Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Volume 5 Read online

  “Hey, Anton, you lead him around properly, got it?”

  “I know.”

  Leaving Anton’s home, the Sevalier Workshop, we all headed for Brigitta’s, the Dovan workshop.

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  Brigitta’s home, the Dovan workshop, was about fifteen minutes walk from the Sevalier Workshop.

  “Mother, I’m home.”

  “Oh my, it’s you, Brigitta. What happened?”

  Dovan workshop was built the same as the Sevalier Workshop, with the store in front, and the grounds in the back with the workshop and other buildings. Brigitta’s mother was minding the store, it seemed.

  “You see, we’re showing Mukohda around town He’s an adventurer we met recently. When I mentioned that my family ran a workshop, he wanted to see it, so I brought him here. By the way, Mukohda is an A-ranked adventurer.”

  “A-RANK?!! Oh dear, oh my... I’ll go get your dad, so please wait here.” With those words, Brigitta’s mother left for the workshop. While we were waiting, we heard a voice yell, “Dear! It’s an emergency!! There’s an A-rank! An A-rank!! There’s an A-rank adventurer in the store!!”

  Hearing that, Brigitta covered her face and whispered with embarrassment, “Mother......”

  Seeing family like that really is embarrassing, right? Let’s not touch this.

  After we waited a while in the store, Brigitta’s mother came back with her husband in tow.

  “Dear, this is the A-ranked adventurer, Mukohda. Make sure not to be rude.”

  “I know. I am Brigitta’s father, Dovan. Thanks for looking after my daughter.”

  “I’m Mukohda. Sorry for barging in so suddenly.”

  “No, no, if you’re fine with our wares, then please feel free to look around.”

  “I’ll be explaining them to you, so father and mother needn’t bother,” Brigitta said, but it seemed that both of them were curious as to what I would buy, so they didn’t leave.

  “Geez, the both of you...... Sorry, Mukohda.”

  “No, no. It’s fine.”

  Having them show me around the store, I found that this workshop made European-styled porcelain with a white base-color. A lot of their products had a floral pattern on them and gave off a high-class feel.

  “We’ve only started this workshop since my father’s generation, so our workshop isn’t large, and unlike Anton’s Sevalier Workshop, we’re not famous either, but since we started, we have had a lot of loyal customers.”

  Hmm~, is that so? These feel high-class, after all, and the floral patterns seem like they’d appeal to women.

  “Oh, this is nice.” What caught my eye was a five-piece set of tall mugs with handles. These would not only suit hot drinks, but it wouldn’t be strange to serve something cold in them, either. The flower pattern wasn’t too ostentatious, and I liked that it was only on the upper parts.

  “For those, the whole five-piece set is 4 gold.” I heard a voice coming from behind me.

  “Father......”

  It was Brigitta’s father, who stayed here instead of going back to the workshop.

  “I-It’s fine to let it go for that price, isn’t it? The A-ranked adventurer is picking my work, you know?”

  Even while looking upon that exchange happily, I thought, CHEAP! It seemed that Brigitta wasn’t lying when she said this place wasn’t famous. But, these are pretty, and they’re all good. It seems kinda cheap, so it might be nice to buy a lot. Let’s look around some more.

  While I was looking around, Brigitta’s father had at some point come in and started explaining instead of her. Brigitta, seemingly resigned, looked on at her father.

  In the end, after looking around I decided to buy the five-piece set of mugs I first saw, a five-piece small plate set that was perfect for cake slices, a five-piece large plate set, a five-piece soup saucer set, and lastly a five-piece soup bowl set and five-piece teacup and saucer set. Each one was charming, with a porcelain-white base and striking floral patterns. Especially the teacup and saucer set; the pattern was much more modest, but the flowers were all the more vivid, and I thought it was so pretty that I bought it without thinking. According to Brigitta’s father, that one was their best work recently.

  The mug set was 4 gold, the small plate set 3 gold and 5 silver, the large plate set 6 gold, the soup saucer set 6 gold, the soup bowl set 6 gold, and the teacup and saucer set was 10 gold. In total, the price for what I bought was 35 gold and 5 silver, but they evened it out to 35 gold for me.

  “You bought so much; thank you.”

  “No no, thank you for showing me so much. Everything here was a real treat to behold.”

  It’s great that I was able to buy so many plates and other wares. Still, well done, town of pottery. I managed to look at a lot of nice works, it was a sight for sore eyes. Buying stuff like this is nice once in a while.

  Being seen off by Brigitta’s parents, we left the Dovan workshop. We ate up quite a lot of time shopping, didn’t we?

  《Hey, I am getting hungry.》

  《Me too.》

  《Sui too—.》

  While we were returning to town, all three of my familiars told me that with telepathy.

  Hmmm, we had breakfast a little late, but given the time, it really would be pushing things, wouldn’t it? 《We’ll eat as soon as we get home, so bear with it for just a bit.》

  《《《Okay.》》》

  I see, if that’s the case maybe I should invite those five, since I’ve been bothering them on their day off...

  “Hey, as thanks for today, do you want to come eat at my house?”

  “Are you sure?” Right after Anton said that, he turned around to talk with the rest of them.

  “““““It’ll be our pleasure!””””” All five of them replied, smiling.

  Everyone had high expectations due to the barbecue yesterday. What a heavy responsibility. And I can’t take too long with the cooking since I can’t keep them waiting forever...... I’ll have to think of this on the way home.

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  After entering the house, I showed the five of them into the living room. “W-What an amazing house......” said Philip.

  “I’m only renting it, though. And only while I’m staying in town.” In response all of them said at once, “A-ranks are amazing.”

  I don’t know about other A-ranks, but this is only because I’m having Fel and the others earn money for me.

  “Okay then, I’ll get to cooking, so just wait while you drink this.” I let them into the living room, served them some drinks, and had them wait a while. I already got some use out of the mugs I’d bought from Brigitta’s place, the Dovan workshop. I served them orange juice, and they were gulping it down while exclaiming about its sweetness.

  I gave Fel and the others fruit milk in the usual deep dishes. I was planning to use the deep dishes I bought from Iida for the meal I was just about to make.

  I’ll have to hurry up with the cooking. Returning to the kitchen, I hurried to prepare the meal.

  After a lot of thought, I decided on honey mustard sandwiches using cockatrice meat. It didn’t seem like those five got out of town much, if at all, so I wasn’t sure about serving them rice all of a sudden, which I doubted they had eaten before. That’s why I went with bread. And I just got some cockatrice meat in, too. It seems that the five of them liked sweeter flavors, too, so let’s make it a little fancy, like a meal in a cafe. Also, this is pretty simple.

  First, I need the ingredients. I opened up my Online Supermarket and bought what I needed. I have soy sauce and bottled lemon juice already, so I need mustard powder and honey, right? Oh and also lettuce and white bread. Good, let’s start.

  ~◇~◇~◇~

  After piercing holes through the cockatrice’s skin, season it with salt and pepper.

  Then, start making the honey mustard sauce. Mix the powdered mustard, soy sauce, honey, and lemon juice all together.

  Next, oil up a heated frying pan and start cooking the cockatrice meat starting from the skin side. Once the skin turns a light brown and is thoroughly cooked, flip it over and start cooking the other side. The fat will render out during cooking, so it’s possible to make it less greasy by soaking the fat up with kitchen paper as it comes out.

  Once the meat is fully cooked, soak it in the honey mustard sauce and allow it to simmer a bit and mix with the flavor to finish it. Once the honey mustard flavor is soaked in, watch out for any jumping mustard powder.

  Letting the finished honey mustard sautéed chicken cool for a while, lightly toast the bread in the oven for a bit, and wash some lettuce before tearing the leaves by hand into appropriate sizes. Layer the lettuce on the toasted bread, and put the honey mustard sautéed chicken on top of that before sandwiching it with another piece of toasted bread. Cut the sandwich in half to complete the dish.

  ~◇~◇~◇~

  For Fel and the other’s portions, I lined them up on their new dishes (they’re deep, but it shouldn’t be a problem). Anton and the other’s portions would be served on plates bought from Anton’s family’s Sevalier Workshop. Of course, I made an extra-large portion for Fel and the others.

  After that, I poured some orange juice into a glass pitcher. Thankfully, this house had utensils and other dinnerware in it. Among those was an actual glass pitcher, so I decided to make use of it. It seems a bit expensive, so I’ll have to be careful when I use it, won’t I? There was also a trolley, so I went ahead and used it to help bring the honey mustard sandwiches out into the living room.

  “Sorry for keeping you waiting.” I handed out the food to everybody. Fel and the others must have been really hungry, because they started eating vigorously.

  Or rather... Aahh, Fel just ate an entire half i
n a single bite. He’s gonna ask for more right away, isn’t he?

  “Ah, does anyone want something to drink?”

  “““““Please!”””””

  Looks like they really took to the orange juice, huh? I poured more orange juice into all five of their mugs.

  “S-So good!!” The first one who bit into the cockatrice honey mustard sandwiches and said that was Philip. “Yesterday was good too, but this one is delicious,” he said, while vacuuming down the food.

  “He’s right. This is good! It’s a little sweet, and that’s the best!” Anton was wolfing down his food with just as much gusto.

  “Yeah, it’s delicious. It’s a little sweet, but it’s not just sweet. It’s the first time I’ve had something that tasted like this, and I think it’s great.” Brigitta was the one who said that, eating one bite after another in quick succession.

  “Even though it has so many flavors, like sweetness and spiciness and saltiness, it all comes together great. Yeah, this is amazingly good.” Paul, the one who seemed to be the calmest among the five of them, was the one who said that while nodding and eating.

  “This is super delicious! Mmmph...... More!!” Livia, more already? You’re fast.

  《《《More.》》》

  The order for more came from my three familiars too.

  “Then please wait a moment.” I cheerfully went back to the kitchen, and made more.

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  “Whooh~, I sure ate.”

  “That was amazing.”

  “Yeah, it was great.”

  “Mmhmm, it was delicious.”

  “I’m soooo full.”

  With dinner done, I was relaxing in the living room with the five of them, me with iced coffee and they with orange juice in hand. It seemed like they were all satisfied with the meal.

  Fel and the others were apparently the same, too. Fel was just plopped down on his side, and Dora-chan was sleeping, reclining onto Fel. Sui was also sleeping, stuck to Fel’s side.

  I ate, but it ended up having to be while cooking for everyone else. Well, I’m the one that invited them, and I was happy that they said it was delicious, so I was fine with it.

  “Are you guys going to take another request tomorrow?”

  “Yes, that’s the plan. I talked it over with everyone, and this time, we’re just going to take to heart that unexpected things can happen during missions.” Anton was the one who answered.

  Even though all that happened just yesterday, they’re already planning to take another request tomorrow, huh? F-rank adventurers sure work hard.

  “For people like us, if we don’t steadily take requests, we won’t rank up at all,” Philip complained.

  “Yes. We have to start building up our achievements, starting with what little we can manage. I want to become D-ranked quickly, after all,” Brigitte said.

  Was there something that happened at D-rank?

  “Yeah. We want to get to D-rank quickly so we can go into dungeons, right?”

  Hm? D-rank for dungeons? Is there some sort of connection between being D-ranked and dungeons, Paul?

  “Yeah, right~? I want to get into a dungeon already.” Even Livia was saying that.

  What does D-rank have to do with dungeons?

  “Uh, um... Does becoming D-ranked have something to do with dungeons?”

  When I asked that, all five of them looked at me like they were asking, “What are you talking about?”

  “What? You don’t know? The Adventurer’s guild recommends only D-ranks and above go into dungeons,” said Anton.

  What? Really? I had no idea. Oh yeah, I was already C-ranked, kind of, by the time I got to Dolan. Nobody ever told me of something that basic, and I never bothered asking, huh?

  According to Anton, it was merely a recommendation, so it wasn’t like those who weren’t D-ranked couldn’t enter.

  “But, entering at a low rank will probably just lead to dying a useless death. We’re not that stupid, so we’ll properly follow the guild’s recommendation and wait until we’re D-ranked to enter. We’re going to take some training before entering as well.”

  According to Anton, the Adventurer’s guild hosted a class aimed for adventurers who were about to enter the dungeon for the first time. This was the first time I’d heard of something like that, though.

  Actually, could it be that Dolan had that too? If they did, I would totally have taken it... Elrand didn’t say even a single word about that, though... Dammit, that stupid, useless, dragon-crazed elf!

  “Speaking of dungeons, I heard a rumor recently...... Ahh, I just remembered!! There’s supposed to be an A-ranked adventurer arriving in Nijhoff who cleared a dungeon!” Paul said while looking at my face, realization dawning.

  Everyone who was listening to Paul immediately turned their gaze towards me.

  “I-Is that true?” Anton hesitantly asked.

  “Ehhh, well... uhh... Kind of...”

  The five of them all started making an excited fuss when I said that. They showered me in praise, saying things like, “That’s awesome!” or “So cool!” Everyone’s eyes seemed like they were sparkling when they looked at me. I felt a little guilty, so I told them the truth.

  “Nooo, I mean, it was all thanks to my familiars that we managed it. My familiars are really strong, so I just rely on them for my part.”

  “Of course that’s the case, you’re a tamer! Since your familiars are so strong, that means you’re super skilled! And that means that as an adventurer, you’re super skilled too! Respect!” Anton exclaimed. All the others nodded in agreement.

  H-Huh? R-Really?

  Next, they attacked me with a barrage of questions:

  “How was the inside of the dungeon?!”

  “What kinds of enemies were there?!”

  “What about the drops?!”

  “And the traps?!”

  “What was inside your treasure chests?!”

  I answered their questions, telling them of my experience in the dungeon.

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  “What? Woah, it’s already this late?” Time moves fast, and it was already dark. “How about staying over, everyone?”

  “No, we need to be up early tomorrow, so we’ll go back home. Right, guys?”

  “Anton’s right. Listening to you made me feel really motivated, Mukohda.”

  “Me too, Philip. I really want to go into a dungeon already.”

  “I agree with Philip. I also want to go to the dungeon already.”

  “Paul, we need to get to D-rank first. Let’s all do our best!”

  Livia was the last one to speak and brought everyone together, as they nodded in agreement. It seemed they were filled to bursting with motivation after hearing me talk about Dolan’s dungeon.

  “I see. Then be careful on the way back, everyone.”

  “Okay. Thanks for everything today, Mukohda.”

  “No, I should be thanking you for showing me around.”

  Just like that, the five of them left. It seemed like they were all angling to go into a dungeon, so they asked a lot of questions. They talked really passionately too, since dungeons were the source of getting rich quickly, the adventurer’s dream. Though I didn’t ask, they even told me about dungeons other than Dolan’s.

  It was useless information to me — though, I did see Fel with his eyes barely open, listening in. He’ll probably make another fuss about dungeons. *Sigh*~...

  ◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

  I bought a bunch of stuff yesterday, so what should I do today? As I was pondering that in the time after we had eaten breakfast......

  “Okay, we are going to a dungeon,” Fel said, standing upright.

  “Wha-? What are you saying all of a sudden?” Just because you heard all that talk about dungeons yesterday, isn’t going right away too far?

  “I heard that talk about dungeons yesterday. From what those whelps said, there is a dungeon about ten days’ walk from here, yes? That distance is nothing to me, so we can go immediately.”

  No-no-no, don’t be like “we can go,” to me. It’s true that, from what Anton said, there’s a dungeon city named Aveling south of Nijhoff. But this and that are different. In the first place, the entire reason we’re heading for Berléand is because Fel said he wanted to go to the ocean.

  “But if you want to go to a dungeon, what about the ocean? Didn’t you say that we needed to go there because krakens and sea serpents are delicious?”