Chapter 1 (1/2)

The Girl With A Trunk and Her Boarding Meal

To all the pa.s.sengers, thank you for for travelling with us. This is the last station for this train. Please present your tickets at the ticketing gate. Since this train will enter the depot after this, please be careful not to leave any of your luggage behind.---If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to approach the station master.

「Thank you for your patronage. Since this is a return ticket, please do not lose it and bring it with you when you ride your return train. Now then, please travel safely.」

Tak.u.mi breathed a sigh of relief as he finished checking the tickets of the pa.s.sengers who had arrived on the last train. The line at the ticketing gate had died down, and it became quiet again. 'Today was a peaceful day, too. No problems at all.' With that thought, Tak.u.mi headed back into the train station for the closing inspection, which was his last job today as a ”Station Master Representative.”

The last train had already left the platform and was headed for the depot. Tak.u.mi proceeded with his usual inspection after the last car of the train disappeared into the sunset. The smell of its smoke still lingered on the platform. It was as silent as always in the train station. 'There doesn't seem to any problems on the railway…' After Tak.u.mi confirmed this, he turned around to check the other side and was greeted by an unusual sight. A guest, carrying a large trunk, was sitting on one of the benches at the corner of the platform.

The small girl sitting on the bench was wearing an oversized checkered hunting cap that hung low over her eyes. Tak.u.mi searched his memory, but she wasn't a ”regular” of this station. As far as he was concerned, she was probably just a pa.s.senger from the train that had arrived just now.

Judging from the traces of innocence in the atmosphere surrounding her, she was probably 15 or 16 years old. By ”this world's” standards, she would be old enough to be considered an adult.

Well, now that it had come to this… Since Tak.u.mi was still a ”Station Master Representative” in ”this world,” it was probable that the girl was involved in some kind of trouble. These thoughts were running through his mind.

「Excuse me. Is there something wrong, miss?」

Tak.u.mi maintained a small gap between them as he bent forward to speak, so that he would not surprise the girl, who appeared to be unsure of what to do.

At his voice, the girl, who still seemed a bit innocent, opened her eyes, turned around, and answered in a panic, tears in her eyes.

「S-sorry! I-I-I missed my station…」

The girl spoke in a fl.u.s.tered manner. Tak.u.mi took a good look at the ticket that was shown to him. The name of her station, which was two stations before this one, was written on it. It was an hour and a half away from this station.

The girl explained that she had not gotten much sleep the night before, due to being excited about going on a long-distance train ride for the first time. This, coupled with the tension and fatigue from the long journey, had led to her falling asleep halfway through the trip and accidentally missing her stop. She had been sitting in one of the unreserved seats in the Third Cla.s.s coach, so the conductor had not called out to her until she arrived here.

「…and that's what happened. I'm really sorry. Is this considered…fare dodging? 」

「No, it's alright. It doesn't seem like you missed your stop on purpose, so the fare dodging rule doesn't apply here. In this case, you will be able to return to your intended stop at no extra charge, so please don't worry about it.」

Tak.u.mi bent down to the girl's eye level as he spoke to her. After hearing his words, the girl, who had shrunk back in fear after speaking, finally seemed relieved.

「However, since today's last train has already left, you will have to wait until tomorrow to go back…」

「Eh, i-is that so?」

The girl, who had just begin to cheer up, turned pale again, unsure of how to proceed. After heaving a big sigh, the girl explained her circ.u.mstances to Tak.u.mi.

「I-I'm sorry. If it isn't inconvenient, may I w-wait here for tomorrow's train? I have some money with me…」

Tak.u.mi mulled over her words. As far as Tak.u.mi knew, ”walking” and ”stagecoaches” were normal methods of transport in this world, but train stations and long-distance trains were still considered a high-end kind of service.

Even if it was an unreserved seat in the Third Cla.s.s coach, trains weren't something you could ride on easily unless you ”splurged a considerable amount” on ”special occasions.” This girl surely had a special occasion, which was why she had taken the train. It wasn't difficult for Tak.u.mi to guess that the girl didn't have much in her pockets.

Nevertheless, as a Station Master Representative, he couldn't leave this girl alone at the station. Even though Tak.u.mi himself could more or less be a ”lookout” for her, since he was a live-in employee, it wasn't clear what dangers could fall upon her if she were to sleep in a place like this, in the open with no one around. In the first place, although spring was just beginning and the weather was getting warmer, it was still chilly at night. Just from thinking of her physical condition alone, Tak.u.mi couldn't possibly accept her request.

'Well, if I did it that way…' Tak.u.mi only had one solution left.

「I'm sorry, I have to close the station until tomorrow morning. As someone who manages this station, I can't leave a guest alone on the platform. Instead, if you don't mind, would you like to stay at my place? You must be tired from your long journey. You will be able to take a bath and sleep overnight there. That would put my mind at ease as well.」

She was so surprised that her eyes become big and round, almost like a perfect circle.

「Eh, but I… that… I will trouble you…」

「No, it's alright. There are some vacant rooms as well, so please do not hesitate to rest properly. Well, let's go to the ticketing gate for now.」

Tak.u.mi picked up the big leather trunk next to girl, and walked to the ticketing gate.

Tak.u.mi used the telegraph installed next to the ticketing gate to contact the station that the girl was supposed to have gotten off at. Apparently, there had been an inquiry about a girl who had not arrived yet at that station, so he told them that she would be headed there the next morning.

「Now then, right this way.」

「Ah, yes. Pardon my intrusion…」

After ending his message, Tak.u.mi did a final inspection of the ticketing gate and confirmed that he had locked up the station before heading towards a door on the immediate left of the ticketing gate with the girl. When he opened the door, which was made out of a single, heavy piece of timber, the sound of a cowbell rang out. Immediately afterwards, as Tak.u.mi was entering the room, a cheerful voice greeted them.

「Welcome home~! You worked hard today, too, nya~!」

「Th-thank you. Did you clean up properly?」

「Nyes! I did it purr-fectly!」

「Th-thanks.」

While saying so, Tak.u.mi pet the head of the girl who had approached them, still holding a dust cloth in her hand. The girl, who had short, curly, reddish hair, smiled delightfully, and the cat ears on her head twitched.

「Then, is it okay if I go to sleep today? It’s okay, right?!」

「Hey, let’s eat properly first.」

When Tak.u.mi grabbed her by the scruff, the cat-eared girl feebly meowed and meekly curled up.

「Err…」

It seemed that Tak.u.mi had left the girl out while having his usual exchange with the cat-eared girl. He quickly turned his face to her and explained the situation.

「Oh, I'm sorry about that. I seemed to have surprised you a bit… Well, this is the waiting room and coffee shop of this station. This noisy coffee shop staff member is Nyaachi, and she's a lodger, too. Hey, say h.e.l.lo.」

He let the cat-eared girl, Nyaachi, whom he was grabbing by the scruff, down and urged her to greet the girl. Nyaachi pinched the hem of her cafe ap.r.o.n, which she wore over her black leggings and had a cat embroidered on it, and curtsied while greeting the girl energetically.

「Nyaachi is Nyaachi, you know! Welcome, and good eve-nying! What is your name?」

「Ah, my, my name is, Nuttel Gratt. I, err, caused trouble for the station master today…」

「Oh, right. I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Tak.u.mi Kurogane. I am the Station Master Representative of this station, and the chef of this coffee shop.」

「Ah, do you live here as well?」

「Yeah, Nyaachi and I live here together. Although the guest room is small, please make yourself at home tonight. I will also prepare dinner soon.」

「That… I’m really fine with anything… I feel quite guilty.」

「No, no, you would do the same for me if I were in trouble, too. Besides, it’s nice to be able to welcome a customer.」

Tak.u.mi spoke to the despondent Nuttel in a gentle voice in order to calm her down, and left the trunk to Nyaachi.

「Then, Nyaachi, can I have you guide Nuttel-san to her room? I think the room beside ours will be fine. Ah, please boil water for the bath as well.」

「Aye aye, captain~! Now then, Nuttel-chan, I’ll be in your care!」

(ED: One of our tls wanted it to be captain instead of sir…pfft)

「Ah, yes, I’m in your care, too.」

Nyaachi got the big trunk from Tak.u.mi, grabbed Nuttel’s hand, and pulled her up the stairs to the second floor. A small dormitory was on the second floor of this station building. Aside from the one that Tak.u.mi and Nyaachi were using as their home, there were four other private rooms that could hold one or two people each, as well as one large room. Although there were not enough people to operate a lodgings service, the rooms were cleaned, and the beds were made regularly, so it was alright to receive sudden guests.

After Tak.u.mi saw Nyaachi and Nuttel off to the second floor, he headed to the food pantry next to the kitchen. This incident suddenly came up, they didn't have many ingredients, but it seemed that he could somehow manage by combining the remaining ingredients leftover from today. At first, he had planned to make something simple, since it was just Nyaachi and himself, but with the arrival of the “overnight guest,” he decided to make something more elaborate. Tak.u.mi selected the ingredients while thinking about today’s menu.

Once Tak.u.mi confirmed the lineup of the ingredients he had selected, which he laid out on the kitchen table, he began his prep work for cooking. First, he plucked off the leaves of a vegetable called lechuga, which resembled a lettuce. He washed these in a bucket filled with water, before draining the water off and placing them into a colander. He then went on to properly rinse the round, bright red tomatoes and sliced them up into 5-mm-thick slices with a kitchen knife. Likewise, he also rinsed yellow peppers, red peppers, and pepino, which looked similar to rather thick cuc.u.mbers, and sliced them up before putting them into the colander.

After he finish preparing the vegetables, he took out fish pickled in oil that he had stored in the food pantry. The fish, which was called ”bonito”, had a characteristically strong, lean meat. It had been sliced up and, together with various herbs, soaked in oil that had been harvested from a colza plant, which resembled rapeseed. It was simmered over a gentle fire, then transferred to a container with the colza oil to ferment. Since fresh fish was difficult to obtain and “this world” had no refrigerators, Tak.u.mi had somehow devised a plan to preserve the fish.

Tak.u.mi took a palm-sized block of oil-pickled bonito out of the container, draining off the oil before putting it into a bowl to break into small pieces. He then mixed two teaspoons of oil from the pickled bonito and the juice from a freshly squeezed naranja, a bright orange, citrus-like fruit. After mixing them well, he taste-tested a small portion, then seasoned it with salt and pepper.

He then put the vegetables that he had washed and drained a while ago into a rather deep wooden bowl. He placed the plucked lechuga leaves at the bottom of the bowl before arranging the tomatoes, pepino, yellow peppers, and red peppers over the leaves to add color. The pieces of bonito meat, along with the oil and fruit juice dressing, were placed in the center. The leftover dressing was drizzled over the vegetables. Once the vegetable salad was completed, he placed it in the food pantry so that it wouldn’t be affected by the external temperature.

Next, he began to cook the main dish. The prepared ingredient was an odd cut of pork that had been leftover from this afternoon. Tak.u.mi pounded this odd cut of meat with the kitchen knife to finely mince it. While he was pounding it, he added and mixed the meat with chopped cebolla (onions), salt, pepper, herbs, egg, grated cheese, and homemade tofu that had been made with beans of “this world,” which were similar to soybeans. When it was well-mixed, he divided it into three equal parts and shaped each part, compressing them with his hand. Thus, the hamburger steaks were completed.

After he finished the other prep work, he finally started on the finis.h.i.+ng touches. There were no gas stoves in “this world,” so firewood stoves were widely used here. The cooking stove model in the kitchen of this station building had been installed piece-by-piece, and consistent of a rocket stove and the oven stove, modifications of the firewood stove.

Tak.u.mi used a matchstick to light the oven stove with experienced hands. He then placed a small pot containing a brown stew, which was meant for their boarding meals, on top of the stove.

The top plate of the oven stove was made of cast iron, so it absorbed the heat from the furnace. Tak.u.mi had learned from experience that it was easier to heat up soup and sauces using the heat transmitted to the top plate of the oven stove rather than the rocket stove, which was difficult to adjust to low heat. He stirred it a little as it warmed up, letting the steam rise up. Since he didn’t want it to come to a boil, he moved the pot away from the centre of the stove, to the edge.

Next, he lit the fire in the rocket stove and placed a rather large frying pan on it. When the frying pan was finally hot enough and making crackling sounds, he tossed in the beef tallow, which made a sizzling sound and produced a sweet, fatty smell that filled the kitchen. He then placed the three hamburger steaks onto it, grilling both sides until they turned brown, before plating them on three separate iron plates. Tak.u.mi remembered that iron plates were often used in the coffee shop back in his hometown, so he had had them custom-made, since they were indispensable for this shop.

He arranged some skewered patata, a tuber that resembled potatoes, next to the hamburger steaks and placed the iron plates into the oven. After baking them for just the right amount of time, his deluxe hamburger steaks would be completed. While waiting for these to finish baking, Tak.u.mi cleaned up the kitchen and prepared round bread made from corn flour, the staple food here.