"Set-chan! Take care!"
Her entire face clouded with sadness, Mirene waved broadly at the departing carriage—or more precisely, at Set's back as it walked alongside it.
It was only the day after Rei and his group had arrived in Asura, yet they were already on their way.
Mirene would have loved to dote on Set a little longer, but she couldn't let her own desires alter the schedule of Rei's party, who were pressed for time.
If she tried something like that, Surnin would undoubtedly scold her. More importantly, the possibility that Set himself might come to dislike her was enough to stay her hand.
In truth, even if she had tried to delay their departure, there was probably nothing she could have done about it anyway.
"Umm... hey, is she going to be okay?"
Watching Mirene from a short distance away, Ryutas muttered with a look of confusion, despite wearing his usual smile.
As far as Ryutas knew, Mirene was a highly skilled adventurer.
His own guards had declared outright that she was a formidable fighter and that they stood no chance against her in a proper match.
But seeing her now, grieving over a parting with Set, it was an undeniable fact that she didn't look the least bit like a formidable warrior.
"It's fine. As long as Set isn't involved, Mirene is a capable adventurer. I guarantee she's one of the skilled young adventurers in Gilm, and there are no issues with her personality. Though having seen her like this, I can understand why you'd feel uneasy."
"That's right. Normally she's reliable as a capable adventurer... but only normally," Ekril added in response to Surnin's words.
Seeing the two of them act this way, Ryutas wondered whether Mirene could truly be relied upon. But a few minutes later, that assumption would be overturned.
"Nnh... this fruit is really sour."
Rei muttered almost involuntarily after popping a fruit the size of a fingertip into his mouth.
In appearance, it closely resembled a grape, but rather than the grape-like colors of bluish-purple or green, it was red—perfectly befitting his alias, Crimson.
He had bought the fruit in Asura, but its tartness far outweighed its sweetness, bringing to mind the taste of a lemon.
"You bought it to stay awake, didn't you? Then it wouldn't be strange to prioritize the wakefulness effect over taste, would it?" Vihera said with amusement. Since they were inside a carriage, she had taken off her hood and was watching Rei grimace at the sourness.
Seeing such an expression on him was apparently a rare sight for the others as well. Even Gimekara was observing Rei with evident interest.
"Alana fruit. It's used in cooking and fruit wine, so people don't normally eat it raw like that..." Marina demonstrated her knowledge of plants, typical of a Dark Elf.
In fact, fruit wine steeped with Alana fruit was a strong seller at taverns, prized for being delicious despite its low price. Rei, who could drink if pressed but was far from someone who found alcohol enjoyable, had known nothing of the sort.
"Hmm. Well, setting wine aside, it seems like it could be quite useful for cooking."
Once the sourness on his tongue finally faded, Rei stored the remaining Alana fruit into his Misty Ring.
All in all, the previous night had been spent with a large group engaged in a long session of information exchange, negotiation, and heated debate over opinions.
Naturally, this meant going to bed late. Furthermore, Rei had the task of storing various supplies prepared during the night into his Misty Ring, which meant he had to wake up earlier than everyone else.
Rei was never a morning person to begin with.
In the middle of a request, he could somehow push through it. But this time, having slept in a bed at a high-class inn, and above all, with Elena and the others nearby, defeating his drowsiness had proven difficult.
As a result, the Alana fruit was what he had purchased at an open shop before leaving Asura, to help fight off the sleepiness.
"That's right. When you want to tighten up a dish's flavor with some tartness, you can use Alana fruit juice. Or you can mince it and add it directly," Marina explained.
Byune turned her gaze toward Marina at those words. As someone who loved eating, she couldn't help but be drawn in when the conversation turned to food.
For a while after that, Rei and the group continued their discussion about cooking.
They heard about dishes that could be considered local specialties of Reblurina from Gimekara. Elena talked about delicious food she had eaten at parties. Marina spoke of dishes from her time as an adventurer before becoming the Guild Master. Vihera shared stories of Bestia Empire cuisine, and so on.
And when the topic turned to cooking, it was only natural that attention would focus on Rei.
After all, he was the person who had devised various dishes that had never existed before, such as udon and Nikuman.
Gimekara, who had been gathering information about Rei's group, apparently hadn't known that Rei was knowledgeable about cooking. He was directing a gaze at Rei that was perhaps a bit too eager to be called merely "interested."
A new dish that never existed before must have looked like a major business opportunity for the Zorgeh Merchant Guild.
That assessment wasn't wrong. In Gilm, many people had earned significant profit from the dishes Rei conceived, starting with udon.
However, those whom Rei had taught the recipes did not hoard them for themselves. They shared the information widely.
The explosive spread of various dishes like udon in Gilm was naturally due to these circumstances as well.
If only the Full Belly Diner, which Rei had taught udon to, had monopolized the method, the diner would have profited, but udon as a dish would never have spread this far.
"Rei-san, if you wouldn't mind, could you teach a dish to the Zorgeh Merchant Guild as well? Since we'll be operating in Gilm, it would be helpful to have something that stands out."
"...Even if you say that."
Rei had taught cooking to several people before, starting with udon, but it wasn't as though he was particularly well-versed in the culinary arts. In fact, he didn't even remember the complete methods for making dishes like udon or Nikuman that he had taught.
He explained a rough image and whatever preparation methods he remembered, and it was the cooks who had actually refined them into proper dishes.
When it came to dishes Rei wanted to try eating and whose methods he roughly remembered, the number was extremely limited.
(Pasta? No, I don't even know how to make pasta in the first place. Since it uses flour and such, it's probably similar to udon. Oh, they use a specific type of flour to make something that can be called pasta... or something like that?)
In Italy, the home of pasta, even the ingredients were defined by law.
Rei recalled that a cooking manga he had read once touched on that topic, but since he didn't know what the actual ingredients were, there was no way he could make pasta.
If he discussed it, what he could produce would almost certainly be udon... or something similar to udon.
(In that case, soba? With soba, I at least kind of know how to make it.)
Living in Japan, there were many opportunities to see soba being made on TV and in manga. If asked which was more widespread, udon or soba, the answer would undoubtedly be soba.
However, soba also had several fatal flaws.
(I've never seen soba flowers or seeds before.)
When Rei was in Japan, there had been a farmer who cultivated soba. That was why he was confident that if soba were growing wild somewhere, he would recognize it.
But since soba itself wasn't growing anywhere to be found, eating it was impossible.
(Soba itself is made by grinding the seeds into flour, and if you have hot water, you can make it... no wait, didn't it require technique to form them into proper noodles?)
Rei recalled the time in middle school when he had made New Year's soba using buckwheat flour his father had received.
It had vaguely taken the shape of noodles, but they fell apart the moment he picked them up with chopsticks. Calling that soba would have been a stretch by any measure.
From that memory, he figured that even if soba were growing wild, eating it as noodles might be difficult.
Of course, Rei's father was an amateur. If it were a cook in Elgin—or rather, the people making udon in Gilm—they might have been able to properly make soba noodles.
"Rei-san? What's wrong?"
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about whether there's a dish I could teach you."
"Oh! And? How is it? Did you think of something?"
"You might not know this, Gimekara, but almost all the dishes I know are ones I remembered from a book I had while training under my master."
Recalling a backstory he hadn't touched in a very long time, Rei continued.
"That's why I'm not that knowledgeable about cooking. Besides, even if I know of a dish, there are cases where I hardly know how to make it."
Among the dishes he knew of, he was actually familiar with quite a few just from reading cooking manga. But knowing the name of a dish and being able to make it were two entirely different things. The answer to the latter was no.
Which meant he would need to teach a dish whose method he actually knew, and those were truly few in number.
(With no rice and no soy sauce, kiritanpo nabe and damako nabe are out... if we were near the sea, I could use fish like hatahata for shottsuru nabe... no, I don't even know if hatahata exist here.)
He agonized over it while talking with Gimekara, but as expected, no dish came to mind immediately.
Thinking of the sea reminded him of the time he had taught seafood okonomiyaki, but that wouldn't be so easy to pull off either.
"Hmm, I see... Then, if you think of something, could you let me know?"
"If the opportunity arises."
Rei answered evasively for the time being, figuring that if he carelessly promised to teach something here, it could lead to complications later.
Gimekara probably understood that as well; he nodded without any particular dissatisfaction.
"Rei-san, I can see the checkpoint up ahead!"
Right at that moment, the coachman's voice rang out.
The fact that they had already arrived at the checkpoint despite leaving Asura only that morning was a testament to how fast travel by carriage could be. If everyone had been traveling on foot as they did when departing from Mejougo, it would have likely taken several days to reach it.
(There's no checkpoint between us and the hostile Bestia Empire, yet there's one at the border with the vassal state of Reblurina. ...Well, between us and the Bestia Empire there's the Seremuse Plain, which serves as a natural border.)
The Seremuse Plain, where the Undead roamed at night—and sometimes even during the day—was truly a place that deserved to be called a natural border. If there were a similar place between them and Reblurina, there might not have been any checkpoints at all.
"Understood. We should have been given prior notification, so I don't think we'll be inspected. If they say anything on their end, don't hesitate to send them over to me."
"Yes, I'll do that."
The coachman nodded at Rei's words and gradually began to slow the carriage.
Since Rei's carriage was leading the way, the other carriages naturally slowed as well.
The soldiers at the checkpoint could do nothing but stare in dumbfounded astonishment.
Naturally. They had never expected to witness such a large convoy of carriages traveling together in the middle of the countryside.
On top of that, among the carriages there were canvas carriages, box carriages, and even cargo carriages—all different types, as far as the eye could see. If there had been no prior communication, it wouldn't have been strange for them to assume Reblurina was launching an invasion.
"Hey! The one riding in that carriage is Crimson Rei! There are other important figures aboard too, so don't do anything stupid! Just as we heard from the envoy delegation, let them pass without any inspection!"
"Y-yeah, I got it!"
The one who had immediately shouted at the soldiers to prevent them from doing anything foolish was the man in charge of the checkpoint.
Being posted in such a rural area, he was not what one would call a highly capable individual. But at the same time, being entrusted with a border checkpoint, however small, meant he was not incompetent either. In terms of being able to carry out the orders he was given, he was a man without issues.
Thanks to that, Rei and his group passed through the checkpoint without any trouble... and successfully entered the Kingdom of Mireana.