LIGHTNOVELONLINE Book 6: Side Story 2
Aria’s Cooking Class
Days of hardships were waiting for Aria and Elena since they were blasted away to the desert of Resvel until they arrived to Cutlass Town.
「Do you often cook Aria?」
Although, for Aria there wasn’t that much hardship despite some bewilderment that she felt from experiencing the desert’s climate for the first time, but she was concerned with Elena’s health because she only had normal stamina even after her body had become healthier.
That kind consideration of Aria became an unexpected hardship for Elena.
Elena casually asked such question to Aria at the first day of their camping. Aria’s answer was──
「I was the one cooking the meal at my master’s place.」
──That.
That night was shocking for Elena who was raised in the palace. Aria suddenly threw something to somewhere, then she pulled it back and caught something like a lizard that was covered in hard scales.
It was pierced by a blade that was shaped like a ship’s anchor. From that Elena realized that Aria used it to hunt the lizard thing, but the next moment Aria suddenly slit the lizard’s neck with her blade and started draining its blood. Elena’s eyes reflexively widened seeing that.
「……W-what are you doing?」
「Draining the blood. It’s a waste because blood is also nutritious, but this is my first time cooking this ingredient, so I’m removing its blood just to be safe.」
「No, umm……」
「It’s okay, I’ll check for poison.」
「Yes……」
Elena faltered when she realized that apparently they were going to eat that creature.
Even someone who was raised in a palace like Elena knew that the meat she usually ate came from living creature. Even so Elena persuaded herself that she would be able to eat it after the animal was dismantled and turned into the usual shape of “meat” that she knew, but she turned speechless when she saw Aria’s cooking.
「Aria……?」
「It’s not poisonous so it’s fine.」
Aria’s cooking method was “whole roast”. Furthermore she didn’t peel the skin or even the scales and roasted the lizard directly over the bonfire completely in its original form.
「This part is tasty.」
「……Thank you for the meal.」
Aria used her knife to cut the neck with a single stroke and recommended the meat there. For the time being Elena averted her eyes so she couldn’t see the grilled lizard and bit into the meat.
For some reason she felt resentful that the meat tasted ordinarily delicious.
.
But Elena was made to realize that the meal that day was Aria already being really considerate.
「Ah, Aria……」
There were few living creatures in desert. Proper meat like lizard was very precious.
「I lucked out and found this.」
「Yes……」
She understood that the thing was caught for her sake, so Elena couldn’t say anything else than that even if it was a “giant caterpillar”.
She was thinking If at least the thing get dismantled……while the cooking that Aria produced was a caterpillar that was just cut into two, roasted on fire, and that was it. She handed it to Elena with a spoon stabbed on the cut section. Elena accepted it with a conflicted expression.
By the way she didn’t really know how it tasted because she swallowed it without chewing.
Sometimes they would run into a thorny succulent plant in the desert. According to Aria it seemed that the plant had nutrition and also had water content that could be consumed, so Elena thought that it would be fine if she only ate that, but Aria was concerned for Elena’s health and hunted creatures with high life force like snake or insect for her.
The snake was still better……or rather it was the really good sort. At the very least she would be able to eat it as mere meat if she peeled the skin and cut it apart.
「I found centipede and scorpion today. Wait for a bit while I remove the poison.」
「…………」
Both creatures were as big as Elena’s arm. Her sight turned dark as though she got vertigo when she saw the still wriggling arthropods.
After that they finally found a human settlement that was Cutlass Town. It was Elena who rejoiced the most that she even forgot her priority objective.
She got served food that even the bar owner himself said it tasted [bad] in a run-down bar, but Elena could only smile vaguely to cover up her thinking that no matter how bad it tasted it still far better than everything before this.
Though Aria’s cooking was tastier, but somehow she felt frustrated to say it out loud.
***
Several months passed and a stampede attacked Cutlass Town.
Elena who got separated from Aria ended up getting saved by Aria’s master, a dark elf called Serjura.
While Ron was repairing the damaged hot-air balloon, Elena thought about cooking a simple food in the place of Chako who still hadn’t recovered from the mental shock of falling from the sky, but Serjura’s eyes widened seeing the ingredients that she prepared.
「Miss……what are you doing?」
「Did I make a mistake? Aria also did it like this though……」
Elena was starting to roast a huge pillbug that was bigger than a human’s head that she had found from somewhere. She did it by putting a skewer into the bug and placed it over the fire.
Even Elena didn’t think of it as a proper food. Even so because of her innate overseriousness, the idea that cooking during camping was something like this had been instilled into her. She didn’t have the slightest intention of eating it herself but, she was doing the cooking earnestly for the sake of Aria’s master Serjura.
「…………」
Serjura messaged her forehead as though she had a headache after seeing that. She felt like she had even more reason to meet that surly disciple now other than saving her.
「Looks like, I need to have a word with that child……fufufu」
『Gaa……』
Nero looked at Serjura who was muttering such thing with an exasperated gaze. It whined once before falling asleep.