Chapter 105 (1/2)
Ch 105 -- The First Day of the Trip and Shabu-Shabu
Fer sprinted along the highway connecting Carerina to our first destination, the town of Claire. I kept telling him to slow down in case I fell off but he was in a hurry and ignored me as usual. I had spent so much time riding on his back and I'd never fallen off before but still... the merchants, Adventurers and other travellers we encountered (briefly) on the road looked surprised at the sight of us pa.s.sing them so swiftly.
Fer finally stopped. ”This is far enough for today.” he announced. I climbed off his back and sat down on the solid unmoving ground with a sigh of relief. I squinted at the sun, it wasn't evening yet...
”Aren't you stopping a bit early?”
”Nu, it's maybe a bit early but you were getting tired and I thought you might fall off.” Fer's consideration for my well-being surprised me a little and naturally made me suspicious.
”I wasn't planning to fall off,” I told him, ”but if I had I'd be seriously hurt at that speed. That's why I was holding on so hard.” I poked him in the ribs. ”Take it easier tomorrow, hey?”
”I got it. Anyway we'll get to the city called Claire tomorrow.”
”Eh, really?” The distance on the map had made me think it would take us longer than that. Just how fast had Fer been travelling?
”Umu, there are more and more signs of human activity along the road, that means there's a city up ahead and it's got to be Claire. Not much farther.” Well, 'not much further' for Fer probably meant quite a distance to us mere mortals.
”If that's so why stop now? There's still quite a bit of daylight left.” I wondered.
”It would be nice to get there today but I'm hungry right now.” Fer said. I got the feeling he wasn't telling me the absolute truth but I let it go. I was getting hungry myself.
”Well, hang on while I make dinner.” Today's meal was going to be shabu-shabu hotpot with thinly-sliced Wyvern meat as the main ingredient. Before going to bed yesterday I had soaked konbu seaweed in a big pot of water in preparation for making this dish. Now I had to buy vegetables and the like from the Net Super. What would be good, hmmm, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard greens, carrots, oh and of course green onions and maybe some enoki and s.h.i.+meji mushrooms? Yos.h.i.+. As for the shabu-shabu sauces they were a given, they had to be citrus ponzu and gomadare sesame seed.
First of all I had to prepare the vegetables. I cut the Chinese cabbage into pieces then trimmed the mizuna mustard greens, removing the roots and chopping it into pieces about 5 cm long. The carrots were julienned into short thin strips, the same for the green onions to make them quick to cook but crisp to eat. I removed the root tips from the enoki and s.h.i.+meji mushrooms and broke them up into easy-to-eat pieces ready for cooking.
I heated up the big pot of water then removed the konbu kelp before quickly shabu-shabuing the Wyvern meat and the vegetables in the boiling stock. I piled up the shabu-shabu meat and vegetables on dishes, adding citrus-flavoured ponzu sauce to start with.
”Fer, Sui? You awake?”
”Of course I'm awake.” Fer was in his usual pre-dinner position, staring over my shoulder at the dish of food I had just prepared.
”Dinner, dinner-” Sui appeared from her satchel. Time to eat.
”Here you go.” I presented the shabu-shabu dishes to the Gluttonous Duo, piled high since I knew their appet.i.tes.
”Umu, is this Wyvern meat?” Fer asked after taking a large mouthful. ”It tastes a bit sharp somehow...” the rest of his comment was slurred as he was muzzle-deep in the shabu-shabu, ”but I'll eat it anyway.”
”Yeah yeah, it's got a sour flavour but that refreshes your mouth so you can eat as much meat as you want.” Saying that I helped myself to my own dish of shabu-shabu, not wanting to be left behind before the inevitable demand for ”seconds!” came. The ponzu sauce had a cleansing flavour that made me feel hungrier somehow and I dug in, unable to stop myself.
Hmm, I'd have to try the sesame sauce soon but first I shabu-shabued some more vegetables and dunked them in the ponzu to accompany the Wyvern meat. Munch munch, ohhh that's very tasty. Some more Wyvern meat and ponzu, more veggies, mmmm. The citrus sauce kept the fatty meat from being overbearing, the crisp veggies provided a good feel in my mouth. The meat was fantastic but the vegetable sides kept changing the taste of each bite. Delicious!
”Seconds!” came the chorus. Shabu-shabu, shabu-shabu, into the boiling stock pot and out again, dunking it into the gomadare sesame sauce this time.