The day after the mock battle, Rei headed not to the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order training ground as usual, but to the kitchen.
Naturally, he wasn't alone—Miranda, the maid assigned as his attendant, was with him.
He was heading to the kitchen because, as one might expect, Georgima had summoned him. But at the same time, Rei also had things he wanted to ask about the soup from last night's dinner—or more precisely, about the fish sauce.
For Rei, who knew of shottsuru—a fish sauce packed with concentrated umami—this summons from Georgima was actually rather convenient.
(If fish sauce can be made, does that mean it wouldn't be strange for regular soy sauce made from soybeans to exist either? Well, I have no idea how to make regular soy sauce, though.)
The method for making fish sauce that Rei knew of was specifically one using Hatahata, and even that was only half-remembered—a vague recollection of having seen it on some news feature or another.
That was why, despite the similar kanji between fish sauce and soy sauce, Rei knew almost nothing about how soy sauce was made.
What he did remember about soy sauce was also just a hazy memory of seeing it being made from soybeans on some news program or another.
For things remembered from the same TV program, there was a considerable gap between soy sauce and fish sauce—but that likely came down simply to which one Rei personally found tastier.
It wasn't that he thought regular soy sauce was bad. It was just that shottsuru suited his palate that much better.
(Maybe... and this is a real maybe, Georgima might have actually completed the ramen soup. ...The problem is the noodles, though.)
Ultimately, without knowing what kansui—the essential ingredient for ramen noodles—was, they could only make noodles like udon.
Since Rei had absolutely no knowledge on that front, all he could do was leave it to Georgima.
Still, maybe... just maybe, the reason Georgima had called for him was because the kansui issue had been resolved.
With such thoughts in mind, Rei stepped into the kitchen.
"You idiot! Keep the heat lower! If it's too strong, excess heat gets into the ingredients and ruins the mouthfeel when you eat it!"
"Y-yes sirrrrrrr!"
The moment he stepped inside, Rei was slightly startled by the sudden shouting.
That said, this wasn't particularly unusual in the kitchen.
Georgima was an excellent cook, but he was cut from the cloth of an old-school craftsman—the type who believed in learning by watching.
Because of that, shouting at his subordinates—or rather, his disciples—whenever they fell short was, in a sense, a daily occurrence in the kitchen.
That was precisely why the other cooks didn't cower or flinch when they saw someone being yelled at.
Georgima's shouting was frightening. Frightening, but... there was always a definite reason for it.
Understanding that, those who worked alongside Georgima focused on his words while doing their own work, striving to improve their skills even a little.
"Uh..."
As someone who had come to the kitchen because Georgima had summoned him, Rei wasn't sure what to do in this situation.
Georgima was rattling off pointers about heat control to the cook he had just yelled at, and the other cooks were all listening attentively.
Rei felt it would be wrong to interrupt in the middle of all that, but simply standing there in silence listening to the lecture served no purpose either.
Well, it wasn't that it served no purpose, exactly.
Rei typically just stored finished dishes in his Misty Ring, but it wasn't uncommon for him to cook alongside Marina and the others.
Marina was the one who mainly did the cooking, but Rei could help out to some extent.
That was why what Georgima was saying was at least somewhat interesting to him.
...Though, at the end of the day, Rei was an amateur cook who could only manage to help out.
Even if he heard about cooking techniques and tips from a master chef like Georgima, whether he could actually put them to effective use was another matter entirely.
In contrast to Rei, Miranda seemed to find something resonant in Georgima's words, nodding repeatedly in understanding.
Miranda was technically of noble birth, but she was neither from a wealthy noble family nor in a position to inherit the household.
Her standard of living was, if anything, perhaps only slightly better off than a commoner's.
Because she sometimes cooked for herself, Georgima's explanations were quite educational for her.
Also, a major reason Georgima wasn't disliked by Miranda and the other maids was that cooking skill had nothing to do with gender. No—cooking skill was everything, and he never once said or did anything to suggest women shouldn't be in the kitchen.
As evidenced by his shouting, there were some who found his rough, old-school craftsman personality difficult to handle, but they were a minority.
Above all, not many people would go out of their way to despise someone who made delicious food.
Everyone would rather eat delicious food than bad food, after all. ...Though there were limits to everything, of course.
At any rate, Georgima finished giving a detailed explanation about heat control, and after about ten minutes, the lecture came to a pause.
Timing it well, Rei called out to him.
"Georgima, I heard you had business with me?"
At Rei's voice, Georgima finally looked up... and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
He probably hadn't expected Rei to be there.
"You're already here? That was fast. ...You could have spoken up sooner, you know?"
"Nah, I didn't want to interrupt your real work. More importantly, that cook earlier was a face I haven't seen before."
Rei didn't visit the kitchen frequently, but between explaining ramen and various other matters, he had ended up coming here on a fair number of occasions.
Even to Rei's eyes, the cook who had just been scolded by Georgima was a new face.
"Hm? Oh, him. He just started yesterday. We'll be getting more cooks from here on out."
Hearing that, Rei could naturally guess the reason.
"The New Year's party?"
"That's right. Whatever you're doing, more hands are always better."
"Ah... I see. I heard quite a large number of people will be gathering. Extra hands would help."
"That's the idea. ...Though that said, it doesn't help if they send me people whose skills are below a certain standard."
Georgima's gaze as he said this was directed at the man who had just been yelled at about heat control.
Georgima fundamentally taught the old-school way—watch and learn—but that wasn't all he did.
No, ideally that approach would be better, since learning through trial and error built more technique and a deeper toolkit... but there were also those for whom that teaching style simply didn't suit.
For those people, Georgima would teach up to a certain extent—naturally, not everything.
"You're that busy, huh?"
Rei directed his question to Miranda with a glance.
Miranda, who had served Duke Kerebel's House for a fair amount of time, nodded plainly.
"Yes. It is a party hosted by Duke Kerebel's House, which leads the Noble's Faction, so people come from quite far away to attend. In the end, counting the heads of noble families and their families, the number of participants will likely reach several hundred. Though that's not the entirety of it, of course."
There were some whose territories were too distant, making it impossible for them to come to Duke Kerebel's Territory.
Naturally, in such cases they would send some form of letter or the like.
"Several hundred, huh. And every single one of them connected to the nobility. ...Honestly, that's not a party I'd want to attend."
Rei fully understood that among the nobility, there were those he could get along with and those he could respect.
But just as equally... no, even more so, he understood that there were many whose personalities simply clashed with his.
What would happen if someone like Rei attended a party with hundreds of nobles?
It didn't bear thinking about.
"Being treated as a guest is rough too. I'd love to say I just need to cook... but there are guys who call for me from time to time."
Georgima let out a sigh, looking thoroughly annoyed.
Watching him, Rei momentarily recalled a manga scene from his time in Japan: "Call the chef!"
It was a scene commonly seen in restaurants when someone had eaten a delicious meal—at least in fiction, not reality—but Rei had never actually seen anyone do it in person.
Then again, Rei had lived in the Tohoku countryside, so it might have been a common sight in the city.
"But don't they usually do that to say the food was delicious? In that case..."
Georgima shook his head before Rei could finish.
"Most of the time, it's an invitation to leave this household and work under them instead. ...I'd consider it if they offered better conditions than here, but so far no such house exists."
"Fair enough."
Rei knew what kind of treatment Georgima received under Liberte's employ.
He could obtain whatever ingredients he wanted and cook them however he pleased.
There were limits, of course, but considering Duke Kerebel's wealth, there couldn't be many who could rival that.
"So? Getting to the real matter at hand, did you call me here about that seasoning you obtained through those connections? The one in yesterday's soup."
"...What, you knew?"
At the word "seasoning" from Rei's mouth, Georgima looked slightly displeased.
"The soup at dinner yesterday was clearly different in a lot of ways. Still, getting your hands on something as rare as fish sauce is impressive."
"Fish sauce? Oh, right. That's what it was called, now that you mention it."
"Hey, don't tell me you procured a seasoning without even knowing its name?"
Rei shot him a look of disbelief—you used a seasoning like that?—but Georgima just smiled.
"I know what you're worried about, but relax. It's not some suspicious seasoning. I properly taste-tested it and had it investigated. That seasoning goes by different names depending on the region."
"Huh? Is that even possible?"
"Yeah. Even houses just a few doors down might call it by a different name... but I see. Fish sauce, huh. That's a good name too. Alright, from now on we'll call this seasoning fish sauce."
What exactly Georgima found so appealing about the words "fish sauce" that had come out of Rei's mouth was a mystery, but he announced it with a beaming smile.
Seeing Georgima's reaction, Rei thought for a moment that he should have called it shottsuru instead, but it was already too late.
By Georgima's decree, the name "fish sauce" would undoubtedly spread throughout the kitchen from here on.
"Ah, whatever. Do as you like. So, did you call me here to show off your fish sauce? Or did you think it'd be good for ramen soup? Seems like it'd go well with udon too."
In fact, back in Japan, Rei sometimes used the leftover broth from Shottsuru Nabe to eat udon.
What Georgima was making was ramen, but since that wasn't possible yet, using it as udon broth would undoubtedly make delicious udon.
But Georgima immediately shook his head at Rei's words.
"I ordered the fish sauce to make ramen. Given that, I don't intend to use it for anything other than ramen."
"...It looks like you used it in yesterday's soup, though?"
Despite saying he had no intention of using it for anything besides ramen, he had clearly used it in the soup—as Rei, who had tasted it, knew best.
"That was a soup I made to test what kind of seasoning this fish sauce is and to understand its quirks. I got a general sense from that soup, so from here on I can't say I'll never use it in regular cooking... but it'll probably be used far less."
Normally, one might question whether a soup made just to check a seasoning's characteristics should be served to one's employer, but the soup Rei had drunk last night was genuinely delicious, and Liberte and the others had seemed thoroughly satisfied.
That a test soup could still impress the palates of nobles accustomed to fine cuisine was proof enough of just how formidable Georgima's skills were.
At any rate, after that, Rei and Georgima discussed various things about ramen, while Miranda prepared tea for the two of them.