Chapter 20 - Cooking with Four People
Now that Flora had joined us, we all moved to the kitchen together.
"I'm not that good at cooking, so maybe I should sit this one out?"
"You're the one who suggested it, aren't you? Help out a little. You can at least cut vegetables and meat or simmer down a sauce, can't you?"
Toak caught Aisha as she tried to drift back to the living room table.
"Let's cook together once in a while, Aisha? It's more fun if everyone does it."
"Fine."
I also knew the skill levels of Toak and Flora, so I felt like leaving it to them, but this time I wanted to enjoy making it with everyone. Since I'd be eating venison many times if I hunted from now on, I definitely wanted to learn the cooking methods from these two skilled cooks.
While everyone was washing their hands, I prepared the things that seemed necessary.
Salt and pepper, wine, olive oil, a frying pan. A kitchen knife and a cutting board, and then the venison.
As I placed them on the kitchen counter, Flora took out a small wooden lunch box from her bag.
"Ah, I marinated these yesterday. This side is coated with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and this side is marinated with red wine and herbs like marjoram."
"Oh! Good preparation. With this, we can make a delicious sauté."
"As expected of Flora. We can eat right away with this."
"I'm grateful."
We all let out voices of admiration at Flora's excellent preparation.
I felt like I could cry with joy that she brought precious ingredients from her home. To think she had even done the marinating while preparing meals for her family and me.
I'd have to go share some of the catch with her again after the next hunt.
"Well then, what should we make?"
"Steak and stew!"
Aisha immediately raised her hand in response to Toak's murmur.
"Huh? Stew takes too long, so don't. "
"Ehh? No stew?"
"It's not that it's bad, but if we start making it now, it'll be way past lunch time."
Flora seemed to agree with Toak and didn't recommend it much either. Stew took time because you had to simmer it for hours.
If we did that now, it would be evening by the time we ate lunch.
"Maybe something that can be made by frying is safest."
"Roasts or sautés are plenty delicious too. If you want soup, we can just make vegetable soup. You'll get tired of it if it's all meat."
"Oh, that's good. By the way, even if I try to imitate Toak, I can't get that flavor."
"Haha, you can't do it right away. It's no good if you just cut things and put them in."
After talking among the four of us for a short while, we decided on a menu of venison steak, venison sauté, red wine stir-fry, roast, and vegetable soup.
It was quite a luxurious menu, but since we had the venison Flora had marinated and the recipes seemed surprisingly simple, we got to work immediately.
The basic plan was for Aisha and me to take on the simple dishes like steak and roast, Flora to do the red wine stir-fry and sauté, and Toak to handle the vegetable soup and supervise Aisha.
We lined up around the kitchen in the order of Flora, me, Aisha, and Toak.
It was a relatively spacious kitchen, but with four adults lined up, it felt quite cramped.
Flora had brought her own handmade apron, so she put it on.
Since Aisha hadn't thought of such a thing because her sister had forced her to wear the dress, she ended up using my apron. It would be a waste to get her beautiful dress dirty, after all.
I looked at Flora looking at Aisha; perhaps because of the height difference, it was a bit baggy.
"It really is big."
"...That's true, but that's not it."
"What is?"
"I-It's nothing, Aldo-san! Let's start cooking."
I was curious about Aisha's strange words, but since Flora told us to get to work on the cooking, I decided not to worry about it.
I cut the block of venison into large pieces and sprinkled salt and pepper for seasoning. Then I put a little oil in the frying pan and sautéed sliced garlic to transfer the flavor.
The savory scent of garlic wafted through the air, and it turned a caramel color.
"It smells so good."
"Just shut up and hurry up and cut the meat. There are only two knives, so I can't use one."
I could hear the voices of the two from beside me.
There were three cutting boards, but I only had two knives. There was only enough space for two frying pans at most, so if we didn't rotate efficiently, we'd waste time.
When I first started living in this house, I probably never imagined cooking with four people like this.
I felt a sense of nostalgia, like when I was cooking with the Black Silver party.
"...Aldo-san, you look like you're having fun."
Perhaps my cheeks had unintentionally loosened, as Flora peered at me with a smile.
"I just remembered a bit about the old days. Thinking, 'I used to cook with my comrades like this.'"
"By the way, Aldo, what did you do in the past? If you don't want to say, you don't have to."
When I muttered that, Toak asked tentatively.
A twenty-seven-year-old man had suddenly come to the village. He'd be curious about what I had been doing.
"No, it's nothing hard to say. I was an adventurer until a little while ago, and I came here because I managed to save up some money."
While saying that, I confirmed the flavor had transferred to the oil and removed the garlic from the frying pan.
Then I added a little more oil and heated the pan until it started to smoke.
"Heh! Is that so! Then you've exterminated fierce monsters like goblins and orcs before."
"Well, yes."
I had exterminated the dragon that lay beyond that, but since that wasn't something I needed to say, I kept quiet.
"If there's a hunter with experience in monster extermination, we can feel safe in times of need."
"You're reliable."
"I've already retired, so please don't work me too hard, okay?"
Normally, if there were small-fry monsters like goblins, the hunters or villagers would deal with them, and if monsters they couldn't handle appeared, they would wait for the dispatch of adventurers or a knight order. A hunter who would be the first to deal with them being a former adventurer would be a reassuring thing.
If monsters ever came to this village, my own life and everyone else's would be on the line, so I would take the lead in fighting, but if possible, I'd like to be excused from that kind of work now.
Since the frying pan was hot enough to smoke, I tossed in the venison.
Beside me, Aisha also started tossing meat into her pan, having finished cutting and seasoning.
The pleasant sound of fat sizzling echoed from each pan, and the rich scent of meat drifted heavily into the living room.
"I'm hungry."
"Me too."
Aisha and I muttered as we watched the venison splattering its juices.
The smell of roasting meat worked well on an empty stomach. I realized that the more I smelled that aroma, the hungrier I became.
In the back, Toak and Flora were using the free cutting boards to chop vegetables with a rhythmic thud-thud.
Both of them moved their knives very quickly.
Since I had started living alone, getting used to handling a kitchen knife would be more important than a sword from now on.
After searing the meat for about a minute, I repeated the process of flipping it and searing it for another minute. The surface of the red venison was seared and turned brown. The inside was still very red, but since this was a roast, that was perfectly fine.
After that, I took it off the heat, covered the pan, and let it sit for a while.
"Hey, Aisha. Don't sear it on such a high heat, okay? If you don't sear it slowly on medium heat, it'll get tough."
"I know at least that much."
Listening to the friendly banter of the two, I pulled plates from the cupboard to plate the food.
Since it was a roast, maybe a shallow round plate would be good. Aisha would probably finish searing hers soon too, so I'd take the plates for the steaks as well.
Lately, choosing the plates had become as fun as making the meal.
Then, after confirming the residual heat had thoroughly permeated the pan, I sliced the venison thinly.
The outside was appropriately cooked, and the inside was a beautiful pink. It was a level of doneness somewhere between rare and medium. It was a level of heat I was satisfied with myself.
I plated the roast, which was dripping with juicy meat juices.
Aisha, who was next to me, seemed to have finished her steaks, as she was plating them on the round plates I had placed nearby.
After plating the roast, I used the juices remaining from the roast to boil down wine, honey, and other ingredients to make a sauce. I turned off the heat when the sweet smell and thickness had developed, and it was complete.
As I poured it over the plated roast, I noticed that the number of roast slices was slightly lacking.
Suddenly, as I stopped moving, I saw Aisha's healthy-looking hand reach out toward the roast.
"Ah—"
Just as I opened my mouth to say, 'Aisha, did you just sneak a bite?', something warm was stuffed into my mouth.
The taste of meat juices and the perfect amount of salt and pepper spread through my mouth all at once. This was the venison roast.
Perhaps because I hadn't overcooked it, the meat wasn't too tough. The more I chewed, the more it tasted like rich, dripping meat; it was very delicious.
As I chewed what had been put in my mouth for the time being, Aisha held her index finger to her lips.
This girl, she made me an accomplice. Forcing a piece of roast into my mouth like that.
Well, the two behind us weren't looking, so I guess it was fine.
I believed that tasting was necessary when making food.
The act of recommending a dish to others without even tasting it was what was truly rude.
Therefore, there was no problem with tasting the roast as it was. Yes, this was definitely not an act like sneaking a bite. It was to make sure the roast I was going to feed everyone was properly made.
"Ah—? What's wrong, Aldo?"
"Nothing, it's nothing."
The moment I reached for the roast, Toak turned around with a suspicious voice. I vigorously pulled back the hand I had been extending.
Aisha, who had also been tasting, was pretending to be plating with a nonchalant expression. Aisha was really good at feigning innocence.
"...Something's suspicious?"
Toak narrowed his sharp eyes and directed his gaze toward us.
"I'm done here, so you can use the frying pan."
I handed the used frying pan to Flora as if I had nothing to hide.
"Ah, yes. Thank you very much."
Flora received the frying pan with a beaming smile.
Looking at this innocent smile, I thought in my heart what a suspicious guy Toak was.
"Ah, Aldo-san. You have some sauce on the corner of your mouth?"
"Eh? Really?"
"...Idiot."
Pointed out by Flora, I hurriedly wiped the corner of my mouth.
In that instant, hearing the words whispered from Aisha's mouth, I realized my mistake.
—I was set up by Flora.
"Ah, you guys snuck a bite, didn't you?"
When I sent a stunned gaze toward Flora, who had framed me, she smiled brightly and resumed cooking.
That smile was a lovely, soft smile as always, but for some reason, it was a smile that sent a shiver down my spine.
Did I do something to make Flora angry...?