NOVEL NEXT Chapter 88.1
Delicious Fruits, Made Into Juice And Frozen Fruit Treats
“Yuuri, here’s a souvenir!”
With a thud, a magic bag was placed before Yuuri, leaving him blinking in surprise. Smiling brightly in front of him was Lelei, with Kurresh and Hermine standing behind her, wearing the same cheerful expressions. Hidden in their shadows was the figure of Aroru. They were all younger members of the trainee group—well, technically, Hermine wasn’t exactly part of the younger team, but with her childlike appearance, it wasn’t a problem. Mentally, she fit right in too.
“A souvenir?”
“Yep! Today, we went on a gathering quest in a dungeon called the Harvest Garden!”
“…Kurre, could you explain more?”
“Leave it to me.”
Lelei gave a simple summary, but Yuuri didn’t know anything about this Harvest Garden dungeon. What seemed like common knowledge to adventurers and the people of Drakheln, the royal capital, was unfamiliar territory for Yuuri. Although he’d been living at their base for a few months, he mostly wandered between home and the marketplace, leaving him disconnected from the world outside.
Well, Yuuri’s likely job titles would be something like housekeeper or homemaker, so he didn’t really need outside information as long as he could cook delicious meals every day. What mattered more to him was monitoring market prices—since, with so many mouths to feed, the grocery budget was no trivial matter.
“About fifteen minutes from here, there’s a dungeon called Harvest Garden. It’s filled with ingredients like foodstuffs and medicinal herbs, with a low difficulty level.”
“Uh-huh.”
“After we finished collecting the requested items, we decided to gather more stuff for a souvenir. Since you usually buy your own vegetables, we focused on fruits this time.”
“Fruits?”
Yuuri’s face lit up at that. Fruits are nutritious, hydrating, and most importantly, delicious. They make great desserts and perfect snacks to stave off hunger. However, fruits can sometimes be expensive, making them a bit of a luxury in the usual grocery budget. Getting them as a gift—and from a dungeon where everything tastes better than regular food—was more than welcome.
Eagerly, Yuuri opened the magic bag, and his eyes went wide at the assortment of fruits inside. He stood there, dumbfounded.
The reason? The selection of fruits completely ignored the seasons.
Fruits that shouldn’t be available in this warm period were casually rolling about. It was strange to see such a chaotic mix of fruits, each typically growing in different climates or seasons. Seeing Yuuri’s surprise, Aroru calmly added,
“These are dungeon ingredients, so they’re available year-round.”
“Huh? Really? Seasons don’t matter?”
“They’re not exactly grown, you know. They’re just there.”
“Whoa… As expected of a dungeon…”
Aroru seemed to say, obviously, while Lelei’s expression read, What’s the big deal? Meanwhile, Kurresh and Hermine nodded knowingly. Since Yuuri rarely ventured into dungeons, it was only natural for him to be clueless about this. Aroru, being young, couldn’t understand why someone older didn’t know this, and Lelei found Yuuri’s surprise incomprehensible since this was her normal.
“Well, anyway, make good use of them.”
“Yeah, thanks, everyone.”
Regardless of how things had come to be, Yuuri was grateful for the pile of delicious-looking fruits before him. And those who had brought them back were satisfied to see Yuuri happy. …Though it was inevitable that some would respond with excitement, saying things like, “I can’t wait for snack time!”
After putting the fruits back into the magic bag, Yuuri headed to the kitchen. He needed to store them in the fridge for now. With such a variety of fruits, he thought it was crucial to handle them properly. As he pondered how to use them for today’s snacks, an idea struck him.
“If they’re dungeon ingredients, they’ll definitely taste amazing.”
Dungeon fruits were bound to be better than regular ones, so he decided to enjoy them simply, without overcomplicating things. He put away the fruits he wasn’t planning to use today and rolled the rest into the sink.
After rinsing them clean, he peeled them, leaving only the edible parts. He cut them into bite-sized pieces and arranged them neatly on plates, grouping the same types together. Though the arrangement was simple, he ensured they wouldn’t fall apart. Once everything was prepped, he placed the plates into the freezer.
It was still morning, so the fruits would be frozen by snack time. Frozen fruit—eaten as it thaws—is a delicious treat, perfect for things like watermelon or peach slices. As for mandarins with thin skins, he left them whole. The oranges, however, were peeled.
While chilled fruits would taste good too, freezing them would concentrate their flavor, adding a delightful twist. And since it was a particularly warm day, Yuuri figured everyone would appreciate a cold snack.
Incidentally, even though Yuuri seemed unfazed by the heat, it wasn’t because he came from a tropical region or was especially resistant to heat. He felt the heat just like anyone else and sweated too. However, to Yuuri, this level of warmth was manageable.
The reason was simple: Drakheln wasn’t hot and humid.
Sure, the temperature was high, but with low humidity and refreshing breezes, it was comfortable enough. High humidity makes even cooler temperatures unbearable, something Yuuri, who grew up in Japan, knew all too well from dealing with muggy summers. Compared to that, the dry heat here was a relief—though explaining this concept was a bit tricky for him.
Anyway, back to the task at hand.
“Next, I’ll make some juice and ice cubes for the juice.”
There’s nothing quite as enticing as fresh-squeezed juice. Yuuri, who couldn’t resist buying fresh juice when he saw it in stores, wanted to turn these fresh, delicious fruits into juice.
Unfortunately, in this world, there were no juicers or blenders. Too bad. They did have tools for squeezing lemons and oranges, though, so Yuuri considered grating the other fruits with a fine grater. …Sometimes, his ideas were a bit unconventional.