Chapter 32: 32

Let’s Cook!

She had to ask Cody and Zechs to transport the prey she’d killed.

When Zechs was summoned, he gave her the usual lecture about why she had hunted without thinking about the consequences. It was her way of thanking him for his hospitality, but she had caused him trouble.

While reflecting, she had to move on to cooking immediately.

She’d already done the prayer of gratitude and drained the blood of the prey, but she’d like to handle it while it was still fresh.

She borrowed cooking pots, vegetables, and seasonings from a woman in the cafeteria with whom she had become friendly in exchange for a share of the meat. She didn’t want to disturb her cooking lunch or dinner, so she didn’t bother her in the kitchen. She was already grateful for the loan of the cooking utensils.

Through Claushezade, she also received permission to cook in the garden. Everything was ready.

She quickly plucked the feathers of the mountain birds and cut the meat into pieces. It took only a relatively short time for all three birds. The big boar, however, wasn’t so easy. The boar was too big, and it was quite hard work to cut it up. It was a good thing she borrowed a big meat cleaver, but by the time she was done, she was drenched in sweat.

The belly of the boar meat was full of fat.

It was delicious boiled or grilled, so she used a lot of it in the pot. Even if she cut it thickly, it won’t be a problem because it will soften if cooked for a long time, and she could get very good soup stock from the fat. The crunchy texture of the skin was also delicious. Although it wasn’t suitable for one-pot dishes at this time of the year, it was the most delicious way to cook it.

The loin was also fresh, so it was tender and had no particular flavor. It was best to add a little to the pot, season the rest with grated garlic, salt and pepper, and broil it until golden brown.

For the mountain birds, she made simple skewers sprinkled with salt and pepper and stir-fried with chopped basil leaves.

She added onions and green peppers for the skewers. For the basil stir-fry, she garnished it with tomatoes. A large amount of vegetables, including radish, burdock root, and cabbage were put into the pot. Vegetables were important because if all you ate was meat, your nutritional intake would be unbalanced.

While cutting the vegetables, she heated the pot and started boiling the boar meat. She wanted to spend more time stewing, so she left it as it was.

While she was working hard chopping a large amount of onions, someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder from behind.

She turned around and saw her classmate with a somewhat irritated look on his face.

“Huh? Hyderion?”

He had golden-brown hair, light-colored eyes, and a handsome face. He was usually arrogant like an aristocrat, but right now he was looking very concerned.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean what’s wrong? You, why are you crying?”

His irritated tone made it difficult to understand, but it seemed that he was worried about her. It was an exaggerated reaction, but he probably didn’t know the effect of onions.

“This is because I’m cutting onions. Cutting onions hurts your eyes.”

After a brief explanation that even he, an aristocrat, could understand, Hyderion gawked, deflated, and moved away. After a while, he slumped down as usual, as if nothing had happened.

“So? What kind of situation is this?”

“I’m cooking.”

“I’m asking why you’re cooking.”

He sighed with boredom, but the fact that she went hunting and thought of cooking to enjoy it was nothing more than an impulse.

Sheila, who could see nothing but the future of being ridiculed for not having a good explanation, stabbed the tomato with a fork to distract him.

“Would you like some of the tomatoes, Hyderion?”

Hyderion, suddenly approached by a sliced tomato, frowned and recoiled.

“What is that?”

“It’s a tomato.”

“Tomato? That?”

“Eh? You’ve never seen a tomato?”

“Tomatoes are not meant to be eaten raw.”

“Eee? Is that how it is in the nobility?”

Eating tomatoes raw was common for commoners. It never occurred to her that there were people who weren’t like that.

“They taste good raw, too. Here, try some―I mean, would you like to try some?”

With the comfort of being a classmate, she forgot to use honorifics.

Hyderion didn’t seem to be bothered by her hasty attempts to correct her speech. Rather, his light-colored eyes were glued to the tomatoes he was offered.

Sheila giggled and held the tomato close to Hyderion’s mouth.

“Here. Open your mouth.”

Startled, he gazed intently at Sheila, and for some reason he turned bright red. She tilted her head, not understanding why.

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For a while, Hyderion seemed to be struggling desperately with something invisible, but eventually he slowly opened his mouth.

As she was about to put the tomato into his thinly opened lips, her hand was snatched from beside her. It was Zechs, his brow furrowed as he ate the tomato before she could stop him.

“Zechs, when did you arrive?”

After thoroughly chewing and swallowing the tomato, Zechs glared at Sheila.

“You! You haven’t learned anything, have you?!”

“Learn? I’m learning properly, you know?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!”

“Ouch!”

A finger flicked her forehead, and she winced. She glared at her friend accusingly, teary-eyed and writhing in pain.

Then, this time, Hyderion flared up at Zechs.

“Zechs, you bastard! What are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“What the hell are YOU doing, Hyderion?! Where did you drop your noble pride?!”

“Uh…”

Hyderion was at a loss for words, perhaps due to Zechs’ unusual attitude, who had always been courteous to all nobles other than Cody.

“That’s…. you….”

“You wanted to eat? Then I’ll feed you. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

This time Zechs offered him a tomato cut into wedges. Hyderion frowned clearly, but then noticed Sheila’s gaze and brought it to his mouth with a look of disgust.

“How is it? Isn’t it good?”

“…. It isn’t bad at all.”

“I’m glad.”

With a relieved smile, Hyderion looked away from Sheila. Seeing that reaction, Zechs held his head.

“Oh, by the way, Zechs, isn’t Cody with you?”

“He went to the library to return a book, so we parted ways. I’m sure he’s still having trouble choosing which book to check out next anyway.”

Sheila was aware that it was Cody’s pattern of behavior to then get lost in a book. She could see Zechs shadowing her friend, who didn’t notice him no matter how many times he called out to him.

“Hey, Sheila!”

When she turned around after being called out from behind, she saw her classmates walking up to her together.

Bert, a fellow commoner, and some of the lower-class nobles, who were close to him, waved at them with ease. The high-ranking nobles acted like Hyderion, but there was no hesitation in their steps as they made their way toward them.

“Eh? Why’s there a lot of people?”

“They said they smelled something good… That’s the setting they’re going for.”

The second half of Zechs’ voice was inaudible as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Is that so? It’s just stewed boar meat, and it hasn’t even been seasoned yet.”

“I told you. We’re going to need a lot of it.”

She’d already killed three mountain birds in addition to the big boar, so she didn’t think they’d have to worry about that. They probably won’t have enough vegetables though, so they’d need to add more.

Since many of her classmates would be splitting up next week, it would be nice to have dinner together like this.

“Well, I think I can make it work. It tastes better if we all eat together anyway.”

Sheila turned to her classmates.

“I’m going to cook a meal to thank you for all you’ve done for me. If you don’t mind, let’s eat together. In exchange, please help me properly.”

Her classmates responded in cheerful voices.

Once the cooking began, the commoners such as Zechs and Bert, who were used to working with their hands, took an active role.

They and Sheila were the only three commoners in the class. Contrary to what she thought would take a long time with only three main forces, the aristocratic group, who were surprisingly competitive, struggled hard to get the job done. The sight of them clumsily holding the knives in their hands made her smile, and we all laughed at each other.

Thanks to that, the preparations were over in no time.

She had expected the peeling, cutting, and chopping of the vegetables to be hard work.

However, the cooking process turned out to be an unexpectedly lively and enjoyable time.

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