I ate a lot of freshly baked scones this morning, so for lunch, I think I’ll keep it simple with some ramen.
Cup noodles are fine, but today I chose instant ramen in a bag. My favorite flavor is tonkotsu, but the only options available for the bag ramen were miso and salt, so I decided on the simple salt flavor.
“I need to eat some vegetables and meat. It’ll be a problem if I can’t move.”
Now that I’ve managed to circulate magic power inside my body and no longer suffer from a lack of it, I don’t have to worry about fainting from hunger. But since it’s become a trauma for me, I make sure to eat nutritious meals at every meal.
“I’ll make a stir-fry with boar meat and vegetables and put it on top of the salt ramen.”
I silently prepare the stir-fry while thinking back to the nostalgic taste of home-style ramen. I add cabbage, carrots, edible mushrooms, and thin slices of boar meat as the main ingredient.
I stir-fry it in sesame oil for flavor.
I seriously believe cabbage is an essential vegetable for men’s cooking. It’s good raw, and it’s delicious when boiled or grilled.
It’s also indispensable in camp cooking.
The seasoning is simple. If it were just the stir-fry, I would often season it with soy sauce, but since it’s going into the ramen, I lightly season it with salt and pepper.
“Alright, it’s done.”
I cut the soft-boiled egg I had prepared the night before and add it on top. It looks like a hearty ramen that screams “man food,” but it also looks quite delicious.
I take a photo with my now well-practiced hands and send it to the ‘Hero Message’ group.
I also add a thank you note for the support ingredients like eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and yogurt.
I quickly receive a reply from Natsuki , saying that donuts would be a fine thank-you gift.
“Donuts… I’ve never made them before, but I think I took a screenshot of a recipe.”
I decide to check it later and go ahead with eating the ramen with stir-fried vegetables.
It seems there are ramen bowls available at the dollar store, but being lazy, I just use a small pot as a bowl.
It reduces the washing, and I somehow feel like it tastes better if I eat directly from it. After all, I’m living alone in this vast forest, so it’s not like I need to impress anyone.
I continue with my lazy approach.
(Well, washing is quick with purification magic anyway.)
I slurp the ramen with chopsticks.
The stir-fry and the salty broth go together well. The boar meat is tasty. The sesame oil adds a nice accent, and the flavor of the vegetables and meat has soaked into the soup, making it delicious.
Eventually, I toss the soup spoon aside and, with the pot tilted, eagerly scoop up the rest.
I finish every last drop of the soup and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Ha…! The ramen was great. Maybe next time I’ll make yakisoba. If I add more vegetables and meat, it’ll be healthy, so there’s no problem!”
I eat some figs for dessert.
While dried fruits are tasty, there’s something special about fresh, juicy fruits that brings a different level of satisfaction.
By the way, today’s campsite is under a large apple tree. I’ve already cleared away the surrounding trees that were in the way.
It made a great spot. When I first entered the forest, I found some small green apples, but today I found a large, red one. I was overjoyed and picked it.
It was a magnificent tree, so I climbed it and picked about 80% of the ripe fruit.
“These apples are just as good as the ones in Japan. Maybe I’ll make some apple filling.”
With sugar, butter, and lemon juice, you can easily make it in the microwave, something I used to do in Japan.
I love eating apple filling with yogurt, vanilla ice cream, or on pancakes.
“If I had some pie dough, I could bake an apple pie too.”
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to make pie dough. I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic about how convenient frozen pie sheets were.
“It’s amazing how some characters in reincarnation stories can make gourmet meals even without Japanese cooking tools or ingredients. If I couldn’t use summoning magic or shop online for supplies, I’d probably be doomed by now…”
Even if I survived by eating the food I brought from Japan, it would last only about two weeks.
Even if I used magic to defeat magical beasts, I would still need to butcher them to get meat.
With my Appraisal skill, I can identify edible plants, so I can manage food, but if the seasonings I brought run out, I’d be in trouble.
“Without salt, I honestly don’t think I could survive. There’s no sea in this forest, and I doubt I could easily find rock salt.”
I could probably make do without sugar, using the sweetness of fruit or honey, but I can’t imagine enjoying flavorless meat. I really appreciate the cheat-like summoning magic and online shopping.
“Well, lunch is done, so I guess it’s time to go make some money today.”
The daily quota I set for myself is at least 130,000 points. Since 30,000 points go towards the shopping for my younger cousins, I effectively only accumulate 100,000 points, but that’s just how it is. Securing local currency is also important.
Of course, I can’t slack off on “shopping” to keep their motivation up.
I focus my attention and activate my [Presence Detection] skill. I sense several presences a few hundred meters away. Based on the size of the magical energy, they are probably orcs.
“Alright, let’s go hunt some orcs.”
As I venture deeper into the Great Forest, the number of orcs increases. My [Item Box] is steadily filling with orc meat.
The appraisal skill confirms that it’s edible and tasty, so I should probably brace myself and start eating it.
“Alright. Tonight, I’m having orc steak!”
I had hesitated so much before eating a humanoid monster, but when it came down to it, the orc meat that had been automatically disassembled during the point conversion process looked no different from any other animal meat.
The orc steak, made from cutting a beautifully marbled red meat about one centimeter thick and grilling it, was absolutely superb, to say the least.
“No way… This is how good orc meat is? I should’ve eaten it sooner…”
It was just like high-quality black pork brand meat. I had eaten it once in Japan when it was delivered as a gift for the New Year. The texture of the orc meat was very similar.
But the taste? It’s incomparable. The orc meat, filled with magical energy, is packed with umami. The red meat looked muscular but was tender and slightly sweet. The balance with the fat was perfect, and I felt like I could eat it forever.
“Fried croquettes made with orc lard would be insanely good…”
Just imagining it makes my mouth water.
When I used to order special croquettes fried with lard from the butcher shop, they were the best snack. These would undoubtedly taste even better.
“I don’t have enough orc meat to fry yet, so I need to hunt more.”
Now that I know how delicious orc meat is, I have no hesitation. I love venison (wild deer) and wild boar meat, but they can’t beat orc meat, which is like a versatile brand of pork.
While cleaning up my cooking utensils, I remembered the donuts that Natsuki had asked me to make.
In a hurry, I laid out the ingredients and decided to make donut dough using pancake mix.
I mixed milk and honey in a bowl, then added pancake mix and roughly combined it. I added butter to the dough, placed it on some plastic wrap, and began rolling it out thinly with a rolling pin.
It was surprising that even the large cutting board, rolling pin, cookie cutters, and plastic wrap could all be bought at a 100-yen shop.
“Okay, the thickness is about five millimeters, huh? Can it really become a donut this thin…?”
Feeling uncertain, I followed the recipe and cut the dough with a donut cutter. I cut out large round shapes and then used a smaller circle to make a hole in the center.
“So, you cut the dough into a ring for donuts? I always thought you’d just connect long pieces of dough like a string and fry them…”
I heated oil in a deep pot and, once it reached a high temperature, I started frying the cut dough. Watching it fry, surrounded by bubbles and sizzling, was surprisingly fun.
Since I had the chance, I decided to make some simple donuts dusted with sugar and some decorated with melted chocolate.
To fry them to a nice golden brown, I made extra dough and, in between, also made anko (sweet red bean paste) donuts.
“I can’t believe they sell sweet red bean paste at the 100-yen shop. Sometimes, I just crave anko donuts.”
Filling the dough with sweet red bean paste and frying it, then dusting it with sugar, wasn’t that much work.
What’s more, I could make a large batch all at once.
The freshly fried donuts were greatly praised by my three younger cousins, and once again, more ingredients were donated to me.
