BXBX NOVEL Volume 4 - 9
The manager of the Slime Den Restaurant is the same employee who took care of the kitchen of the laundromat, Celma-san. Karm-san said that there were plenty of vacant rooms in the dorm, so considering that Celma-san also had some lingering affections for her previous job, I talked to her about it.
We’ll be able to fill the vacant rooms by having the employees of the Slime Den Restaurant sleep at the laundromat’s dorm, and the employees will also be able to come and go easily to eat. Moreover, if I were to teach Celma-san the cooking in my previous life, I’ll be able to eat food from my previous life whenever I please. It was for these reasons that I made the restaurant. With all that said, the Slime Den Restaurant is actually a store I started without any intention of making a profit. I was satisfied so long as it stayed clear of the red.
But by teaching Celma-san the recipe of my previous life’s cuisines, and by giving her the pepper I harvested when I sometimes went out to gather herbal ingredients from the Great Forest of Shurus, and on top of that, by giving her the meat of the magical beasts I hunted along the way... Before I knew it, the store had already gotten famous for delicious cuisine.
After everyone had gotten off the carriage, I returned Rai into the Dimension Home. I took Elia and her friends into the store. As we opened the door, a bell sounded, and the hustle and bustle within the store and the bright voice of the employees reached our ears.
“Welcome. This way please, owner.” [Waitress]
When we entered the store, a waitress and a slime that was on a small table a short distance away from the door, welcomed us. The drunk slime is the mascot of this store. Thanks to the divine protection it has received, it’s able to provide good alcohol to the store. It’s what you would call a “beckoning slime”.
“Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]
We followed the waitress through the crowded restaurant. The seats and tables were arranged in an orderly fashion. And although the restaurant was crowded, the spaces in between the tables that were also there to divide the area ensured that there was space to walk. The interior of the restaurant was designed like that of a family restaurant. People often say it’s a bit eccentric.
As we walked, following the waitress, we were led to a table by the corner in the second floor. As everyone took their seats, the waitress distributed the menu, and gave us some water to drink. Then she left us and went to the other tables where other customers calling her sat.
“Now what should we eat?” [Ryouma]
I forgot to ask what kind of food they were bad at, so I wasn’t able to plan anything beforehand except for desserts.
I drank my glass of water as I looked at the menu.
Speaking of which, this menu was made by printing the contents with the ink of the ink slime on the paper of the pulp slime. After which it was then enclosed in the hardening liquid plank of the sticky slime. At which point, a hole was then opened to allow the menu to be seen, and was then inserted into a leather bag, folded three times. After being folded three times, the name of the store and the word ‘menu’ can be seen on the front cover of the leather.
I scanned the menu a little, but I already have everything in it memorized; everything except the set meals that change daily depending on Celma-san’s whims and the food stocks. So there’s no point looking at the menu. With that in mind, I might as well just explain the dishes myself.
“Is there anything you guys want to eat? Meat or vegetable...?” [Ryouma]
“Nothing in particular. I don’t really have any hates or dislikes when it comes to food, so I’ll take whatever you recommend, Ryouma-kun.” [Michelle]
Recommend, huh? Well I like everything in the menu, so if you were to ask me, I would actually recommend most of the food in it... If I were to consider the store’s profits, then I would have to recommend liquor, but... that’s not really an option here.
Also, I’m going to digress a bit, but the reason this store’s liquor is making such a profit is because of the world’s number one adviser (The God of Wine, Tekun).
Each time there was a banquet, I would bring food and wine to the divine realm, and Tekun would go, “This food goes with this wine!”. Because of that, I was able to get a good reference for which food to match with which liquor, resulting in the store making a killing.
Not that it’s related to the matter at hand or anything. Anyway, since it’s like this...
“How about the Slime Den Restaurant’s special made Hamburger Set? With seasoned minced meat, chicken soup, red wine, and herb sauce, it’s a treat you’ll never forget. There’re also bread and corn soup to go with it too.” [Ryouma]
There’s hamburger in this world so it should be safe, although the taste is completely different.
“Then I’ll have just that.” [Michelle]
Michelle’s decided, so next is... Kanan?
“I’d like some meat too. If possible I want to eat something I can’t eat anywhere else except for here.” [Kanan]
“Then in that case, I’d recommend either teriyaki pork, fried chicken, or beef cutlet set. The teriyaki pork and the fried chicken comes with rice, but the beef cutlet comes with bread.” [Ryouma]
“Then I’ll have that fried chicken set.” [Kanan]
“So there’s cooked rice here. I got ta say it’s been awhile since I’ve had some rice...” [Miyabi]
The staple food of this country is bread, so rice isn’t grown in these parts. This store is able to sell rice thanks to Pioro-san providing us imports along with soy sauce and miso from the dragonewt village. I wonder if there’re stores that sell cooked rice in the capital. I don’t think it’d be strange for the capital city of this country to have some, but the way Miyabi-san talks suggest otherwise...
As I pushed up all the rice dishes in my head up the list, Sebasu-san suggested a dish ahead of me.
“Then in that case, how about Chahan? It’s steamed rice, fried, with a taste seasoned with salt and pepper. If you were to make it into a set meal, then there’s chicken soup to go with it along with crispy minced meat and fried gyoza.” [Sebasu]
Because of that explanation, Miyabi-san, Elia, and Sebasu-san ordered the Chahan Set.
Come to think of it, Sebasu-san sure likes Chinese cuisine... It seems he’s been coming here to eat Chahan when I wasn’t around. The butler who orders Chahan every time he comes here is apparently famous amongst the employees.
Last to order was Riera-san, who ordered a lasagna set that had bread and soup to go with it.
I called the waitress, and ordered. Speaking of which, my order was the special made Hayashi Rice with sesame dressing salad.
Now all that’s left is to wait... While we were waiting, Elia noticed Miyabi-san looking around the store with serious eyes.
“Miyabi, is there something the matter?” [Elia]
“It’s related to my family’s business, so it caught my interest a bit.” [Miyabi]
Apparently, Miyabi-san saw the prices from the menu a while ago, and thought them to be rather cheap considering the import costs and the seasonings. While it’s true that importing a lot of goods while making it cheap isn’t easy, it’s thanks to the effort of the company that it’s possible.
“I go to the Great Forest of Shurus several times in a year to gather herbal ingredients. So during that time I would take the opportunity, and also harvest some pepper to use in the store.” [Ryouma]
The pepper I get doesn’t only grow around the vicinity of the ruins of Cormi Village, but also near the deeper areas of the forest. People don’t enter that area, so there’re plenty growing. I can get as much as I want, so during that time, I would stay for as long as a week, and gather enough to have even some left overs for the store.
The pepper I gather isn’t only used in the store. I also use it to settle a part of the bill of the rice, soy sauce, and miso that I get from the Saionji Firm. In other words, I also use it to barter.
“Other than that, I also provide the magical beasts I hunt along with the vegetables grown in my house, so I’m able to reduce the cost.” [Ryouma]
It’s not only bamboos that grow in my house. I need food to raise the goblins that I use to feed the slimes and experiment on, so I turned a part of the abandoned mine mountain into a field.
“So Ryouma-dono does even that.” [Riera]
“Yes, but the guild master of the merchant guild warned me not to sell those as it would cause the prices of all sort of things to fall, so while they’re being used, they aren’t being sold.” [Ryouma]
It’s common for magicians specializing in wood magic to make a small change with agriculture. It’s not strange either for retired magicians to work at fields. But in my case, I’m using the scavenger slimes’ fertilizer and the plant slimes that use wood magic to farm in large scale, resulting in scale and yields of a completely different league.
When I first started, there were many times when the crops turned into magical beasts, and were spoiled. But nowadays, I’m able to regularly supply this store with a variety of crops. Also, it’s not just crops that I’m not allowed to sell. I was also warned to talk before selling any of the notebooks and papers made by the training facility.
“Today’s really changed my perspective on slimes... It’s really a mystery why researchers gave slimes the cold shoulder for so long.” [Michelle]
When she heard my words, Michelle-san said that.
“There are plenty of people who came under my wing, and produced results, you know? The wax slimes and the ink slimes in the training facility that I showed you are some of the results of those researchers who came under my wing... The slimes were ignored, so the researchers couldn’t provide results. And because they couldn’t provide results, the researchers ignored the slimes even more. It’s a vicious cycle.” [Ryouma]
I gathered the slime researchers from Caulkins-san and his friends’ former workplace to work for me in my laundromats. It was then that I found out that there were actually plenty of researchers who were willing to research slimes, but due to malnutrition from poverty, their health deteriorated.
Many amongst them tried to stave off their hunger with Kofu berry. It’s a kind of berry with texture similar to that of mochi, but bitter. But then even if they do manage to stave off their hunger, they wouldn’t get much nutrients.
It seems they tried to compensate for the lack of nutrients with the Hamide herb – a kind of herb with plenty of nutrients – but even then it wasn’t enough. Continuing a lifestyle like that for an extended period would only leave them suffering with malnutrition or... sick. It’s not a lifestyle you could call healthy.
When I asked them why they kept eating those things, they said it’s because they didn’t have money. So even though the food was bad, since they were able to buy those two cheap, allowing them to buy lots, they kept eating it.
Being in a state like that wouldn’t just leave you unmotivated, it would even take away your ability to think. If anything, they already did plenty well in that they didn’t collapse.
“What happened to those people?” [Riera]
“Making them work like that would have been bad for my conscience... and besides, I wasn’t even confident they’d be able to work, so I first helped rehabilitate them. Nowadays, everyone is back to health, and they’re either working at a branch store of my laundromat, or researching at the research facility at the back of the training facility.” [Ryouma]
By making full use of my knowledge in medicine, both in this world and the last, along with the help of actual doctors, after we were able to confirm that the researchers were in fact suffering from malnutrition, we crushed some soybeans and fruits, and threw them into water. Then from that solution of vitamin B1, B2, B12, and C, I used my alchemy to draw out and mix vitamin pills, which we then had the destitute researchers drink.
From my identify skill, I found out that there were in fact little nutrients in the kofu berry. At the same time, I also found out that there were plenty of nutrients in the hamide herb, however, it was lacking in Vitamin B.
It’s harmful to the body to take too much of a certain vitamin, so I made sure to only give them water soluble vitamins which are relatively easier to expulse from the body. The medicines are only something made in a jiffy, but since administering it to them, their health gradually got better.
I had already reached the age where I was worried about my health back in my previous life, so I would often check various sites on health related matters then... it seems that knowledge actually proved itself useful here.
They had some other diseases on top of the malnutrition, so they weren’t able to make an instant recovery. But despite that, after making them stop eating such unhealthy meals, and making them take the vitamin pills and eat food easy to digest, and then letting them rest, even the doctors were surprised at how fast they recovered.
There are still some of them drinking vitamin pills even today, but that’s only for supplement, and not treatment. Nowadays, they rarely have any health issues aside from lack of sleep.
Back to the topic.
When I told them that the destitute researchers had gotten better, Elia and the others smiled as they said, “that’s great.”
“Excuse me.” [Waitress]
Oh, the food came. We were concentrated on talking, so it felt like the food came instantly.
As the three waitresses called out to us, they began to place the food on the table. When they finished, they politely bowed, went to a corner, opposite our table, and returned to the waiting area by the special staircase in the second floor that’s meant for carrying food.
When the eating began, the once lively table turned quiet. Everyone had become too entranced by the food, leaving little words to be said. Especially Miyabi-san, who was completely focused on eating, not even speaking a single word.
Still... I have to say... it’s sort of strange seeing a butler and a lady like Elia eating Chahan and Gyoza. Then again that’s probably just because I haven’t eaten anything back then aside from home cooking or cheap food.
It’s not really strange even for high-class Chinese restaurants to serve Chahan. Although I wouldn’t really know whether a high-class Chinese restaurant would also serve fried gyoza. If you asked for gyoza at an authentic restaurant, they would probably serve boiled gyoza instead since apparently, fried gyoza is a way to sell leftover food.
But the people of this world don’t know that. All they know is that it’s delicious, and are just eating normally. The only one who finds it strange is me due to the image I have in my mind.
After eating, the peach-like jello that I had reserved beforehand was brought. After eating that too, our lunch concluded. I paid the bill, and we rode the monster carriage. Hearing that everyone was satisfied made me happy.
I already knew that they enjoyed the meal from the expression they had while eating though... Ah, but I won’t teach the recipe to anyone, ok?
As I responded to the voices of the people from behind me, I ordered Rai. The next destination of the monster carriage is the training area for fighting practices.