Episode 120: A Taste of Home
The day after drinking with the old man.
I decided to cook using the venison that Tris had butchered and put in the refrigerator.
It’s easily over eighty kilos… what am I supposed to do with this?
For now, I’ll roast it today.
For the roast… well, I’ll just roast it in the oven as usual, but the key is the sauce, after all.
There are many options, but this time I’ll go with a Japanese-style sauce using soy sauce and red wine.
Butter for the oil, honey for the sweetness. Grated garlic for the aroma.
…Did it end up tasting a bit childish?
But this is good in its own way. It’ll probably go well with rice.
Speaking of rice.
Instead of bread, should I make garlic rice?
I’ll thinly slice some garlic and fry it in plenty of oil to bring out the aroma.
I have plans to meet someone tomorrow, so I’ll be careful with the amount and how much I heat it… well, almost no one in the commoner class cares about bad breath anyway.
…Garlic rice is also butter and soy sauce, huh? I wonder if the flavors will clash?
W-Well, I’ll use olive oil too! And if I sprinkle some sesame seeds, it should be fine! And green onions!
And for vegetables… broccoli and cheese, I have cheese.
I’ll boil the broccoli, dice the cheese, and mix them together… ah, right. Since it’s Japanese-style, should I add some Katsuobushi? For the flavor… soy sauce and… hmm, mayonnaise?
Whoa, I’m almost out of mayonnaise. I’ll use it all up now… I’ll have to restock next time.
And I guess the soup I was making in parallel is done.
The soup is based on chicken stock (I worked really hard to recreate it) and soy sauce, with eggs and mushrooms.
I added shimeji mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and eggs and komatsuna!
Once you understand the deliciousness of mushroom broth, you’re an adult!
Seriously, the depth of flavor is completely different depending on whether you add it or not. Especially shiitake mushrooms.
And… I kind of want a dessert too?
Well, it’s Autumn, so I guess I’ll bake some sweet potato…
I’ve loved sweet potato since I was a kid.
But you know what? That sweet potato yokan they sell in Tokyo? If you bake that in the oven and put butter on it, it’s basically sweet potato.
Sweet potato is like, you know, a collection of the most delicious, gooey parts of a baked sweet potato.
“Alright, it’s done. Let’s eat!”
“Let’s eat!”
Yes, it’s mealtime.
As usual, I’m eating with Tris.
Tris looks like a child, but her insides are almost completely adult-like, and her appetite is on par with an adult.
Also, I make her work quite a bit, so she eats quite a lot!
Well, she’s basically a one-person nurse, so she must be hungry. I’ll allow it.
“It’s delicious again…”
“Really? People in this country don’t really eat Japanese-style food…”
“I like it, you know? If it’s just strong flavors all the time, my tongue feels like it’s going to go weird…”
“Well, that’s how I raised you… Oh, and I’m going to smoke the leftover meat after the meal, so help me out, Tris?”
“You’re going to distribute it to the Slums! Understood!”
“Distributing it to the Slums isn’t the main thing, I’m actually just making smoked meat as a hobby.”
“But it’s a waste to leave it, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. I like cooking, but we can’t eat it all at home…”
“Speaking of which, you were making dried persimmons too, right? There are quite a lot of them, but what are you going to do with them…?”
“Hmm… well, Kaede-san said she loves them, so I guess I’ll give them to Kaede-san.”
“I don’t think giving them to her will make them decrease…”
“Then I’ll distribute them to my Azuma Country acquaintances… if there are any left, it’ll go to the Slums, in the end.”
That’s how it is…
I make all sorts of things, but I end up leaving most of it over.
I’m like an old lady who makes a ton of dried persimmons and plums and gives them away to everyone.
But I’m doing it as a hobby, seriously…
To be blunt, the meat from the livestock I’ve selectively bred in the ‘Garden’ is 100% better.
They say game meat is delicious! But livestock that’s been thoroughly managed is better, after all.
Livestock that’s been thoroughly managed and fattened up by humans is better than wild Beasts covered in parasites and mites, whose diet you don’t even know.
It’s a dreamless story, but there’s no way you can eat Dragon meat or Orc meat, and there’s no way it’s delicious…
“Anyway… how have you been lately? I haven’t been able to take care of you much, but is anything different?”
“Yes! I’m fine.”
“Tris is important to me, so if anything happens, tell me, okay?”
“Yes! … Ehehe, I’m happy. To be cherished by my beloved Andrews-sama.”
“I’m a devoted husband, after all.”
“You… think of me as your wife, don’t you?”
Of course, I do?
She’s a devoted and cute young wife, you know?
In terms of lifespan, she’s a Mazoku, so we should be able to be together forever.
She’s the wife I’m likely to be with the longest.
Of course, deep down, I still think of her as someone to play Playing House with, but even so… we’ve been together for a long time.
Life with Tris has been wonderful.
She doesn’t make demands, she does her best to please me, she stays by my side like a wife and takes care of me, and at night, she becomes more lewd than a prostitute.
In return, I give her meals three times a day that even nobles can’t easily get their hands on. I teach her how to read and write and do arithmetic, and I also teach her pharmaceutics and medicine, which are generally secrets. I give her books, instruments, and swords, and I also teach her martial arts. At night, I’m gentle and love her.
And what’s most important is that this Playing House isn’t painful.
Tris has no freedom, she just loves me, does whatever I tell her to do, and lives feeling that it’s the greatest happiness in her life.
I feel a bit guilty about the current situation, where I’m treating Tris not as an independent human being, but as a pet for affection, but I’m still living happily.
We can continue to live together in this relationship forever.
That’s the kind of prediction I can make.
“I love Tris, I love you. From now on, as my wife, as my sister, as my daughter… I want you to stay by my side.”
“Yes, my darling…”
After finishing such a pleasant meal.
I started making my hobby, smoked meat…