Chapter 189.1 - Breakfast of the Fishing Village and Souvenir (1/2) (2/2)

This must be that thing I tasted in the soup yesterday.

As I realized that, I started working.

I started by removing the leafy part, then I quickly washed the roots in water. After that I cut the them into small pieces and placed the cut roots into the mortar.

After grinding the roots with the pestle, I ground them again.

I’m just doing as she told me to, but this sure are a lot of ingredients.

Still, this peculiar and stimulating aroma…

“By the way, is there a dish here where you eat raw fish with this?” [Ryouma]

“There are people who eat like that, but there are worms that can hurt your stomach. Especially during this season, so it’s best not to.” [Mei]

That’s unfortunate, but I better take her advice since she’s the local here.

Besides, the worms can be dealt with by cooking and processing the food, so I think I’ll just enjoy those kind of food while I’m here.

As I thought that to myself, it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t able to give the souvenirs I was supposed to give yesterday.

“Souvenirs? For us?”

“Yes. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.” [Ryouma]

I left the kitchen for a moment and entered my Dimension Home. My Dimension Home is already a little bigger than a gym. I walked to the corner where my new friends, the clever chickens, are staying.

“Kokeh! Kokeh!” [Clever Chicken]

The chicken that noticed me chirped loudly, and then a black chick came out of the brood huddled together.

“Good morning, Aniki! You sure are early today!” [Genius Chicken]

“Good morning, Kohaku. It’s a bit early, but can I get the eggs for today?” [Ryouma]

“Don’t worry, Aniki. It’s already been prepared.” [Kohaku]

This baby black chicken is the boss of this brood, as well as the only advanced variant among it. The genius chicken, Kohaku, rubbed his hands nastily while facing several clothed baskets that were lined up. Two of the baskets were filled to the brim with eggs.

“I’ll take today’s eggs then. I’ll bring you your food after I’ve checked the goods.” [Ryouma]

“Yes! We’ll wait in front of the feeding box as usual.” [Kohaku]

Not a hint of that oppressive aura from when we first met could be seen as I took away the basket of eggs. After the chickens, the next living s.p.a.ce I went to was the slimes’. I had the big cleaner slime clean the eggs and made sure that there were no cracked eggs.

I had prepared several clothed baskets for the chickens, but they only used two and filled them to the brim. It seems the clever chicken don’t really care about the eggs they lay. Of course, these are all unfertilized eggs that won’t turn into chicks, but I still think they’re being too rough with how they handle them.

As the big cleaner slime extended its body like a tentacle and brought the eggs inside it one after another, I turned to the baskets that were lined up on the other side and sighed.

My relations.h.i.+p with the clever chickens is purely business now, so the situation has calmed down a lot, but it was really bad at first when I tried to treat them as friends. The employee of the Saionji Company tasked with taking care of the clever chickens knew about the original contract of the previous owner. The previous owner was a professional poultry farmer, and I agreed to continue the terms he had promised the clever chickens. The clever chickens were fine with that, but their living s.p.a.ce became an issue.

I had brought them back home with me to the mines and tried to negotiate where they would be pasturing, but it turned out that forming a contract with every chicken, so that we could understand each other wasn’t the wisest course of action, as they just ended up demanding one thing after another. They were very picky.

In the end, it was agreed upon that they would be staying inside my ‘Dimension Home’ for the time being. As for why, apparently it’s because it’s too cold because of the winter. It turns out that they’d much rather live a carefree life inside the Dimension Home, where it’s warm, than be able to go out and eat earthworms or other bugs when it’s so cold. And besides, it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t be able to eat when I’m here to keep them fed.

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