Chapter 132: Tsukudani
We made advance orders for soy sauce, then we headed to the other shops in the surrounding area in the same manner and made advance orders for miso and rice one after another. If we buy them up suddenly then it will inconvenience the shop’s and our side, so I guess it would be better if we specify the date for the order and said it earlier. It would inconvenience their daily transactions and also their trading partners.
I think there will be no problem with the loading of the luggage since the ship is big, there’s also no problem to secretly store some of them inside my Space magic.
――just that, it’s so easy for my money to fly away in this place.
「Hei, ‘elcome! Oniisan, how about this one? If you put this on top of the rice, it will deepen the taste of the rice!」
An old man recommended something that looks like a tsukudani along with freshly cooked rice while showing a splendid business smile.
Thi, this kind of demonic combination is no good! If we eat this then we can’t help but to buy tsukudani.
「What’s this? Can we eat it?」
「Yes, of course. You will not be able to recognize how good it tastes if you don’t actually try it. Hey, you with the dead eyes, please have some too」
That ‘you with the dead eyes’ is uncalled-for.
Though I thought like that, I subconsciously received the rice and tsukudani offered to me.
I hate the fact that he properly handed us some spoons, anticipating that we’re not from Kagura.
「Oh? If you can eat it give some for me too」
「I don’t know what that is, but does it goes well with rice?」
Mort and Roomba brazenly came forward, perhaps they noticed that Irvine and I receive some food from the old man.
「Of course. How about that beautiful oneesan over there, would you like some?」
「Ara, you mean us?」
Aleutia looked back in a graceful manner and said that, but to begin with, if she is being humble she shouldn’t turn around like Ilya. Such a charade.
Incidentally, five Kagura’s women who were walking on the street looked back after hearing the old man’s flattering words.
Maybe because they are walking gracefully while wearing beautiful kimonos, they appear graceful, but it seems like there are also a lot of people who don’t appear to give the same impression.
I stare at the tsukudani on top of the rice while thinking of such things.
Probably made with asari and some shellfish, seasoned with soy sauce and sugar for the sweetness and saltiness of tsukudani. That would definitely be delicious, I’m sure of it. My drool won’t stop even just thinking about it.
I bring the shellfish tsukudani with the spoon to my mouth, with the white steam from the rice hanging in the air.
The salty-sweet seasoning in the shellfish instantly spread inside my mouth, I welcome the strong flavor of the seasoning so that it will be absorbed by the hot rice. As a result, I felt the umami of the rice and the sweetness of the tsukudani that was at the right amount.
A combination that complements the strong and weak characteristics of both seasonings, making the best use of each of them.
This is really not good. Once I start eating it, I won’t be able to stop.
「Uoooooohh! This goes so well with rice, isn’t it!?」
Irvine who is next to me also felt the same, he wolfed down the rice heartily. The other members are also shaking their heads vertically as if agreeing to Irvine’s remark.
Right now, I’m currently busy stuffing the rice into my mouth, trying to match the taste of the salty-sweet tsukudani with the rice. Since if you match the taste of the tsukudani with rice at just the right amount, it will be extremely delicious.
We put the hot rice and tsukudani inside our mouth - as if to bolt it all down -, and just like that we have emptied our rice bowl.
Such a magical power the dish has……
「If I have this, then I can eat as many bowls of rice as I can!」
「Yeah and even I can eat two bowls of rice with this!」
Aleutia said, continuing after Roomba’s remark.
Err, even though you eat three bowls of tamago kake gohan in the morning, just what are you saying. And maybe Irvine and Mort also knew about it, they had a face that looked like 「What the heck is this person saying now?」.
「It goes really well with rice, doesn't it? Even if you don't eat it together with rice, it will also go well with Kagura’s sake as a snack, right.」
While imitating the action of tilting a sake bottle, the old man unpleasantly smiled. It was such an exaggerated action and tone of voice, but his way of putting it looks like it is actually delicious.
Irvine and Mort are making a swallowing sound. If I also had a body where I can drink liquor, then I would probably have made the same swallowing sound like them.
「Oi, old man! Do you have Kagura sake!? 」
「I apologize. Our place is a tsukudani shop. If you want some Kagura sake then please purchase it at the sake shop next door.」
The old man shamelessly said that while shrugging his shoulders, in reply to Irvine’s remark.
When I casually looked at the sake shop next door, the man who appeared to be the shopkeeper was holding a sake bottle and smiling.
I know that they’re using a small amount of sake for the tsukudani, so I thought there is no reason they don’t have some sake here, but he didn’t point that out since there is a business synergy between him and his neighbor.
「Kuuh! Irvine! Let’s go buy it!」
「Ou!」
Irvine and Mort looked like they wanted to try eating it along with Kagura sake, so they started running straight toward the sake shop.
「If you stuff it inside onigiri and eat it, I guess you can eat it while you’re on the move, right.」
「Really!? If so we can savor this anytime!」
Roomba’s eyes widened as he raised his voice after hearing what I said.
That way, we can make and eat it immediately even during a busy period in the morning, and it can also function as a bento. Logan would be delighted if I brought some with me.
「Old man, can you give me some with this!」
「Hei, thank you for your patronage! Though there are other types of tsukudani, is it fine if I just use the shellfish one from before?」
「Ohh? There are other types of tsukudani?」
This place sells tsukudani. There is no way that there is only one type of tsukudani. There are a lot of types of tsukudani other than the shellfish one inside the sieve, Japanese icefish, young sardines, something that looks like small fishes, seaweeds, and other types of plants like shiitake. There are a lot of ingredients that go well with rice, huh.
And thus, there are more challenges in tsukudani……
「……say, uncle. What is this thing?」
Then, Aleutia became aware of 'that'.
She has a face that said she can’t believe it, that there is no such thing but she might be able to guess it. She pointed at that while her face turned ghastly pale.
Maybe Ilya also notices as Aleutia looks strangely afraid of something, Ilya looks closely at the place where Aleutia’s finger pointed to and froze.
Toward such Aleutia and Ilya, the old man flatly say
「That, is it? That’s inago?」
「No, no way! No matter how you see it, that’s not a grasshopper from a paddy field or from a grassy field.」
Aah, there is no inago in the Kingdom after all. As for grasshoppers, they can often be found in Koryatt village.
When you run across the straight path extending from the mansion to the village, you will be able to see the cute grasshoppers jumping around at the same time as you head toward the village.
「Grasshopper? Aah, there are no inago in your place then? Well, inago is in the same group as the grasshopper you see. You eat it it will feel crunchy in textu――」
「「I don't want to hear!(that）」」
The two of them crouch and shout loudly as if trying to drown out the old man's explanation.
I heard that it’s tasty and rich in protein, but it doesn’t look like they wanted to eat it willingly. I’m basically also not good with insect-based food, so I understand how they feel.
Although shrimp and crab don’t look any different from that, I wonder how could I happily eat them. I mean, shrimp has like, a lot of legs growing from its body, and yet its face looks closer to a bug, right.
「Yosh, I’ll try a bite」
Hearing that remark from Roomba, Aleutia and Ilya opened their eyes widely in disbelief.
Ooh, it’s probably been some time since they revealed this much expression just like when they ate that octopus, huh.
「Please, by all means. It tastes good you know?」
When the old man put the inago inside an empty bowl, it made a *sharashara* sound.
「「Hiiiiiiiiiiii!?」」
Aleutia and Ilya screamed when they heard the sound that shows the firmness of the inago. It’s been a long time since I heard this kind of unpleasant sound.
Looking at the inago inside the bowl, Roomba scoops up some of them with a spoon and brings it to his mouth.
Meanwhile, the fearful scream from me, Aleutia, and Ilya never stop.
Roomba moves his mouth *moshamosha*, but perhaps the only saving grace is that there are no inago’s legs sticking out from the corner of his mouth. If they come out of his mouth, then we might have experienced trauma because of it.
As we watch over him with an indescribable expression on our faces, Roomba swallowed down the inago and said,
「It looks unappetizing but it's crunchy and very filling, y’see? Why don’t you try it Al?」
「I’m going to buy it just in case, but I’m not going to eat it so no thanks. 」
「What, you’re going to buy it just in case?」
「I’m going to stuff it inside onigiri and make Eleonora-neesan eat it.」
It’s the stupid Eleonora-neesan. If you mix it properly with shellfish and small fish, then you don’t need to worry about her noticing it. If I did it like that, then I will be able to have my revenge and won’t get punished because it got found out.
Do you think I’m a small-minded guy? Then why don’t you think about it calmly. It will be simple to fight off Eleonora-neesan using magic at her weak point, but if I did that then it will be scary later on.
If I beat her with magic then she will come up with a countermeasure for that, she will beat me up when it’s time for practice as though trying to get even. That’s why, If I want to attack Eleonora-neesan, it is absolutely necessary for it to not get found out.
Even serving it to someone like Tori to kill some time is fun.
「I see, that’s also interesting. Then I will also make Roland and Westa eat it. There’s no way they’re going to complain since it’s delicious!」
Roomba laughed *shishishi* while showing his white teeth.
「I also want to see that, so call for me that time, alright」
I’m quite interested in those two’s facial expressions when they find out that it’s the same group of grasshoppers.
「Uncle, I’m going to buy some tsukudani, so do you mind if I have some of this?」
「Of course」
When Roomba and I were smiling and laughing wickedly at each other, Aleutia began to put some tsukudani into a rice bowl for Irvine and Mort.
While having an extremely unpleasant expression on her face, Aleutia skilfully put the inago with the shellfish, small fishes, and shrimp as if to mix them.
Guess she’s going to serve it to Irvine and Mort, who will be back bringing some sake. Looks like she still has some grudges from the matter of her breast from before.
「Hahaha, we did that often in Kagura 」
Ilya has a wry smile on her face, as the old man said while laughing innocently. I also wonder if Kagura is going to be alright. Since she’s someone who is usually has a calm disposition, I feel that she would be scary if you made her angry.
「Old man! I’ll buy the tsukudani, so let me have some!」
Just when I’m thinking about that kind of thing, Irvine came back holding a sake bottle in his hand.
His face is a bit red, he’d probably tried various types of Kagura sake on the pretense of choosing Kagura sake. And I was wondering why he took an extremely long time to return.
「I have already prepare it right here.」
「Ooh! Thanks! Yosh, shall we enjoy it immediately with Kagura sake!」
「Ou!」
Maybe it's because they’re tipsy with the Kagura sake, or because the shellfish tsukudani stood out in the bowl, but Irvine and Mort didn’t hold any suspicions as they took their spoon and put the food into their mouth.
While we are watching them and smirking, the two of them chew the tsukudani with relish.
Aah, there is an inago leg stuck out from the edge of Irvine’s mouth.
「Ahー……… I’ve seen it」
It’s as if Ilya muttered what’s on my mind.
「What is it?」
「It’s nothing………」
「Why is Aleutia having such a big smile on your face?」
「That’s because the tsukudani is delicious you know」
Aleutia is smiling brightly as she doesn’t look to be bothered as she set them up.
Irvine and Mort are suspicious of such Aleutia, but it looks like they still prioritized enjoying the taste of the food right now without worrying about it as they drank the Kagura sake in their hands in one gulp.
It is such an enviable scene, but I don’t think it is so this time.
「Puhaaaーー! It’s just like what the old man said before, this sake goes well with tsukudani!」
「Indeed! If it’s with this I can drink as much as I want! This salty-sweet taste of the shellfish with its crunchy and unique texture is――」
The two of them are expressing their impressions of the food with such a blissful expression on their face, but maybe they suddenly realize it as they look at each other.
「「………crunchy?」」
Aah, it’s crunchy after all.
Most likely, Irvine and Mort must feel that something is wrong with the texture of the shellfish.
「O, oi! You! What are those legs!?」
Then, Mort realized it. It was the leg of something that appeared to be a bug stuck out from the edge of Irvine’s mouth.
「Wha, what is it?」
「Mouth! The one at the edge of your mouth!」
Mort pointed at Irvine’s mouth while he’s repeatedly opening and closing his mouth.
Irvine wipes his mouth with his hand while appearing curious.
「……o, oi. ……what is this?」
Maybe he doesn’t believe in what he is holding in his own hand. He muttered with a shaky voice.
Mort rummaged through the tsukudani in his own bowl with the spoon and stiffened. It seems like he saw it.
Toward such Irvine who looked our way with his eyes wide open, Aleutia clearly answered.
「……that’s inago you know. A creature in the same category as a grasshopper.」
Two screams that sound like chickens being strangled resounded in Kagura’s street.
Author note :
Actually, I was planning to make them go to the clothing store earlier.
A little more and someone like the Kagura oneesan will appear, you know.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺