chapter 6
6 – Helping those who help themselves (6)
“Ugh…! Sounds delicious…!”
The woman looked like she was going to stick her nose into her plate at any moment, but she didn’t pick up her fork.
Still, she seemed to be polite until Einer ate first, saying he was her landlord.
It wasn’t until after you took a big bite that the woman took her fork and began frantically shoving her pasta into her mouth.
“Is it delicious?”
The woman nodded her head, her cheeks puffy.
“Huh… It’s so delicious… But…”
“But?”
“No, no…!”
The woman hurriedly lowered her head and munched on the pasta.
What is it? Is there something wrong with cooking?
It can’t be? No one has ever reacted like that after eating my food… !
Einer couldn’t let it pass.
This is a matter of pride.
“What is it? Tell me. I’m really curious.”
When you asked again, the woman looked at her and swallowed her chew.
“I-I’m sorry… I was wondering if you forgot the basil…”
“What?”
“I-I’m sorry…! I dare to take the subject of beating…!”
The woman scrambled to get up from her chair and tried to get on her knees, but Einer stopped it by waving her hand.
“I’m not saying anything! Don’t kneel!”
“Ah, yes…!”
Einer asked the woman who stopped halfway up.
“How did you know? Missing basil?”
“I just… I knew it after eating it. It seemed a little different from the recipe of Arrabiata I know…”
Einer was quite surprised.
That demon could tell them apart simply by taste?
Your sense of taste is unusual, isn’t it?
“Actually, I just skipped it because I ran out of basil. I was thinking of replacing it with something else, but I thought there wouldn’t be much of a difference in taste.”
“Oh, yes! It’s okay! It’s so delicious. But…”
Again, the woman slurred her words and looked towards her kitchen side of her eye.
“That looks like mustard…”
She followed the woman’s gaze and turned her head to see mustard, which she had set aside because she didn’t need it earlier.
The woman hesitated and didn’t open her mouth any further, but Ainer immediately noticed what she was thinking.
“Are you trying to do something with mustard?”
“Oh no! How dare I…!”
The woman shook her hands and her head violently, but you could tell.
That woman has something.
“Would you like to try it? I don’t know what it is, but I think I have an idea.”
“Is that okay…?”
Ayy you nodded her head and the woman stood up hesitantly and walked towards her countertop.
“Then excuse me…”
With a calm movement, the woman opened the shelf and took out mustard and other ingredients.
Mustard, olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and honey?
It’s a combination that doesn’t suit you at all, what the hell are you going to do with that?
The woman then brought out a small bowl.
Eh… No way… ?
The woman put all the ingredients in a bowl, squeezed a lemon, sprinkled the juice on it, and began to stir it with a spoon… ?
“No, if you mix them…”
Whatever you were going to say, you decided to just keep her mouth shut and watch what the girl does.
When the ingredients in the bowl turned into thick sauce of an indescribable color, the woman poured it over the pasta.
“Is this… What is it…?”
“It replaces the basil and adds a bit of flavor, sir.”
“Um, yes… This must have happened…”
As you watched the sauce that looked like melted orange slime seep through the pasta, Einer slurred her words.
But the woman was looking at her with her eyes shining brightly, so he had no choice but to lift a fork and scoop out some of her sauce and noodles and slide them into her mouth.
Ah, just looking at this….
“How are you, sir?”
After chewing the contents a few times, Ayou closed her mouth and stared at the woman.
“Sorry…! Doesn’t suit your taste…?”
Einer asked, looking at the frightened and sweaty woman.
“You… What’s your name…?”
“Ael… It’s…”
Ael, a demon who sensed a strange atmosphere, was terrified and gave a small reply.
Ei-you, who had been staring at Ael for a long time, opened her mouth.
“Restaurant…Would you like to try…?”
“Yes…?!”
As Ael asked, Einer suddenly came to his senses.
“No, no. Just forget what I just said.”
You said, shaking his head.
“Forget about it. This is so delicious that I’m speechless without even realizing it.”
“hehehehe? I’m glad you like it!”
I’m not talking empty words, it was really delicious.
It’s like magic when the pungent taste of mustard and the sweetness of honey subtly add to the slightly spicy arabiata sauce.
It was so delicious that the words flew out in an instant.
How can you be like this when you look like a phlegm?
“What is this? What’s the name of the sauce?”
“A name? Uh, there’s no such thing as a name…”
“Doesn’t it have a name? Could it be that you made it first?”
“Yes… Looking at mustard, I thought of a combination that would go well with pasta… Fortunately, I was able to make it because I had several ingredients prepared.”
Mustard, olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper, honey.
Have you made a sauce that has never been made with ingredients that are sure to become rotten when mixed?
Besides, it goes wonderfully well with arabiata?
This isn’t just about knowing how to cook.
That demon has a natural talent for cooking.
“Did you say ael? Have you ever learned to cook?”
“Actually, I was a Legion cook.”
“Cooking disease?”
“Yes, yes…. It’s not a big deal, I cooked a large amount of food in the kitchen at the rear of the corps and sent it to the frontline units.”
“If you are a corps cook, do you belong to the Ministry of Defense?”
“Huh? That’s right! How did you know?”
Of course, everyone knows. You have to know your enemy well to fight.
Hmm. I mean, he was a legionnaire.
Since he was a non-combatant, he seems to have been able to survive even after the war.
“Anyway, that’s great. I thought I did some cooking myself, but I’ve never tasted something like this before. I think it’d be better to actually open a restaurant?”
“Thank you.
“I’m sure it is. That’s right. So I’d like to go further north.”
Ael nodded his head with a dark expression before changing the topic.
“By the way… Did you ever cook?”
“Me?”
“Yes. As for the kitchen equipment, when I saw him just cooking, he was very good at his movements. It’s like someone who has been cooking professionally for a very long time.”
“I was a kitchen slave.”
“Ah, yes… So… Yes?! A slave?!”
A-El opened her eyes wide in surprise belatedly at A-Your words that you said in passing.
“Uh… not a port guard, but a slave…? A slave soldier… or something…?”
“Not a guard, but a security guard. Of course not now. I was talking about when I was a kid.”
Ael didn’t know how to react to the story she hadn’t thought of, and she only blinked while holding a fork.
“When I was very young, her house was ruined, so I became a slave along with her mother. She was sold as a slave to a writer’s kitchen because her mother was quite good at cooking, and there she learned to cook. .”
“I see… But how could a security guard…”
“Due to the demon king’s attack, all the male writers and her mother died.”
The fork fell from Ael’s hand.
“So I joined the Corps to get revenge, and as it turned out, I got a few medals and became a noble. After that, I became disillusioned with the royal life and ran away here.”
Ael’s frightened eyes began to tremble like crazy.
“I’ve lived as a slave all my life, but if I rose up overnight, could I breathe among noble people? I couldn’t stand it and came out. Like you said, you carve your own destiny.”
“Stand, stand, sir…”
As Ael trembled, she shed tears.
“Forgive me…”
Seeing Ael’s tears, you shook her hand in embarrassment.
“No, I didn’t mean to hear that. I just wanted you to be curious.”
“I’m sorry… I apologize for the family…”
“Isn’t that true? Don’t be sorry. Actually, I’ve already done my mom and the baron’s revenge. It’s all over now, and I have no feelings for the demons.”
It is true.
Ah, you killed so many demons, and from the point that the number entered the concept of ‘statistics’, he rather came to the point where he thought that he should apologize to the demons in reverse.
“Are you sure…?”
“If I had any ill feelings, would I have let you go from the market and fed you like this? Didn’t I?”
“Yes… That’s right…”
“So stop crying and eat.”
“Yes yes…. Thank you, thank you….”
Ael picked up a fork and inhaled hard at her pasta while shedding tears like chicken droppings.
“And… thank you, sir…. For letting me go twice…”
Ael muttered while eating the pasta.
“I really appreciate it. If it wasn’t for you, I would have died from being crushed by the roof. But why did you come back? I let you go.”
“I saw you go in there to save the child. I don’t know if you know, but demons have good eyesight, so I can see them from a distance… “
“What if I get caught then? Everything I let go is meaningless.”
“But I couldn’t just go… If the teacher had been injured or died at that time, I probably wouldn’t have been able to live with my conscience.”
A demon who feels remorse….
It’s not strange. Demons are also an intelligent race with the same thoughts and emotions as humans.
“I don’t even have a coward head.”
“Still, I’m glad you’re alive.”
Ael glanced at Einer with a timid smile.
Then she asked, looking as if she remembered something.
“But sir… Why did you let me go twice?”
Instead of saying, “I saw your mother’s eyes in your frightened eyes,” Ainor replied briefly.
“Because of pity.”
“Ah, yes…”
“Eat.”
With that said, Einer and Ael continued their meal without a word.