I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain. In Retaliation, I Chose Amenity over Strength. - Chapter 105

It’s been settled that Dinosso’s family will move in here, so we went to the inn to get their things. The horse was sold, and they also bought necessities. The beds are ready, so if they can arrange for the firewood they can move in within today.

We decided to split up for now, with Butler accompanying them to the stores as their guide and me going back to the house to prepare some bread and soup for both houses.

Alright, what to do now? It’s still a bit early for preparing dinner, but kinda late to do anything else. The weather’s bad so I can’t go to the forest. Alright, the number of people has increased, so I guess I’ll just do pre-cooking prep.

So, it’ll be leavening, pie sheets and soup base, huh. Fish cured with kelp — uh, I guess it’s a bit early to take those out. They might be against eating raw foods, after all. Alright, let’s just pickle some meat.

It’ll be easy to stew the soup since the fire is always lit in the hearth, but I still have to keep on removing the lye from the consomme soup for ages. Besides, I can make the onion soup and vegetable soup now and use them later for other soups.

I use different kinds of leavening agents for the bread dough and leave them to ferment. Fold the croissant dough and the pie dough, roll them out, let them rest — rinse and repeat until I have several layers of dough.

The kitchen is too small, so I work in a room with a fireplace.

「Hey, what are you making? 」

「Is that bread? 」

「Yeah, base for breads and pastries. Did you just return? 」

Dean and Retze called out to me, so I answered back.

The door is wide open to let in more light, so I am totally visible from the outside while working. Well, even if it’s outside, this house is already at the end of the alley, and only Ash and the tenants of the rental house come here.

「How about Chris? Wait a sec, why are you full of scratches? 」

Dean’s bare face and arms are full of wounds.

「I met Retze at the guild, so we just went home together. There’s no commission requests for three people, you know. Scratches are from pru. 」

Dean holds out a bag.

「Pio are also growing now, so I also picked some on the way. 」

Retze also holds out a bag.

I open the bag while trying to guess what they are — oh, both of them are mushrooms. Retze’s pio have brown heads and thin bodies, while Dean’s bunch are white with a strong smell.

【Appraisal 】 results say pio grows on willows and poplars, and they have a crispy texture. Pru grows under blackthorn bushes, and they smell nice. Dean’s scratches came from the blackthorns, apparently.

「So pru must be eaten within today or else it’ll lose its aroma, huh. I’m going to make something for dinner, so come, okay. 」

「Hooray! 」

「I’ll look for lille next time. 」

Don’t forget to invite Chris, too, I said as they left.

Is lille a mushroom too? If it was in Japan, there’s a season for enjoying picking wild vegetables, but folks here pick mushrooms everytime the season changes. They are not particularly tasty, but maybe they just enjoy the aroma and the crunchy texture? Or, maybe they are just enjoying the season?

The mushrooms are more than enough for three people. I guess they also picked these with Ash, Butler and Chris in mind.

I take the salted ham that had been cured overnight, rub it with sugar and coarsely ground black pepper, add salt and rosemary and rub some more.

Put the green beans and chopped salted pork into the vegetable broth, add some garlic, white wine, bay leaves, then let it simmer before adding cabbage halfway through. These cabbages aren’t the dark green cabbage found here, but the yellow-green ones that I’m familiar with. Let’s train them to get used to different ingredients bit by bit.

Make two pots and leave it to fireplace-san to turn this dish into a delicious one. I’m done with the different preparations, and there is still some time left before dinner, so let’s return to my house to ask Riche.

So, time to【Teleport】to my house.

***

Riche came running towards me when I entered my house. He sniffed at my feet, as if checking what I have been up to, then he sat down with a thump, satisfied, and looked up at me.

I always wait until Riche is satisfied, and pet him when he sits down. It’s our usual routine, and he’s adorable, be it in the morning or in the evening.

「Riche, wanna come with me somewhere different from the woods? There’s a lot of people there, though. 」

Riche tilted his head.

It’s not like I understand, but what am I going to do? — it’s as if he was telling me that. He didn’t seem to be fond of humans and his fellow spirits, even though he’s a divine beast.

「If it’s troublesome, you can choose not to go next time, so wanna try? 」

He stuck his face between my feet, so I took that as a ‘yes’ and we 【Teleporte】again.

Riche started to sniff around the house the moment we arrived at the Canum house. He carefully sniffed near the door, so he was probably checking out the different scents of people. I let him be until he was satisfied.

I prepared a water dish for Riche and started preparing dinner.

He is smart, so it’s a relief that the fireplace won’t be a danger to him. His leg fur is a bit long and silky, and the fur on his chest and tummy are fluffy. His eyes are wide open now, and his chubby paws are super cute.

Yeah, I’m really glad to have him beside me. Ah, but if Riche doesn’t want to, I won’t force him.

「Whoa! There’s a dog. 」That’s Dean.

「Dog…? 」Retze.

「Oh my goodness, how adorable is this! 」and Chris.

The three of them were the first ones to arrive.

「That’s Riche. Touching is forbidden. 」

Dean stretched his hand to touch him, but Riche promptly jumped out of the way, so I warned him.

「That’s sad. 」

Dean drew back his hand, and Riche returned and continued sniffing him as if he understood that he wouldn’t touch him.

「Tsk…. Oh how unfortunate for us, being unable to touch such a lovely creature…! 」

「Dog…? 」

Chris shrieked in agony while Retze tilted his head with a dubious look on his face.