Kays Translations

Chapter 169

First, I take out a sauce I’d made in large quantities back in Lindblum.

Since I only have Cooking Lv. 1, I don’t have the confidence to make anything that requires complicated steps.

You’re wondering if frying is okay at that level?
Apparently, the four basic cooking methods—grilling, boiling, steaming, and frying—are all doable even at Lv. 1.

Things like “double frying,” “second fry at high temperature,” or “low-heat color control” require higher levels, though.

Still, can’t that sort of thing be handled with practice and experience?
Maybe I’ll experiment more next time.

Anyway, I mix finely chopped onions—salted and rinsed in water—with the Hollandaise sauce I took out.
Then I add chopped pickles and coarsely mashed boiled eggs.
Finally, I season it with freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt to balance the flavor.

“Alright… it’s not mayonnaise-based, but my pseudo–tartar sauce is done.”

I’d originally wanted to make something like tonkatsu sauce, but it was impossible in the short time I had, so I gave up.
Besides, I couldn’t very well hog this space for hours.

“Ohh… that’s an unusual sauce. I think I’ve seen Hollandaise before—ate it once in a restaurant in the capital. Light yet rich, a strange but pleasant flavor.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly a common one, is it?”

The one talking, watching my cooking curiously, was the innkeeper of Anarami Bell, the inn Melt and I had checked into.

We’d been searching for a place to cook the shrimp we bought and were considering setting up a makeshift kitchen on the beach,
but we found this inn right by the shore—with a small kitchen for guests.

Naturally, we booked a room on the spot, and that’s how we ended up here, making fried shrimp.

“That’s breadcrumbs, right? Pretty coarse.”

“Yeah. Much coarser than the regular kind—just grated baguette using a cheese grater.”

I also took out flour and eggs.
In this world, breadcrumbs are usually as fine as sand.
That works for fritters, but for fried shrimp, I wanted something crunchier.

“Same! Are you done yet? Let me at least taste the sauce!”

“Just a bit longer! Ten more minutes and it’ll be ready!”

Melt, perched by the counter with a fork in hand, impatiently urging me on—
it’s such a childlike sight that I can’t help but smile.

Still, it’s getting a bit late for lunch, so I should hurry.

Listening to the waves outside and Melt’s cheerful voice behind me, I finished up the frying.

“All done. Now for the tartar sauce—and it’s complete. Alright, Melt, taste the sea shrimp!”

“Wow… it’s cute—it looks like a beastman’s tail! Okay, let’s eat!”

I plated eight golden shrimp, adding a generous heap of tartar sauce.

Personally, I believe the more tartar sauce you have, the happier you become.
Don’t you agree, everyone?

Melt took a big bite, her mouth wide open.
The sound of the crisp coating echoed, making me imagine the texture and flavor myself.
…Alright, I’ll have one too.

“! So good…! On my list of ‘best meals I’ve had since leaving home,’ this just beat out Seira’s steak!!! This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten!!!”

“Whoa, seriously? Better than Seira’s cooking!?”

“It’s too good… crunchy, juicy, and sweet. Sweet—but shrimp-sweet! And the sauce matches it perfectly! I can’t believe something this delicious exists… the world’s so big!”

Melt stared at the half-eaten shrimp with an expression of sheer awe, as if the taste had shocked her to her core.

Was it really that good? So good it crossed into fear territory?

“Hey, mind if I try one? Never seen a dish like that before. Looks different from a fritter—and that sauce intrigues me.”

“Of course, go ahead.”

“Me too, another one! This is a dangerous dish! It’s so good, it took me five bites to finish one! Normally I’d eat something this tasty in two bites, but I was too scared to!”

Adorable… but I’m not entirely sure what she means.
Maybe she didn’t want it to end?

“Hmm… now I see why you used those coarse breadcrumbs. Amazing texture, and the sauce clings perfectly.
And that sauce—it’s incredible. Damn, this is too good for me to just steal by watching you. Sorry, mister.”

“Ah, it’s fine, really. As long as you can make Hollandaise, the rest is easy to copy. I’d suggest adding parsley or herbs, or even a little sugar for richness. This time, I kept it simple—just the egg’s sweetness and acidity to match the fried shrimp.”

“You sure about that? This could become the hit dish of the port…”

“By all means! If we can eat it anytime here, my companion will definitely come back again.”

“Yeah! I’ll order tons! Fried shrimp with ‘taru-taru’ sauce! Why’s it called that, though? Does it have barrels in it? You can’t eat barrels, right?”

“Sadly, it has nothing to do with barrels. The name comes from ‘tartar,’ a type of dish.”

“Oh! The sauce is so good, I bet it’d go great on bread too!”

And thus, I completed the secret goal I’d set for this trip:
“Let Melt eat fried shrimp.”

Now I could head to Yasha Island with no regrets.

The next ferry leaves in three days,
so until then, we’ll enjoy exploring the port town and hunting for interesting goods.

The next day, Melt and I took a walk along the beach early in the morning.

A little distance from the pier, the sandy shore stretched on for quite a while. Since the sea was still a rare sight for Melt, strolling along it while watching the waves was clearly exciting for her—she dashed around on the sand like a child, even though it was still early.

“Wow, these waves never stop, do they? They just keep going—whoosh, whoosh—forever! And look, sometimes little fish get washed up too, it’s so funny! Oh, there’s another one! Off you go, back to the sea!”

“Haha, yeah. The waves bring all kinds of things ashore—it’s fun to watch.”

Whenever she found a small fish left behind by the waves, Melt would pick it up and toss it gently back into the ocean.
The gesture was so adorable I almost couldn’t resist hugging her.

“The ocean’s huge, isn’t it…? I’d only ever seen it from really far away before, and back then I was still a kid, so I couldn’t really imagine how big it was… but seeing it like this—it’s amazing!”

“Yeah. In my world too, the oceans were actually bigger than the continents where people lived. I’m sure this world’s seas are just as vast.”

“Wow! I can’t wait for the ship! It’s going to glide across this huge ocean—what’s it even like, I wonder?”

“Well… maybe you should prepare some medicine for motion sickness. Ships tend to sway a lot.”

“Ehh… then I guess I’ll have to make some when we get back to the inn!”

“Good idea. And who knows, maybe we’ll find ingredients or interesting materials for your medicine at the market. Let’s stop by again today. There should be goods from overseas, not just seafood.”

“Agreed! After breakfast, let’s go to the market! Oh, and we can buy shrimp again today too!”

“Alright, but maybe we’ll try a different recipe this time. Eat shrimp fry every day and your stomach might protest.”

“Ehh… fine, if you say so!”

Why does it sound like I’m the one being unreasonable here!?
Well, that’s just Melt being Melt. I’ll let it slide!

After breakfast, we headed to the market.

Just like during our walk, the weather at the port was clear and sunny.
Though the air was still a little chilly, the bright sunlight made it feel pleasantly warm.

The market was lined with freshly caught seafood—and among them.

“Eeeek! A monster shrimp! It’s huge, like something out of a nightmare! Look, Same! It’s like ten times the size of yesterday’s shrimp! It’s terrifying! It’s too big—it’s scary!!!”

“Hahaha! You’re right, that’s enormous. Honestly, it is a little scary.”

Sitting among the display were shrimps as big as lobsters—no, even larger—with dangerously vivid colors.
There were similar species on Earth too, but those lived in warmer seas… so this must be a different kind altogether.
What was it called again? Nishiki shrimp or something like that.

“I-I can’t! It’s too scary—I couldn’t eat something that big!”

“Yeah, I don’t think I could handle cooking it either.”

Guess I’ll ask Seira to handle that one someday.

Anyway, I went ahead and bought it to store in the menu for later.

“You bought it!?”

“Yep. We’ll try it some other time.”

“Ehhh…”

Alright then, time to move on and check out the imported goods.

A little farther from the seafood stalls, there were stores selling fruits, dried goods, herbs, and what looked like traditional medicine—all apparently brought in from overseas.

There were green, unripe-looking bananas, some kind of large fruit with a hard shell, and even herbal ingredients I remembered seeing back when I was running errands for the Cooking Guild.

Might as well pick up some rare herbs for cola syrup while I’m here.

“Wow, there are so many unusual materials here!”

“Yeah, let’s look around and buy some stuff.”

I bought star anise, cumin, and other ingredients I’d need for the cola.
Meanwhile, Melt was inspecting a few of the strange herbal ingredients with a serious expression.

“This one, and this one… and a handful of this! How much will that be?”

“…Eight silver coins.”

“Whoa, that’s pricey! I see… probably because there’s not much supply of it anymore, right?”

“…You got that right. You an alchemist?”

“Hmm, maybe? But I’m not in any guild.”

“A freelancer, huh… And you’re buying that combination? You’re an interesting girl.”

“Really?”

Somehow, she was getting along great with this shady-looking shopkeeper.
When I bought something earlier, he barely said a word to me.

“Medicine, huh? What kind? Doesn’t look like anything used for stimulants or restoratives.”

“I’m going to make something to stop seasickness!”

“—! When you’re done, bring me some. I’ll buy it off you for a good price.”

“Really? Yay!”

Uh… judging by that reaction, I’m guessing he’s seasick himself, huh?

After that, we finished buying herbs and moved on to another stall—
one selling what looked like random trinkets, junk, and suspicious curiosities.

Lined up on the stall were what looked like local handicrafts—wooden masks, carved sticks with unclear purpose, and some rather poorly made bracelets.

If only I could have walked around like Sheele or Shizuma, using Appraisal on everything, it would have been twice as fun.

Then, among all the junk, one item caught my eye, and I stopped.

“Hey, shopkeeper, what’s this?”

“Hm? That caught your attention, huh, mister? They say it’s something that drifted here from another world. It was supposedly found in a dungeon somewhere in the Consold Empire. No one knows what it’s for, and it doesn’t seem useful for anything, so I just keep it as decoration. If you want it, five silver coins.”

It was—without a doubt—a handgun.
An old model, rusty in many places, and missing several parts. But if someone were to take it apart and inspect it closely, a sharp-minded person could easily realize it was a weapon.

For some reason, I had a bad feeling about leaving this thing out in the world. So I decided to buy it.

I’d store it in the menu. Preferably… forever.

“What did you buy, Same?”

“Hmm? Probably just some junk from another world. I just like looking at this kind of stuff—it’s fun.”

“Hmm, then maybe I’ll buy something too! Let’s see… what’s this?”

“No idea.”

Melt then reached into a box full of random trinkets and pulled something out.

“Oh, little lady, that one—people say if you stick it into the ground and rub the surface with another stick, earthworms will come crawling out. Probably nonsense, though, so I wouldn’t—”

“That sounds fun! I’ll take it!”

Seriously!? You’re buying that?
There’s no way that thing actually works—it’s literally just a stick!

And so, our junk-hunting adventure ended without any real finds.
No Japanese-style seasonings, no treasures—just me with an old handgun and Melt with a mysterious stick.

Still, it was a pleasant way to pass the time. Between browsing the market and doing some light fishing by the beach, we spent the days peacefully—until at last, the day the ferry arrived.

“Same! Look! It worked, it really worked! Worms came out of the ground!!”

“What!? That’s impossible!!”

…And just like that, a miracle happened at the very end.

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