Wild JK Kashino Yukiko Opens a Bar in Another World

Episode 5: Secret Sauce

Translated by AmaLynne
Edited by AmaLynne

「How is it, Lara-chan?」

「Yukiko-chan, it’s delicious. You have finally perfected the『sauce』using shoyu.」

「I had more trouble than I expected with the prototypes. We needed to secure a certain amount of product, so until now we have only been able to serve it grilled with salt, for which we apologize.」

「Yukiko-chan’s hometown seasoning is addictively delicious.」

Salt was the basic flavor of our store’s skewers, but it has been about a month since this store opened.

After many prototypes before the restaurant opened, the soy sauce-based sauce, which we had been accumulating because we needed to have enough stock to serve it at the restaurant, was finally completed.

How did I get miso and soy sauce in this other world to which I was suddenly transported?

That’s because I can get miso and soy sauce out of my fingers… This was not a joke, but a fact.

Immediately after I was sent to this world, I was limited to putting out ten milliliters of miso a day because it was solid and I could only put out ten grams or so… I used it to cook the food I acquired and it was very useful in improving the unpalatable diet of my hunter-gatherer life. ‡

Now I can produce a liter of miso a day and a kilogram of soy sauce a day.

Therefore, all of the motsu-nikomi (stewed motsu) of the magical beasts that we serve at the restaurant were seasoned with miso-based seasoning.

In addition to this, a soy sauce-based sauce is finally making its debut.

「I like it a little sweet too.」

「Not only soy sauce, but also sweetened soy sauce.」

「Sweet? Sugar, by any chance?」

「No way.」

I don’t know about other countries or regions, but in this royal capital, sugar was a luxury item.

Naturally, a popular bar like ours couldn’t use it for cooking, so instead of sugar, we used『honey』in our food.

「Is this the honey you fed me a few times before? It’s more valuable than sugar…. You had enough honey to serve it at the store in the first place.」

「I just happened to knock down a bunch of bees, searched the hives, and got my hands on them.」

「How did you get so much honey from the Honey Bee? It’s dangerous, Yukiko-chan.」

「It’s already done.」

When I was transported to this world and headed north to a place where people were living, I came across many places where large hives of『honey bees』were growing in clusters.

They must have been swarming.

I fought to the death with a swarm of giant bees about 50 centimeters long, and obtained many, many countless honey bees, beeswax, and honey.

Thanks to them, Lara-chan and I regularly enjoyed the sweet taste, which is why we made a sauce with them.

It was not until much later, after we had passed through the honey bee colony and arrived at the royal capital, that we learned that the honey bees were not very strong individually, but they attacked in large swarms, causing many casualties among the collectors every year.

In addition, it was not until after we arrived at the capital that we learned that honey bees have a very strong poison in their needles.

Now I honestly regret this and will be more careful with my equipment the next time I collect honey bees.

You ask why don’t I stop collecting honey bees and honey?

I would never stop because I can get honey for free.

I am a woman, after all, so sweetness that I can consume regularly was an essential item.

Cosmetics, lip balm, and hand cream made from beeswax are also necessary for me and Lara-chan, who serve customers.

「Lara-chan, from now on, please ask me if they want salt or sauce on their skewers.」

「Okay.」

And in the evening, a popular izakaya? (The category seems to change every time I say it…)『Nihon』opened right on time and was quickly filled with many regulars and a few first-time customers.

「Old man, I’m young, so I’ll take sauce.」

「Sauce is good, but I prefer salt, which lets you taste the meat straight away. What about Yard-oyabun-san?」

「It depends on the type. Tongue is salt, liver is sauce. Depending on the type, some are better with salt and others with sauce.」

「As expected of aniki, a man who knows the difference.」

Oyabun-san, who had become a regular at our restaurant, would often bring young people under Terry-kun to the restaurant.

His regular seat was next to his grandfather, who used to be the head of a big business association.

Since both of them are big shots, it seemed to be good for them to be able to eat and drink while talking to each other without being intimidated.

「But landlady. This sauce seems to be made with honey, is it cost-effective?」

「Yes, I have collected a lot of them before.」

I had another funny skill.

It’s called a『Food Storage』. If you put food that has been collected and processed in it, it doesn’t go bad in it over time.

This is why I still had a large stock of honey.

How did I know how to do that? I was checking and collecting the traps I had set in the mountains as usual when I was suddenly transported to this world, and for the next six months, from the large habitat of magical beasts with no living people (dead bodies were often seen) until I arrived at the royal capital.

Because I was living a life of survival alone.

For some reason, I was getting stronger with each magical beast I defeated, and other things like magic were all related to cooking… It was good that I could gradually use it, but I had too much time to eat preserved food, so I was forced to throw away the ingredients.

As a typical Japanese, I just thought,『What a waste』, and the moment I thought,『I wish I had a refrigerator or a freezer』, the ingredients that I had to throw away disappeared somewhere.

At this moment, I realized that I had acquired a『Food Storage』.

Although it can’t refrigerate or freeze the food, the food in the『Food Storage』would not deteriorate over time, so it saves some time from defrosting.

I began to store my hunting and gathering finds in my『Food Storage』for now, and dismantle and prep them for easy use in my spare time.

Many people might wonder how a Japanese high school girl could do such a thing, but that is because I grew up in the countryside and was a genuine granddaddy’s girl.

My grandfather was known as the last full-time hunter in the countryside, and I accompanied him on his hunts whenever he had time, setting traps, gathering edible food, and fishing in mountain streams since I was a child.

Naturally, he was accustomed to prepping and dismantling his prey. I was sent into this world when I happened to be in the mountains by myself, and I had a variety of tools with me, which helped.

My grandfather passed away the year before last.

The grandson, Yukiko, is still alive and well in another world, making use of her grandfather’s teachings.