Chapter 457 Unexpected Visitor

I could see my much-missed house.

Looks like Bartel and Peter were on gatekeeping duties today.

“Bartel, Peter, I’m back!”

“Ou, welcome back. It’s good to see you safely home.”

“Welcome back.”

The greetings went on normally enough, but I was still a little nervous about their reaction to Grandpa Gon.

“Anyway, this is…” Bartel was staring up at Grandpa Gon, his left cheek twitching. “We received a very surprising message from the Adventurer’s Guild. The message was so unbelievable that we suspect something… but it turned out to be true…”

Peter nodded fervently beside Bartel.

“Well, things turned out the way it is… anyway, this fellow is now my new familiar. I hope everyone will treat him well.”

“He is now our comrade as well, so, of course,” Bartel nodded at Grandpa Gon.

“Umu, greetings,” Grandpa Gon replied.

“Speaking of which, is everything alright during my absence?”

“Everything’s really peaceful here. Peter go let everyone know that Mukouda-san is back, alright?”

Peter nodded and ran off.

“Have everyone gather to have a meal today. I want to hear from everyone.”

“With plenty of meat,” Fer muttered.

His face was too close to mine, so I pushed him away, “Yes, yes, don’t we always have plenty of meat all the time? You’ll get your meat, but I want to make use of some of Alban’s vegetables to make something for tonight.”

“Gahahahaha! Speaking of that fellow, I have to say that Alban really gave his all when it comes to growing vegetables. Everyone diligently ate a lot, but there are just too many. I think we harvested too much.”

“W-what do you mean by ‘harvested too much’?”

“Well, I feel it’s best that Mukouda-san see with your own eyes later,” said Bartel cheerfully.

“”Are those special other world vegetables? I look forward to them!!”” said Dora-chan from the top of Grandpa Gon’s head.

“”Sui wants to eat the sweet melon~~”” Sui bounced out from the leather bag to Fer’s back.

“Naturally, meat is the best. However, everything that Master has provided is very good. I look forward to it,” said Grandpa Gon.

“That’s right, that’s the spirit. Don’t be like someone who only insists on meat, meat, meat.”

“Gunuu… I don’t care, I’m fine with just meat!”

Eh, whatever.

We had reached the front of the house by now, and I could see familiar faces greeting me.

“Welcome home~ Brother Mukouda~~” energetic Lotte-chan hopped up and down as she greeted me.

“I’m home, Lotte, everyone.”

“”Welcome home, Mukouda-san!”” everyone echoed.

Ahh, as expected. Home is the best.

“Right, I’ll let you handle that.”

After introducing Grandpa Gon to everyone, aside from some stares, there were no big reactions. [1] I must thank that Guild Master for conveying the message to my people and allowing them to mentally prepare themselves for Grandpa Gon.

I had the ladies help me prepare for tonight’s feast.

There would be a lot of cutting and parboiling work tonight!

After surveying the vegetables grown by a very proud Alban, I decided that we could try eating them as Cheese Fondue. Another new and fun way of eating, a big community dis.h.!.+

More importantly, it was both delicious and easy to make.

Together with the ladies, we selected vegetables that go well with Cheese Fondue, namely things like potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes and paprikas (red and orange).

Alban had requested every single available type of seed from [Net Super] last time, so I obliged. Looks like he went a little crazy and the result was this b.u.mper crop. Goodness. Well, I guess it’s alright?

While the ladies were prepping the vegetables, I considered my meat options.

First, meat from [Net Super], little wieners cut in half would be just right for a Cheese Fondue. Let’s get some c.o.c.katrice meat too. These should be lightly seasoned with salt and pepper before stir-frying so that it’s mostly cooked. [2] That’s right, since I have the halved wieners, let’s fry those with a dash of oil, just enough to keep the meat from sticking and use the remaining oil in the pan to fry the c.o.c.katrice meat later.

Hmm, hmm, I’m such a genius.

“Teresa, did you bake any bread today?”

“Yes, I bake them every day!” said Teresa.

“Then, please take a few loaves and cut them into bite-size pieces, we can include bread in the cheese fondue as well.”

“Oh my, truly? I shall go fetch the dinner loaves now~”

Leaving the prep work to these hardworking ladies, I went over to the Magic Stoves to check on the Pork Roast. For the Pork Roast, I choose to use the Special Dungeon Pig meat with a good amount of marbling and very tender. Just perfect for a roast.

After rubbing two large chunks of meat with grated garlic, salt, coa.r.s.ely ground pepper and olive oil, I set the meat onto the Magic Stove from my [Net Super] as well as the one that came with the house. In short, I have two roasts going on at the same time, hehehe.

After that, there was really nothing else I could do for the Roasts, aside from checking on them now and then.

Let’s make the cheese sauce for the fondue.

To make the fondue, first, buy a good amount of pizza cheese from [Net Super]. I have no idea what kind of cheese other people use, but I had always used store-bought shredded cheese for this.

Remove the shredded cheese from its packet and sprinkle some potato starch over it.

Next, rub a clove of garlic on the inside of a pan. Then, add white wine and bring it to a boil to evaporate some of the alcohol. Some people like to use milk, but I personally recommend white wine since it makes for a much richer cheese sauce.

Once the liquid had been boiling for a couple of minutes, lower the fire and add a third of the shredded cheese. Stir until incorporated and add another third, do this until all the cheese had been melted into a rich, creamy cheese sauce.

A glance at the oven showed that the Roasts were done cooking too. I opened the oven doors, letting the meat rest for a bit as I check on the rest of the ingredients. The vegetables had been cut and par-boiled, the bread cut into cubes, the sausages lightly grilled and the chicken pieces are just done.

There’s only the Pork Roasts to be sliced once they had rested.

I put the plates of meat and vegetables into my [Item Box] as the ladies split the large pot of cheese sauce into four separate pots on four separate portable stoves to keep the simmer going. It was quite a sight to see these four pots of bubbling cheese sauce being wheeled into the dining room.

That was when I realized we don’t have proper fondue forks.

Aahhh!! [Net Super]!! Help mee!!

Ah, luckily, it’s available online. Thank goodness we could buy all kinds of things on the Internet these days.

Once the table’s been set and the food placed on the table, I explained the proper ways of eating Cheese Fondue.

“Ahem, for today’s dinner, we’ll be having Cheese Fondue and Pork Roast. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the Roast, as for the Cheese Fondue, this is how we eat it…”

I picked up one of the long dainty forks and poked a piece of Alban’s prided broccoli and dipped it into the cheese sauce, making sure to get plenty on it. After the cheese sauce stopped dripping, I popped the cheese covered broccoli into my mouth- oof, hot, hot, but, huff, delicious~

It was so good that I nearly went for another one, but restrained myself to say, “Well, that’s it, really. Just picked whatever meat or vegetable of your choice and dip it into the sauce and eat it. You can dip the bread too.”

After that, everyone immediately went for their forks and for a moment, there was nothing but the sounds of huffing and puffing as well as the occasional ‘hot!’ and ‘delis.h.!.+’.

“Hey! What about us?”

“Fer? What about your Pork Roast… where is your Pork Roast?!”

“Umu, it was delicious, but I want to eat that one too.”

“It was so good that it was gone in an instant, Master,” said Grandpa Gon more politely.

Sui and Dora-chan were also going ‘Delis.h.!.+ Delis.h.!.+ But I want that…’.

“Haahhh, I guess it can’t be helped. It will take a bit of time to get a smooth cheese sauce going, so please eat roast pork with Garlic & Soy Sauce first.”

There was a little grumbling, but it was soon followed by the sounds of chewing. Hearing no more complaints, I gathered a few kinds of meat and vegetables on a plate and ladled cheese sauce over it. Hmm, looks like the cheese sauce is getting low, I should make more next time.

“Right,” I said, as I set four plates of cheese-covered mounds before my familiars. “Here’s your cheese fondue, eat it while it’s hot.”

“Humph, I would have been fine with just meat. Meat is the best,” muttered Fer through a mouthful of cheese-covered vegetables.

“”This cheese thing over vegetable is really good~~””

“”White stuff over meat is delicious~~””

“As expected, Master’s food is very tasty.”

Well, looks like everyone likes it, no matter what a certain individual says.

[3] As I got out a portable stove and began to a.s.semble more cheese sauce, Teresa and Aiya came up to say ‘Let us do it, Mukouda-san’ and ‘Mukouda-san should eat too’. Ah, I have tears in my eyes. As expected, I’d rather not be a Solitary Chef.

[3] After giving them the instructions, I picked up my own fork and went for the bread. Oof, as expected, bread and cheese go very well together. Hmm, hmm, the potatoes are very nice too, so is this cherry tomato…

“Delis.h.!.+ This meat is Delis.h.!.+”

One half of the twins, Irvine, howled.

“Really, really delis.h.!.+”

That was the other twin, Luke.

“Hmm, indeed, may I know what kind of meat is this Roast, Mukouda-san?”

“It’s Dungeon Pig, a High Ranking, Special Individual Dungeon Pig to be exact.”

“Wh-what kind of cheat is that?!”

“Mukouda-san, this…”

“What the- Mukouda-san, [4] I know I have spoken about this before and I understand that it is not my place to comment, but, it is rare even for the rich to eat High Ranking Dungeon Pig meat, but Special Individual is… is…”

“Haha, it’s fine, Tabitha. I know that it’s a luxury item.”

“A super luxury item,” Bartel muttered as he stared unblinkingly at the Pork Roast.

Wh-what an unnecessary comment! Ugh, because of your weird statement, both the Alban and Tony family have also stiffened.

“Um, well, as Bartel says, it is pretty luxurious, but it’s all fine since my party collected it myself, it’s all fine, really. Fer and the others had great fun hunting the in the dungeons. So, we have lots of them. Go on, eat up, eat up.”

“We get to eat really incredible things sometimes…” muttered Peter.

“I wonder, are we still slaves?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, since our master Mukouda-san says so.”

“That’s right, that’s right, it’s great to be Mukouda-san’s slaves.”

Well, looks like Irvine and Luke adapted quickly as usual.

“Good grief, people would often be hesitant in front of luxurious goods, but you two…”

“Mom? Dad? Are you not going to eat? It’s really delicious~~” said Lotte-chan through a mouthful of Pork Roast.

“Oh my, is it that delicious?”

“Yeah! It’s suuuper delish~~! Big Brother Mukouda!”

“Well then, eat lots and lots, Lotte~”

Seeing Lotte-chan stuff her cheeks really makes me feel at ease. After a little while, the others began to start eating again.

The atmosphere was still rather awkward. So, I racked my brain for something to ease the tension. Oh, that’s right.

“Oh my, I nearly forgot, when it comes to Cheese Fondue, we mustn’t forget white wine!”

“Oooh, alcohol?” Bartel cheered happily.

[5] I bought a whole case and let everyone drink. Oh, and apple juice for the kids. The social lubricant worked like a charm and soon, everyone was happily eating and cheering each other.

Everyone was so relaxed that when I handed out souvenirs to them, they were a little bit embarra.s.sed but mostly happy.

Lotte-chan, the youngest, was hopping around with joy.

The rest of the evening went very well, with the children eventually approaching Grandpa Gon as the adults relaxed on the side.

Since we had just returned from a dungeon dive, I plan to take a break.

When I said break, I meant, a break from hunting and dungeon diving.

[6] During the break, I visited Lambert-san, to give him his souvenir. The man was so touched that he cried and hugged me.

[6] While I was not too happy about being hugged by another man, I’m glad that he likes it.

[6] Fer and the rest were itching to go hunting. As for me, I was relaxing in the living room, thinking about showing my face at the Adventurer’s Guild when…

“Oi~I, Mukouda-san. There’s an elf here who says that he’s your acquaintance,” Luke’s voice interrupted my reverie.

[7] “Hm? An elf? Wait, don’t tell me…” I reluctantly followed Luke to the gate where Irvine was standing guard.

“Mukouda-san! Mukouda-san! I got here as soon as I heard!”

Jumping and waving at me was a handsome-looking elf with a dazzling smile. It was that infamous Dragon Otaku from Doran.

“Elland-san…”

[Gumihou: Woah, that was a long chapter.]

[1] Bartel mentioned that ‘a message from the Guild’ came to them, but it was not mentioned later. This seems to be a good area to reiterate it.

[2] Add more cooking detail.

[3] Add Detail on how the ladies offering to make this ‘Cheese Sauce’, just for variety’s sake, in place of ‘oooh, xx is good. Oooh yy good. As expected, zz is good too’.

[4] The way Tabitha commented in the original sounded too high handed to be subordinate.

[5] In place of ‘everyone got used to Grandpa Gon x 3’ talk about the strategic usage of wine and apple juice to ease tension.

[6] The time skip montage is very awkwardly done, adjust

[7] Mukouda was all ??? until he saw the elf in person. Seriously, he should have known this would happen the moment Grandpa Gon became his familiar.