Chapter 25: Meals Thrice a Day

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Translator: Haruchin   Editor: Marky

I had a sandwich for lunch, so let’s make some gyoza dumplings tonight.
Hard flour, weak flour, a bit of lard, and mixed it all together to make the batter.
Let it rest for a bit while prepping the tools.

Ground meat….
I didn’t have any, so I minced the meat till it can pass..
Knead it till it’s sticky, then mix in the veggies.
Oops, should be gentle, there’ll be too much liquid if I crushed the veggies.
Well, I did squeeze out the water from the veggies, but the meat will be spoiled if it’s too mushy.

I’ll make two types of fillings, cabbage and garlic or bok choy and garlic.
Ended up making a lot of batter, so maybe I can make some deep fried shrimp gyoza, too.
The bread I baked this morning is still fresh thanks to my super convenient 【 Storage 】.
It won’t spoil as long as it’s in there, and it’s a lot more user friendly than your trusty refrigerator, if we set aside the fact that it can’t make ice or chill things.

Rice, gyoza and chinese style soup — the gyoza’s skin was smooth and sticky, and the fried part’s crunchy crisp.
The juice overflows with every bite.

Riche’s wasn’t interested in gyoza, but he ate a bit of meat today aside from his usual water.
He looked like he enjoyed eating it.
I would feel kinda guilty if I gave a dog some seasoned food, so this was good enough for Riche.

Haahh, so happy.

I soaked in the bath after dinner — ahh, happiness overload.
As expected, food and dwelling really matters, huh.

I worked for a bit before turning in for the night, but it’s just naming all the spirits systematically with numbers though.
Dunno, this won’t end until Sis calms down, I bet.
I’m not in the mood everyday to do this, but it’ll be bad if they pile up.

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I drank some milk after work, then it’s goodnight.

***

My daily routine had been waking up early, brushing Riche, and taking a stroll with him.
After that it’d be breakfast time, but I teleported to the rented house early today.

I went out of the bare-looking third floor and went down the stairs.
Oh, looks like Ash is already awake, there’s sounds coming from the first floor.

“Morning.”
“Morning.”

I was thinking about what she might be doing, so she’s just getting water from the well.
Her shirt sleeves were all rolled up her arm as she drew the water up — that figure of hers is way too cool, you know.

“You okay with moving around?”

Az flew from Ash’s shoulder towards mine, nuzzling after.
Morning, Az.

「 Yeah, I’m in tip top shape.
Thanks, I took up your offer yesterday, and had a bath.
」

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So she’s done with her bath.
Even if you say bathtub, it’s just a tub.

I told her last night that she’s free to use the kitchen, bathtub and firewood.
Also told her that my sleep’s shallow, so she shouldn’t go near the third floor.

「 How about breakfast? 」

I tossed some firewood into the kamado while asking her.
The charcoal was still glowing orange, probably from boiling water for the bath.
It already started to burn just by adding some firewood sticks and crumbling the charcoal with the fire poker.

「 Not yet.
」
「 Are you fine with bread and cheese? 」

I took out a huge round bread from the wooden storage box on the shelf.
Already predicted that something like this might happen, so I stocked up!

「 Thanks for this.
」

Ash left again to continue drawing water from the well.
It’s manual labor, she’s doing things like this everyday.
It must be tough.

I also took some eggs from the wooden storage box’s sawdust, then fried them with salted meat.
Actually these eggs are from back home — eggs might have salmonella here, too scary.

Maximum preservation of bacon…ish things were prioritized here, so most of them are hard and too salty.
They’re perfect for adding in soups, but during this season, most of the ones in the market are quite soft.

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When autumn ends, farming families who can no longer feed their livestock, especially as the winter draws near, usually butcher and sell them.
It’s hard to get feed during the winter, the Dinosso family said.
Aside from the raw ones, the newly pickled meat is still cheap.
As winter deepened, the price would rise.

I sliced the bread so its thickness was just right, then toasted it for a bit.
Fried pickled meat, sunny-side up egg, what else, spread some cheese and sweet and sour plum jam — perfect.
Veg’s? It’s in the soup.
Seems like I can’t really get used to eating wild vegetables?

「 Thanks.
It’s done.
」

I called out to the yard where Ash was working by the well, then I strode with my tray towards the workshop and set it on the table.

Ah, I forgot to ask if she wanted the eggs sunny side-up, soft-boiled or hard-boiled.

She didn’t argue about how cooked the sunny-side ups were, or what to put and whatnot until we finished eating.
Well, probably because there’s no oil and ketchup here, nor sauces.
Salt and pepper won hands down.

「 It’s delicious.
Putting cheese and jam spread on this bread was brilliant.
」

Ash’s expression didn’t change one bit, but she must’ve liked it, her voice was more expressive than usual.

「 Thanks.
」

I made the jam by stewing the plums I picked in the forest.
It was a bit sour, but it surprisingly went well with this white cheese, the sourness and sweetness blending together.

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「 By the way, it’s about the little bird.
I named it while you were asleep.
Sorry.
」
「 — What did you give it? 」

Ash ‘nudged’ Az while asking me.

「 Az.
」
「 Great name.
This spirit must have taken a liking to you, since he accepted that name.
No need to apologize.
」

「 I think Az also likes you, though.
」

Az had been bound to Ash, but he didn’t seem to dislike her.
He even wanted to ride on her shoulder.

「 Really? 」
「 Yup.
」
Ash seemed happy as I told her so.

「 Do you wanna go to the guild after resting for a bit? 」
「 Yeah.
I also need to pay Jean-dono for accommodating me here.
」

Alright, time to go take that money cheated from Ash.
Ah, if the matter about Pink Head’s spirit was already settled, that is.