Novel Bin Chapter 281
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 Japanese who could say NO but I totally can’t say NO after all .
As such, we headed to the tavern we passed 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 Japan’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 Japan’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 Space-time Magic even since she was in Japan . If I remember correctly, Miri’s Space-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 eggshell .
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 eggshell 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 passed 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 coarseness 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 coarse taste remains . ”
The portion that gives the umami flavor when cooked as rice was apparently what gives the coarse 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 space 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 Japan 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 Japan 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 Japan?
… Nope, that should just be her hobby . Yup, I’d like to believe so .