Exploration was our first priority... It was definitely the most efficient approach in a new area. It was better to know about everything an area offered before deciding on a plan.

  “All right, I’ve marked down the location. Let’s move on.”

  “Sure thing. Where do you want to check next?”

  “The mountains suddenly turn too steep, and the forest is unnaturally overgrown, so we can’t access those areas. Let’s continue along the edge of them. This way.”

  Tsumugi pointed at a path that led to a foresty area.

  We encountered some monsters called Humming Eagles along the way, but they were easily taken down thanks to Tsumugi, Shouko, and Yamikage.

  At the end of the path, we arrived at a cave-like area.

  Ah, there are a few NPCs, and some of them have pickaxes... I recognize this setup.

  “It’s a mining site. Yippee! What gems can we get here?”

  “Don’t go too wild with the mining, Therese,” L’Arc said.

  “Aww, what’s the harm?”

  “Lady Romina will be pleased, I daresay.”

  “We should tell her about it later.”

  “Come to think of it, I remember there being some mine-related quests in town. Yeah, there was something about one of the mine shafts being infested with monsters.”

  “So they want us to go in and hunt them down?”

  Defeat the monsters to make the mine usable—it was a common setup.

  “Right. But I also heard something about machinery recipes dropping here.”

  “Mm.”

  Sheryl raised her hand.

  Ah...right. She’s got machinery skills. Figures she’d be interested.

  “So recipes drop here?”

  “That’s what I heard. Maybe we should explore this area for Sheryl’s sake. It might be a good chance to get some nice drops.”

  “I daresay, I look forward to seeing what we can find.”

  “This place might be more important to us than that instance dungeon.”

  “True, true. We need to check out the local monster and boss drops too. There’s a lot of stuff to look forward to.”

  With high hopes for drops and enemies we’d yet to encounter, we decided to walk past the mine for now and fill in more of the map. From what we could tell, the only prominent areas were the wetlands, the shrine, the mining site, and the next checkpoint. Everything else seemed to be standard, monster-inhabited plains.

  If we really dug around, we’d probably run into a boss or two. But this felt like a good first sweep of the area.

  I did go ahead and dismantle the small-fry monsters, just in case.

  Back-calculating from the Energy I got from them, they had a better yield than the monsters on the lowest floor of Cal Mira’s instance dungeon.

  As we wandered around the map, the sun began its way down toward the horizon.

  “Looks like that just about wraps up our exploration. We’ve got a pretty good grasp of the terrain.”

  “I’d say so.”

  Thanks to our mounts, we’d managed to cover a fairly large area.

  “For now, let’s return to town and turn in our quests.”

  “Let’s eat something too!”

  “Yeah, yeah. We’ll cook up the char we caught today.”

  “I can’t wait! I can’t wait! What are you going to make, bro?”

  “Meunière, probably. We can make other things too, but they’ll take more time to prepare.”

  Most of the dishes needed setup; we couldn’t just instantly get a finished dish out of them. Whether we tried drying, curing, or whatever it took to enhance the watery flavor, it would take some time. Even if we just dried them overnight, they wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow morning.

  “Meunière, huh? Sounds good!”

  “Maybe namerou would work too.”

  Chopped-up raw fish mixed with all sorts of seasonings. Using strong ingredients like miso, ginger, and onion would enhance the smell and flavor. When it came to river fish, it was even simpler to make than sashimi.

  “Namerou! That would go perfect with rice! We’re always eating nothing but fish, though!”

  “That’ll be the main course. If you want something other than fish... I’ll make you some karaage.”

  “Yaaay!”

  My gluttonous sister jumped for joy.

  “We always eat so lavishly, I daresay. But I’m also looking forward to tonight’s meal.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Heh heh... We caught the fish ourselves.” Shouko smiled. “Please look forward to it.”

  We managed to catch quite a few things, after all. With my Culinary Art skill raised, I could cook a decent variety of dishes.

  Fish cuisine isn’t just about sashimi, you know. There’s boiling, frying, and so much more.

  Chapter 2: Frog Karaage

  We returned to the relay town, checked in at an inn, rented the kitchen, and promptly got to cooking. First—and this went without saying—was the whitespotted char meunière.

  Seeing as I didn’t really know what I was doing, I focused on the recipe that popped up when I started processing the char. The initial step was to butcher the fish into fillets; that part was a lot easier than the cooking.

  I coated the fillets in flour, salt, and pepper, then butter-fried them in a skillet. Flipping them at just the right moment, I kept a close eye on the browning to ensure they cooked evenly. Once I’d gotten them a nice golden brown, I was pretty much done.

  I made enough for everyone and used the leftover fish to whip up some namerou. It was a dish that couldn’t be made without miso, ginger, and onions. But of course, I was always prepared.

  I always make sure Alto keeps my ingredients well stocked. Even if we’re stranded, I won’t run out of seasonings.

  “Kizzy! The loach hot pot’s done!”

  “Got it. The namerou’s done too.”

  Specializing in cooking is no joke... I’m barely scraping by with the skills I have. If I put too much effort into it, I’ll end up being a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. I should do it in moderation. Next up...

  “Heh heh heh, you’re quite adventurous in the kitchen, Kizzy.”

  “I don’t wanna hear it, Therese. You don’t get to make comments when you’re the one that added to the chaos.”

  “Aww, what’s the harm? All right, let’s go call everyone.”

  “Yeah, and...done!”

  “Already?”

  And just like that, we gathered everyone up to serve the finished meal. With rice, of course.

  “There’s a hot pot as well, I see,” noted Shouko.

  “Yeah, it’s made with the loaches the Pekkles fished up.”

  “Char meunière, and char namerou too! Ah, and just like bro said, karaage too! First one’s mine!”

  “Ah, Lady Tsumugi! That karaage is—!”

  Before Yamikage could warn her, Tsumugi had already stuffed a karaage into her mouth.

  “Hmm?” she asked. “What’s wrong? It’s pretty tasty.”

  “I-Is it... I daresay, you don’t feel anything off?”

  “N-No... Should I...?”

  Then, a beat later, Tsumugi suddenly realized she had never checked to see what exactly she’d put into her mouth.

  “Hey, bro? Therese?!”

  “It’s your fault for snatching it.”

  “It must’ve looked so good that she couldn’t resist!”

  “Tsumugi’s lack of courtesy is certainly an issue,” said Shouko. “But I do question your actions sometimes, Kizuna.”

  “I heard it was similar to chicken, and we had all of the meat from when I was dismantling. I just went ahead and used it.”

  You just had to check the system window to know exactly what the karaage was. Its name was listed as Giant Purple Toad Karaage.

  I’d put a lot of effort into the appearance, removing the bones and chunking it up into inconspicuous pieces.

  “You would’ve known if you’d just checked. You went in without hesitation.”

  “I seriously didn’t notice!”

  Sheryl timidly reached out and took a bite. What followed was a few moments of silent chewing, and then...

  “If you don’t think about it...it’s edible.”

  “I wouldn’t eat it by choice, I daresay...”

  “It gives a damage boost against aquatic monsters,” I explained. “Not a bad meal to have before a fight.”

  L’Arc sighed. “Why do all the weird ingredients give great effects? That’s what irritates me.”

  “Exactly, I daresay.”

  On that note, sautéed whitespotted char gave a temporary increase to max HP—and for Spirits, that changed into a Mana generation bonus.

  Simple food was fine and all, but proper meals had their benefits. There were even minor hidden achievement-like things linked to it, like a permanent +1 to attack after you’d eaten a certain number of dishes.

  Cooking was deeper than it seemed. Perhaps it really was better to have a specialist chef in charge of it.

  When I wasn’t cooking for myself—like I was on Cal Mira—I’d usually just pay a restaurant to cook with the ingredients I brought in.

  “It’s not like eating it will give you a stomachache,” said Shouko. “Tsumugi proved that, so let’s dig in.”

  “In fact, I’ll be upset if I’m the only one who has to eat it!” Tsumugi cried.

  “The people who made it ought to be the ones eating more of it, I daresay.”

  “It’s delish!”

  “Therese, show a little shame, would you?”

  “The girl who snatched the food is acting like a victim...good grief.”

  “Well, let’s eat.”

  “Let’s eat!”

  And with that, we all gathered around the food and started into the meal.

  I grabbed myself a plate of the main dish—the whitespotted char sauté—broke it apart with my chopsticks, and plopped a mouthful into my mouth.

  Hmm...I see. Yamikage’s right. I was thinking about it when I was cooking it, but it is pretty similar to salmon. Granted, it is a little watery...but thanks to the sautéing, it’s not too noticeable.

  Since we made it using a cooperation skill, the quality turned out pretty high too.

  “I daresay,” started Yamikage, “this tastes better than the char dishes I’ve tasted. It’s hard to tell this isn’t salmon.”

  “I’ve eaten plenty of salmon, but...I can’t tell either,” Shouko confirmed.

  “Salmon...maybe.”

  Sheryl cocked her head quizzically as she ate. Maybe the high quality was doing something to the flavor. It might have come out more noticeable if we hadn’t tried as hard.

  “The eel and crab were great, but this is good in its own way, bro!”

  “We got the quality so high it pretty much turned into salmon. It’s like it lost its uniqueness.”

  “How about we make it without Cooperation next time?”

  We continued to analyze it as we ate.

  “You really are a perfectionist, milord. I truly can’t tell it apart from salmon.”

  “True, true. Hey, bro, why don’t you switch to cooking instead of fishing?”

  “Not a chance.” I shot her down immediately.

  Cooking was just a means to process my catches and to fill our stomachs; in this game, I’d decided to put fishing over all else. If I tried my hand at everything, I’d end up sucking at everything.

  “After experiencing true fishing today, I can somewhat understand how Kizuna feels,” Shouko said. “You get it too, don’t you, Sheryl?”

  “Mm.”

  Sheryl nodded. It seemed she’d shaken off her frustration from the defensive battle.

  Next up was the fried food taste test.

  I stuffed a large chunk of frog karaage into my mouth. As stated before, the food effect was a damage bonus against aquatic monsters. It would make for a perfect packed lunch whenever we were going to fight monsters in the wetlands.

  The first thing to hit me was...the distinct flavor of fried food. Then, as I bit down, I noted the texture of the meat... It was supposed to resemble chicken, and that was pretty accurate. No, maybe it had a bit more bounce. The toad was a monster, after all. All that regular movement probably made the meat firmer and chewier. As a piece of karaage, it was pretty solid.

  You shouldn’t underestimate the weird ingredients.

  “Not half bad,” I concluded.

  “You’re not wrong, but it’s more of a mental thing. You know?”

  “Oh, it really is delicious. I didn’t know you could use monster meat in cooking.”

  Even Shouko gave it a good review.

  “Wanna try a whole monster meal sometime?” I suggested.

  “There are already a lot of people doing that,” Therese informed me.

  “At least stick to the normal fish you catch, I daresay,” Yamikage groaned.

  “Right? If we’re not careful and we end up somewhere with no fishing hole nearby, my brother might start leaving his lure in random spots to catch rats to feed us.”

  “What do you take me for?”

  Are you trying to say I’d serve everyone rat meat? Don’t treat me like some sort of deviant.

  “It’s not entirely out of the question, I daresay.”

  Yamikage’s reaction was cold, as was Sheryl’s pointed silence.

  “I can see you doing it,” said L’Arc.

  “Right?” Therese concurred.

  I am not a deviant!

  “Now, now. We haven’t gotten to the point where we’re making soup out of weeds. Let’s not be too picky.”

  “But Shouko,” my sister protested. “We technically own a whole territory, and we’re still eating monster meat. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”

  “Even if it is just a game, I think it’s important to respect life and not let it go to waste. I’ve heard tales of lords in the past who used to distribute the game they hunted to the people.”

  “You’re a bit off the mark there, Shouko.”

  “I daresay, that’s the core of gibier cuisine... It’s not entirely wrong. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were some truly delicious monster meats out there.”

  “Besides, we already ate the kappa hot pot. It’s a little late to complain about frog karaage.”

  “That time, it felt like eating soft-shelled turtle meat, so it didn’t bother me!”

  Tsumugi seemed oddly sensitive about the frog meat.

  “Hah...” she sighed. “Whatever. I just won’t think about it.”

  And with that, she was back to eating with gusto.

  “It’s good not to be picky,” Shouko said, sending her a warm look. Then, for some reason, she turned to me. “But...I would prefer not to eat rat meat.”

  “I know, I know. I doubt it’ll even come out edible.”

  Like...I can see it turning into one of those failed dishes. Ones that cause status effects when you eat them. I haven’t fished up any puffer fish yet, but if you don’t prep those things right, they’ll probably kill you from poison.

  “Man, this game is full of discoveries!”

  At the start, I spent ages in the First City, made some money, and bought a small boat from Sheryl for sea fishing... Then, I started toward the Second City in hopes of finding new fishing spots and met Shouko along the way. Everything that had happened since stemmed from that encounter.

  If I hadn’t run into Shouko and had just gone straight to the Second City...I would’ve spent all my time fishing and checking different fishing spots, living a completely different life from the one I had now.

  “It’s thanks to everyone being so considerate that we can enjoy our meals and our adventures like this.”

  “Yeah, I’ll admit it. There’s no getting bored in this game if you hang around my brother,” Tsumugi said.

  “There’s just too much going on, I daresay,” Yamikage grumbled.

  “Uh-huh... But it’s fun,” Sheryl said.

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  We went back and forth about this and that, our dinnertime quietly coming to a close.

  After finishing our meal, we each went our separate ways for some free time. Shouko and Tsumugi said they would report the day’s exploration results to Romina and Alto, while L’Arc and Therese set off to search for quests. As for me, I slipped out quietly so as not to worry Shouko and returned to the wetlands to do some fishing—only in an area I could handle on my own.

  Yeah, you can never miss out on night fishing. You can’t truly get your fill if you’re trying to live a healthy, regulated life.

  With a lantern in one hand, I scoped out a good spot and cast my line.

  This time, it was just around the entrance to the wetlands, close to where I’d left my crab traps. I went for a simple hook-and-line setup; lure fishing seemed to narrow down the encounter pool to a handful of larger fish, and this time I was aiming for the small ones.

  As you might expect, the first things I reeled in were an empty can, an old tire, and a boot...as well as that generic “trash” item.

  “Oh?”

  A Bone Fish took the bait.

  Still...I came here to enjoy some solo fishing time...

  My eyes wandered.

  “Busy fishing, pen.”

  The presence of my mount and the nearby Pekkles tragically dulled the feeling of solitude I was going for. That was a bit of a shame.

  I’d already dismissed Brave Pekkle. If I kept him out for too long, his stress gauge would fill up and cause him to go dormant.

  Now then... I placed my lantern on the ground to serve as a light source, but when I glanced up at my Library Rabbit mount, the way he was lit up from below made him look straight out of a mascot horror game.

  I’d probably be spooked if I bumped into him at night. I kept him out because he makes movement a lot easier, but...come to think of it, I wonder if each area only has a single lord?

  Fearing what I might find out, I decided I would have to check out Cal Mira’s aquarium at some point to see if any new information had been added.

  “Fish on!”

  A bite—I pulled up on the line.

  First up was a dace, then a bitterling. Just switching up the setup really did change the catch. I even managed to snag a freshwater prawn.

 

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