Chapter 181: Operation to Win Sheila 4
I lit the firewood with Fire magic, then put a little oil on the frying pan and started to grill the onigiris side-by-side.
After the surface of the onigiris has already turned brown, I brush the soy sauce on them.
Immediately after that, the fragrant smell of soy sauce drifted through the air.
The salty and sweet smell stimulates our appetite.
「Uoooooohhh!? It smells really good!」
「Aaahh, this will definitely be tasty～」
「……smells good」
While the three of them shouted in delight, I continued to look at the onigiri.
As I stared at them in silence, I turn the onigiris over and smear the soy sauce on them with a brush. Then, the fragrant smell drifted around again.
「Neechan, you’re drooling again」
「You too Asmo, your drool is dripping out」
The sibling pointed that out to each other and they wipe their mouth. However, their gaze was still on the grilled onigiris while they did it.
「Now you only have to smear the sauce on the onigiri moderately and continue to grill it until the outside form crust, let’s start making the gohei mochi now. I’ll leave the grilled onigiri to you Torr, alright?」
「Aah, I’ll grill them」
On the other hand, I‘m worried when I’m looking at Asmo and Sheila-san who stare as if they’re going to eat them. So I will leave this place to Torr as he looks like he can still control himself somewhat.
So after I make hot water using Water and Fire magic, I pour it into a bowl.
Then I put the remaining rice into a draining basket, and place it on top of the bowl with the hot water.
「If you do it like this, the moisture will slightly enter the rice and make it soft――hey, are you listening to me?」
「……of course」
While Asmo boldly answered me, Sheila-san answered in a fluster.
However, they’re still looking at the fragrant, grilled onigiri.
Oh well, if they also got a whiff of the smell of miso, then I would probably be able to get their attention here.
The smell of burnt soy sauce is nice, but the smell of miso is also savory.
It’s easy to explain it to them, so let’s make it first.
After around two minutes, I drain the water from the rice that had been immersed in the hot water.
Then I dump the hot water and put the rice into the bowl.
「Please pound the rice until there are little rice grains left」
「Okay」
I handed the stick to mash the rice and leave the troublesome physical work to Asmo.
It would probably be finished in no time with Asmo’s physical strength.
「Like this?」
「Un, like that」
The rice is being crushed in just the right manner and the viscosity is increasing.
「Now then, let’s shape them into ellipses and bake them on a frying pan」
After I said that, Asmo took the frying pan hanging on the wall and continue to put it on the stove.
「You don’t have to add oil to the frying pan」
「All right」
That’s because the rice will absorb the oil and the natural flavor of the rice will be spoiled.
While Asmo is heating the frying pan, Sheila-san is shaping the rice into ellipses.
「Is it something like this?」
「Un, that’s fine. We’re going to pierce the middle with a stick and bake it, make it for the number of people here but don’t make it too big」
I leave the adjustment of the amount of rice to Sheila-san, and borrow the frying pan from Asmo for a short while.
It requires a little more extra work to make the miso-based sauce.
After crushing the walnuts into tiny grains in Torr’s house. I continue to fry it in the frying pan on low heat.
When you mix the fried miso-based sauce with the walnuts, it will release an even more fragrant scent.
After the walnuts are grilled, all you have to do is to mix it with other seasonings like miso and sugar while adjusting the amount and the sauce will be completed.
「Aah, it also smells really good over there………」
「……I’m already hungry that it’s painful」
The smell of grilled onigiri came from the right side, while the smell of miso-based sauce for the gohei mochi came from the left side.
It would probably be quite tough to smell these kinds of scents when you have an empty stomach.
「After that, you only have to stab the wooden stick into the middle of grilled rice. Torr, have you finished grilling them?」
I checked on Torr while calming Asmo who is currently grilling the rice.
「There are some that crumbling, but I’ve grilled them all!」
「……it’s all your fault that they’re crumbling, wasn’t it」
「N, not my fault!」
Torr denies while panicking, but it’s obvious who was the one who made the onigiri if you look at their shape, you know?
At any rate, the crumbling onigiri is probably the one Torr made half-heartedly.
The ones made by Asmo and Sheila-san are smaller, but they still feel big to me so I immediately knew which is which.
Mine are small so they’re actually easier to identify when they crumble――.
「……ah, mine also crumbled」
「……oi」
Tor looked coldly at me when I made a mistake and unintentionally muttered that.
「……that must be because of Torr’s method in grilling them」
「I may be bad in forming the onigiri but that’s not the case in grilling them」
Ignoring his stabbing gaze, I quickly smear the soy sauce on the cracked part with a brush.
「Look, if you do this then soy sauce will seep until the inside and it will become delicious. It’s possible to fix it like this」
I muttered as if telling myself and left the arranged grilled onigiri to Torr.
「Al, I’m done stabbing the rice with the stick」
「Later you’ll have to spread the miso sauce on it when you want to eat them and it’s done!」
「Yahooo～!」
Hearing that, Sheila-san makes the loudest cry of the day.
◆
「Now then, let’s eat!」
I said after dividing the grilled onigiri and gohei mochi into each of our plates, then three people who were already sitting on their seats quickly moved their hands.
The first dish they reach out to is the grilled onigiri. They probably couldn’t stand the fragrant smell of soy sauce that had been drifting around the whole time.
「Mmphh! ’asty!」
The first person who shouted is Torr who sits beside me.
Torr stares at the grilled onigiri with wide-opened eyes and hungrily eats them just like that.
「The salty-sweet sauce of the soy sauce really goes well with the grilled rice」
Despite gobbling up the rice, Asmo can still say that as he chews on them as if relishing the taste.
After you smear some soy sauce and continue to bake them, the smell and umami of the rice are worlds apart. That’s because the combination of rice and the salty-sweet taste of soy sauce is the best.
「Haa……delicious」
Sheila-san happily muttered as she put her hand on her cheeks as she ate them with her small mouth.
Judging from Sheila-san’s appearance, there’s no doubt that she likes them.
This could be used as a bargaining chip in our negotiation.
I look at Torr wanting to start our operation, but he doesn't notice my signal since he’s still absorbed in stuffing himself with the grilled onigiri.
He’s picking the next grilled onigiri to eat, without looking in my direction.
Not good, this guy. He had completely forgotten about our plan due to the tastiness of the grilled onigiri.
I hit Torr’s shoulder despite looking at Torr in disbelief.
「What is it Al?」
「Our strategy」
「……ooohh, I forgot」
When I whispered to Torr as he looked at me in displeasure, Torr answered like that as if he just remembered it.
Don’t put another grilled onigiri into your mouth again if you remember.
Then he swallowed the thing inside his mouth and after reluctantly staring at the rest of the grilled onigiri on the plate, he turn around to face Sheila-san who is sitting opposite of him.
Yosh, we’ll first bring Sheila-san’s plate over here to give us the advantage.
So I thought and I reach out for Sheila-san’s plate, but there was a sudden dry thud as my arm got repelled.
「Huh? This, this is mine right?」
…what was that just now? Did Sheila-san hit my arm when I reached out for her plate? But I didn’t see Sheila-san moving her arms at all………
And also, I feel a chill down my spine even though she’s still talking to me calmly with a gentle smile on her face.
This kind of cold atmosphere, feels really similar when you’re breaking the taboo of asking a woman her weight.
I wonder, did I make a mistake somehow?
「U, un. That’s right, I made a mistake. Sorry」
「It’s all right. There are also times when it happened right～」
I become frightened of the unfamiliar atmosphere around her and apologize, then Sheila-san resumes her meal.
That previous atmosphere vanished, leaving no trace.
「Oi, Asmo. What’s going on? We won’t be able to proceed with our strategy like this, won’t we」
「I guess, neechan really likes the grilled onigiri. It’s been a while since I saw neechan being so quick and not letting down her guards………」
When I reflexively ask Asmo after seeing her like that, I got that kind of reply from him.
So it’s also unexpected for Asmo, huh?
「So in short, it’s impossible to snatch the food from Sheila-san right now?」
「Maybe, she will hit you with enough strength to make your skin turn red the next time you try something like that again, I think. It also happened a long time ago when we managed to obtain rare monster meat 」
Looking at the somewhat persuasive Asmo, she had probably hit him until his skin turned red in the past.
I know that Asmo’s family members are gluttons - more so from anyone else-, but I didn’t think that it would be this much.
So, I guess I should be able to take it using the non-attributed magic - Psychic -, without directly using my own arm, but my intuition is telling me that it’s just going to make it worse.
In any case, it’s impossible to take the food from Sheila-san’s hands right now.
「……I feel like it’s better for us to simply approach her to discuss it y’know? When push comes to shove, you could just threaten her with Ice magic to calm her down. In any case, it looks like it’s a bad idea to snatch her food from the front」
「That’s right. Let’s do that」
I nodded to Torr’s suggestion and look at Sheila-san again.
Sheila-san is now happily stuffing herself with the grilled onigiri. She’s in a good mood right now, so it looks like we can negotiate with her normally.
「Sheila-san」
「Hm?」
「Can you listen to Torr and my request? 」
「……is it going to take a long time? There are still some grilled onigiri left, and there are also the gohei mochi that we made after all that trouble………」
I tried to ask her again, but it was suddenly denied.
Indeed, our conversation might take a long time. If that happens, then the piping hot grilled onigiri and gohei mochi that we had made with so much effort would probably end up going cold.
Grilled onigiri and gohei mochi are also delicious when they are cold, but it’s more delicious when it’s warm.
Since the act of taking the rice directly is riskier than I thought, I guess we should change our strategy right now and start negotiation after we finished eating?
You will feel better after eating delicious food, and the negotiation would proceed smoothly, right. In short, it’s the same as entertaining others with food.
「……understood. Let’s talk after eating」
「Got it!」
Sheila-san nodded while broadly smiling when I said that.
I let out a short sigh and bit the grilled onigiri in my hand.
When I eat it, the outside is crisp while the soy sauce soaks into the steaming rice as they slowly crumble inside my mouth.
The more I chew on them, the more the sweetness of the rice and the salty-sweet taste of the soy sauce are spreading inside my mouth.
It has such a concentrated umami taste, due to the several layers of hardened soy sauce that were being smeared on the onigiri that is now spreading out.
I continue to ravenously eat the grilled onigiri like that, and reach out for the gohei mochi that had been stabbed with the stick next.
After smearing it with the specially made miso sauce, I heartily bit into it.
Immediate after, I can taste the strong sweetness of the rice with its springy texture as I chew on it. After that, the stirring taste of the miso immediately spread inside my mouth. The sweet taste of the rice and the taste of miso are a perfect match and they are very filling.
「This gohei mochi is also delicisous～!」
Sheila-san - who also ate gohei mochi - said with an ecstatic expression on her face.
It was just a simple dish, but it’s because you can taste the flavor of the ingredients and it is delicious.
I knew it, food is best eaten while they are warm.
But, I wonder why. Our plan is progressing, but I felt that not a single thing is progressing as we had imagined.
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