The Other World Dining Hall Chapter 1

Minced Cutlet

The job called adventurer. It was the result of the four heroes bringing about the end of the long, long war with the demon race that lasted many hundreds of years about seventy years ago.

Until then, the numbers of battlefields started to become greatly reduced (although there has never been a time when there weren’t any), the soldiers who once had an overflowing amount of work frantically tried to find a new lifestyle. Some of the people who were skilled with a blade were sought out by n.o.bles and became knights, some of the people continued to cross the battlefields as mercenaries, there were those that gave up fighting and became craftsmen and farmers, there those that decided to be merchants, and those that turned their blades towards the innocent and could only live as violent bandits.

Finally, among those soldiers, there who called themselves ‘adventurers’ and started a new way of life.

Adventurer. They were those that in return for payment would fight dangerous monsters and bandits, protect the merchant carriages that pa.s.sed from town to village, solved the various incidents that happened in the middle of the city, and plunder the ancient ruins that dotted the east of the continent. These people in return for not being protected by anyone chose a free lifestyle tied by no one.

It had been seventy years since the existence of adventurers came into being. The lifestyle of these adventurers varied from the small handfuls who were full of glory and success, the few who had retired satisfied with their success, and the countless who gave birth to nameless corpses. Even now they continue to increase. And today, another one of those adventurers had headed out on a new destination.

Her name was Sarah. Her specialty was bringing back treasures from ruins and such, the type of adventurer called a treasure hunter.

Sarah carefully lowered herself off the rope and headed below.

(Surely it was supposed to be today… which is why I have to be even more careful than usual.)

As she thought that she pa.s.sed through the tunnel that she pa.s.sed by many times before. She already memorized the path from the entrance to her destination, and Sarah herself had already taken care of all the dangerous monsters in the way. But, because of that, she had to move carefully.

(It wouldn’t be funny if I were to die with the treasure right in front of my eyes.)

In the past, her cousin who taught Sarah when she was young the ins and outs of being a treasure hunter once said this. “If you let your guard down at the very end, you’ll run into a terrible situation.”

… That cousin later found connecting room to the deepest room of an elven ruin, and the next day was wasn’t heard from again. Knowing that even today they still haven’t found the corpse, Sarah swore that she would uphold his teachings. And thanks to her carefulness, Sarah arrived at her destination without a single wound…

 

“…What is this?”

When she saw it, she looked dazed and raised her voice.

 

Five years ago, the legendary treasure hunter, William Gold spent his last years in an abandoned mining town.

The reason why he settled down in this town, which in the past mined out iron and slowly declined a few decades ago, was to take a single part of the countless treasures, which he had earned with his own hands during his lifetime, and hide it in the abandoned mine.

That’s what the rumor was.

Of course, it was a sort of fairytale. William’s family, the Gold family, even now, was a large Mercantile House rivaling a country thanks to William’s leftover inheritance. At the very least, formally, there were no records of William hiding his a.s.sets. In spite of this, Sarah visited the abandoned mine. The reason was that Sarah, by some strange coincidence, had received William Gold’s diary.

According to the dairy, after moving to the mining town, William spent seven days a week visiting the abandoned mine. What was written down was very brief, for example ‘Today is Satur’s Day. Going to the mine,’ is what was usually written down, but for some reason, of the seven days of the week, ‘Satur’s Day’ was always emphasized. When William could move, he would always without fail on ‘Satur’s Day’ go to the abandoned mine. When his body broke down due to illness and his body couldn’t move ‘Today is Satur’s Day. I resent this unmoving body’ showed up time and time again in his diary. Furthermore, from the last ‘Satur’s Day’ there were only a few several days left.

One time, on the ‘eighth day’ after the last time, he visited the abandoned mine but, at that time, all he left behind was the phrase ‘A big fool’s errand’ and countless swears.

Sarah was a young but skilled treasure hunter. At the very least, she could brag that she’s not a punk who claims to be an adventurer or thief that can’t tell a genuine article from an imitation.

This is what Sarah’s intuition was telling her. This diary was the real thing, and that she should visit the mine on the same day that William visited the mine, the same ‘Satur’s day’ or else nothing would happen.

And so, Sarah, while keeping the idea of William’s treasure in her head, entered the mine.

 

To do that she went behind a hidden pa.s.sageway that William himself camouflaged which a novice had no way of finding, sometimes engaged in dangerous combat with monsters like a professional would, and mapped out a safe way to the final room like a pro would. Finally she proceeded to the abandoned mine’s final room on a ‘Satur’s Day,’ she saw it.

There was a door.

A sign hung from the door with the picture of a cat and a strange characters, characters that couldn’t be found in the eastern continent or the four continents, a set of characters unknown to Sarah who could read the characters of different species like the elves and the dwarves. Yesterday, there was no shape or form of it, but a door made of black oak had suddenly appeared.

“This is a door… right?”

After inspecting it, she confirmed that there were no traps and that it wasn’t locked. In other words, if she was going to enter, now would be a good time as any.

“…Anyway, nothing will happen unless I go in, I guess.”

Sarah worried for a bit but then decided to enter. Today would be the day she would come face to face with William’s inheritance, so she took care of all the preparations that she could.

Having even bought precious healing medicines that could heal even bones and internal damage with one gulp and readied top-of-the-line equipment, she challenged the door. Now, there was no going back.

“If I lose and end up a corpse, that just means this is as far as I could go… Let’s go.”

With that treasure hunter’s determination, Sarah opened the door.

 

*chirin chirin*

 

On the inside of the door there was a contraption, and the sound of a bell resounded.

(An alarm!?)

At that sound, Sara reflexively drew out her favorite dagger and took a stance.

“Welcome… Miss, can you put that dangerous thing away?”

Inside, there was one middle-aged man who had a shocked face compared to Sarah and urged to put away her dagger.

“…What is this?”

Sarah said dazed for the second time today.

 

Some time later.

“Cathouse?”

“Well, yes. It’s a simple western style restaurant… a place to order food.”

With the dagger put away, the shop’s owner easily explained what this place was to her.

“A restaurant… inside of an abandoned mine!?”

The owner shrugged his shoulders at Sarah’s sudden inquiry.

“Abandoned mine? …Ah, could it be, Miss, that you came from the ‘Door’ that William used?”

“The door William used… Huh?”

At the owner’s words, Sarah looked back at the entrance that she came from… and looked at the door. There was a big cat with its right arm raised wearing a golden bell furnished on the black oaken door.

“…Is this some kind of magic item?”

Looking closely at it again, Sarah picked up a strong magical power packed into the bell, and she looked to the owner for his confirmation. The owner nodded at Sarah’s question and answered.

“Well, yes. Though I don’t really know that much about it. From what a regular customer’s grandfather said, this door bends and twists time and s.p.a.ce, and apparently, it gives birth to various ‘doors’ in the Other World. It connects once a week, one time out of seven days.”

“…Other World? This place, is the Other World?”

As she said that, Sarah looked around the restaurant that was apparently in the middle of this so-called Other World.

In the past, the existences called G.o.ds and devils left this world and created the so called h.e.l.l or the Realm of the Dead, Heaven, the World of the Mirror and the Land of the Fairies… There are many place like the ‘Other World’ in the land Sarah came from. Sarah herself hadn’t experienced any of them, but other famous treasure hunters… for example William Gold once traveled to an other world and brought back a treasure of G.o.d, a wand made from a branch of the G.o.d of luck. There was even a rumor that one of the four heroes, a great sage, gave an extremely large reward to him for it. Even now, this remains a famous story among treasure hunter.

The existence of the Other World wasn’t actually something to be doubtful about. But the fact that this is one of those places wasn’t something that was easily swallowed.

“Nothing out of the ordinary… is something I can’t say.”

But with a shrewd treasure hunter’s eye, Sarah overturned her thoughts. Compared to what Sarah knew as ‘Restaurants,’ this place was way too different.

It seemed like this place was a single underground room made by clearing away the land, nothing strange. But, hanging from the ceiling was something different from fire, as if a ball of dazzling light magic was fired on that spot, unexpectedly giving off a fearsome brightness as if you were standing under the sun. The lined up tables and chairs were well maintained and glazed, giving off brilliant l.u.s.ter. According to Sarah’s knowledge, what was lined up on those tables were very expensive looking, finely shaped transparent gla.s.s bottles, ceramics, and a small pitcher.

The restaurant was obviously not a high-cla.s.s one but the interior said otherwise. Also it seemed like there were no servant about. It seemed like there is only one man managing this store.

“No, this place is a very average restaurant. So what will you do? Would you like to eat? It’s going to get busy in a little bit, but it’s too early for lunch time so I have a bit of spare time.”

“…I guess. I’ll take your offer.”

Food that she was recommended to by a man she didn’t know. At first she thought it was a trap but decided against it. This place was a place that William was very attached to, and on top of that, a restaurant in the Other World. She had genuine curiosity to the cuisine that fascinated William to that extent.

“Great. Go ahead and take any seat.”

As the owner said that, he stepped into the back of the restaurant.

“Let’s see… Since it’s the Other World’s cuisine, what’s going to come out? …I hope it’s not something weird.”

Sara took a seat at a table and looked at the things on it. At the edge of the table, gla.s.s bottles were lined up, one with a red liquid inside of it, one with something that was probably salt, and also wooden sticks that have been tapered to have a pointed end. On the ceramics, there were notes stuck to them to explain what exactly what they were, but to Sarah, who couldn’t read the characters, they remained a mystery.

“Miss, can you read the language of the eastern continent?”

While she was looking inside some of the ceramics, which had black fluids or white grains, the owner came back and asked her this.

“Yes, of course.”

At those words, Sarah nodded. The language of the eastern continent was the language that was pa.s.sed down in the eastern continent where Sarah was born. If she couldn’t read or write it then having a job like being a treasure hunter where you used your head would be impossible.

“Great. Then here. This is the menu. Please, take your time.”

As he said that, the owner methodically put down the menu written in the eastern continent language and a transparent gla.s.s cup filled with water and ice.

“…Wait. I didn’t order any water.”

Sarah said in a foul mood when she saw it.

It’s true that her throat was parched, and it was true that she was thinking about ordering some water, but she didn’t want to allow the man to decide what she would be buying or else who knows what kind of monetary damage that she’ll end up taking.

Being careful when paying is what Sarah, who came from a merchant house, was taught.

During this season, a cup of water with ice can only be obtained with magic. Sarah’s common sense told her that she would have to pay one silver coin for it. Being forced to buy such a thing was something that she couldn’t accept. But the owner laughed at Sarah’s problem.

“Oh, that lemon water is on the house. It’s free so don’t worry about it. Seconds too, so don’t worry and take it easy.”

After saying that, the owner went back into the kitchen, and, from what Sarah could see, started to do prep work.

“…What is this place? This restaurant.”

It seemed like this really was the Other World. Sarah recognized that fact once again and lifted her cup.

“…Cold and delicious.”

It seemed like the water had a faint amount of fruit juices mixed into it, giving it a refres.h.i.+ng flavor as it spread out in her mouth. To Sarah, the taste revived her from the stuffy smell of the mine where she endlessly walked. Without knowing or noticing, the tension in her body had started to slacken. Since it appeared to be free, Sarah drank without reservations and opened the menu. There she saw the eastern continent language that she was accustomed to… and also a variety of dishes that she couldn’t recognize.

“Hmm, I get grilled beef and beef stew soup, but I don’t really understand the others.”

Sarah looked at the dishes’ name and the one sentence that described what kind of dish it was.

As far as she could see, just like the western continent across the ocean instead of wheat, rice was used in a lot of dishes. In addition, there were dishes with broken up pieces of bread that were used as a flour and then fried in oil. All of them defied Sarah’s common sense. All of it was strange cuisine.

 

“Honesty, which one would be good… Ah.”

While she was having troubles deciding, she noticed something on the menu. The daily special set meal. Apparently it changed each day. That day’s recommended dish. Compared to the other meals, it was two coppers cheaper.

“…Hm.”

When she saw that, Sarah decided to order it. If she couldn’t tell which dishes were tasty or not, all of them might as well be the same. In that case, choosing the cheapest dish would be the right line of thought.

“…Miss, have you decided?”

“Yes, I’d like the daily special set meal.”

The owner saw Sarah had decided and approached her, and Sarah told him her order.

“I see, the daily special. Please wait just a moment.”

“Hey, wait.”

As he heard that, the owner quickly stopped heading to the kitchen. He then asked Sarah.

“Yes, what is it?”

“What is today’s special anyway?”

Since she didn’t hear the name, she decided to ask. At that, the owner thought for a bit…

“Let’s see, today is… right, that guy had a relations.h.i.+p with this one.”

As he realized this, he told her what was on today’s menu.

“Today’s daily special is minced cutlet. William’s favorite dish.”

In the past, it was the name of the dish that William was infatuated with. With that, the owner returned to the back of the restaurant and the sound of sizzling oil could be heard from the kitchen. As she heard that noise, Sarah put together the information she managed to collect.

(First, the reason why William Gold spent his last years living in that town was… there’s no mistaking it.)

One time out of seven days… what William probably meant when he said ‘Satur’s Day’ was when he could visit this suspicious dining hall. If you think about it, there’s no mistake that the reason the retired William lived by himself in the rundown mining town was this dining hall.

(If you think about it that way, this place’s cooking… wouldn’t it probably be tastier than what a high-cla.s.s restaurant would serve a king?)

With the fortune that William made during his lifetime and the funds he made from his commerce, he built a large stately mansion. In other words, he lived like a king. Anyway, a man that could treat people like objects as if he were a king would go this far for a taste of the delicacies that this restaurant has.

Also according to Sarah’s knowledge, William in his late years had one of the most prominent fortunes even compared to kings in all of the eastern continent. If he just wanted food, he could get as much as he wanted with the amount of gold he had. In spite of that, he settled down in a place where he could be in reach of this dining hall. Just how good was this place?

As she thought that, Sarah waited for the food. And then, in just a moment, that food appeared before Sarah.

“Thank you for waiting. Your minced cutlet set meal.”

After finis.h.i.+ng cooking, the man lined up several plates on the table.

(…I see, this certainly is the Other World’s cuisine.)

As she looked at the dishes, she once again accepted that this was a restaurant in the Other World. To that extent, there dishes lined up that went past Sarah’s common knowledge.

In front of her, on a noticeably larger plate than the others, was two large brown lumps about the size of an adult’s fist still sizzling with the rising sound of oil. Right next to it was a fruit cut into the four pieces, white sauce entangled with nice warm vegetables and pasta into some kind of dressed salad*, and finally, thin, cut, leafy vegetables left raw to accompany the dish. A separate plate was filled with two pieces of bread and accompanying that was probably a lump of b.u.t.ter wrapped in golden paper. Finally, inside a serving bowl was soup filled to the brim with finely chopped smoked meat and minced oranie**.

*GYURURURURU*

Sarah’s stomach which hadn’t had anything since breakfast let out a rumble.

The owner saw Sarah’s face turn red at that sound, and he made grin and laughed.

“The bread and soup are all-you-can-eat at your leisure, so if you ever want more, please tell me. Minced cutlet tastes better if you pour the sauce in that blue bottle and lemon juice over it by the way.”

As he said that, he pointed to one of the ceramics, a pitcher with a blue lid.

“Well, enjoy.”

Saying just that, the owner drew back into the kitchen.

All that was left in the dining hall was Sarah and the minced cutlet set with a delicious smell wafting off of it.

“…What is this!? It’s delicious!?”

First, for some reason or another, Sarah tried the accompanying soup which seemed familiar, and as the soup entered in her mouth, she unintentionally let out her voice due to the unexpected flavor.

The sweet taste of the oranie and the flavor of the smoked dried meat… that much was acceptable.

But something else what was in the soup, something that could not be seen. The countless flavors of various vegetables and meat was held inside of it.

Countless flavors that while entangling were never disordered, a clear flavor.

Without thinking, she drank all of the soup in one breath.

With just the soup, the dining halls back home couldn’t compare to this flavor.

“Uwaa… this is very soft.”

Next was the bread.

To Sarah’s common sense, this bread so soft that it was unthinkable.

On top of that, as if it were natural, they were serving white bread.

Soft and fluffy, softness greater than compared to the white bread she ate her family’s estate.

And just by smearing the mysterious golden wrapped b.u.t.ter on it, its flavor was twenty times better.

The melting b.u.t.ter’s saltiness and deliciousness pulled up the soft, sweet wheat flavor of the high-quality white bread.

This too disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Hey! Can I get another serving of soup and bread!?”

“Coming right up.”

As the owner said that, Sarah finally started on the main dish. A brown mysterious lump. Finally, knife and fork headed to the minced cutlet.

Even though looking at it you wouldn’t think that it looked tasty, but with a gulp, she swallowed her saliva. To Sarah it was a dish she knew nothing about, but just the soup and bread was delicious enough to be a dining hall’s main dish. There was no way it would taste bad.

Doubtfulness had in time became expectation. Sarah carefully cut out one mouthful of minced cutlet. With a crisp sound, the knife broke in, and from the perfectly fire-cooked, grey cut end, the juices from the meat gushed and flowed out. Looking at the cross-section, it seemed like finely minced meat was the main ingredient.

While wondering what kind of flavor it would have, she brought it to her mouth.

“…Uwa.”

That was all she could say. That’s how delicious it was.

Spreading from the center of her mouth was ample amounts of meaty juice. Then came the feeling of the light outer layer cooked with the high-quality oil mixing and merging in the middle of her mouth and then coming apart. The salt and pepper began to kick in, but it didn’t hit harshly, the perfect seasoning for the meat along with the sweetness of the oranie packed into the meat.

They invited Sarah into the wonderful world of flavor.

“…Didn’t he say it would taste better if I covered in something called lemon and sauce?”

After one of the round patties disappeared into her stomach leaving half of the minced cutlet left, she remember what the owner said. After regrettably having only one of the minced cutlet left, Sarah carefully cut it in half and picked up the blue pitcher.

Gently, she turned it towards the minced cutlet and tilted it, letting out deep brown sauce flow out of the pitcher, covering the minced cutlet. Like a bright tea kimono bound by a black obi, the deep brown sauce was offset by the brilliant yellow fruit… the lemon’s squeezed juices covered the cutlet. The cutlet sucked up the sauce and became slightly soft. Once again, Sarah brought the minced cutlet to her mouth…

After that was silence. If she had time to say unnecessary words then she could use that time to savor it even more.

A sauce with a complicated flavor to it and the refres.h.i.+ng sourness of the lemon. Together with the minced cutlet made the minced cutlet from before that was already thought to be a taste of the heavens instead became ‘lacking something.’ And Sarah sensed this.

Plenty of meaty juice and fat, the sweet oranie. The element that was missing from this dish was sourness. The condiment called sauce and the sweetness from the lemon was as if it could only be granted by a fruit that had nothing but sourness led to the completion of the minced cutlet.

The deep satisfaction of the meat and the rich outer layer. If you have one or two bites and continue eating, your stomach will start to feel full and your hands will stop. Sourness can neutralize this feeling and leave you feeling satisfied while giving you a nice aftertaste.

With that, you can continue eating no matter what. If it can inspire about such a belief then it must surely be a dish of the G.o.ds dwelling in the heavens.

After that, Sarah had seconds of the minced cutlet. Occasionally she would get more bread and soup to cleanse her palate. In the middle of her meal, the owner taught her a new way of eating it which involved sandwiching the green leafy vegetable (which was apparently called cabbage in the other world) and the minced cutlet covered in plenty of sauce between two slices of bread.

The minced cutlet sandwiched by the bread had a nice clean texture and a deep flavor with the soft bread and the crunchy cabbage complementing each other. Just eating it with bread gave it the effect of turning it into one completely different dish.

Eating until her stomach reached the limit, Sarah ordered and savored more of the minced cutlet until she couldn’t anymore. Then she finally put down her knife and fork.

“Fuu… that was delicious.”

Cheerfully, she put down one silver coin and several copper coins for the payment.

“Thank you very much… Also Miss, could you do me a favor?”

After seeing that the payment was exactly the right amount, the owner pa.s.sed something along to Sarah.

“What this?”

“A bento.”

Bento. With that word, the owner remembered the time that his previous regular customer was still alive, and with a slightly lonely laugh, he told her what was inside.

“Minced cutlet sandwich. William, whenever he would come here, he would always order the minced cutlet set meal and this. You looked like you enjoyed eating it so much that I made with it without thinking. Don’t worry about the money, it’s on the house today, so please, take it. It’s okay if it gets cold, but it doesn’t have that much of a shelf life so it’s better if you eat it as soon as you can.”

“…Is it really alright?”

Sarah was surprised at the owner’s sudden request and asked that. Right now her stomach was filled to the brim so eating it right now was impossible, but once her stomach became empty again, the flavor would make her want it again. She just found out that the combination of bread and minced cutlet was without compare. The taste would make her immediately bite into it the moment her stomach would start to lighten.

“Yes, of course. Just think of it as William’s treat.”

“I see. Then I’ll accept it without reservations.”

Nodding the owner’s consideration, she took the paper bag from him. Wafting from the paper bag, the warm smell of sauce drifted in the air, giving her full stomach a bit of appet.i.te.

“Well then, until next time.”

“Yes, please. I’ll be waiting for your return.”

With that, Sarah headed to the exit.

The sound of the bell sounded out as the door opened, and in front of her, the familiar view of the abandoned mine stretched out.

“Ah, that’s right…”

From behind her, she heard the owner’s voice.

“About William, what happened to him?”

“He pa.s.sed away. The fact that he couldn’t come here was too vexing for him.”

At those words, the door finally closed. At the same time, the door vanished. All that was left was the abandoned mine’s silence.

“The legendary treasure hunter’s last treasure…”

Looking at the s.p.a.ce that the black door used to be which now had nothing, Sarah licked her lips while thinking of her experience.

“…I see, a treasure befitting William Gold.”

The William, who when he was young was in poverty… Her grandfather who had no acquaintances and was known to be a glutton. She remembered such stories.

 

The young, rising treasure hunter and the daughter of the up-and-coming company, the Gold Company. Sarah Gold, while looking forward to the next Satur’s day, hurried back on her way.

 

 

Translator’s notes:

*The dressed salad is an aemono, a type of j.a.panese salad that uses vegetable like okra or green peas or others and then covered in a dressing.

**Oranie is what those from the other side call onions