Skill? Nee yo Sonnamon! ~ Fugusha tachi no Saino Kaika ~

I'm buying the pork-like meat of a magic beast and onion…
it's onion right? its outside is hard like rock though…
anyway, onion thingy and poultry egg-like thingy.

Foodstuff in this world sure look a lot like earth ones.
That does make it easier for me to eat them though.
The way they've been made to be otherworldly feel kinda forced though.
Hmm.

As for the essential staple food, it's

【Arorice】
<Boils nicely.>>

It's here, rice is here.
And not the watery one for gruel.

There are also bread and pasta-like foodstuff, don't tell me, are all these stuff brought from earth?

<However, many of them do come from earth.>>

Are you saying just like how I got transported here, there might have been chefs or seeds that got here from earth too?
Can't say, too little info.

I don't have way to keep them fresh, I'm just gonna buy enough for today and tomorrow.

…As for the seasoning store, they had soy sauce and miso-like food besides sauce.
Japanese people must have been around in the past in this world for sure.
I bought soy sauce-like sauce, sugar, salt, cooking sake and wheat flour before heading to our inn.
…Sugar cost 1000 en per kilogram, but I just had to buy it for a better repertoire.
I have no regret.
None at all

We finally arrived at the cheap inn.
It's a huge, four story tall building.
Many adventurers stay here, at nights it apparently even houses 3 digit numbers of guests.
The inn seems quite old, but it doesn't feel run down probably from scrupulous cleaning.
In fact, its lack of gaudiness makes it comfortable.

We got inside, Alma spoke to a well built aunty on the counter.

“A room for one night please.”

“My, welcome Alma-chan.
You're back early today, there's still some time until evening isn't there?”

“I returned early today, so I'd like go to bed early.
This guy here is worn too.”

“This guy? Ah, welcome.
Are you staying too?”

She noticed me behind Alma.

“Yes, one room for me please.
I will likely stay long term for a while, regards.”

“My, that's so nice of you.
Do take it easy.
So, is it a single room? Or maybe a double for two?”
“One single room each please.”

Promptly.
Please don't even joke about that.
We just ran into those three girls too.
“Ahaha, I'm just teasing you.
Please sign here to check in.”

“Ah, may I borrow the kitchen?”

“Go ahead.
Firewood is included in the inn fee, but make sure you don't use too many, okay.”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

After signing, I went to the kitchen right away.
My hunger is getting unbearable.
I wanna eat and sleep.

The kitchen has all the necessary cookware, but huh, there's a sink yet there's no faucet or water pipes? Wait, maybe the civilization level isn't advanced enough to have water service.
Maybe we gotta draw water from a well? What a pain.

“Alma, where do you draw water?”

“Water? Just pour it out the ring.”

“R-ring?”

I was wondering what she was going on about when I noticed a ring placed next to the sink.
Is that it?

【Ring of Livelihood Magic】
<Those without magic skill can cast those spells, consuming only 1 MP per use.>>

O,oooh!
I can use magic with this!
Amazing! I want one! I really want one!

<>

So pricey!
Though well, if one ring lets you start fire, pour water, do laundry and even drying, I guess it's actually cheap….

I've only got 5 MP, I gotta careful not to overuse it.
I push away the temptation to use magic for now and prepare the pork, onion and seasoning.

Forest ginger, it's finally your turn! Good for you!

…After coming all the way to another world, my first decent food is a fried ginger pork huh.
Made by me.
Well it's not bad at all I guess.
So here I am cutting up the pork, onion and sprinkling wheat flour over, and feeling a gaze behind me all the while, err, Alma-san? Have I done something wrong?

“Err, what's up?”

“You can, cook?”

“Well I've been living alone for years so I could make some simple dishes at least.”

“…Really.”

Oh right, Alma said she could only randomly cut and sprinkle salt since she's got a Combat Job.

“Would you like some too, Alma? Only if you want to though.”

“Eh? …You sure?”

“You've been such a great help, the least I could do is treating you to a meal…
Just don't worry about finishing it if it's not to your liking.
Really.”

“U-un.
Thank you.”

She looked surprised for once.
Is it such a shock for me to cook.
Thus I'm now making food for two.
I don't got much money on me, but this much should be fine no?

She looked kinda anxious when I put in sugar into the seasoning mix.
Well, she might find it weird to see sugar with meat, but it's kinda needed.
I wish I had mirin though.
There was no grater, so I cut up the forest ginger and ground it with a mortar into a paste.
Yup, looks fine.

Now that I'm done with the preps, I put on the ring and place a thin firewood with paper under the stove.
Come, my first magic.
Ignite!

BWOAFH

O-oou.
A fire lit up on my fingertip for real, but there was this clack sound before the fire came out, it felt more like using a lighter than magic.
…What's that sound anyway?

<>

That's just a lighter.
Was it an earthling who made this ring?
Well whatever.
I got to try Ignite anyway, let's just get on with the cooking.

I put in thicker firewood, and once the fire has stabilized, I place the frying pan on top and the cooking oil, ah, forgot to buy oil.
Guess I'll use the pork fat…
Let's buy some tomorrow.

As I adjust the fire as to not overcook the onion and pork, I put them on a plate.
Wait, Alma.
I'm still not finished yet.
It's got no seasoning okay.

I throw in seasoning, forest ginger paste and mix them together with the pork and onion.
I was worried about the fire level but it turned out well.

I cooked two servings of rice and completed two sets of Fried Ginger Pork (without soup).

“It's done.
Let's eat in our own room…
Feel free to put the plate back here if you don't like it.”

I think it tastes good from a light sample earlier, but there's no guarantee my Japanese tongue matches otherworlders' after all.
Even on earth, you find people who think sukiyaki is too sweet depending on countries.
It's so good though.

“I've never smelled anything like this before…
I'm getting hungry just from the fragrance.
Arorice, not bread? You like it?”

“Yeah, it's a staple food in my hometown.
It goes well with this meat too.”

“Hee…”

…It kinda feels like Alma's eyes are sparkling as she watched the pork.
I sure hope it doesn't betray her expectations.

Afterward, we went in our room and ate.
So good.
The taste isn't that different from earth-made one, or rather, I feel the ginger here has a better flavor to it.
Forest Ginger, why weren't you born in Japan.
You're good stuff.
Such a waste to be nothing but a herbal medicine here.

I was so starved I chowed my meal down in less than five minutes.
Should have enjoyed it more now that I'm not pressed on time like in Japan.

Afterward, I went back to kitchen and washed my tableware, then that happened when I was going to dry them.

Ran out of MP.

The cause: I poured out too much water.
Livelihood magic, 【Water】 shot out water like a faucet for ten seconds upon activation, my MP ran out cause I was trying to probe how the mana inside me flowed during that time and kept casting it.
Am I a moron? Eh, I am, no doubt about it? Welp yeah.
It'd be a problem for next people using them if I don't dry the tableware.
What to do.

“How do you dry them…”

“Thank you for the food, Hikaru.”

I heard Alma from behind me.
When did she get there?

“Ah, Alma.
Didn't know you were there.
How was it?”

“It was good.
Really really good.”

“Y-yeah? Glad to hear that.”

Doesn't seem like she's just saying it to be polite.
She's cleaned her plate, and her expression kinda looks satisfied.
It's worth making.

“What's wrong?”

“Ah, I was gonna dry the tableware but I ran out of mana.
It's at 0 now.”

“Eh…
Are you all right? How, are you standing?”

“Eh?”

Does it mean that you pass out when you run out of mana normally?

【Mana Exhaustion】
<Unless you receive mana supply from an external source, you may not wake up for 24 hours and in some cases, a week.
Waking up from Mana Exhaustion state raises maximum MP by 1.
However, recovering your consciousnesses through external mana sources can only be done once a day.
Your body will reject any more mana, thus you must wait for it to naturally recover.>>

That sounds so scary.
Eh, but I'm doing just fine though?

<>

Really now.
The State on my Status shows Healthy anyway, guess it's just how my body works.

“Ah, I initially didn't have mana.
I got my first mana from today's level up, so using Livelihood Magic earlier was my first time too.”

“Did not have mana…
Probably possible to you Hikaru.
It's like you can do anything.”

I can't do anything in reality though.

“So here I was wondering how to dry them.”

“No worries.
I'll dry them along with mine.”

“Don't you have only little MP left Alma? Are you gonna be fine?”

“No problem.
I can at least stay on my feet until I get back to my room.”

“I see, then it's yours.
Thank you.”

“Un.”

I'm always getting saved by this girl.
It's like I'm turning into a leech.

Afterward, I showered on the simple bathroom, and went to bed.
I wanted to test some things before going to sleep but not without MP left.
So sleep I go.
Good night

By the way, by morning my MP has recovered to max and been raised by 1.
It's gonna go up more and more if I just use up all my mana before going to bed every day.
Fufufu.
Can't wait to reach two digits.