Chapter 113: The Lunar Banquet

Chapter 113: The Lunar Banquet

Silence filled the kitchen as we got ready to cook.

First up on our list of things to prepare was spices.

Not all the spices we had on hand would actually serve to improve the flavour of our curry bread, so we had to sort them and put the ones we weren’t going to use aside. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that our choice of spices could either make or break the final product altogether. Next, we began mixing the spices with as much care as humanly pos—

— Or not. I’d planned on proceeding with caution, but Urushi totally chucked that out the window by sniffing at our ingredients. Normally, that alone wasn’t much of a cause for concern, but it caused a chain reaction by sending a few spices flying towards Fran, who in turn sneezed and then caused more spices to go all over the place.

『Alright, how about you guys go do something else while I get all the spices prepped?』

「Nn.」

「Whimper...」

I’d honestly wanted to use a doppelganger so I could check the taste and smell as I went along with the whole cooking process, but I ended up dropping the idea altogether. I couldn’t maintain my doppelgangers for all that long, so it’d be better to keep the skill off cooldown just in case we happened to run into some sort of emergency.

I asked Fran to focus on prepping the other ingredients. It’d not only prevent any additional incidents, but also help a lot in the long run, as I wouldn’t have to deal with nearly as much prep work myself later.

「Will prep well.」

「Woof?」

『Hmm, yeah, it doesn’t really look like there’s anything for you to do. Sorry Urushi.』

「Whimper whimper...」

『Yeah, I know you want to help, but it is what it is.』

「Woof woof woof!」

『I know, I can see that, but I’m not really sure how trying harder’s going to change anything.』

「Bark!」

『It’s not a matter of how many limbs you use to walk so that’s not going to help either.』

Urushi seemed to be trying to stand on his hind legs as if to demonstrate that he could use his front paws in much the same manner as a human being. His legs were clearly shaking though, so it evidently wasn’t what you’d normally call the best idea.

That said, seeing him act all gung ho really made me want to find him something to do.

Let’s see... he’s much pretty limited to using only his mouth and front paws. The former was much more reliable than the latter, so we’d need something that wouldn’t suffer from him holding it in his mouth all the time.

『Oh, I know. How about helping me make the butter?』

「Woof?」

『One sec.』

I grabbed a barrel out of the dimensional storage. Inside was freshly squeezed milk, obtained from none other than our friend at the Luciel Conglomerate. The plan was to use it in order to create butter which would then be used for the chicken broth we needed to flavour the spiciest variation. I was originally planning to just use of space/time magic, but this was one of the few things that Urushi could actually do, so might as well leave it up to him instead.

To begin, I had him return to his usual size.

『Hey Urushi, open wide.』

「Bark.」

『Catch.』

「Woof?」

『Make sure you don’t bite down, alright? The barrel’s made out of wood, so it’ll probably break if you do. 』

「Woof.」Fôll0w current novÊls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)

『Alright, you don’t actually need to do anything super complicated. All you have to do is start shaking it as hard as you can and not stop till I tell you to.』

「Woof...?」

『Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to help, so get to work already.』

「Woof!」

Urushi obediently started to reproduce the ever so well known phenomenon of violent headbanging in response to my commands. All he had to do was keep that up for an hour, and we’d have butter! Though, he’d also probably be a bit more than just a bit dizzy, but hey, whatever. He asked for it.

And with that, both Fran and Urushi had something to keep them busy, so I went back to working on the spices.

Time flew as we concentrated our assigned tasks; the evening had almost seemed have blindsided us.

Urushi was, as one would expect, no longer able to stand on his feet. He’d been wobbling about in one of the room’s corners ever since he completed his task.

『You guys want to take a break and go check out the Lunar Banquet?』

「Nn. Will visit food stalls.」

『That’s not really what I meant. There’s going to be a parade and stuff. I was thinking we might as well go see what it’s all about.』

STR: 68

VIT: 77

AGI: 141

INT: 96

MGC: 100

DEX: 111

Skills

Evasion: Lv 6

Singing: Lv 5

Wind Magic: Lv 3

Blink: Lv 3

War Dance: Lv 7

War Dance Techniques: Lv 6

Hand to Hand Combat: Lv 3

Close Quarters Combat: Lv 4

Dancing: Lv 8

Water Magic: Lv 3

Vigour Manipulation

Magic Manipulation

Innate Skills

Captivating Dancer

Titles

Priestess of War

Equipment

Magic Steel Ring of Combat

Macaque’s Cold Resistance Wear

Pearl Wolf’s Mantle

Pearl Wolf’s Sandals

Anti-Charm Bracelet

Ankle Bracelet of Beauty

_______________________________________________________________

It looked like the dancers all had the War Dancer job. I assumed that the job’s main skill would then be War Dance. Hmm, let’s check a few things out in a bit more detail.

War Dance: A martial art that allows one to fight while dancing.

War Dance Techniques: A dance that charms onlooking enemies and invigorates one’s allies.

Captivating Dancer: Amplifies the effects of any dance-related skills.

So apparently they can fight at dance at the same time. What’s with all these manga-like abilities that’ve been showing up lately? I mean, their weapons were literally the metal rings they were wearing on their persons. I honestly can’t say I’m not interested. That looks hella awesome.

Fran pulled out a warm glass of ginger ale as she continued to watch the ritual. She really seemed to have taken a liking to the stuff as of late.

This world’s ginger wasn’t as spicy as the ginger we had back in Japan. It was much sweeter overall, so most people just straight up ate it as a vegetable instead of using it as a spice. I’ve never actually seen anyone cook with it, and apparently, Fran had never even heard of ginger ale or ginger pork before.

「Yum.」

「Woof!」

Fran’s facial expression relaxed as she leaned onto Urushi and sank into his fur whilst drinking her ginger ale. She was showing a rare, happy smile.

And so, we continued to watch. We watched the singers sing and the dancers dance; we observed the ephemeral scene play out as we overlooked it from what could what could only be described as a VIP seat.

『Looks like it’s over.』

「Nn. Was really pretty.」

That wasn’t a bad show at all. The ritual ceremony was beautiful to behold, and I felt as if it’d really drawn me in. Seeing it made me feel both relaxed and invigorated enough to return to the kitchen and keep up the ever arduous task of preparation.