Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.03

CHAPTER 1 STORY 3

The Finest Food

Deep in a particular forest, an apprentice witch who dreamed of traveling on her own was undergoing training with a senior witch.

The apprentice’s name was Elaina. She was a young woman whose most striking features were her ash-gray hair and her lapis-blue eyes.

By the way, she was also a genius.

And who exactly do you think that genius was?

That’s right, it’s me.

“……”

Well, I’m just kidding, but…

“Take a look at this, Elaina. I made some amazing food.”

I couldn’t help but hope that Miss Fran was making some sort of joke when she said that.

“Elaina, from time to time, I would like to eat something more delicious,” my teacher had grumbled just the other day.

Since she always made me do all the cooking by myself, I’d wondered what on earth she was saying. I’d gotten angry. I had run entirely out of patience.

“No way. You need to cook sometimes, Miss. This is really starting to make me angry. Until you do some cooking, I’m not making a thing. I’m refusing to budge on this. I’m really serious, okay?”

Like I said, I was very upset.

Still, she must have felt remorseful, for the very next day, sure enough, my teacher made some food for me.

She cooked for me…I guess I could say, but…

Now, how exactly do I explain this? Spread across the table was a truly tragic tableau.

“…So this is your fine food, is it…? Hmm, your eyes are getting dull, Miss.”

I let out a sigh.

However, apparently my sigh of grief sounded like a sigh of admiration to my teacher, because she smiled again and chuckled as she said, “Now look here, Elaina. Can you tell what ingredients this dish uses?”

“Is that squid ink pasta?”

“No, it’s peperoncino.”

“I see, so modern peperoncino noodles are pitch-black? Very enlightening.”

“By the way, I used the highest grade of noodles I could get.” Miss Fran was calm. Apparently, my frank opinion had passed right in one ear and out the other. “All right, next. Can you tell what ingredients are in this soup?”

“Huh? Sorry, I don’t see any liquids.”

“You see, for this, I used the highest grade of lobster!”

“…All I see is a lobster that’s been stuck in some mud…”

“This is soup.”

“Soup, is it?”

Well, if my teacher says so, I suppose it must be true.

“Okay, can you tell what I used to make this dish?”

“Weeds?”

“This is top-grade salad.”

“What is top-grade salad…?”

I no longer had any idea what she meant.

But at this juncture, I was finally able to catch on to what my teacher was trying to say.

“Um, Miss?” I asked, pretending to be timid. “Are you by any chance trying to say that this is the finest food because you used the highest-quality ingredients?”

“Yes, I am. What of it?”

“……If you could make fine dishes just by using high-quality ingredients, then we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. But I’m pretty sure the fact that we’re complete amateurs is what’s going to determine whether we can actually make delicious food out of those particular ingredients.”

Many people who deal in fine dining draw mysterious patterns on the white part of plates with sauce or arrange the food so beautifully that it seems like a waste to mess it up, but I think that’s probably something born out of the playful nature of chefs who have too much time and energy to spare, and think like Ah, oh no, shoot. The flavors are perfect, but there’s just something missing here. I want to add something a little more artistic!

I think it’s only fitting that the type of people who handle the finest ingredients are that fastidious about their work.

But as I narrowed my eyes, Miss Fran said to me, with plenty of confidence, “Elaina. I find it unacceptable that you reject my cooking before eating any of it. Doesn’t it look absolutely splendid in appearance? I can guarantee the flavor, too. It’s to die for.”

Uh-oh.

Is she saying that the dishes before my eyes also have an artistic quality to them?

“……”

It’s rather avant-garde.

So I actually tried eating them.

The proof is in the pudding.

She was right that until I tried it, I wouldn’t know whether or not my teacher’s cooking was any good.

I was immediately assaulted with waves of regret from the bottom of my stomach.

“……Bleeehhh!”

I’ll go ahead and refrain from describing here what happened next.

“How was it? My cooking was just supreme, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. The most supremely disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. I can’t believe how full of confidence you were presenting something like that. What is the matter with your tongue, teacher?”

I spit abusive language at her, and my teacher answered in an aloof manner. “Oh my, what are you talking about, Elaina? I said that food was of the finest quality, but I never said a word about it tasting good, you know.”

“……Huh?”

What does that mean?

“Incidentally, I also tasted it earlier and briefly lost consciousness. My cooking is awful after all, huh? It’s supremely disgusting. No matter what kind of ingredients I use, it seems they turn to garbage as soon as I lay my hands on them.”

“If you knew the dishes were garbage, then why did you make me eat them…?”

“Well, now you understand just how abysmal I am at cooking, right?”

“……”

“But your cooking is just wonderful, Elaina. It’s got real flavor; it’s the finest of food. Rather than cooking for myself, I prefer to eat your cooking.”

“……”

“Which is to say, please cook for us again today.”

So that’s what it comes down to, huh?

As I let out a sigh, I headed for the kitchen. Thankfully, since we had an astonishing array of ingredients acquired by my teacher, flavoring was no problem.

On the contrary, since the place was overflowing with the highest-quality ingredients, I was able to flex my culinary skills more than usual.

I realized I had been successfully played only after I had drawn patterns with the sauce.

[Publication Information] GA Books Official Blog

[Author Comments]

Similar to how the yakisoba you eat from a food stall at a summer festival or at a house by the sea is so delicious that you can’t believe it’s of this world, I think the flavor of a dish can change dramatically based on the environment that surrounds it, even when it’s the same old food. When eating delicious food, an environment that enhances its deliciousness is also important. Mysterious patterns drawn on ridiculously large plates are also necessary for that type of presentation.