Demonlands Cuisine

I was woken up when we arrived at the town called [Aidi's Dominion].

"Good sleep's good even if it's with a little bit of shaking. Yeah. Morning."

"Good morning, it's about time for the sun to set though."

"Kehma, you slept as well as ever…"

It was a town that was about half the size of Tsuia, but it had a town-like feel to it. It was close to a large village in terms of the vibe it gave off. It was on the border between the two.

… Well, if I have to put a finger on why it felt like that, I'd say it's because the town didn't have a surrounding wall and just used a fence. Rokuko had asked Aidi about it.

"Why not use a wall to surround the town? There's just a fence."

"Stray monsters wouldn't attack if we did that."

"…? Isn't that the point, for defense? Why not just do that?"

"Ah, that's another cultural difference… how should I put it… Right, here, monster attacks are a form of entertainment, it's work."

According to her, the people of the Demonlands were a warlike people who were happy to fight monsters with weapons in hand and found joy in tearing them apart.

Furthermore, whenever buildings were destroyed by monster attacks, carpenters would have work to do, and if the fields were destroyed, the food could be made up by the monster meat. If that wasn't enough, they could use DP.

There were many carnivorous races in the Demonlands, so even just a small harvest of vegetables and grains were more than enough. In fact, they were considered to be food for attracting monsters.

"I see, it really is a cultural difference. The fact that you put monster attacks down as entertainment before work there as well."

"Right? I was wondering why I saw so many towns surrounded by walls in the Empire, like why would anyone want to stay inside so much? I couldn't figure it out, how could there be people who don't enjoy fighting?"

Thinking about it from her point of view, everyone in the Demonlands—or at least the majority of the people here—loved to fight. It was normal for them to start fights as part of their everyday life.

"… But why is the level of magic tools better than the Empire's?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's for fighting."

For fighting, the development of horse-drawn carriages and war wagons that could be used to travel long distances and maneuver on the battlefield.

Lights were developed so that they could fight in the dark.

For the sake of killing enemies, as well as to counteract poisons and enchantments, magic tools were developed.

At the end of the day, it was a matter of life and death, so they gave it their all.

I guess that if I had to point to anything as a problem, it would be that they think that dying in battle is a good thing?

Because of all of that, blacksmiths and alchemists would compete with each other, sometimes even fighting each other, to create tools that would be more useful in battle. That was the history of the Demonlands, or something like that.

"… Now that you mention it, there's no way that the Demonlands would have been able to keep themselves from making horse-drawn carriages and what are basically tanks that can run at super high speeds on rough terrain…"

"Also, if there's less shaking, it's easier to use bows and magic attacks."

"Fufu. Starting to understand now?"

It's true that war is what drives technological development.

Just then, the carriage stopped. It seemed that we had arrived at our destination.

When we got off the carriage, we were in front of a stone house.

The wall was dyed red by the setting sun, looking practically like a burning flame. I felt that it was a perfect house for Aidi.

… Yep, it was a beautiful sunset. Of course, the sunsets in the Demonlands were no different from those in the Empire.

"Should we have dinner early? You're going to go back to sleep soon, right?"

"Yeah, I'm tired from all the travelling."

"Even though you slept all the way here, Kehma, you really sleep a lot… Well, Niku and the others look sleepy too."

Traveling itself uses up a lot of energy… Ah, I'm so sleepy.

"I'll serve you the main dish of the town… It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Demonlands cookin', I'm lookin' forward to it! We get some too yeah?"

"Oh right, you like eating, right, Ichika? Sure, there's plenty of food."

"Ya-ho! Thank you, Aidi-sama!"

Ichika was happy. But I wanted to tell her to not get her hopes up, Demonlands cuisine would be intended for battle-crazed people.

… It's probably going to be food that's about to expire, or something like that.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

… My expectations were blown away in a completely unexpected way.

"We take flour, knead it, then cut it into long strips. We then put it into a broth made from dried mushrooms and other ingredients."

"This is udon. What."

"You can add chopped scallions if you like."

"This is udon."

Yeah, this is udon. Even when I heard its name again, it was still udon.

"Scallions…"

"Hooh, this is delicious. Zuruuruuru…"

Hey, Niku. You're going to make yourself sick if you put in that many scallions, you're a dog-eared girl.

Ichika seemed to like it as well.

"Hey, Aidi. This is similar to pasta, but it's interesting that it's soaked in soup."

"Fufufu, it's delicious even if you put a thick sauce on it."

That would make it feel like soft noodles.

"… So, Aidi. What's the origin of this?"

"If you mix flour with water, it'll feel just right for hitting, won't it?"

"If that's the case, then bread would be fine too."

"Bread's good for that too. This is also perfect because you have to cut it to the correct thickness as training."

"Wouldn't spaghetti be thinner and better for training then?"

"There's also somen for that."

"So there's somen too…"

Maybe there's soy sauce and other condiments in the Demonlands too…

I wasn't looking forward to Demonlands cuisine, but given that Pavuera had fish sauce, it wouldn't be strange if there was soy sauce somewhere.

"Ah, the recipe for udon was spread by the god of food, Ishidaka."

All the myseries were solved. The hero Ishidaka had come to the Demonlands. Dude got around.

"Rokuko's Master came from another world too, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Ishidaka is a hero after all, and he's from Japan…"

"Does that matter?"

"… No, not really."

Well, I just found out that udonand somen existed in the Demonlands. I guess I learned a little bit about the Demonlands' history.

"Well, it's good to study when you're studyin' abroad, right? Zuruuruuru… churun!"

"Ichika, looks like you're enjoying the udon. So? Want to stay in the Demonlands forever?"

"Hey, Aidi. Don't try to take our slaves away. It's a waste of time."

"True. I'd have to talk to the owner first… so, how about it?"

"No."

 

She's our important slave. There's no way we'd give her away.