Chapter 256: The Kannaoi of fire and oil (1/2)

Chapter 256: The Kannaoi of fire and oil

Hearing both the report of Beren and the talk of the sword, I could feel my confusion increasing steadily. But salvation descended upon me.

*Pin Pon*

The sound of a chime that didn’t match the atmosphere of the room rang, and after that, a voice called out.

It is the waitress.

A call telling us that the meal is ready, and to contact them when we are ready to go.

Beren’s report had been turning into a lecture about the history of the dwarf blacksmiths and what was popular at that time, so this was truly good timing.

This sword, that’s name seems to be Einkaref, still continues sonorously speaking about his own personal history in a merry manner.

If I keep a bit calm and composed, and simply whisper inside my heart what I think, he won’t hear it, but if I don’t put much mind to it, and just think without caring, it will be picked up by him too.

Seems like the rules of speaking with the sword are like that.

Obviously, I have only tested it a bit and checked its reaction, so I might be mistaken.

But…because the inside of my head has already been read by third parties so many times, I am pretty loose about those kind of things. But well, since there’s the part about privacy, it is a plus that I have found a safe sphere in this mental conversations.

“Then, we will continue after eating, how about it, Waka?” (Tomoe)

“Good. Let’s have them bring it now then.” (Makoto)

“Yes.” (Tomoe)

Tomoe received my acknowledgement and rings the room’s chime to request the preparation of the meal.

A few minutes after…

A number of people I don’t know where they were in standby had entered into the shed along with the scent of food.

This is the shed and the corridor is quite long, so in what kind of way did they get here so fast?

This level of speed could be considered a feat already.

The darkness of the service business is deep.

It surpasses the line of being impressive and turns into scary.

Hm?

“Beren and everyone else, where are you going?” (Makoto)

As if natural, Beren, Hokuto, and Shii stood up and were about to leave the room.

Even though we are going to eat now.

“We were thinking about eating in a separate room. Eating together with Waka-sama would be too much of an honor.”

“…Hah? I don’t really mind so let’s eat together. The food tastes better when everyone eats together.” (Makoto)

“B-But…”

“It is fine. I don’t mind it, and Mio will be asking for your opinions on it later, so we can do that while eating and that will save time. Tomoe is interested in what Hokuto and Shii have to say, so we can get some light reports while eating. See? Lots of benefits.” (Makoto)

…Regarding Tomoe, she probably has an evil plan like identifying what dishes she likes the most and pillaging them from the others anyways.

Leaving me aside, I pity Iroha-chan.

I want to avoid the route where Tomoe aims for the share of Mio and it turns into a monster fight.

I will have these three work as lightning rods– no, as insurance in case Tomoe isn’t satisfied with only her portion. Yes, insurance.

Well, what I said a moment ago was also how I truly felt.

“I-Is it really okay to accompany you?”

“Of course.” (Makoto)

“Too long-winded. Waka said it was okay-ja. Just sit already.” (Tomoe)

“In that case, we will change our clothes immediately—!!”

“They are telling you to sit down, right? Good grief. Also, we are all family here. There’s no need to mind how you are dressed-desu wa. Right, Waka-sama?” (Mio)

Mio and Tomoe joined in convincing Beren and the others who are crazy nervous.

Mio did some smooth movements with her folding fan, making them swim in midair, and had them seated by force.

W-Well, as long as the results are good…

After that, I nod at the words of Mio.

“Everyone from the company is like family, so there’s no need to mind your clothes.” (Makoto)

We will be having our meal in a Japanese-style hotel, so they will probably be bringing the dishes in small trays. We will probably have respective trays for each one of us.

In that case, we can just eat without minding much.

It is exactly as Mio said, we are all family, so there’s no need to mind our clothes.

“Pardon the intrusion. Is everyone going to be having their meal here?”

“Yeah, please do the preparations.”

I nod at the waitress-san that asked for confirmation.

“Understood.”

Saying this, she turns her gaze towards the corridor.

“Hoh?” (Tomoe)

Tomoe voices her interest.

The two waitresses brought some big rounded thing that seems to be made directly of wood, and places it on top of the big table.

Eh? Could this be…

“There’s a small space between the table and this. Is this a part of tonight’s plans for dinner?” (Tomoe)

“Yes. This is a device that is used around Kannaoi since a long past. Like this…”

No doubt about it.

In the middle of her explanation, the waitress-san places a hand on the round shaped ‘table’ and turns it.

Just as Tomoe said, there’s a space in between, so the round shaped table revolved.

It is not like I have seen it that many times, but…this is that. The thing you see at chinese restaurants.

In that case, today’s dinner is not Japanese-style…but chinese?!

So it really is a chinese restaurant!

I completely thought that they would be bringing things like nabe and sashimi, and maybe sushi.

At any rate, a rotating tray, it reminds me of the Showa era .

‘When talking about a feast, it has to be chinese food’, maybe a Wise from that kind of era was involved in the food here.

“It is rotating.” (Tomoe)

“Yes. The dishes are placed here and distributed in order. It serves for that function.”

An expected explanation.

And while at it, the many dishes were being lined up one after the other.

Dishes that are considered the art of fire and oil, in a sense, nostalgic dishes.

By the way, when it is called chinese food it means that it is chinese food that was changed to fit the taste of the japanese, and when it is called chinese cuisine it means that the food is made exactly as its roots.

There was one guy in my archery club that was specially fussy about this.

He was saying things like: ‘don’t nonchalantly go to stores that make sichuan cuisine, it can kill your tongue’, or something like that.

I didn’t understand what he meant.

In the first place, is sichuan cuisine and chinese cuisine any different?

Chinese food will obviously be different though.

*Mapo tofu* tastes good though, is that so bad?

For some reason, I ended up worrying about a pointless mystery.

“Sauteed octopus, deep fried chicken, and that’s…sweet-and-sour pork? Ah, ebi chili! I see, so that was chinese too. Also…mayonnaise shrimp? Isn’t that from the Heisei era? I hope it doesn’t simply look like mayonnaise shrimp but is actually a weird syrup that tastes sugary. I will get angry with you if that’s true, okay “mayonnaise shrimp”?” (Makoto)

“There’s dishes here that you can easily find in other restaurants around the city, but all the ones here are made with the best ingredients and by the number one chef in the present age. I can vouch that this will definitely become a good memory for your journey, so please take your time enjoying it.”

The waitress-san turned her gaze and made a gently smile at me when she heard about how I knew a number of the dishes here, and simply gave supplementary information.

In other words, she is saying: ‘our food is different from other places, you know. Hehe’.

Ah, the fried rice arrives.

A fragrant scent… This…it smells a bit like they singed the soy sauce.

That means they have decent amount of knowledge in the flavoring.

Nice nice.

Might be a particular style of this world though.

And there’s also…is that the dessert?

Annin tofu and Agar are cut in cubes and floating in some sort of transparent syrup along with some fruits, like a chinese-style fruit punch.

This is a guess that relies on a past that already feels pretty far, but it is probably not so off.

Next is…the black and big iron pot that has some sort of red food making gentle boiling sounds. The looks are similar to mapo tofu.

But a part of it is different from the one in my memories.

A darkish powder has been sprinkled all over it, and maybe it was cooked beforehand, there’s clear vivid red chili pepper placed on the sides.

Well, that’s probably decoration.

It seems like there’s minced meat in the tofu, so maybe it is the regretful-type of mapo tofu?

In the end, the round table that was pretty big was lined up with dishes one after the other, and after preparing a massive amount of plates, the waitresses left.

I woke up Iroha-chan, and after the customary: ‘Itadakimasu’, we began dinner in our first day at Kannaoi, at this room that’s completely filled with the scent of chinese food.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

When there’s a rotating tray, the revolving will create fights.

The moment Tomoe and Mio were at my side, I could tell this future.

With something as simple as what direction I turn it to, sparks would fly.

I moved away as soon as possible, so it ended only as sparks though.

It is true that going around and around is a pretty interesting gimmick, and as a result, everyone had fun with it.

The food was mostly good as well.

It was truly chinese food.

The bon bon chicken was good, the sweet-and-sour pork was on the sour-side which is to my liking, and the deep-fried chicken-looking one was carefully made and the skin was crispy. No complains.