Chapter 42: Abandoned Dog’s Pasta I (2/2)

For some reason, cheers rang out.

Three minutes had passed so far.

「By the way, if you let this rest in a well-ventilated place, it’ll be more springy(koshi) and delicious」

「What is koshi-nya?」

「That chewy texture-nya」

「I see-nya」

I dropped the raw pasta into another stock pot.

「Compared to dry pasta, raw pasta is better because it requires less time to boil. With regards to the boiling time, please learn it by feel as it depends on the length and thickness. When its color starts to lighten, it's a suitable time to stop. By the way, one bag of the wheat flour from the left continent contains 20 ruths (20 kg) and costs 7 copper coins」

「Hmm~, it’s hard to decide-nya」

The same amount of whole wheat flour cost 3 copper coins, so it had been set at a rather difficult price.

「Well then, now for the most important cooking method」

From this point onward, it would be a battle against time. I signaled the salespeople of the Zavua merchant company and had them get things ready behind the scenes. I also took the opportunity to get one of them to use magic to provide fire.

I heated up a frying pan.

「A drizzle of olive oil and then throw in some chopped garlic and devil's little finger (red pepper). If you don't like spiciness, then remove the seeds」

I mixed the ingredients that I had prepared in the olive oil. Their smell slowly seeped into the oil. The red pepper seeds had been removed this time.

「Adjust the fire to the extent that it doesn’t burn the ingredients」

Lured by the smell of fried garlic, several adventurers stopped in their tracks.

I left it alone for a while, prepared the ingredients for another dish in the meantime, and then put them over the fire as well.

「Ohh, how’s it going?」

An eye-catching person, who was passing by, walked over and joined the crowd.

It was a man with a large build. I could tell that he was bulging with muscles even over his apron. He had a distinctive mohawk. The wrinkles on his face were deep, his eyes were sharp and he looked fierce, but he also had a friendly and knowledgeable side to him.

Rasta・Oru・Razva.

A senior adventurer with a “super” added to that title, and also the barkeeper of a bar run by the country.

「Huh, Master, what brings you here-nya? If it's the cooking method-nya, I’m properly taking notes-nya」

「Yes, but if you buy it, you can’t carry it all by yourself, right?」

「I’m not going to buy so much in one go-nya」

「Well…, I heard a little something through the grapevine, you see?」

He was having a conversation like that with Tyutyu.

The garlic was fried just right.

「Add the water used to boil the pasta to this」

Swoosh, went the water and oil as they mixed at high temperature and emulsified.

After they had mixed, I put out the fire for the frying pan. I removed the pasta using tongs, put it into the frying pan and further mixed it thoroughly. I taste-tested it. The taste of garlic and red pepper had soaked into oil. It needed a little salt, so I added some and then mixed it some more. Another taste-test. Getting the amount of salt right was difficult. I felt that it was a little lean, but it was more or less completed. As the finishing touch, I sprinkled a little bit of dried herb powder over it.

「First, keeping it simple, here’s olive oil pasta with garlic and devil's little finger. Please have a taste」

From inside the store, the merchant company’s salespeople brought out more servings of pasta than the number of people in the crowd.

They weren’t made by an amateur like me who had learned by imitation. They had been cooked by real chefs from this side who had practiced beforehand.

A commotion began as everyone started eating.

「Oh, I don't hate it-nya. It’s profitable if you’re okay with it not having much ingredients-nya」

「Yeah, you’re right. But the plate feels a little empty. If we serve it at our place…...maybe add thinly sliced raw ham? Hmmm, I’ve eaten something similar on the left continent, but I think it wasn’t thin like this」

Those were the impressions of Tyutyu and the barkeeper.

「It’s not bad, but it’s a poor dish to be served at our store, isn’t it?」

「That’s it. We’ll add ingredients just like Master」

「I found some strange species of vegetable recently. It might be good to add that」

「Speaking of which, salted fish is being sold at the Eruomea merchant company, isn’t it? How about adding that?」

「No no, when it comes to garlic, you have to add tomatoes」

Each of the many chefs shared their ideas.

It had gotten off to a pretty good start.

「Then, next is……」

I added pasta to the finely sliced salted pork that had been stir-fried in another frying pan. Then, I added a mixture of egg liquid and cheese to it and stirred everything quickly.

「The amount of seasoning to use for the stir-fried salted pork is up to you. As for the cheese, the dried and powdered ones should be fine. Be careful not to have the temperature too high or the eggs will become lumpy. Mix it quickly and it’s complete」

I sprinkled salt and coarsely ground pepper over it. I taste-tested it. The rich cheese and egg flavors added to the heavy pork flavor. Unless someone made a mistake with the amount of salt, there was no way it would taste bad.

「The second dish, Carbonara. Please enjoy」

Once again, the salespeople brought out the finished dishes from inside the store.

The one that I had made was stabbed with forks by Tyutyu and the barkeeper, who brought it to their mouths.

「It………………It’s delicious-nya. This is delicious-nya」

Tyutyu was trembling.

「That’s right………eggs and cheese. And salted pork. It was a blind spot. If it’s matched with delicious food, then it’s bound to be delicious. Why didn’t I realize that…...」

The barkeeper was depressed for some reason.

「Ohh, it’s simple, but it transforms depending on the ingredients. Shall we immediately try serving it at our store tonight? We have some aged pork cheek meat, don’t we? Should we try making it with that?」

The casual words of one chef brought a sharp glint to the eyes of the others.

「No no, I'll be serving it at my store too」

「In that case, I suppose I’ll also serve it at my store. Of course, the oil pasta as well. I’ll have to go to the farms and take a look at the vegetables」

「Wha…, then our store too」

It was very well-received.

「You there. I wonder if I could have a plate as well. To be sure, this is free, right?」

I had hooked a woman who was passing by.

She was a magician with blonde ringlets who had the air of a rich young lady. She was even accompanied by a maid who was standing behind her. Both of them had the containers of the regeneration point and various pouches for keeping items, which were the telltale signs of adventurers. She was a proper adventurer.

「Of course, adventurer-sama. However, there are three more dishes after this. More food will be given out, so please stay and take a look at those as well」

I signaled the salespeople.

「What’s this? Free food?」

After catching one person, a rich haul followed. Adventurers were coming over one after another.

Here’s my chance.

「Well then, the next dish is meat sauce. It’s minced meat, onions, carrots, root vegetables, garlic, tomatoes, and several kinds of herbs all chopped up and then boiled in red wine. It’s currently selling with rave reviews at the Zavua merchant company. Each bottle is enough for two servings and they cost 3 copper coins each」

Plates of pasta with meat sauce were laid out. While they were at it, bottles of the meat sauce were placed near me.

「Next is spicy tomato sauce. It’s made using mostly the same process as the meat sauce I mentioned earlier, but with white wine instead of red wine. It’s finished off by putting in a lot of devil's little fingers and slowly boiling it down」

The bottles of tomato sauce were lined up in a similar fashion. The price was also 3 copper coins. Similarly, the salespeople brought out plates of pasta with tomato sauce. Along with the chefs, the noisy crowd of adventurers who had gathered started eating the dishes with forks.

「Finally, a mixture of green vegetables, nuts, garlic, cheese and various spices. It’s Genovese sauce」

It was totally green, and the reactions it received were a little unfavorable.

At any rate, samples of all of the dishes were laid out and everyone was eating.

I had been anxious about it, but they were quite well-received.

「Whoa, yeah, it's delicious. Where can I eat this? Is it at this merchant company?」

One of the adventurers asked.

I had been waiting for that.

Most of the adventurers lived in inns. There were also those who lived in stables though. Aside from those, very few of them owned their own homes or lived in places that came with a kitchen. In that case,

「You can eat it at the bars, inns, and restaurants of the people who are here right now」

I said.

Yes, they would have to eat it at the eateries of the chefs or proprietors who were here right now.

『………………』

You set us up, didn’t you? said the eyes of the chefs and proprietors who hadn't wanted to buy.

Sorry, I’m just doing business here, I replied with my eyes.

「We’ll serve them at our bar tonight. All of the dishes here」

「That's great. I'll bring my party members and we’ll have them for dinner」

One of the adventurers was hooked by the barkeeper’s response.

To a man, all of the other chefs also started advertising their stores. It was nice and lively.

「Souya, for how long can the dried pasta be kept? And the bottled sauce too」

I answered the barkeeper’s questions without a moment’s delay

「If you take precautions against mold and it’s stored in a dry place, it can easily last for about a year. For the sauce, once you’ve opened it, two days, I suppose. In its sealed state, if it’s kept out of the sun, I believe it can last about 30 days」

「I see, I’ll buy 200 bags of dried pasta and 50 bottles each of all three types of sauce」

I was surprised when I made a sale all of a sudden.

「Master, wouldn’t it be bad if you bought this much and some remained unsold?」

「Why, I heard my cousin-dono grumble about asking someone who’s good at cooking to cook some wheat dishes, you see? It’s something like giving my relative a hand」

Well, he was part of the royal family after all.

「We have a purchase~!」

I had a salesperson wrap the merchandise and bring it here.

At first glance, it really didn’t seem to be a load that an ordinary person could carry, but after paying for it, Tyutyu and the barkeeper causally carried it away on their shoulders.

As expected from the residents of the alternate world.

「We’ll buy 30 bags of dried pasta and 2 bags of wheat flour. 3 bottles of each sauce please」

「I’ll have 20 bags of dried pasta and 2 bags of wheat flour. No need for the sauce」

「Let’s see, 5 bags of dried pasta, 3 bags of wheat flour and 4 bottles of each sauce」

「Alright. Please wait a moment」

It got busy all of a sudden, and along with the salespeople, I calculated the bills and handed out the merchandise.

It sold better than I had expected.

Business was thriving.

It’s just…..., well…..., half were fake customers, you see?

Hahaha, who saw that last line coming lol. Btw, the word used “サクラ” is the same word used in Talker’s War of Words chapters, which means fake buyer, shills, hired audience, and so on, and it’s pronounced “sakura”. Yes just like the cherry blossom.

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Souya cooking food, I meant. Though… it’s kinda more sleazy sales tactics rather than cooking? Author brought up 3 Minute Cooking last chapter, but I hadn’t expected her to make fun of the audience reactions in those cooking shows in this one. I had a huge smile throughout that entire portion and I could picture everyone randomly oohing and aahing for no reason lol.

More importantly though, it’s not the start of volume 3. This is the 1st of 2 short story arcs. A volume 2.5. It’s chronological though, as you can see, it’s 10 days after the end of volume 2. But to be honest, for a side story, the usual multitude of hidden story elements are still the same, so you can’t let your guard down just because it’s a side story! Then why is it a side story? You can tell the reason from its title, which is “The Foreigner/Japanese, Doesn’t Explore the Dungeon”.

Also, remember what I said about Souya changing after losing his memories of Yukikaze? Other than the actual story that the words are telling you, you’ll start to see those changes here. And, by that, I don’t mean that’ll you’ll read about it. You’ll simply see Souya do things just a bit different from how he used to. Don’t worry if you don’t catch it, at the end of this volume 2.5, the author will practically be screaming the answer. And she’ll just come right out and say it at the end of volume 3. And with regards to the changes, on the very second line of this chapter, he’s already glossing over his reason for coming to this world……