kscans

Chapter 165 - A Souvenir for the Village

Two days after the visit from Old Man Audel and Otta, Yuri, visiting End Village for the first time in six months, received another warm welcome from the villagers. It was likely partly because he had taught them the leaching technique last year, but a larger reason seemed to be that they had been concerned about Yuri, who was holed up alone in the Salt-Sour Mountain. Although he had been living alone for nearly six years since he was seven, the Salt-Sour Mountain was a dangerous place… from the villagers' perspective, it was practically synonymous with the demon world. It was impossible not to worry about a child living alone in such a demonic realm. …Even if that child was a warrior who regularly ate Gambitgrizzlies.

"Oh, Yuri-kun, it is good of you to come."

"Good day. I’ll be in your care again."

After the friendly greetings, what was brought before Yuri was…

"Ah, Soya Beans."

"Yes. We somehow managed to harvest this much. However, the yield is still minuscule, so we plan to use it for sowing again this year."

"That’s right… If nothing happens, we might be able to harvest enough for a taste test in the fall."

"Hmm… that edamame was truly delicious… but what other ways are there to eat them?"

Old Man Audel guessed that they would probably be boiled after being soaked in water to rehydrate them, but he thought Yuri might know other cooking methods. So he asked Yuri.

"Well… I happen to have brought one dish that’s just right…"

As a souvenir for End Village this time, Yuri had brought not only the tetraploid Suzuna, but also tofu and its processed products. Incidentally, besides regular tofu, Yuri had also made a trial version of Go-dofu, which is solidified with starch instead of nigari, but he was worried whether its chewy texture would be accepted, so he did not bring it this time.

"...Yuri-kun… what in the world is this?"

"It’s called tofu, a processed product of Soya Beans. There are various types depending on how it’s made, but this one is called momen-dofu."

The villagers, seeing the white, square, and soft thing, all looked puzzled.

"In my hometown, it was commonly eaten… or so I heard from my grandfather. However, although it’s highly nutritious, it has almost no taste of its own. You eat it with shoyu… a sauce."

It takes a considerable amount of effort to make, and the finished tofu does not last long. It is a different story if it is processed into tofu skin after thoroughly draining the water, but then it becomes a question of whether one wants to eat tofu that badly. As expected, seeing the villagers' dubious expressions, Yuri took out the processed version of the tofu.

"...But if you salt it, you can make something like this."

"Hmm… what is this…?"

"Could it be… cheese?"

In front of the villagers who were keeping their distance apprehensively, Old Man Audel and Dona, who had been appointed to taste it, raised their voices in surprise. The color, the texture, and the taste, no matter how you looked at it, it could only be cheese. Was this a processed product of Soya Beans? Seeing the two dumbfounded, some volunteers from among the villagers participated in the taste test… and showed a reaction similar to the other two.

"If you’re interested, I can teach you how to make it, but please be prepared for it to take a lot of time and effort. Well, even without such effort, you can eat Soya Beans just by boiling, simmering, or roasting them."

That being said, it would not hurt to know at least one elaborate way of eating them, so Yuri revealed the recipe for salt-cured tofu. …The villagers who heard it, however, threw up their hands at the tediousness of it. In any case, one of the souvenirs for End Village had been delivered.



"Ho ho… so this is the Suzuna you were talking about, Yuri-kun?"

"Yes. It seems to have been cultivated in a village. I just cultivated the surviving ones, so I don’t know where it originally came from."

There was no lie in what Yuri was saying.

He found the Suzuna at the "village ruins," but that place was indeed the ruins of a "village." That itself was not something to hide, but since he was passing off the magic bag he found there as his grandfather’s keepsake, he somehow felt hesitant to confess. He was bringing a tetraploid version of that Suzuna that he had created with suspicious magic, but even though Yuri was the one who caused the mutation, the original place of origin was unknown.

"I see… it certainly seems larger than a normal Suzuna."

…The reason it was large was because it was a tetraploid, but of course Yuri did not make any unnecessary coming outs.

"That’s right. It doesn’t have an unpleasant harshness, and it cooks quickly, so it’s good to eat boiled. You can let it overwinter in the ground, so if you dig it out from the snow when you use it, it’s always fresh."

Yuri mentioned only its aspects as an "ingredient." He did not let on that he had already started a trial production of shochu with turnips as the raw material at the end of last November. The brewing and distillation were over without a hitch, and now he was just waiting for it to age. Whatever his inner thoughts, his current self (Yuri) was still a twelve-year-old. It would be bad for his reputation to be known for planning to drink alcohol, let alone for eagerly awaiting the maturation of his homemade shochu.

"Ho ho, that’s convenient."

"Yes. The sweetness also increases due to the effect of snow storage… well, this can be said for other vegetables too."