Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Volume 3 Page 2

  ~◇~◇~◇~

  “Fo—od...”

  The three of them gathered around.

  “For this dish, mix it up like this before eating it.” It felt a little wasteful to break it like this, but that was the way to eat loco moco bowls. I lightly mixed each of their portions.

  《Is it alright to eat now?》

  “Go ahead.”

  Dora-chan and the others started eating.

  《So goo—ood! There’s vegetables too so I can feel refreshed even while eating.》

  《Yeah, this is grea—t! It’s nice that there’s eggs in, too.》

  Looks like it’s popular with Sui and Dora-chan.

  “Indeed. It is delicious, but I would prefer there to be no vegetables at all.”

  You know, Fel, vegetables are necessary to make it a loco moco bowl. “Without vegetables, this bowl is only half as good, you know? This is good because you eat it with vegetables.”

  Geez, Fel really does hate vegetables, doesn’t he? Even though he can eat them just fine. It looks like he’s especially bad with raw vegetables. What a bother.

  I quickly ate my own loco moco bowl.

  Hm, it’s simple, but good. Yeah, I was right, this is good precisely because you eat it with vegetables.

  It seemed like Dora-chan was good with just the one helping, but both Fel and Sui wanted more afterwards. Fel requested one with no vegetables, but I told him that it would be better to eat vegetables and handed him one with a smaller helping of the stuff instead.

  After finishing the meal and fitting in a small break afterwards, I made another box house with my Earth magic.

  “You guys can go to sleep first. I have something I want to do.”

  “Ok, understood. However, what are you doing this late?”

  “Ah — you said that venom tarantulas are edible, right? But I have no idea what they taste like at all. So, I was going to try boiling one in saltwater the way Rodolfo recommended and try it out. If I don’t know how it tastes, I’ll have no idea how to cook it, after all.”

  “I see. I am not very fond of bugs, but I am also curious as to its taste when boiled. I will join you.”

  You just want to eat, don’t you Fel?

  《Wha—t? Is there still something tasty? Sui will eat too—.》

  《Hey hey hey, let me eat too!》

  And it looks like Sui and Dora-chan will be joining us too. In the end, all of us were going to try it.

  There were sixty-four venom tarantula legs in total. For now, I decided to boil a single tarantula’s worth, or eight legs. I took out the venom tarantula legs I’d be using from my Item Box. They were a shade of purple very close to black, and when I looked closely, they had some small thin hairs growing out of them.

  Ughh, I shouldn’t have looked. If the color was different, it would look a lot like crab legs, though.

  When I tried washing and boiling it in saltwater, the shell turned red and really did look like crab.

  “It looks like crab when boiled......”

  I won’t be able to eat it if I think of it as a spider. This is crab. Crab... crab...

  Hesitantly, I opened the shell, and tried a little bit.

  Huh? It’s not bad... Actually, it’s pretty good.

  Just like it looked, the legs also tasted like crab. But if someone were to tell me it was crab, I’d be kind of confused. It tasted like crab, except... cheaper?

  Hmm — I feel like I’ve tasted this before...... What was it......... Ah, I know what it is! This is crab-flavored kamaboko! Even the texture was the same.

  It’s pretty good.

  “Hey, stop eating by yourself and give us some.”

  “Ahh, right. Sorry, sorry.” I shelled some legs and served them to the three familiars.

  “Hm, it tastes a little better than when I ate it before, I think. It must be because it has been boiled.”

  《He’s right. I’ve eaten venom tarantulas too, and this is way better than eating it raw.》

  So both Fel and Dora-chan have eaten this... raw before? Yeah, it’d be impossible for me. Both of them say that boiling it makes it way better, so it’s probably true.

  《Yeah, it’s good. But Sui likes the red meat better, yeah.》

  Red meat, huh? So, Sui prefers animal meat, I see.

  “If you are going to put it like that, I also prefer the meat we normally eat, of course.”

  《Me too. This bug isn’t terrible, but it’s still way worse comparatively.》

  So both Fel and Dora-chan agree, I see. Well, that was obvious, though. If someone asked me if I liked crab flavored kamaboko or actual meat, of course I’d say meat. Meat by a huge margin.

  But still, there’s still fifty-six venom tarantula legs left... I’ll have to think up a menu using this stuff or else it’ll go to waste.

  Hrmmm, crab flavored kamaboko, huh? I’ll try thinking on it more later.

  After that, I went to take a bath with Sui. Surprisingly, Dora-chan also took an interest in the bath and wanted in.

  At any rate, I wiped off my body with a wet towel before entering.

  Dora-chan was already happily floating in the tub, just like Sui.

  It seemed like Dora-chan had also taken a liking to baths.

  So Fel’s the only one among us who hates baths (just the washing part, though).

  Refreshed from the bath, everyone went to bed and slept peacefully.

  Being able to sleep in a futon while traveling is so nice...

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  “The presence of humans is getting stronger. Most likely we will reach Dolan by tomorrow afternoon.”

  This was four days after leaving the town of Krehl. Fel said that while we were taking a break after lunch.

  “I see. Tomorrow, huh? That was pretty fast.”

  “Indeed. Because I went a little faster.”

  I did actually feel like we were going a little faster than usual... So I was right. Damn, just how much does he want to go in that dungeon?

  “So we’re finally at Dolan. I hear it’s a pretty big place, so I’m looking forward to it.”

  “I am looking forward to the dungeon.”

  Yeah, yeah. You went as far as to go a little faster so we’d get here earlier, after all.

  But still, the dungeon, huh... Who would purposefully go to a place full of monsters...?

  It seemed like all three of my familiars were looking forward to the dungeon, so I’d go because there’s no other choice... For now, I’ll just have to be careful to not get injured.

  Ah, I should have Sui make some potions just in case. I have the healing mushrooms in storage, but it looks like Sui’s potions are better. I don’t know what’s inside the dungeon, so I’ll have him make some of each kind.

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  “I will stop here for today.” The sun was already setting, so Fel said that as he stopped running.

  “How is it? Are we going to get to Dolan by tomorrow just like you said?”

  “Indeed. I said that we would be there by tomorrow afternoon, but at this pace we will be there a little before noon.”

  So we’re a little faster, huh? Well, we’re still reaching Dolan tomorrow at any rate.

  《I’m hungry — I’ve been flying all day, my stomach is so empty...》

  Wait, Dora-chan, didn’t you have two meals already?

  “You are right. This constant moving empties the stomach.”

  Fel too, huh? Although he eats almost too much already.

  《Sui is hungry too...》

  Sui...... Sui ate those meals too, and he also stayed sleeping in my bag the whole time...

  《Food~》

  “Food.”

  《A meal~》

  Hahh, the three of them are really strong but they’ve got such bad fuel efficiency... I should have been feeding them a lot...

  Fine then, let’s cook.

  About those venom tarantula legs, everyone rated them lowly since although they weren’t bad, they were nowhere near as delicious as meat.

  I really want to use up unpopular ingredients as fast as possible. And so, today was going to be something with venom tarantula legs. I had already boiled the rest of the legs while we had free time.

  And so, after racking my head about it, the menu I came up with was a safe salad and fried rice with ankake sauce and tenshinhan.

  Fel might complain about the salad, but vegetables are good for the body, and he should eat some vegetables every once in a while anyway.

  First I have to buy the ingredients... I’ll need lettuce and cucumbers for the salad, and also canned corn... Oh, and sesame dressing...

  For the ankake fried rice, I’ll need green onions and eggs, and I also need the oyster soy sauce-flavored seasoning I used before that was in a tube, but I still have some of that, so I’m fine on that front.

  I needed eggs for the tenshinhan as well, so I bought more than usual.

  Oh, I also need to get the red bean garnish for both the fried rice and tenshinhan. These types of foods are better with more fillings, so I’ll get some shiitake and enoki mushrooms, boiled bamboo shoots, and also some canned green peas for color.

  I already have all the seasonings I need for the red beans, so I’m fine there, I think. Right, that should be all.

  ~◇~◇~◇~

  First, use scissors to cut open the boiled venom tarantula legs and extract the meat. Boiling the legs makes them softer, so the scissors cut cleanly through the shell.

  Once the meat is all out and in small pieces, start with the salad. Rip the lettuce into appropriately-sized pieces, and slice the cucumbers into thin discs. Dump the ripped lettuce, cucumbers, corn, and lots of loose venom tarantula meat into a bowl and mix together with sesame dressing to f
inish the salad. Once the salad is safely on serving plates, I store it all in my Item Box for the moment.

  Next would be the ankake sauce to put on the fried rice and tenshinhan. Cut the bamboo shoots into small strips, strip the base off of the shiitake mushrooms and cut into thin slices, and remove the base off the enoki mushrooms before unraveling them.

  Oil a frying pan, and add the mushrooms before lightly seasoning with salt and pepper, cooking until the mushrooms wilt before adding in the bamboo shoots and giving it another quick sear.

  Add water, chicken bouillon cubes, sake, vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce into a pot and bring the mixture to a boil before adding potato starch to thicken it. Throw the wilted mushrooms and bamboo shoots into that, and mix in a large amount of loose venom tarantula meat to finish out the ankake sauce.

  Next is the fried rice. Scramble an egg and mince the green onions. Add the scrambled egg to an oiled frying pan, followed closely by the rice, and mix. Once the egg and the rice are nicely melded together, add the green onions and loose venom tarantula meat, season it with the tube of oyster soy sauce-flavored paste, and cook together until finished. Serve the fried rice as a mound on the dish and cover with lots of ankake sauce to finish it up.

  For the tenshinhan, scramble an egg and throw in some more venom tarantula meat and salt before half-cooking it in a frying pan. Put the result on top of rice and cover with ankake sauce before scattering green peas around the dish to finish it.

  ~◇~◇~◇~

  Along with the salad I made earlier, it’s all done.

  “I’m finished—”

  I placed the dishes in front of the three of them.

  “Hm? Is there no meat today? Also, I do not need these vegetables...”

  H-Hey, stop making that unsatisfied face.

  “I’m using the venom tarantula today.”

  “I would have preferred meat......”

  Can you not whisper to yourself all sad like that? All of this stuff is good, you know?

  “I’ll make meat again tomorrow, don’t worry. I just wanted to use up the venom tarantula since it would be a waste otherwise.”

  “Hm, I see. Fine, then.” After saying that, Fel started gloomily eating his food.

  Yeah, Fel really is a carnivore. Well, it’s just for today.

  *Gnowmph* *Gnowmph* 《......This is pretty good, but meat is better.》

  You too, Dora-chan?

  《It’s good master—. But still, Sui likes meat more—.》

  E-Even Sui...

  Ghhh...... To think they’d be this addicted to meat... I mean, I knew that all of them were meat eaters already. They’re even carnivores down to their looks, after all.

  Hahhh, meat, huh?

  Even while they complained that meat was better, Dora-chan ate his plate clean, and both Fel and Sui asked for more, so it was probably fine.

  Still though, with all these meat eaters around, I can’t afford to not have meat any more, can I?

  I still had lots of meat at the moment, but I’ll need to keep a close eye on my stock from now on.

  It’s going to be a lot of work with three carnivores in the party.

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  We were in sight of the dungeon city of Dolan.

  “It’s just as large as I’ve heard...”

  “Indeed. Still though, it looks like it will be a while until we can enter.”

  When I followed Fel’s line of sight, I could see a huge line of people snaking out from the gates.

  “Ah~ there’s a huge crowd, huh? Makes sense that a place this big would have lots of people wanting to get in, I guess.”

  Oh well. I’ll just have to suck it up and get in line.

  《Wouldn’t it be faster to just go over the wall?》

  “Nonono, we’ll be arrested if we do that. We’re not really in a hurry, so let’s just wait.”

  “Mmhh, it is annoying, but there is no other choice.”

  “That’s right. Let’s get in line.”

  As the running Fel got closer to the line, a cry of, “A monster!!” was raised, and I could see lots of people that looked like adventurers raising their weapons. Dora-chan flying next to us also probably made a huge impact.

  I immediately shouted, “They’re all my familiars so it’s okay!!!”

  They were all satisfied that was true after seeing Fel and Dora-chan acting so docile next to me, and they sheathed their weapons, but...... they were all still on pins and needles.

  Of course they would be, what with a huge wolf and a small-but-unmistakable dragon around...

  What do I do......

  Well, there was nothing to do. While suffering the slight uneasiness as I lined up, I heard a voice calling out to me.

  “MUKOHHDA~~~!!” There was a person calling out to me in a loud voice while running closer.

  Huh? Who...? The voice sounds like a man’s, but I shouldn’t know anyone in Dolan......

  “Mukohda~~~! I’ve been waiting sooooo long for you to come~!!”

  W-Wait, who?! Actually, everyone’s clearly got faces that say, “Who the hell’s Mukohda??” already, please stop shouting. I had an oblivious face on, but inside I was sweating bullets.

  “Mukohda~~~!!”

  I said pleeeaaasseee stop yelling my name!!!

  “Hahh, hahh, you’re Mukohda, right?! I knew right away after seeing your familiars! I’ve been waiting sooooo long for you to come!” The man stopped right in front of me, and excitedly started babbling while trying to catch his breath.

  ...Who the hell is this?

  He was a man in his prime with long, golden hair and frightfully good looks. Looking closely, I noticed that his ears were long.

  Is he an elf? I don’t know any elves......

  “I was so excited I couldn’t even sleep at night after hearing about you from Rodolfo! So then, is this the pixie dragon?!” Spotting Dora-chan next to me, the mature elf got even more excited — and he started moving all around Dora-chan while staring at him like he was licking him all over, every nook and cranny.

  H-He’s kinda looking at Dora-chan all strange...

  This elf... he’s beautiful since he’s an elf, but he reeks of being a pervert......

  “Mukohda!” The elf suddenly grabbed both of my shoulders firmly.

  Woah! What the hell?!

  “I’ve gotta tell you, I am so deeply moved right now!”

  A-Ahhh, really? Wait, by what? Actually, would you let me go? The stares of the other people hurt a lot.

  “To think that I’d ever be able to lay my eyes on a dragon, not to mention a particularly rare pixie dragon...... Ahhh, I’m so glad I’ve lived this long. So glad...... ugghu... uhhh...” The elf started tearing up.

  E-Ehhhh... why are you crying? Wait a minute, please don’t cry. The stares will only become worse.

  *Sniff* “......Sorry I got carried away. I was just so happy.”

  W-Well, as long as you’ve stopped crying... Wait, actually, who the hell are you again?

  “U-Uhmm... who are you?”

  When I hesitantly brought up the subject, the elf made an expression that said, “Whoops.”

  “Sorry! I was so excited I forgot to introduce myself. I am the guildmaster for the Adventurer’s guild here in the dungeon city of Dolan. My name is Elrand. Pleased to meet you.”

  ............Wha?

  The elf turned out to be a guildmaster.

  What the hell is up with a guildmaster that cries at the sight of a dragon? ......Ah, that’s right, this is the person Rodolfo warned me about. He’s supposed to be an old friend of Rodolfo’s, and he loses sight of things when it comes to dragons, he said.

  It’s... just like Rodolfo said...

  “Now, now, everyone follow me. Let’s hurry to the guild.”

  “Huh? But, the line......”

  “No no — you don’t need to do that. There’s no way I could let you, Mukohda, and your friends wait that long. I’ll do something about it with my powers as a guildmaster.” Saying so, Elrand pushed me forwards.

  “No, but...” The eyes of the adventurers around me sure are... something...

  “It’s fine, it’s fine! There’s a lot I want to ask you, so let’s hurry up to the guild.” I was pushed forward by a power far beyond what I would imagine judging from Elrand’s looks.

  Just like that, I was tossed into the dungeon city of Dolan like a toy. As soon as Elrand definitively stated, “I will take full responsibility, so let this person in,” to the guards, I was let in without even a little fuss.