Chapter 98:
Napolitan
JONATHAN HEARD the bell ringing as he passed through the doorway, his eyes locked on to a small table at the back. “Young Master…”
“Yes. Go ahead,” said his boss, Sirius.
Jonathan went straight for the table before the waitress could reach him. “Ah, welcome!” she cried. “I’ll get you some ice water.”
“Thanks. I’m also ready to order, if you don’t mind,” Jonathan replied. “Could I get mixed-seafood pizza, please?”
Watching Jonathan sit down and order immediately, Sirius grinned. Oh my. He’s as passionate as ever.
According to Jonathan, the table he’d sat at was perfect for any cook. From that table, he could just barely see into the kitchen, so he could watch the chef make the restaurant’s otherworldly dishes. After coming to Nekoya with Sirius numerous times, Jonathan had noticed the table’s view and sat there whenever it was available, even if it meant leaving Sirius on his own.
The table was normally taken if the female merchant and her swordsman friend—or that one elf who occasionally popped in—were at the restaurant. In other words, Jonathan wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the valuable spot.
“Now, then…” As the restaurant’s master prepared his order, Jonathan began his observation of the kitchen. Impressed by the lad’s drive, Sirius sat at another open seat.
Once the waitress passed the chef Jonathan’s request, she returned from the kitchen, prompting Sirius to call to her as well. “Ah, excuse me! I’d like to place my order.”
“Of course,” replied the waitress, who was surprisingly presentable for a demon. “What would you like?”
“Napolitan with sausages, please,” Sirius ordered, deciding to leave the research to Jonathan for today. “Oh, and a café au lait for after, as well.”
The food in the other world included a smoked meat known as bacon, as well as meat-stuffed sausages. It was only after eating all kinds of dishes at Nekoya that Sirius had concluded Napolitan with sausages was his favorite food of all.
“Absolutely! I’ll be right back.”
Silently nodding in reply, Sirius glanced around the dining room. Now that I look closely, there are diners here from who knows where.
Sirius had been born and raised in a wealthy capital city on the Eastern Continent. He belonged to a powerful merchant family that did business with royalty. As such, he could usually determine someone’s background at first glance. That was precisely why he felt the unbelievable rumors circulating in the capital recently held some truth.
One sketchy rumor mentioned an unknown continent beyond the Dragon God Sea, south of the continent humans called home. The unknown continent’s citizens supposedly worshiped dragons as deities and were even rumored to have developed a culture similar to humans’. An adventurer had apparently spotted these nonhuman peoples and written about it in their journal, which they’d passed on to another adventurer.
Normally, this kind of rumor would hold no water. For one thing, in all of humans’ recorded history, not a single person had ever made it beyond the Dragon God Sea; it was dominated by vicious monsters.
Sirius wouldn’t have believed any part of it until, not long ago, he’d encountered Nekoya. Guests from all over Sirius’s world came together there. Observing the diners, Sirius came to understand certain things. He’d gotten used to seeing people dressed in Eastern Continent attire. He’d also encountered people in styles from the Western Continent, although he still wasn’t accustomed to that quite yet.
Sirius had also seen a few other species at the restaurant—demi-humans, lizardmen, orcs, and faeries. However, he’d never personally spoken with members of any of these monstrous species populating the world.
Mingling with those guests were humans and dwarves in unfamiliar formal clothes. They had bronze skin like people from the Western Continent’s Sand Nation. However, unlike the Sand Nation’s citizens, these people confidently wore attire that revealed their arms and legs. There were even lamia and similar beings—species normally feared as dangerous, human-hunting monsters—wearing formal ritual clothes.
Witnessing these truths himself had led Sirius to believe the circulating rumors to a degree. Come to think of it, this restaurant pretty much answers the question of how the rumored adventurer even got home. Nekoya also explained why an adventurer who made such an amazing discovery would be relegated to a whispered rumor, rather than shouting their findings to the world.
Sirius himself didn’t yet know all the faces that regularly visited the restaurant. If the adventurer who crossed the Dragon God Sea ate here… He was lost in thought as the waitress came over.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!” she said. “Here’s your Napolitan.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
At the arrival of his food, Sirius switched gears. The Alfade Company traded in foodstuffs, so he always gave meals his full attention. That was what his grandfather, who’d revived the company, taught him.
Sirius emptied his mind of all else and focused on the dish before him—Napolitan. The feast atop the white plate was vibrant. Marmett ketchup dyed the noodles red, and green vegetables added pizazz to the presentation. The otherworldly mashruums were diced, and the oranie gave the whole dish a nice crunch. Sirius felt that Napolitan was among the restaurant’s most colorful dishes, not counting the many desserts and treats they served.
Now then, time to dig in. Sirius picked up his fork, his stomach growling at the aroma of the butter-and-ketchup sauce.
First, a single bite. He plunged his fork into the Napolitan and brought some noodles to his mouth. The butter’s rich flavor and the ketchup’s gentle bitterness fused with the pasta, creating quite a delectable combination on their own. Mmm. Yes, the flavor really does change when you stir-fry the noodles.
The secret to the Napolitan’s flavor—which was altogether different from the noodles Sirius usually ate—was the way it was cooked. The complex flavor spreading through his mouth was unattainable from simply boiling the noodles.
Jonathan had observed the restaurant’s cooking process and noticed the difference. The noodles were boiled first, then fried in butter with the ketchup and other ingredients in a deep, wide wok.
This new process, called “stir-frying,” was very different from cooking in the Western Continent’s Ocean Nation, where either boiling or frying was commonplace. Through “stir-frying,” the Napolitan attained a flavor far beyond a dish that was simply boiled and sauced.
Sirius ate some of the other ingredients mixed with the noodles. The Napolitan’s add-ins were also fried in butter and flavored with ketchup, and were almost good enough to eat on their own. The diced vegetables added texture and a slightly bitter aftertaste. The oranie was sweet; the mashruums rich with savory juices.
The marbling on the sausages wasn’t impressive compared to bacon, but their juiciness filled the mouth. They were delicious, but there weren’t many pieces; the Napolitan struck a delicate balance between noodles and the accompanying meat and veggies.
Mm-hmm. The additional ingredients are flavorful, but too much meat or too many veggies would ruin the balance, Sirius concluded. He believed Napolitan was meant to focus on the noodles’ flavor; one couldn’t fully enjoy that if the dish was too busy. Everything else in the Napolitan is included to bring out the best in the noodles.
Sampling the dish again, Sirius found that the meat and vegetables had another gustatory duty. Their savory taste complemented the noodles, producing a flavor contrast that was subtle but significant. Sirius’s appraisal was that Napolitan was a dish which perfectly fused noodles and other ingredients.
Now, time to change things up. After eating about half the Napolitan, he reached for the small box the waitress had brought to the table with his meal. Opening the top, he shook the box upside down. Some sort of off-white powder rained down onto the Napolitan.
Too much of the stuff would destroy the dish’s carefully balanced flavor, so Sirius paid attention to the amount of straw-colored snow he sprinkled onto the noodles. He stopped as soon as a thin layer dusted them and then once again took hold of his fork.
✦ ✦ ✦
Plunging the utensil into the snow-covered noodles, he brought some straight to his mouth. The mild powdered cheese changed the Napolitan’s bitter flavor into something entirely new.
All right. This is it. Sirius picked up the glass bottle of red sauce and shook some onto his plate, being even more careful than he had been with the powdered cheese. One red droplet of Tabasco sauce fell from the bottle; that was enough to alter the Napolitan’s flavor. Sirius took a bite, and fierce, powerful heat assaulted his mouth.
The Napolitan hadn’t contained the Tabasco’s sour flavor and hot spice before, but they proved wonderful accents that whetted Sirius’s appetite, calling his fork to the plate yet again. According to Jonathan, Tabasco sauce was likely made from chili pepels; it was extremely hot, and its flavor was very strong. In small quantities, it accented most dishes amazingly. If your hand slipped, however, your food became inedible. Fortunately, things went right with the Tabasco this time.
With the addition of the hot sauce, the Napolitan was just as Sirius liked. Now we’re talking! Satisfied with the dish’s flavor, he dug in with enthusiasm.
The Alfade Company was a big deal, even in the capital city, and Sirius belonged to the family that founded it. Since he would eventually lead the company, he’d dealt with nobility time and again, and he was the sort of person who often conducted research to further the company’s influence. But this time, and this time alone, he was just a young man enjoying a feast as he indulged in the Napolitan.
Without realizing it, Sirius cleaned his plate, leaving behind only a stain of red sauce.
“Phew…” He rubbed his belly, dropping some sugar into his café au lait before taking a sip. The sweetness and milk fused with the cafa’s bitter flavor, washing away the Napolitan’s aftertaste. “There we go.”
After indulging in his Napolitan, Sirius concluded his weekly break, transforming back into the ambitious young man he usually was. Leaving the exact number of silver and copper coins owed for his bill, he returned to the capital more determined than ever.