NOVEL NEXT Chapter 67 - Chapter 67: Kiln
Chapter 67: Kiln
It’s the fourth day since Marie and the others departed for Savoia.
Gisella and Mil have completed the kiln. Since it’s their first firing, everyone gathers around to watch. It seems they made it using rocks peeled off from the rock wall, mud collected from the lake bottom, and various plants they gathered. Of course, it’s not very waterproof and is rather simple. However, it’s surprisingly large and sturdy, with a beautiful dome shape. With this, it seems smoking meat will be easier.
“Alright, Gisella. I’ll leave the firing to you.”
“Since we’re here, Mil, let’s do it together!”
“I guess we have no choice.”
The two of them giggle as they fire up the kiln. I was a bit worried, but so far, there are no cracks, and it quietly continues to emit smoke. As the temperature of the kiln rises, I can’t help but feel excited for some reason. Naturally, we don’t have any wheat or yeast, so unfortunately, we can’t bake bread yet. Mil walks around the kiln, nervously rubbing her hands together and peering into the kiln. With her chestnut-colored hair and round eyes, her fidgety, bear cub-like appearance is adorable. I was worried it might smell weird because of the lake mud, but there doesn’t seem to be any such issue, and the excess moisture is evaporating smoothly. It seems we can use it as is without any problems. All that’s left is to put out the fire, and as long as the kiln doesn’t crack when it cools, it should be fine. But… it feels a bit wasteful to just put out the fire like this.
“Why don’t we celebrate the completion of the kiln by trying to bake various things together?”
“That sounds good! I’ll bring some meat!”
“Wait for me, Mil! Let’s use the herbs we collected since we’re here.”
Gisella and Mil come up with great enthusiasm. It seems everyone else feels the same way, and in the end, we all go gathering food. Shiro is carrying a large amount of sweet potatoes. Zamza heads to fetch water as instructed by Gisella. I decide to try baking bananas. When I arrive at the kiln, the preparations begin. Mil and Gisella rub herbs into the meat, while the potatoes are washed and scored. Everyone is milling around the kiln, trying to stuff their ingredients inside. As I’m about to put in the bananas and watching from behind, I notice Kuro is next to me. It seems she was looking at the kiln as well. However, she’s strangely wet, so I wonder what’s going on. It turns out she’s holding a large frog in his hands like it’s a treasure.
“Kuro, isn’t that…”
“Gyaguuu?”
What’s with that sparkling look in your eyes? Your excitement is infectious…
“…Enjoy your meal.”
“Gyau!”
Even after putting the ingredients into the kiln, Mil continues to wander around the kiln like a bear cub. The others lean against Elizabeth like a sofa, relaxing and waiting for the food to cook. Kuro starts singing a strange song while shaking her head. Somehow, Zamza starts clapping along, Gisella laughs foolishly as usual. It feels like a banquet atmosphere even though there’s no alcohol. Elizabeth, unusually, sticks her face between me and Shiro, seeking affection. When I scratch under her ear, she sticks out her tongue and happily licks me. She’s cute, but her pressure is overwhelming, and I feel like I’m being overwhelmed.
“Elizabeth~”
“Mee~”
“Your horns hurts.”
After a while, a tantalizing aroma wafted out from the kiln, so we began taking out the food. The entrance to the kiln was quite hot. We left the task of retrieving the food to Gisella and stepped back to peer into the kiln. The first thing Gisella took out of the kiln was a satisfied-looking pink.
“…What are you doing?”
He’s making such a composed face…
It seems Pink was satisfied with something.
Mil’s prepared meat was still a bit early and returned, but everything else was placed on plates one after another. I had been curious all along, but the mushrooms, which I had been too scared to eat before, had excellent texture and aroma. I was surprised by how well the potatoes turned out; they were originally fluffy and sticky, but now they seemed to have improved in flavor. Shiro is also happily munching on the potatoes.
“Mmm, delicious.”
“Indeed, this is tasty.”
“Mee~ Mee~ Mee~”
For some reason, Elizabeth seemed to like the roasted potato skins and kept begging Shiro for them. Honestly, I thought there wouldn’t be much difference between roasting directly over the fire with firewood, but there were surprising changes in taste, flavor, and texture. It’s quite satisfying.
And finally, a large chunk of meat comes out. When Gisella sticks in the knife, a tremendous amount of juice spills out, and everyone involuntarily makes sounds of surprise. Perhaps because we took our time heating it up, it’s incredibly delicious with just salt. When I take a slightly larger piece of meat into my mouth, along with the satisfying chew, I can clearly taste the flavor of the meat itself. The herbs are also working well, with no hint of gaminess, and a faint scent of rosemary. Truly blissful. This makes me want to drink some alcohol.
“It’s delicious, so delicious. Bonus, this is delicious.”
“Eat more and more.”
Zamza also seems to think the meat is delicious, to the point where he’s becoming incoherent. No matter how much we stack up, it would be impossible to eat meat of this quality in Savoia. I’d like to let Marie and the others taste it too…
“Mil, Gisella, the kiln is amazing. Thank you so much.”
“Hehe~ We had fun making it together, right, Mil?”
“The ingredients are great! I’ve never tasted anything this good! Oh, I can’t wait to bake bread soon. I think smoking would be good too, there are so many things I want to try.”
After that, in the name of experimentation, we haphazardly threw in meat, potatoes, vegetables, and such, but in the end, everyone ate them all neatly. However, it seems we ate too much. Our stomachs ache, and we can’t move. Everyone, usually active, is now lying down with happy faces. Next time, I want to get some cheese and try making pizza or something, while gazing absentmindedly at the kiln. It’s strangely quiet, and as I look around, everyone seems to be looking at the kiln with similiar expressions. There’s still plenty of things each of us wants to try…
By the way, the bananas I put in were of a subtle taste, but the frog legs Kuro gave me were surprisingly tasty, like chicken.