NOVEL NEXT Chapter 389
A person’s sense of smell cannot be compared to that of animals.
Of course, there are parts where humans excel, but generally speaking, that’s the case.
Animals can discern a person’s mood and even detect illnesses just by smell, and in cases of lost or abandoned pets like dogs and cats, they can follow a scent to return to their owners from dozens of kilometers away.
So, it was only natural that the fluffy cloud could smell sesame oil from its barn.
Winterhome, which is just as large as a small city?
Unlike most cities in Europa, which don’t even have sewage treatment facilities, Winterhome has its own separate facility, distinct from Coldon.
Moreover, the fluffy cloud’s previous habitat was an underground dungeon.
Compared to the stench accumulated in the enclosed space, Winterhome felt refreshing.
Naturally, the fluffy cloud detected the smell as soon as Mary began to roast sesame seeds with magic.
Its four little limbs, so small compared to its body, turned confidently to follow the scent.
“…It looks even more absurd from outside.”
There, slightly higher than the kitchen inside the Wizard’s Tower, a massive ball of fur clung to the tall spire.
Naturally, it was the fluffy cloud.
Alicia’s chaos, fueled by her anger at the fluffy cloud’s reckless behavior, was heard by others as well.
Catherine and the two attendants, a passing maid who briefly stopped, and a few Adventurer clients who heard the commotion inside the tower had gathered around.
“Is that safe, I wonder?”
“What, is it the Princess’s pet monster? A creature the size of a wagon is surprisingly stuck there.”
“The Giant Dungeon Hamster usually stays in dungeons, but it surprisingly has a knack for climbing walls.”
Depending on the structure of the dungeon, it occasionally crawls up walls or cliffs, but seeing it scale such a high tower was a sight even Adventurer clients had never seen before.
Due to the murmurs of the crowd, Alicia became even more irritated.
“Really, fluffy cloud! Listen to Alicia and come down at once!”
“So, what’s making the fluffy cloud behave like that?”
Karem and the attendants instinctively seemed to know, but just to be sure, they decided to ask Alicia.
“It’s because of this fragrant smell.”
Alicia, hands on her hips, grumbled.
“The moment it caught wind of this aroma, it just moved on its own!”
“The smell, you say?”
“That’s right. But having smelled it like this…”
“Isn’t it similar to sesame?”
“Exactly! Karem’s right. It definitely has an aroma reminiscent of sesame concentrated into one. Huh? But how do you know that?”
Karem, adding to Alicia’s thoughts one by one, glanced at Catherine and Mary. They were both wearing the same knowing look.
“The solution is simple.”
“Should we just bring the sesame oil?”
“Are you really asking that?”
Catherine waved her hand as if to say that wasn’t it, pointing to Karem, whose eyes had turned red before Mary could even finish her sentence.
“Look at that guy’s reaction.”
“Over a little oil. How stingy.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing!”
And as Catherine said, the situation was resolved surprisingly easily.
“Alright, fluffy cloud. Look over here! It’s right here!”
Sizzle!
For once, the fluffy cloud stopped its aggressive nibbles at the unyielding windows and walls protected by defensive magic and hurriedly came down.
“Wow, who knew that hefty thing could move so quickly?”
“Eh… that was a bit anticlimactic.”
“Well, shall we head back now?”
With the excitement ending so blandly, the crowd dispersed. Meanwhile, the fluffy cloud, now fully down from the tower, bounded over to Alicia, shaking its fur.
“Sit!”
Thud! The fluffy cloud’s fluffy bottom hit the ground.
“Roll left! Roll right! Left hand! Right hand! Arrow boom!”
Then, as the fluffy cloud performed these tricks, Karem and Mary were utterly speechless. Catherine was equally surprised.
Did the Princess have a talent for monster taming as well?
Rather than using drugs or violence, she seemed to use the traditional method of training with a carrot.
The term ‘foundational training’ here means being able to completely handle the animal or monster you’ve tamed.
Of course, there are times when it doesn’t listen, like just now.
But as no one was injured, it was a minor deviation.
“Surprisingly, you handle it well.”
“Grandpa taught Alicia.”
“Lord Richard?”
“That’s right!”
Just before giving the fluffy cloud the sesame meal, Alicia, with a stern expression, raised her fist as if to show it a lesson.
The fluffy cloud, lying on its back, had an adorably frightened hamster face, its front paws clutching its chest.
“Don’t do that again next time!”
With its ears drooping, Alicia finally handed over the sesame meal.
Chomp-Chomp-Chomp-Chomp—
And the fluffy cloud, seemingly having finally gotten what it wanted, began to nibbly nibble on the sesame meal, still in its sprawled position.
“Wow, it really follows Alicia around.”
“Hmm? What makes you say that?”
“Look at that big fluffy Dungeon Hamster laying on its back.”
“What about it?”
When an animal shows its belly, it’s a sign of submission.
Monsters are no different in this regard.
“The belly is where the important organs are located. Showing it openly like that means it trusts Princess Alicia enough. Well, to be exact, it’s learned the hierarchy of the Princess.”
“Something like that can be learned…”
“In fact, animals and monsters are even more sensitive about such things. Besides, it’s eating right here without storing anything.”
The fluffy cloud was earnestly nibbling on the sesame meal while getting its plump belly petted by Alicia.
It seemed as comfortable and peaceful as it looked. It indicated that it considered Winterhome its home.
“Contractor. Junior Karem. I apologize for interrupting your conversation.”
That delightful chatter was cut short by Mary, who was pointing in the direction they were looking.
“The Princess is staring at the fluffy cloud’s food.”
Letting slip that what she saw was indeed accurate would have been unnecessary. As Mary said, Alicia, buried in the fluff of the belly, was fixated on the sesame meal.
“…Princess Alicia.”
“Hmm? Do you have something to say to Alicia?”
At Catherine’s call, Alicia turned her head.
“Sesame meal isn’t for humans.”
“So, is that what you call it?”
With a wrinkled nose, Alicia slightly grimaced.
“The smell is… Huh? Wait, did you think Alicia would eat that?”
“Then, is she not?”
“What on earth do you take Alicia for!”
Puffing up her cheeks in disbelief, Alicia protested furiously while petting the fluffy cloud.
“The aroma is tempting, but just because it smells good doesn’t mean it’s edible for humans, right? Kitty, apologize to Alicia.”
“Hmph… this reaction is interesting.”
Thud—
A small crumb that fell from the sesame meal.
At that moment, the gaze of the three attendants converged on that tiny crumb.
As all three pairs of eyes focused on it, Alicia grabbed it and, without hesitation, offered it to the fluffy cloud. To be honest, I was a bit surprised.
“Catherine, this is really happening.”
“…Fine. Princess Alicia, for this time, I’ll let it slide.”
“Hmm. It’s enough that you’ve apologized. Just be careful next time.”
I never thought I’d hear those words from her mouth—the look on Catherine’s face twisted strangely.
By the way, did she instinctively judge the sesame meal to be unpalatable?
It’s said that flavor and aroma in cooking are largely derived from the oils and fats. So, the sesame meal extracted from sesame oil would hardly taste good.
Not to mention, it looked like Mary’s magic, which roasted the sesame, produced even more oil than the most advanced methods of modern civilization.
It was so hard and lumped together that it should have crumbled like soil.
Humans would probably only experience the taste of crunching rocks with the flavor of sesame.
*
*
Not long after, Alicia took off with the fluffy cloud, who had stuffed the sesame meal into its cheek pouch.
I thought it would devour it all here, but it was a bit too hard for that.
Catherine also went off to finish reading the book she had started, and Mary disappeared somewhere.
‘She probably went off to do some work.’
With so many people stationed in the tower, laundry alone must be a mountain of tasks. But that’s not what’s important right now.
“Phew…”
Standing alone in the kitchen for the first time in a while, Karem let out a small sigh.
No matter how accustomed one becomes, a cook has to stay tense in the kitchen, and Karem was even more so than usual.
Soy sauce egg rice.
He was planning to make soy sauce egg rice starting now.
People would lose interest at such a thought.
Getting nervous over something as simple as soy sauce egg rice?
However, he had precious little rice left. If he were to waste the two bowls’ worth now, there would only be a few meals left in the future.
Yet, making only one bowl would be too little.
So, he couldn’t allow even a 0.0001% chance of mistake!
Karem felt as tense as when he first escaped the painfully long childhood spent in Moston Village and met Catherine and Gordon.
“Okay, here we go.”
In a world where there wasn’t even a rice cooker or anything, the only thing he had for cooking was a single pot.
Most importantly, Karem was now about to try a technique he had only thought about until now.
Cooking long-grain rice as if it were short-grain.
When it comes to long-grain rice, which inherently absorbs water rapidly, the most crucial factor in cooking is the amount of water.
If there’s too much, it’s as if the English are boiling rice in water, and if there’s too little, it simply turns into a cake.
Karem targeted that very point.
‘The characteristic of short-grain rice is… that it sticks together.’
He intentionally reduced the amount of water to preserve the stickiness.
Carefully pouring the long-grain rice into the pot without breaking any grains.
The water ratio was set at 1:1.3 with the rice and brought to a boil on high heat, reducing the flame to low just as it threatened to spill over.
Once the water vanished and the rice was cooked up to a certain point, he kept the lid closed to let it steam.
Using an hourglass for precise timing, Karem opened the lid with a serious expression.
Though it was long-grain rice, it already appeared fluffy and separated.
As he mixed it with a wooden spoon, the sheen of the rice glimmered beyond the steam.
“…Wow, Jeez!”
Even though he had made it with his own hands, Karem couldn’t help but scoop some rice and inspect it thoroughly.
The long-grain rice, sharp and slender at both ends, emanated a sheen despite no oil being used. Just seeing it made his mouth water.
He brought it to his mouth and chewed it.
A slight resistance hit him; it had a chewy texture.
“…Ah, no wait.”
There wasn’t any time for joy or relief.
Even now, the rice was cooling down. Karem, enhancing his body with divine power, dashed to fetch the pan and poured in oil, breaking four eggs on top.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle—
Two eggs for one bowl of rice.
Four in total for two bowls.
Ready in the moment, he plated them on the rice with the yolks framed just right in a soft-boiled state while drizzling soy sauce over it.
“—Five, six. Phew. That’s good.”
Lastly, the pièce de résistance.
Sesame oil.
Rising from his seat, Karem slowly approached the shelf and, with delicate hands as if handling a newly hatched chick, grabbed the jar of sesame oil.
Drizzle—
Two heaping spoons of sesame oil were poured generously over the steaming soy sauce egg rice.
Karem vigorously scrambled the contents of the pot.
The sunny-side-up eggs, commonly known as soft-fried eggs, had their whites torn into pieces, and the liquid yolks melted seamlessly.
Even the rice, having absorbed the soy sauce and sesame oil, mingled together and began coating each grain with the heat of the hot rice.
As the heat began to settle, a mild aroma of soy sauce intertwined beautifully with the nutty fragrance of sesame oil wafted from the pot.
Gulping involuntarily at this sight and aroma.
The yellow grains tinged with a hint of black, surrounded by fragments of egg white both big and small, and the crunchy edges dispersed throughout.
With a mere spoonful, Karem ate it all at once.
The plumpness of the rice coated with yolk, the contrasting textures and nutty flavor of the whites, the perfectly balanced seasoning of soy sauce; with each chew, a hint of sweetness blossomed.
And all of this was accented by the sesame oil.
“Skill is essential, and the ingredients account for more than half; the rest is all in the details.”
The main ingredients comprised two bowls of rice and soft-fried eggs.
The seasoning was merely soy sauce and sesame oil—just that.
In his previous life, he might have casually eaten such a simple dish with indifference, but Karem found immense satisfaction in it now.