113: Appreciation for Cooking Techniques

February 1, 2021 - 7 minutes read - 1440 words

deboss: A design sunk into a surface, usually paper.

fillet edges: Rounding off a 90° corner on a wood piece.

“Ok lads, we’ll bring in the big fish too! We can’t lose to an aristocrat who’s just a fare!” Douglas

“Oh!” Sailors

When Douglas encourages the sailors, the reply vigorously and return to their fishing spots. It seems like since a child (me) caught a dos tuna, the sailors don’t want to lose. Many people are holding a fishing rod while glaring at the sea’s surface. Would a fish be attracted to an angry face? I doubt it.

Now that my fish has been caught, I realized my arms had become tired from wrestling with the fish. I’m not sure I could keep a hold of my fishing rod for a while, so I’ll take a break. Who would have thought that the physical endurance of a seven-year-old child only lasts this far?

Rumba has taken over fishing for me, I bet he’ll catch a splendid giant fish using his brute strength. It seems like the tuna I caught has already been hauled off to the kitchen by the cooks. It’s being It’s now being readied by the cook’s hands and is likely in the process of being gutted and filleted. I’d like to eat some as sashimi later, I should ask the cook to leave me some. Thanks to Triela, I have some soy sauce available. I’ll finally be able to enjoy some long-awaited sashimi.

There is a culture of sashimi in this world, but it hasn’t left the port cities. I didn’t hear anything about it in the royal capital of Misfilt Kingdom, so it seems my kingdom doesn’t have that culture. It seems that sashimi culture is common in Kagura, as it is surrounded by the sea. Yet, it seems only a few people consume fish like that in the port city of Esprit. Well, Kagura is the country that makes soy sauce, I guess that’s to be expected.

I can’t wait to arrive in Kagura!

While I walking around the deck of the ship and thinking about sashimi, I heard a scream from the rear deck of the ship.

“Ahhhhh!” Alisha

“Careful Alisha! If you’re going to practice water magic, do it further away! Your clothes can get wet!” Ilya

It sounds like Alisha is practicing Water Magic, probably trying to improve her magic control. Looks like Alisha’s whole body is drenched when she failed to control her spell, and Ilya got her feet wet when she was too close. Ilya moves the table and chairs closer to the deck’s so they won’t get caught up in Alisha’s practice again.

Ilya is currently trying to reproduce a Jenga piece using Earth Magic. She’s glaring at the example piece with the debossed lettering and filleted edges. She’s trying to make a similar shape, though she’s skipping the letters and settling on a similarly sized block. It’s far from a beautiful rectangle, it’s distorted in several ways. Maybe if she works for a few months she’ll be able to make it properly.

Alisha is continuing to cast the water ball spell in the air. One, two, three, four… it seems she’s able to keep that many stable. Well, it’s better to practice precision movements with just a few instead of tiring yourself out with more. I’ve got a bad feeling about Alisha’s water balls.

She seems to have realized that rotating them around each other in the air is more difficult than firing one against a monster, she’s got a strained expression on her face. I’m worried since she resembles a ghost, she’s covered with water and her dark blue bangs are hanging down her forehead. I was thinking about manipulating a water ball to make some tea, but I felt that would infuriate her, so I quietly left the area.

I go back to the deck to see what Irving has hooked now. I can see he’s got a pile, which includes driftwood, multiple leather shoes, vases, clothes, and ropes.

“What’s with all this garbage?” Al laughs.

“Phwah! Look! Even Alfred says it’s garbage!” Mark remarks before busting out into laughter.

“Damn it!” Irving

It seems this is a running theme with Irving and fishing, he’s replied without even looking at Mark. Irving seems to have yet to catch a live creature, though I would find it difficult to catch half the amount he has.

“Oh, the jar he fished up was pretty good…” Mark

“How can you even hook a jar?” Al asks.

I’ll try to stop laughing for now. Really though, how does a hook catch in a solid object like a jar? It’s not a wooden object where there is room for it to catch?

“It seems like it got in a crack or a small hole that grabbed it. Leave it to Irving.” Mark

To be honest, that’s amazing. I observe the jar, admiring the depths of Irving’s bad luck. There is a small hole in the surface of the jar, surrounded by a spider-web like series of cracks. I should try putting a hook in that hole.

While I was looking at the other objects Irving had brought up, I heard a strange slurping sound from behind. It’s not like a sailor passing or Irving shifting his weight. I feel a bit uncomfortable with it, so I look at the source of the sound. All I can spot is the jar, and Irving doesn’t look to be pranking me.

Isn’t this strange?

When I was trying figure out where the sound came from, the jar started to move. The jar moves across the deck, then stops after 10 centimeters or so. I was stunned for a second from the sight, but I quickly gathered my wits around me. No matter how fantasy this world is, jars don’t move about as if they’re haunted. There must be a hermit crab-like creature inside.

Even though I don’t think it’s dangerous, I take a step or two back. When I bend down to stare at it, the jar makes a short sound and shakes.

What is this? I feel like a cockroach has run behind a dresser at home. Something is in the jar for sure. I didn’t want to look into it from fear, so I was about to ask Irving when a tentacle popped out of the hole.

“Wow!” Al

“What?” Irving

When I exclaimed, Irving, Mark, and Rumba looked over.

“Oh? Feet are growing from a jar? Is it a genie?” Rumba

“It not be that. That be a tentacle, no foot. Well, it be an octopus foot.” Douglas

Douglas explains the situation to Rumba, who was getting into a fighting stance. Apparently there are some hermit crab-like monsters who are the size of humans. It seems it builds a shell out of rocks to make up for its blind spots.

“You’re right. There’s an octopus inside.” Irving says as he looks into the jar.

Oh, so it’s just an octopus? I got surprised over a lost octopus. I stroke my chest and nervously laugh. Who wouldn’t be surprised if tentacles started sprouting from a jar?

“Well, Irving. You managed to catch something alive!” Mark

“I don’t want it! Octopus isn’t edible, so it’s not edible!” Irving

“Oh? Is the octopus poisonous?” Al

Octopus is delicious. You could process and boil it to make sashimi, or grill it with salt and eat it. It should go well with alcohol, right? Are they poisonous on this world?

“Well, it’s not poisonous, but I don’t know of a way to eat it.” Irving says disgustedly while he pokes at the octopus that appeared from the jar.

“Is that so?” Al

“Nah, I can’t see myself wanting to eat it.” Mark

“I’ve never had it” Rumba

“I know it’s no poison, but I don’t eat it. Never seen anyone else eat it.” Douglas

Douglas has been sailing the sea for a long time, so there doesn’t seem to be knowledge of how to eat octopus around here. Certainly, you wouldn’t think to eat a creature with weird legs like that. I’ve eaten octopus in my previous life thought the legs were weird.

Whoever figured out how to make octopus, sea cucumber, and sea urchins tasty must be a genius. I can’t imagine what point of view would lead someone to think octopus would be delicious. However, I know how to prepare and cook octopus, so it’s not so scary.

“Great, let’s cook up an octopus.” Al

“Really?” Mark, Irving, & Douglas

Impolite. If you prepare it carefully and cook it properly, it will be delicious.