Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

After taking my usual morning bath and lounging around for a bit, I suddenly remembered Verse mentioning he wanted to talk about something last night.

I went down to the first floor and found Verse wiping the dining tables.

“Morning, Verse. You mentioned you want to talk about something last night? What is it?”

“Ou! Well, take a seat first. I wanna talk to you about cooking. Alan said you were a decent cook yesterday, so I take it that you’re a qualified chef right?”

“Well, no, not really. I’m only cooking because it’s my hobby.”

“Even so, you’ve got some real skills. It’s impressive for someone so young.”

“It’s my sole hobby after all. I’m always practicing.”

“Let’s talk about cooking then. I was really surprised when I tasted your cooking yesterday, Alan. I couldn’t believe there were such tasty ways to cook food.”

“Really? I think the dishes you cooked for us were also quite delicious though.”

“Nah, any chef from a high-class inn worth his or her salt can cook up something similar. Alan’s cooking was different though. Yours was truly delicious.”
“I think you’re just feeling that mainly because you ate something new to your palate.”

“Oi, I still consider myself a full-fledged chef. I’m quite confident in my palate, I’ll have you know.”

“I see. Well, that’s true huh. Sorry. That was rude of me.”

Objectively speaking, between the dishes Verse served us before and my cooking yesterday, it’s true that mine had a bit of an edge.

“Well, let’s leave that aside for now. I want to make that sort of cooking my own. Please, do teach me your cooking skills.”

“But didn’t you get to observe from close up yesterday?”

“Nah, I didn’t manage to catch the finer details.

I can certainly whip up something similar now, but I still don’t have enough of a grasp to make something truly tasty.

Alan’s also a cook so I think you get what I’m saying. Oftentimes, it’s the little details done by a chef that makes all the difference in cooking tasty food.

I want to fully master the cooking techniques I witnessed yesterday.”

I see. I do get what he’s after. Judging from the way his kitchen space is arranged, I’m sure Verse is the type of chef who’s meticulous and aims for perfection.

“I’m not saying you’re gonna have to teach me for free. I’m gonna ask my wife to exempt you guys from paying the rental fee from now on. I’m thinking of refunding the initial deposit as well. Please stay for one or even two months with us.”

“Hey, hey, isn’t that kinda bad!? Won’t your wife scold you for it?”

If we stay for two months, the total rental fees would amount to 26,250 Guineas.

“Cooking recipes are a chef’s lifeline. Alan’s recipes are worth that much, I think.”

Come to think of it, even Tarus-san paid five thousand Guineas just for the recipe for pudding.

“And I also want to learn other recipes from you as well. You still have a lot, right?”

Well, I do have the「Earth Cuisine Compendium」plus other major recipes popular in the Empire in my database. I’ve saved about more than ten thousand different recipes in Nanom’s memory banks.

“Yeah, I do. I certainly have a lot of recipes, but a number of seasonings and ingredients from my country aren’t available in this one. So what I can whip up is actually limited.”

“I see. Just like that Soy thing you showed me yesterday, right? But you can still make some, correct? Please teach me those then.”

Would it be fine for me to accept this request? Our rental fees being waived is honestly a great deal.

“Alright, I understand. I don’t mind teaching you. But I’ll only be teaching you when I’m free. It’ll end up mostly in the evening or at night, I think.”

“No problem. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

“And you don’t have to return the deposit we paid in advance. I’ve taken quite a liking to this inn. I’ll feel bad if everything ended up being for free.”

“Okay. I’m glad you’ve taken a liking to us. What do you guys do for a living any way?”

“Um, we’re adventurers.”

“Hou. And what’s your rank?”

“I’m C rank.”

“Ooh! That’s amazing. You’re already C rank at that young an age! I also did a bit of adventuring when I was younger, y’see. I saved up money from my adventurer work and opened up this inn.”

“Is that so? What rank were you back then?”

“I was A rank. Amazing, right? I was quite popular back in the day, y’know.”
“Amazing! I’ve just become an adventurer so I’m unfamiliar with a lot of things. Please give me some pointers sometime.”

“Sure. Just ask me anything. How long have you been an adventurer?”

“Uh, three days ago.”

“Three days ago!? You’re an honest-to-goodness rookie! ……It’s my first time meeting someone who qualified for C rank right after the qualification exams. I take it you’re quite skilled.”

“Well, I guess. Alright then. Let’s begin the cooking lessons this evening. I’ll write the ingredients and the knacks for each recipe on paper for you.”

I’ll feel bad if I don’t at least put in that much effort.

“Oh, really!? I’m truly grateful for this. I’ll be in your care. But we’re probably not going to find any Black Bird in the market for now.”

Well, the Black Bird is quite rare after all. And it’s difficult to hunt as well. We can just use other types of meat as long as it resembles chicken meat, but are we gonna have karaage and fried food again tonight?

“What time are you going to the market?”

“Two in the afternoon, I guess. It’s not like I’ll find fresh ingredients if I go any earlier.”
A market huh. I’m quite interested. I’m used to the image of going to market early to procure fresh ingredients, but judging from the development of this planet’s logistics system, I guess there’s no point in that yet huh.

I think I can make it if it’s two in the afternoon. I should be able to finish with my business at the Magic Guild in the morning.

“Hey, can I tag along when you go to the market to buy supplies?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Oh yeah! You can decide tonight’s menu again, Alan. You’re still our only customers after all.”

“Well, it’ll depend on the ingredients we can get. Is the marketplace far from here?”

“No, it’s just a twenty-minute walk away.”

Cleria and Elna came down from the second floor at this time.

“Okay, Alan. See you at two in the afternoon.”

Verse went toward the kitchen in order to prepare our breakfast.

“What are you going to do at two in the afternoon, Alan?”

I told Cleria and Elna about the things Verse and I talked about earlier.
“Amazing! I’ll get to taste Alan’s cooking every day again!”

“I don’t think it’ll be every day actually. And I’m not the one who’s going to cook. I’m just gonna teach Verse some cooking methods and recipes.”

“But it should be mostly the same as when Alan cooks the dishes, right?”

“Uh, well, I’ll try my best so it’ll turn out that way, I guess.”

After eating breakfast, we took a small breather and headed back to the Magic Guild afterward. We reached the Guild right before nine in the morning.

The only soul present inside the Guild building apart from us was the female receptionist we met yesterday.

“We have been waiting for you all. Chief! The folks I told you about yesterday have arrived!”

The female staff suddenly called out for the branch chief in a loud voice. I think the regular staff would normally get their superior personally though.

A door opened from within the building and a person who should be the branch chief went out. It seems she was just in the other room.

It was a beautiful woman who looked to be in the first half of her thirties. She was quite tall for a woman. She might be as tall as Elna. She had lustrous blonde hair.

“Lily! You should get me personally at times like this! Honestly… Ah, I’m sorry about this. You are this time’s clients, correct? I have heard about your request details.”

“We haven’t decided if we want to go through with the request though.”

“Of course, I understand. My name is Cara, the person in charge of the Magic Guild’s Gotania Sub-Branch.”

“I’m Alan.”

“My name is Ria.”

“Please call me Elna.”

“And I’m Lily!”

Lily quipped excitedly from the reception desk.

“It seems it’ll be quite a long talk, so please take a seat first.”

We sat around the only table and chairs set available inside the Guild office. For some odd reason, Lily got up from the reception counter and sat with us.

“To begin with, this is the estimated price for this time’s request. Please have a look.”

Cara handed me a sheet of paper.

The magic spells I specified were listed out along with the corresponding prices for each of them. The cheapest was 500 Guineas and the most expensive was 2000 Guineas.

It’s not something I won’t be able to pay, but 2000 Guineas just for a live magic demonstration did seem a bit steep.