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Mira finished cutting all the ingredients and put them in the pot, then added the mix of seasonings she had perfected throughout the past few days, and put it to the fire. Not much later a pleasant smell filled the room.
「I feel like I’m alive again!」
「Yeah, that felt so good!」
Ettie and Colette looked extremely refreshed as they walked out of the shower room, they had clearly enjoyed that thoroughly.
「You look quite freshened up.」
Mira spoke to them, trying to sound as normal as she could. The two looked at her and expressed their heartfelt gratitude.
「You two really got lucky though, to run into a summoner like myself.」
Mira did not forget to highlight summoners one more time, telling them that such benefits came from having a summoner in their party. Forming contracts could be a bit annoying sometimes, but there were plenty of benefits that came from that. She claimed that sharing said benefits made summoners more enticing.
「I think I get it.」
「I don’t really know what summoners are supposed to do. But at least I understand that they’re amazing now.」
It seemed like Mira had a positive effect, as the two started praising summoners. They also mentioned they would try to recruit a summoner sometime as well.
Hearing that filled Mira with satisfaction. Not because they were naked the entire time, but because they had a better image of summoners… probably.
「This is the first time I’m doing this, but I hope this is a fair price?」
「What do you think?」
The two offered Mira various large Magic Stones. Together they would likely sell for more than 200,000 Rils.
They wondered if that was a good price for a warm shower and plenty of clean water deep inside a dungeon. But Mira also had no idea if 200,000 Rils was expensive or cheap, as she had never done that before.
Either way that did not beat the satisfaction of speaking highly of summoners. Then she thought of the price of inns, and used that as a baseline.
「This should be enough.」
Saying that, she took one Magic Stone from each of them. Each of them would likely sell for around 10,000 Rils. That was expensive for an inn that only offered a shower, but it seemed like a reasonable upcharge for the location. At least that was Mira’s justification, though her fondness for the fairer sex played a major role as well.
「Thank you!」
「My queen!」
The two had not expected that response from Mira, so they were stunned for a moment, but quickly started revering her when they realized she actually meant it. They had taken Mira’s hedonistic tendencies as friendliness, but they also appreciated her kindness, so they thanked her again, almost praying to her.
「That’s enough, no need for superfluous words. Just don’t forget to thank the spirits as well, as this was all accomplished thanks to them.」
「You’re right, I’ll never forget that.」
「Me too.」
The two nodded. Spirits were a common topic of conversation after recent events too. If more people started appreciating them, it would be harder for groups like Chimera Clauzen to appear again. Mira smiled more, noticing the two express their appreciation for spirits like that.
「Wait, what’s this smell?」
Once they were done paying and changing their clothes, the smaller spellcaster Colette sniffed the air a bit and asked that. Mira’s pot had just started boiling.
「Kiroly Bird, slawcress, yellow leek and… porcini!」
Colette slowly but confidently identified everything she could smell, and Mira exclaimed 「Ohh, spot on!」 noticing it was exactly what she had put in the pot.
But Colette was not done surprising Mira, as she continued listing the spices Mira had added.
「My parents had a small restaurant, so they taught me a lot while growing up. Before I knew it I could tell ingredients apart just by their smell.」
She recounted that with a slightly embarrassed voice. But in reality that ability was developed after a lot of grueling training.
Her parents had wished to pass on the restaurant to their daughter, but Colette already wanted to become an adventurer. An adventurer visited their restaurant once, and that had inspired her.
Wanting to become an adventurer instead of a cook, she secretly went to the Spellcaster’s Union and took an aptitude test. They determined she had aptitude for being a spellcaster, so she forcefully made her parents leave the restaurant to her older brother and younger sister.
「Now that I think about it, becoming a spellcaster was even harder than learning to cook properly, but I powered through no matter what other people told me.」
Colette thought fondly of those times, and then smiled nervously realizing she still kept plenty of her culinary knowledge even though she was an adventurer now.
Though she was also in charge of cooking for their group, and somehow her skills had developed further compared to how she was before leaving her parents. She claimed her balance in seasoning was much better now.
「Ah, I’m sorry for blabbering on for so long. That stew just reminded me a lot of something I used to eat back then.」
She was likely still worried about her parent’s restaurant. She looked embarrassed for saying all that, so she took out a leaf to express her gratitude.
「This is a herb called Aminica. You can cut it fine and give it a boil to make anything taste better. Feel free to give it a try.」
Colette mentioned that Aminica was the last ingredient to perfect the stew she used to eat growing up. Its taste paired quite nicely with bird meat, like Kiroly Bird.
「Ohh, I see. I’ll give it a try then, thanks.」
Mira took the leaf and quickly went to mince it up. Colette watched that, her eyes full of excitement as she watched Mira’s clumsy handiwork, recalling how her little sister also had to learn to cook. Then she slowly headed away.
「Thank you for the shower, Mira.」
「I really appreciate it.」
Colette and Ettie stopped next to the door to thank Mira one last time, and she replied by turning their way and waving lightly.
「Ohh, this smells delightful.」
The moment Mira put the Aminica herb into the pot and let it simmer for a bit, the smell changed from miscellaneous ingredients into perfect harmony, like it was an actual dish.
She got closer and looked into the pot, wondering how it tasted now, but a knock on the door stopped her there. The next shower group was there.
Mira told them to enter, and the door opened and two girls showed their faces. They had been selected as the first group out of the five pairs, and they looked full of expectation, having heard stories from Ettie and Colette.
「The shower room is over there, though I don’t have a dressing room. You can just undress around there and then enter.」
Mira casually made sure to stop them from even considering undressing inside the shower room, and the two obeyed right away. She watched them, and in the end added 「Feel free to wash any small items as well,」 so the girls happily picked up their underwear and walked into the shower room, leaving Mira even more satisfied.
「Ohh, the difference is more stark than I thought!」
Once the shower room was closed, Mira went back to her stew and gave it a try, being shocked by how much a single herb had improved her recipe.
All her previous dishes had been made by tossing random ingredients into a pot, something commonly done by men living alone. But this stew was on a whole different level, having a rich flavor that seemed prepared by a restaurant.
(She said it was called Aminica, right? I’ll have to get some more!)
Mira made a mental note to get more of that herb after her first mouthful. At the same time she began wondering if there were other herbs that could transform a dish so much.
(Finding all of them and trying various combinations sounds fun as well.)
There was plenty of salt and pepper in her pantry, but she had not tried getting any type of herbs yet. But having experienced Aminica, she decided she needed to try more types.
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