Stretching out endlessly, the sea... the fish swam as if declaring itself the absolute ruler of these waters.
In truth, the fish's fangs were extremely powerful, making it a genuine natural enemy to the other fish swimming in schools nearby.
Even a fish as large as a human would be nothing more than prey to it.
Believing that nowhere in this sea was there a creature that could match it, the fish... suddenly caught the scent of blood drifting through the water.
For an ordinary fish, detecting the scent of blood dissolved in seawater with such acuity would be virtually impossible.
It was precisely because it was a fish worthy of being called the king of the sea that such a thing was possible.
And so, the fish swam toward the direction from which the scent of blood drifted... searching for what would become its prey.
Devouring several fish it encountered along the way, it eventually arrived at a spot fairly close to the shore.
Even so, it could be said that luck was on its side, as there was still enough depth for the fish to move about with some degree of freedom.
Approaching the place where the scent of blood lingered... in the next moment, the fish's consciousness vanished.
"Got it! Set!"
"Grrrrrul!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry and flapped his wings, grabbing the massive body that had floated to the surface with his forelegs.
It was a fish of considerable size, likely exceeding five meters in length.
With fangs better suited to a carnivorous beast than a fish, it was hard to call it a fish as Rei knew them.
(A shark, maybe? But looking at it like this, it doesn't really resemble one. Then again, I don't know that many types of sharks.)
When it came to sharks Rei knew of, there were the Great White Sharks and Hammerhead Sharks that frequently appeared in movies, and shark Sashimi that was sold ordinonarily at his local supermarket.
If someone told him such sharks actually existed, just ones he didn't know about, it wouldn't be strange for him to accept it.
(Or rather, is this really a shark?)
While Rei harbored such doubts, Set flapped his wings and headed toward their base.
However, this wasn't the base they had set up near the hot springs for their activities here, but rather a spot prepared by the sea for everyone to rest.
Using cloth and poles, they had fashioned it into a makeshift tent.
Since it was a rocky coast rather than a sandy beach, they couldn't lie down and relax... but still, the fact that they could avoid being directly exposed to the still-sufficiently-hot summer sunlight, even in late summer, was a great help to Rei and his companions.
Currently, near that base, Byune was enjoying crab-catching alongside Ielo, a method she had heard about from Rei, while the others were enjoying regular fishing rather than catching crabs.
Bistol, who had come all this way with Rei and the others specifically to catch fish, was fishing quite seriously. In a makeshift fish tank he had fashioned using rocks by the sea, nearly ten fish were already swimming about.
For Rei and Set to return carrying a giant fish exceeding five meters in length to such a place, it was only natural that they would draw surprised reactions.
Rei had already caught fish and brought them back here several times, but there was no doubt that the fish he had just caught was incomparably larger than any he had caught before.
"Wow, amazing... to think you caught such a large fish..."
Even for Marina, the size of the fish Set was carrying seemed quite unexpected, as she showed a rare expression of surprise.
As someone originally born a Dark Elf, Marina lived in forests.
During her adventurer days, she had been to various places... including the sea, and had even seen fish larger than this one. Still, it was only natural to be surprised upon seeing a fish of this size.
Moreover, after retiring from being an adventurer, she had served as the Guild Master in Gilm, meaning she had hardly ever gone to the sea.
In that sense, it wouldn't be strange for Rei, who had been to Emosion directly, to be more knowledgeable about the sea.
...However, unlike Rei who had only been to Emosion, Marina had visited numerous port towns and fishing villages during her adventurer days.
"Those are some remarkably sharp fangs... but it is a fish, right?"
Vihera, who had been fishing, asked Rei while touching the fish with a puzzled expression.
Her words made it seem as though she was questioning whether what she was touching was truly a fish.
Indeed, a fish with a body length of five meters would be quite rare.
If this were a monster, a length of five meters—or even close to ten—wouldn't be all that unusual.
"I took it down in one blow, so it's good that it won't thrash about... but well, looking at it, it's a bit difficult to tell whether it's a fish or a monster. In that case, the only thing to do is check whether it has a Magic Stone."
Even as he said this, Rei did not perceive the fish before him as a monster.
That was because he knew Set had made that judgment.
Just how sharp Set's senses were was something that only Rei, as his partner, truly understood.
If Set judged it to be a fish, then it was undoubtedly a fish.
"Oh my. Are you going to dismantle this big fish? If you don't mind, would you let me help out?"
"No, I'm not going to dismantle it just yet. For now, I'm only checking whether it has a Magic Stone. It'd be more profitable to do the dismantling all at once later. Right now, we need to catch as many fish as possible anyway."
"How disappointing. I wanted a little taste."
As he said this, Bistol's gaze drifted toward the campfire near the tent.
Seeing that, it went without saying what kind of tasting he was expecting.
"If it's fresh fish, it would probably be plenty delicious as Sashimi... but the problem is that I can't fillet a fish."
When he was in Japan, he had cooked fish dishes during home economics class at school.
However, the fish prepared then were already pre-sliced fillets, and Rei had no experience filleting a whole fish.
He had caught river fish, including Ayu, on numerous occasions, but those were basically grilled and eaten as they were, so there was no need to fillet them.
If he had to name something, it would be that he sometimes removed the internal organs.
But even then, he couldn't cleanly slice open the belly and remove the organs, so filleting a fish of this size was virtually impossible for Rei.
Even if he tried to force it, it would likely result in a significant reduction in the edible portions.
"Sashimi? What's that? What kind of dish?"
Perhaps intrigued by the name Sashimi that Rei had mentioned, Bistol directed a curious gaze toward him.
No, it wasn't just Bistol. Byune, who was just as greedy as Rei when it came to the act of eating—if not more—was also looking toward him.
As usual, she was expressionless, but from that small body emanated such an intensity that any Low-Rank Adventurer nearby would instinctively recoil.
To Byune, Rei was an incredible companion who produced dishes she had never seen or heard of before.
And the dishes Rei had come up with—whether it was udon, Nikuman, or Pizza—were all exceptionally delicious.
She had also heard about Seafood Okonomiyaki at some point and was determined to try it someday.
Given all that, when the name of a new dish came from Rei's mouth, letting it slip by was not an option.
"Mm!"
At Byune's words, spoken with uncharacteristic spirit, Rei scratched his cheek as if troubled.
"I can tell you, but I'm not sure whether you all would be able to accept it."
Rei knew that even a dish commonly eaten in one region might be unacceptable in another region or another country.
For example, there was Octopus, which Rei also liked.
In recent years, it had become an ingredient that was eaten even in the West, but previously it had been called a Devilfish and was far from something that should be eaten.
Then there was Whale, which was commonly eaten in Japan, and Dolphin, which, while limited to certain regions, was also eaten normally. Overseas, however, they were not accepted.
Furthermore, even within Japan alone, there were regions that ate insects like Hachinoko and Inago, while others could never bring themselves to eat them.
In that sense, Rei thought that Sashimi—eating raw fish—might also be unacceptable, but...
"Whether it'll be accepted or not, you won't know until you hear about it and actually try it, you know? At the very least, I have no intention of saying anything about it until I've actually tasted it."
Beside Bistol, who said this with a happy smile, Byune also nodded silently.
Elena, Marina, and Vihera, while not to the same extent as those two, also directed expectant gazes toward Rei.
The culinary knowledge Rei possessed was that vast, and since they had never found any of the dishes he had devised to be unpalatable, it was only natural.
Seeing the way Elena and the others looked, Rei resigned himself with a "can't be helped" and opened his mouth.
"Sashimi. If you ignore the finer techniques and such, it's a dish where you cut fish fillets into bite-sized pieces."
"...Huh? That's it? That alone constitutes a dish?"
At Rei's words, Bistol directed a look of disbelief toward him.
"Yeah. However, as I just said, it requires various precise skills. Without a sharply honed knife, the fish's flesh would become a mangled mess, and considerable skill is required when cutting the Sashimi. In that sense, it's a dish where a Cook's skill shows more clearly than anything else."
"I'm a little doubtful whether that can really be called a dish, though."
"That's exactly why I said I didn't know whether you'd be able to accept it, didn't I? At any rate, it's also undeniably a dish that can only be made with fresh fish."
Rei also recalled Carpaccio, another dish that used raw fish, but since he didn't know specifically how to make it, he didn't mention it.
(Marinate in vinegar? No, that feels like it'd become a Sushi Topping. I think it used Onion or something... well, never mind for now.)
He thought about this while recalling the Carpaccio sold at supermarkets, but in the end, no recipe came to mind.
He tried to recall knowledge from cooking manga, but he didn't think Carpaccio had been featured, and so the matter ended there.
"Sashimi... so it's just eating slices of raw fish as they are?"
"No, apparently you eat it using a condiment called Soy Sauce along with a spicy seasoning called Wasabi."
He had tried to say it as if he had eaten it before, then hastily covered it up.
"Soy Sauce? Wasabi? I've never heard of either."
"Soy Sauce is apparently a seasoning made from soybeans. Wasabi grows in rivers with clean water flowing through them. Oh, wait. Apparently it can also grow normally in the soil around here even without water."
When it came to Wasabi, the general impression was that it grew in places with clean water—where clear streams flowed.
However, on a mountain near where Rei had lived, wild Wasabi grew naturally despite there being no rivers or the like nearby.
Wasabi that grew not in water, but buried in soil.
Naturally, that Wasabi was a wild variety that could be eaten normally, and it was often foraged as a mountain vegetable.
However, in Rei's household, rather than grating that Wasabi to eat, they would finely chop both the roots and stems, pour boiling water over them, and then rapidly cool the vessel containing the boiling water and Wasabi in cold water.
The Wasabi soup created this way... calling it that might be slightly inaccurate, but it was something that allowed you to enjoy both the spiciness and the flavor of Wasabi at the same time.
Using it as a condiment, drizzling it over ohitashi—boiled greens—that was the way of using Wasabi most familiar to Rei.
"At any rate, it's unfortunate that we don't have Soy Sauce or Wasabi, but... ah, but if we go to the villages or towns around here, there might be Fish Sauce."
Fish Sauce, which could be made as long as you had salt and fish, had a flavor that didn't suit those unaccustomed to it. But for Rei, who had grown up eating Shottsuru Nabe—a hot pot made with Fish Sauce made from Hatahata, along with Hatahata, tofu, and long green onions—it was undeniably a very familiar taste.
Even if there was no Shottsuru made from Hatahata, there might be Fish Sauce made from other fish.
Thinking such thoughts and looking pleased, Rei drew puzzled expressions from Bistol and the others.
This was because they simply could not believe that eating raw fish could be that delicious.
"Come to think of it, I heard before that there's a custom of eating raw fish in regions to the east."
"Really?"
When Vihera asked Marina this, Marina nodded, confirming that there was no mistaking it.