Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume SS - Chapter 36

Short Story:

Chef Rudeus’s Special Skewers

THE STAPLE FOOD OF the Superd was Invisible Wolf meat. As the name suggested, Invisible Wolves were monsters who made themselves invisible to hunt their prey unimpeded. They were four-legged beasts with whitish fur. As for the meat, it was actually really tender and savory, like pork. Maybe they’d evolved the ability to turn invisible after being relentlessly hunted for their delicious meat… But all that was just my imagination running away.

In any case, there was tasty, fresh meat, and in my hand, I had a little bottle of the ogre’s drink of choice: soy sauce. With this, victory was as good as mine.

While I was preparing, Sandor came over. He peered at my hands with a look of great interest. “Oh? Do you cook, Master Rudeus?”

“Yes. I’m no professional, but I like to at least make the things I want to eat.” As I talked, I added alcohol and grated fruit to the soy sauce, then mixed it up. I could have done with some mirin and sugar about then, but there was none on hand, so I’d have to do without.

Next, I chopped the Invisible Wolf meat into bite-sized pieces, then set it to marinade in the sauce.

“Do you cook, Sandor?”

“Oh, no. I just do the eating. I do have a relative who’s a cook, though—he even opened up shop in the King Dragon Kingdom.”

“In a big city? That’s great.”

“Well, I heard it fell into a slump and shut down a dozen or so years ago. Who knows what happened after that?”

The bigger the city, the greater the variety of businesses. In this world, where there were no chain stores, you got all sorts when it came to eating out. I had eaten in the King Dragon Kingdom long ago, but from what I remembered, it hadn’t been that good.

“But this relative of yours was an amazing cook, huh?”

“Just goes to show that in a big city, it’s hard to keep afloat by skill alone.”

When there were lots of shops competing for business, you had to put your energy into promotion, and things like location impacted sales, too. It was a dog-eat-dog world out there.

“Right.” With the meat still marinating, I took a skewer and stabbed holes in each piece before finally arranging them on the skewers. Then, I lined them up over a grill I’d made with earth magic. I would have liked some charcoal, but it was no good getting greedy.

Sizzling and crackling sounds began to fill the air, along with the rich smell of burnt soy sauce. 

“Now that smells good,” Sandor said.

“It does, right?” I flipped the skewers, then brushed on more sauce. When they started to crackle, I turned them again and added another layer of sauce. I went through the same process over and over again until the sauce ran out. Then, I sprinkled on some of the spices the Superd grew in the village, picked up a skewer, and took a bite.

“Hot-toh-toh-toh!” The meat burned my tongue as I turned it over in my mouth. That rich aroma that only soy sauce has rose up through the back of my nose.

Ahhh… This here, this is the stuff…

“Mmm…” I wasn’t totally happy with the marinade I’d thrown together off the cuff. I hadn’t fully brought out that special soy sauce zing that whams you in the tastebuds. Even so, my brain was shrieking with happiness. For the first time in more than twenty years, I was experiencing the joys of soy sauce. 

“I say, Master Rudeus. This is damn tasty.” Sandor, without asking, was eating a skewer. I’d forgive him. I mean, like, I’d gotten to eat food cooked, like, in soy sauce, you know?

“Well, it’s still a long way from my dream flavor.” I could make myself a bowl of tamagokake gohan, but cooking with soy sauce wasn’t amateur territory. If I wanted to serve this to the likes of Nanahoshi, I’d need to experiment a bit more.

When the battle was over, I’d assault the ogre’s home base, have them teach me how to cultivate the beans and brew them into soy sauce, then get Aisha to help me grow them at our house. I had to chase my dream.

“You’re a diligent one, Master Rudeus.”

“I just want to eat the food I like.”

“Pursuing a dream isn’t something many can do, you know…” Sandor sounded like a middle-aged man waxing philosophical like that. Maybe he had something in his past.

“Sandor, you’re not old enough to talk like that yet,” I said.

“Hahaha! Just so! Begging your pardon. Well, Master Rudeus, when you make something that’s more like your dreams, I hope you’ll let me partake again.”

“All right, it’s a deal.”

I continued with my experimentation, and in the end I served up some great fried rice balls to Nanahoshi, but that’s a story for another time.