I headed toward the cottage kitchen with Anima. It was almost time for dinner, but I didn't want to make anything too elaborate; I planned to take it easy and keep the meal simple.
Thinking back to our previous trip, we’d had fish then, so I wanted to try something different this time. As I scanned the inventory of my Magic Box in my mind, a certain item occurred to me.
"By the way, Anima, have you ever tried soba?"
"Soba? I’ve heard that the variety produced in Rigforresia is famous, but it isn't very common, so I’ve never actually tasted it."
"I thought so... Aside from pasta, noodles aren’t particularly well-known in this world."
Ramen and soba did technically exist here. I’d seen ramen at the Six Kings Festival, and as for soba, Falce-san cultivated it—just as Anima said, it was a major crop in Rigforresia.
According to Kuro's Complete Food Tour Guide, there was a shop that sounded like a soba restaurant in the royal capital of the Kingdom of Sinfonia, but I’d never visited because it was quite a distance away. I hoped to go there eventually.
"Let’s go with soba, then. Try a bite first, and if the flavor isn't to your liking, we’ll eat something else. You don't have to force yourself to like it."
"Understood. But Master... can soba be prepared that quickly?"
"Yeah. Actually, Falce-san gave me plenty of soba flour. I had Alice process it into noodles and store them in the Magic Box, so we just need to boil them."
Falce-san cultivated the grain—or was it the seeds? Regardless, she grew it, and she’d given me a massive amount of flour as a thank-you for my help during the Six Kings Festival.
Since I lacked the skills to make noodles from scratch, I’d asked Alice to prepare them so they were ready to cook. I even had Alice's Memo with instructions on how to boil them properly, so I was set.
"Just soba might be a bit lonely, so I’ll also whip up some stir-fried chicken to go with it. We’ll use this..."
"Hmm? It has a refreshing, citrusy scent... but I can't quite place the fruit."
"This is yuzu kosho. Yuzu is a fruit from my old world, and it pairs perfectly with chicken."
"I see! As expected of you, Master—to think you possess something so rare!"
"A-Ahaha, well, I actually got this from Kaori-san. Anyway, let’s get to work. Anima, could you cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces?"
"Understood! Please leave it to me!!"
While Anima handled the chicken, I set the water to boil and prepared the soba. Knowing I just had to follow Alice’s instructions gave me some peace of mind.
I see, these are fresh noodles...
Even calling it "cooking" felt like a bit of an exaggeration. All I did was boil the soba and stir-fry the chicken in the yuzu kosho, so the meal was ready in no time. Since it was Anima’s first time, I had her take a small sample.
"...I see. The aroma is wonderful, though I'm a little concerned that the flavor is a bit thin."
"Oh, you're supposed to dip them in mentsuyu before you eat. That was just a plain taste test."
"Ah, I understand..."
"If you’re okay with the taste, I’ll just set them on the bamboo sieve... and there, we’re done."
It really would have been perfect if I could have made some tenpura to go with it, but deep-frying them seemed a bit beyond my current skill level. Even though Sieg-san had been teaching me how to cook, she hadn't taught me anything outside her own repertoire, and tenpura wasn't something she usually made.
Alice would probably know how to do it in her sleep, and Kaori-san could undoubtedly make it as well. Maybe I should ask them for a simple recipe sometime soon.
Serious-senpai: "Alright, if it's soba... then there's no room for any lovey-dovey 'aahn' moments."
???: "What about the chicken?"
Serious-senpai: "............"