The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter SS1

BONUS * Beauty!

“Will you be all right on your own?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I’m done, okay?”

Druid’s eyes were so filled with worry that I just had to laugh. He wouldn’t even be away for an entire day. It was more like three hours, at most.

“Be sure to pay really close attention to what they’re saying, okay?”

“I will. Well, I guess I’ll be off then.”

“Have a nice time.”

I waved goodbye to Druid as he walked out of our room at the inn and headed to the adventurer guild. I wanted to walk him to the inn’s front door, but he told me it was too cold for that. Silly Druid, I’m not that frail.

“He said it was bitterly cold… I wonder just how cold it really is?”

Last night at dinner, the head staff at Ayapo had asked all the inn guests to study up on how to survive a cold winter. Apparently, many other adventurers had seen corpse blooms, the other name for the snow blooms Druid and I found in the forest. Since past records indicated that many sightings of these blooms meant a harsh winter, the villagers were quite anxious.

“Puuu?” Sora asked, jumping onto my lap and looking up at me as I stared out the window.

“A lot of people froze to death in the past, Sora. Isn’t that scary?”

According to Salifa, Hatow had used those past experiences to better strategize how to survive in the winter, so the deaths were not in vain. But since they could no longer collect magic stones—a situation they had not accounted for—they needed to amend their strategy. All of the winters I’d lived through so far were relatively warm, so I honestly had no idea what we should do.

“I’m so glad I have Druid with me now. I might not have made it through this winter if I’d been on my own.” And I hoped that the magic stones Flame regenerated would help save lives in Hatow—the more the better. “Well, we’d better take care of the things we can until Druid comes back.” I took Sora off my lap and stretched my back. “What should we do?”

“Pu! Puuu.”

“Te! Ryuuu.”

Mrrrow.

I looked toward their voices to see Ciel and Flame both looking on the tired side. Sora was yawning.

“It’s okay, you can sleep if you want. You’ve been playing ­awfully hard all morning.”

This morning’s game had been tag. In their version, they jumped all over the room and body-slammed each other. It was a rather intense workout. However, you might say Druid and I exhibited a different level of intensity by sitting in the middle of the room and quietly sipping our tea while all of this was going on. It’s scary how one can adapt so easily.

“I think I’ll cook supper. I told Salifa we didn’t need any tonight anyway.”

Druid will probably be drained from the meeting, so I’ll have something ready for him when he gets back…unless he comes back too early for supper.

“I think I’ll braise a big roast since we haven’t had that in a while. Slow-cooked meat is so yummy. I love how it gets all tender.”

And meat was Druid’s favorite thing to eat. Oh, I know. I’ll make it sweet and spicy. I noticed Druid seemed especially happy the last time I seasoned the meat that way. Okay, let’s cook a pot roast!

“Sora, Ciel, Flame, I’m just gonna go cook sup…annnd they’re asleep.”

I watched them sleep in a cuddle-pile on my bed. It must have been a deep sleep since none of them budged when I got closer to them. They should be okay if I leave them for a while.

“I’m just gonna go cook supper, okay?” I whispered to them as I grabbed my bag of cooking supplies and left our room. I carefully locked the door behind me and headed for the kitchen on the second floor.

“Nobody’s here today…”

Some people used the kitchen in the morning and at lunchtime, but apparently not for supper because I never saw anyone in there after noon. Then again, I kind of liked it that way. I had the kitchen all to myself.

“Okay, I need to fill a pot with water…”

I think I’ll sear the outside of the roast before I add the braising liquid. Okay, frying pan, frying pan…

“Bigger roasts are always better, huh?”

I admired the chunk of meat I’d just cut on the board, then I checked the time. There were five hours max until dinnertime. I might not have enough time to braise the meat. Should I cut it up? It tastes much better when it’s one big chunk, though. Oh well, we can always have it tomorrow for supper if it doesn’t cook in time. Then it’ll be even more tender. Agh, but what about my original plans… Well, there’s such a thing as playing it by ear, right? Let’s just do that and hope for the best.

I cut the veggies while I seared the meat. I could keep them big since they’d be braising for several hours. Then I’d put in the seared meat. As for medicinal herbs, I’d choose ones that took the gaminess out of the meat and made it tender. Making it spicy would be the final task, so I didn’t have to deal with that yet. Okay…now I just need to braise it for several hours.

“Darn…this dish is mostly hands-off, isn’t it?”

Also, I didn’t even think about what I’d do if it wasn’t ready on time for supper. Hmm…oh, I know. I think I’ll marinate some meat. If the pot roast is ready to eat tonight, I can always cook it tomorrow for supper. I’ll also make a salad.

“Aha, there you are.”

“Huh?” I turned in the direction of the voice. It was Salifa, waving and walking over to me. She was carrying a basket of bread and…a pot?

“Oh, dear, are you already cooking your supper for tonight?”

“Um, yes. Is there a problem with that, ma’am?” I remember asking for bread, but what’s with the pot?

“Well, you see, this is Hatow’s famous soup…but I made too much.”

She made too much? But it shouldn’t be a problem to serve the guests the same thing two days in a row.

“I figured serving the same supper four days straight was really overdoing it.”

Four days?

“Just how much did you make, ma’am?”

“Hee hee, well, I was going to change up the seasonings, but before I knew it, I’d made four pots of the same soup.”

“Wow…”

“It won’t do, right?”

Salifa’s special soup was delicious, so that was no problem. It wouldn’t go with my pot roast, though. Okay. I’ll serve that for supper tomorrow instead! Tonight, we’ll have Salifa’s special soup…and the marinated meat? No, that doesn’t feel right. Oh, I know, I’ll braise it in wine. And I’ll make a refreshing sauce to go with it.

“I’d be happy to take that soup off your hands. It’ll be just the thing, because I’m cooking a pot roast and that needs a very long braise anyway.”

“You mean it? I’m not imposing?”

“Not a bit, ma’am.”

“Oh, good. Well, thanks. You really saved my hide.”

Salifa gave me the pot of special soup. Then I took the bread basket and peeked inside. It looked so good, but I’d have to be patient and save it to eat when Druid came back.

“Oh, there was something I wanted to ask you, ma’am. Do you have a minute?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“The soup they sell at the outdoor stalls…is there any demand for it?”

She said that the sickeningly sweet soup sold at the stalls was made because of the sweet sauces that were available. If it wasn’t selling well, there would be a drop in supply, but the fact that the stalls were still doing so much business implied that there was a demand for it.

“Despite the way it tastes, yes.”

So people did want it. I wonder if the villagers of Hatow just really love sweet things?

“The sauce they put in that soup uses a fruit that’s supposed to be really good for your complexion, so it’s also called Beauty Soup.”

Beauty?! I must have looked shocked because Salifa chuckled at me.

“You know how your skin gets dry in the winter? That’s why you’ll see more of those soup stalls in the wintertime.”

I guess that means there’s quite a high demand for it. “Well, if it’s Beauty Soup, I guess even with that flavor…” 

“It wasn’t that sweet at first. But every soup vendor wanted to make their soup increase people’s beauty more than the others, so they added more and more fruit to the sauce. Then word spread quickly that the soup was really sweet but did wonders for your skin. That’s probably why even more stalls have started adding extra fruit.”

“Oh, then that’s how it all happened.” So that sweetness was actually good for your skin.

“In the springtime, lady adventurers flock here from all over to eat that soup.”

Wow, I had no idea that soup was that powerful. I always wondered why so many stalls sold it when it tasted so bad. But if it’s good for your skin, I can kind of see why now. I still can’t stomach it, though. Wait a minute, will I come back to Hatow someday in the future just to eat that soup? I can’t even picture that version of myself right now…

“But it really is too sweet, ya know? The chefs at the stalls have been trying to balance out that sweetness for a while now.”

Well, I hope they figure out how to do that by the time I need it.

“Oh, I’d better get back to work! Sorry for the sudden visit today.”

“Not a problem, ma’am. Thank you for supper.”

After Salifa left for the first floor to go back to work, I heated up the special soup. I wanted to warm it slowly.

“That reminds me, Druid did complain about his skin feeling dry.”

Maybe I should explain the sweet soup to him and suggest that he eat some…? I hope he won’t put up a fight.

“Mr. Druid?” I studied him as he tried Salifa’s special soup. He looked a bit tired, but he was probably up for a little talk.

“What’s up?”

“You know that soup they sell at the outdoor stalls? Well, it’s apparently a cosmetic soup that’s good for dry skin. And since you said you’ve got dry skin, I was thinking…”

“No! Absolutely not!”

Wow, he shot me down a lot harder than I expected. I guess we’ll just have to wait until the soup chefs find a way to balance out that sweetness.