But right then, she remembered that she had just the thing.
“In that case, why don’t you try planting these?” Mira said, taking out several seeds.
They were the seeds she’d gotten when she was clearing the Ancient Underground City as she searched for Soul Howl.
There were still several facilities in operation, which had been started by a mysterious ancient civilization. They were the original strains of various kinds of fruit which had continued to be cultivated there. She’d come across several of the seeds, some of which belonged to fruits with incredible flavors, while others belonged to fruits so delicious that they left one in awe. Of these, she’d chosen the seeds of one particularly delicious fruit to take with her.
In terms of how special they were, they might very well have been even rarer than the seeds Floedina had originally planned on planting.
“These seeds are quite precious, though, so I imagine they’re pretty hard to grow. But I think it’d be more worth it to plant them than to just let this space go to waste.”
All of the seeds were grown in an automated facility, and so it’d likely be quite the challenge to grow them in a far-off land. It might not even be possible to get the seeds to sprout in such a different environment.
However, Floedina didn’t look one bit deterred. “Could I really have them?!” she said, her eyes glittering brightly as she stared at the seeds Mira was holding out.
“Hrm, no worries,” Mira confirmed.
“Thank you so much!” Floedina answered, reverently bowing down on one knee before she carefully took the seeds and put them in a bag.
“Ah, and one more thing…”
Thinking that she’d likely have trouble finding out what the seeds were just by sight, Mira handed Floedina several pieces of the same fruit that she still had.
Thanking Mira once more and taking them, Floedina looked inquisitively at the fruit, which she’d never before laid eyes on. Just how exactly would the seeds grow? Unable to resist the anticipation of finding out, Floedina looked toward the vacant patch with enthusiasm burning in her eyes.
Now, let us change scenes to a kitchen within the palace. It was about thirty-five feet wide and had a counter, over which one could see the dining hall. However, likely because it was still quite early, there wasn’t anyone in the dining hall.
Inside this very kitchen, Floedina stood skillfully preparing for that morning’s breakfast. This time, she needed to cook for Bruce and Mira, in addition to the seven sisters, and so she needed to prepare nine portions. The sight of her doing all of this alone made it seem like she was a warrior who’d come to do culinary battle.
Furthermore, there was someone next to her with a kitchen knife in hand. Indeed, it was Mira. Just like they’d planned, she was doing prep work for the tomato dish that Floedina would be making. However, it was nothing terribly difficult. Floedina had tasked Mira with the simple job of chopping the tomatoes.
“How does this look?” Mira asked.
Still not very used to cooking, she wasn’t terribly sure of herself. However, figuring that she could master it so long as all she had to do was cut, she’d finished slicing all the tomatoes.
“They look perfect, Master. Thank you.”
Adding that it was no problem if they weren’t all the exact same size, Floedina took the bowl with the tomatoes in it. From there on out, it was her time to shine, and so Mira stayed put and started working on her other objective.
Mira quietly watched Floedina as she cooked up a storm. Recently, she’d gotten by on ready-made food, but it was often said that, for adventurers, nothing beat camping and cooking up meals in the wilderness.
Therefore, as a separate task from their original operation, Mira had asked Floedina to teach her how to cook.
“If you let it boil, then all the taste will disappear, so you need to be careful… You have to adjust how much you cook it depending on the size of the cut of meat… If you take off too much of the soup scum, then you end up taking out some of the flavor too…” Floedina said.
Rattling off cooking advice while she prepared the food, Floedina moved as though she were in a frenzy. And yet, she noted every important aspect as well as everything Mira might want to be careful of while finishing the dish with ease. Looking as if she hadn’t even broken a sweat and perhaps glad that she’d been able to help teach her master, she looked positively exuberant.
“Hrmm… Yes, I see…” Mira said, feverishly trying to jot down every piece of advice that Floedina hurled at her.
In the beginning, she’d planned on having Floedina teach her while she helped. However, judging from how Floedina was working, Mira had decided that she’d most likely just be getting in the way rather than helping. Therefore, she’d decided to hold off and simply watch and listen. And yet, while watching Floedina as she finished cooking multiple dishes all at the same time, Mira thought to herself…
I don’t think any of this will help me at all…
Because she had so many years of cooking experience, Floedina knew exactly what to do and when, and she demonstrated all kinds of cooking techniques, such that Mira’s eyes could no longer even keep up with everything going on. Mira smiled wryly to herself and wondered how many years, or even decades, of culinary training she’d need to learn such skills.
That said, there were some techniques and tricks that she could use right away, and these were precisely what Mira focused on jotting down.
“Oh ho, it’s finally time, huh?”
And so, while Mira continued taking notes, things continued smoothly as Floedina went on placing finished plate after finished plate onto the counter. She then finished cooking the dish that used the specially selected tomatoes before finally bringing out the ingredients necessary to make the dish that Mira had requested. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the air as Floedina took out the bread she’d prepared to make Mira’s French toast.
Ordinarily, one made French toast by putting eggs and milk in a bowl, mixing in sugar and vanilla extract, dipping the bread into the mixture, and finally cooking it on the stove.
Knowing more or less how one made French toast, Mira looked on while thinking to herself that it ought to be made the same way.
Then, the prized uzofnir egg that Floedina had spoken of the night before made its appearance. The egg was about the size of a child’s head, and it even gave off a faint glow.
It almost looks holy… Is it really okay to eat…?
Standing before the egg, which looked like it might house some incredible lifeform, Mira hesitated a moment. And yet, Floedina paid her no mind whatsoever and broke the egg with a loud crack. And, not soon after, the uzofnir egg had become the egg mixture used to create the French toast.
Now all she had to do was dip the bread in the mixture and cook it. No longer sweating the details, Mira moved her attention toward the French toast which would soon be ready. However, she was left scratching her head as she saw things suddenly going in a different direction than she’d expected.
Oddly enough, Floedina had begun tearing the freshly baked bread into small pieces. Not only that, she even started crushing some of them into bread crumbs.
This was so different from the way in which Mira knew how to make French toast that she was left completely bemused. However, it was Floedina the culinary expert doing all this, and so Mira silently watched as she continued.
Floedina then dumped the bread crumbs as well as the torn-up pieces of bread into the egg mixture, and, moments later, all of the mixture had been absorbed.
The next thing that she brought out was a square pan, which she then poured the egg-bread mixture into and started cooking, as if she were making tamagoyaki. She even put cheese in between each layer for a tasty little surprise.
Oh ho! Would you look at that… That is most definitely French toast!
Floedina cooked portion after portion of the French toast, which was thicker than any Mira had ever seen. Normally, if one cooked such thick French toast, the egg mixture would never reach the middle of the bread. However, this wasn’t the case with the way Floedina had made it. The egg mixture had been absorbed into the entire thing, and so the center of her French toast was soft and velvety, almost like pudding.