By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 14

Chapter 3 Episode 14: The Second Store is Complete

The following morning, Pioro gave me miso, soy sauce, and other ingredients. Starting the day in a good mood, I went to the guild to submit my herbs and the smash boar tusk. They said they would quickly prepare my reward. The man from yesterday must have told them about it in advance. I thought up some excuses as to why I killed the smash boar, but it turned out they weren’t necessary. Normally there would be some degree of questioning, but thanks to those three adventurers, they didn’t doubt me at all.

The staff member left in charge of getting my reward thanked me personally. When I asked why, he said he was a friend of the three adventurers. I asked about the other two adventurers they were with, and he said they had already been captured. Last night, a guild staff member went to a bar after work and sighted them talking to a party of E Rank adventurers, then reported them to the guild. They were swiftly arrested. After that there was an investigation where their crimes were confirmed, and their guild cards were found to be fake. Some additional crimes were uncovered as well, so they were expelled from the adventurer’s guild. Following a strict examination, they were sentenced to either at least five years of forced labor in the mines, or life as a slave indefinitely.

“It’s possible to make fake guild cards?”

“The guild itself can edit cards to add or remove information, so yes, it’s possible. It requires a particular magic item, though, so this isn’t something the average adventurer could do. In this case, they took the more simple approach of using someone else’s cards. One of them found a card somewhere and used it as it was. The other cut apart his own card and put it back together with the key parts of another card. I’ve seen attempts at this that leave the card badly damaged, but I have to admit that this one looked natural enough that it was hard to tell. He was apparently an apprentice at some workshop, but he was forced out for being a troublemaker.”

“Sounds like you have to be careful about how you manage your cards.”

“Yes, so we’ve learned.”

I thanked him for the information and left the guild. I had nothing left to do here, so I decided to return to Pioro’s store.

■ ■ ■

“Mr. Takebayashi, the president was looking for you,” a worker told me just as I returned. I told him that I could meet with Pioro right away, so I was guided to Pioro’s office, wondering what he needed. I drank the tea Pioro provided as I listened to him.

“Ryoma, can you use that smash boar meat, soy sauce, and miso to cook something?”

Japanese dishes with pork included tonjiru, pork shabu, pork bowls, and pork shogayaki.

“Yes, a few.”

“Could you tell me about them? Grilled fish and miso soup are good, but they get boring after a while. If there are other ways to use soy sauce and miso, maybe they’d sell better. It’s an idea I’ve had since a while back.”

I yearned for the chance to have more accessible Japanese food, so I told him what I knew.

“Then first, there’s a dish that uses pork and ginger — err, smash boar and giger. How does that sound?”

I had pork, soy sauce, and mirin, and I could buy giger at the drugstore. That was everything I needed to make pork shogayaki.

“I hate to ask this of a customer, but could you make that for me? You can use whatever ingredients are available at my store.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’ll be something I’ve never eaten before, so I’m getting my money’s worth.”

Thus, I ended up cooking lunch. But to my surprise, Clana and Miyabi joined me. Some servant must have told them about this, but when I asked why they were there, they laughed.

“Every lady should learn how to cook, that’s what Mom always tells me. I don’t hate cooking anyway, and if the owner of a store that handles food had a daughter who didn’t know how to cook, it’d look bad.”

“I’ve never heard of this dish before, Ryoma. I can’t wait to see your cooking skills.”

They watched me as I began to cook with the tools and ingredients I prepared in advance. First, I washed the rice and placed it over a fire. Boiling rice on a charcoal stove was an experience I never had on Earth. I decided to make tonjiru to eat with the shogayaki too. I used some type of seaweed that resembled kelp and some small fish to make the broth, then added onions, burdock, mushrooms, smash boar meat, and vegetables. When I first came to the city, I learned that this world’s stores sold a surprising number of vegetables with names I recognized from Earth, and they resembled their Earth equivalent. This was no doubt influenced by people from Earth.

While I was making the tonjiru, Miyabi kept an eye on the rice for me. Once the tonjiru was done, I took a bottle out of my Item Box and poured the extra broth inside, then added soy sauce, mirin, and vinegar.

“Ryoma, what’s that?” Clana asked after watching me do it.

“It’s a seasoning made by mixing soy sauce, mirin, soup broth, and vinegar. Of course, the amount of each affects the final flavor, so the way you make it is up to personal taste. I like to add a bit of lemon juice for a more refreshing taste. It’s good on salad, and it goes well with meat and fish.”

Clana stared at the bottle for a bit, then returned to the tonjiru. Once that was fully prepared, it was about time to start making the shogayaki. While strips of meat were frying in a pan, I grated the giger and mixed it with soy sauce and mirin to make the sauce. When the meat began to cook through, there was a sizzling sound and a savory aroma filled the room. Miyabi and Clana stared at the meat, but I still had to stir it with the sauce. With that, the shogayaki was complete.

It was a simple, yet delicious dish. There were many ways to make shogayaki, some of which involved letting the meat soak in the sauce, but I didn’t do that often. On Earth I preferred to cook anything that was quick and easy but still tasted good, but maybe now it would be worth taking my time.

I chopped up some cabbage and these tomatoes that were larger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than regular tomatoes. The rice finished cooking too, so I walked over to it, then saw a man with black hair in the corner of my eye.

“Pioro? When did you get here?” I asked as he showed himself at the entrance to the kitchen. He looked like he felt bad about something.

“Well, you see, it smelled so good that I couldn’t help myself,” he said. The smell of the freshly cooked rice and shogayaki must have made him hungry.

“Dad, mind your manners. If you want to see how it’s coming along, just look.”

As Miyabi chided her father, I arranged plates for the four of us.

“All done.”

“Oh, really? Then let’s get eating.”

We had the servants bring the food to the dining room, then sat at the table.

“There you go. Smash boar cooked with giger.”

“It looks absolutely delicious,” Miyabi said and began to eat. She adeptly picked up a piece with her chopsticks and took a bite. A moment later, her ears stood up straight. “This is great! It’s incredible!”

“Oh, you’re right. I knew it’d be good when it started cooking, but it’s even better than I thought.”

“The meat’s great, but what’s this soup? Tonjiru, right? This is pretty good too. Plenty of vegetables too, so it should be nutritious. If word about these recipes spread, I’ll bet our soy sauce and miso would sell!”

It seemed to be to their liking. I was glad they enjoyed it. Pioro seemed more focused on the profit potential, but he certainly approved of the food as well. I described the recipes as I tasted my own food, and it was to my satisfaction. After we ate, Pioro declared that his deli would sell the smash boar and giger starting tonight. And just as he said, they put up a sign listing it under their recommended dishes that night. They sure worked fast.

■ ■ ■

I had breakfast the next morning, then left for my store. There was a carriage stopped outside the Saionji Company. Riding it was a familiar face.

“Carla!”

“Oh, Boss!”

It turned out to be Carla. She was looking away from me to tell some other people what to do, so she didn’t notice I was there.

“So you made it. Thanks for coming all this way.”

“I’m sorry it took so long, Boss. Where’s the store?”

“It’s over there.”

When I pointed to the store, Carla ordered some unfamiliar people to head there. I assumed they were new hires. I took Carla and Caulkin’s group with me to go meet Pioro, then got to work on opening my store.

■ ■ ■

Four days had passed since then. It took two days to work out the details and figure out everyone’s jobs, then we opened on the third day. There were five new hires. They seemed to have been given some simple training already, so they adapted to their work smoothly. One of them was the chef for this branch store, while the other four were clerks and bodyguards.

The bodyguards were formerly C Rank adventurers. I asked them how they ended up at my store, and they said that they did well enough as adventurers, but they were beginning to see their limits. One monster they encountered killed two of their allies. They had no knowledge of this monster and no choice but to flee, so they only survived because of luck, and because their deceased friends distracted the monster. They knew that they were too injured to make it back to town, so they did everything they could to draw the creature’s attention. The survivors ran to the guild, told them about the monster, and let them deal with it. Luckily there was a party of A Rank adventurers in town, so they dispatched it easily. The friends of the dead adventurers took a look at the monster’s corpse to help themselves grieve, and they learned that it was a B Rank monster. Their party stood no chance against this beast and it killed two of them, but it was only one rank higher than they were, and this other party killed it with ease. When they saw that, they gave up on ever climbing to a higher rank. C Rank requests paid enough money to live on, so they saved up that money as they searched for a job to settle down in. Then they heard about my store, so they went with that.

C Rank adventurers might not have been enough for a B Rank monster, but they would be a capable force against hoodlums. The guildmaster also vouched for them as adequate guards. They also said that they heard I was an adventurer and told me about their experiences, as well as warning me to consider safety first. They were nice, friendly people of the sort who seemed like they could get along with anyone.

A day ago, Ken’s party came to my store when it had just opened and few customers were there. I prayed that they would become regulars here and explained how the store worked, along with introducing the staff, but we ended up talking about the smash boar. Their party’s actions seemed to touch a chord with the new guards, who offered advice and guidance. This was when I heard their story about when they quit being adventurers.

In any case, I was no longer needed in Lenaf, so I left the new store to Carla and decided to return to Gimul. Pioro, Miyabi, and my employees attended me to the city gate.

“Good luck, Ryoma. Now’s the time to fight, keep opening up more stores!”

“Be careful on the way back.”

“Boss, don’t worry about the new store.”

“We’ll learn to run the place as quickly as possible!”

“You can count on us. No more wasting money like we used to. We’ll make this store a success!”

“Boss, take care.”

“Ryoma, don’t do anything too crazy. I don’t know when I’ll see you again, but don’t die before I do.”

“Of course. I can’t die yet.” I still had to find my grandparents’ inheritance, do more research, prove the worth of slimes, and keep my promise to Elia.

Speaking of which, Miyabi was going to start at the academy in the capital this year. Maybe she would meet Elia. Elia did say she had no friends, and Miyabi was going to the academy to meet nobles, so I had an idea.

“Miyabi.”

“What?”

“You’re going to the academy this year, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“In that case, I have a request for you.”

“What? Maybe I’ll do it, maybe not.”

“A girl named Eliaria is going to start attending the academy this year, and I’d like you to befriend her if possible. She’s a nice girl and a noble, so she’ll be a good person to know. Also, tell her that I wished her luck.”

“Well, as long as she’s not one of the weird ones.”

“Thank you. Good luck to you too, Miyabi.”

“I’ll do just fine. Good luck yourself, Ryoma.”

I bowed to all of them, then set off on the road back to Gimul.