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Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part 2

「Just hurry up! First is this, an item Saito Dosan-sama became famous for selling, the Perilla Seed oil directly from Ooyamasaki! 」

But the art of preparing a dish isn’t just about letting people enjoy the taste of it; they must enjoy the process of making it too!

Having researched the interests of the people of Sakai, Mitsuhide took out a bronze coin, and poured the oil through it without any of the oil touching the coin.

The members of the Kaigi Gunshu were delighted in an instant.

「Ohh! This is certainly fascinating! This is the famed skill of the Viper of Mino, Saito Dosan: the trick of pouring oil through a bronze coin! It seems like Dosan used this trick to gain fame in Kyoto when he was still a young merchant! 」

「Ohhh. Who would have thought that Dosan-sama’s retainer would be someone as extraordinary like him too?! 」

「Her skills with handling firearms, tea ceremony skills and even skills of an oil-selling merchant are all top-notch, as expected of a multi-talented girl! Akechi Juubei Mitsuhide, you are now far ahead of that pathetic Saru brat who is still struggling under the ashes of his tent! 」

(Ahh. I’ve been praised! Nobuna-sama praised me!)

Mitsuhide, who was getting more and more smug after receiving Nobuna’s praise then said to Inuchiyo who was in a daze:

「Oi Assistant, hurry and spread the flour onto the pan! Get your ass on it, on the double! 」

「…. Understood. 」

Mitsuhide, who was totally immersed herself in the competition didn’t even bother to see what kind of expression Inuchiyo had on her face right now.
But even though she was reluctant, the usually emotionless Inuchiyo still completed the tasks that she was given.

「As for the flour, I used the tasty and thick flavored matt! And, I’ve put in soup that was brewed from seaweed and Bonito! 」

「Using soup in takoyaki…..? So there was such a trick that could be used!? She has really researched the taste of the Kansai people, I’ll give her that! 」

The members of the Kaigi Gunshu had all nodded their heads in approval.

「As for the secret recipe of this Takoyaki, the eggs are all from Kyoto’s Juuzou’s chickens, with a little sprinkle of salt on them! 」

「Finally, just from their names, we can imagine how the ingredients look!!! Now we can finally be at ease!! 」

Once again, the members of the Kaigi Gunshu’s excitement was going through the roof.

「Continuing on, the main ingredient is from Akashi, and it is fresh calamari cut into cubes and placed in the middleof the Takoyaki mixture! And then, using the highest quality tempura crisps made with fresh red ginger as supplements, the recipe is all but finished following, the ultimate ingredient from Kyoto, the Kyuujou onions! All of them were put into the Takoyaki! 」

「Fabulous…! This is better than Naya’s Takoyaki! This is going to be the best Takoyaki Sakai has ever seen! 」

「I think we can all agree that the victor has already been decided! 」

「Assistant! Hurry and chop up the calamari! If we don’t do it right this instant, the Takoyaki is going to get burnt! 」

「This is harder than I imagined… much harder, in fact…. the calamari are so fresh that I feel like I’m going to be attacked by them any minute… 」

「Stop complaining already and hurry up! What are you even getting scared of?! It’s not like the calamari will actually eat you! 」

Shouting at Inuchiyo, who just wouldn’t lower the knife in her hand, Juubei tore off the calamari stuck onto Inuchiyo’s face, flung it onto the board and with just two or three precise, decisive swings of her knife, a jumble of calamari cubes were created and subsequently thrown onto the Takoyaki mixture.

「Ohh, this is a battle with the calamari! And while she is struggling with it, she can throw the octopus legs precisely onto the Takoyaki mixture! What an eye-opener of a move! 」

「To think that she used tenkasu and red ginger for Takoyaki, I’m honestly taken aback! I see….. so there was such a way to prepare it too. 」

「To use the tenkasu crisps from the barbarians, the novelty of this decision deserves high marks! 」

「What an alluring smell……! 」

「Oh, I wanna eat it right now! I can’t wait anymore! 」

「I’m buying it! Akechi Mitsuhide’s Takoyaki, I’m definitely buying it! 」

Among the Kaigi Gunshu, more than half of its members were cheering and drooling while looking at Mitsuhide’s Takoyaki. Yoshiharu was in a huge pinch!

After finally pitching back the tent that collapsed with much difficulty, his stove had just been lit.

「Damn…. to think that she would go and use all those expensive ingredients… looks like she decided to pull out all the stops, including the ones for her budget! 」

「Yoshiharu-san, what ingredients we have are just cheap ones bought from somewhere nearby. Can we really compete with her by using them? 」

「Nyaa. Ninjas are used to cheap food, sho it’sh difficult for ush to make something tashty. 」

「Anyway, we can’t just stand here and surrender without a fight! Hurry up and get ready, everyone! 」

「The pre-heating isn’t finished, Yoshiharu-san! The Takoyaki will get burnt for sure! 」

「If that’s the case, just slap some oil into it! 」

「What a messed up method. But, more oil will definitely fill the stomachs of whoever is going to be eating it that much faster. 」

Goemon said while pouring oil onto the pan. The little dents on the pan’s bottom were filled with a layer of oil in an instant.

「That can’t be…. Saru’s side’s Takoyaki has too much oil in it. Won’t that make the Takoyaki taste horrible? 」

「Yes, it will. 」

And to make things worse, Yoshiharu’s side had no experience in controlling the temperature of the oil on the pan at all. As a result, because of the temperature that was simply too high, of pf their Takoyaki hardened in an instant.

「Damn! I haven’t even put the calamari in! Turn it, hurry and turn it over! 」
「Uwahh. The eyeleteer is scary…. Uhhh!!! 」

「Hanbei-chan, it’s dangerous for you here! Stay at the side and watch! Goemon, you start turning from the right. I will start from the left! 」

「Understood! 」

「Hyaaaaaaa! 」

「Uwahhhhh! 」

「Ohhh, this…! Saru and the little ninja started to turn the takoyakis over! But no matter what, it’s too late, their Takoyakis have become too hard! 」

「Uhh. Even if we start from the beginning again, we don’t have enough time to finish! 」

Even the normally calm Imai Sogyu’s expression was becoming more grim by the second.

「Ahhh. He doesn’t know what he’s doing at all. He has turned his Takoyakis into an unsalvageable mess. 」

「No, it has hardened up already! 」

「It is now too burnt, without a doubt, it’s gonna be too hard to eat. 」

「With this, the unique soft and slippery feel of the Takoyaki is gone. 」

The Kaigi Gunshu criticized Yoshiharu’s bad cooking skills endlessly.

「It is too hard now, Sagara-shama! All of the Takoyakis are totally burnt! 」

「W-What can I do now! Why don’t I just pour water in it now…..?! 」

「Uwahh! No, if you do that now, our failure in cooking will be revealed and will receive so many negative marks that we will have no hope of making a comeback! 」

Hanbei cried while stopping Yoshiharu before it was too late.

「I-i-i-is there no other way for us to do anything, Yoshiharu-san?! 」

「Ahhh. Looks like your knowledge of the future is useless when it comes to cooking, Sagara-shama. 」

(Knowledge of the… future…. of course!)

The totally hopeless Yoshiharu looked as if he just received some kind of divine revelation.

mind suddenly flashed through an idea.

(When it comes to Takoyaki, one would always think of the smooth and soft takoyaki from Osaka, but in my time, there is another popular method of making Takoyaki!)

「…..Quick, more oil! Put more oil into the pan! 」

「More oil? But… 」

「Yoshiharu-san. The oil in there is plenty enough already… 」

「It’s ok! With how the Takoyaki are now, I have no other choice! Let’s just make ‘Fried Takoyaki’, since this is the only way for us to get out of this mess! 」

「「「Fried Takoyaki!? 」 」」

Hanbei and Goemon, and even the Kaigi Gunshu all tilted their heads in puzzlement.

「Fried Takoyaki?! Did we all hear that correctly?! Saru, who has been driven into a corner has once again said something in the mysterious monkey language that only he can understand! Just what kind of monkey cuisine will this Fried Takoyaki be!? 」