CH 37

“Naoya-san, may I take a look?”

“Anna-san? Is it okay to leave the customers?”

“Yes, there are no more customers in the store. If there are any customers, my servants will let me know.”

“Is it that late already? Sigh, I have to think about how to attract customers at this time of the day.”

On the sixth day after I became manager of the Aion Mall Otherworld Store.

The cutlet and hamburger I made as samples for the mid-morning meal.

I left the business to Anna-san and went to the kitchen to make a prototype of the new menu, but it seemed that before I knew it, the customers had stopped coming in.

Apparently, checking the cooking utensils and reviewing the ingredients took longer than she had expected.

“I don’t mind you observing, Is it okay if I teach you after the recipe is complete? Besides, I want to show this dish to the skeletons more than Anna-san.”

As I turned to look at them, the skeletons with aprons approached me with small fists clenched.

They are willing to do it! Is what I thought they said.

This dish I’m about to cook isn’t difficult, but it’s time-consuming and laborious.

It’s a choice I’ve made with the assumption that Skeleton, who knows no fatigue and needs no sleep, will help me.

“Well then, I’ll be watching over the back of these boys. Good luck, everyone!”

Anna-san gives the skeletons a boost with a smile.

The Lich Anna-san is not the only one, I’m also relying on the skeletons. After seven days of living in another world, I’ve gotten used to it.

The first time I saw a skeleton, I almost shat myself with panic,…….

“First of all, I’m going to cover it with a clean cloth so that the material doesn’t splatter all over the place.”

While explaining the process, I show them my hand.

The skeletons nodded and took notes.

Notes on the bone, with magic.

“How can you write on a bone?! Use paper instead of writing on the bones of your forearms!”

The skeletons stop moving and stare at me. No answer.

“Sigh, oh well. After covering it with a cloth, crush the bones placed underneath. Like this”

I hit the bones with a clean hammer.

BANG! A loud sound echoes, and the skeletons are startled.

“Oh, uh, Naoya-san? Y-you want to break the bones into …… pieces?”

“Just break the big bones, leaving the small ones intact. If the meat is sticking to the bone, leave it as it is.”

I beat the bones with a hammer, and in no time at all, the process was over.

Maybe the noise was too loud, the skeletons moved away from me for a moment. Anna-san, too.

“After crushing them roughly, put them on a baking sheet. The bones and meat stuck to the bones will be left intact, and then we’ll arrange the meatballs like this,”

After the bones are crushed, the meat from the cutlets and hamburger steaks are placed on the baking sheet.

Although I went to the trouble of reserving the bones for this occasion, once we start selling cutlets and hamburgers in earnest, there will be more bones and meat bits to go along with them.

I also have some meat from the Achilles’ tendon and some meat with a lot of joints.

After all, butcher shops sell the meat with the bones still attached to the bone.

“Next, we roast the bones and the meatballs in the oven. It takes about 30 minutes to cook until the meat is browned.”

“Y-you bake….. the bones ……?”

“That’s right, Anna-san. I don’t know why, but it is said that doing so will bring out the flavor of the meat and bones. I use every last bit of meat and bone.”

For this dish, I used the bones and meat from a horned beef.

Cutlets, hamburgers, and other dishes to be prepared from now on.

With this menu, we will not waste much meat even if we buy the whole carcass.

“E-everyone, it’s all right. Naoya-san is just explaining how to cook, and I’m sure everyone will be fine.”

Anna-san calls out to the skeletons who are frozen in the corner of the room.

It seems that it is the role of the chief supervisor to cheer up their subordinates.

I’ve got the skeletons helping me out a lot, so I’ll take care of them too.

While we wait for the food to be cooked, I fry onions and other fragrant herbs.

I don’t know if they are really fragrant herbs or not.

I think I didn’t miss it that much from the way I tasted it earlier.

“When the bones and the shredded meat are cooked, I put them in a skillet along with the fried fragrant herbs and vegetables. Add water and heat it up and keep it just before boiling.”

“H-how long will it take to simmer, Naoya-san? If it’s for a short time, everyone can manage.”

“I think the longest time is about six hours. The bones, the marrow, the meat, it’s all slow-cooked, and all the goodness is released.”

“T-that long ……?”

It’s not a difficult process, just time-consuming and labour-intensive.

It was tough when the tasting lady taught me how to make it in our remote kitchen, but I was alone. It was just me.

But here we have skeletons who are tireless and don’t need sleep.

“Anna-san, may I ask you to ask the skeletons to take the scum out of the water? And be careful not to let it boil over–“

“Everyone, be strong! Keep the spirit in this place! It’s okay, it’s okay, those bones are not one of us! Everyone else won’t be like that!

“…… Huh? What’s wrong?”

When I looked back, the skeletons were crouched in the corner of the kitchen, shivering.

Anna-san is encouraging the skeletons, who are shaking their heads like children.

It was just like when they were “purified” by Chloe.

“Naoya-san! How can you crush, burn, and put them on fire? Is this a new kind of torture?!”

“Huh? Torture? I’m just cooking, and it’s a process that requires crushing, baking, and simmering…. Ah.”

Having said all that, I realized why the skeletons and Anna-san were reacting this way.

I finally realized.

“Uhhm, …… it’s a bone from a horned cow, right ……? They are not the bones of a skeleton, you know. I mean, those are human bones, aren’t they?”

“Of course I know, of course!”

“And then all you have to do is simmer it, oh, and when you’ve made the first batch, strain it, add some vegetables, and simmer it again, …… and call it the second batch.”

“Gasp. Simer it further……”

Anna-san gasps for breath, and skeletons attempt to hide behind her body.

The skeleton’s body is shaking and clattering.

“Naoya-san is possessed by a demon,…… or perhaps a devil,…………. I should ask Chloe-san to ‘purify’ Naoya-san,…….no, Chloe-san just went to town……. Then I’ll do it!”

“I’m not a demon or a devil. Instead, you are a Lich and undead.”

“Oh, dispel the evil spirits! Turn undead!”

“No, that’s going to damage Anna-san and the others.”

“I’ll take care of this, everyone! I’ll buy you time to escape!”

“Anna-san, do you hear me? I won’t use skeletons as material, okay? And if you want to buy me time, won’t Anna-san easily kill me?”

I calm Anna-san, who is still in a slump.

The skeletons are confused and their bones are tangled.

The kitchen at Aion Mall’s Otherworldly Store was in a state of chaos.

It seems that even the handy skeletons had their difficulties.

I don’t understand the common sense of another world… No, common sense of the skeletons, so this doesn’t seem to be common sense.