Chapter 2066: Intermission: Meanwhile, In The Backyard......
While Kaito and Jutia were chatting over tea, in a special space created by Canalis, hidden beyond a unique door in the backyard, Nebula, Illness, and Canalis were gathered.
This space was used by Nebula and Illness for their shared hobbies of crafting various items. The two of them had been working together for some time, but recently, Canalis had joined them, and the three were now often experimenting with different ideas together.
[Shall weeeeee go with cheese, bacon, and salmon for the ingredieeeeeents?]
[Yes. This time is just experimental cooking, so I think those standard choices will be fine.]
[Considering the size of the ingredients…… Here, the smoker should be about this size.]
Nebula nodded as she checked the ingredients Illness brought, and then Canalis gave a small wave of her hand, creating a smoker. Their goal this time was to try making smoked foods, and they planned to experiment a bit with it.
[That saaaaaid, smoking food using the World Tree wooooood…… I’ve never heard of that befooooooore.]
[Just like my World Tree, the other World Tree has incredibly high heat resistance and fireproof qualities. Normally, to generate enough heat to burn it, the smoker and ingredients would burn up first, so it wouldn’t usually be possible.]
[So this time, I made a few tweaks to the World Tree wood I borrowed from Nebula-san to make it burn with regular fire, and we’ll be smoking with that. Tahaa~~ I’m excited to see how they turn out! I could take a peek into the future, but that would ruin the fun, so I have no idea how it will be.]
They were planning to use wood from the World Tree for the smoking, which, given the tree’s extreme resistance, would typically be impossible.That said, for an Omnipotent God like Canalis, it was a simple task to temporarily reduce the tree’s heat resistance, and they quickly finished the preparations and started the smoking process.
[Since we're just experimenting this time, should we go with hot smoking for a quick finish? Well, I could always stop the time in the smoker, so we could also do warm or cold smoking if we wanted……]
[There’s no need to rush. Let’s savor the process as we wait. With hot smoking, it should be done in about an hour, right?]
[Indeeeed. Taking our time and waiting also sounds niiiiiiice. Since we have a while, I’ll prepare some tea and snaaaaaacks.]
[Thank you, Illness-san.]
There are three main types of smoking: hot smoking, which takes 40 minutes to an hour at high temperatures; warm smoking, which takes several hours to a day at around 30 – 80°C; and cold smoking, which takes about a week at 15 – 30°C. This time, they decided to go with the quick hot smoking method.
After an hour of chatting over tea, the smoked food was finally ready, and the three began to taste it.
[The flavor isn’t too inteeeeeense———- it’s almost delicaaaate. It could be used for a variety of smoked disheeeees, maybe something similar to walnuuuuut?]
[True. That said, compared to walnut, it has a stronger fragrance. Rather than a smoky scent, it’s slightly sweet, almost fruity…… It would be versatile, but maybe it wouldn’t pair well with something as delicate as white fish.]
[Fumu fumu, overall, it’s like a blend of walnut and apple notes, perhaps? Oh, and the bacon turned out great! Thanks to the aroma, it even has a hint of sweetness.]
The smoked food created with World Tree wood had a subtly sweet fragrance, with a mild, pleasant flavor that made it easy to enjoy. As they shared their impressions, Nebula suddenly offered the smoked cheese she was holding to Canalis, lightly extending it toward her with one hand.
[Canalis-san, would you like to try the smoked cheese?]
[Haehh!? Ah, I- I’d gratefully accept it!!!]
Surprised by the unexpected gesture, Canalis realized that…… Nebula was offering to feed her the smoked cheese directly. Trembling with a sense of unexpected happiness, she straightened her posture and brought her face close to Nebula’s hand to take a bite of the cheese.
[……It’s delicious. This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.]
[That might be a bit of an exaggeration……]
Nebula chuckled, finding Canalis’s reaction a bit over-the-top. However, for Canalis, who revered Nebula deeply, the act of Nebula feeding her was an experience sprinkled with the spice of happiness, elevating the taste to the peak of perfection.
For Canalis, this was a moment of pure bliss…… but at the same time, it marked the inevitable moment when her God acquaintances, overcome by jealousy, would later unleash her way the “Multiversal Rift Chop".
<Afterword>
Makina : [By the way, I heard the power ranking goes something like: Universe Annihilation Punch < Multiversal Rift Chop < Multidimensional Collapse Kick.]
Serious-senpai : [To take that and only feel pain…… I guess that's just what you'd expect from someone called Omnipotent……]