Chapter 380: The Long-Awaited!
Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm.
“Where are we going?”
“You’re full of energy… You know we’ll be talking about this again when we get back, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
After a food tour, I don’t mind if it takes a bit of time.
“I heard there’s a market nearby that focuses on ingredients. Shall we check it out?”
“Sure!”
And so, we walked along the Es River. Es is situated right at the mouth of the river. The river is so wide at the mouth that I can’t see the other side. To someone like me, who has a preconceived notion of Japanese rivers, it looks almost like the sea.
As the sun sets, the heat that had kept people indoors starts to dissipate, and they begin to stroll about, chatting here and there. Some are even sitting down.
In Naruadeid, families would often go for evening walks and sit down to chat with neighbors in little spots around the island. That’s when they started creating small plazas here and there.
“Is that it?”
Following Retze’s gaze, I see ramshackle houses lining the riverbank, with boats loaded with vegetables and fruits floating by.
“It’s a food market for the townsfolk.”
There’s a jumble of various items for sale, but most of it is food like fish and dates.
“I heard that grilled corn is popular for food tours from Haulon, but it’s still a bit early for that.”
“I tried it once, but the taste of the ingredients was so direct, or rather, it wasn’t sweet at all. It was kind of underwhelming.”
I’d at least want to grill it with some soy sauce.
“They say you get used to it and it becomes addictive.”
Retze chuckled.
The river is teeming with fish and shrimp. Catfish? There are quite a few fish I’ve never seen before.
The first thing I bought was a dish of broad beans stewed with cumin and salt, wrapped in something like crepe dough.
“These fried snacks are made with broad beans too.”
“I thought the green color was striking, but it seems they’ve chopped up some green leafy vegetables and mixed them in.”
When I broke open the flat croquette that Retze bought, a vibrant green color was revealed.
Here, broad beans are commonly eaten, along with molokhia.
“I found a knife for molokhia!”
It’s said that if you chop molokhia with this crescent-shaped knife, it brings out a good amount of its stickiness. I don’t mind if it’s not sticky, but I’ll buy it anyway.
“Don’t buy anything too weird, alright?”
“Sure.”
As I wandered with Retze through the narrow stalls, my eyes darted around.
“Oh? Sausage?”
Retze stopped in his tracks.
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen it here.”
I quickly bought some and took a bite.
“Huh?”
“What’s this?”
The filling wasn’t meat!
“What is it? Beans?”
Retze looked puzzled, examining the bitten cross-section.
“No, it’s rice.”
Oh wow, this could lead to some interesting crossbreeding!
“I want the uncooked version of this dish!”
Absolutely!
“Then let’s look for that while we walk.”
“Yeah, I’d prefer the paddy rice.”
The sausage-like item seems to be stuffed into a casing, boiled first, then fried? It’s hot but quite delicious.
I also found rice wrapped in grape leaves, rice that looks like it was cooked in milk, and rice wrapped in turnip leaves. Bread is the staple here, while rice seems more like a side dish.
“Gah!”
“This is really sweet.”
Retze’s face twisted in surprise.
After tasting a piece cut into about five-centimeter squares, it was incredibly sweet, like a cross between steamed bread and sponge cake. Desserts from Es are usually sweet, but this one was exceptionally so.
“Want to share a quail?”
“Sure.”
Both Retze and I were starting to feel a bit full, but I couldn’t end on that overly sweet note—so we decided to split it.
“Here’s my special sauce!”
Just as the old man grilling said, it looked like the quail was flattened, dipped in sauce, and grilled to a crisp.
Retze cut it in half for me. The meat was richer and more flavorful than chicken.
I was worried I wouldn’t find any paddy rice due to the season, but I managed to get some. The climate here is different, but after the floods, they plant various crops, so they grow wheat and rice in winter and harvest in spring.
“Well, I’m stuffed. Shall we head back?”
“Should we buy some souvenirs?”
“…Souvenirs.”
Retze muttered, giving me a sidelong glance.
“Why did you put that in a hemp sack?”
“Well, it seemed like that pillar part was quite visible to people. I realized that after entering the town and hurriedly stuffed it in.”
“I see. Well, that can’t be helped. —What’s with the ribbon?”
“It’s a present.”
“Think a bit about whether it’s okay to give it to someone.”
“I checked with the goddess of Es!”
“Is the goddess of Es a bit off too?”
With a face like “oh no,” Retze stopped in front of the shop where we bought the quail and bought another one.
“By the way, does your little brother Wanwan’s name mean dog?”
“Yeah. He looks like a dog, but he can turn into a person.”
We headed back to the inn with the grilled quail wrapped in palm leaves.
“It’s confusing when I can only understand ‘wanwan’ in all this nonsense. Based on what Haulon muttered, it sounds like the contents of that hemp sack are a strong god too?”
“Probably? It seemed like he was chopping up the god in the sack.”
“That’s way too violent.”
I downed a drink that resembled chai in one go while standing.
“It seems like Haulon and Karn haven’t noticed. There probably weren’t any toddlers around. But when will it be discovered—let’s hope it doesn’t.”
“I’ll just say this, but Wanwan was an accident, an accident! I never thought just calling his name would overwrite and create a contract.”
I explained. It was an accident, really.
“…Maybe you should wait a bit before telling Karn and the others. Let them calm down first.”
Retze stopped dead in his tracks and said to me.
It was an accident, I tell you!