The Other World Dining Hall (WN)

Soborodon (3 Colours Donburi)

Oniwaka, a high priest of the Black G.o.ddess that"s also a samurai, was alone when he rubbed his full belly satisfactorily.

[Un, this is delicious. If it"s not in such a remote place, I would"ve visit more frequently.]

He had eaten all of the grilled pork meat; all that remained in front of him was an empty white plate.

When he saw a boy that looked like a hunter with his dog, he had asked for the same dish that the boy was eating, he received "ginger pork" which was pork meat cooked with grated ginger.

While drinking his cold water infused with fruit juice, he recalled the delicacy of the dish called "roast chicken" that the ogre couple ate with their alcohol.

The cold water was comfortable after eating a hot meal and chilled his warm body.

The room was as cool as autumn though it was midsummer, it made him forgot about the heat of the mountains.

Together with his full belly, it was peaceful like the bottom of the Netherworld.

[Life is interesting after all.]

In such relieved mood, Oniwaka once thought again of the oddness of his fate.

A black door that he found while he was checking the vicinity in preparation of fighting an evil spirit.

Beyond the door which was nestled behind an overgrown summer gra.s.s, there was a restaurant.

There was a variety of unknown food in this restaurant, which was located in a mysterious otherworld, but the most mysterious of all to him was the unknown ent.i.ty at the corner of the restaurant.

[…Un. I wish I could bring Shoujirou along too.]

In such an interesting place, Oniwaka thought so.

An elderly samurai who had abandoned worldly lifestyle and devoted himself to priesthood.

He was surely preparing for the extermination of the evil spirit.

[Maa, at least I should bring back something as a souvenir… owner! I want to request something.]

He called the owner.

[Yes? How may I help you?]

[Umu, as a matter of fact…]

Then Oniwaka consulted with the owner.

It was evening when he went back to the side of a deep mountain road.

Shoujirou had finished his preparation.

On his back, he carried his usual divinely protected large spear and arrows attached with tags which held the protection of the Black G.o.ddess.

The divine protection of the Black G.o.ddess was protection from death and night. Therefore, it had the power to destroy those who already died like evil spirits which had become monsters.

As for the subject of Shoujirou"s escort, Oniwaka"s handmade tags were powerful since he was a high priest. And just like his arrows, his sharp sword also carried powerful blessing of death.

(It should be like this.)

To ascertain its condition, he brandished his large spear.

The opponent was an opponent that was considered to be particularly strong among the undeads, an evil spirit (wraith).

Failure to prepare meant death, so Shoujirou maintained his weapon with zeal.

—During night of full moon, whoever managed to vanquish the evil spirit that appeared at the highway would be paid 100 gold coins.

Around half a year ago, such a story spread from the light temple located at the highway.

According to the merchant who very luckily managed to survive, the horrible evil spirit of a princess lingered at the highway and only showed itself during the night of full moon. {TN: I think this is the broiled sanma guy.}

When he looked at old literatures, it seemed that the evil spirit was a princess who used to be a blood relation of the feudal lord ruling the area around there, and it seemed to be a lich comparable even to a demonic spirit.

Once, even a priest and a priestess of silver rank from the local light temple tried to challenge the undead with what they thought as enough preparation, but they ran away when it became clear that it was likely they would be killed.

For the G.o.ddess of Light, beings of darkness like undeads were sworn enemies. They would never forgive their existences in the world.

Only one old high priest in the temple was determined to vanquish it, so he issued the proclamation.

And Oniwaka and Shoujirou responded it.

(Still, he"s late.)

While Shoujirou was preparing, Oniwaka went to search for food in the mountains, but there was no sign of him returning.

(No, though young, there should be no problem.)

He was a little worried, but he reconsidered.

Shoujirou knew what kind of person he was as he had been escorted from time to time, and he knew his strength.

He was a high priest of the Black G.o.ddess and he studied the way of sword from Shoujirou so he was a competent warrior familiar with both swordsmanship and priest techniques, but that were not the only things.

Oniwaka was an "ogre child", someone with ogre"s blood.

Living in this world, an ogre was not compatible with humans as they had barbaric customs among intelligent races.

In this Mountain Country, the races like ogres were regarded as sub-humans.

Boasting height nearly twice of humans, consuming mountain beasts as food, strong enough to laugh derisively at humans, speed as fast as a horse, and tough skin as if they wore full-body armor.

With their strong physical bodies, they plundered food, ate people and ruined the fields.

Now, they could create gigantic bows that could pierce through them and sharp blades made of demon"s rock that could cut through their bones due to the development of the samurai"s martial arts.

Just a couple of hundred years ago, the people were frightened when they came down from the mountains and raided the crops, livestock and young women, so they would abandon their fields and ran away.

The existence of the ogres as terrible taboo originated from that era.

The ogres ate humans, but if the humans were young women, they would be treated as playthings.

When a child was born from a demon"s seed, the ogres would call them "hornless" while the humans regarded them as "ogre child".

They were born with robust body comparable to ogres.

In the Mountain Country, stories like a samurai with great swordsmanship saving a princess from ogres and exterminating said ogres were not uncommon.

Oniwaka was an ogre child born from the daughter of a lord that Shoujirou once served.

The princess, who was caught in a landslide and was presumed dead, was alive and saved by ogres.

3 years later, when an ogre subjugation team of samurais exterminated the ogres, she was found in their cave dwelling while cradling the baby Oniwaka.

And for the first time in 3 years, she went back to Shoujirou"s lord.

But maybe she had weakened over 3 years of mountain life or due to losing Oniwaka"s father, her heart had weakened and she died due to a disease.

And Oniwaka, as the princess" memento, along with the samurai who worked as the princess" escort, joined the temple of darkness which was strong in the local community, was quickly recognized for his talent after years of hard work and became a high priest even though he was still young.

This time, Oniwaka talked about the extermination of the evil spirit.

He had heard about it in a town he stopped by during his journey to broaden his information.

After hearing about the details and the reward, Oniwaka said that "I"ll do it" and these two people went to the highway during the afternoon of full moon day.

(However, he"s slow. If he doesn"t return soon, I"ll have to go and look for him.)

While he thought so, Oniwaka came back.

[Sorry! I found something interesting so I got delayed.]

As he had been away from his samurai household since he was young, Oniwaka spoke without a samurai"s accent.1

[He~e. So you found something interesting? What on earth did you find?]

While saying so, Shoujirou looked at the white bags not made from cloth or paper, which Oniwaka was carrying, with appetizing fragrance drifting from inside.

[Umu, the thing is, surprisingly I found an otherworld restaurant!]

Oniwaka replied with a smile.

[O, otherworld restaurant?]

[Ou! It"s tasty!]

For the surprised Shoujirou, Oniwaka took out a box from the white bag to show him.

Indeed, there seemed to be a dish inside the box that was the origin of the good smell, and the last time he ate was before noon at the town where he ate porridge with dried meat and some vegetables, so his empty stomach growled.

[To tell the truth, I found a door leading to the restaurant and went inside, but unfortunately, I heard that the door only appeared once in 7 days.

In fact, the door disappeared once I came back here.]

While talking about it, he showed the paper box to Shoujirou.

[Waka, what is this?]

[Aa, I feel bad for you if it"s just me that get to eat something delicious. So I had ordered this for takeaway.]

Oniwaka replied.

[It"s slightly cold now, but it should still be delicious. I asked for something that should still be delicious even if it"s cold.]

The face of the laughing Oniwaka was not the face of the genius priest of ogre child; it"s the face of a young man that just matured into an adult.

[…He~e. I thank you for such a thing.]

While wiping teary eyes that did not befit a samurai, Shoujirou decided that his empty belly was not fit for battle.

From a small bag attached on top of the box, he take out the chopsticks made from bamboo and opened the box.

When he did so, he could smell the fragrance of rice and meat.

[Oo, this is brilliant…]

And when the box was opened, he could see the brown coloured finely minced meat, yellow scrambled eggs, and the vivid green boiled beans.

[Waka2, what kind of food is this?]

With his stomach grasped by the vivid colours and appetizing scent, Shoujirou asked Oniwaka.

[Ou, its name seems to be "soborodon".]

Oniwaka conveyed the name he heard from the owner.

He could hardly put up with this anymore.

Shoujirou picked up the heavy box and used his chopsticks to scoop the food.

[Hohou, this is first-cla.s.s food.]

The food fitted Shoujirou with his big appet.i.te, under the three-coloured toppings, the box was packed with white rice.

This rice was recently popular among the n.o.bility of the city; its bran was carefully removed, washed until it"s polished and cooked properly.

[Right? This is normal at the otherworld.]

While listening to Oniwaka, he scooped the rice with the meat and took a bite.

[…Oo.]

He unconsciously leaked an admiring voice.

This meat, it was fatty chicken meat seasoned with sugar and fish sauce.

(What a luxurious seasoning.)

He smiled after tasting the flavor that did not even appear during warrior"s banquet.

Sugar could not be found at the mountains. It could only be bought from the brown skinned merchants of Sand Country, that was south of Mountain Country, in the capital city and big cities at high price. The only sweet thing in Mountain Country was just juice of seasonal fruits and sweet dew.

However, this meat was sweetly seasoned. This sweet flavor complimented the taste of meat, the flavor of fat under the skin and the salty fish sauce.

Shoujirou reflexively loosened his posture, but he decided to eat little by little.

It was not important to fill his belly quickly.

Yes, he felt it.

(Next… umu, this scrambled egg is also delicious.)

From this rare gem of yellow fried eggs, he could gauge the skill of the chef.

From the beginning, eggs were delicious.

If one boiled or fried it and eaten with salt, it was already a delicious treat for the common people.

However, this projected something beyond that.

(Umu, this is… was fish stock added to it? There"s no muddy flavor.)

The fried eggs were seasoned with salt and sugar, so of course it"s sweet and salty. But there"s umami beyond that.

The flavor was a bit like when fish was simmered in sake, but there"s no fishy smell.

There"s only umami, just like the umami of congealed fish broth.

And it also fitted with the white rice.

It was lightly seasoned compared to the meat, but it was fresh and tasty for the tongue that was used to the previous sweetness and greasiness.

(Fumu, this one is completely salty.)

And he finally reached for the green beans.

It was just boiled beans in a pod. {TN: French bean}

It was slightly salty so he could taste the vegetable"s flavor.

(But this texture is good.)

He enjoyed the texture of the green beans inside his mouth.

This boiled green beans had distinctive texture when chewed.

It was something that was not found in the soft meat and fried eggs.

And whenever he chewed, the slightly salty juice of the boiled beans overflowed.

That was also good.

Shoujirou was silent while he ate the soborodon.

It was sacrilegious to eat it hurriedly, so he enjoyed it slowly.

As a reflection of his feelings however, his chopsticks became faster.

[…Ou, such a small quant.i.ty.]

Indeed, it was so delicious that Shoujirou could not endure it anymore.

Oniwaka urged him like a child.

[…Then, only a little.]

Shoujirou was a little late in answering him.

While watching the sun slowly setting, Oniwaka and Shoujirou prepared for their battle while talking.

[How is it? Is this preparation enough?]

[Of course it is.]

After enjoying such a splendid meal, he was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with willpower.

After this, they would vanquish the evil spirit and earn their reward.

[…Next time I go there again, I"ll take you with me.]

[I appreciate it. I certainly wish so.]

Though they talked casually, their tension increased.

Yes, next time they"ll go together… with his oyaji-dono3.

At the moment the sun completely set at the mountain, Oniwaka steeled his resolve.

When cold wind mixed with the putrid scent of corpse pa.s.sed through the two, they unsheathed their weapon.