Chapter 56 - Effects of Hot Spring Cooking
“Well then, I guess it’s about time we start making dinner. What should we go with today?”
I pulled out the list of recipes Lady Auf had kindly put together and checked over the ingredients we had on hand to decide what dish to make.
Of course, there were also plenty of recipes thought up by the knights themselves.
Lady Auf had mentioned that it was best to have a wide variety of cooking styles available.
She’d even said it was better to let those who couldn’t cook properly try their hand at making something anyway.
To start, I decided to prepare something simple—just steaming some corn, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes.
I placed the root vegetables into a basket tied with rope, lowered it into a vent where high-temperature steam flowed out, and covered the opening with a shield. All that was left was to wait—it should cook on its own.
I planned to try two variations: one with no seasoning at all, and one using the pepper harvested from the No-Hunger Dungeon.
Ideally, I would’ve liked to use some of that special liquor for steaming, but unfortunately, most of that belonged to the Marponware Army.
For now, it couldn’t be helped—we couldn’t use it for experiments. ...Would they even share enough of it with us for testing?
“...Everyone, if we’re able to show concrete results here, there’s a good chance we’ll be allowed to use some of that liquor for cooking purposes. So let’s do our best to assess the effects properly.”
Everyone perked up at that. “I see! Alright, then I won’t miss a single tiny change! Let’s do this!” Their motivation flared up.
Well, even if we did get permission to use some for cooking, it’s not like we’d be allowed to drink on the job during dungeon missions—so we’d never get to enjoy it directly anyway.
Most of the knights stuck with basic methods like boiling or steaming.
But a few food enthusiasts among them were using holes in the dungeon walls radiating high heat like ovens to make full-fledged baked dishes with a mix of ingredients.
If those elaborate meals happened to produce great effects, it might be hard to recreate them consistently, so part of me thought maybe it was better to avoid going too fancy.
Then again, if the theory that more effort results in greater effects turned out to be true, it was hard to say what the right approach was.
For now, it seemed the best course was to let everyone try what they liked.
While the cooking was underway, Nico had brewed some tea using the hot spring’s boiling water and was sipping it.
Lilo looked intrigued and watched her closely.
“Oh, that looks good. What kind of tea is it?”
“My grandma made it—she dried the peels of some citrus fruits we picked in the No-Hunger Dungeon.
I also have some roasted barley if you’d prefer barley tea. Want that, or do you want the citrus peel tea?”
“I’ll take the citrus one! I’ve never had it before, so I’d like to try.”
Just like that, everyone began experimenting and enjoying things with a sense of freedom.
Allowing freeform cooking really was the right call after all—it gave us variety.
“Do you feel anything? Any effects, Nico?”
“...Hmm? I don’t really know, Vice-Captain.”
“Yeah, makes sense. If it’s something subtle like digestion improving, it’d be hard to notice... Lilo?”
Lilo, who had been gulping down the citrus tea, suddenly made a strange expression.
It was a baffled look, like she was silently saying, ‘What the heck is this??’
“What’s up, Lilo? Does the tea taste weird or something?”
“Um... Vice-Captain Vihita, Nico—can you read that recipe Captain Bantu posted on the wall over there?”
About twenty meters away, Captain Bantu was making something that looked like a pie.
Sure enough, there were recipe notes stuck on the wall nearby, probably for easier reference—but no way we could read text from that distance.
“There’s no way. The print’s way too small.”
“It looks like some kind of pumpkin pie, though. She’s using a bunch of fancy ingredients too—turns out Captain Bantu is secretly a foodie, huh?”
Apparently, Nico could read it from here. She was the knight with the sharpest eyesight in the unit, after all.
“Um… Vice-Captain Vichta, you should try this citrus tea too... I think it’ll let you read it.”
“...Hah?”
Both Nico and I blurted out in surprise at the same time.
“Well then... I’ll give it a try.”
I took a sip of the tea made from orange peels. As I continued drinking, my distant vision gradually sharpened.
“...I can read it.”
I could now make out the details of Captain Bantu’s pumpkin pie recipe posted far away.
So Nico, whose eyesight was naturally that sharp, hadn’t noticed the tea’s effect simply because she already had perfect vision.
“It’s confirmed, then. Cooking does have tangible effects, Vice-Captain.”
“Sure does... Honestly, the effect’s strong enough that it’s a little unsettling.”
By now, the steamed vegetables should be ready to eat. Time to take them out and have a taste.
I retrieved the steamed corn and bit into it.
It was delicious.
“Hmm... but what exactly is the effect? Actually, is there even an effect at all... huh?”
Something felt off. The movement around me suddenly seemed sluggish—unnaturally slow.
“Hooowww iiisss iiittt, Viiicceee Caaappptaaaiinnn? Dooo yoouuu feeeel aaannnyyy eefffeccttss?”
“.........”
“Whhhaaaaattt? Whhhaaattt diiiddd yoouuu saaaayyy, Viiiccceee Caaappptaaaiiinnn?”
What was this? Everyone around me appeared to be moving in slow motion—no, wait. That wasn’t it. Was I the one who had sped up?
I placed the food back on the plate, then ran full speed in a direction with no one around—and came back just as fast.
From my perspective, I had simply taken a light jog and returned.
“...”
Everyone was now staring at me like I was some kind of terrifying creature.
I must’ve looked like I was moving at nearly double speed—an eerie sight, no doubt.
Seeing this, everyone paused with their food halfway to their mouths.
“Wait... what was that? Was that the food’s effect?”
“Probably...”
“She was darting around like a cockroach... all twitchy and jittery.”
“And even the way she talks sped up!”
“Nope, nope, that’s terrifying. I do not want to end up like that. That’s just gross.”
Even though they were speaking so slowly I could barely make out the words, I could tell they were saying terrible things.
I couldn’t imagine how I must’ve looked to them from the outside.
Wait... hold on. Am I going to stay like this?
Huh?
No way.
I don’t want this! I do not want this! Someone help me!!
♨♨♨♨♨
“Masteeer, what was thaaat~?”
“Looks like her speed got boosted to double.”
Honestly, even I didn’t fully understand what effects hot spring cooking could produce, so I could only talk like a detached observer.
“Well, it was within the range I’d anticipated. The effects should wear off in time... I made sure they would.”
As for the buffs, I’d set them to be randomized based on the dish, but with one important limitation: all effects were temporary, time-limited enhancements.
If they were permanent—like that speed boost—things would get messy fast, especially for day-to-day life. That’s why I made sure the buffs wore off after a while.
No matter how ridiculous the effect, it wouldn’t be a serious problem as long as it ended soon.
And really, we only needed those high-impact buffs to kick in during battles against strong enemies.
The Vice-Captain, now in a state of utter despair over her doubled speed, had broken down in tears—but she’d be fine. The effect would wear off... eventually. I just didn’t know when.
To me, who was used to video games and fast-forwarded footage in the modern world, seeing someone move at 2x speed was nothing new. But for the people of this world, it probably looked downright creepy.
“Heehee~ No-Hunger Dungeon is absolutely packed—even more so than the Hot Spring Dungeon! Booze really is incredible.
...But why’s that stuff so popular, anyway?
Hey, Master, can you bring out all the different types of alcohol again? I need to figure this out...”
As soon as she realized how popular it was, Peta-chan went from “ew, I don’t need this” to “I’m gonna research it!” Talk about opportunism.
Still, I couldn’t really fault her. I hadn’t exactly been much of a drinker myself. Aside from social drinking at office parties and end-of-year events, I barely had any experience.
The kinds I could summon were beer, Japanese sake, umeshu, amazake, wine, whisky, and a few flavors of chuhai.
Stuff like vodka, tequila, and gin—I only knew the names. Never even tasted them, so I couldn’t bring them out.
“Uh, let’s see... Beer goes well with fried food. Sake’s good with seafood. Wine... maybe with Italian food? I think.”
As I summoned the available drinks, I tried my best to convey their appeal with my limited knowledge.
Alright, how about today we pair some dishes that look like they came straight out of a Sa○zeriya (TL/N: Saizeriya but censored) menu with a nice bottle of wine?
While Peta-chan and I sampled wine along with various pastas and garlic-baked mussels—
—I spotted the Vice-Captain looking overjoyed as the speed buff finally wore off.
“Hmm... so the effect lasts about five minutes, give or take? Well, maybe it depends on how much you eat... I dunno.”
Anyway, the testing and application of all these effects—those were things I’d leave entirely to the Second Unit and Auf-chan.
After all, as the Vice-Captain mentioned, it was Auf-chan’s idea to assign them to cooking duty here in the first place.
I’d leave things to them for a while.
As for me, I’d just stay here, sit back, and watch the results roll in—thinking to myself, “Huh, so that’s how it can be used.” Sounds fun to me.
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