Rei drank the soup set before him.
What spread across his palate was the rich umami of animal extract.
There were no toppings of any kind in it. The fact that it achieved this level of flavor using nothing but soup alone was, even from Rei's perspective, genuinely impressive.
The seasoning was nothing more than salt, yet the umami of the broth paired inexplicably well with such simple seasoning.
Producing a flavor like this undoubtedly required a high level of culinary skill, but... while Rei could tell the technique was elevated, he couldn't determine exactly how advanced it needed to be.
Even so, there was no doubt that the soup itself had a taste that could be called exquisite.
(I remember reading somewhere that when it comes to high-grade meat like A5 rank, it's better to simply grill it with salt and pepper rather than seasoning it excessively... Is this something similar?)
He thought that for a moment, but in the end, Rei voiced his honest impression to Georgima sitting before him.
"It's delicious."
"I see."
Georgima nodded at Rei's words, but his expression held no joy.
It was the look of someone who felt his own abilities were still immature, still craving greater skill.
"Judging by that face, it seems you're still not satisfied."
"Yeah. This soup is made using Orc meat and bones, but beyond the umami, the beastly smell hasn't been completely eliminated, and the flavor is muddled. There's still some bitterness and astringency, too. It'll probably take a while longer before it's finished."
To Rei, it was a soup he found perfectly delicious, but Georgima still had his dissatisfactions with it.
That said, for Georgima to produce this soup by noon the day after Rei had explained ramen to him meant his development speed far surpassed that of an ordinary cook.
"Is that so? I think it's plenty delicious."
"Is this soup correct for the dish called ramen?"
Asked this, Rei was about to answer that it was slightly different, but he instinctively fell silent.
What Rei knew about ramen was, after all, merely knowledge from books.
Since the established story was that he had never actually eaten it himself, there was no way he could say the flavor of the soup before him was wrong.
If he said such a thing, it would surely raise the question of how Rei knew the taste of a dish he had never eaten.
"Ah, well, for now I think this direction for the soup is fine."
"Do you think so? But with just salt against such a rich soup flavor, it feels like it would lose somewhere..."
"...Ah."
Hearing it described as a rich soup, Rei recalled a certain type of soup.
He hesitated for a moment over whether he should mention it, but Georgima would probably arrive at the idea on his own even if Rei said nothing. And if Rei was going to eat ramen, he wanted to eat the most delicious ramen possible.
Making that judgment, he spoke the name of the soup that had come to mind.
"I just remembered—there's a type of soup called Double Soup."
"What kind of soup is it?"
The soup Georgima had served Rei had a decent enough flavor, but it was only decent.
For Georgima, the dissatisfactions still outweighed everything else.
Given that, if there was a possibility it could improve the flavor of his soup, it was only natural he would want to hear about it.
As Georgima asked eagerly, Rei offered his usual disclaimer.
"I'm telling you, just like with the knowledge about ramen, what I know is strictly from what was written in books. Keep that in mind when you listen."
"I understand. Right now, I just want any advice I can get."
"...This soup was made by simmering Orc bones, right?"
"Yeah. Of course, I also used plenty of aromatic vegetables to mask the smell, besides the Orc bones."
"I figured. Personally, I think a smell at this level isn't really a problem. But it bothers you, doesn't it, Georgima?"
Rei possessed senses far sharper than an ordinary person's, but even among them, while his sense of taste was sharp, it wasn't developed to an extreme degree.
No matter how sharp your palate was, it was useless unless properly trained.
In that sense, Rei's taste was absolutely lacking in experience points.
"Right. So, what exactly is Double Soup?"
"Simply put, you just mix a soup made from seafood with this soup made from Orc."
"...I see. I know that such a cooking method exists, but you use it for ramen as well?"
Rei had fully expected Georgima to be surprised by his words, but the fact that Georgima already knew of that cooking method was, if anything, what surprised Rei more.
Of course, Georgima was somewhat surprised as well, but Rei's surprise was the stronger of the two.
However, he quickly reconsidered, reasoning that since Georgima possessed deep knowledge about cooking, it wouldn't be strange for him to know it.
"But the soup also affects the noodles. How are things on that end?"
When Rei asked, Georgima shook his head.
"No good. For starters, as long as I don't know what Kansui is, there's nothing I can do. ...Given it's called Kansui, it's probably some kind of water..."
Even Georgima, who possessed high knowledge and skill in cooking, found Kansui difficult.
Rei had been assuming it was a liquid based on the name, but there was also the possibility it was some other ingredient with that name.
"I'll find it eventually. ...But until then, it would be best to use this soup as an udon soup rather than a ramen soup for the time being."
"That's probably the best choice."
Whether udon paired well with ramen soup was something Rei didn't know.
Or rather, since he didn't even know if this soup could rightfully be called ramen soup, worrying about that was probably premature.
(It's not ramen, but udon, soba, or somen eaten in the broth of Kiritanpo Nabe is delicious. Thinking about it that way, it's fine to just put udon directly into this soup, or to make a Double Soup and then add udon.)
While Rei was thinking along those lines, Georgima beside him was also deep in thought.
What kind of seafood soup could stand up to this cloudy tonkotsu—technically Orc bone—soup without being overpowered?
(To produce a strong flavor, dried foods... clams, perhaps? Or dried octopus or squid... come to think of it, there was dried Kraken. If I used that...)
Georgima quickly recalled the ingredients currently in the kitchen and considered how to produce a strong flavor for the soup.
The idea of Double Soup was, even for Georgima, an unexpected one.
Considering the nature of soup, it wouldn't have been strange for it to have occurred to him.
Once he had a rough plan for the seafood soup, he eventually stood up.
"I've got a general idea. I'll use this soup made from Orc bones and experiment a bit with a fish-based soup. Once that soup is ready, I'll bring it over, so taste it for me then. I want to try various things with the noodles too."
"I understand about the soup and noodles, but what about the toppings?"
"I'm making progress on those as well. The toppings aren't that difficult to make in terms of method... or rather, it seems like they can be almost perfectly reproduced using existing cooking techniques."
Hearing Georgima's words, Rei wondered, Is that so? for a moment.
But when it came to chashu, there were similar dishes and he had eaten tender meat in stews before, so he figured it was probably fine.
As for marinated eggs and smoked eggs, they should also be producible without particular difficulty. ...Smoking something like a boiled egg was unexpected even for Georgima, though.
Rather, gaining the knowledge that something like a boiled egg could be smoked was, in itself, a great harvest from this whole ramen affair.
"However, menma, was it? The one using Bamboo Shoots is a bit of a problem. It doesn't turn out the way you described, Rei."
"Yeah... I don't know how to make it either."
The menma Rei knew of required fermenting Bamboo Shoots, but since he had absolutely no knowledge of that process, he couldn't even begin to imagine how it was made.
"I'll figure it out through trial and error. For starters, I don't even know how long it'll take to make the noodles. Anyway, I'm going to go improve this soup now."
"Ah... and take care of lunch for me, please."
It was already past noon, and the only thing Rei had eaten—no, drunk—was the soup made from Orc bones.
No toppings, nothing at all, truly just soup alone.
For Rei, who normally ate more than other people, a lunch consisting of only soup was far from satisfying.
Of course, the soup itself was a taste that even Rei could be satisfied with.
"Huh? Ah, come to think of it, it's already that time. I'll tell them to bring something when I get back to the kitchen, so wait a bit."
So saying, Georgima left the room.
Seated in his chair, Rei watched Georgima's retreating back with a mildly exasperated expression.
"Well, if the ramen gets finished, that's fine by me."
At this rate, it didn't seem like the ramen would be completed while Rei was in Duke Kerebel's Territory.
No, perhaps an unfinished prototype might be made, but... whether Rei could be satisfied eating that was another matter entirely.
A short while after Georgima left... once he filled his stomach with the lunch a maid brought for him, Rei considered what he should do next.
Naturally, this was Duke Kerebel's Territory, so there were not many people Rei could call acquaintances.
Among them, Elena and Ara, who were closest to him, were busy clearing work that had accumulated while they were away in Gilm, and at the very least, their schedules didn't align with Rei's today.
How should he spend the afternoon?
When Rei thought about this, what came to mind was training with the Knight Order led by Filma.
But right after that, he remembered that he was currently in Anesis... the second-largest city in the Kingdom of Mireana.
(Staying in this mansion keeps things quiet, so I didn't really get that feeling, but... if that's the case, I guess I should look around Anesis after all. There might be dishes I haven't eaten yet, or ingredients, or Magic Items, things like that.)
Once his thoughts reached that point, Rei couldn't just sit around indefinitely.
As if acting on the principle that the best day to do something is the day you think of it, he prepared to go out... and called for a maid.
In the room where Rei was staying, a bell had been provided, and if he rang it, the maid stationed in the adjacent room—who served as Rei's personal maid during his stay at the mansion—would come immediately.
Incidentally, that maid's name was Miranda, and she was the same maid who had been with Rei when he went to check on Set at the stables and when he had his mock battle with Filma.
Particularly since the incident at the stables, Miranda had softened her attitude toward Rei.
That said, it was strictly an attitude befitting her role as a maid; it wasn't as though she personally wanted to get closer to Rei.
"Rei-san, do you have a request?"
"I'd like to look around Anesis a bit. Could you ask whether it would be all right to bring Set along with me?"
At the mention of bringing Set along, Miranda's expression turned slightly envious.
But she quickly spoke as if uncertain.
"Um, if Set-chan is coming along, I think there will be people who get frightened, so it might be a little difficult."
"Figured. This isn't Gilm, after all."
If this were Gilm, going out with Set wouldn't result in anyone being frightened.
Granted, since many people had gathered seeking work for the Expansion Construction, there were naturally those among them who were frightened the first time they saw Set.
"I shall go ask the master, so please wait a moment."
"Got it. I'll get ready to go out here and wait, so go ahead and ask."
When Rei said that, Miranda bowed and left the room.
After seeing her retreating figure off, Rei sat down on the sofa.
He had said he would get ready to go out, but Rei didn't particularly need to prepare anything.
In his current state, wearing the Dragon Robe, he could head out just as he was.
During this snowy season, one would normally need to dress much warmer, but with the Dragon Robe, which functioned as a simplified air conditioner, there was no need to worry about that.
After waiting about ten minutes... Miranda eventually returned.
"I asked the master, and he said it is fine for Set to accompany you. However, he wishes to attach a single knight to prevent the residents from panicking. Would that be acceptable?"
Rei had no particular objection to those words, and he returned a nod.