565 - Five hundred sixty-three.

There was a sad incident when Mr. Tabre, Mr. Gorden and the others laughed at me because of a slight misunderstanding, but we dealt with them in good faith, and eventually we were able to roughly decide on the rules of the blacksmithing competition, although they were a bit rough.

"Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Oh, yes, thank you. ......"

The blacksmith guild official quickly got up from his seat, bowed, and left the room before I could finish thanking him.

He seemed to be in too much of a hurry. Was he using the restroom or something?

I felt that he was a competent person who could do his job with his polite but smooth explanation, but in fact, he might have been just in time.

But I was actually on the edge. If you think that he finished his explanation without letting us know how he was on the edge, is he still competent?

"Huh."

"?　Sylphy, what's the matter with you, you suddenly started laughing?　Did something funny happen?"

"Yes, that blacksmith's guild official, Tablé, seems to have been very well informed. I've been following him since he left the room and he's been running around cursing Tablé in a whisper. Oh, thank God we got out of the room safely now.

It seems that Sylphy had been tracking us with the wind because she was concerned about the suspicious behavior of the staff members.

She came to report the decision of the convention as an emissary of Mr. Tabre, but her quick exit was apparently due to her wariness of me.

I thought it was natural for Mr. Tabre to use his subordinates since he is the head of the department, but judging from Sylphy's story, he may have forced his subordinates to deal with me.

The wind collar was a little too much, wasn't it?

But I feel that the threat of the wind collar made the decision to hold the tournament so smooth.

It is not normal that two days after we asked them to hold a convention, the outline of the convention was decided. There should have been more meetings and preparations.

The fact that they decided to do so must mean that when Mr. TABRE came to his senses, he thought it was a bad idea to have offended me.

I have a complicated feeling that my notoriety has come in handy in an unexpected way.

By the way, most of the rules, dates, and times of the convention went as I had requested.

The tournament is scheduled to be held in 30 days.

The place is the Blacksmith's Guild.

No secret judging.

The judges will be the masters of the Blacksmith's Guild and high-ranked adventurers.

After judging, the works will be exhibited at the Blacksmith's Guild.

Rare metals are limited to 10% of the total weight.

There are some other detailed rules, but the main part of the rules are as we requested.

I wonder if they accepted our request because we are the organizers of the competition, or if they decided to keep it as requested because we are dangerous people. ...... I think both factors are taken into account.

But still, 30 days later....

That's a pretty short time to prepare for a blacksmith's competition, but as someone who just waits, that's a lot of time in the middle of the day.

Even if I do some minor things like delivering the waste to the labyrinth core or visiting Marie at her general store, I'll still have about 20 days of free time.

I thought about going back to the paradise once, but I didn't want anything to happen to Mel in the meantime.

It would be safer to stay in the labyrinth city until the tournament is over.

Gina and the others have things to do in the labyrinth city, such as diving in the labyrinth and being trained by Mr. Lee and the others, so it would be a good opportunity to concentrate on studying.

I'm free, so I'll go to the labyrinth city and play with Belle and the others.

**

"Well, I wonder what kind of food they'll serve. I'm looking forward to it.

Tonight is the tasting of a new dish using Torque's soy sauce. Now that the conference meeting is over, we can enjoy the food without any worries.

Toruku-san seemed very confident about his new dish, so I was looking forward to it.

"Yes. I'm looking forward to it.

Sara answers my words with a smile. She likes cooking too, so I guess she is excited about Mr. Toruku's new menu.　

"By the way, Gina, Sara, and Kikka are still helping out in the kitchen and learning how to cook from Mr. Toruku, aren't they? Don't you know what kind of food they cook?"

Since he's in and out of the kitchen, he should be able to see the prototypes.

"I was curious too, so I asked him what kind of dish it was, but he didn't tell me to look forward to it."

Hmm, you didn't tell Gina and the others? I wonder if Mr. Torque likes surprises too?

"You didn't see me make it?"

"Martha takes care of the soy sauce, so it doesn't exist in the kitchen when we're helping her. She said that we can only use the soy sauce after work until we go to bed, and then it's confiscated. I feel like a child, don't I?

Gina is right, we are like children who are restricted in the amount of time we can play games.

Well, Mr. Torque is an adult, so I don't think he needs to be so strict about it, but I guess it can't be helped, since he seems to stay up all night over and over again when he gets into a game.

While we were talking, there was a knock at the door of the private room and Mr. Torque came in with the food.

A gentle laugh spreads through the room.

Everyone looked at Mr. Toruku and was amused by the childish behavior of this burly man.

Not a mocking laugh like Mr. Gorden and the others, but a gentle, calm laugh.

I feel a little sorry for Mr. Toruku that even children laughed at him, but this kind of laughter makes me feel better.

It is probably because everyone is friendly to Mr. Toruku and there is no feeling of making fun of him.

"Hmm?　Am I interrupting something?"

He seemed to think that his timing was bad, since his laughter spread as soon as he entered the room. In a sense, I came in at the best timing, but I can't tell him that.

"No, it's all right. It is unusual for you to bring the dishes to the table.

"Yeah, I had a hard time this time, so I wanted to hear what you thought of the food in person."

"What?　Did you have trouble with soy sauce?"

I think soy sauce matches most ingredients, don't you?

"Yeah, not only soy sauce, but miso as well, it tastes good with most ingredients, but they all end up tasting like soy sauce or miso. It's a very difficult seasoning to find the right balance.

I see, it is true that when you use soy sauce or miso, you get soy sauce taste, miso taste, and so on. It is natural for me as a Japanese, but it is not surprising that Mr. Toruku, who is a newcomer, may find it difficult to handle.

It's a cultural difference, I guess.

"Well, I still think you made a good dish. Just taste it before it gets cold."

Despite the difficulty, Mr. Torque confidently places the dish on the turntable and removes the lid.

"......This is also very simple looking."

On the plate that Mr. Toruku placed on the table was a large piece of meat that had been browned and cut into pieces.

Considering the size and the quality of the meat, I guessed it was grilled roughbard. But that was all that was on the plate.

There are no vegetables or sauces on the plate. Is this a dish made with soy sauce?

For a moment, I wondered, but the smell wafting from the dish cleared up my doubts. Well, this is a typical dish of Mr. Toruku.

The aroma of garlic and soy sauce wafts through the air. Since the beginning of my stay, a generous amount of garlic has been the default ingredient in the inn's cuisine.

How could Toruku-san not use garlic?

But what is strange is its simple appearance.

When Mr. Toruku combines garlic with meat, it is usually sliced and sautéed garlic, and heaped on top of the meat.

I used to like this style, as if he didn't care about bad breath. I wonder if he has started to pay attention to it since he renovated the inn and changed his clientele.

Maybe it's good business, but it's a little disappointing.

"I know it looks simple, but try it."

Yes, it is. You can't start judging just by looks. Let's just try it.

Bon appétit.

Mr. Toruku urges me to pick up a large slice of meat with chopsticks.

What's that?　The smell of garlic is stronger than I expected.　

I put the meat in my mouth, wondering why.

The crispy skin of the luffbird pops, and you bite into the meat, enjoying the firmness of the meat.

As you bite into the meat, the delicious taste of the chicken skin, fat and meat mingle in your mouth. At the same time, you are assaulted by the aroma and taste of soy sauce combined with the strong smell of garlic.

How can I describe it?　It is unquestionably tasty, but it has a downtown smell or a B-class gourmet flavor.

From its simple appearance, I expected this dish to make the most of the flavor of the ingredients, but it is the exact opposite. Although the taste is simple, it gives you a junky feeling. To be honest, I love it.

"I like this taste a lot, but how can you feel the garlic so strongly?"

If a large amount of garlic was served with the meat as it has been in the past, this punch would be understandable, but the destructive power of this simple looking dish is astonishing.

Isn't it amazing?"

Torque-san looks very happy, as if he is happy that I was surprised. He looks like some kind of a kid general, perhaps drawn by the image of childishness he has just portrayed.

"Yes, I was surprised.

"First of all, I combined the soy sauce I got with fresh garlic and it tasted pretty good, so I put as much garlic as I could in the soy sauce and let it sit."

I see. Garlic soy sauce.

Not that it's unusual for me, but I'm a little surprised at the choice of garlic soy sauce, since I've always thought of soy sauce as something that is added to the food as it is being cooked.

And since Mr. Toruku asked for so much, he must have put a lot more garlic in the soy sauce than he would have in a regular garlic soy sauce.

"And that's what I did while grilling the rough bird meat over the coals, applying a thin layer over and over again. I would have marinated the meat first, but it would have tasted too rich. I tried it with soup or sake, and it was delicious, but I didn't use it for this dish."

Come to think of it, I haven't offered sake to Mr. Toruku yet.

Even without mirin, if he had sake, I have a feeling that he could have made a marinade that would have been suitable for this dish.

I mean, I think it's quite a tight restriction to have sake and no mirin, too. I may have done something wrong to Mr. Toruku.

But this dish is also simple but quite tasty, so I guess it turned out OK.

Meat grilled with garlic and soy sauce.

In Japan, I would be tempted to say that it is just grilled meat, though I understand that it tastes good, but in this world, it would be a rare dish.

But I wonder a little about the soy sauce. You mentioned that you had a hard time handling soy sauce because of its strong claims, right?

In Toruk's case, is it wrong to be all soy sauce, but OK to be all garlic?