CH 97.3

「Master, Seele-san, thanks for your hard work…..so, what’s this?」

「Ah, Pickles, this is hayashi rice.」

「Hayashi….raisu? What kind of dish is it?」

「It is a tomato flavored stew served over rice.」

Pickles asked, to which the pink haired Seele, the head chef of the Schenker family, who was stirring the pot of Hayashi rice, replied.

Yeah, rice.

Grown on the rooftop of an apartment building on the Schenker Street with plenty of sunlight, water, and the highest level of human enhancement and regeneration magic. When fall arrived, it started causing trouble.

The rice had grown twice as tall as I am and the plants had grown so many grains that they hung down  and almost touched the surface of the water…..

We hurriedly set up some poles and deepened the rice paddies and after overcoming such hardships, Isuka, who was in charge of the rice paddies, cried and cried when we were finally able to harvest.

The harvest was also very difficult.

We had to saw down the ridiculously sized rice plants as if we were cutting down trees and since there was no place to hang them out to dry, we tied a rope between two apartments and hung them up there.

My second brother’s wife, sister in law Lina Lina, who came to help us, complained a lot saying “This is not rice!”.

I’ve never seen rice like this either!

Suppressing my urge to apologize, I mobilized my slaves to frantically remove the unhulled rice grains from the plants that look like giant broomsticks. Then, we went to great pains to sort, thresh, and keep the seed that will be used next year.

Incidentally, all the rice produced without magic had withered away spectacularly, perhaps because the magic rice blocked the sunlight or sucked out nutrients.

Farming is hard work……

Not many farmers are growing this kind of bad rice but it’s still a tough job.

In any case, the amount of rice we finally obtained was, of course, too much for one person to finish by himself.

I distributed the milled rice to the slaves who wanted it, pushed it to sister in law Lina Lina, who seemed a bit uncomfortable, and secured some for myself to eat but…..even then, there was still a surplus.

Under such circumstances, I thought it would be a good idea to educate people about the culture of eating rice so I set up this Hayashi rice stall today.

「This is, rice……」

「The seasoning is very different from the last one I fed you and this time, Seele was the one who cooked.」

「It’s delicious」

「Haa, Seele-san, then……I’ll have some」

Apparently, her trust in Seele outweighed the memory of the bad tasting rice she had last time. Pickles took out some coins.

As I piled up the rice from the cauldron onto a wooden plate, Seele poured a generous amount of hot Hayashi rice sauce on top of it.

Its brownish color is riddled with boar monster meat, a common meat in Torquiva, and looked quite sumptuous.

The sweet and sour smell of rice was wafting through the air, and I heard Pickles gulp.

To be honest, rice isn’t very sweet nor tasty but the Hayashi that Seele made is delicious so I’m pretty confident that it’s genuine Hayashi rice.

「Here you go」

「Ah, itadakimasu……」

Receiving the plate, Pickles takes a small spoonful of Hayashi rice and fearfully puts it in her mouth.

The first bite, she’s anxious, the second bite, she looks at the Hayashi rice curiously, and the third bite brings a smile to her face.

「This is delicious desu!」

「Isn’t it?」

「I’m glad you like it.」

Today’s festival is the Mole God Temple festival, a festival for the god that gave Pickles her divine protection.

If Pickles, the main attraction of the festival, said it’s delicious, then it would surely be a good hit with the other guests as well.

In fact, there was already one who came up to use when she saw the smiling and chomping down face of Pickles.

It was Mince, the scalekin, a food stall fanatic with both hands full of food.

「Master, thanks for your hard work! What is Pickles eating?」

「Ah Mince. She’s eating Hayashi rice.」

「Hayashi rice? I’ve never heard of it but….I would like to try it.」

As she talks, more and more dishes are disappearing from her hands.

Scalekins eat a lot but she’s on a different level.

「Mince, do you want a big serving?」

「For now, I’ll just have as much as Pickles’.」

「That’s what a big serving is……」