Volume 4 - CH 18

Chapter 18 – Cheese Fondue and Wine

After completing my morning routine, I got ready and headed to the dining room to have breakfast with Girasole.

“Wataru-san, may I have a word?”

“Ah, Gino-san, it’s okay. What is it?”

The lasagna that Wataru-san taught me is very popular, but… it takes too much time and effort. Can you tell me something simple to make that can surpass the lasagna?”

“That’s out of the blue, isn’t it? Is it really that difficult?”

“Yes, I always make the white sauce and the meat sauce in layers after lunch.”

“Ahaha, I see. Well, I’ll give it some thought.”

“Thank you very much.”

Hmm, easy and tasty, isn’t it…? Cheese fondue is okay, too. I want to eat it, and I think I’ll have it made before lunch.

“Everyone, I’m going to have Gino-san make a new dish for us before lunch. What do you think?”

Everyone will eat it, and Claretta-san wants to watch from the kitchen, and Carla-san wants to observe, too.

“If you don’t have anything to do after noon, you can try white wine, which I hear goes well with it.”

“Ufufu, do you mind if I have some too?”

“Yeah, we’re not going out today, so Ines and Felicia can have a drink too.”

“Ufufu, I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Master.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Don’t worry about it; you always protect me. I’ll give you the wine later.”

After breakfast, I went to visit Gino-san.

“Gino-san, I have just remembered a simple dish that doesn’t require much time and effort. It’s a meal to be eaten slowly, so the customers may stay a little longer, but is that okay with you?”

“Yes, for the time being. I want to break up the lasagna situation for all of us, so please.”

“Then I will come back to make it before lunch. If we eat lunch here, I’m sure some interested people will ask for it.”

“Thank you.”

I had nothing better to do, so I went back to my room. Well, thinking about it, there is nothing more to do in this country. I wonder if I can sell pepper one more time. I think as I play around with Rimu.

But the guildmaster remembers my face, so I think it’s best not to sell pepper here. There’s no need to take the risk when there are other places to sell pepper.

“Ines, Felicia, is there anything you want to do?”

“What’s the matter all of a sudden?”

“I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to do until the Ryu’s scale was donated. Is there anything?”

“Well, I can only think of sightseeing.”

“I think that, once the time for the donation is fixed, it might be a good idea to go to a big town where we can come back in time to sell the pepper.”

“After all, it’s hard to move until we know the date and time of the donation, isn’t it?”

“Right, what are we going to do when the donation is over? Are we going back to Southern City? Or do we go to another country?”

“Ah yes, I’m also concerned about the dark elf village, but we still have plenty of time to spare. Speaking of which, Felicia, how do we go about emigrating dark elves? We’ve never met a dark elf on our travels yet.”

“Well, there is the problem of finding out the location of the village, so I think it would be better to discuss this with them when we meet them.”

“Ah, it would certainly be a problem to search for and locate dark elves in hiding.”

“It might be better to discuss it with the Girasole’s people since they have their own convenience.”

“Right, let’s go to Girasole’s room.”

“Rimu, play with Fuu-chan.”

“So Rimu wants to play with Fuu-chan too. Then, let’s go together.”

“Ara, Wataru-san, what’s wrong?”

“I just wanted to talk about what we’re going to do after we’re done with the donation of the Ryu’s scale. Do you have a moment?”

“Oh, yes, that’s just fine since we are all here. Let’s talk about it.”

When I enter the room, Rimu jumps out of my arms with a pop and bounces to Fuu-chan’s place. It’s cute, but I feel a little sad.

“Wataru-san?”

“Oh, excuse me. What will you all do after the donation of the Ryu scale is over? You can go back to the Southern City, or you can go to another country.”

It was a long process from there, with everyone making a lot of requests about where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. Before I knew it, Ines and Felicia were also in the circle, and the eight women were happily making travel plans.

There is no room for me at all… I guess women like to plan trips even in the other world. I was lonely, so I asked Rimu and Fuu-chan to play with me.

In the end, I couldn’t get into the conversation at all until it was time to make lunch. Even if I had, I would have been too scared to speak up in the heat of the moment, so I’m glad I got to play with Rimu and Fuu-chan.

“I don’t think it’s going to be decided yet, but now it’s time to make lunch, so please have some idea of what you want to do before the next time.”

“”””””””Yes.””””””””

Oh, very nice reply.

Ines, Felicia, Carla-san, Claretta-san, and I are headed to the kitchen… Rimu is going to play with Fuu-chan… I feel lonely.

“Gino-san, is it okay if I start now?”

“Oh, Wataru-san, it’s alright, please.”

“Then first, please cut chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, and other ingredients into bite-sized pieces and boil them. After that, fry the bread and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Any food that goes well with cheese will usually taste good, so try different things.”

“”””Yes.””””

“Next, chop the cheese into small pieces and coat it with potato starch. Then put the wine in a pot and bring it to a boil to release the alcohol. Then add the milk and salt and heat it up.”

There seems to be no problem. Carla-san said happily, but I doubted if she understood it.　

“This is where I like to add powdered dried garlic. Remove the pot from the heat, add the chopped cheese, stir, and let it melt in the residual heat. And that’s it.”

“It’s surprisingly easy.”

“Yes, if you cut up a lot of the ingredients and boil them, you can serve it right away. You don’t have a shichirin (Japanese charcoal brazier.) to keep it warm… But you can always keep it warm by putting the ashes and two coals in another small pot and placing the pot of cheese on top of it. Now you can serve bite-sized pieces of the ingredients and eat them while dipping them in the cheese.”

I move some of the cheese to another pot and taste it.

“Heh, you stick skewers through these ingredients and dip them in the cheese? Hmm, it’s delicious. The rich cheese goes well with the bread, and oh, these mushrooms are delicious, too. It’s so interesting because you can enjoy so many different things.”

“Yes, try different ingredients.”

“Carla-san, please don’t look at me like that. It’s ready to eat now, so please go get everyone.”

“Yeah.”

I put two small pots with coals underneath on the dining room table, and then put another small pot on top of them and transferred the finished cheese from the pot to the small pot on the top. Now all that’s left to do is to carry the plates with the ingredients, and we’re ready to go.

“This is an unusual dish, Wataru-san; how do we eat it?”

“I’ll explain when everyone gathers, so please wait a moment. I see that Alessia-san has also prepared some wine.”

“Ufufu, it’s nice, I haven’t had a drink in a while, so I got excited. Dorothea, Ilma, and Marina all bought some.”

“Everyone bought that much wine? It’s lunch, you know?”

“That’s alright, we took the day off today, and we worked hard yesterday.”

“Hahaha, it’s been a hard day. But please don’t drink too much.”

“I know, I know. Now that we’re all here, please explain it to us.”

“Yes, but it’s very simple. All you have to do is skewer the ingredients you want to eat and eat them with the cheese from the small pot. Please enjoy.”

“Then, itadakimasu.”

“”””””””Itadakimasu.””””””””

“Oh, it’s delicious, Wataru-san.”

“Ufufu, it goes well with wine.”

Everyone seemed to like it, so they put their favorite ingredients on the cheese and enjoyed it with wine. I gave Ines and Felicia some wine, too, so we’ve got quite a collection of wine… Is this alright?

“Rimu, can’t eat.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Rimu. I’ll put cheese on it right away.”

I feed Rimu the ingredients with cheese on them… It’s bliss.

“Is it good?”

“Delicious.”

“I see. That’s good.”

When I looked at Fuu-chan, I saw that Marina-san was happily feeding cheese fondue to Fuu-chan. Maybe because she was drinking some alcohol, she looked very sexy.

Speaking of sexy, Ilma-san is also looking very sexy. Her cheeks are slightly reddish from the alcohol, doubling her sex appeal. …Some of the customers who came for lunch were glued to the ladies.

“Huh? You don’t drink, Claretta-san?”

“Yes, I’m thinking of going to the cathedral in the afternoon, so I’ll refrain from drinking.”

“As expected, it is a problem for a priestess to go to the cathedral intoxicated.”

“Fufu, yes, that’s right. But cheese fondue is delicious, so I would like to enjoy it while drinking next time.”

“Yes, and the next time would be better at night.”

“We might all drink till the night.”

“Hahahaha, well, maybe it’s good sometimes.”

Perhaps the sight of people happily eating and drinking has had an effect, but the number of customers ordering cheese fondue has been increasing. There are also some wife-like people who drink wine as well… Is it okay?

After finishing eating, Claretta-san goes to the cathedral while the others are still drinking… they really are not going to drink until the night, are they?

When we ran out of cheese and had to have another, I thought we were on course for the night, but we managed to get back to the room when we ran out of alcohol around 3:00, taking advantage of the opportunity.

Well, they said they still wanted to drink, so they might be drinking in their room too… Ines and Felicia didn’t come back either.

I played with Rimu and Fuu-chan, who evacuated to my room. Rimu seems to be acting like a big brother, maybe because his level is higher than Fuu-chan’s.

If Dorothea also tame a slime, I’m sure there will be even cuter scenes to be seen. I’m looking forward to it.

In the evening, when I was wondering what to have for dinner today, a knock came at my door. When I answered, I saw that it was Claretta-san.

“Claretta-san, I see you’re back; how can I help you?”

“Yes, um, everyone is collapsed in our room; what should we do about Ines and Felicia?”　

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was wondering if they were coming back, but they were busted. I’ll go get them right away.”

When I entered the room, Alessia-san was sleeping with a bottle of alcohol in her hand, and Dorothea-san and Marina-san were hugging each other for some reason. Ilma-san is sitting in a chair looking sexy even though she is collapsed… That’s amazing. Carla-san is sleeping properly in her bed… It’s surprising.

How about… Ines and Felicia? Ines is sleeping with Felicia’s butt as a pillow. I wonder if this is…

“Wataru-san, is something wrong?”

“No, I was just thinking how wonderfully ruined they all look.

“It is bad manners to stare at a woman sleeping, you know.”

“I beg your pardon. I’ll take Ines and Felicia with me, then.”

I picked up Ines and carried her to our room first, then Felicia, tucking them both into bed. I invite Claretta-san to join me for dinner.

“Yes, I’ll join you since everyone isn’t up yet. I just have something to talk about.”

I head to the dining room and order a regular meal because cheese is indeed hard to eat at night. When I asked for the recommendation, it turned out to be cheese fondue, which is hard to eat two times in a row.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Yes, before we went to the cave, I taught the priest of the orphanage in the cathedral how to make mayonnaise. And when I went there today, I found that even the children were able to make mayonnaise.”

“It’s hard work, but the kids are amazing.”

“Yes, they took turns frequently and worked very hard. So, they want to make sure that the mayonnaise is really good enough to sell.”

“Hmm? I don’t mind. Please spread the word throughout the church.”

“Yes, the church leaders like mayonnaise and want to promote it throughout the church. It will be of great profit. Can we just donate the profit to the church and the orphanage, as you said before?”

“Ah, of course. Yes, since I am making good money, I don’t mind if you donate it all.”

I felt like it would be a waste, but I was also embarrassed to ask for the money after all this time. I was more interested in Claretta-san’s goodwill.

“Thank you very much.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Rimu and Fuu-chan were dissatisfied because there were only Claretta-san and I this time, so they could not go around asking people to share their food.

After dinner, I got some hot water and returned to my room. I wipe myself off and go to bed. It’s sad that I can’t do some lovey-dovey stuff, but… Good night.