stringed frog leg meat is the first game Lara hunted by herself. She skinned it and dismantled it all by herself.”

“Eh, is that so⁉ Ah~~ but that would make Guile feel left behind….”

“Mistress, I’m sure the master will be sulking.”

The head maid assured, but what was she talking about?

Apparently, Duke Guile, who loves Lara-chan, said, ‘Why did you eat Lara’s first catch when I wasn’t around? I wanted to eat it too!” and that he might sulk when he found out later.

“Well, I can’t help it if he’s not here. Lara, you’ve made it this far on your own, why don’t you try to finish by yourself?”

“Yes, Luke-niichan.”

“So that’s what the different colored strings on the frog’s legs are for….. Quite a quintessence, Luke-sama.”

Iris and Erica were muttering in admiration.

“The red string, by the way, was caught by Lara, the white by Mifa, the yellow by Erica, and the green by Emilia on her first cast.”

The foot meat with the white line that Mifa caught tied to it is taken out of the inventory and the line is removed.

What should I do with it? I think it would be easier to eat a bite-sized piece than a bone-in one.

I get out my cutting board and knife and remove the meat from the bone and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Lara was able to cut the meat well by watching and imitating beside me. Since it was larger than a bird’s thigh, I was able to get 16 slices from one leg.

One frog yields two large hind legs and two wing-sized front legs. I marinated one of each in soy sauce sauce and let them sit since last night.

As the oil heats up, I fry the unseasoned ones. The order of frying is important because the seasoned and powdered ones get dirty very quickly.

“Lara, put them in like this, from the front to the back. If you put them from the back to the front or throw them in from a high place, oil may splash onto them, so put them in gently from the front to the back. The reason why we put a cloth on the floor is to prevent oil from bouncing off. If you don’t put a cloth on the floor, it will be difficult to clean up oil stains. Don’t forget to consider the people who will be cleaning it.”

『♪ Oh, the favorability of the three chief maids has increased a little. Such small considerations are surprisingly effective in raising people’s favorability.』?

The sound of oil bouncing on the floor is a pleasant one.

I teach Lara not to burn herself while demonstrating.

“Like this?”

“Yeah, it’s fine like that. Let’s try putting in six at a time for now. If you put too many in at once, the oil temperature will drop and they won’t fry crispy, so be careful.”

“Luke-niichan, I can perceive the delicious smell.”

“The sound has changed, and the air bubbles from the meat are getting bigger… When they are a delicious golden brown color, take them out of the oil, drain off the excess oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and they are ready to eat.”

And then I tasted it.

“It’s surprisingly tasty. But I think it’s a little too light.”

“It’s delicious, Luke-niichan! Mother should try some of Lara’s cooking!”

Lara must feel exceptionally so because it’s the first time she caught her own frog and the first time she cooked it herself.

“Oh, my! It’s really delicious… ♪ It can’t be bad since it’s the first dish Lara cooked for me.”

“Miss Lara, may I have one of these?”

“Yes, please.”

You must have one too, chief maid.

『♪ She has never eaten frog meat, so she wants to check if it is okay for the daughters of the Duke to eat it. Also, she seems to want to eat Lara’s first dish by all means.』

“…… is delicious. It has a light flavor with just salt and pepper, but when you bite into it, the juicy meat juices come out and it’s very delicious.”

Good. The chief maid has given her approval, so I’ll let the others try it too.

The juices aren’t that great, though. The chief maid is afraid to say so!

“Lara, if it’s the first one you’ve cooked, I’d like to try it too.”

“Yes, you should eat it too, Anna.”

Anna is going to eat it, too, after all!

What’s more, Emilia is standing in line behind Anna…… you want to eat your pretty sister’s home-cooked food, even though you have the one you caught.

It’s okay….. I’ve got people who will eat mine.

“Mifa, ahhhhh!”

“Eh! Oh, yes! Ah~n♡”

She opened her mouth shyly, so I put the meat into Mifa’s pretty mouth.

“It’s delicious♡♡”

Mifa is so cute!

“Master! I want to eat it, too!”

Yes, Diana loves meat. She’s drooling from her mouth.

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