Edamame

Located in the central area of the castle, the kitchen was huge. Yuzuki had never seen one so big before. Despite how humble the place looked at first glance, she knew once upon a time, the place must have been bustling with energy and busy chefs running around trying to prepare grand meals.

Though there left a lot to the imagination currently, as the place was so musty and dusty, she was sure in her world the place would get a health violation. A few of the Laplunas met a few of their dusty brethren on the ground and ended up sneezing themselves out of the kitchen, bless them.

“How long before Lord Kerron gets back from…whatever it is he’s doing?” Yuzuki asked, fishing for something to tie her hair up with. The dress she wore had a decorative ribbon for the neck, so she used that to put up her blonde hair into a ponytail, to keep it out of her face and out of the food.

“He usually won’t be back until very late,” Crim answered, vaguely; looked like he didn’t keep track of the time normally.

“You’ll most likely have until the clocktower strikes twelve,” Azura supplied a little more helpfully.

It had been around 7 in the evening when Yuzuki had first arrived, she recalled, if the clock tower chimes were any indication. Factoring in the bath and detours she took, it was around 8, closer to 9 in the evening now. She could feel her stomach rumble, so it was due for a meal for her as well. “What do we have to work with?”

The castle had a pantry and cold storage room. Cold storage was half a level deeper than the pantry and was surprisingly chilly when Yuzuki went to check it. Something shimmered iridescently on the far wall and when Yuzuki went to take a look Azura, who had accompanied her to explore the kitchen and connecting rooms, explained that it was an enchantment circle.

Using a catalyst, magic circles were continuous magical spells that kept going even after a caster was no longer alive. It was convenient, because it drew the ambient mana from around the world instead of a direct source. However, the drawback was that the spells were often very weak ones as a result, unless the caster poured a lot of their own magic into the enchantment to begin with.

“The power of a magic circle is usually determined by its caster,” Azura said. “However, as you now know magic is very finite in this world, so many only put a little or don’t bother with magic circles at all. A small input of mana equals a small output of the spell, do you understand?”

Yuzuki nodded. That seemed simple enough to grasp. “So, I’m guessing it’s pretty chilly in here because of a spell right? That’s convenient for food storage.”

There were cuts of meat wrapped up in paper. Yuzuki was happy to know things like poultry were available in this world, as the meat in the cold storage came from birds. Using Azura’s help, she was able to identify what was what. Looking at each properly packaged item, Yuzuki remembered someone mentioning how the Lord of Death just straight up ate raw meat like it was nothing. What a waste; these cuts looked quite nice. Ideas were forming in the cook’s mind as to what she could make as she moved over to the pantry to check on other items that could be used.

Kerron truly lived a very simple life, with sacks of potatoes and carrots. She did find some other greens, but Crim says he also ate them as is. Their lord did not even salt his items, finding it too troublesome, which further offend Yuzuki’s sensibilities as a cook. How did one live without even a little salt. Even the most restrictive diets of chronically ill patients in her home world had some seasoning in their food. To think someone would choose to have no salt at all. There was a perfectly good basket of beans, she saw, that would go great with some salt!

Speaking of condiments…for a man who clearly just grabbed a potato and probably ate it like some earthen apple, would he keep things like herbs and salt around? Did this world have the technology for it?

“Do we have anything like salt?” Yuzuki asked Crim, hoping he would know.

“Hmm…we do, but…”

“...But?”

Crim’s red glow seemed to take on a deeper hue, as if blushing in embarrassment.

“It might be easier to show you, Yuzuki…”

“All right…”

There was another door within the kitchen, where extra items were stored. A closet, was how Crim described it, where the ‘salt was being kept’. The way he put it had Yuzuki looking at him funny, because there should be other things in the closet other than just salt. However, after she opened the door, she balked at what she saw. She had to close the door a moment to gather herself, before opening it again to mentally comprehend what she was seeing.

A giant crystal reaching almost the top of the doorframe, with the thickness of her own body, this was the salt that Crim spoke of.

“What in the Hell is this?” she asked, flabbergasted at what she was seeing.

Azura floated closer, peeking at what the other two were looking at and had a bit of a laugh.

“Oh, that? Kerron found it some time ago. He used to use it to season food, but found it a bit too inconvenient to use as it is. He said shaving off flakes for food was too much effort.”

No fricking kidding! Yuzuki thought loudly. Who in their right mind would have a whole salt crystal just casually in their closet like this?!

At least there was salt. She had no problem with shaving some off for use and then grinding it enough to be used. It’ll probably be closer to the consistency of rock salt, but at least she had salt.

There were plenty of old, but usable, tools in the kitchen. They needed to be cleaned and fixed up a bit, but it was all usable. There was even a small font where water came in from somewhere. Yuzuki just assumed magic, since there was no evidence of a proper plumbing system, and counted herself grateful for access to water. Now that she thought of it, the bath had a tremendous amount of hot water in it; she assumed it was from the same source. Living the way people did on Earth, she supposed such things were so commonplace that she hadn’t questioned why it was around at all. But now knowing a bit more about how Vestia worked, she could appreciate her blessings a bit more. Truly, she was lucky to have found her way to the castle.

Her stomach grumbled again, reminding her that it had been a while since her last meal.

She did see something that could be made quickly and simply to be had as a quick snack before she made a proper meal. Best not to work on an empty stomach, something she held onto back at her job, despite how much her boss forced her to work through breaks. Even if she didn’t have time to sit down during her job, she always made sure to eat!

There were some green pods in the pantry, similar to raw soybeans. They needed little preparing, though she found a knife to cut off some of the stems that poked out still. After that it was all about filling a pot with water and starting a fire, which required a bit of elbow grease as the stoves and ovens in the kitchen didn’t have some magic circle that could activate like a cooking top back home. NEver in her life did she think starting a fire the old fashioned way could be so hard. Thankfully, Crim and Azura were well versed in these skills, most likely from having to live in this world.

While intimidating, Yuzuki took a knife to the salt crystal and shaved some pieces off. Some were just thrown directly into the now boiling pot of water, while the rest she ground up with the handle of her knife the best that she could. Her kingdom for a mortar and pestle! But what did she expect from a place so threadbare.

When she felt the salt had dissolved enough, she tossed in the pods she found and allowed them to cook for a few minutes. It didn’t take long for the snack she had in mind to cook.

Draining the water carefully, she placed them on a plate and sprinkled the rest of the salt on top, tossing them so that they were generously covered all over. After that step was done, Yuzuki happily got to snacking.

Blowing one of the green pods so she didn’t burn her mouth, she took a nice crunchy bite and her eyes lit up with delight, recognizing the taste and mouthfeel immediately. She was right! Those pods had been soybeans! Or close to them, anyways. These tasted exactly like the edamame from home.

The next one she popped the pod open, getting a hit of that salty deliciousness from this simple and easy to make snack that was so popular as an appetizer in many izakaya in Japan. If only she had a glass of cold beer, this would be perfect. But even without it, she was glad for something akin to the taste of home.

The Lapluna, who had been standing by the kitchen door to stay away from the dust, came hopping back in, enticed by the smell of salt cooking vegetables. They looked up at Yuzuki, almost begging her with their eyes to get a treat, too. She wanted to, but wondered if it was safe for them to eat something with salt on it.

“They can have it,” Azura told her, sensing Yuzuki’s internal struggle. “They’re not like regular animals. They are magical beasts, so they often can eat the same things humans can.”

“Oh, really?” It was a bit shocking for her, since they basically just looked like rabbits. But considering how intelligent they were, she supposed they weren’t your run-of-the-mill bunnies. Happy to have an excuse to watch the Lapluna eat again, she took some of the edamame off her plate to put on another to feed them.

Once again, they took to the treat well, nibbling them happily and even making soft content sounds. Their fur glowed once more after they ate, drawing Yuzuki’s curiosity again. She looked to Azura and Crim for any reaction, but couldn’t tell what they were thinking (but then again, orbs didn’t have faces to read in the first place). Since they had no reaction, Yuzuki just chalked it up to something being normal in this world and ate alongside her dear little friends.

Azura and Crim were surprised though and they whispered to each other while Yuzuki was distracted by the edamame and Lapluna.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes, they were clearly glowing after they ate her food.”

“So that may mean…”

Having snacked, Yuzuki could move onto her actual goal within the kitchen. Making a proper meal for the lord. Considering she had used his kitchen and ingredients already without really asking, guest or no, she really needed to make something good. And considering the items she saw, she had decided on what she was going to cook for him.