‘It’s so tasty!’
‘What is this!? Are these really the vegetables we eat!?’
We hear voices like those here and there, brought about by Reina’s vegetable tempura.
They’ve always eaten them raw, and apparently never battered them and fried them.
“Everyone on this island exaggerates so much.”
“Well, that’s just because of how good your food is.”
Luna and the others have been getting used to it lately, and they’ve been screaming at the sky less too.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen people yell while eating like that.
“Mommy.”
“Yes yes, hold on a second.”
I’m back in the seat of honor, and Snow is near Reina and opening her mouth like a baby bird.
Reina expertly uses chopsticks, and feeds Snow tempura cut into small pieces after it cools a little.
“Hn! Hnnnn! Sho good!”
Says Snow with one hand on her cheek, and the other shaking up and down.
It’s so cute, that it puts a smile on my face.
“Mommy.”
“Geez, you spoiled girl.”
After she finishes the first portion, she opens her mouth again and asks for more.
Reina smiles awkwardly at how completely spoiled she looks, and when she puts food on Snow’s mouth again, her eyes shine. Then it repeats again.
I guess she really likes it.
“I should go get some too.”
The tempura on the plates are the wild vegetables the alfar brought us.
I try the tara shoots, and the bitterness that should be there is completely gone. In fact, I feel sweetness spreading in my mouth.
“Tasty…”
I’ve actually always liked the crunchy parts of vegetable tempura I’d eat in places like udon restaurants.
This tara shoot tempura is no different, with its concentrated umami and crunchy leaves. It really is great.
The base feels soft, and it’s a taste I never get tired of eating.
Udo, sweet coltsfoot, koshiabura, fiddleheads… It’s a different world, so it’s not exactly the same, but the wild vegetable tempura that resembles those things is all great.
“But I wish I had rice…”
From what I can tell, there’s no rice in the alfar village.
I should’ve put some of the rice I got in the divine beast people’s village in my storage magic.
“But Reina’s food really is great.”
As I watch Katima shoving tempura in her mouth, it reminds me of when we first met. Back then, she ate salt grilled sweetfish with Luna like this.
“It’s called tempura uh… It’s Katima’s first time eating it, but it’d go well with salt…”
“You can ask Reina to give you some.”
“No, it’s all right.”
Katima suddenly stands up, and rushes off somewhere.
She comes back after a while, with a rock that looks like a beautiful crystal.
“What’s that?”
“Alfar rock salt.”
That’s a more direct name than I expected.
It’s a kind of reddish pink, and it looks a lot more beautiful than what I remember seeing a long time ago.
“It looks tasty.”
“It’s the best. Other races used to fight over this in the past.”
“Eh… That happened…”
“Way before Katima was born.”
But if people on this island were to fight, I can imagine the scale growing out of control.
If that happened today, that could mean trouble for Reina and the others. I’d have to stop it…
“Nowadays people trade it, but this rock salt is so high quality, that other races can’t really get their hands on it. It’s something that people aren’t too eager to trade.”
She says as she scrapes it on her tempura.
Then she hides it under her waist cloth, and eats the tempura.
“It’s so good… This is the best.”
“…Katima…”
“Nope.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“Alfar rock salt is scarce. Katima doesn’t have a lot either.”
“Hm…”
I see…
“But it’s tasty, uh?”
“The best.”
“…”
I get up, and walk over to Snow, who is stuffing her tiny cheeks with tempura.
“Ah, daddy!”
“Do you like it, Snow?”
“Yes! Mommy’s food is so good!”
“What is it, Arata?”
Reina looks at me quizzically, because I suddenly walked over here.
“Katima has this really tasty rock salt, but she’s not sharing.”
“Eh…”
Reina looks at Katima, like a hunter eyeing her prey.
“Uu! What are those eyes!? This rock salt is Katima’s!”
“This tempura would probably be even better with that salt…”
“I’d definitely want some…”
“U-uu…”
Katima looks scared for a moment, and then gets up to protect what’s hers.
She probably feels like she shouldn’t be here, and it looks like she’s ready to run away.
“Daddy, it’d be tastier with salt?”
“Yes, that’s what Katima said.”
“Really…”
And then, an ice wall appears in the direction where Katima is trying to run.
“…!? W-what is…”
“Katima.”
Snow walks over to Katima with her tiny steps.
“G-great spirit!? Is this your doing!?”
“Snow wants to try that salt too!”
“T-that’s…!”
“No?”
The moment Snow shows Katima the tempura in her round bowl, Katima looks to the sky.
But all that’s there is the full moon and the stars.
“Uu… Katima’s got no choice.”
Katima gives up and sprinkles salt on Snow’s tempura, and Reina and I line up behind Snow with our own plates in hand.
“Me too.”
“And me too.”
“You two can’t have it!”
“Daddy and mommy can’t eat it?”
“Uu…! Uuu…”
Katima glares at us with frustration, before sprinkling alfar rock salt on our tempura too.
I try the tempura again, and feel a flavor that wasn’t there before, expanding in my mouth.
“Yes, this really is good.”
“Yes. I wonder if I could get some more…”
“N-no more! Absolutely not!”
Katima tells Reina, as she protects the rock salt in her arms. And of course, we figure that’s enough too.
But that’s not how a kid thinks, so…
“Katima.”
“G-great spirit? What is it?”
“More!”
“…Yes.”
With tears in her eyes, Katima sprinkles more salt on Snow’s tempura, and Reina and I start to feel sorry for her.
“Arata! Reina! Don’t put out your plates, because you’re not getting more!”
My body acted opposite to my thoughts, and asked for salt.
But what can I do? Humans really love their salt.
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Please stop bullying the lewd salt elf.