Legend

Chapter 341

「There’s flour. The cabbage and yam aren’t the same, but there equivalents. Eggs are okay. As for the meat broth, I bought a chicken, so there shouldn’t be any issues using that as a substitute. As for the sauce and mayonnaise, they need aonori, which is a kind of seaweed……so I think I’ll have to give up on that. There is sauce for skewers, I guess I’ll just have to use that.」

Confirming the ingredients he had found in the market, Rei gave a sigh.

For the cabbage and yam, they weren’t called the same thing, but he was able to find similar matches called kiberk and Jakob potatoes, which Rei was very satisfied with. Originally, he had planned to ask a blacksmith to make him an iron griddle to cook takoyaki, but as he didn’t have the aonori or dried bonito, he decided to see if he could make takoyaki or okonomiyaki in the first place before getting something like that made.

As he walked through the city with Set, heading back to the Blue Sea Coral Inn, Rei saw a street stall he knew. It was the one belonging to Arctos, the stubborn looking old man who had introduced Rei to the Blue Sea Coral Inn.

「……Maybe I could try it there.」

Fortunately, it was only just past 9am and there were few customers around Arctos’ stall, which was usually bustling. Thinking that he might be able to borrow the stall, Rei headed over.

Set must have remembered the taste of the grilled fish from Arctos’ stall he had eaten before. He followed after Rei with a happy cry.

「Hm? How are things, Rei? Set as well. If you’re hungry, would you like something to eat?」

「No, I’m not here to buy anything today. I want to try making a new dish, but I need somewhere to cook it so that some people can taste it and give me their opinions. Would you mind?」

Arctos thought about Rei’s question for several seconds before eventually responding.

「Well, I don’t mind. Fortunately I still have some time before lunch, when it will be busiest, so I’m not too busy right now. And, if it’s a new dish, I can try it as well, right?」

「Yes, I’d appreciate it if you could taste it.」

「Hmph. Seriously, I wonder what the adventurer who killed the Lemrace is thinking, trying to make a new dish. Come over here. I’ve got a few magic cooking utensils, so if you need to use them, I’ll do it for you.」

「That would be a great help. Set, wait here. Eat this while waiting.」

Borrowing a plate from Arctos, Rei put some dried fish on it for Set.

Of course, it hadn’t been grilled, so it was technically still raw. Regardless, Set gave a content cry as he ate up the fish.

(I guess grilled fish has a grilled taste and raw fish has its own taste.)

Glancing sideways at Set, Rei poured some water into a pot and passed it to Arctos.

「Please boil this.」

「Sure.」

Arctos gave a brief reply as he placed the pot on part of the charcoal fire that wasn’t burning as fiercely.

「What is it, is it a stew?」

「No, this is broth……well, it can also be used as a soup base.」

「……Then, wouldn’t you usually put in some herbs to removed the smell?」

「Yes, I guess so?」

Even though Rei could cook to some extent, he had never done anything as detailed as making meat broth when he could just buy it outside. When making okonomiyaki or takoyaki, he had used pre-made mixtures and he had never made stewed dishes before except for curry, so he wasn’t sure either at Arctos’ question.

「I usually put some in, but……what would you like to do?」

「Ah, sorry, please add some for me.」

「Sure, leave it to me.」

Arctos quickly prepared the other ingredients such as the leeks, ginger and onion before putting them into the pot. Seeing that, Rei felt that it was a good thing that he wasn’t trying to cook it alone.

(The heat has to be turned off before it boils so it can cool……I think?)

Recalling what he had seen on a cooking show before, he asked Arctos to take it off the fire just before it boiled to start the next step.

Cuting, squid, shrimp, octopus and finely chopped kiberk, Rei grated the Jakob potatoes with an utensil Arctos had given him.

After that, while waiting for the pot to cool down a bit, he scooped away the soup scum before mixing in the chicken broth with the flour, eggs and other ingredients before mixing them together……all that was left was just to cook it.

「……It doesn’t look very delicious.」

Was this mix in the bowl something that could really be eaten? As soon as Arctos asked that, Rei heated up the iron plate and poured the contents of the bowl onto it.

「By the way, there is another method to place the ingredients on the dough after it is spread out. Well, this is up to each person’s preference. I feel that mixing is better, so I mix the ingredients into the batter like this.」

「I see. So, do you want something to flip it?」

「Ahh, do you have a utensil that can be used to flip things?」

「Like this?」

With his words, Arctos gave Rei a spatula, that while slightly different in shape, clearly looked like a fly swatter.

(This is……no, there are things like steaks, so it’s not so suprising that there’s such a cooking utensil.)

Thinking that in his mind, Rei used it to repeatedly flip the okonomiyaki.

Since it was only a test, there wasn’t too much to flip as it was only 20cm in diameter. Rei succeeded in flipping it repeatedly without fail.

「……Heh. You’re not bad for a beginner. Did you say this was called okonomiyaki? It looks pretty good after being cooked.」

「Is that so? Normally, I would need to flip it more times to cook it properly, but this time I made it a bit thin. I think this is good. Arctos, can I borrow the sauce you use for the grilled fish?」

「Ah? Oh, I don’t mind. Here.」

Rei poured the offered sauce on top of the seafood okonomiyaki that was being cooked on the plate. The sauce that fell onto the plate gave off a mouth watering burnt smell that spread rapidly into the surroundings.

「……Not bad. Ah, not bad at all.」

「I know right? Here, it’s done. Try it.」

Rei used the spatula to cut up the okonomiyaki as he offered Arctos a slice on a plate.

After receiving it, Arctos sniffed the smell wafting from it lightly before pushing his fork into it and bringing it to his mouth.

(Should I use a fork for okonomiyaki……or maybe a knife? Well, it does feel quite exotic.)

Smiling wryly at the thought in his mind, he gave Set another share on a new plate.

「Gururururu~」

As Set gave a happy cry and immediately bit into it, Rei also used a fork to bring a piece of his own okonomiyaki to his mouth.

The first thing he tasted was the unique flavour of the sauce. Since it wasn’t a sauce designed for okonomiyaki, it tasted a bit strange at first, but it wasn’t that bad considered it was a sweet and salty sauce. As the umami taste of the shrimp, squid and octopus mixed into the batter spread through his mouth, he enjoyed the texture of the crispy kiberk as well as the shrimp and squid. The batter itself was fluffy because he had put plenty of Jakob potato into it. However, the chicken broth might not have matched well with the seafood okonomiyaki. Because the sauce was also different, there were no ingredients such as red ginger, tenkasu, aonori, dried bonito flake or mayonnaise. However, that was just for Rei, who was used to eating normal okonomiyaki, and not for those who were eating it for the first time in their life……

「This is……no, it’s delicious. This is the first time I’ve eaten something like this. It’s so easy to make but it can have such a taste……」

「Guru~!」

Arctos’ face was filled with surprise as Set turned to look at Rei with round eyes.

As if defeated by those eyes, Rei moved one of the remaining portions of his okonomiyaki to Set’s plate as he called out to Arctos.

「This dish is called okonomiyaki. Like it’s name, you can add what you like to it. As far as I know, leeks, onions and meat are quite common.」

「Heh, so okonomiyaki is a something you can cook with your favourite ingredients. ……The fluffy texture of this dough is from the grated Jakob potatoes, right? However, there still seems to be quite a bit of room for improvement……」

「As for that, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to look into that yourself. All I can do is to reproduce the dish from what I know.」

「……Reproduce?」

Arctos tilted his head in confusion at Rei’s words.

If a kid had done that it would have looked cute, but the same couldn’t be said for a stubborn looking old man.

「It’s not very well known here, but I was raised in the mountains by a magician. Some of the books the magician had contained recipes for dishes that no longer exist. This okonomiyaki dish was one of the ones mentioned in the book.」

「……Hou~. Dishes that no longer exist? That’s interesting, Rei. May I sell this dish here? Or even pass it on to others?」

「Ah, I don’t mind. Rather than saying I don’t mind……maybe it would be better for you to do something about it now?」

「What?」

Following Rei’s gaze, Arctos saw nearly 10 people gathered around his stall. All of them looked at the small amount of okonomiyaki left on the iron plate. The smell of burnt sauce could still be smelt from the plate. The sharp smell stirred up the appetites of those who walked near the stall.

Of course, skewers usually had the same burnt smell, but part of the attraction might have been the novel looking okonomiyaki on the iron plate.

「……Ahh, Rei. Sorry, but could you give me a hand? As expected, it would be difficult for me to serve this many people after only just being taught how to make it.」

「Well, I guess it can’t be helped. What about the ingredients? Seafood aside, I only prepared enough vegetables for myself.」

「Let me think……it’s kiberk and Jakob potatoes. Hey, you there. Use this money and buy kiberk and Jakob potatoes as quickly as you can. Oh, and flour.」

He might have had some in case as spare change. Arctos passed several copper coins to a customer standing in front of the stall that he seemed to know.

「Eh? A-Are you talking to me? Old man, I’m a customer as well though!?」

「Shut up! Just go and buy it! I’ll give you your portion on the house instead. But, if you buy any bad quality items, I won’t forgive you!」

「Y-Yesss-!」

Watching the customer leave as he shouted that out, Arctos immediately poured more water to the chicken stock to make more broth.

On that note, after being used to make the broth, the chicken was used to cook a different dish with another sauce instead of the one Rei had used.

「Rei, I’ll make as much as I can with what I’ve got. If things stay like this, too many people will gather and it will cause a commotion.」

「I understand, I’ll leave it to you to cut up and mix the ingredients. I’ll do the cooking, so just keep making the mix.」

「Sure, as for the price……well, I’ll sell it at three copper coins for now.」

「Is that too cheap?」

「I don’t care, I’ll have to focus on making it today and I don’t know how much it will sell for. That will be the price for now.」

Saying that, he quickly mixed the remaining chicken broth with eggs and flour to make the okonomiyaki batter before adding other ingredients and passing the bowl to Rei.

Receiving it, Rei quickly poured the mixture onto the hot iron plate. The fragrance spread with a sizzling sound. The smell also started to attract curious gazes from other people near the stall.

Because a single piece wasn’t that large, Rei repeatedly poured out more mixture and sauce. Aside from the earlier aroma, the smell of burning sauce also started to spread out, making the gazes from the surrounding customers stronger.

As he quickly cooked several okonomiyaki and sprinkled them with sauce……other people who were curious about the crowd around the stall came over before ending up being attracted by the smell of the burning sauce……this scene repeated itself several times. In the middle of all this……

「Hey, Rei-san. What are you doing?」

「Rei? That’s right. Did you decided to switch jobs from an adventurer to a street stall seller?」

Suddenly looking up at the familiar voice, Rei saw the figures of Hendeka and Miroir.

In a sense, it was unlucky for them to show up at this busy time. They were dragged in to help in a flash and were forced to work as temporary employees at the stall.

The sales on the day ended up being the highest ever due to the novelty of okonomiyaki. From the next day, it became a speciality of Arctos’ stall.

In addition, it wasn’t hard to make and Arctos taught the recipe to others without hesitation, so okonomiyaki spread throughout the city of Emoshion. With the Mireana Kingdom as its starting point, it continued to spread into neighbouring countries.