LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 85
“Growwwl—”
“Huh?”
The rumbling sound of a growling stomach echoed through the silent kitchen, waking it from its slumber and filling the air with hunger.
Karem and Catherine instinctively turned their gazes towards the source of the noise.
It was Narque.
“Ah, aaaaah.”
Narque was also an Elf, and a female one at that.
(Although there were only two people) She flushed crimson at the embarrassment of appearing so needy in front of others, cradling her belly protectively.
Seeing that, Catherine couldn’t help but let out a tiny sigh, feeling a clash between reason and instinct.
“Let’s just sit down for now.”
“I prepared a place for you in advance, expecting your arrival.”
Guided by Karem, the hungry wizards gathered around a table piled high with Fried Chicken.
“So…”
Catherine gestured towards the other side of the kitchen.
“Where on earth did all the oil used to fry this many chickens come from? You didn’t just find it in this little village, did you?”
A large iron pot sat in one corner of the kitchen, filled to the brim with golden oil.
“This is oil from the local specialty, Akusare Mushroom. I’ve heard they just dump it in the forest as fertilizer for the mushrooms.”
“From Akusare Mushroom oil? If it’s that much oil… Wait a second. Did I just hear something strange?”
“The oil from mushrooms?”
“No, the part after that.”
“They just dump it in the forest for mushroom fertilizer. It’s said that one leather pouch yields that much oil. Such a waste.”
Karem picked up a bit of fried batter that had fallen onto the plate and munched on it.
“Are you crazy? They threw all that away?”
“The village chief’s daughter mentioned it earlier. It can’t be a lie, right? Why do you ask?”
“Well, those items are used as materials for magic and alchemy.”
Karem merely blinked and scratched the back of his neck.
“Uh, I thought they were just used as cooking ingredients.”
“No, but you’ve cooked with it before—oh, right, there’s already a precedent with the Fire Witch Finger. You just tossed it into the forest?”
“Yeah, it’s said that decades ago, the village chief ate it and died, while he harvested the essence and just dumped the rest of the oil in the forest. Thanks to that, I heard mushrooms are booming.”
Catherine looked momentarily dazed.
However, somehow she felt she could accept it.
Even if Akusare Mushrooms became trendy on the continent and their byproduct, Akusare Mushroom oil, was used in magic and alchemy materials, it was conceivable that people in such a small village wouldn’t know.
After all, it wasn’t something used in everyday life.
And this was a village just half a day’s travel from Coldon?
The harsh environment and the wild monsters roaming around made that half-day feel almost like complete isolation.
Although Coldon was nearby, Iceland was as remote as it could be on the continent of Europa.
And it was the same when viewing from the Kingdom of Seophone.
“Well, I guess we should postpone this matter for later.”
Catherine clapped her hands lightly to brighten the atmosphere.
“Since we’re hungry, let’s eat first and then talk.”
“Sounds like a good idea. Someone’s ears might shoot to the sky at this rate.”
Narque’s nearly drooping ears perked up, lifting the shabby hood of her robe.
“Y-Yeah, after all, food is meant to be eaten hot. I’ll enjoy it!”
Narque, fidgeting in front of the chicken, swiftly picked up a large chicken leg as soon as Catherine’s words fell.
There was no particular reason.
It was simply the closest piece available.
The window showcased the last rays of twilight before the sun completely dipped below the horizon, casting a bright orange hue.
The warmth transmitted through her hands from both ends of the chicken leg.
The crackling sounds coming from the crispy outer layer wrapping the still steaming flesh made Narque’s senses, once dormant from fatigue, come alive.
After filling her stomach with cheap preserved biscuits, jerky, and wild berries before coming to Iceland, the sensory explosion was overwhelming.
Quickly finishing her delightful contemplation, Narque brought the Fried Chicken near her mouth.
Crisp!
The crispy batter crumbled, revealing the tender meat beneath, and as the sweetness enveloped her, the repressed juices erupted, scattering all around.
Some splattered on her mouth, cheeks, and clothes, but Narque didn’t have time to worry about that now.
“W-Why is the chicken so soft?”
Catherine, who had also taken a bite of the chicken breast Karem prepared, was having the same thought.
Compared to the ultimate indulgence of modern civilization, the result of selective breeding seemed humble.
All day long, muscles developed from running around.
Meat toughens with age.
While it’s said that hens are softer than roosters, for her mouth, there wasn’t much of a difference.
It was natural that methods to enjoy such soft meat had developed over many ages in this world and that world alike.
Of course, there are exceptions.
While the Kingdom of Seophone had different views, roasting had always been something truly serious since ancient times; thus, cooks from across the continent occasionally came to study this.
Consequently, the representative methods to cook meat tenderly are typically three:
Stew, Braise, Rotisserie.
Yet, what lay before Catherine was none of those.
Wasn’t frying something reserved for dessert techniques? It wasn’t stew, braise, or rotisserie, yet it turned out this tender?
“What trick did you pull this time?”
“Trick? Let’s just call it a cooking technique.”
“You must have done something strange and amazing once again. But before that, was chicken breast always this juicy?”
“I’m just really good at frying chicken, you know?”
If anyone were to ask Karem what his specialty dish was, he could confidently declare, “Chicken.”
Especially dishes involving chicken.
He had consumed chicken so few times in his current life that he could remember each instance, but in past lives, it was a different story.
Since childhood, he had picked apart and devoured two or three chickens right in his seat, even the pieces not often eaten by others.
Once the price of chicken soared in his later years, he began preparing it himself.
(Even if he couldn’t eat chicken due to unavoidable circumstances like dieting), chicken breast became a staple at every meal, and on cheat days, he would inevitably make fried chicken.
“Oh, you’re telling me frying it made it this soft?”
“Well, maybe it’s because I marinated it with honey, buttermilk, vinegar, lemon, and wine.”
Honestly, when Karem first faced the chicken, he felt a bead of sweat rolling down.
Considering the lesser breeding and the age of the chicken compared to modern times, he had expected it to be tough, but he never imagined it would be so tough that he could feel the hardness.
Thanks to that, he had to toss in all available tenderizing agents before even battering it, and he had mixed it with honey beforehand.
“A peculiar sweetness—it was the honey. No, before that… buttermilk? The leftover from making butter—no, whatever.”
Catherine took another bite from the piece of chicken that Karem offered her.
It was thigh meat.
Crisp, crackle, sizzle, crunch.
The rough fried coating, bright orange in hue, crumbled in her mouth even more pleasantly than the skin of a well-roasted whole bird, even more so than pie or cookie crusts.
The savory, subtle fragrance of spices filled the air as the batter shattered, and every bite released the intense, heavy aroma of various nuts into the atmosphere, tickling Catherine’s nose.
The experience of a light and heavy playtime with her nose and teeth transitioned into a joyous moment for her tongue.
She chewed the tender flesh.
The tender meat was entirely different from the crispy shell.
As she exerted her teeth, the meat split apart with ease, releasing a mellow sweetness along with the weighty essence of chicken, lingering and enveloping her tongue before ultimately moving on.
However, with every bite, the essence continued to ooze, saturating her mouth.
Catherine instantly recognized the signature of this essence.
It was the fats and juices that inevitably escaped when chicken was roasted, stewed, or boiled.
Those losses were entirely preserved within the thick batter enveloping the chicken.
No, that wasn’t the end—not just because the juices were caught inside the padding of batter but also as the chicken heated up in hot oil, it was effectively both roasted and boiled at once.
Generally, meat becomes more tender when it is grilled and then boiled.
With each movement of her teeth, the soft, juicy meat crumbled, proving just that.
Beneath the crispy coating was silky thigh meat.
Next came the tender, juicy breast meat.
From succulent wings to back to the breast once more.
As Catherine’s belly gradually filled, she regained her composure.
In doing so, something beneath the chicken, hidden until now, caught her eye.
It was a small fried ball, so perfectly spherical that it could be covered by her palm, a bright brown color that vaguely reminded her of a familiar dessert.
“Hey, little one. Is that a doughnut?”
“Doughnut? Ah, that? That’s Akusare Mushroom.”
“Akusare Mushroom, you say?”
“I seasoned it a bit and then fried it whole with spices.”
“Hah, you fried it whole, huh? Bring that here!”
Karem speared the fried Akusare Mushroom with a fork and presented it to Catherine.
“You fried an Akusare Mushroom whole, huh? Hah!”
“Is it really that strange?”
“Yeah, in a luxurious manner.”
Catherine bit into the Akusare Mushroom fry.
As the round batter cracked, the oval-shaped Akusare Mushroom hidden inside stretched out like cheese along her fork.
Catherine shuddered at the unexpected indulgence.
Karem understood her feelings.
The Akusare Mushroom fry enjoyed while frying chicken was a phenomenal treat.
When raw, it had quite a solid form.
Yet, once it was coated in batter and heated, it turned chewy and began to stretch like mozzarella cheese.
Such chewy mushrooms unleashed flavors and aromas of dozens of nuts—pine nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds, and more.
A harmony of chewy texture, surrounded by various tastes and scents.
With such vibrant flavors, it was no wonder it was popular.
“I’ve never seen this in my kitchen or warehouse. It wasn’t served at banquets either.”
“Is that so? You mean with Akusare Mushrooms?”
“Yeah. Do they sell it all across the continent?”
“Well, I can’t say for sure. They might sell some, but I think I know who devours everything dedicated to Winterhome.”
That thought conjured someone in Karem’s mind.
“Hehe, right! It’s Alicia coming for snacks!”
Even without the culprit being present, the sound of the youngest princess’s voice echoed in Karem’s ears, prompting a dry smile.
“Well, I guess that’s ancient history now.”
“Ancient history? Huh? Doesn’t that sound like you can’t find Akusare Mushrooms in the forest anymore?”
Catherine nodded while savoring the Akusare Mushroom fry.
However, the response sprung from elsewhere.
“Uh, yeah. Sir Atanitas is probably right. You won’t be able to find Akusare Mushrooms anymore.”
Narque, who was just eating chicken skin, agreed.
“Uh, is there a big problem in the forest? Is there pollution or something?”
“W-well, it could be seen that way? Mushrooms are a type of fungi, and those fungi can sometimes mutate due to magical influences, you see?”
“…Could it possibly be due to magical over-saturation?”
If it involved magical factors, there was something Catherine had heard earlier that day.
Karem voiced the phenomenon that suddenly came to his mind, and the two wizards nodded in agreement.
“About the Mushroom Golem that attacked the village, I think they were all mutated Akusare Mushrooms, right? There’s a hint of Undead traces, so we need to investigate it further. The forest is practically the nest of those Golems.”
Narque predicted the downfall of Fungusbee village in a soft voice.
“Unless we wipe the whole forest clean, Golems will keep spawning. Uh, regardless, it seems like there’s something in the woods that’s triggering the Golems…”
“What we need to do now is resolve that trigger.”
Crunch—
Catherine bit into the juicy, dripping Fried Chicken that Karem offered.
However, amidst their serious discussion, the three of them naturally gravitated back to focusing on the chicken.