A banquet under the sea. Now that’s a beautiful thing I can really call fantastic.
The rainbow coral shining in the deep sea already makes this a mystical looking sight, and now we have mermaids lightly dancing on it.
They’re all named divine beast people, but both the men’s strong swimming and the women’s dancing are brilliant and fun.
Snow is sitting on my lap, and she watches while holding up her hands with excitement.
I saw something similar in a theme park when I was a kid, but this completely natural sight moves me a lot more.
“It’s so beautiful… Why can’t humans live under the sea…”
Merlin is sitting nearby, also watching, with an entranced expression.
She’s weirdly excited, because of how much she’s looking forward to the banquet.
It makes sense that a water magic expert loves the sea, and she’s learning a lot as she proactively gets closer to the divine beast people.
She’s never this excited on the surface, so she might start saying she wants to live here.
That would make the divine beast people on the surface lonely.
They’re calling her doctor at this point, because she’s been treating diseases and stuff.
“To be honest, I haven’t been bored since I got here.”
“Hn, yes.”
Reina, who is sitting next to me, lightly brushes my hand as we both look up.
Lights are shining like a real sky. This really is a wonderful once in a lifetime sight.
“It’s not like the infinitely sprawling sky, but the sea isn’t bad either, right!?”
“Snow likes this better.”
“Whut!? I-I won’t let you on my back if you say that!”
“Eh…! Why are you being mean!?”
“You said something mean first!”
Tiltue is also sitting next to me, and she’s starting a fight with Snow. I calm them both as I look to the side.
Elga, Livia, and Luna are all looking up.
It feels like a family trip.
I died alone in my old world, but I always longed for this sort of thing a bit.
Looking back, this really is a happy environment.
“Time for the banquet!”
Says Levi cheerfully, and divine beast people bring food to where we’re sitting.
It goes without saying that it’s seafood. I’m sure everything they have is fresh fish dishes.
But…
“““…”””
“Hum, what is this…?”
Everyone’s silent, so I ask Levi.
“What… Can’t you see it’s fish?”
“Yes, fish…”
Three fish in black skewers, like skewered dango, are in front of us.
It’s definitely fish, but they don’t seem to have been cooked at all. Do they expect us to eat them as is?
I look at Levi with that in mind, but she tilts her head like she has no idea why we’re confused.
“Ah, is it that you don’t know how to eat them? We put them in sea urchin skewers to make it easier…”
She grabs one fish in front of me, and eats it raw as if showing how to do it.
Snow looks surprised, but then again, so do I.
So that’s why Elga reacted like that.
I know our cultures are different, but…
I don’t think the other races’ cooking is that intricate either.
Divine beast people can eat meat as is too, which was why they became so enamored with Reina’s more particular cooking.
But I don’t know if I can eat fish like this.
If it was sashimi… But then I look around and see people eating briskly.
Hafgufa is grabbing fish with his tentacles and bringing them into his mouth one after the other.
I don’t think I’d be sick, but what about Reina and the others?
When in Rome do as Romans do, but I think that’d be bad here.
“Levi, we humans…”
“Will you let me cook a little!?”
Just as I’m about to speak up, Reina stands up and speaks.
“Hum…”
“Please!”
Levi seems taken aback, and nods to Reina’s intense attitude.
With that, she takes a kitchen knife out of her Storage Magic, and quickly turns the fish into sashimi with practiced ease
“…”
She also brings out the flavorings she uses at home, and then remembers we’re underwater.
“Reina, I don’t think that’s going to work here…”
“…No, Merlin! Come here!”
Merlin is not too far away, struggling with whether or not to bite into a fish, but her eyes shine when she sees Reina.
They start discussing what to do about this, and Levi looks at me with an anxious expression.
“Hum… Did we do something?”
“No. It’s just that it’s not very good for us to bite into raw fish…”
“I see, sorry. We don’t go out to the surface that much…”
Suffice to say, it’s not her fault. If anything, they’re working hard to welcome us.
Still, if we’re going to keep interacting for a long time, I think it’s important to not hesitate to say when something doesn’t work for us.
Suddenly I wonder what Elga is doing, and see him biting into fish with a pale expression.
“Now that’s a man…”
Livia has been living on the surface for a long time, so she knows this isn’t normal there, but he doesn’t want to embarrass her.
Luna is troubled too for once, so apparently it really isn’t normal for the divine beast people on the surface to just eat a whole fish.
“All right, this should work!”
“Hn?”
I turn when I hear Reina’s bright voice, and see beautifully sliced sashimi with a dark brown gel on top.
This square thing looks soft, but doesn’t melt even though we’re underwater.
Thanks for the chapter.