That evening, I was once again herded straight into the kitchen the instant we got back to the house I was renting in the capital. No resting time for me! I had settled on a recipe, at least...but I had my doubts about the situation’s sustainability.
“Are they gonna keep demanding leviathan meat every single night from now on, or what?” I muttered to myself. Just remembering the mountain of meat that now occupied my Item Box made my spirits sink. Even considering the black holes that my familiars had for stomachs, it would still probably take ages for me to work through it all. “And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s still more of it coming...”
Much to my chagrin, the deboning process wasn’t even halfway finished yet. That, of course, meant that I’d soon have even more leviathan meat on my hands, in massive quantities. I shivered.
“Y-You know what? I’m just not gonna think about it right now. They’ll get sick of it eventually, anyway!”
If anyone else had heard me talking about getting sick of leviathan meat, they might very well have passed out on the spot. I, however, found myself praying internally that the gluttonous quartet would move on to their next food fixation sooner rather than later as I got to work on the night’s dinner.
This time, I’d be making foil-baked leviathan. I’d have to make a metric ton of whatever dish I settled on, so I’d decided to prioritize simplicity above all else. Baking the meat in foil meant that I could throw in a bunch of vegetables and stuff as well, which I was positive would be delicious. I purchased the ingredients that I didn’t have in stock from my Online Supermarket, then got straight to work.
First up was cutting the vegetables. I had a ton of onions and cabbage from Alban’s garden in my Item Box, and brought out some of each to use in the dish. I sliced the onions thinly, cut the cabbage into chunks, and removed the bases of the enoki mushrooms that I’d bought from my Online Supermarket.
Once I’d finished cutting the veritable mountain of vegetables I needed, I moved right along to making the sauce. I’d settled on using two sauces to make two variants of the recipe I’d chosen: a ponzu soy sauce and miso mayonnaise. The ponzu soy sauce would go on right before I served the dish, so I started by making the miso mayo—not that there was much of a process to that at all, really. All I had to do was mix together miso paste, mayonnaise, and just a splash of concentrated dashi stock.
Once the miso mayo was ready, I started prepping the dish itself. I buttered a piece of aluminum foil, then arranged the ingredients on top of it. I started with a layer of onions and cabbage, salted and peppered them, and then slapped on a piece of leviathan meat, which I topped with more onions and cabbage, plus some mushrooms this time. After that, I just had to top some of the piles with pats of butter, top the rest with miso mayo, and fold them all up into little parcels. Then, once I had a ton of those parcels made, I threw them into the oven to bake! I spent quite some time baking one oven full of parcels after another, until finally...
“Okay, I think that should be enough to satisfy everyone!”
I was hoping to actually sit down and enjoy my meal that night, so I made even more servings than I thought I would actually need. Getting sent back into the kitchen like last night would spoil my chance to savor my own leviathan meat, after all. Considering just how many parcels I’d put together, each of which contained an extra-large helping of leviathan meat, I had a hard time imagining that I could possibly run out.
I returned to the living room, where my familiars were hungrily waiting for me.
“I made foil-baked leviathan for us today! You just open it up like this—ouch, hot!” I said. I tore open one of the foil parcels, and the buttery aroma of its contents immediately filled the room. “Oh, and there’s two types! These ones will go great with a bit of this ponzu soy sauce on top, and these are a bit more heavily seasoned and have miso mayo sauce on them. They’re all really hot, so be careful!”
《This is so yummy, Master!》 said Sui, who had no trouble eating even the most boiling hot of dishes. It engulfed its foil-baked leviathan without waiting for so much as a second. Judging by the slime’s happy jiggle, it was really pleased with the dish.
“Yes, these are both delicious! I’m not certain I could pick a favorite,” Gon agreed as he chowed down as well.
《They’re both good, yeah, but I think I like the stronger-flavored one better,》 Dora-chan said. The miso mayo parcels seemed to have hit the spot for him.
Fel, meanwhile, gave my other three familiars a reproachful side-eye as he used wind magic to cool his parcels down. That delayed him quite a bit, but finally, he dug in too.
“Yes, this is quite decent,” he said. “The vegetables were unnecessary, but the leviathan’s meat is truly superb.”
Unnecessary, my foot! Veggies are a core component of any foil bake. Plus, they’re just plain good!
I opened up a parcel to sample as well. I started out with one of the miso mayo ones, which I paired with a bowl of white rice. Strongly flavored dishes like that went perfectly with rice. I could hardly think of a better combination.
The leviathan was delicious, needless to say, but the way the vegetables had soaked up the flavor from it and the miso mayo made them incredibly tasty as well. It was so good, in fact, that I ended up seriously considering having a second helping of rice...but before I got the chance, the gluttonous quartet called out for seconds of their own.
“Heh heh heh! You won’t be sending me back to the kitchen this time. I made enough to last us through the meal today for sure!” I said as I brought out another round of foil-baked leviathan parcels.
“Oh? Then I suppose we will have to test the limits of your preparations.”
“Hah hah hah! Excellent, my liege! In that case, I’ll eat even more than usual!”
《You said it!》
《Sui’s gonna eat waaay more than last night!》
I had made a terrible mistake. One misplaced comment, and the gluttonous quartet was all fired up to stuff their stomachs to capacity.
“Huh? No, wait, that’s not what I meant at all! Be reasonable! Eat as much as you want, then stop!” I shouted in a flailing panic.
“Incidentally, my liege, might I partake of the liquor you provided the other night? I believe you called it ‘beer,’ perhaps? I’m quite certain it would pair wonderfully with this dish,” Gon said.
《Aww, no fair! In that case, Sui wants the black bubbly stuff to drink too!》 Sui protested.
《You mean cola, Sui, and I’ll second that! One for me too!》 Dora-chan said.
“And I shall have cider. Also, another serving.”
“Oh! For me as well.”
《Same!》
《Sui too!》
“H-Hey, guys, are you listening to me? I’m serious! Don’t overeat! Be reasonable, please!”