Chapter 334: Chat Party
I hummed while preparing lunch.
Ash, Butler, Hauron and Shiva would be joining me for today — it’s a maiden party sans Butler so I’m preparing assorted colorful goodies.
Good thing about【Storage】is that I can prepare everything beforehand and still serve freshly made dishes.
I closed the iron grille on the alley that leads to my house. The one between Ash’s house and Dean’s rented house was also replaced by yours truly. Half the grille was patterned with lattice, serving as a privacy screen. By doing this, other people wouldn’t be able to enter the alley continuing to my home.
I also pointlessly hung a few pure white sheets near the entrance to the alley so that even if folks peeked from the alley they wouldn’t be able to see anything. Well,there’s usually not much foot traffic here except during the designated times since this place is quite far from the street with shops.
The outskirts of Canum occasionally experience a sudden spike in the temperature despite the winter season. It’s said that it usually happens when the sun spirit comes, or when the wind spirit carries fire spirits with it as it blows by.
I thought it might be the Foehn phenomenon— warm, dry wind blowing down the downwind side of a mountain range — because there are mountain ranges in the South. Turns out, the hot weather was brought about by the sunlight spirits who were playing everywhere those days, plus the arid spirits and the like that were also hanging around. Now I wonder which came first, the natural phenomenon or the spirits?
Anyway, today is one of those days. The gate meant for the horse cart was opened wide to make the place feel more spacious. I’ve been hanging out by the fireplace up until yesterday, but today is warm enough for me to ditch my coat and even roll my sleeves up. The room felt hot, probably because I was boiling water and the fireplace was lit.
I set a relatively huge table in front of the house and dressed it with a snow white table cloth. Hmm, what color of table runner would be nice? Tablewares, five chairs, potted plants around — preps complete.
「Thanks for inviting me, Jean. Your setup still looks amazing even outdoors. Here, this tea might not be at par with yours, but I hope you’ll like it. 」
Ash was the first one to come. Butler showed me the porcelain jar of tea when I went out to meet them.
When it comes to tea, the container tells a lot about how cheap or expensive it is. Cheap tea is sold by the weight and customers must bring their own container. Those wrapped in huge dried leaves are also cheap. Paper bags would be a little more expensive, followed by tin cans, and finally, the highest grade and most luxurious tea would come into porcelain containers like the one Butler carried.
「Thanks, let’s have it after the meal. 」
I guided Ash to her seat while Butler went inside the house to put the tea jar on the shelf.
「Hi Jean, I’m here. Thanks for today. 」
「Welcome, Shiva. 」
I couldn’t help but think about how the servants usually would be the ones handing the gifts while their masters looked on as I welcomed Shiva. She gave me jam.
「See, five chairs. Just give up. 」
「I’ll stand!! 」
When I turned around, Retze and Hauron just came out of the rental house’s back door.
Hauron seemed to be gripping Retze’s shoulders and pushing him…? Hauron, who was a head taller than Retze, had a desperate look as he followed the latter.
「I’ll definitely go through hell, I might not be able to bounce back if you’re not here! I’ll give you a commission, so please accompany me until I get used to this!! 」
「I wasn’t even invited, and it’s lunch time so I’ll be a bother… 」
Hauron whined like a middle-school girl despite being a huge old bearded geezer.
「Hoh, so even the Grand Mage relies on Retze, huh. 」
「Yup, he’s just that great. 」
I agreed with Ash. I’m not sure what’s the reason for this blind trust, but when Retze is here, things are stable. He’s not one to brag about his own status, and I think he has a great sense of balancing conversations and other stuff? It’s to the point that I wanna learn from him.
「Indeed… 」
Butler also agreed but not without averting his gaze.
「Don’t worry about the chair and meal, it’s totally fine for you to join us, you know. 」
I added one more chair and another set of tableware. Butler helped me fix the setup so it’ll look more harmonious.
「Yeah. Sorry, get your present from this Grand Mage later. 」
Retze said as he sat down.
「Oh, alright, this time around, as long as I have it, I’ll give you whatever you want. 」
Hauron said, seemingly relieved as he also settled on his seat.
For starters, I served flower-scented aperitif and fried prawns — I left the half-moon shaped tail intact. I crushed the rest of the prawn then mixed them with machiku bamboo and other ingredients that had been kneaded together. I put the resulting mixture on top of the prawns that had been split in half, wrapped them with thin rice paper and finally fried them. Two types of carpaccio, one made with beef fillet and the other with red sea bream, were also served along with a dry-cured ham salad topped with melted Camembert cheese and berry sauce.
「Mm, prawns, huh. The orange hue looks translucent — whatever Jean makes is gorgeous. 」
「Thanks, here, have some mayonnaise. 」
I handed a small saucer with mayo to Ash then proceeded to put one beside each person’s plate too.
「It’s crunchy yet juicy, so delicious. 」
Shiva said after a bite.
「Wait a sec, can’t you just wait until we settle down before doing your shenanigans? 」
「— He just recently started demonstrating his use of 【Storage】when cooking. 」
Butler commented.
「When it comes to food and furniture, I advise that you better give up right away in trying to make heads and tails of whatever he does, you know. 」
Retze bit the prawn with a crunch.
「Still, we’re outdoors so you shouldn’t have done it. I’m telling you, keep on thinking everything will be fine as long as you cleverly hide whatever novel stuff you have and you’re gonna slip one day. If you’re not careful, you’ll get used to bringing out abnormal stuff before you know it. 」
Retze warned.
Sorry. I ended up using goodies I purchased from Nalluahdid. Ah, but I no longer use them here in Canum, yeah, in Canum, so please let it slide.
「So how do you use your 【Storage】on normal foods? Is it that trivial? Back in my time, that skill was enough to cause a large-scale manhunt. 」
Hauron turned his gaze at Butler, then at me, then at Ash and Shiva who were eating deliciously.
「It’s indispensable for keeping warm foods warm and cold foods cold. We can still try cooking by the fireplace with this many people, but it’d be swelteringly hot. 」
Can’t skimp on comfort, after all.
Next on the menu for today is the aromatic galette made from buckwheat flour. The skin is very thin, kinda like crepe, to make it more crispy. Today’s filling options are ham and cheese. Actually, I wanted to use half-cooked sunny-side up eggs but ultimately held back for today.
「Why? Am I the only one who is having a hard time adapting!? Shiva, how can you take it so calmly? Am I that stubborn? 」
「I know, I can totally understand where you’re coming from and how you have a lot of things you just wanna comment on. But you know, even if he’s like this, he does try to hide it, and surprisingly enough, he’s doing a good job on normal days. 」
Retze pacified the anxious Hauron.
「How!? 」
「Please know that it is a sign of trust for him to demonstrate his abilities without any inhibition. 」
Butler backed Retze.
「But that’s only because of the contract!! 」
「Master Hauron, please quietly enjoy your food. 」
Shiva icily smiled! Hauron froze for a moment, then he meekly started eating.
「This Shiva, she might’ve been snobbish back then, but she had been really friendly in these two, three times that I’ve met her recently, so why… 」
Does marrying and having kids make your personality stronger? — Hauron muttered under his breath.
We had apple compote and cinnamon caramel sauce a la mode paired with tea from Ash for dessert.
Lunch ended just like that, but I still have tons to ask Hauron, so we’re continuing the conversation as is. And so, I also prepared finger snacks like macarons and marshmallows, some french fries to accompany the wine, onion rings with some squid rings hidden among them, plus a platter of assorted cheeses.
「Okay, okay, let’s get it on. Please share about Ash’s grandma, how you met Butler, and other stuff that you’re comfortable sharing. 」
Well, I still wanna get to the bottom of it even if it’s a secret.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Thanks for the treat.