Chapter 75: The Plan to Compensate for the Lack of Hands
For now, I made a contract with the Black Spirit I caught and released it deeper into the forest. It was the biggest one yet—no, the biggest one was the horse. But even as it turned black, it still retained some self-control.
Either way, it was a matter of brute force.
The Black Spirits consume other spirits, whether they are ordinary spirits or fellow Black Spirits. Perhaps to compensate for their missing body parts or to regain the power that has slipped away from those areas. Regardless, even if they consume what is missing, the pain continues, leading them to keep feeding on others to alleviate it.
According to Uma, the pain will subside if they either make a contract or obtain a Vessel. The thirst for more power will persist, but with a contract, the pain can be managed to a degree where reason can suppress it.
Among the severely injured Black Spirits, some have lost their sense of self, while others wish to escape the pain even if it means losing themselves. Thus, they are allowed to freely consume each other. Of course, I’ve put a stop to that with the ones I’ve contracted.
I thanked the spirits that helped me and took a bit of magic power from them. Changing into comfortable clothes, I peered into the water basin once more.
There were two men—one on the brink of death and the other who had pulled him away—facing off against three Gold Rank Adventurers, surrounded by others.
For some reason, both men were shirtless, providing unnecessary service. Ah, the dying man seemed to be bowing down to the archer.
He’s the one who should be apologizing since he was almost killed… They mentioned something was off, and Ash and the others were acting stiff, so it seems like something went wrong. Now that I think about it, even though he was possessed by a Black Spirit, he had attacked the archer.
I’ll ask what happened when they get back. If I ask, “How did the subjugation go?” it’ll lead to the story about the spirit possession, and then I can casually say, “Where did you get that spirit? That’s scary.”
Uma had gone to check on the country where my sister is and came back with a spirit. The area between Kanum and where my sister is has been in constant turmoil, with small nations uniting and breaking apart, so I thought travel would be difficult. But if Adventurers are moving around, I should be a bit cautious.
Next, there’s the matter of the conditions for repelling spirits or not. I wonder if that’s in the book Rudil prepared for me? I should be able to get it before the Subjugation Squad returns, so I’ll read it and think it over.
Now, onto today’s meal: Soba! Freshly milled, freshly made, and freshly boiled. The soba is already prepared in [Storage], so I’ll fry some tempura.
I prefer cold soba over warm, so I’ll eat the tempura separately. If I’m going to place it on the soba, I’ll change the batter to make it delicious when it absorbs the dipping sauce.
I peel the shrimp shells and make shallow diagonal cuts where the vertical and horizontal lines intersect on the belly side to prevent them from curling up when fried. Finally, I press down from above to stretch them out. After lightly dusting them with flour, I dip them in the batter and fry them. Most seafood needs a dusting of flour.
Sizzle them in plenty of oil! If you skimp on the oil, the temperature drops when you add the ingredients, and it takes a while to recover, preventing moisture from escaping. Once the bubbling calms down, I place the shrimp in at an angle, dipping just the tails for a few seconds to crisp them up.
One by one, I fry them until ready.
I take the crispy heads of the fried shrimp and slurp up the soba. I don’t dissolve the wasabi in the dipping sauce; instead, I place a dab on the soba.
Tempura of broad beans, large scallops cooked to a perfect medium-rare. Thick shiitake mushrooms seasoned with sudachi and salt, and sea urchin wrapped in shiso served with dipping sauce.
I break apart the small batch of kakiage and dip it in the soba sauce to eat alongside the soba. The tempura of soy sauce-marinated egg yolks is perfectly runny.
I’m hosting a tempura feast for one. Ah, it really is true that having a house and a [Pantry] with [All Cooking] is the right choice; with these, I feel like I can thrive in any world.
In just a year, I’ll be able to drink alcohol from my original world, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve heard that sake can be replaced with regular delicious varieties, and the same goes for wine. There’s also a decent amount of Western liquor used in sweets. Beer is supposedly good, but it’s on the expensive side.
Since I have the chance, maybe I’ll try making some myself. There’s good water here, so I might as well start with grapes. Of course, I don’t have wine grapes in [Storage]; what I have are sweet, large ones meant for eating.
I’ll create a vineyard on the slope. Right now, the Spirit of Earth and Harvest, Pal, and the Spirit of Water and Healing, Ish, will lend me their hands.
Speaking of which, I really need to peel the bark off the branches of the grapevines soon. But then again, since pests can’t get into the garden, maybe I don’t need to worry about it? Peeling the rough bark is to prevent bacteria and pests from getting in. After that, I’ll guide the branches to keep the vineyard looking neat.
I want to make progress on the Forest House too, so there’s quite a bit to do. I can’t manage the field every day; I don’t have anyone to help. The assistance from Pal and the others isn’t physical, right?
Ah, but I could have the spirits help me. Spirits generally can’t touch or interact with physical objects. Even if they do touch something, they can’t cause any changes—no sensations of being touched, either.
To create change, they need to use their power. If I had them doing mundane tasks like weeding every day, they’d exhaust their power and disappear. They might release their power in surprise for a moment or use it for pranks, but…
They excel at subtly influencing things where they can’t be seen. They just need to stay in one place. For instance, even if it’s something without consciousness, if a fire spirit is nearby, it’s easier for a fire to ignite.
By the way, the power that moves around and flows out from a spirit with consciousness is often the smallest type of spirit. Is it that the particles of attributes gather to form a spirit? I’m not quite sure.
In any case, if the spirits can’t weed, I can have them suppress the growth of anything other than what’s planted, making it harder for weeds to sprout from the start.
Alright, let’s go in that direction.