Episode 79: Chicken Namban

Just after I finished testing my new magic powers Fer returned, carrying a Black Serpent securely in his mouth. It seemed his hunt was successful. Saying that I didn"t really expect otherwise even though a Black Serpent is an A-rank monster. I"m not really surprised by what he can do any more... Fer dropped the Black Serpent he had caught in front of me.

"Thanks, Fer." I put the Black Serpent in my Item Box.

"What"s up with this?" Fer asked me when he saw the box-shaped house I had made.

"This is what I created with earth magic." I was kind of proud of it.

"What"s it for?" Fer was blunt as usual.

"Hey, I just wished I had something like this to sleep in when we"re travelling."

"You"ve got my Barrier, haven"t you?"

"It"s not that." I explained. "Fer, your Barrier is strong and safe, it keeps the rain off, I"m really grateful for it... but it"s transparent and when I go to bed I feel uneasy and I can"t sleep properly."

"Yeah, but is something like that thing better than my Barrier?" Fer was sounding peeved. I hurried to placate him.

"Look, there are times when you like an area and want to hang around or it"s a nice place to hunt and you"re going to stay there for a while, aren"t there Fer?"

"Well, yes there are." Fer conceded.

"When you do that what kind of place do you choose to sleep in?"

"There"s usually a cave or a big tree..." Fer said slowly.

"Why do you choose places like that?"

"Why? I don"t know but somehow I can sleep better in a place like that..."

"That"s exactly why I made this house." I said triumphantly.

"I see..." He still didn"t sound convinced.

"Well, if we"re on a journey I definitely want to sleep in something like this at the end of the day."

OK, I had partially convinced Fer my little "house" was a good idea but another problem had cropped up. How do I get rid of the "house" after I"ve finished with it? I can"t just leave little buildings like this behind me as I travel with Fer, it"s not eco.

Oh, it seems if I made it just with my magical power it should disappear if I try to make it go away. I used Stone Wall on the "house", thinking "disappear" and it disappeared like it had never been there at all. Perhaps only the one who used magic to create it can get rid of it but I can do it without a problem.

I had a great time today learning about my magic but it was getting late.

"Fer, do you want to eat here or are you going to wait until we"re back in town? It may be almost dark by then."

"My belly"s empty, let"s eat here." The glutton had spoken. I"ll make dinner for Fer right away. So what will it be today? Hmmm, since I have fried chicken cutlets in my Item Box, I"ll use them up to make Chicken Namban.

I opened the Net Super menu and purchased what I was missing, mainly vinegar and tartare sauce. I thought about cooking up some rice but it would take too long so why not bread...? I chose hamburger buns this time.

First I had to make sweet vinegar by putting soy sauce, vinegar and sugar in a pan and warming it up. I soaked some fried chicken cutlets in the sweet vinegar letting them slowly absorb the flavour. I put them on a dish and finished off with plenty of tartare sauce on top.

Ah, I have to wake up Sui. "Hey Sui, we"re going to eat."

"Oh, dinner?-" Darling Sui-chan was awake instantly.

"Yes, dinner." I confirmed.

"Dinner, let"s eat-"

Now Sui was awake I put out another dish of Chicken Namban for her.

"It"s kinda sour, but it"s delicious when you eat it with this white stuff." Fer said while gobbling the contents of his dish.

"Yah, this white stuff is delicious.-" Sui agreed.

They seemed to like tartare sauce. I think tartare sauce is delicious too, by the way.

My turn now. I put Chicken Namban on a hamburger bun and added lots of tartare sauce then I bit into the completed Chicken Namban burger.

"Tasty-" The Chicken Namban and bread went very well together. Chicken cutlets glazed with sweet vinegar and plenty of tartare sauce are delicious.

"Hey, what you"re eating, it looks delicious." Fer interrupted.

"Do you want to try Chicken Namban in a burger bun?"

"Yes, please."

"Oh, Sui also wants to eat it-"

I made Chicken Namban burgers for Fer and Sui.

"Eating this with bread is delicious-" Sui said.

Yeah yeah, if you liked the Chicken Namban by itself then this combination will be pretty much the same taste. As for Fer... he scarfed down a complete Chicken Namban burger in a single bite. I guess he thought it was delicious too.

We took a small break after the meal to settle our digestion and then we made our way back to the town.

* * * * *

"Oh, can we stop by the Adventurers Guild?" I asked Fer. He agreed, not being particularly hungry any more. When we got to the Guild we went straight to the purchasing counter where there was a young man on duty.

"Ah, is Johan-san around?" I inquired.

"Whaddaya want him for?" The young man said very brusquely.

"Eh, I just need him for something." The young man"s att.i.tude was rubbing me up the wrong way.

"Hang on." Saying that, he turned to the warehouse door behind the purchase counter and shouted, "Ossan, there"s a customer here-"

"Oh- wait, wait." Johan-ojisan"s voice came back. After a few moments Johan-ojisan appeared from the back of the warehouse.

"It"s you, sonny?" he said. "You"re gonna have to come back tomorrow, I"m not finished disa.s.sembling all those b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bulls yet."

"Oh, that"s not what I"m here for, I have something different to ask you..." I know you"re busy and I"m sorry for asking you to do more work but I need it done as soon as possible.

"Well, seeing it"s you come on through." I followed Johan-ojisan back into his warehouse.

"So what you got for me today?" he asked expectantly.

"Uh, it"s Black Serpent." I pulled the Black Serpent out of my Item Box.

"Ohoho, I"m starting to enjoy seeing you turn up here, sonny." Johan-ojisan said. "I never know what surprises you"re gonna pull out of your Item Box. It"s Black Serpent this time-"

I"m really sorry. "Please give me the meat and the skin and please buy the rest."

"I gotcha. I"m still working on those b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bulls though like I said. I"ll give you everything together once they"re all done, OK?"

"Yes, that would be great." I"m going to get a Black Serpent skin I can sell to Lambert-san as we had agreed earlier. Time to go back to the inn.