Two days had passed since we started sailing up the Rieve River.
We were planning to keep heading north at our current pace and arrive in Heisen in six days.
These past two days had not been a leisurely, laid-back river journey.
We were attacked by river pirates. The river version of sea pirates.
They formed a fleet centered on small boats and came at us with a haaa-ha!
We fought them off.
From the lookout perch atop the Skia Coffin Ele, Bid fired arrows at them.
With her Relic's volley fire, the river pirates tumbled one after another into the Rieve River.
Gymnema also pitched in, sending monsters after the river pirates in succession.
I had no idea this river had so many monsters living in it. It was a little unsettling.
Several river pirates leaped from their boats up onto the lookout perch.
They must have been carrying a Relic granting Jump or Leap.
But they were outmaneuvered by Bid's Swift Step and cut down.
I deflected arrows fired from the small boats with the Azure Saint's Gauntlets.
This thing really was useful.
I counterattacked by boarding one of the river pirates' small boats, and I reflected their saber strike as well.
With Sword Breaker, I snapped their saber in two and drew a different sea knife.
The moment they saw it, the river pirates — who feared it as the devil fish — jumped into the river in droves and fled.
It really was called the Devil Fish, huh. I guess that name held true even in this world.
Come to think of it, there are giant squid and cuttlefish in this world big enough to destroy sailing ships.
Anyway, Shaldina was fighting with her cutlass and [Impact].
She'd catch an opponent's sword on her cutlass, then unleash [Impact].
Or she'd fire off [Impact] to create an opening, then slash with her cutlass.
It was quite the spirited way to fight.
And as for Mineha — could she fight? I'd been worried about that.
That worry was for nothing. She used the "Star" from [Demon Star Manifested Spear] to sink the river pirates' small boats one after another.
Hoss didn't join the fight. He was cooking.
He trusted that we could handle it on our own. Anna Kreutzen helped him too.
The witch was sound asleep, napping away.
Dagaa? Dagaa was... ah, there she was. She was on the central sailing ship of the river pirate fleet.
Why was she all the way out there... I headed for the sailing ship.
The river pirate boss was waiting aboard the sailing ship.
He looked tough and had the whole "I'm the captain" look going on — I couldn't help but laugh.
Turns out he wasn't actually that strong.
I collected the trouble fee and sent the river pirate fleet not to the sea, but to the river bottom.
And that was that — the river pirates were wiped out.
And then came today.
Today was peaceful. A calm river journey.
In the blink of an eye, evening was approaching, and dinner time was drawing near.
I was standing in the kitchen.
"Thank you. I've been wanting to cook for the first time in a while."
"Sure, but what're you making?"
"............?"
"That's for you to find out."
Lately, I'd been building up stress from one thing after another.
I wanted to let it all out.
There are plenty of ways to blow off steam, but today I just really wanted to cook.
Make something delicious and work the stress away.
The ingredients in front of me were… a block of ground pork. Cabbage. Garlic chives. Long green onions. Onions.
Ginger. Garlic. Sugar. Lard. Sake. Vinegar. Fish sauce. Potato starch. Salt.
And the "skins" I'd made earlier by mixing together cake flour and bread flour.
Just small, round balls of dough — not yet rolled out or cooked.
Seriously, this storage room has everything.
"Alright, let's begin."
First, I placed the block of ground pork into a specially made large mixing bowl.
Next, I finely minced the cabbage, garlic chives, long green onions, onions, ginger, and garlic.
Since I'd be using so much, I got Mr. Hoss to help.
Just mincing and mincing away.
Normally, Anna Kreutz would have joined in too.
But since that day, she had become unable to handle bladed tools.
Being cut and stabbed had left her traumatized.
Still, she treasured the fruit knife I'd given her.
So I entrusted her with something else important.
An essential step in preparing this dish.
Mincing complete. Sugar. Lard. Sake. Fish sauce. Potato starch. Salt. Secret ingredient — chilled barley tea.
I dump it all into the bowl where a mound of ground pork sits.
Then I mix it all together. But this isn't just ordinary mixing.
"[Reave Move]"
Using the Relic [Reave Move], I mix it exactly the way I envision.
I plunge both hands in and stir with all my strength, working to blend it all perfectly evenly.
Alright, time to give it everything.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
"What the—? It's going too fast to see!"
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
"That's some unbelievable speed!"
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
Putting my whole soul and body into it, I mix and mix and mix until it becomes a proper filling.
"Done!"
I shouted without thinking.
Inside the ball was a sphere-shaped lump of ground meat.
Everything mixed together into a perfect filling.
"So what're ye doing with that, then?"
"I tuck it inside the wrapper like this, fold the pleats, and wrap it up."
I tear off a suitable amount of filling, place it in the wrapper, and fold it with neat pleats.
Then repeat.
"Wrapping, huh? I know something like this. You steam it or deep-fry it, right?"
"You can do that too, but this one gets grilled."
"Grilled, then."
That's right — grilled. Because they're gyoza, that's why they're grilled.
Even this tedious wrapping work, I use [Rave Move] for.
"Tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey"
"Th-that's some incredible speed, it is!"
"Tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-yaaah!"
"And every single one's perfect... That's magnificent, that is."
"Tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-tey-yaaah!"
Not a single millimeter off. Right now, I'm wrapping gyoza the way they're meant to be wrapped.
As I work, I find myself thinking about my past life — the part-time job I had at a Chinese restaurant.
The typical neighborhood Chinese joint. Come to think of it, my uncle ran that place too.
Maybe next time I'll try making the sweet-and-sour egg rice — the shop's signature dish.
If it's ingredients from the storage, I can reproduce them faithfully.
Sweet vinegar sauce Tenshinhan.
It's not fried rice; it's "fried rice," where you actually fry the rice itself.
You scatter salt and pepper on plain, white rice with no toppings or anything, then fry it in lard.
You want to get it slightly browned, but finish it right in that middle ground between crispy and moist.
That's what makes it difficult.
For the egg crepe that wraps the fried rice, you use two eggs, mix them really well, and cook them thin.
You build up layers by stacking them. That's how you get it thick.
The sweet vinegar sauce is gloopy like a slime, sweet, rich, and sour.
The whole dish is kept on the lighter side, so you eat it with plenty of the sauce poured over, and that's what makes it delicious.
I'm getting hungry.
No, no. Dumplings. Today is dumplings day.
"Alright. The prep work is done."
Phew. I'm so tired I'm sweating. I drink some water.
[Lev Move] lets me perform ideal movements, but that doesn't mean there's no fatigue.
Overworking like this, my arm is sore. I think I'm getting tendonitis.
But just in a situation like this—I drink the contents of the small bottle. Elixir.
Complete recovery. Using an elixir for cooking feels a bit much, I know.
But, you see, it's just cooking. And yet, it's cooking. And it *is* cooking.
You must never compromise when making something delicious.
This was the catchphrase of the uncle from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant.
"So we're grillin' these, right?"
"Yes. Hoss, please help me."
"Alright then, let's get prepped."
"Please heat up the frying pan."
I mix flour into water to make a slurry and prepare the sesame oil.
These are both needed for frying.
Once the pan is hot, I arrange them in a circle and drizzle the flour mixture over them.
When I hear the sizzle, I stream sesame oil around the edges and put on the lid.
This gives them crispy wings on the bottom.
I open the lid at just the right moment, and through the rising steam, crispy-winged gyoza make their appearance.
"Oho, these look mighty tasty."
"They are. Anna Kreuzen, how's the rice coming along?"
When I asked, Anna Kreuzen, who was standing in front of the stove, broke into a wide smile.
She opens the pot, and the snow-white rice reveals its glossy surface.
This is good. Undeniably good.
This alone would do. I could eat three cups. I nodded with a smile.
Anna Kreuzen's cheeks flushed faintly pink. Was she embarrassed?
"Now that's some rice with a real nice color and sheen."
"Right? Then let's keep frying those gyoza. Keep 'em coming."
"So those are gyoza, huh."
"Yes. Gyoza. They're best eaten with rice."
And so both the gyoza and the rice were ready to go.
I called everyone for dinner. Tonight was a gyoza party! Yeah!
"Well, well, would you look at this. Young Wof made these, did he?"
"Ooh, smells wonderful. Oh, Anna — that's quite the mountain of rice."
"…………"
"That looks delish! Anna, rice about that much is fine for me."
"……"
"Anna! Charldeena wants a huge serving of rice!"
"…………"
"Miss Anna. I'll have a normal portion, please. Mmm. What a wonderfully aromatic dish."
"……"
"Me too!"
"……………………"
Anna Kreuzen went around serving everyone rice just as they'd requested.
Once everyone had their portions, chopsticks and forks shot toward the gyoza all at once.
"Hot — so good! So good!"
"It's got a great crunch to it!"
"Huff huff, huff huff — the soup is hot, huh."
"I can't stop eating, desu! Anna, seconds, desu!"
"Anna. I want seconds too. A big heaping pile, please."
"I... love this... it makes me want ale."
"Gimnema. There's chilled ale, you know."
"Oh my, what a fortunate find!"
"Huff huff, Kom wants ale too, y'know."
"Na!"
"Oh, for those who can't drink, there's barley tea."
"Uchi wants seconds too, su."
"............"
Anna Kreuzen cheerfully ladled out more rice.
She'd been eating and drinking in between too. Seemed like she'd taken a liking to it.
"Mm. Turned out good."
The cabbage was especially generous, and with the onions in there too, the vegetables had a nice crisp bite to them.
The pork fat and fish sauce gave the flavor real depth, and the barley tea made the aftertaste pleasantly refreshing.
There was plenty of meat juice too. The wings and skin were both perfectly crispy, and the cooking was spot-on.
The dipping sauce was vinegar and chili oil. Since there was no soy sauce, I'd made a special sauce.
The special sauce was vinegar, fish sauce, and chili oil, with a splash of sake.
The Witch went with vinegar and chili oil. Mineha went with the special sauce and chili oil. Bidd went with fish sauce and chili oil.
Hoss also went with fish sauce and chili oil. Shaldina went with the special sauce.
Anna Kreuzen went with vinegar and chili oil. Gymnema just went with fish sauce.
I went with the special sauce and chili oil, same as Mineha.
Come to think of it, Mineha started pouring chili oil over her rice.
There was a customer like that once, way back when.
The dumpling party was a huge success.
All of them were gone—over a hundred of them. Terrifying.
I managed to blow off some steam too. Satisfied and stuffed.
It was the middle of the night.
I got up to use the bathroom, and then somehow, without any particular reason, I drifted toward the second-floor lookout room.
I guess I was just in a light sort of mood, thinking the stars must be incredible at this hour.
I thought nobody would be there.
"Oh my, oh my, my—good evening, young Wof."
The Witch was there.