novelraw Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66. A Brief Vacation (3)
Two ingredients were needed to make ramen.
One was the noodles. The other was the soup.
Of course, these things didn't just fall out of the sky.
‘I went through all sorts of trouble to make these two.’
First, let's look at the noodles.
Flour was abundant in this world.
After all, this was a place where bread, not rice, was the staple food.
To this, I added water, salt, and lye water, which was an alkaline ingredient.
When one heard lye water, they might think of the poison used for executions, but that referred to the ‘yang` lye water that came from the West, and it had nothing to do with the lye water obtained simply by burning wood.
I mixed the four, kneaded the dough, let it age, and then drew out the noodles.
Frying this in oil to evaporate the moisture in the noodle strands completed the noodles.
Second was the soup.
The soup was the core element that determined the taste of the ramen, so seasonings and umami components were essential.
I added salt, sugar, and ground mushrooms to spicy spices.
Adding garlic oil to this increased the flavor, and by adding various vegetables and meat, I was able to reproduce a taste that was about 70 percent similar to the ramen I used to eat in my original world.
The reason I said 70 percent and not 100 percent was because, ‘It's not exactly the same since it doesn't contain things like red pepper powder and MSG.’
Still, this was something.
It would boast a taste so outstanding that one person wouldn't even notice if the other died while eating.
Also, since it was boiled in hot spring water full of magical power, it would be good for one's health.
It might even be good for one's stamina.
“Alright, the special dish is complete.”
“Wow! The aroma is to die for!”
“What is this?”
“It’s a dish I’ve never seen before. Both its visuals and smell are incredibly exotic, aren’t they?”
Everyone gulped and looked at the ramen filling the pot.
The first person to evaluate the taste was the self-proclaimed gourmet, Rude.
“Keuh! This is a taste that makes you crave a drink!”
Next, Anonymous scooped up the broth and drank it.
“Hmm, what an incredible flavor. I've never tasted anything like this, Master.”
Adel and Noemi didn't say a word and just focused on eating.
The flurry of chopsticks and the sound of slurping noodles.
In the end, I had to cook ramen once more.
“Dad! Another bowl, please!”
Because Noemi had smiled brightly and pushed an empty plate towards me.
***
After the late dinner was over.
We enjoyed wine while eating the snacks we had each brought.
“What a fantastic night.”
Rude stared at the crackling campfire, lost in his emotions.
The moment we went down from here, we would have to move to the Marquis' castle.
I silently poured wine into his empty glass.
“You could have been wandering around freely on your own, but you went through a lot of trouble coming to me for no reason.”
“What trouble. By the way, the kids have grown up so much.”
He looked at Adel and Noemi with a wistful expression.
Rude had said he took care of the girls from when they were 10 until they were 13.
For a full three years, he had looked after my daughters by their side.
“I don't know what you might think, but to me, they are like daughters as well. It feels like just yesterday that I was teaching them about magic one by one, I don't know when so much time passed. To think they’ve grown up to be so mature.”
“Kids grow up differently every day. You played a big part.”
“Hehe. On one hand, it's bittersweet that I've gotten that much older. Should I get married soon, too?”
Marriage? At least in the story I knew, there was no ending where Rude got married.
He was a guy who always insisted on being single, and it made me think that he, too, had changed a lot because of me.
I chuckled and patted his shoulder.
“A guy like you could meet a good wife. If you want, should I introduce you to someone?”
“No, it's fine. Who are you to meddle when you have your own hands full? What about you, wasn't there something going on between you and Isabel?”
A sudden counterattack.
I told him to stop talking nonsense and silently drank my wine.
The alcohol tasted bitter today for some reason.
‘I never even had a girlfriend in real life.’
Because, pressed for time, work and games were all there was to my life.
Rude, perhaps feeling mischievous, said this.
“In my opinion, Isabel still likes you. Besides, you're a Margrave now, so who would give you any trouble. So take this opportunity and just push for it.”
At that very moment, a wine bottle was set down with a thud.
“Push for what?”
Anonymous suddenly inserted herself between me and Rude.
She casually pushed Rude aside with her butt and sat down next to me.
She nonchalantly poured some wine.
“Oh my? Your glass is empty. Let me pour you a glass.”
Rude glared at Anonymous with a dumbfounded look, but she paid him no mind.
“Do you know why I like humans? It’s because of this alcohol. Alcohol is a miraculous potion that only humans can make.”
For someone who said that, she seemed to have neglected it for a long time, but I decided to just stay quiet for now.
Because Anonymous seemed to be in a very good mood.
She chattered on without a pause.
The hot spring water was so nice.
I've always been moving around restlessly, but resting like this seems to have its own charm.
Let's come together like this again next time.
Master's cooking is the best no matter when I eat it.
By any chance, are there any other dishes you know how to make besides this one?
Phew. My ears were about to bleed.
Was it after we finished about 10 bottles of wine?
Noemi, perhaps drunk, was dozing off with her head bobbing, while Adel displayed a peculiar drunken habit.
She suddenly became talkative and staggered towards me.
Adel's eyes were half-closed.
“Hehe. I'm Mari. I wuv Daddy the mostest in the world.”
Smooch.
A sudden surprise kiss.
Fortunately, the place her lips touched was my forehead.
“Tsk. How shameless.”
Anonymous, deciding this wouldn't do, tucked Adel and Noemi under her arms and went into the tent.
I stared blankly in the direction the three had gone.
To think that Adel, who had always shown only a Diligent and Sincere side, would show such a quirky side.
Rude, finding something hilarious, laughed heartily and offered me a drink.
“Keuk keuk. Even the world's greatest Hero is nothing but a mere fool in front of his daughter. Pull yourself together and let's just drink.”
Because the Hero's power had returned, there was no way I could get drunk from drinking, but I felt tipsy and didn't know what on earth had just happened.
Then it hit me.
I felt a strong gaze from my side.
It was Alvarez, who had turned into an undead.
He was staring straight at my face with a suspicious intensity and didn't take his eyes off me for a second.
He was an undead, so a change in his expression was impossible, but was it just my imagination that I felt like I was being glared at?
I could only shake my head and finish the rest of my drink.
Because I couldn't think of anything else to do.
To get a surprise kiss from Adel. It was a new experience I had never even had in the game.
***
After the drinking party that lasted late into the dawn.
Instead of sleeping in the tent, I covered Rude, who had passed out near the campfire, with a blanket and quietly slipped away.
The cold was intense in the early dawn.
Reaching the hot spring, I took out the Gold Slime's excrement from my bosom.
‘In the game, it automatically transforms into a water ball shape just by touching a liquid, I wonder if it will do the same here?’
With a curious face, I gently dipped the excrement into the hot spring water.
Soon, the excrement clumped together into a round ball shape and floated on top of the hot spring water.
A thin, transparent golden membrane surrounded the water like a shell, and even when I pressed it gently, its shape did not easily distort.
Taking one water ball out of the hot spring, I threw it hard against a rock on the opposite side.
Surprisingly, the water ball bounced back towards me like a bouncy ball.
‘With this much elasticity and strength, storage won't be difficult.’
The hot spring water would be contained inside, so its medicinal effect would be immense.
Wouldn't it be almost on par with a High Potion?
‘With potions in short supply right now, this is a treasure that can't be exchanged for anything.’
Countless arduous battles would be waiting for us in the future.
It was a given that a party without healing medicine would be annihilated.
I felt like I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
As I was thinking that, I felt someone's gaze on my back.
When I glanced back, Alvarez was standing there silently.
“What is it?”
“What is that?”
“A special medicine to heal wounds.”
“There's truly nothing you don't know, Master. I am simply in awe.”
With those words, he turned his back and disappeared somewhere.
It wasn't like he was Gone with the Wind or something, yet he was striking all the cool poses by himself.
I released all the excrement I had brought into the hot spring water and tucked the created water
balls into my bosom.
A total of thirty water balls were made.
They were small in size, making them easy to carry.
“With this much, we probably won't lose our lives in battle for a while.”
If it was a wound that couldn't be fixed even with this, it would be the same as saying it was right before a game over.
I've got the water balls, and I've had a long-awaited rest.
At this point, the purpose of this trip was more than sufficiently achieved.
The effect of the hot spring water was beyond expectations, and if I used these water balls well,they would be very useful in battle.
Once this episode passes, I'll have to move around restlessly again, so I think I should enjoy the remaining time at a leisurely pace.
Of course. Nothing is as important as rest.
‘How long will this peaceful time last.’
It was a question that even I couldn't answer easily.
Far in the east, the dawn began to break.
***
The second day of the trip.
We, who had slept in late, decided that the women's team would use the hot spring in the afternoon.
And the men's team in the late evening.
Was it because we overdid it last night?
Since the ingredients we brought had all run out, the men's team went hunting while the women washed themselves.
An excited Rude spat out these words.
“Now this feels a bit like camping. He who does not hunt, shall not eat. Haha. Doesn't this remind you of the old days? Back then, we often had to skip meals.”
Sorry, but I don't have memories of that, so I wouldn't know.
Because PP only covered the story after I had already retired.
After walking for a while, Rude suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Shh. There's a wild boar up ahead.”
When I looked in the direction he was pointing, I saw a huge wild boar passing through the bushes.
What a lucky day, to think we could find such game as soon as we set out to hunt.
However, it was after sunrise now, so it was difficult for me to exert my power, and it was Rude and Alvarez's turn to shine.
The moment Rude was about to cast a spell.
Alvarez, who had been right next to me just a moment ago, disappeared in an instant.
“Kkueeek!!”
In a single breath, he pierced the boar's heart with his bone sword, slung the giant boar over his shoulder, and walked this way.
His appearance felt like that of a grim reaper of blood.
“Tsk. A man is just about to cast a spell, where's the sense in snatching the game like that?”
Rude grumbled, but Alvarez walked on without a word in response.
Since becoming a Death Knight, he has been enjoying acting alone to a strange degree, like he was moving with his own ego.
Even though he inherited his memories from his past life, I couldn't feel any emotions from him before.
But now, he was doing a series of incomprehensible actions, and I couldn't predict whether this was a good or a bad thing.
In the past, he would have moved after receiving an order, but this time, didn't he handle the game alone without a word?
‘I need to test if he's properly listening to my words. If he were to suddenly betray me in a crisis, it would be a huge disaster.’
His power was on par with Satan, one of the Archdemons.
Of course, Satan was in a state of recovering his body after being defeated by Primus, so there was the constraint that he couldn't draw out his original power, but the fact that he competed with Satan itself was no easy feat.
“Stop, Alvarez.”
The guy came to a halt.
He slowly turned around and opened his mouth.
“Is there something you wish to say?”
“You've been strange lately. Do you have some complaint?”
“I have no such thing. I am merely a slave to you, Master, and to Young Lady Adel.”
His tone was polite, but it sounded cold for some reason.
I gently nudged Rude in the ribs.
“What?”
“Spar with Alvarez. There's something I want to check.”
“What did you say?”
Rude looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.