The Other World Dining Hall (WN) Chapter 55

TN: Another short chapter so it comes out fast.

Red Bean Soup (s.h.i.+ruko)

January the third.

Technically it's still New Year, and this was the day the surrounding shops were enjoying their day off.

One shopkeeper was welcoming the beginning of work.

[Well… let's start.]

He stood alone in the kitchen and started to work.

Today, there were no employees except for the owner.

Also, the restaurant was still closed and no customers would come.

But he had to work. Because that day was… Friday.

(Chicken curry and beef stew… aa, I also have to make normal curry afterwards.)

The owner thought of the regulars' faces, especially those that would definitely come tomorrow, and he quietly made his preparations.

The day after was Sat.u.r.day. The day the otherworld dining hall would open.

That door didn't care that it was Obon, end of year, New Year day or Golden Week, and there were no such thing as New Year holiday at the other world.

In other words, work as usual was required.

Usually he would cooperate with other staffs to make some preparations for otherworld dining hall, but for large holidays that fell on Fridays, the owner had to spend a day to prepare for the day after.

(Maa, I'll just say that New Year holiday is over.)

However, the owner did not dislike it.

Sometimes when he was completely rested, he had substantial amount of energy.

The owner was willing to open the restaurant to reduce the rusting of his skills during his one week holiday.

(Well then…)

He was about to finish his preparations for New Year holiday.

This time of year, the restaurant served a unique dish for New Year.

It's a plain j.a.panese food, but there were customers who ordered it.

Originally it seemed that the previous generation served it as a small service during New Year, but there were customers who loved it.

Every once a year ever since the owner was a grade-schooler, he had a lot of memories of this time of year.

He couldn't say that he would stop it, so he continued though the owners.h.i.+p had changed.

(Will she come again this year… that onee-san with long ears?)

While thinking such, he boiled the washed red beans in a pot.

In a hollow cavity of a tree that towered above the forest surrounding it located at the deep mountain range of Western Continent, an elven wise woman opened her eyes after one year of meditation.

(Has the year changed?)

The flow of magic influenced by the sun, the moon and the stars kept shaking lightly.

It told Selena a year had pa.s.sed since that day.

She rejuvenated herself by converting the forest's nature power to magical power; it was her secret way to prevent aging and prolong her life.

The way she used it was a secret art that became forgotten when the G.o.ds of Olden Age threw away this world and moved to another world to escape the Seven Coloured King's supremacy.

Selena was the only elf in the world that mastered it.

The elves actively studied magic, and with that magic they fought with the five pillars and the Southern monsters, at the bottom of the deep sea and the high sky, they finally advanced from the ancient period of when the world had no elves yet.

Selena who was called a genius in the days when the elves thought that they were the ruler of the world aspired to complete that magic at the age of 100 years old.

To deny the end of life, she had sought immortality without discarding her body as she did not want to become an undead.

Selena of that time, she sought the secret art to live forever developed by excellent elf magicians and advanced it further…

She could not believe in the arcane art that required her to discard her body and lived in a way similar to a spirit or a lich.

Certainly, her body was brittle, but unlike spirits which would disappear once destroyed, elves were creatures that were originally born with physical body

She never thought of abandoning it and she had a feeling that doing so would have side effects.

Serena's fear was a fact.

All the elves that threw away their flesh and became liches went mad in less than 1,000 years.

As they didn't have their physical bodies, they were touched with death and their spirits became corrupted. In the end, they became monsters that indiscriminately caused death.

Although mad, the magicians that practice old magic were powerful, so they still exist in the present day.

(Eternity, huh… it's lonely.)

500 years to complete the theory, 300 years to arrange the forest environment and her body to use the magic.

The secret art was finally completed after 800 years, approximately the lifespan of an elf. As long as she lived in this forest, Selena did not need food or water to live.

And that eternity brought Selena long research time and solitude.

It had been 3,000 years since the arcane art was completed and she became immortal.

Those that Selena could call acquaintances when she was still living in the Forest Capital (excluding those that became insignificant and devastated liches) had all pa.s.sed away.

(Oh, well. There's something that I can enjoy recently.)

Such a small change in her life occurred 30 years ago.

In the forest, a door to another world, which was a remnant left behind by her old brethren, had appeared.

(…I'm really looking forward to it.)

Beyond the door was a place that served meals in exchange of money.

In that place, called the otherworld dining hall by humans and monsters, there was a food served only once in a year when the year changed.

Food using rice cakes that were made by pounding rice which was widely eaten in the Western Continent.

Because of it, Selena only visited once a year.

A few days later when the New Year had come.

[…It's here.]

Selena saw a black door in the forest and headed there.

A small spring used by animals for water source.

The spring was silent as most of the forest's animals were hibernating.

A magical door with a picture of a cat.

Selena grasped the door's handle… and turned it.

The sound of invoked magic comfortably echoed in the silent forest.

While listening to it, Selena slowly stepped inside.

A warm, bright room as opposed to the cold, dim forest.

It was crowded with customers that were celebrating the New Year.

[Fumu… mu.]

Looking around the restaurant, Selena found the male and walked to his direction.

According to the story told by the wind flowing in the forest, the number of half-elves had increased for the last 1,000 years.

The monsters that prayed to their G.o.d and gained an increase in physical and magical power, they who had different cultures were the elves' former bitter enemies.

They celebrated the New Year without worrying about Selena that just entered and ate a lot of food.

(It's a place that changed as swiftly as ever. This place… oo.)

Though normal elves wouldn't change in 10 or 20 years, this restaurant showed a drastic change. She found an acquaintance eating slowly in a corner of the restaurant and approached that person.

[It has been a long time… Christian.]

[…If it isn't Selena-sama. It's been a year.]

In a casual way, Christian greeted her politely.

Because he knew her ident.i.ty.

A legendary elf that was roughly 10 times older than him.

Although it was a only a story that he heard since she disappeared to who knows where, apparently there's no doubt that she's still alive.

He had only met her in the restaurant so he didn't know where she lived.

[Umu… it seems that you have changed a little…]

Selena who was talking a bit old-fas.h.i.+onably found a change in her acquaintance.

[Well, have you eaten the Mochi in this restaurant?]

Christian was eating a Mochi with rotten beans called Natto.

But didn't this man eat Mochi seasoned with "shoyu" and wrapped with black sea gra.s.s until last year?

So she asked him.

[No, this… I got a hint from a friend that I recently met.]

To that question Christian said what he was taught by his friend's daughter half a year ago.

[Natto goes well with wheat noodles, but I found that it also fits with rice, so it should go well with Mochi.]

…When he tried to order it, it seemed that it was eaten regularly in the other world since it immediately came out.

Rice cake with Natto, which was slightly thicker than usual.

The unique sticky Natto went well with the soft chewy Mochi, greatly satisfying Christian.

[Fumu. Indeed it is reasonable… well, well.]

She wanted to try the Natto Mochi, but her aim was something else.

[Excuse me, young lady. I would like to place an order.]

[Ye~s, please wait a moment.]

The waitress hired by the owner wore different world clothing. She delivered the food to the appropriate tables and came to take the order.

[Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm ready to take your order.]

[Well… first, I would like a bowl of red bean soup.]

Red bean soup.

It was a dish that only appeared on the first day of the year at this restaurant.

And while listening to stories of studying the difference of "rotting" and "fermentation" being done by Christian, the food came out.

[Sorry to keep you waiting. Here's your order!]

In front of Selena, a bowl filled with red brown soup and white Mochi was placed.

[Fumu. Let's partake.]

That's right. First she breathed in the steam coming out of the soup.

A sweet smell filled her lungs.

To that scent, her stomach growled waiting for its first meal in a year.

She then scooped it with a wooden spoon and ate it.

[Hoo…]

She sighed involuntarily to that sweet flavor in her mouth.

The sweet softness of the beans was different from the fruits growing in the forest and the honeys that could be taken from honeycombs.

Unlike the other sweets of this restaurant, this taste that did not use milk and eggs but could only be eaten once a year was what Selena longed for.

(This sweet red bean soup is really delicious.)

With that thought, she then picked up a pair of chopsticks to eat the Mochi.

She gently pinched the Mochi.

Because it was difficult to cut a Mochi, she carried it to her mouth though it was bad manners and cut it apart with her teeth.

(Umu… umu.)

When she chewed on it, the flavor of the soup also spilled out from the boiled Mochi.

The sweetness intertwining with the fresh Mochi showed a different face from before.

The Mochi became sweeter the more she chewed, the sweetness became even stronger.

(This taste is delicious after all.)

It was the same impression as when she first ate it.

Selena was satisfied to eat it once a year.

[…Fuu.]

After finis.h.i.+ng the bowl, Selena washed the taste from her mouth with the Genmaicha1 that was served along with the food.

[…Well then, young lady.]

After a breath, she called the waitress again.

[Yes? How may I help you?]

[Umu. I would like to order again. Isobe2 and Kinako3. Also the Natto that that man is eating.]

Serena's physical condition was perfect all the time due to the forest's power.

So she did not have the option of not enjoying her once in a year meal.

[Tonight is a banquet. I shall eat until my belly burst.]

Then, Serena's New Year began.

TN: Can’t say I’m a fan of Natto so I can’t imagine eating Natto Mochi. What’s more, imagine living forever and eating only once a year. As a foodie, that’s a horrid thought. I rather eat to my heart’s content and die rather than that.