Chapter 3: Too Strong, but Cooking for Others
WE discuss things like armor and weapons, then set a time to meet up the next morning.
“Tomorrow, we finally get to go on an adventure,” I mutter, thinking back over everything Leila told us. I’d better get some utensils quick.
Kazuya nods at my side. “Mm-hmm. We need to buy you some cooking supplies to use as a chef, then. What should we start with?”
We leave the others and head to a market. We wander around until we find an ironmonger who lets me weigh up different options. Cooking utensils look the same in this world as in our old one—lots of different pots and frying pans in familiar shapes. In order to defeat the owl demon, we’ll be camping in the forest for a few days, so I’ll have to show my skills in the wild. That said, I haven’t cooked anything since we came to this world, which is rather worrying.
But since we’ll be saying a temporary farewell to Jabrin and his wife tonight, I’d like to do something to thank them for helping us out.
“Hey Kazuya, do you think I could cook dinner tonight? I wanna treat Jabrin and Marie. And I want to check if I can cook properly here.”
“Yeah, good idea. I haven’t had anything you’ve cooked in a while, either.”
“Then, after this, let’s go buy some ingredients.”
“Okay. Better choose your equipment already. I think this big wok would be good, since you can carry it on your back and still move freely. And this set of ladles.”
“Yeah, that’s a good point! Can we afford them? 5,000 gaul seems expensive.”
“I’ll cover it.” Kazuya chats for a minute with the ironmonger. Not only does he bargain the price down to 3,000 gaul, but the guy also throws in a cutlery set as a free gift. Kazuya’s got the golden touch.
“Is this thanks to your merchant skill?”
“Probably,” he says coolly. What a handy skill.
Armed with new cooking utensils, we head over to the produce section of the market to buy ingredients for dinner and preserved foods I’ll need from tomorrow. Leila gave us some gaul to pay for the latter, so I’m flush with cash. On my list of things to get are salt, bacon, cheese, dried vegetables, dried mushrooms, and dried fish.
All the food here looks the same as in our old world, including potatoes, carrots, onions, and apples. Occasionally, I see something unfamiliar, but I recognize most things and am relieved that my prior knowledge is still applicable when coming up with menus and recipes.
I beeline for ingredients I know. Just touching them sparks inspiration and I start to want this, and that, and that, too… Oh, but if I buy too much, our groceries won’t fit in our bag.
“Better make sure our supplies aren’t too bulky and heavy.”
“No, we’ll be fine. I charmed this bag with storage magic this morning.” Kazuya shrugs off his backpack and opens it to show me the inside.
Whoa. That’s incredible. It’s extra wide and deep.
“The magic expanded its volume, so it can fit a lot. No need to worry about how much stuff we get.”
“That’s an amazing spell. But doesn’t it stay heavy?”
“No, the weight doesn’t change. The bag won’t get heavier no matter what you add.”
“Cool! Then, let’s shop until we drop!”
Wow. Kazuya’s getting more and more useful. He’s a regular Swiss army knife— Oh, hey! “Can it keep things refrigerated?” I blurt. “Could we bring raw meat and eggs?”
“No, that’s probably impossible.”
Oh, right. Even Doraemon can’t do everything. But still, it’s handy to have a backpack that can hold so much. I return to picking through produce.
After browsing for a while, I purchase preserved food for tomorrow’s adventure and ingredients for dinner with Jabrin and his wife this evening.
They’re sitting together when we arrive back at their home, so we tell them that we’ll be leaving tomorrow for a few days or so. That gets them a bit down, but they perk up when I ask if I can cook for them. Even though they protest that I don’t have to, they seem happy that I will.
With Marie’s permission, I set up in the kitchen. Potatoes surround me after Marie piled them up and insisted I use them. So many potatoes… What can I make that’ll use a lot of them in one go?
All right. I’ve decided on a menu.
“How’s it going, Sakurako?” Kazuya asks as he enters the kitchen.
“Great! While the main course is baking in the oven, I think I’ll make mayonnaise to use as salad dressing.”
“Can you make mayo?”
“Yeah, all it takes is eggs, vinegar, salt, and oil, and we’ve got all of those.” I put them into a bowl as I list them off.
“That’s not what I meant. Don’t you need to whip it thoroughly? We don’t have a whisk.”
“Nah, it’ll be fine. I’ll mix it with a fork or something. Wait there, I’ll do it now.” I pick up the bowl and hold it firmly, wielding a wooden three-pronged fork in my right hand. Here I go!
Whip whip whip whip skrish-skrish-skrish-skrish!
“Whoa! Your hand is a blur!” By the time Kazuya finishes that exclamation, the bowl is filled with mayonnaise.
“There, see? I did it! Not to brag, but I can stir over 5,000 times per minute. In fact, I daresay I stirred faster than that, because I feel really good.”
“Yeah, you don’t even need a whisk.” Kazuya smiles in amazement and reaches out to touch my face. “You got some mayo on you.”