The Eve of the Storm (2)
When he came back, he found the fox with a fish clamped in her mouth.
Hershey, hair a complete mess, was clutching her head and blinking the sleep from her eyes.
"When did you wake up?"
Luid asked, setting down the mushrooms.
"Just now…"
Hershey, still bleary with sleep, caught sight of the mushrooms in Luid's hand and said, "Are we having mushroom dishes?"
"Something a little different today."
Uwack. Miho spat the fish out right in front of Luid. It was covered in emerald scales, and it looked absolutely disgusting.
"Kyaaah!"
Hershey jumped backward with a belated scream.
"A—a fish!"
She had clearly been startled out of her wits.
Luid turned to Miho. "Can you clean a fish?"
It was worth a shot, he figured.
Miho tilted her head.
"[Why would a fish need cleaning?]"
"……Never mind."
Luid reached out into the air and rummaged through his subspace. Frowning with a thoughtful hmm, he dug around for a long while before pulling something out.
"What's… that?"
"Irina's."
It was a longsword that looked as though it had been carved from ice. Far too big for Luid's frame, it dragged along the ground—until, in an instant, it resized itself to fit his body perfectly, becoming a rather serviceable dagger.
Pop!
Gripping the sword with both hands, Luid drew it and pressed the shrunken scabbard firmly against the ground.
He held the fish in his left hand, laid it across the scabbard as if it were a cutting board, and then—without a single moment of hesitation—brought the blade down on the fish's head.
Crack!
"Hieek…!"
"[Gulp.]"
Hershey recoiled in horror while Miho drooled all over herself.
Luid summoned water spirits, flooding them over the fish to wash it clean, then set about preparing it.
Good thing I worked at that sushi bar.
It was the moment when one of the dozens of odd jobs Luid had held in his past life finally paid off.
Fortunately, fish in this world apparently shared the same anatomy, and he managed to clean it without much trouble.
Hershey marveled. "I heard people in the North hunt often because food is scarce there… I suppose it was true."
"Yeah."
Luid answered absently and began slicing the fish into sashimi—thin enough to top a piece of sushi.
Before he knew it, about ten pieces were done. He arranged them neatly, then immediately moved on to the next task.
He summoned a bead of water and dropped all the mushrooms inside it.
"Fox. Fire."
"[Yes, sir!]"
Miho stretched her jaws wide and spewed out a torrent of flame, which wrapped itself around the water bead. Looks just like a dragon's breath, Luid thought.
"Keep it going until I say stop."
"[Okay~!]"
The water began to boil, and Luid nodded. "That's enough."
The fire cut off with a pop. Miho scampered straight over to Luid's side—clearly angling for praise. He patted the fox's head, and she nuzzled into his hand, yipping happily.
"Now then…"
Time to make the rice.
Luid pulled out one of the well-boiled mushrooms, squeezed the water out of it with a firm grip, and—recalling the sushi masters of his old world—shaped it into a neat little mound.
Hershey, who had been watching blankly with her arms wrapped around her knees, suddenly grew curious and asked, "Luid, what kind of dish is that, exactly?"
"[Hehe, he said it's called sushi.]"
"…Sushi?"
The unfamiliar name made Hershey tilt her head.
"[You've never seen it before?]"
"No, I've never seen anything like it. Could you explain it to me?"
Miho coiled her tails around herself and flopped down.
Luid stared at her, dumbfounded. You don't even know either?
Anyway—the sashimi was made, and the rice was ready. All that remained was the wasabi.
What could I substitute for it…?
He tried recalling the faint, sharp taste of wasabi. That distinct sting in the nose.
A food that stings the nose…
Perhaps thanks to a genius's brain, a brilliant idea came to him at once.
Luid rummaged through his subspace again. The Windsor vault contained everything except the things it didn't.
He pulled out what he wanted.
"What's… that?"
"Sauce."
"Th—that doesn't look like any sauce I've ever seen."
Hershey was flustered.
What Luid had pulled out was a certain plant—a root shaped unmistakably like a human figure, which was its most memorable feature…
"I—isn't that a Mandrake?!"
It was a mandrake.
Luid gazed at it with half-lidded eyes. The plant had a mouth, of all things.
It really does look annoying.
"Kieeeeeeek!"
"Quiet."
Smack!
Luid slapped the mandrake square in the face, knocking it out cold.
Hershey was covering her ears with a thoroughly confused expression. There was a persistent rumor that hearing a mandrake's scream would kill you through a mana rampage, after all.
"That's a lie, Hershey. As you can see, the thing looks so irritating that the rumor apparently spread after someone fainted from sheer shock at the sight of it."
Hershey flushed red and lowered her hands.
"…I knew that already."
She murmured it in a very small voice, but it wasn't remotely convincing.
Luid snapped off the mandrake's leaves with a crisp snip, then tossed the body into the air like tossing out the trash. His subspace swallowed it whole.
"B—but what are you going to do with that? Don't tell me…"
Hershey swallowed dryly.
Luid plucked a leaf off and laid it atop a mound of rice.
Hershey stared at him with dazed eyes. "The leaves aren't… poisonous?"
"That one's a lie, too."
That part was the truth. A mandrake's leaves were extremely potent venom.
As long as it tastes good, who cares.
Luid cast a light detoxification spell to neutralize the poison. At this level, it would only give you a mild stomachache. He planned to cast healing magic after the meal anyway.
"I… didn't know that."
Deeply skeptical, Hershey had no choice but to accept it.
Luid briskly finished assembling the sushi and clapped his hands together once.
"Done."
"Thank you for the food…"
Luid handed Hershey a single piece.
She swallowed dryly and accepted it with the utmost care.
Staaaare—
Her eyes were full of suspicion.
"Fox."
"[Yes, sir!]"
Drool dripped steadily from Miho's snout.
"Wait."
"[Wh… why?]"
Miho looked up at Luid with the most pitiful expression imaginable.
Luid picked up the sushi he'd been longing for.
Used only the finest ingredients, so it has to be good, right?
He felt rather proud of himself.
Recreating sushi in a medieval world? Truly, this was worthy of a Delin Prize.
And surely, after all this effort, it would taste amazing.
Luid raised the sushi to his mouth—and stopped.
"There's no soy sauce."
"Soy… sauce?"
"Hold on a second."
He'd gone to all this trouble; he couldn't stall the whole meal over a little soy sauce.
Luid roughly brainstormed a substitute. Soy sauce is salty. Well then, salt diluted with water should do the trick—or so he reasoned as he pulled out the salt jar.
He sprinkled salt over his sushi, and this time, finally, gulped it down in one bite.
Chomp, chomp.
Luid's brow slowly furrowed.
Yeah, this tastes like garbage.
Hershey smiled awkwardly. In her opinion, there was no way this could possibly be good. She could forgive the rest, but mandrake was a medicinal herb. There was just no way something with that in it…
"Delicious."
"Huh?"
Luid broke into a wide grin. "It's good."
"Is… is it, really?"
"Try some, Hershey. You too, fox."
The instant Luid finished speaking, Miho ferociously swallowed her sushi whole.
"……!"
The fox's eyes went round, and she stopped chewing.
Is it actually that good?
Watching that reaction, Hershey glared down at the piece in her hand.
Luid worked so hard on this. I can't not eat it.
Recalling all of Luid's effort, she squeezed her eyes shut and bit down.
"How is it?"
Luid was watching her with eyes full of curiosity.
Hershey's whole body trembled at the fierce flavor flooding her mouth.
The soft, yielding texture of the mushroom.
Combined with the flesh of a freshly caught Unknown Fish of Delin's Lake, it was pleasantly springy. A gentle sweetness bloomed from the mushroom, and its rich, savory juices filled her entire mouth.
And then there was the mandrake leaf nestled in the middle—
It obliterated every single one of those textures and flavors!
"……!"
Hershey frantically clamped her hands over her nose.
Her nose burned…!
"I thought it was good."
Looking at Hershey's bloodshot eyes, Luid felt a flicker of guilt. He hadn't considered that the taste of wasabi would be utterly alien—and overwhelmingly intense—to the people of this world.
Well, that was because pretty much all the food here was bland as water.
"[It was delicious for me too!]"
The fox perched on Luid's shoulder chirped a happy kyang!
Hershey, still reeling from that lingering burn, glared sidelong at the fox while clutching her nose. Her eyes were watering. "Miho, you ate the fish…!"
The fox flinched, caught out.
The truth was, she'd taken one bite, decided it was absolutely not for her, and gone off to eat the leftover scraps from the fish he'd cleaned.
"You could've just not eaten it if you didn't like it."
The intense flavor. The kind of thing no sane person could stomach two of. But Hershey had forced it down, gulp by gulp—because she'd been afraid of disappointing Luid.
She hurriedly pulled her hands from her nose and blurted, "N—no, it's fine. It was… delicious."
Liar.
Luid narrowed his eyes. He remembered exactly how she'd choked down that sushi like she was swallowing poisoned wine.
"Where are we headed now?"
Hershey changed the subject with a cough. For a while now, Luid had been walking through the Academy grounds muttering about some important business, without ever revealing their destination.
"To find the villain."
"I'm sorry?"
Hands in his pockets, Luid lazily eyed a certain building. The Expert Class women's dormitory.
The villain of the second episode was, of course, Hershey.
True to her villainess designation, she played the role of the final boss—because she was the one guarding the last corridor of the library in the original story.
Ordinarily, having already redeemed her earlier humiliation, Hershey would never have lost to the likes of Justin. But the hero's party—five members in total—ganged up on her all at once.
No matter how much stronger than average Hershey was, there was no defense against a mob.
The episode ended with its highlight: Justin, bathed in protagonist's favor, awakening to his true power.
Naturally, Luid had no intention of letting Hershey be dragged into that farcical little skit.
The person who's really going to raise hell here is, once again, none other than that guy.
Luid strode toward the women's dormitory.
Normally, any man who came within a stone's throw would be doused with a torrent of water magic—but as Luid approached, every girl in sight simply beamed at him with gentle smiles. Not a single one was on guard.
Luid felt vaguely insulted by that, and stopped in front of the door.
"Who are you here to see?"
A maid asked with a kind smile.
"I've come to report a shameless scoundrel who's been sneaking into the women's dormitory."
"I'm— I'm sorry?"
Startled, the maid processed his words, and her eyes sharpened. "Thank you for the report. Do you, by any chance, know the culprit's name?"
The villain of the second episode.
The one who'd take the stones instead of Hershey was—
"Damon Kairos. He should still be inside."
The scoundrel prince himself, Damon.
"This great self has graciously descended to bestow his favor upon you lowly maidens. Is there some manner of problem with that?"
At the familiar voice, Luid looked skyward. Up on the third-floor balcony, Damon was glaring down at them with an imperious scowl.
"Well, well. I was just on my way to hunt you down anyway."
Damon leapt from the balcony, landing with a featherlight touch. Hands slipped back into his pockets, he strode over at a leisurely clip.
…He must have dressed in a rush; his buttons were misaligned, one after another.
And above all—despite being caught red-handed doing something suspicious inside the women's dormitory, his bearing was magnificently unashamed.
Truly, a genius villain.
Luid couldn't help but be impressed.