Chapter 79 – To the Royal Capital Part 1

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

I returned to the kitchen and found the head chef Rotal-san, his three assistant chefs, and the rest of the staff busy with cooking. Even Ella busied herself and helped out wherever she could.

“Oh, Alan-sama. Please try the mayonnaise and see if it’s okay!”

“Please try my dish as well!”

Since we already finished making samples and taste-testing the dishes for the party menu earlier, they shouldn’t have any problems with cooking them for the most part. But I guess they were still a bit worried since all the dishes were new to them.

I tried the mayonnaise, demiglace sauce, and ketchup, and found no problems with all three. Our head chef Rotal-san makes sure to follow recipes as faithfully as he can, so I guess it’s no surprise they turned out well.

“Yosh, I’ll help out as well. There’s still one hour left. Let’s all do our best!”

“”Yes!””

I handled cooking the hamburgers which demanded the most when it comes to controlling the fire and cooked patty after patty. I’d like to serve freshly cooked and piping hot dishes to everyone, but since we needed to feed about a hundred and twenty people, I guess that’s not really possible. If that’s the case, then I suppose I’ll cook the tonkatsu last at least.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, it was time for the party. We haven’t managed to cook everything yet, but I decided we’d continue and finish everything first. I told the staff they were free to attend the party once they were done with their own assignments.

When I finished cooking and went out to the dining hall, I found that everyone had already gathered, and the dishes were being brought to the tables one after another.

It wasn’t a buffet-style meal like usual. The dishes were placed on large platters and brought to each table. They’d be able to relax and eat more easily with this arrangement. Of course, I had to purchase extra platters for this arrangement, but it was well worth it.

A commotion rose within the dining room after everyone saw the tasty-looking dishes.

“Listen up everyone! I have something to announce first.”

I called over Katolle, Willy, and Peter, who all seemed troubled about where to sit, and had them stand next to me.

“Most of you might have already heard the news, but let me announce it anyway. These three boys have just joined our Clan as official members. They will mostly be in charge of supply procurement and other related matters. Alright, you three. Please introduce yourselves.”

“My name’s Katolle! I will be a member of Shining Star starting today. My occupation is a merchant, so I won’t be able to fight together with you all. But I will do all I can to help the Clan in financial matters. I’m looking forward to working with you all!”

“I’m Willy! I’ll serve as Katolle’s assistant. Please take care of me!”

“I’m Peter! Like Willy, I’ll also serve as Katolle’s assistant. Please take care of me as well!”

The three of them laughed bashfully after everyone gave them a warm round of applause.

“As you can see, the dishes we’ve cooked up tonight are all dishes from my home country. They’re all very popular dishes back home, so I think you’ll be able to enjoy them a lot as well.”

“Oh! So these are dishes from Alan-sama’s home country!”

“They look really good!”

I briefly told everyone about the dishes and the sauces to pair them with. I also introduced the alcohol given by Silas-san and how to drink it properly.

There were also other types of alcohol like red wine, white wine, and ale. When I urged everyone to choose the alcohol they preferred to drink, they poured their favorite alcohol for themselves.

“There’s no need to mind about formalities in tonight’s party, so feel free to socialize, everyone. Let’s enjoy tonight! Now then, let’s raise a toast! To our Clan, Shining Star!”

“”To Shining Star!””

My first drink should, after all, be ale. I drank a chilled mug of ale in one swig. Phew. It was even more satisfying since I just came out of a stuffy, sweat-inducing kitchen.

Katolle and the other two made some space on our table and took their seats.

Everyone quickly began to pile food on top of their plates.

Tonight’s menu was hamburgers with demiglace sauce, Black Bird karaage, Big Bullfrog karaage, tonkatsu, vegetable salad, vegetable salad, potato salad with plenty of boiled eggs added onto it, and corn soup.

Although there were mostly just meat dishes, I think it’s okay since we also prepared stuff like cheese, nuts, and dried fruits to snack on.

The dishes were passed around from person to person across each table so everybody would be able to take a portion of the food, promoting a harmonious atmosphere.

I heard excited voices exclaiming in delight about how tasty the food was here and there all across the dining hall, so it looks like they did like the dishes we cooked.

“Alan! Just what is this karaage!?”

Cleria was eating a piece of Big Bullfrog karaage. I thought it would go well when cooked as karaage, so I tried it out and found it surprisingly more juicy and tender compared to Black Bird meat.

“Oh, uh, I tried to make karaage from the chicken meat used on the meat skewers we ate at that food stall last time. It turned out to be even tastier than I first thought.”

“It really is delicious! But the usual karaage is delicious as well, of course.”

Cleria gushed as she ate one karaage piece after another.

The others were also eating with great gusto. Katolle and the other two were also eating voraciously, while Selena and Sharon relished their favorite potato salad. They piled a lot of salad on each of their plates.

“This is–!? It’s my first time eating such delicious dishes.”

Adjutant Dalshim held a mug in pleasant surprise as he praised the dishes. Come to think of it, Dalshim really had a knack for fine food huh. I hope he’ll also like the alcohol I and Iris developed.

“Alan-sama, these dishes truly are delicious. It’s also the first time I’ve drunk this alcohol. Where did you manage to procure it?”

Katolle immediately zeroed in on the alcohol. How very merchant-like.

“Oh, that’s locally procured from Gantz. I taught the Silas Company the distilling method, and they managed to produce a successful batch just recently.”

“Eh!? Gantz? And you had a deal with Silas Company, Alan-sama!? But why Silas Company?”

“Hmm. Well, because it seemed kinda interesting? I did receive a development fee.”

“……If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you get, exactly?”

“About 1.5 million Guineas, I guess?”

“Alan-sama! Do you mean to say you actually taught them a new alcohol-making method for only 1.5 million Guineas!?”

“Well, it only took me about four days to develop the method, so isn’t that amount reasonable?”

“Absolutely not! If we monopolized this new alcohol-making method, we’d be able to make tens of millions of Guineas in profits! And that’s just a conservative estimate!”

“Oh, so that’s what you mean huh. But I already came up with a good number of even better alcohol-making methods apart from the one I taught them anyway. Let’s try making some batches of them after our new base gets completed.”

Iris’ data bank actually contained 277 alcohol-making methods derived from all throughout the empire. And there are more than several methods suited to this planet’s technological level.

“Eh!? You can actually make even better alcohol drinks than this one!?”

“Of course I can. And not just one or two types. I can make several tens of types. Not bad huh?”

“Amazing! Please, Alan-sama! Please let me help out as well!”

“Of course you can! Or rather, I’ll teach you all the alcohol-making methods I know and leave the project to you.”

It’s enough for me to make a reasonable amount of money off of them and drink some delicious alcohol from time to time.

Katolle suddenly shivered and stood up in delight. Everyone else in the hall turned their gazes toward us in order to see what the commotion was about.

“Understood! I promise I’ll make even better alcoholic drinks than this one even if I have to spend my entire life working on it!”

After he loudly declared so in front of everyone, a big round of applause coupled with cheers were given by the alcohol lovers from among our Clan members.

“Uh, you don’t really need to spend your whole life making alcohol you know. I have even more ideas that should be worth quite a bit of money.”

“P-Please tell me about them!”

“Eh? We’re still in the middle of our party right now, so I’ll just tell you about them next time.

“Oh come on……”