Chapter 281

(281) Dwarf banquet

Translator: Tseirp

Doxco took out several alcohol barrels from the brewery, including the absinthe that came out in our conversation, and I put them in my item bag before we went to the tavern together .

I have no idea why I had to craft a sword but since I obtained a katana, it was hard to refuse the invitation to drink . I said I wanted to be a j.a.panese who could say NO but I totally can’t say NO after all .

As such, we headed to the tavern we pa.s.sed by just now .

I could smell the alcohol before I even entered the shop .

“Oo! Doxco! You came too?”

“All right, let’s kick it off with a cup!”

“You young’un too, have a cup!”

I was served alcohol before I was even introduced .

Was it absinthe? I hope it isn’t hallucinogenic?

“Don’t worry, it’s a given that we will serve lager to people from outside . ”

“Lager? Not ale?”

“Try taking a sip . ”

Following Doxco’s suggestion, I took an empty mug and poured the drink .

It was exactly like j.a.pan’s ale . And it was even chilled perfectly .

“How is it? Amazing right? Thanks to the magic tool called ‘Refrigerator’ made by Daijiro, we’re able to drink chilled lager . ”

” … It’s tasty … It has a fruitier taste compared to j.a.pan’s beer . ”

Was the sweetness a little too strong?

“You don’t seem very shocked — Now then, have you ever drank lager before?”

“No, I am surprised . ”

Now I wanted to have edamame or fried snacks .

Or the salted seaweed-flavored potato crisps I made the other time .

I guess I wasn’t the only one thinking that .

“Ichinojo . Do you have any dishes that go well with alcohol?”

” … Ah, I have plenty of food that my younger sister brought for me . But if we’re talking about food that goes well with alcohol then it will be this . ”

I took out an egg from my item bag .

“Boiled egg?”

“Yeah, boiled egg . A duck egg . ”

” … It is certainly delicious with salt but as a match for alcohol?”

“Well, take a bite a see for yourself . ”

I placed the egg on a plate and cracked the egg with the rounded bottom of a spoon .

The inside wasn’t white but something soup-like .

“Uo, this is …”

“It’s pretty amazing . It’s called balut . ”

“It can be eaten?”

It was not surprising that Doxco would be apprehensive .

After all, it was a duck egg that was boiled as it was about to be hatched so the inside had the shape of a chick .

As a grotesque food lover, this was one of the food that Miri liked and we even had a few at home at all times .

“I first ate this five years ago . I struggled for a while to eat it but it was quite delicious once I tried eating it . ”

For some reason, I had 5000 of these baluts in my item bag .

I wonder just where did she buy these many — I thought to myself but when I examined them, I realized that the purchase dates were different . That Miri was stockpiling food with s.p.a.ce-time Magic even since she was in j.a.pan . If I remember correctly, Miri’s s.p.a.ce-time magic had something like different dimensional storage which was similar to item bags in which the items inside would not spoil .

In any case, since I had such a large amount of baluts, it wouldn’t be a problem to serve a few here .

“It’s grotesque but it is tasty . Well, give it a try . Here, I have salt and lime as well . ”

I purchased the salt from Deijima harbor while the limes were the leftovers from those I purchased in the town of Hanmuno .

” … I don’t have a choice?”

“Doxco said you wanted something savory right? Think of it as humoring me . ”

“This is asking quite a lot . ”

Doxco replied bitterly as he peeled off the eggsh.e.l.l .

He didn’t seem to have any intention of drinking the juice that leaked onto the plate .

He added some salt but his spoon remained stationary . He couldn’t seem to take the leap so I took out another balut and peeled it .

I have been made to eat quite a few kinds of grotesque food by Miri . A mountain of food that looks terrible . Although this dish can be considered the top five worst to look at, it is also the top five best tasting . In a good way .

In the end, the taste won against the terrible look of it and it became one of my favorite dishes as well .

I added salt to the balut that I removed from the eggsh.e.l.l and ate it .

“Yup, this is the taste . It’s delicious . ”

The taste that was different from chicken meat and boiled egg and would become addictive once you tried it .

They were sold at ordinary stalls in Southeast Asia so that proved that it fit the taste of ordinary people .

Without us noticing, there was a gallery of dwarves around us .

It may be a bizarre dish but they were interested in the unknown .

Perhaps he steeled himself after seeing me eat it, Doxco shut his eyes and stuffed the balut into his mouth .

At first, he fearfully chewed but quickly his eyes opened and the speed of his chews quickened too .

Then, he swallowed

” … It’s actually … tasty . Furthermore, it certainly matches with alcohol . ”

“See? Want another?”

“Ah, sure . ”

Doxco replied and accepted another balut .

After seeing that, the other dwarves,

“Gimme one too!”

“Is it that tasty?”

“Where is it, lemme taste it . ”

The dwarves joined in and started consuming a large number of baluts in the tavern . Naturally, there were people who couldn’t eat it after seeing the grotesque sight but all the ones who ate it showed contented looks .

“Your item box really has all kinds of things . You don’t have any alcohol?”

“I do . Although they are only wine or refined sake (seishu) . ”

The grapes needed for wine and rice needed for refined sake were all grown in My World and overlooked by Pionia .

“Seishu? Do you mean rice wine?”

“You know about it?”

“Yeah . I heard about it from Daijiro but I never drank it before . ”

“In that case, want to try a cup?”

The refined sake was currently brewing in a large tank in My World so even the dwarves who are said to be bottomless drinkers probably can’t finish it all .

I took out a barrel and poured some into a bowl with a ladle and pa.s.sed it to Doxco .

“This is the mysterious Seishu huh . Looks like water . ”

“Appearance-wise, yes . ”

Unlike before, Doxco drank the refined sake without hesitation .

” — !? What clear alcohol . There’s almost no hint of the coa.r.s.eness of regular alcohol . ”

“Daikinjo would probably be even more amazing . ” (TL: It’s a brand)

“There’s even better alcohol?”

“Sorry, I don’t really know in detail but the taste apparently changes depending on how the rice is milled . This is made with regular polished rice so a slight coa.r.s.e taste remains . ”

The portion that gives the umami flavor when cooked as rice was apparently what gives the coa.r.s.e texture when made into alcohol .

“I see … regardless of blacksmithing or brewing, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye . ”

“That’s true . Everyone can drink too — eh they’re already drinking it . ”

Everyone was already in a daze over the refined sake .

“So, Doxco . Isn’t it about time you talked about Daijiro-san?”

“Ah, that . What do you want to know?”

“The most important thing I want to know is her current location . After that, what Daijiro is planning to do at the moment? And finally, about the flying ship . ”

“I don’t know Daijiro’s current location but I saw her flying ship traveling east . There’s a high probability that she’s aiming for Mallegory . ”

“Mallegory as expected . ”

The book Daijiro-san left behind wrote that she was in Mallegory . It’s probably true that she is based there .

“I don’t really know her objectives now but I was involved in the construction of her flying ship . ”

“Really?”

If I know the flying ship speed and refueling locations then I can look for clues there if Daijiro isn’t in Mallegory .

“Umu, the flying ship is originally a ship that transcends dimensions which Daijiro created in order to return to her homeland . ”

“A ship that transcends dimensions!?”

Was something like that even possible?

Well, that flying ship did enter My World without my permission .

“Ichinojo, do you know how the item bag you use work? The item bags in the market only inflate the s.p.a.ce to fit a volume a number of times more than a regular bag . However, the item bags Daijiro create cut into another dimension and is fixed to the bag . That’s why the volume is larger in the order of magnitudes . Well, it is actually a by-product of Daijiro’s research into dimensions . ”

“This has such an amazing technology behind it?”

Daijiro-san’s aim — I had the hint even since the beginning .

“Daijiro-san’s aim is to return to her former world — huh . ”

Why did she have to kidnap Miri for that goal?

Miri is Famiris‧Raritei — this world’s Demon Lord . She was able to return to j.a.pan through the form of reincarnation . In other words, she is a successful example of returning to her original world .

There’s a high possibility of Daijiro-san being involved in Famiris‧Raritei’s incarnation .

“Eh, why did Doxco cooperate with Daijiro-san for that goal?”

“It’s the dwarf’s desire to pursue unknown technology . And I heard that j.a.pan has even more delicious alcohol when I was told the recipe for absinthe . ”

Doxco said lovingly to the now-empty bowl .

In this world, although rare, there is rice .

With Daijiro-san’s knowledge, even if it is incomplete, she should be able to teach them the method to distill refined sake . She didn’t tell him perhaps because she wanted to heighten Doxco’s curiosity and desire for alcohol? Well, that is if I had to make an evil guess .

Perhaps even the doujinshi was introduced by her to increase the people’s interest in j.a.pan?

… Nope, that should just be her hobby . Yup, I’d like to believe so .