Chapter 209: Decoration
“Well, it’s not like the Hero has been decided as the target yet,” Dinoss said cheerfully, making a comical expression. I felt like my broken speech had been misunderstood.
“No, that’s not—”
“Gene! Hello!”
Just as I was about to continue with something trivial, I heard the light sound of footsteps on the cobblestone, and Tina peeked out from behind Dinoss.
“Tina, hello!”
“Could you bend down a bit?”
“Huh?”
Tina clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at me with a smile.
“This is a souvenir from me!”
She pulled out a flower she had hidden behind her back and gently tucked it near my ear with her small hand.
“Thank you.”
“I’m going to salt some mushrooms and marinate them in oil! I’ll help too!”
“That sounds delicious.”
So this is how the flavors of home are passed down. Shiva is a great cook, and it seems Tina is on her way to becoming one too.
“The guys will just be washing mushrooms and picking out the trash. Well, come over for dinner later.”
“Oh, then I’ll bring some treats when I drop by.”
I wanted to offer to help, but I had plans with Ash for lunch today.
The butler and Lilith were out buying magic stones, demon beast materials, herbs, and salted meat. They were making rounds to get supplies, and since Kanum, facing the Demon Forest, had cheaper prices, it seemed more like a business deal for the Duke’s Household than personal souvenirs.
It seems they were trading with the fortress city of Theorahl, but there were signs that a small country along the trade route was about to enter a war, so they were securing insurance while they could.
The scale between the fortress city and Kanum is different, so it’s just the minimum, but I think risk diversification is important.
Now, what should I bring as treats tonight? As usual, I think some alcohol and sweets will do. It’s better to bring what they expect rather than something novel.
And I should also thank Tina for the flower. Maybe I’ll decorate the cake with some cream roses just for her.
Ash should be arriving soon, so I’ll prepare the food and make everything at once. With that decided, I headed to the kitchen.
Ah, but it’s hot in here. It wasn’t too bad in the morning, but during the day, it feels like it’s not a temperature suitable for handling cream…
I decided to return to the mountain house with Rishu and give it another go. This kitchen has several chilling plates I made for Rishu. Since I’ll be using fire, and it gets sweaty in the summer, I decided to ignore the seasonal feel in the kitchen.
There’s no refrigerator, but if I place things on the plates, they can stay cool. The locals avoid cold things out of fear of stomach issues, so the super chilled ones are just for me.
I refilled Rishu’s water and began my work. I had to return to Kanum once to flip the meat, making things a bit busier than planned, but I managed to finish in time.
“Welcome.”
“Yes, I’m here. This is a souvenir—how cute.”
Ash’s gaze drifted to the side of my face… Ah, the flower.
“I got it from Tina. Thanks for the souvenir.”
I accepted the basket and invited Ash inside.
“So flowers are an option too. I apologize for not being thoughtful.”
“No, the herbs are a big help, you know?”
Please don’t send me flowers; I’d be at a loss.
“Please, help yourself.”
The dining room where I was having a meal with Ash was on the second floor, on the castle wall side, but it had settled into a fully equipped kitchen-dining room. That’s odd?
I thought I might at least decorate with flowers next time as I served the drinks and laid out the dishes. I was focusing on getting the vegetables in, starting with a salad of arugula and prosciutto.
The main dish was Vongole Bianco, which I made a bit Japanese-style by using shiso instead of Italian parsley. I considered making a tomato-flavored Rosso, but since I’m expecting a large harvest of tomatoes from my field this season, I decided to hold off for now. I’ll be able to eat them until I’m sick of them soon enough.
“It smells great, but I feel like Lilith will ask what we had.”
“Just say we had pasta, right?”
Clams aside, garlic is used abundantly here, so it should be fine even if it smells. It’s an essential ingredient for preserved food.
Also, the locals sometimes slather garlic on themselves to mask body odor, creating a rather intense smell. —It seems garlic is considered a good scent here. I had stopped eating garlic for a while.
“This shellfish has a different kind of deliciousness than oysters. I could eat as much as I want and still be fine.”
“We have meat too, so fill up.”
I thought steak would definitely not be enough with just pasta. As I cut the thick, charred meat, the inside revealed a beautiful dark red.
Among our group, the butler probably eats the least, right? Ash has such a high activity level that he doesn’t have to worry about gaining weight. He hardly moves indoors, almost like a shoebill stork.
“Oh, it’s already the season for Puru. I should go look for some in the forest.”
“Today, I brought some that the Dinoss Family gathered as a whole.”
The steak was accompanied by mushrooms sautéed in olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a bit of parsley.
As Ash enjoyed his meal with wine, I had sparkling water with lemon, and we chatted about various topics.
“Roses?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d try giving them back to Tina. Since I’m invited for dinner, I thought I’d bring something similar as a gift.”
Today’s dessert was a Blackberry Cream Cheese Cake. I baked it until the outside was a lovely golden brown, but the inside was a cute pink.
I dusted powdered sugar on top, spread some blackberry jelly on one part, and made roses with pink cream colored with fruit juice. I was relieved it looked like roses in the end.
“Well, I can’t be the first to have a bite.”
“Huh?”
Ash, who has a weakness for sweets, pulled his hand back!
The refreshing and sweet-tart cheesecake turned out quite well, but then an unexpected turn of events happened. Even when I explained that it was a common decoration in my country, it didn’t help, so I just plopped a berry on top of the rose to resolve the issue.
And then my hair was braided.