Fish-Loving Mermaid vs. Meat-Loving Elf
Fish-Loving Mermaid vs. Meat-Loving Elf
The faint, fishy smell that rose while the Spanish mackerel grilled made Andrea wrinkle her nose in reflexive distaste.
No matter how well Lucas bled and dressed the fish, he couldn't entirely erase that trace of oceanic odor from the air.
And to an elf's sensitive nose, it registered as nothing short of offensive.
Which was why she couldn't help thinking,
'Meat tastes so much better. Why would anyone eat something like this?'
She genuinely couldn't comprehend it.
If it were up to her, she'd take another slice of beef over anything that smelled like this any day.
Lucas had taught her that a slightly off-putting smell didn't necessarily mean a bad taste, but that didn't make the smell itself pleasant.
She thought she'd only muttered it to herself.
"What did you just say?"
"Huh? What do you...?"
"You just insulted the sacrifice and devotion of those fish."
Apparently, the thought had come right out of her mouth.
The blue-haired guest — the one carrying an unmistakably unusual aura — was glaring at her.
"Apologize."
Andrea's brow furrowed.
From the moment this customer walked in, something about her had gotten under Andrea's skin.
The way Lucas was being a little too gracious to her nagged at Andrea, and the way the guest looked down on her ever so subtly was even worse.
Besides, she hadn't said anything wrong, had she?
Meat from the land was far superior to anything hauled out of the sea.
The thrill of a successful hunt, the flavor of the meat — land game won by a landslide. Where was the fun in flicking a fishing rod and reeling something in?
The moment her thoughts hardened into conviction, Andrea's neck went stiff.
"I, I didn't say anything that wasn't true, did I?"
"Excuse me?"
"I said beef tastes a lot better. If I were to explain our staff recommendations, I'd point you to the bulgogi baekban, the beef bulgogi bibimbap, or if you'd spent a little more, you could've had the chadol doenjang-jjigae."
"Take it back. Fish is the complete food. Obviously it's better than that reeking land meat."
The two of them — no, one mermaid and one elf — stared each other down, hostility crackling between them.
Child of the forest, elf. Child of the sea, mermaid.
"Fish, better than meat? Are you by any chance a mermaid who swam out of the ocean?"
"......."
"What. You're an actual mermaid? Why would a mermaid come all the way here to eat human cooking...?"
That was when it happened.
Thwack!
"Andrea, that's enough."
"Ow!"
Lucas stepped in and rapped her lightly on the crown of her head.
"That hurts...!"
"What're you doing to a customer? How many times have I drilled it into your head these past few days? Always show customers a smile and kindness. That crossed the line."
"B-but boss, s-she also said that meat...!"
"Apologize. Now."
Lucas grabbed Andrea's head and pushed it down.
"Nnnngh... it, it hurts...!"
"I'm very sorry. I've clearly mishandled my employee's training. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again. And there will be no charge for today's meal."
At that, Andrea had no choice but to bow her head with him.
"I-I'm sorry."
"It's quite alright. Honestly, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease."
Michelle's mood lifted, knowing Lucas had taken her side.
As expected, this chef was a man who understood taste.
I mean, really, how delicious was fish?
She'd heard the rumors that land meat tasted good, but fish had to be better. How could it not be, when land meat came from creatures that merely walked and ran on dirt, while fish swam the great oceans, freer than anything?
The energy packed into those small bodies was beyond anything mere land meat could match.
"Please enjoy your meal before it gets cold."
"Thank you."
Michelle smiled, dipping her head slightly toward Lucas, then glanced at Andrea, whose head was still being forcibly bowed beside him, and let out a soft snicker.
"Nn-nrgh..."
"Andrea, quiet."
"Yes..."
Ah, satisfying.
Watching Andrea see that and be powerless to do anything about it, Michelle felt the envy she'd first experienced toward the elf begin to fade.
Working here apparently wasn't all upside.
Lucas, it seemed, treated customers far better than he treated his staff.
Which meant, rather than trying to get hired here...
'...it really might be simpler to buy a villa nearby.'
The problem was the Sea King, who harbored an enormous hostility toward humans.
She had to avoid being caught by Abamama.
She was just entertaining the lazy thought that selling a few jewels might smooth things over when Lucas spoke up.
"Is there something wrong with the food?"
"Huh?"
"You haven't started eating yet."
"Oh, I'm sorry. My mind wandered for a moment."
Letting her thoughts drift with food sitting right in front of her. What was she doing?
That elf barging in out of nowhere had thrown everything off.
"I'll dig in."
She looked at the grilled Spanish mackerel and fried squid, still carrying their heat.
The fish, grilled to a golden brown, was topped with a mixture of minced onion, chili, and green onion tossed in a soy-sauce-based seasoning.
"Enjoy."
She pierced the mackerel with chopsticks she'd grown accustomed to by now.
A crisp crackle.
The crisply grilled skin split with a crunch, and the firm mackerel flesh tore cleanly along its grain.
She lifted the white flesh with the seasoned sauce on top.
"Nn."
The saltiness of the soy sauce soaked into the seasoning was the first thing to greet her.
The texture of the mackerel followed.
The exterior, seared in oil, was crisp, but the inside was tender, settling moistly across her tongue.
Crispy and moist at the same time.
To think she could experience the texture she knew from fried food in a grilled dish.
It was a stimulating mouthfeel the Dragon Palace could never produce.
No matter how well you eliminated water inside the Dragon Palace, you were still fundamentally underwater. The cooking methods available there had their limits.
Boiled or steamed dishes, for the most part.
That was why this man's cooking delighted her so much more.
It was a flavor the Dragon Palace could never touch.
The soy-sauce seasoning deepened the savory richness of the grilled fish.
Between the textures of the fish came the crisp, fresh crunch of onion, green onion, and chili.
'It's really delicious.'
Michelle knew exactly how to make this grilled mackerel even better.
She placed a bite-sized piece of the fish on top of a spoonful of white rice.
Getting it all in one mouthful meant she'd have to open her mouth scandalously wide.
'Embarrassing...'
She glanced toward the kitchen to check if anyone was looking, then lifted the spoon, covering her mouth with her other hand.
A wide bite.
'Hot.'
The rice, seasoning, and grilled mackerel, all in one mouthful.
She chewed it thoroughly, then cut a piece of kimchi with her chopsticks and ate that too.
The cold, crisp saltiness of the freshly made kimchi, pickled in-house, layered right in.
Crunch! Crunch!
Delicious. So good. Honestly delicious!
The mackerel was practically flopping on top of the cabbage.
Land meat could never produce a flavor this multifaceted, could it?
"Mmmmm~."
She was completely, utterly full.
'They say elves are stubborn to a fault, and that reputation's spot on.'
After another bite of the grilled mackerel, Michelle clenched both fists and gave a little full-body shiver.
Delicious.
"Hehe."
She couldn't stop smiling.
It was always like this.
Any guilt or second thoughts just melted away while eating good food.
The feeling would grow fainter and fainter, until she barely noticed it anymore.
It was only natural.
She never forgot to be grateful to them, though.
The elf picking a fight out of nowhere had soured her mood before the meal even began, but today's menu more than made up for it.
So simply grilling a fish could produce a taste this exciting.
'I want to take him with me. I genuinely want to bring him back to the Dragon Palace.'
Sure, he'd already turned down a recruitment offer once, but she figured that was because she hadn't yet revealed she was a mermaid princess.
If she told this man she was the princess of the Dragon Palace far below, the future ruler of the seas, how would he react?
Wouldn't he be astonished?
Humans had a certain romantic fantasy about mermaids, after all.
'You could become the personal chef of a mermaid princess. How about it. Isn't that tempting?'
But there was one reason she couldn't quite bring herself to say it.
What if he refused?
What if that meant she could never taste this cooking again?
—Do not trust humans.
Abamama's voice surfaced.
The warning that humans would try to exploit mermaids.
No.
He wasn't that kind of person at all.
She brushed the thoughts aside and picked up a piece of crispy fried squid, arranged neatly atop the oil paper.
The fried squid was excellent, too.
The batter was crisp, the whole squid body chewy.
The flour-battered squid swam through the lemon soy sauce.
Salty and sour, crispy and springy.
The lemon fragrance cut through the oil.
"That was incredible. I'm completely stuffed. Can't eat another bite. Fooo..."
Having flawlessly dispatched her meal, Michelle spotted Andrea in the corner of the restaurant getting chewed out by Lucas.
Watching her stand there completely lost, head drooping low, worked better than any digestive aid.
Heh, serves her right.
***
"Andrea."
"Y-yeah. Boss."
"Didn't I warn you not to fight with customers?"
"You did, but..."
I stared down at her bowed head.
I'd figured something like this was bound to happen at least once.
Elves were a famously stubborn race, weren't they.
And of all the people to pick a fight with, she went after someone who looked for all the world like a young noble lady.
Admittedly, beyond her given name being Michelle, I didn't know her precise origin or background.
I didn't have to ask — the way she carried herself and the jewels she wore made it clear she wasn't some middling-rank noble.
I had seen more than my fill of nobles in the capital.
I'd back myself to identify one faster than just about anyone.
The way she'd mentioned being the princess of a foreign country suggested she was definitely under some kind of cover identity.
'Doesn't seem like someone sent by the imperial princess. And she's not the head of the noble faction, either.'
Given that she showed up roughly every other day, she was probably the young lady of some nearby territory.
'But what kind of person comes alone, without a single guard?'
I couldn't get any solid read on it.
Which was exactly why I'd shut Andrea down immediately.
"Honestly though, beef is better than fish, isn't it?"
"......."
Purely from a cook's perspective, beef was far easier to prepare, which gave it a slight edge in my personal preferences.
But instead of agreeing with her, I stayed silent.
If I took Andrea's side here, I'd be reinforcing bad habits.
"Don't go spouting pointless nonsense."
"Then why are you serving her outside of open hours? When you don't let any other customers in?"
"You want to know why?"
I looked over at Michelle, who was savoring the grilled mackerel and fried squid with more visible delight than anyone else I'd ever seen.
A happy smile on her face, cheeks puffed out, she was chewing the mackerel with evident contentment.
Her shoulders did a little shimmy, and she picked up a piece of fried squid.
She seemed completely unaware she was even doing it.
"Mmmmm~."
"Because she's the only customer in this restaurant who orders the fish dishes."
"That's it?"
"Of course it is."
Having someone who ate my cooking with that much pure, transparent happiness — that was, to any chef, the greatest luck in the world.
"You be more courteous to our regulars than to anyone else. Etch that into your head."
"Got it."
"Oh, and the cost of the fish dishes that customer just ate — I'm docking that from your pay."
"Wha—? Why, wh-why?"
"Why do you think? It went out free because of you. So you take responsibility for it."
"N-no, come on...."
"Don't worry. It's just one extra day of work."
"......."
I patted Andrea on the shoulder as her face crumpled into a tragic mask.
I had to put the fear into her, or the same thing would happen again later.
"Do better from now on. Then I might let it slide."
"Nngh...."
***
"That was wonderful. I'll come again soon."
"Come by anytime. I'll be waiting."
"I'll take those words to heart, always."
Michelle, having cleaned her bowls down to the bare porcelain, gave her usual elegant farewell and stepped out of the restaurant.
No escort in sight, same as always.
'Does that mean she's strong enough not to need one?'
Or was she sneaking out here in secret?
Better not to dwell on it.
Whatever the story, she was a customer at my shop.
'As long as she doesn't cause trouble, that is.'
She was welcome any time.
Not long after Michelle had departed with aristocratic poise, a group of knights came charging down from the castle.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Watching them through the window sometimes triggered flashbacks to my previous life, racing to the cafeteria back in my school days.
"Sir Lucas! We've arrived!"
"We're here!"
"Donkatsu, please!"
"Bulbaek for me!"
Lunchtime had arrived, and with it, the knights worn ragged by hunger.
Time to get to work in earnest, same as any other day.