Chapter intermission 1
"Lulu Onee-sama, I earnestly implore you."
....What should I do, Arisa is acting even stranger than usual.
"Do you want something you'd like to have for the evening meal?"
"Banba~gwu~?"
"Leaving out the whale karage is hard too nodesu."
It was Pochi-chan and Tama-chan coming from behind Arisa who answered my question.
Liza-san would have surely requested yakitori.
Nana-san loves kids' lunch.
Mia-chan would be curry I think?
"Luluu~"
"Ah, I'm sorry, Arisa."
I inadvertently forgot about Arisa as my consciousness wandered about dinner.
"So, what is your request? Don't be something too strange or something that Master dislikes okay?"
"Master won't dislike it mon."
Arisa sulked like a child, turning her face the other way with swelling cheeks.
She rarely sulks like this.
"Please Arisa, won't you talk to Onee-chan?"
"....Okay."
When I matched our eyes and asked her, Arisa sheepishly nodded.
--Ah, it's been a while since I feel like an older sister.
◇
"New year dish? What kind of dish is it?"
Arisa was asking a dish called [New Year Dish].
However, I've never heard something like that.
"It's the dish from Master's hometown."
"Then let's ask the way to make it from Master--"
"No!"
--I thought of asking Master, but Arisa stopped me with both her arms spread open.
"Why can't we?"
"We're always getting surprises from Master, so I want to give him some surprise present sometimes."
"Okay. Leave it to Onee-chan."
"Un, I love you Lulu!"
Arara, it's back to 'Lulu' already.
It's unfortunate, but I won't be able to calm down if she keeps calling me Onee-sama, so it might be alright once in a while.
I rolled my sleeves and then went to the kitchen.
However, the real problem was from here....
◇
"Seaweed roll, fish omelet roll, eel roll..."
"Are they all dish with roll?"
I tilted my head in puzzlement, and then Arisa denied with a strange word, "Nein."
Apparently, she doesn't remember the dish's name.
"U~n, I usually only ate them, so I can't remember the name. You boil carrot, taro, lotus root, and kuwai, there are also sliced kamaboko and ham I think."
Arisa is telling me about it too haphazardly, I can't imagine what kind of dish is it.
I wonder if it's like Nabe where you put many things inside?
"Oops, I mustn't forget, black soy bean and Kurikinton! Sweetened boiled sweet potatoes are also the staple aren't they."
....Even if you tell me that it's the staple.
Were those just now for the dessert after dinner?
"Right, right, prawns! Boiled prawns on boudara sea bream served whole! And then, and then, herring roe! There must be herring roe after all. With katsuboshi on it, you put a biit of soy sauce.... U~n, it's unbearable~"
Arisa is grinning widely like when she's fantasizing about Master.
"It's totally unbearable nodesu."
"Unbear-bear~"
Pochi-chan and Tama-chan who imagined the dish from Arisa's words have their mouths open wide like they'll drool.
"So, do you know how to make them?"
"Abbsolutely not."
"Arisa?"
"....Can't Lulu's transcendental cooking skill do something about it?"
Oh you Arisa. She's way too unreasonable.
"I'm not Master, so it's impossible. Since the eels are sold in the market, I think we can do something about it if you tell what kind of taste the boiled vegetables should be like."
"Really?! Asxpected of Lulu. The favorite pupil of the phantom chef!"
"Even if you praise me. I think we can substitute the prawn with river shrimp or crayfish, but I don't think we can get our hands on the sea bream. We have katsuboshi and soy sauce in stock, but what is herring roe?"
To my question, Arisa crosses her arms and frowns.
"Something that has eggs in it. Something that's yellow, lumpy and delicious!"
I waited for Arisa's explanation to continue, but Arisa just kept crossing her arms and breathing roughly.
"U~n, I don't think I've ever seen them even in the royal capital's and the trade city's marketplaces. If I only know the kind of fish it is, I could ask the marketplace people to get it..."
"Then can't we just ask the fish dealer old man at the marketplace for that?"
"Right. That might be good."
Arisa and I, with Pochi-chan and Tama-chan as the guards, went to the royal capital's marketplace.
Come to think of it, why and what are the rolled ingredients for seaweed roll, fish omelet roll, and eel roll I wonder.
◇
"I could get ya river fish, dried and smoked cods, octopus and river shrimp, but sea fish are impossible. Even if an Item Box-holder merchant runs on the fastest horse, it's absolutely impossible to keep them fresh."
The old man of the best wholesale fish dealer in the royal capital told us so when we asked him.
"Hey~, can't you do something somehow?"
"Like I said it's impossible. A falconkin airmail man can make a round trip to the trade city in one day, but there's no way you're paying 10 gold coins to buy fish right?"
The pocket money I got from Master whenever we return from the labyrinth is quite enough.
However, using it like this feels wasteful.
"Oh right, I've got some sakura salmon if ye' like? I don't know no herring ore, but the eggs of sakura salmon have this popping sensation, I recommend them y'know?"
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