Alternate Reality Mukouda (Part 1)
The Merchant
Hello, this is Mukouda.
So, a really shocking thing happened to me, and I had no choice but to adapt. I, an ordinary Japanese salaryman, had been pulled into an alternate world. It was the so-called isekai experience.
The only problem was, I was essentially a ‘mistake’. I had been called into this world with barely a skill to my name aside from [Net Super]. Anyway, I got out of that sketchy place as soon as I could and had spent my dwindling funds to hire an Adventurer’s Party with my dwindling funds.
However, needs must, and I did not regret it.
Contrary to my expectations, the trip from Kiels to Feenan went without a hitch.
Well, there was a small incident where I found out that the meat I bought from [Net Super] gave the people in this world certain amounts of buff. The effect was pretty limited, but the fact that members of [Iron Will] actually said that they felt more ‘energized’ after eating my food was a big problem.
Fortunately, things like vegetables and bread don’t give people buffs, but I thought it was best not to use any of [Net Super]’s meat products for a while, which was a complete bummer, but what can I do?
I just told everyone that I was out of meat after that meal.
Luckily, everyone was pretty happy with the vegetable meals that I gave them. So, hurray for that. Later, [Iron Will] caught a huge monster called Red Boar on the fifth day of our journey, and I was able to feed them with the meat for the rest of the trip.
Really, I was appalled when the group told me that they wanted to leave most of the meat behind. What a waste! Luckily, I had already revealed my [Item Box], so the next thing to do was plan all kinds of pork-based meals for the rest of our trip.
“I think the Ginger Fried Pork on the first day is still the best,” Rita sighed.
“You’re joking, right? The special thick-cut pork steaks are the best! My favourite sauce has to be the sweet and sour sauce that goes super well with vegetables. And you know I hated vegetables,” said Vincent.
“Personally, I enjoyed the pork bone broth best,” said Ramon. “The soup was very warming and hearty at the same time.”
“For me, I like the refreshing steamed minced meat over Mukouda-san’s special grains from his home town. It was both refreshing and delicious,” Franca sighed.
“Hey, speak for yourselves. My personal favourite is the one Mukouda called Kakuni. That was awesome,” said Werner.
Everyone sighed in agreement.
“Too bad it takes a long time to cook, though,” said Rita.
“Yeah, I never thought I’d be happy to be rained on for two days,” said Vincent.
“It was quite the experience,” said Franca. “I never thought I’d enjoy the smell of meat in my hair.”
“Ahem,” I said, feeling a little awkward at all the praises. “Er, if you guys want the recipe…”
“W-would you…” Ramon and Franca gasped. As the designated mages and healers, they were the ones who ended up cooking meals when the party ran out of rations.
“Uh, some of the recipes would require some special ingredients, but otherwise, it’s just slicing and simmering or just cooking meat over a slow fire…” I said helplessly as the two of them started taking notes.
I had never really thought about it, but making Kakuni may be as simple as cutting out squares of meat containing a reasonable amount of lean and fatty on them and then simmering it with a bit of wine, sugar and soy sauce, but since soy sauce doesn’t exist in this world until I came here…
“Ah, would it be alright if we meet up tomorrow? I need to sort my stocks first and set aside the sauce you’ll need,” I said. After all, Kakuni is not the same without soy sauce! Maybe I could even start selling it here…
“Of course, Mukouda-san! We’ll be happy to meet you anytime, Mukouda-san!”
“Right…”
I was really grateful to [Iron Will] for safely escorting me to Feenan. However, the first thing I want to do now that I’m here is to register at the Merchant’s Guild. Paying for entry taxes is just a waste of money.
My idea is to set up a stall somewhere and sell some unusual food and make money. That, and maybe sell salt and pepper at the Merchant Guild for a little start-up money for the stall and things…
Looks like [Iron Will] will be my first customer!
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“Hahh… that was exhausting…”
I had not realised that selling salt would be so exhausting. Luckily, Ramon and Franca did not question the origins of my sauces too much (I had decanted them into local clay bottles to avoid them seeing the plastic bottles). I even threw in a crockpot for them to cook the meat in. Here’s to hoping that they get lots of delicious meals out of that crockpot.
As for the sale of salt and pepper…
I received a shocking 17 gold for them!!!
Ahhh!!
I still haven’t quite processed that yet, ugh.
Isn’t 17 gold a bit too much? I only received 10 gold as compensation from an entire kingdom…
…now that I think about it, isn’t it better to get out of this place first before anyone figures out that I have access to super high-quality salt and pepper?
But where should I go?
Should I just check to see where the next public wagon goes? Or, maybe I could ask [Iron Will] and see if they would let me join them on their next leg of travel? This time, instead of paying them, I could be their cook or something.
Yes, let’s ask them tonight. I had asked them to come by for one last dinner to thank them for their hospitality, and they had accepted. I still had to give them that promised bottle of ‘special sauce’. Personally, it was as much of a get-together as well as some information gathering on my side.
Hopefully, things will go well from there onwards…
Six months later
“Say, have you heard?”
“Yeah? What about?”
“There’s a new up-and-coming Adventurer party in town. I think they’re called the [Iron Will]?”
“Oh yeah? What about them? Are they, like, super famous or something?”
“Not as such, but they are the number one most popular party or something. Merchants love having them on board, and other Adventurer parties liked teaming up with them.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, even higher-ranked parties like them. From what I heard, the [Ark] even rejected a mission just because they knew that [Iron Will] can’t take that job.”
“What, for real?”
“Oh yeah, not bad for a tiny C Rank party, eh?”
“Totally, I wonder why though…”
“Hey, should we check them out too?”
[Gumihou: Well, well, well, Mukouda the Merchant got roped into a party, what a shocker]
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