I tried taking another spoonful of the dish and…
“It seems I can eat this normally.” [Ryouma]
In my past life, my boss forced me to take these challenges on. That’s why I’m not so bothered by the spiciness… Besides, this soup isn’t just extremely spicy.
“It’s true that the spiciness of the soup stands out the most at the start, but if you taste it more thoroughly, you’ll notice that the umami of the beef soup has thoroughly pervaded the dish.” [Ryouma]
It’s not like those prank dishes that have merely had a lot of spiciness added to them for the sake of making them difficult for people to finish completely. This soup may be spicy, but it was definitely made to be as delicious as possible. People that have a hard time with spicy food might be unable to eat this, but if it’s me, it’s a-okay!
The serving wasn’t much in the first place, so before I knew it, I’d already emptied my bowl. I’ve also emptied the glass of water I was given. The maid that was standing attention to serve us water whenever necessary was also surprised.
It was at that moment…
“It makes me so happy that you were able to see the taste hidden behind the spiciness.” [Butts]
Butts-san said earnestly.
“High-class spices and expensive ingredients are used extravagantly for noble parties, and there’s also a traditional standard for the spiciness from 1 to 10. But there are also those who find it questionable to make a dish that’s so spicy that no one can eat it.” [Butts]
…A spiciness rating that goes from one to ten? That’s totally the rating on the spicy challenge menu. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or not, but please don’t turn something like that into a tradition, otherworlder of the past!
“But I still want people eating my food to find them delicious. Thanks to you, I feel as if all that work I put in was worth it. Thank you.” [Butts]
He thanked me out of the blue just like that… I wonder if there’s a lot of people who can’t eat stuff like this.
“It’s doubtful that there would be many other than the nobles who can eat food like this everyday. Especially since your everyday commoner family wouldn’t use spices to such an extent. The taste is simply too thick. I know I made it, but really, it’s amazing you could stand the stuff.” [Butts]
“I ate something like this in the past.” [Ryouma]
I replied vaguely, but Reinhart-san suddenly seemed to remember.
“Come to think of it, you’re from the Great Shurus Forest. That region is full of spices.” [Reinhart]
“Right, right. It’s a land abundant with pepper and chili.” [Ryouma]
“I see, so it must’ve been a local dish then… If you have time, could we talk about it sometime? I might be able to find something to help me make a more delicious food despite needing to use a lot of spice.” [Butts]
“I’m not that privy to the details, but I can share everything I know.” [Ryouma]
My conversation with the head chef ended with that.
I took advantage of the misunderstanding to excuse myself, and then proceeded to eat another dish.
If I were to consider that the spicy menu is Japanese culture that somehow got passed on as a tradition of the nobles…
“Roast beef with cacao sauce. Enjoy.” [Butts]
This time the dish had a sauce that was super bitter.
It seems to have been made in chocolate style, but it doesn’t have even the slightest bit of sweetness to it. It’s basically just cacao.
After eating the rest of the dishes, I finally started to put together the picture.
It seems that just like the extremely spicy dish, there are also extremely salty, extremely bitter, extremely astringent, extremely sour, and extremely sweet dishes.
The last drop makes the cup run over.
Somehow, this experience has made me want to send those words to someone in the past…