Chapter 90
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 90
By the time they had finished harvesting everything, the sun was high in the sky.
"..."
"Alright, let’s go wash them," Gio said.
"Um, Teacher, this is a bit..." Iser started.
"We don’t have time."
Gio and Iser headed to the stream, each carrying a heavy load of crops.
"It’s convenient having a stream right in front of the house, isn’t it?" Gio remarked.
"Ah, it’s... freshwater, right?"
"There’s no way you’d find saltwater in the middle of a forest like this."
"That’s true, but I feel like common sense rarely applies here," Iser muttered.
"This is perfectly within the realm of common sense."
They knelt by the water and began washing the dirt off the vegetables. There was a basket brimming with tomatoes, which would serve as the main ingredient, along with six firm onions, six potatoes, six sweet potatoes, a head of cabbage, ten pea pods, a small pumpkin, and three carrots.
"..."
"..."
Since every single vegetable was quite large, they formed a small hill when piled together.
"...Did we go a bit overboard?" Gio asked, breaking the silence.
"I was trying to tell you this was a bit much," Iser sighed.
"You enjoyed it too, though."
"Well... that is true."
Lost in nostalgia, it had taken Iser a while to realize that things were getting out of hand. By the time he snapped out of it, the hill of produce was already nearing completion. It was far too late for regrets.
Iser laughed awkwardly. "At this rate, we’ll get three large pots out of this."
"You must be joking. No matter how much there is, it’ll only be one pot."
"..."
"...Though, it might multiply a bit while we’re making it..." Gio added sheepishly.
He had a habit of cooking by intuition, throwing things in as he saw fit rather than measuring precise amounts. As a result, the volume often ballooned to ridiculous proportions during the cooking process. Aria used to watch him and say, "The stew is multiplying."
"...Hmm..."
Gio, however, remained unbothered. "Once it’s made, we can eat it over several days or share it with the neighbors."
"I’m not sure, but where exactly is a neighbor’s house around here? Beyond this forest?"
"Iser, your 'Deep Sea Temple' could be considered my neighbor’s house."
"Your definition of a neighbor is incredibly broad. I admire your inclusivity."
"You might not see them now, but if you go stand in front of the frames, neighbors pop up from time to time."
"Ah, I see..."
Nodding, Iser suddenly froze. "...Have you been sharing it with humans?"
"Does that bother you?"
"I certainly can’t say it doesn’t, but... with those weak humans who would melt if you put them in seawater?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
"Well..." Iser hesitated before speaking. "...I feel like such a gift is far too good for humans."
"Do humans not even deserve to share my cooking?"
"It might sound strange when you put it that way, but isn’t that the case?"
"Iser, didn’t your teacher tell you that people shouldn’t discriminate when it comes to food?"
"...Of course, you are right, but..." Iser trailed off, pursing his lips.
There’s no way food made by a god would be a normal gift to humans.
Iser still didn’t know exactly what kind of existence Gio was. He only knew that Gio was the so-called second Sun God, having inherited the divinity of the first, and that even putting that aside, he was a being of an unimaginably high status whose very foundation seemed to be 'portraits.'
Can a being like that cook and produce just ordinary food?
Usually, people referred to such things as holy relics. Furthermore, if it wasn’t just a normal object to be admired or touched, but consumable food... humans would call it a divine selection. It was the kind of thing that created Saints and Saintesses.
"..."
"Iser?"
"...Well, since it takes the form of tomato stew, it’s a bit awkward to say anything."
"A stew is a stew. What else would it be?"
"No, you’re right. It is food, after all. Everything you say is correct, Teacher."
Even back when he was human, Giovanni had often done things that defied common sense and limits. At this point, it wouldn’t be all that strange for him to go around distributing tomato stew that was practically a holy relic to the people of Earth.
"But I’m still jealous. It twists my stomach to think of humans receiving such kindness from you, Teacher."
"Is there any need to get your stomach twisted over sharing a bit of food?" Giovanni shrugged. "We did this all the time when we lived in Edlen Village, didn’t we?"
"Those wicked scoundrels who ate your delicious food and ended up betraying you..."
"Have another tomato."
As a mermaid whose physical structure made him a naturally heavy eater, Iser did not refuse the food Gio offered. It was a truly delicious tomato.
"Still, the portion is definitely going to be huge," Iser noted.
"If there’s any left over after sharing, you all will have to finish it, won’t you?"
"Why... why do we have to finish it?"
"..."
Gio stared intently at Iser.
"..."
"...Um..."
"You really are too thin."
"Teacher, most mermaids have this build."
"Seeing you so skin and bones breaks your teacher’s heart."
"I am not skin and bones."
Even in the past, Giovanni couldn’t stand seeing people go hungry, but his generous portions seemed to have grown even larger during their time apart. Iser recalled Giovanni smiling wistfully and saying, 'I wish everyone would become pigs.'
How can a person remain so completely unchanged? No, if anything, he’s gotten worse...
Leaving Iser to his thoughts, Gio moved on to the next step. "Now it’s time to chop. Iser, if you don’t mind, could you check on the Club Trumpet Shells?"
"...Ah, yes. I’ll change the water once and then head to the kitchen."
"Take your time."
Gio carried the massive hill of vegetables on his back and entered the cabin.
"..."
"Oh, Aria. Have you been resting well?"
"...What on earth are you trying to make? Are you planning to donate stew for poverty relief?"
"No, we’re going to eat it."
"Gio, I tell you this every time, but we are a race that cannot become pigs. A mermaid’s body does not change easily. Even with my research, it’s difficult."
"You shouldn’t let yourself be bound by your own limitations like that."
Encouraging his former student, who had returned to her adult form while he wasn’t looking, Gio dumped all the vegetables onto the kitchen table. The sheer volume of ingredients made a heavy, rumbling sound echo through the cabin rather than a simple thud.
Dana, who was being pampered by the teddy bear, hopped right onto the table.
"Ryu-jon-jon?"
"Are you trying to eat now? It’s not cooked yet, you might get an upset stomach."
"Ryu-jon-jon-jon-jon-jeom?"
"Ah, wait, no—"
Munch.
Dana snatched a sweet potato in her mouth and bolted.
"...You certainly have a clear sense of purpose, my daughter. You’ll grow up to be an excellent hunter."
Soon after, Honey flew over and perched on his shoulder.
"Cooroo-rook?"
"Did you come to steal ingredients too?"
"Kkoong."
"Right, it’s better to eat it cooked."
Nodding, Gio began prepping the ingredients. "First, it’s probably best to sauté the onions."
Every household had its own way of making stew. Some sautéed the meat first, while others started with the onions to build a savory base. Others still would simmer the tomatoes first to develop a deep flavor, but Gio preferred to sauté the onions in butter.
"That way, the savory sweetness of the onions is fully brought out."
"Coorook?"
"The meat? Searing the meat first leaves fond stuck to the bottom of the pot, which really brings the broth to life. But I figure searing it in a separate pan and adding it later yields a similar result... so I put the onions in first."
Especially with stainless steel pots, the bottom could burn before the ingredients reached the desired state. Since Gio wasn’t a professional chef, he was bound to make mistakes from time to time.
"The onion and butter combination is definitely the most reliable."
The same went for the tomatoes.
"Even if I don’t simmer the tomatoes first, the moisture evaporates as it boils anyway. Plus, I’m adding the tomatoes right after the onions, so I don’t think it makes much of a difference."
"Cooroolook, coorook."
"Ah, well, of course, if you want the flavor of sautéed tomatoes, it would make sense to put them in first. But if you make tomato paste beforehand, you can always add it later."
"Cooroo-roo?"
"...I don’t have any pre-made paste right now, though."
Tomato paste was, simply put, a sauce with an extremely concentrated tomato flavor. Usually, one would make a thick, rich paste tailored to a household’s taste, then dilute it for use later.
"..."
Gio nodded. "Looks like I have one more thing to make."
"Kook."
"Making things like paste makes you feel like your pantry—and your heart—is full."
Pickles and sauces were always the more, the merrier. Make them well once, and you’d be set for a bountiful year.
While chopping the onions finely just to extract their savory flavor was fine, cutting them a bit larger added a nice texture. Well-cooked onions in a stew had a delightful, soft, melt-in-your-mouth quality.
After chopping the onions to an appropriate size, Gio melted butter in a large pot.
"The more butter, the better."
"Kook?"
"You could call it a pig-maker."
The law of stew dictated that the more butter and meat you added, the more delicious it became. Even people who claimed to love stew because it was healthy ultimately had to admit it tasted best when loaded with things that weren’t so good for you.
"And now, we add all the onions..."
Returning after changing the water for the clams, Iser asked, "Are you planning to make onion soup, by any chance?"
"Onion soup is great too, but today, tomato stew is the star."
"Ah..."
"Stir it, please."
"Yes, Teacher."
Gio handed the pot over to Iser, telling him to stir so the onions wouldn’t burn and would turn a beautiful golden brown, then continued prepping the other ingredients. Next, of course, were the tomatoes.
They’re definitely squishier than Earth’s tomatoes.
They felt more like an elastic jelly or pudding. When he pressed the blade down, it sank in as if cutting a large piece of gelatin, then slowly and thickly split apart, hinting at its dense, sticky texture.
"In go the finely chopped tomatoes."
"The pot is already about to overflow," Iser pointed out.
"Then let’s add another pot."
"So it really is multiplying to three..."
"I’ll try to stop at two."
"Please do."
Without another word, Iser brought out a second pot. "I believe in you."
"I shall reward your trust."
"May it not overflow."
When Gio briefly drew the holy sign of the sun and offered a prayer, the teddy bear playing with Dana in the living room flinched. Naturally ignoring this, Gio continued his prep.
He peeled the potatoes and diced them into bite-sized pieces. He cut half of the harvested sweet potatoes into long sticks, and washed the other half thoroughly, placing them on a strainer.
"I’m planning to roast these sweet potatoes in the bonfire later. Sound good?"
"Cooroo-roo-roo-roo-roo-roo-roo."
"What a magnificent pig. You truly deserve to be my son."
Nodding with a noble smile befitting a high priest, Gio moved on to the next ingredient.
For the cabbage, he peeled off the outermost leaves to use the inner head. Turning the cabbage upside down, he plunged the knife into the root—shuck, shuck, shuck, shuck—carving a circle around the center until the core popped right out.
"Once the core is out, just cutting the cabbage into quarters makes it about the right size."
Next were the peas.
"Sweet potatoes and peas aren’t commonly used on Earth, but Edlen stew is characterized by its wide variety of vegetables. Especially since the tomatoes we’re using this time are quite sweet, adding these soft ingredients should work well."
Adding beans or peas to a stew gave it a pleasant, popping texture with every spoonful. Above all, peas were a crop that yielded a subtle sweetness and a rich, savory flavor once cooked. Among all beans, Seo Gio particularly loved green peas.
"And the pumpkin, too."
"Coorook."
"This one has a different shape from Earth’s as well."
The pumpkin he’d harvested looked like the dull, yellowish pumpkins common on Earth, but its size was as small as a kabocha squash. While it wouldn’t be very sweet, it would add the pumpkin’s characteristic mild flavor and soft texture.
"I wonder if we can find a beehive if we wander around this forest."
"What are you planning to make, Teacher?"
"The pumpkins from the garden aren’t that sweet, but their soft, savory flavor is top-notch. If you steam them well and top them with honey and butter, they’re incredibly delicious."
"That sounds wonderful. Honey and butter..."
"A pinch of salt makes the flavor even deeper."
Answering Iser, Gio began prepping the pumpkin. After scooping out the seeds and peeling off all the skin, he chopped the pumpkin into appropriate chunks. It might be an unfamiliar combination to Earthlings, but pumpkin submerged in a tomato-based broth was surprisingly excellent.
"Peel and chop the carrots too..."
The vegetables were fully prepped.
"Next will be the clams and sausages."
"The Club Trumpet Shells are still spitting out a bit of mud," Iser reported.
"Ah, is that so?"
"But it looked like they would finish purging in about twenty minutes."
"Then shall we start prepping the sausages and other clams first?"
Gio brought out the ham and sausages he had previously made from Tree-Horned Deer meat from the storage. Some parts that had been salted and cured whole had turned into excellent ham, and the sausages they often grilled boasted the same deep aroma as before.
"First, I should remove the hard parts..."
For the ham whose outer layer had hardened, he cut away the entire exterior, then chopped the deep red inner meat—cured to a firm texture—into small cubes. For the sausages, he decided to use the ground meat inside, removing the tough casing.
"...But maybe because it took so much effort to make, it feels like a waste to throw away the casings."
"Coorook-cooroo-roo-roo-roo."
"The more you chew, the more savory the casing..."
In the end, he decided to chop up the casings as well and throw them into the stew. Though they were dried and a bit tough, once boiled vigorously in the hot stew, they would quickly regain their chewiness. These casings had exceptionally good resilience.
"How is the stew coming along?"
"It seems we need some time for the vegetables to cook through."
The stew, simmered with various vegetables and groundwater from Edlen Village, was characterized by its thoroughly cooked, tender texture. Realizing it would take at least another hour, Gio nodded.
"Then let’s add the prepped meat to one of the pots."
"I think we need to keep watching the stew so the bottom doesn’t burn. Should we just throw the meat in as is?"
"I’ll sauté it, so please keep an eye on the pot."
After quickly sautéing the cured meats to bring out their aroma, Gio added them all to one of the pots. Once simmered for over an hour, they would yield tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat.
During the remaining time, he prepped the clams.
"Sunshine Conch and Black Tray Clams are best when grilled... so I’ll just scoop out the meat from a few, and set the rest aside like this..."
The Black Tray Clams, in particular, cooked easily even over low heat, so he had to be careful with the temperature. Gio called over to Aria, who was standing near the kitchen watching him cook.
"Aria, could you help prepare for the grilling?"
"...Should I set up a bonfire like before?"
"I’d appreciate it if you could also build a small wall to support the wire grate."
"That’s easy."
Aria walked out of the cabin with the teddy bear tucked under her arm.
"...? Why Father...?"
He had no idea why she was dragging the Sun God along, but figuring it would lead to an amusing incident, he ignored it for now.
Gio brought over the purged Club Trumpet Shells, washed them clean, split open their razor-clam-like shells, and pulled out the meat. A large, tender piece of flesh, resembling a long scallop adductor muscle, was revealed.
"..."
"Kook?"
"Nice."
This was exactly it.
"This would be delicious eaten raw, too."
Gio trimmed away the tough, chewy parts with a knife, then sliced the meat to about a one-centimeter thickness. Popping a slice of the pale yellow meat—neither too thin nor too thick—into his mouth...
This is true romance. A literal paradise.
The sweet, springy flavor that melted on his tongue was no joke.
"Ah..."
Could he just eat this raw?
A sweet slice of raw seafood paired with clean, refined rice wine. For Giovanni, a thirty-something-year-old man who had officially been declared dead, it was an irresistibly powerful temptation.