The Other World Dining Hall

Chapter 5

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Tofu Steak

The young elven woman Faldania looked at the plate in front of her- the plate that used to be filled with the dish that she ate. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of satisfaction and anger.

I was tricked.

The taste of defeat was still in her mouth. That’s right. Faldania, the elf hailing from the Sienna Forest, still had not recognized her defeat.

“How was it? Delicious, right?”

She heard the voice of an annoying human man.

To be honest, Faldania did not expect this. A poor human with a short lifespan had made her, an elf, a dish that could give her satisfaction.

Elf, the glorious race that was said to once rule the world. With a high apt.i.tude for magic and culture, it is said that even dragons cannot match them.

These elves normally do not eat any foodstuffs taken from animals. To the clean, pure protectors of the forest, the elves who can who can communicate with the heart of the speechless animals regard the animals living in the forest as ‘friends’… and most importantly, the smell of animals is a bit too strong from them to put into their mouths.

To the elves, animal meat and the like smell unusual enough to make them think it’s not something edible. Due to this, elves do not hunt. The elves’ boasted magic and archery skills were skills that were honed to protect the forest from any invading foreigners.

Perhaps as a price for their long lives, elves have low birth rates. Although they say it’s to keep the population low, the forests where the elves live have a large blessing of tree and flowers, and the things that can be gathered during spring and fall can be preserved with magic which makes it just sufficient to live comfortably. For the savage short-lived humans who have no care when handling magic and mixed beings made from humans and elves (half-elves), meat and fish are what they prefer to eat, but for Faldania who was a ‘legitimate’ elf, she could not consume such things.

Because of these reasons, Faldania gave her order while partly looking down on him, but the man easily agreed to it. A delicious dish that an elf could eat that didn’t use any meat, fish, milk, or eggs. She thought that a savage human man with no shred of subtlety wouldn’t be able to make such a thing.

If he did manage to make such a thing, Faldania thought it would be something akin to the things she usually ate, such as a salad made from fresh, raw vegetables and wild plants picked at their peak or a soup made by boiling together vegetables and mushrooms. If it was something like that, she wouldn’t have been this surprised. If it was something like that, she would have ended it there saying ‘Humans can do it well after all.’ But it was different. What the man brought out was a dish that Faldania never heard or seen of, but it was certainly delicious.

(So frustrating! …But.)

Faldania knew that she couldn’t go and say ‘It wasn’t tasty’ after cleaning her plate to the last bite or else she would simply be a poor loser. Faldania bit her lips while she recalled how exactly this situation came to be.

(The first mistake was… Right, when I entered this place.)

Right, it was the time just moments ago when she visited ‘The Other World Dining Hall.’

It started when Faldania headed out to hunt for mushrooms in the forest and felt a mysterious magical energy flowing about.

“What could this be? Is this… transportation magic?”

Faldania, who was strolling about the forest like always while collecting fruits and mushrooms, had her long ears twitch and move as they sensed an abnormality. Magic started to gather and distort in an area of the forest where magic easily acc.u.mulated as if a spell was being casted. This was something… something like a teleportation circle was occurring. Her father, who once left elves’ forest capital in order to travel alongside humans and hone his magic, was the one responsible for Faldinia’s magical knowledge. Elves are a race that are proficient at magic. Even magic casted by the humans who can call themselves excellent magicians can be casted by elves who aren’t even adults at the age of fifty. The magecraft of these long-lasting elves around the age of a hundred can’t even by matched by the likes of humans and dwarves in terms of development.

Because of that, they are sensitive to magic and can sense the invocation powerful spells before they’re even casted supposedly…

“This magic doesn’t seem to be from anyone from the village. For the time being, I should take a look.”

She couldn’t ignore such suspicious magic near the elves’ forest, the Sienna Forest. Faldania went to the place where the magic was used while carrying her favorite bow for self-defense.

(Found it…)

Faldania, after arriving at the location where the magic was activated, found a black door with a picture of a cat and characters unknown to her written on it clinging on a tree in the forest. Of course, such a thing wasn’t the work of some capricious elf. Looking at the facts and feeling the quality of magic coming from the door, Faldania began to make a conjecture.

(…It seems like that tool that uses magic similar to ancient elven magic.)

It was a magic tool made using the magical origins created long ago before Faldania was even born, during the time when the Elves were at their most prosperous time,and used as the basis for today’s most powerful and complicated spells. That was the source of the magic’s activation.

(With magic this strong, its destination is probably an other world.)

Although she was young, among the other elves, Faldania was an excellent magician and could accurately guess the truth behind the magic with her knowledge and wisdom. It seemed like this magic activated after a number of days when the amount of magical power inside of it was at its highest. Judging by the strength of its magical power, there were mostly like other doors resembling this one appearing all over this world.

“…First I should investigate it.”

She put a mark signifying transportation magic on a nearby tree. Even if this door was connected to an other world it should be possible to teleport from this place by force. Once her preparations were taken care of, she opened the door. With the ringing of a bell, the origin of the magic’s activation rang out and resounded. And then.

“Give me some fried seafood! And some whiskey! Give me a ton of whiskey!”

“The usual.”

“…Omelette rice. Extra large. To go, omelette, three of them.”

“Owner, requesting two portions of fried shrimp!”

“Excuse me… one chocolate parfait please.”

What spread before her was one restaurant. Inside of the restaurant was tables and chairs. In those chairs were customers piling on orders for food.

“Oh, welcome. Please go ahead and take an empty seat.”

The man who was carrying dishes and said this to Faldania, who was stunned by the unexpected scene, was mostly this restaurant’s owner. Looking at him suspiciously, Faldania let her curiosity take over and went over to a free table.

“d.a.m.n it! My liquor still can’t compete!”

A male dwarf who stunk of metal and had a large hammer next to him was snacking on fish while downing liquor in one gulp. The dwarf let out a sigh and then went on to the next order.

“Umu, as I thought, you have to have this when it’s Satur.”

A thin, old man nodded while consuming golden colored alcohol and fried pork.

“Mu. Seconds.”

With broken words that were translated by magic, the thing that was ordering another egg dish had scars all over its whole body. It was a lizardman warrior, a type of monster that she heard lived in the wetlands.

“Umu! Tartar sauce it good but cutlet sauce matches just as well! As I thought, schripe is amazing!”

A well-built male warrior spoke out as he was eating some kind of ocean dwelling creature.

“…”

Silent and seriously, a young human woman who was wearing a simple yet proper dress which made it clear she was a n.o.ble was eating a mysterious object made from cow’s milk and covered in something black.

(This place seems to be a restaurant dealing in human food…)

In the middle of these circ.u.mstances, Faldania was troubled. To be honest, none of the dishes looked delicious. Just a while ago, she was brought the menu. All the dishes she saw in it was something she never heard about or seen, but looking at the dishes the other customers were eating, Faldania knew. All the dishes here would not suit her taste, an elf’s taste.

(Why are the dishes humans make so… barbaric, I wonder?)

Faldania saw that all the dishes had either meat, fish, milk or eggs inside of them. To a legitimate elf living in the forest, those things could not be called ‘ingredients’ and things made from them could not be called ‘cooking.’ In other words, it could not be eaten.

(Bread and soups won’t do.)

On top of her strong evasive feelings, an elf’s senses were sharp. Even if a little bit of meat, fish, milk, or eggs were mixed in, she would be able to tell and thus be unable to eat it.

(This is troubling. It would be rude if I entered a restaurant and didn’t eat anything.)

Even the young Faldania who was often treated like a child had the common sense to know that not ordering anything when she was already seated was bad manners.

“Miss. Have you decided on your order?”

Seeing her so troubled, the owner decided to talk to Faldania. Faldania let out a single sigh, and in her own way came to a conclusion… and said this with an ill-nature.

“I guess I have… if there’s a dish that doesn’t have meat, fish, milk, or eggs in it, then I would like that. If not, then I don’t anything. I’ll leave at once. My apologies.”

Like there could be such a thing. As she thought that, she started to stand up as she spoke. But.

“Understood. Thank you for your order. Well then, if it can’t have meat or fish… can you leave the menu to me?”

Just like always, the owner gave a nod and asked Faldania for her confirmation.

“Hey, wait!”

Faldania became fl.u.s.tered at the unexpected response and stood up and raised her voice sharply at the owner.

“…Yes?”

“Just so you know, if you try to hide the flavor or even a little bit is mixed into it, I won’t be able to eat it. Can you still make it?”

“It’s fine. Let’s see, the soup was… miso soup is no good but I could bring out the others properly.

“…I see. Then that’s fine.”

After saying all that, she had no choice but to back down. Faldania quietly took her seat once again.

(I wonder, what exactly is he going to be bringing out? I don’t think a human could easily make such a dish though. A soup made from raw vegetables? But he said soup wasn’t possible…)

If he tried to trick her in a weird way, she made her decision hit him with her complaints.

And then, after a little while.

“Thank you for waiting.”

That dish was left right in front of Faldania.

“What’s this?”

As she saw it, she returned her gaze to the owner’s face and raised her voice. It was a baron’s fruit* cut into eight pieces, then fried in vegetable oil, and finally sprinkled with salt. Brilliant orange Caryute** boiled so that it would be sweet. A boiled and dried, deep-green leafy vegetables. These dishes she was able to understand.

But finally, what was on the black, piping hot iron plate was the main dish. A sizzling sound came from the white thing, it was a dish Faldania never seen before.

“Your tofu steak. The seasoning is ponzu*** mixed with daikon…finished with soup stock made from kelp. I believe that you will be able to eat it, Miss. A young woman just like yourself, Miss, often orders this dish so I sometimes make it. Also bread seemed like it would be no good, so I brought out rice instead. Well, for tofu steak, I believe that rice suits it better. Well, please enjoy.”

The owner said this in reply to Faldania’s muttering and then went to go take another customer’s order.

(…Well, it does seem like there no scent of any animals.)

Without thinking, she brought the plate close to her nose and sniffed it, and judged it from the drifting aroma. What drifted from the dish was the burning smell of an unknown sauce mixed with refreshing fruit from the black, hot plate and the sweet fragrance of the white thing that was fried with fresh vegetable oil. There was no trace of the beastly smell that elves had a hard time dealing with. It seemed like this ‘tofu steak’ was truly the dish that Faldania had order, a dish with no meat, fish, milk, or eggs.

(But, the problem is the taste.)

Having lost her mother to sickness thirty years ago, Faldania, who took care of the ch.o.r.es at home, was known in the Sienna Forest as someone who was good at cooking, and she had confidence in her cooking skills. It was a dish made to please her. Even if it was a dish made to accompany her unreasonable demand, if it tasted bad, there was no point.

“Well then…”

Whether it was because she was nervous or because of the smell, Faldania swallowed her saliva and picked up her knife and fork. She was curious about the side dishes as well, but first she took her knife to the main dish resting atop of the plate.

It felt like it was so soft that it had no resistance when she cut into it.

(…I don’t really know what this is. The owner said it was called ‘tofu’ though.)

She stabbed her fork into one of the four mouth-sized pieces of tofu and looked at it closely. It was grilled until was lightly seared, and its color before it was cooked was unknown. At the very least, it didn’t have an unfavorable smell. For time being, she should eat it… was what was supposed to happen.

With grated, snow-white vegetables and a brown sauce covering it, Faldania started to hesitate from eating something she had no knowledge about.

(Anyway… all I can do is just try it out.)

Even if it was terrible, she had to eat at least one bite since it was made to fulfill her order. Rea.s.serting her determination, Faldania put it into her mouth.

(What is this!?)

Fresh astonishment because to spread out in Faldania’s heart. The surface which had a savory flavor from being grilled by oil and the flavor of soft insides that were still warm from the heat. The two contrasting sensations began to crumble and melt inside of her mouth. What spread in her mouth from there was the mysterious flavor of the ingredient called tofu. This flavor that Faldania tasted for the first time filled her mouth.

(…When I was little, I feel like I tasted this before, but what was it?)

It had the same soft sensation, a nostalgic flavor. An elf like Faldania might not know but it was the flavor close to the flavor of dairy products that came from animals.

To the elves, milk is not an edible ingredient. Even if they ate it, its raw-stinking smell will come first and won’t give them the chance to enjoy it. Because of that, there is only one thing that the elves of the forest can taste the flavor of dairy from.

(That’s right… This is mother’s flavor.)

Faldania called upon her old, old memories and realized this. For elves, it was a flavor that was limited to the extremely short number of years as an infant that they receive from their mothers.

(This is… an amazing level of perfection.)

After being absentminded form the initial shock, Faldania rolled the crumbling piece of tofu over her tongue. Then she calmly a.n.a.lyzed it and was surprised. What held this simple flavor was the tofu. She realized that the flavor of the tofu was brought up by the sauce covering it.

(Ponzu… is what he called it. It’s a little sour and salty… I wonder what this was made from.)

While investigating the flavor of the tofu steak in her mouth, she began to think upon the ponzu sauce that was used to season it. It was made from joining together the juices of a fruit that had no sweetness but instead had a strong sourness with an unknown brown sauce. The brown sauce had a faint flavor similar to the tofu. The sauce which also had a strong saltiness to it would be delicious even by itself.

The a.s.sertive sourness and the strong saltiness coming from the brown sauce. What brought these two flavors into a harmony was yet another unknown flavor. Faldania had seen it fifty years ago. It had the smell of the ocean, this something raised these those two flavors to an even greater height.

(To think a human could have such skill…)

As to what held the scent of the ocean, she didn’t know. But as to what kind of thing it was, she somehow knew. In the past, she was taught about it by her mother who had traveled the human world. It was a mushroom that had been dried and exposed to the environment. Although she didn’t know how, when the mushroom was dried and put into a soup, it would taste better than if it was put in raw.

It was mostly likely the same thing as this. By drying this unknown ingredient, it increased its flavor, and this sauce packed with flavor was made by cooking with it. By adding this unknown flavor with the two strong flavors from before, perfection was made. This level of cooking was far above Faldania’s.

(If it was just that, it would’ve been delicious enough…)

What joined with it as well was the strong, savory-smelling herbs and the snow-white grated vegetable. This vegetable, which had a salty but with a faint bitter taste, mixed with the sour and salty sauce, and together they made a delicious, complicated combination of flavors and smells. And thanks to the unique strong-smelling herbs, after taking a bite, the scent of the herbs remained in her nose and refreshed her.

This complicated sauce combined with, if she had to say, the simple and plain flavor of the tofu made a dish that gave a feeling of satisfaction when it was eaten.

(…Something like this was made by a human!)

Faldania was shocked. Humans were a short-lived race where many would be born and would soon die out. They did not have a magnificent culture like the n.o.ble elves did.

Is what she thought. But Faldania was a smart girl and therefore understood. This dish was something that surpa.s.sed the dishes today’s elves could make, an unsurpa.s.sable dish. She chewed her frustration and together with her tofu steak.

The rice that accompanied the tofu steak had a sweetness every time she bit into it, and it contrasted with the seasoned tofu steak, making it a delicious match. And also, she didn’t miss out on experiencing the deliciousness of the side dishes which included fried Baron’s fruit with a crunchy outside, boiled sweet Caryute, and perfectly salted green leafy vegetables which made her even more frustrated.

(I won’t allowed us to lose like this!)

Faldania, while indulging in flavors she never had before in her life, had a fire lit in her heart. Right at that moment, an elf’s usual habit leaked out of her. As expected, Faldnia’s lofty pride made her find her purpose at that moment.

The next day.

“Um, are you really going to go, Faldania?”

Faldania’s father, who from the perspective of a human would look just as young as Faldania even though his age reached around 300 years, asked this uneasily.

He knew because 150 years ago he himself had left the Sienna Forest out of curiosity to go on a journey though the human world. The human world had terrifying monsters and demons roaming about, and it was extremely dangerous. It wasn’t once or twice that he himself would’ve died in a dangerous situation if it weren’t for an old friend, who is now devoting himself to the magical arts in the elven capital, and his wife, an elf from a different forest who was skilled in both magic and archery.

According to some outside sources, putting aside about the monsters, because the demons lost the war against the humans they lost some of their strength. It’s been around seventy years since the humans defeated the evil G.o.d that the demon’s worshiped and the demons lost the war. Because such a short period of time that wasn’t even a hundred years shouldn’t have changed the world, he wanted to say it wasn’t peaceful enough for a young elf to journey across the world by herself.

Because his precious, precious daughter who was barely just a child wanted to leave the Sienna Forest that he himself protected, he was feeling extremely uneasy.

“Of course! …I’ll be fine. I’m already an adult.”

But Faldania’s resolve wouldn’t be weakened by her worried father’s persuasions. With her pride as an elf wounded, she couldn’t live comfortably in the forest.

She had to go on a journey. It was in order to make a dish that was even tastier than the ones at the Other World Dining Hall. Rather than recklessness born from youth, Faldania had a firm belief.

“Like h.e.l.l you’re an adult! You’re still too young Faldania!”

Faldania’s father who lost his wife thirty years ago due to illness raised his voice in objection. Even if her body was finished growing, her mind was still too inexperienced. From her father’s point of view, Faldania was child he had to protect for another hundred years.

“Mou! I’ll be fine! So stop worrying! I’ll definitely be able to make something delicious for you to eat, papa!”

Faldania who reached the limits of her patience said this as she left the house as if she were flying away.

“Ah, wait! At least take this letter…”

Shaking off her father’s words, she casted magic to strengthen her body and dashed out like the wind. And just like that, what she saw as she left the Sienna Forest wasn’t the trees of the forest but a wide prairie.

“That’s right! I’m going to make delicious food! More delicious than the human at the Other World Dining!”

And so Faldania ran off. In order to get back the pride she lost. On a journey to bring forth wondrous food.

After that, a wondrous elven style of cooking using beans was born that used no meat, fish, eggs, or milk and was given high praise by races all over. The person who created it was a legendary chef who was only 130 years when she set out during her younger days.

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