Welcome Party (Provisional)

It would just be a hassle to go somewhere outside, and since we were

gonna stay in the hotel for a week, we decided to dine in the hotel's

dining hall, or rather, restaurant.

"Oh, they have actual chefs working in this restaurant huh."

"Ara, there's a dwarf."

The kitchen in the back of the restaurant can be seen from the diner's

seats, where a male dwarf and what seemed to be a human were

working as chefs. They were busy cooking dishes.

"In the Graccan Empire, when you say 'chef', you'd think of dwarves

right away, don't you?"

"It's the same all throughout space, I think. People who have continued

to live on planets for a long time still have a diverse cooking culture, but

most citizens of the empire just make use of auto-cookers instead. How

about the Holy Vuelzarus Empire? What's the situation regarding food

culture over there?"

"I was raised in a facility under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of

Divinities, so to be honest, my common sense regarding general societal

norms is lacking. However, as far as I know, there should be many of our

citizens who at least know how to cook simple dishes. Although meager,

I also know a bit of cooking."

After saying so, Kugi proudly puffed out her chest. The animal ears on

top of her head also perked up. I don't know just how skilled she was at

cooking, but it does look like she was pretty confident despite her

humble act.

"I see. Then you'll be the fourth person who knows cooking among our

group apart from Big Sis, Mei-san, and Big Brother."

"Oh, how wonderful. It's amazing that more than half of our group

knows how to cook."

"There are probably only one in a few hundred people who know how

to cook in this empire. People like us who don't have any cooking skills

to speak of are the majority."

While saying so, Elma operated the holo-display on the table to bring

up the menu. It looked a little messy since they sort of combined the

style of an elegant-looking high-end restaurant menu with that of an

izakaya's. What the heck?

"It's a combination of an empire-style menu and a dwarven-style

menu."

"Oh, so that's it. It's because they have a dwarven chef huh."

The empire-style menu had quite an extensive selection, and the items

resembled stuff from Western cuisine. Well, since it was a galactic

empire that occupied many star systems and had quite a long history, it

seemed that empire-style cooking ended up absorbing and

incorporating various culinary cultures into its own. From what I could

tell, the dishes were a mixture of stuff resembling French and Italian

cuisine.

On the other hand, dwarven dishes had a strong image of food that

would be perfect as snacks to accompany flour-based dishes and

alcohol. There were also some hearty-looking grilled and stir-fried

dishes. It felt like a lot of the dishes were spicy too. It's like a mixture of

Chinese and ethnic cuisine. Elven cuisine mostly resembled Japanese

stuff, but it didn't seem to be considered part of imperial-style cuisine.

"What will you have, Kugi?"

"They are all items I'm not familiar with so…"

She was making a troubled face. Since she was from the Holy Vuelzarus

Empire, which was pretty far away, it's no wonder that she'd find this

restaurant's menu, which mainly served imperial and dwarven dishes,

unfamiliar.

"Alright then, why don't we just order some of the less-adventurous

dishes? Let's try and order several helpings, shall we?"

"It's a bit ill-mannered, but I suppose that's fine."

"Okay. Then I'll ask for individual plates as well."

After saying so, Mimi operated the tabletop holo-display to select items

from the menu. She seemed to be ordering pretty substantial helpings,

but I'll just pretend I didn't see.

"In this empire, it's common to eat food prepared by automatic cookers

through processing food cartridges, but what about the Holy Vuelzarus

Empire?"

"Whenever possible, I cook food prepared from fresh ingredients

myself, and if that wasn't possible, I'd partake in preserved food.

However, with the continuous development of preservation technology,

you are able to eat delicious dishes without going through the trouble

of cooking them yourself, so the number of people who are able to cook

using fresh ingredients is decreasing. Eating food prepared using autocookers and food cartridges is not very popular among our citizens."

"I see. What kinda stuff d'ya eat?"

"There are many kinds of processed beans. We also often eat Chilas

shellfish."

"Chilas shellfish?"

"It's a cephalopod with a shell. It might seem somewhat creepy to

people from other places, but it's a food item that is both flavorful and

filling. There's also a processed fish dish called Chico, and a root

vegetable called Caro which is easily cultivated and is very nutritious.

Caro leaves can also be eaten, so no part of the plant is wasted."

"I see."

Cephalopods with shells? Like an ammonite or a nautilus? And they

also had processed bean products… You can actually use beans to make

a lot of stuff. For example, soybeans can be used to make soymilk, fresh

or fried tofu, natto, or just eat them plain boiled. The soybean is already

like that, so there were a tremendous number of cooking variations

when it comes to beans. Moreover, they also ate fish and root

vegetables huh.

"Don't you guys eat meat?"

"We do, but it's quite expensive."

"So the situation's the same for the Graccan and Holy Vuelzarus Empire

huh."

Before long, the food we ordered was served to our table. We mainly

ordered large baked flatbreads with various ingredients piled on top

just like pizza, mashed potato-like stuff, roasted meat-like dishes, and

so on. By the way, there was no soup dish. The closest ones had thick

paste-like consistency like ankake rather than your usual soup.

"This… Isn't this meat?"

Kugi's eyes were shining in delight as she looked at the skewered

grilled whitish meat on a serving plate.

"…So, which type is this thing, exactly?"

"It's cultured meat."

Mimi sheepishly answered my question.

"Ah–… Well, I suppose we're already used to it."

"Yeah."

We went to a factory manufacturing cultured meat a while back and

became a bit traumatized by the experience. But now, we ate cultured

meat without making a fuss. Even if it was originally sourced from…

those things, processed meat was still processed meat at the end of the

day. Anyway, it certainly tasted great, so it would be our loss if we kept

being bothered by that stuff.

Or rather, it seemed we eventually got used to it thanks to Mimi often

ordering rather questionable imported specialty foods and gathering us

for tasting parties. So what if the meat was from a creepy eldritch

tentacle creature? There was stuff in the world that were a lot grosser

than that. Yeah, there certainly were. I have firsthand experience

y'know.

"It's cultured, but it's no doubt genuine meat. If you want more, feel free

to ask for seconds."

"Is it truly fine…? Isn't this quite extravagant?"

"Ya better get used to stuff like this, Kugi. With Boss here, stuff like this

can only be treated as appetizers."

"I'm still floored by Big Brother's outrageous sense for money

sometimes…"

"I'm getting used to it, but I haven't reached the realm of Hiro-sama and

Elma-san yet."

Can you drop that topic already, guys? You make it sound like I and

Elma were weirdos or something. We're quite normal, thank you very

much. As mercenaries, that is. As regular folks? I wouldn't know about

that even if you asked!

"Then, let's eat before the food gets cold guys."

"Yes. Oh, I'll portion it for you guys."

"Ah, let me help as well."

"You're today's guest of honor, Kugi. So just sit tight. Hiro says you're

still a provisional member, but this is still your welcome party after all."

After saying so, Elma held Kugi down and started helping Mimi serve

portions of each dish on everyone's plates. And before I knew it, Mei

was also helping out. The way she mixes in naturally without making a

sound was really uncanny.

"Right. Then, a toast to Kugi's welcome party."

"Cheers!"

Tina happily toasted her glass and immediately chugged down her

drink. Of course, it was alcohol. Whisker also discreetly ordered alcohol

as well… Elma too huh. I did say we're gonna relax today, but you guys

ain't holding back at all huh.