Hello Work – Volume 2 Chapter 3

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Volume 2 Chapter 3 – Let’s make mayonnaise

After I left the bath and performed the ritual to calm my nerves Sage Time has been activated. Sati has probably washed slowly, as I instructed. She left the bath after a bit of time has passed.

When our eyes met Sati’s face flushed red. As expected, that must’ve been embarrassing for her.

“Ah, uhm, I will do my best so let’s get along from now on”

She bowed with her face still a bit wet.

“Ah, umn, yes. Same here….”

For a while, we stand around without saying anything. How did we get to this situation, I wonder.

If I make a move on her the next day after I bought her, I can’t face Crook and Silver.

I even planned on taking my time to slowly nurture our love. As I was deep in thought, Sati called out to me.

“W-well-!”

“Y-yes!”

“What should we do next?”

Errr…, what was it…?

Ah, that right! Tilika-chan is coming over. We have to prepare the mayonnaise.

It could take a long time, so we have to make it before time. Let’s think about what happened in the bath later, for the time being, let’s concentrate on the things I have to do right now.

…..also, let’s buy a futon.

 

“We will now start preparing lunch.”

I prepare the eggs, the vinegar, and the oil.

The truth is, I don’t what kind of eggs these are, but there were ones that were roughly the same size as chicken eggs, so I bought those. I also don’t know what kind of vinegar this is, but it properly tastes like vinegar, likewise with the oil, but…. oil is oil. It’s probably alright.

First, I make a prototype with only one egg.

I break the egg, separate the yolk from the white of the egg, then I add oil little by little and mix it with the yolk and the vinegar. I let Sati change with me and take over the mixing midway.

I pick up a bit with my finger and taste-test it. Yeah, it’s mayonnaise. When I had Sati taste-test it, she said it’s delicious with a happy expression. But something is not right. Something is missing. Aah, the flavoring. Salt and sugar, also some other spices, and lemon juice? There is no lemon, but oh well. I put in the flavoring little by little and Sati mixes it.

I re-taste-test the completed version. Yeah, it’s mayonnaise. This time, there is no mistake.

I choose a vegetable that seems suitable, I put mayonnaise on it and try and eat it. This is good. It’s tasty. I ate a bite, then gave the rest to Sati.

“It’s delicious! I never ate something like this before.”

“This is a seasoning called mayonnaise.”

“mayoneezu….”

Sati was eating the remaining small amount of mayonnaise by putting it on some vegetables.

Good, then we should make a larger amount. To note down the quantities, I need some pen and paper, huh. Maybe I will buy some along with the futon.

“Sati, can you read and write?”

I asked as it suddenly came to mind.

Sati is shaking her head. I have to teach her someday.

I will just substitute it with the Journal for the time being.

I immediately write the recipe for the mayonnaise in it. The quantities are mostly measured by eye, so it’s a bit questionable as a recipe, but it should be better than making it from scratch again, relying on just intuition. If I taste-test and adjust it as I make it there should be no problem.

I once again break an egg and separate the yolk from the white of the egg. Let’s add the whites to the soup later.

I have Sati break the eggs too. She failed two and had tears in her eyes, but…. yeah, let’s make fried eggs from those later on.

Aah, there is no trash can…..

Let’s leave the eggshells in the sink for now.

“Sati, what did you do with yesterday’s lunchbox containers?”

“I burned them in the kitchen stove.”

I see.

“How do people usually dispose of trash?”

“Well, they bury it or burn it I think.”

There is not that much trash, so maybe that would be fine. Well, let’s focus on the mayonnaise for now.

While giving instructions to Sati, I add the ingredients. Then at the end, the mixing job. It’s being mixed after adding in oil. It would be easy with a hand mixer, but if you do it with human strength, then it’s a fairly heavy labor.

“Sati, you can taste-test it, but only a little bit. You will be able to eat your fill with it at lunch. So, do your best. I’m going shopping now.”

“Understood. Please take care.”

 

First I go to the furniture shop and buy futons. Two room’s worth, with the spare it’s 3 sets. I buy moderately priced ones. There was a shop selling paper so bought two sets of paper to serve as a notebook, and also pen and ink. Incidentally, the shop next door was a bookshop so I took a peek.

There was a wrinkled old lady sitting in the back and when I took a book in my hands, ‘We don’t allow standing and reading!’, I got scolded.

“Do you have something that is used to teach letters to children?”

“Let’s see. How about this one. I’ll make it cheap.”

It looked like a picture book that was quite worn out, but looking at the contents I didn’t find any problems so I decided to buy it. The contents looked like they were drawn by hand. Are the pictures and the writing both done by hand? Maybe there is no printing technology here.

“Also, do you have stories about the Hero?”

“If you are looking for that, then this is the one.”

The story of the Hero, all 10 Volumes. A great epic, huh.

This is also second-hand, the binding is quite worn out and it shows signs of repair. But it’s repaired so everything is properly readable, so said the old lady so I decided to buy this too.

6000 gold was taken for the those two. Even though they are second-hand, books cost a lot, huh. Since they are all done by hand they probably really worth that much. I wanted to take a relaxed look at them, but I still have some shopping to do.

I’ve found a scale used to measure weight in the general store, but it’s not just pricy, but it looks like it’s not really suited for cooking so I gave up on it, thus I just bought a trash can and some other miscellaneous goods.

Since I was here already I looked around the marketplace and found some horse milk. It looked like there weren’t many people in this city that wanted it, so the question becomes ‘Why is it being sold then?’, but apparently there is some demand for it. When I asked if they have any cheese, they said maybe they have some at the horse pasture to the west.

That reminds me there was something like that near the west gate. I really must go and make sure. If there is then I can make some pizza!

But Sati is waiting for me today. Let’s leave the horse pasture for another day and go back for now.

 

When I got home, Sati was leaning on the table, resting, after completing the mayonnaise.

“Good job. You must be tired. Let’s see, let’s see……”

After taste-testing it I find it was done quite well. This can be given out even in a restaurant.

“Mm, it’s tasty. You’re great, Sati.”

I properly praise her and pat her head. ‘Ehehe’, Sati is giggling with delight.

I instructed Sati to put the mayonnaise in the refrigerator for the time being, but then I noticed that there is no food wrapper. Food wrapper or aluminium foil….. it’s inconvenient without them, huh. I tell her to put it in as it is for now. It would be perfect to put it in the Item Box from the point of preservation, but then Sati can’t use it. I must put some of the ingredients in the refrigerator too.

I will make some tartar sauce first.

I boil some eggs while teaching Sati. I mince the eggs together with some spring onions, then add mayonnaise to it, and after seasoning it, it’s done.

“Masaru-sama, this is also very delicious!”

Sati seems to like it very much after taste-testing it. She looks like she wants more, but I put it in the refrigerator. I will let you have a lot later.

After this I have Sati prepare the soup. Dragon meat and vegetable soup. Some salt and spice as seasoning. In the meantime I prepare for frying. I cut the meat to bite-sized pieces, then rub the seasoning on them and leave them for a bit. All that remains is putting flour on them and frying them. I take half of the bread, cut it into little pieces and make it into bread flour. I cut the meat into cutlets and season them with spices. These will also be done after coating them and frying them.

Salad and bread, soup, fried meat with tartar sauce. Dragon cutlets. Yeah, fairly extravagant.

Since sauces and spices are available this world’s cooking doesn’t lack flavor, but there is less variation compared to Japan’s cooking.

I should make some dessert too. Since I got some horse-milk I can make pudding. I mix horse-milk, eggs, and sugar, put it in a cup, then boil it in water for 10 minutes. Caramel would be bothersome to do today, so let’s not do it. I put it in the refrigerator to cool it after it was finished.

Can we make ice-cream in this refrigerator, I wonder? …..I didn’t make any before to begin with, but let’s try it some day.

There was still time until noon, so I had Sati try and make some fried eggs. We add salt, spices, sugar, and horse-milk to the eggs she failed to break properly before. We put oil on the frypan and fry the eggs on it. Scrambled eggs should be fine for the first time. The two of us happily sample the completed dish.

“Itch dirishus.”

Said Sati while paddling the food in her mouth. It’s sweet from the sugar and it feels just right. I would want some ketchup for the fried eggs, so let’s try making it next time. Somehow the more things I make, the more things I want to have increase.

 

“Masaru-sama is amazing! You can make all these kinds of meals!”

When I was a NEET I tried making all kinds of things, so I’m somewhat good at cooking. My mother’s focus was on japanese style foods, so if I wanted to eat western foods, such as fried foods, I had to make them myself.

Eating out? I didn’t want to use money for something like that.

“Sati, you also can make many dishes now, can’t you? You can make soup and also fried eggs.”

“Because Masaru-sama taught-…..”

Sati suddenly stopped speaking and looked towards the door.

“There are people at the door. Two people.”

Just after that, there was knocking on the door. Hearing Detection Level 3, huh. That’s some amazing hearing.

“Ooiii, Masaruu! Are you theere?”

Oh? This voice is the Vice Guild Chief.

I stop Sati who was going to open the door and say “Yes, I’m coming right now.”, then I open the door.

Tilika-chan was standing there like she was hiding behind the Vice Guild Chief.

“Mn. Thanks for inviting Tilika-chan over for today.”

The baldy is grinning widely.

“You are quite early. There is still time until noon.”

“Tilika was really looking forward to it, you see. She was pestering me about it, so we came a bit early.”

“Ah, please come in.”

“There you go, Tilika”

“Excuse me for disturbing.”

Tilika-chan spoke with a small voice and entered.

“Ah, how about you, Vice Guild Chief? There is more than enough food prepared.”

I don’t really want to invite a burly baldy into the house, but I try asking anyway out of courtesy.

“No no, I don’t want to be a nuisance. I also have work to do, so I can’t be away for too long.”

I haven’t really seen this guy working yet, only saw him lollygagging around, but it seems like he does his work seriously.

“Leaving that aside, take care of Tilika.”

He said in small voice while leaning closer.

“She doesn’t have many friends, you see. She was very happy about today. Also, properly accompany her back to the Guild. She can even spend the night here if you’d like.”

After saying that he grins. What is this dude thinking.

“Also, this is a present.”

So I was handed a bottle of alcohol. Apparently it’s a 20 years-old first-class item.

“Thank you for the alcohol. Leaving aside spending the night, I will properly accompany her back.”

“Good, good. Then bye for now, Tilika, have fun!”

Saying that the Vice Guild Chief went back.

Tilika-chan was sitting on a chair in the dining room and she was gulping down the tea that Sati served.

“Please wait for a bit longer. I will start making it soon.”

“Thanks, for today.”

Tilika-chan is thanking me in a small voice.

“Mm. I don’t know if you will find it to your liking, but look forward to it.”

“Nn. I look forward to it.”

She doesn’t really show any expression, but judging from her words she is looking forward to it.

 

I put the pan with oil in it over the fire and add some more firewood. I put the soup on the free stove and warm it up.

I have Sati do the flour coating of the food to be fried, and I make the coating for the cutlets. I put the floured up bits into the beaten eggs, then finally in bread flour. We made quite a lot of fried foods and cutlets. If there are any leftovers, then I can put them in the Item Box for preservation anyway.

As I was making my hands messy with the work, Sati once again reported that “Someone has come”. Maybe it’s Elizabeth? It wouldn’t be strange if she visited sometime soon, and I also told Angela to come over whenever she liked.

As I was washing my hands, since they were covered with flour and the like, Sati said two people are talking to each other at the door. It’s probably Elizabeth and Narnia-san, must be them. Since I haven’t told Crook and Silver where my house it yet.

 

I clean my hand and head towards the door. As I opened the door, Angela and Elizabeth was standing there.

“”Masaru!””

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