Chapter 89
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 89
Sunshine Conch, Black Tray Clams, and Club Trumpet Shells.
These three were the signature local specialties of Edlen Village.
"The Club Trumpet Shells need to be purged first," Gio said.
"If you eat them as they are, you’ll end up chewing on grit," Iser replied.
"Exactly. Iser, would you mind helping me?"
"Yes, of course."
Iser skillfully picked up the basket containing the Club Trumpet Shells and began the purging process. It had been so long that he fumbled slightly at first, but his hands quickly found their old rhythm and continued the work.
"We do something similar on Earth, too," Gio commented.
"Ah… is that so?"
"Though there are a few differences."
These particular shellfish would only spit out their grit when purged in the freshwater of Edlen Village. In water from any other region, they would simply wither and die. This was a stark contrast to Earth’s method, where one simply had to adjust the salinity of the water with salt.
Iser nodded, a look of surprise on his face. "So they spit out the grit even if it’s not water from their native region?"
"Right. I suppose if you match the salinity well enough, they just accept it and get on with it."
"Perhaps they have a weaker sense of self than the shellfish of Edlen."
"Let’s not start attributing a sense of self to shellfish we’re about to eat."
The basin filled with Club Trumpet Shells was soon covered with a black cloth.
"Now we just have to leave them alone until the stew is ready," Gio said.
The pride of Edlen Village, the Club Trumpet Shells, were famous for purging quickly. Perhaps because their bodies were more like chunks of meat than complex organs, they didn’t swallow much grit to begin with. One only had to wait thirty minutes at a minimum, or an hour at the absolute longest.
"It would be better to change the water halfway through, but…"
"I will handle that," Iser offered. "Would once every ten minutes be sufficient?"
"Mhm, yes. Thank you."
Once every ten minutes was a bit excessive, but there was no harm in being thorough. Nothing makes me angrier than chewing on sand while I’m trying to eat.
He was Gio, was he not? The self-proclaimed gourmet and big eater. He aimed for flawless cooking that allowed for no interruptions during consumption. If a dish made one feel unpleasant while eating, it didn’t deserve to be called food.
"Now, as for the stew…"
Simply put, a stew was a Western-style soup.
"You basically just throw everything in," Gio began.
"I know the recipe, too…"
"And did you actually cook and eat it yourself?"
"..."
"Just quietly listen to my lesson."
People sometimes asked about the difference between stew and soup. The easiest way to think of it was this: the star of a stew is the solid ingredients, while the star of a soup is the broth itself. In short, a stew was a dish where liquid was added simply to simmer the ingredients.
"Will you follow me?" Gio asked.
"Pardon? Where to…?"
"To the vegetable garden."
And so, Iser beheld Gio’s vegetable garden.
"Ta-da."
"…A vegetable garden?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"No, a vegetable garden…"
"It is a vegetable garden."
"…I see." Iser accepted it.
"You don’t do any farm work normally, do you?" Gio teased.
"What did you say?"
"As expected of the Smiling Tyrant of the Sea Village…"
"Tyrant?"
"I didn’t say anything. Did you hear something?"
"Look at you, learning how to be so frank. How adorable."
He had well and truly accepted it.
"Now, there are cherry tomatoes in there…"
"To my eyes, all I see are pumpkins pretending to be tomatoes."
"Your eyesight must have gotten worse. Don’t let your guard down just because you’re a mermaid; go get some glasses."
"I highly doubt this is an issue of eyesight." Unable to hold back any longer, Iser asked, "Why on earth is this a vegetable garden?"
"It’s small and cozy, so it’s a vegetable garden."
"It only looks relatively small because the crops are so massive, and absolutely none of these crops are cozy."
"Our Elizabeth the 32nd might get hurt if she hears that, so I’d appreciate it if you watched your words."
"Who on earth is Elizabeth the 32nd…?"
Creak, crack—
As if on cue, a tomato leaf as large as a pumpkin leaf curled up with a forceful sound. It looked exactly like a clenched fist, causing Iser’s smile to finally vanish.
"…You plan to eat this?" Realizing the gravity of the situation, he became almost as serious as when he watched his sister’s research.
"This?" Gio gestured around. "The kids just have a lot of personality, but they’re all self-sacrificing and good children."
"I feel like it would grab me by the uvula and refuse to go down into my stomach."
"They aren’t that rebellious. They’re very gentle, I tell you."
"Well…" Iser nodded slowly. "I understand."
"You do?"
"Probably…"
"Then follow me."
"If I must die, I would still prefer the sea."
"Stop talking nonsense."
Gio approached his target, greeting the garden crops he had grown close to. The tomatoes, glowing a vibrant red, looked fully ripe, yet they were still tightly connected to their stems.
"Calling all cherry tomatoes ready to board the basket~"
At Gio’s words, several tomatoes swayed slightly, expressing their consent. When Gio held the basket directly underneath, a tomato the size of a small watermelon landed inside with a heavy thud.
"..."
"Wow, we did it. Quite easy, right?"
"…Yes."
Just like that, Gio harvested a basketful of tomatoes in an instant.
"Personally, out of all stews, I like tomato stew the best. Part of it is because it’s what I always ate in Edlen Village, but it’s also much easier on the stomach than cream stew."
"Ah… that’s true. I remember you liked it because it didn’t give you heartburn even if you ate a lot." Regaining a smile that resembled Giovanni’s, Iser continued, "You also said it was the best food to make in large batches and eat over a long period."
"You remember all of that."
"It is difficult to forget anything about you, Teacher."
"To think I was such an easy person to read. I must improve."
"Please… don’t… How much more do you plan to develop from here…?"
"No one can stop me."
"Please, let us stop you."
"You couldn’t stop me even when I was just an ordinary priest."
"Teacher."
"It’ll be even harder now."
Even so, as their teacher, he refused to be someone who progressed slower than his mermaid disciples. Gio was a bold adult who never set limits on himself.
"I think tomato stew is easy to eat because it’s mostly vegetables. You might not know this, being a strong and youthful young man, Iser…"
"Ah, do you still consider me a young man? It’s been over a thousand years."
"Quiet, you’re messing up the hierarchy. Anyway, once you get older, having an upset stomach is really tough. Especially for someone like me who loves to eat, it’s a cruel trial."
"Though that is at least one trial the Sun God never handed down."
At the mermaid’s retort, Gio furrowed his brow in mock sorrow. "Where did my student Iser go? The one who used to just smile shyly whenever I talked nonsense?"
"…It’s been… quite a while… since he disappeared…"
"Don’t worry, Iser. A person can always regress."
"What exactly are you planning to turn me into?"
"A plump pig?"
"..." Iser let out a soft chuckle. It was a neat, mature smile, even more so than Gio’s. "You really haven’t changed at all. Even the way you act differently inside the house compared to outside."
"…Oh…"
"When you were with people you felt comfortable with, you used to make playful jokes like this all the time. It was very different from your public persona as the Saint of the Sun."
"..."
"When I was young, I didn’t even realize that was a sign of your trust, so I was always flustered. I still remember it vividly."
Who are you? Where did the kid I knew go? Who is this unfamiliar gentleman?
How did he grow up so much?
It was a legendary joke meant to elicit an awkward laugh like before, or a look of disgust like Honey’s. But with Iser suddenly turning so nostalgic, Gio, who had absolutely no intention of getting sentimental, couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward.
"…Well, anyway."
"You’re dodging because you’re at a disadvantage."
"We don’t reminisce about the past right before a meal. That’s how dining tables get awkward." Firmly shutting down the sentimental mood, Gio continued, "Even without meat, tomato stew has an excellent umami flavor, thanks to its main ingredients being tomatoes and onions. It also pairs well with a wide variety of other ingredients."
Tomato stew went well with almost any meat. Adding sliced beef with a splash of wine gave it a mature depth, while adding chicken allowed it to harmonize beautifully with the tomato juices.
"Mutton isn’t bad either."
"Isn’t the scent a bit strong?"
"That’s why I couldn’t eat it often when I lived with you all. You hated strong scents so much…" Not just the siblings, but the entire mermaid race avoided strong scents. A light sprinkle of pepper or a touch of spice was fine, but if the scent became the main feature, they would run away. "Come to think of it, I was rotting back then, so I must have smelled quite strong, too. Yet you managed to tolerate it. I suppose you had no choice since you were drugged?"
"..."
"…Ah… yes, I suppose I was in the wrong this time. I didn’t mean anything by it, so please don’t look at me like that…"
"…Yes…"
"I’m sorry your teacher lives so thoughtlessly."
It took a long time for the ruined atmosphere to barely recover. Gio smiled awkwardly and said, "Mutton on Earth isn’t actually that strong-smelling. Would you like to try it later?"
"…My palate has changed a bit since then, anyway. Even if the scent is strong, it won’t be a problem."
"Ah, it changed?"
"A lot of time has passed, after all… Even humans can eat things as adults that they couldn’t eat as children, right?"
"It seems even mermaids cannot withstand the passage of time," Giovanni spouted nonsense with the characteristically noble face of a priest. "You’re growing old with me."
"Ah…" After a moment of thought, Iser replied, "That doesn’t sound so bad."
"I told you to stop being so sentimental, yet you keep doing it. I don’t like that kind of stuff."
"Ahaha…" Laughing awkwardly, Iser asked, "So, did you plan to put meat in the stew this time? Since you said you were making Edlen Stew, I expected you to put in clams or fish…"
"I’m thinking of making two kinds. I have plenty of venison and sausages left in storage, so I want to use them up. Not a bad idea, right?"
"That sounds good. I might actually feel full for the first time in a long while." Mermaids immediately converted the food they ate into nutrients to maintain their strong, flexible bodies. Even without consuming food orally, they could absorb nutrients through their skin when in the sea, but when they did eat, they tended to digest it very quickly.
"Tomato stew also goes particularly well with bacon or ham, which carry a bit of smoky flavor. It also pairs nicely with hard, dried meats that are difficult to eat raw. And since you can add various vegetables, it’s easy to adjust the seasoning in many ways…" Gio held up a tomato from the basket, letting the sunlight filter through it. "It’s definitely different from the ones on Earth or in Edlen Village."
"…I must ask again, is that really a tomato…? It is vastly different from the ones I know from Edlen or Earth…"
"Since I planted Earth seeds to grow them, they should technically be tomatoes."
The cherry tomatoes Gio had raised—or rather, the esteemed cherry tomatoes who had grown all on their own—were slightly different from Earth’s. They were as large as small watermelons, slightly elongated like plum tomatoes, and strangely translucent, allowing light to pass through. Their taste was somewhere right between savory and sweet.
"I don’t really care for sweet stews," Gio said.
"Me neither."
"But we have to make do with the ingredients we have, so we’ll have to balance it out with other things."
"Ah, like adding more salt?"
"We already have sausages, which are salty and rich in flavor. Let’s utilize those first, and, hmm… what else should we add…" Gio blurted out the thought that suddenly crossed his mind. "It would be fun to make bacon."
"Your homemade bacon is excellent, Teacher," Iser nodded. "To the point where the villagers would crowd around, hoping to get just a single slice."
"That’s me. The genius Priest of the Sun who can do anything."
"And yet, those wicked people who received such grace from you did nothing but commit foolish acts…"
"Calm down and eat a tomato."
Perhaps because he had witnessed the robust ego of the cherry tomato earlier, Iser hesitated for a moment before biting into the flesh.
"Oh…"
"Delicious, right?"
"I have never eaten a tomato this delicious."
"See? I’m even great at farming."
The highly elastic tomato had parts that were springy and jelly-like, yet it retained the distinct, firm crunch of a solid tomato. It had a tangy, refreshing kick like a citrus fruit, which was immediately balanced by a subtle, enveloping sweetness.
"Touching it now, it feels as squishy as a slime."
"Surely it’s not quite a slime…?"
"The texture is interesting."
Though he had been disgusted just moments ago, Iser seemed to quite like the tomato. After all, he had witnessed too many bizarre things over his long life to truly lose his mind over a moving tomato.
"Then what else should we harvest? Honestly, I think using the word 'harvest' in a place you call a 'vegetable garden' is rather strange, but anyway…"
"I’m planning to throw in a bit of everything." Indeed, the true charm of a stew lay in its hodgepodge nature. "Carrots are the safest choice. The mild sweetness and faint bitterness unique to carrots pair wonderfully with tomatoes."
"What about potatoes? I really loved it when you put potatoes in the stew, Teacher. The starch made the broth slightly thick. I still think of it sometimes."
"Then let’s add potatoes too. The starch naturally released from the ingredients isn’t slimy or sticky; it’s just pleasantly sweet and rich, like bone broth. It’s wonderful."
"And when they cook until they’re fluffy, soaking up the tomato broth, they mash so smoothly. Yes, you must include potatoes, Teacher." Holding the tomato basket, Iser wore a faintly excited smile.
"Cabbage seems like a good choice too. Cabbage thoroughly simmered in hot broth is both crunchy and tender, making for a truly wonderful texture."
"It really is. When the warm, sweet cabbage juice floods your mouth, it’s absolutely heavenly in the winter, isn’t it? It’s also quite fun to let it cook until it’s completely soft and melt-in-your-mouth…"
"..."
In the midst of this ordinary, everyday conversation, Iser couldn’t help but recall memories of the past.
"…It feels like we’re at a market."
"I suppose it’s similar."
"I see…"
Because he wondered if he was dreaming.
It felt empty, and terrifying.