“Welcome, welcome! Come over and have a look~ It’s cheap here~”
We could hear the high spirited shouts of the vendors as we approached the morning market next to the harbour.
“Ho~ there’s quite a variety here, na~”
Since it was a morning market in another world, I had no idea what to expect. However, it exceeded all my hopes in terms of variety and price. [1] Various fish were lined up all according to their sizes and types. Among the more familiar kinds of seafood, there were sea creatures that caused ‘that’s edible?’ to flash across my mind.
There were shellfish of all kinds too. Some that looked like clams and others with fan-like shells that looked a lot like scallops.
In short, there were all kinds of stuff here that I plan to buy. Yosh, let’s stock up lots of seafood here.
The plan is to take a walk around the market and [6] check out all the various stalls first before buying anything. When people first saw Fer and the others, they were taken aback, but they soon calmed when they realised that they’re all my familiars.
A lot of the people who sold fish here seemed to be fishermen. From their fierce faces and tough bodies, they seemed to be a courageous lot. As for the ladies… most of them were aunties. Un, as expected, aunties are the strongest in any world [8].
Anyway, let’s not sweat the small stuff! It’s time to shop, let’s shop for all the seafood!
The first thing I bought was a fish called Mackerel [9], which looks just like the Mackerel in Japan and is said to be quite popular in this area.
[4] “These are great when grilled,” the stall uncle told me.
Immediately, images of Grilled Miso Mackerel danced in my head and I bought up all of his Mackerel. It’s only after I’ve self-importantly declared, “I’ll take everything!” that I regretted it.
[4] “… if it’s alright, that is…”
“As you can see, we have plenty of fish to go around. Even if you buy out one stall, there are others selling similar things.” The uncle laughed, “So don’t worry about it, buy lots and lots!” [5]
Ah, looks like I’m the one over thinking things.
Reassured, I continued with my shopping. The next thing I came across was a fish called Salken. It looked just like salmon, but bigger with pink skin. There were quite a lot of them around, so I guess they’re pretty common too.
Noticing my interest, the stall auntie said, “These are very good grilled or baked, young man!”
I nodded. If they are anything like regular salmon, they could be used for all kinds of dishes. I bought a lot of these too.
The next fish I noticed was something that looked like the Horse Mackerel. [1] While Horse Mackerel or Aji fish are often treated as coarse fish that are made into dried fish I quite like them fried.
My cooking instinct told me that this fish would be delicious fried. Also, they’re very cheap. 3 bronze coins for a bucket so I cleaned out this stall too.
This is my basic shopping pattern now…
“Welcome, welcome! Here’s a Verulean specialty, the Tyrant fish! We caught this fellow just this morning so it’s beyond fresh! Come and get it, or you’ll regret it!!”
Tyrant fish?
Isn’t that the fish that was praised by the [Shadow Warriors] to high heaven?
I must have it!
I rushed over to the stall. The only fish that fits the description of ‘Tyrant Fish’ was nearly 2 meters long. It resembles the world’s largest freshwater fish, the [11] Arapaima Gigas is a native of the Amazon River basin.
The Tyrant Fish looked every bit like its alternate world counterpart except for the razor sharp teeth. [1] I guess you’ll need a mouth full of teeth like that to survive and grow to this size in a monster filled sea.
“Excuse me, I’ll have the Tyrant Fish please”
“Ou, thank you for the purchase! Tyrant Fish are really great in soups or baked!”
In soups or baked… I wonder, could this fish be eaten raw?
“Raw?! Don’t be stupid, of course not! You’ll die!” was the old man’s rapid answer. Then, he narrowed his eyes at me, “Hey, brother. You a foreigner here?”
Considering the rarity of black hair and eyes among all these Anglo-Saxon faces, I guess I stood out a lot, huh.
“Yes, well…”
“I see, considering how much of country is landlocked, I guess most people don’t know this. Well, don’t eat it raw or you’ll really die. See, this kind of fish has the ‘Volbaras Fish Worm’. It infects every living creature in the sea and lives just under the skin of this guy. That’s where it lays its eggs too.
Well, fish and sea life don’t really seem to care about them and they’re sold normally. It only becomes a problem when humans are infected by this fish worm. After an incubation period of about a week to 10 days, it will start to devour the organs of its host until the human dies.
This worm has one fatal weakness though, and that’s heat. Since the fish worm lives on the skin of sea creatures just heating up the food is good enough to kill it.” The old man gave me a serious look. “Just don’t eat it raw.”
Thinking back, the last time I ate something close to raw was when I cooked the Giant Tarepo in tataki style. Basically searing the outside and keeping the middle bit raw. Even then, I thought that I had failed as a Japanese for not eating proper sashimi. [1] The reason why I had made tataki then was because I had been slightly worried about parasites. It was delicious, but more importantly, I hadn’t gotten sick later which was quite a relief. [5]
I think, for my own peace of mind, I had better not eat raw food or anything close to raw food anymore. Especially since according to the uncle here, there are parasites similar to the Volbaras Fish Worm in land animals and monsters that were also vulnerable to heat.
Looks like I was safe because I cooked the surface of the Giant Tarepo last time.
Good to know!
“Just make sure to heat up your food,” the old man reminded
Still, even though the tataki method could render the food safe, I don’t think I have the courage to eat it yet. [2] After all, there are lots of way to eat delicious food other than sashimi. Let’s enjoy seafood by boiling, grilling, frying and steaming for now.
“Well, how much Tyrant Fish would you like to buy, young man?”
“Ah, if you can fillet it properly for me. Um, in this size and this size, I’ll buy all of them.”
“Young man, you have the money for it?”
This was the first time someone questioned my ability to pay. [6] I really don’t look like the rich type, I guess?
Moreover, Tyrant Fish were pretty expensive compared to regular fish since it’s considered a ‘monster type’ creature.
“It’s fine, though I look like this, I’m really a high ranking Adventurer,” I said, wondering if I’ll need to show my ID to him…
“Oooh, is that so. Very well, a moment please,” said the old man. [3] Well, I called him an old man, but he’s definitely an experienced professional. From the way he handled the huge fish, the filleting, deboning and cutting was amazing.
Soon, his table was filled with Tyrant Fish fillets which I happily stuffed into my [Item Box]. The total cost for three Tyrant Fish plus labour charge was 2 gold coins, which I happily paid.
Considering the amount of Tyrant Fish I just bought, a monster fish which was much more expensive than other fish, 2 gold coins was considered cheap.
As expected of a port city!
Since I have this super convenient [Item Box] where food don’t go bad, let’s buy more!
The next thing that caught my eye were shrimp and crabs. [3] They have something called the Vermillion Shrimp that were similar to Tiger Prawns [12]. However, I must say the Vermillion Shrimp were much more beautiful and larger than the prawns I’ve seen in Japan.
The next thing that made my Japanese heart beat faster was the Bronze King Crab. It’s spiny shell and long legs was similar to the Alaskan Red King Crab. The only difference was the colour, [6] just looking at these giant crabs made my mouth water.
There was no way buying shrimps and crabs would go wrong, right?
[6] Like a housewife at a time sale, I bought as many as I dared, worried that the locals would snatch my precious shrimps and crabs from under my nose.
I also bought all kinds of shellfish. Mini Clams that were basically little thumb sized clams. [2] These were sold in buckets and their prices were so cheap that I practically got them for free. So, of course, I bought as much as I could. I could make Miso Soup with Clams, Sakemushi Clams or even western style Clam Chowder.
[6] The next clams I bought were the ‘Big Hard Clams’. They were the ones recommended by the [Shadow Warriors]. [6] I really had not expect the name to literally be just ‘Big Hard Clams’. [2] Each clam was about the size of my palm.
They also have Small Hard Clams, which were a little bigger than regular clams. These would be perfect for barbecues.
I also bought ‘Yellow Scallops’ recommended by the store keeper as well as other seafood items that were said to be delicious when grilled. Of course, I’ll be barbecuing them over a nice fire, hehe.
I’d love to shop for more things, but I was starting to feel hungry. Fer and my other familiars were looking kind of antsy too, so it’s about time to call a halt to my shopping spree.
Nonetheless, I must say shopping here is certainly cheap.
I’ve bought loads of things, literally buckets of clams and fish but the total amount I’ve spent barely reach 5 gold coins. That said, the amount I’ve bought is probably only worth a few servings of food for Fer and co…
I must stock up more while we’re in town!
“Well, shall we go and find a food stall and eat there?”
“I’m tired of waiting already, let’s just go.”
“Really!”
“Sui’s tummy is rumbling~”
“Sorry, sorry. Look, there are plenty of food stalls we can choose from with different kinds of food. Why don’t we go there now?”
“Nu, I get to choose anything?”
“Of course,”
“Is that so, then let’s start from this end first and work our way down. Dora, Sui, let’s go.”
“Ou!”
“Sui will eat lots and lots~”
I trailed after the backs of my familiars as they headed excitedly over to the first food stall of the day.
[Gumihou: Ahhh, what kind of food would they encounter~?]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Aunties in Japan has a reputation for being strong, especially in Osaka. If you want to know more, check out Other World Okonomiyaki Chain Store~
[9] Mackerel or Saba – Delicious when grilled. Could be eaten as sushi, but kind of stinky. I eat them as sushi because I like the slight stinkiness, lol
[10] Horse Mackerel or Aji – Not really a mackerel, lol – Small fish, probably most well known as ‘aji furai’
[11] Arapaima Gigas – native to the Amazon River basin. Can weigh up to 180 kilograms
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/arapaima-alert-amazons-biggest-fish-going-extinct-n180161
[12] Tiger Prawns – Kuruma Ebi (literally car prawns, lol!) – larger than the palm of your hand. Personally, I like smaller shrimps, lol! Mostly because the big prawns are ridiculously expensive. The yellow or brown strips on their bodies made them look like ‘tigers’ lol!
The specific specie is called marsupenaeus japonicus
http://ieatishootipost.sg/singapore-prawn-files-the-striped-ones-tigers-kuruma-and-rainbow-prawns/
[13] Red King Crab – Also known as Alaskan Red King Crab! – The King Crab is the largest type of crab and one of the most dangerous to catch. Inspires the ‘Deadliest Catch’ the Fishing Crab Film