Published at 7th of May 2023 7:56 pm

Chapter 323: Hot Pot In A Cool Room 1

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

「Hachooo!」

「Achoo!」

As we were spending our time leisurely inside my cold room that was filled with cold air, Sylvio-niisan and Eleonora-neesan sneezed.

I can say that Sylvio-niisan sounded cute doing that, but Eleonora-neesan was more impressive.

But it’s strange. I think it’s usually the other way around though.

「Are you all right? Is it a little cold?」

「Yeah. It will be great if you can raise the temperature for a bit」

「Certainly, it’s a bit cold」

「It’s slowly getting colder」

Not only Sylvio-niisan and Eleonora-neesan, Mina also feel cold.

「Setting Sylvio-niisan - who is sensitive to cold - aside, to think that even Eleonora-neesan and Mina said it’s cold is.....」

「No, there is a limit to how cool the temperature can be. This has already gone past the limit of being cool and becomes cold」

「On the other hand, is Alfried-sama all right?」

Being asked by Mina again, I immediately focus on my own body.

.....there’s no way this kind of temperature is cold though. Whether my skin is cold or getting goosebumps, I can’t feel any of that.

「Hmーm, I don’t feel cold, though? Rather, I feel like it’s just the right coolness」

「Ehー, it’s your body that is strange. You’ve been shutting yourself inside such a freezer-like room of yours, so it’s just your body’s temperature becoming weird, don’t you think?」

I think calling this room ‘freezer-like’ is an exaggeration.

Though, I think everyone was probably just not used to a room filled with cold air like me. On the other hand, I might have adapted to the temperature in the room before I realize it myself and become less sensitive to the cold than others.

「It’s cold, so raise the temperature in the room」

I want to say, ‘You can go outside if it’s cold’, but looking at the three people sitting there inside my room, it looks like they have no intention of going out to be in the hot world outside. Although we have pretty much arranged for ice to be prepared inside the rooms of the mansion.

It can’t be helped since everyone else said that it’s cold. I’ll raise the temperature in the room a bit....no, wait a minute. Would it be better if I just raise everyone’s temperature while keeping the temperature in the room as it is?

It feels so pleasant to wrap your body in a warm futon and sleeps while the room is filled with cold air. But as expected, it’s impossible to ask everyone to use the futon, they’ll just object to the idea.

In that case, I’ve decided on what to do.

「Let’s raise everyone’s body temperature rather than increase the room’s temperature」

「Ara, what an admirable attitude from you, Al. Well then, shall we go outside to train and warm up shall we?」

「Are you stupid?」

「What do you mean ‘stupid’!」

「You’ll die if you train outside in such hot weather like this」

It’s already hot enough as it is. So doing intense physical activity in such hot weather is dangerous.

「Then, what are we going to do to raise our body’s temperature?」

「We’re going to have hot pot」

「So it’s a hot pot!」

When I resolutely tell them my idea, the most gluttonous - the poor maid Mina - really got interested in it. Her eyes are already sparkling with expectation and curiosity.

「Why a hot pot?」

However, it seems like Sylvio-niisan can’t associate the relationship between this situation with hot pot as he asked with a doubting tone.

「When you eat warm soup dishes in winter, your body warms up, right? So we will recreate that same situation right here」

「N, no way, so we are going to eat a hot pot while making the room cold with Ice magic!?」

「That’s right!」

As expected from Mina, she’s quick on the uptake

In a sense, it could be said that she has the most flexible way of thought among the people who live in the mansion.

「S, such a luxury!」

「E, ehh? But you can just adjust the temperature with magic though.....」

「Doing that is boring and also not fun at all. Given the choice, I want to turn this situation into pure bliss for us」

Sylvio-niisan starts talking about something unsophisticated so I dismiss it.

Winter hot pot is still a long time from now. It’s precisely because we’re trying to recreate that situation in the summer that there is value in doing it, and it is a luxury.

This is a valuable experience you won’t be able to have if there is no Ice magic user with you, y’know?

「True, it will be delicious if we eat a hot pot while the temperature is cold. And it is almost noon, let’s do it!」

「I’m in support!」

「W, well, as long as it warms you up, it’s fine, I guess?」

The result is decided the moment the one with the most authority here - Eleonora-neesan - declares that she wants to eat hot pot.

Thus, we all agreed that we will be having a hot pot.

「So, Mina, go to the kitchen quickly and bring the ingredients and utensils for a hot pot」

「「Please」」

「I knew it would be like this!」

Since there is a maid here, it will turn out like that in the end.

A comfortable place to heal your heart and body? Before that, it’s the fact that we’re the masters and their maids that comes first!

「So, what are the ingredients I have to bring?」

Mina stands up and asks us without making that many complaints at all, perhaps because food is involved in this.

「What do Eleonora-neesan and Sylvio-niisan want to eat?」

「I want to eat fish」

「I want meat」

So they want the exact opposite of each other, huh? Then, shall we eat both meat and fish?

The two of them are not the type of people who will complain if I get both anyway.

「Okay then, we’ll have cod-like fish that has white meat on it and bird meat for Eleonora-neesan’s meat. After that, I wonder if I can use soup stock using a suitable konbu and melting miso inside it?」

「Err, so it is something like a miso soup with a lot of ingredients?」

Sylvio-niisan says while tilting his head. His example is a bit cute.

「To put it simply, that’s right」

「I have no problem with that. Since Al said so then it will taste good」

「Un, I’m also fine with that 」

I guess they know the tastiness of the miso soup since they didn’t particularly oppose or put off even when I try to suggest making a miso nabe.

「Eh, umm, we made hot pot dishes and miso soup before so there won’t be any problem. What kind of fish is a ‘cod’? Will Bartolo-san know of it if I tell him that?」

「He’ll understand if you tell him it’s a sea fish that can be used as an ingredient for a hot pot」

For some reason, it looks like Mina wants me to follow her, but I don’t feel like going downstairs to the kitchen to make the preparation. It’s just a dish where you cut the ingredients and put them all together anyway, so there should be no need for me to prepare it while teaching her right?

It seems like Bartolo is studying the Sylford’s house memo, so he should be able to distinguish between a cod and white-fleshed fish.

「Understood. I will prepare them, then!」

◆

「Ah, here’s Mina」

「You are right, neesan」

It’s been some time since Mina went down to the kitchen. Eleonora-neesan reacted a few seconds earlier than I could sense Mina’s presence.

「Eh? How can you be sure it is Mina when there are other people in the house?」

「It’s Mina since it’s her presence, isn’t it?」

Eleonora-neesan answer Sylvio-niisan’s doubt as though it was obvious.

But, isn’t that answer too intuitive? Sylvio-niisan - not part of the intuition camp - is someone who is in the theory camp and is tilting his head to the side in confusion.

「Hmm, could it be the person’s habit in their footsteps? People have differences in their pace and rhythm when they walk, so that’s how you distinguish them」

「Th, that’s right. But, setting neesan aside, is there a need to recognize someone else’s footsteps in our normal life?」

Of course, there is. Especially at our place, it’s important if we can sense the other person as fast as possible. The ability to run away from Eleonora-neesan who is trying to take you for sword practice, or lectures and miscellaneous tasks from Elna-kaasan and Nord-tousan is indispensable.

While I’m thinking about such a thing quietly by myself, I can feel Mina’s presence from in front of the door.

「Sorry to have kept you waiting. I brought the hot pot! I’m sorry but both of my hands are full so――waa, the door opened by itself, thank you very much!」

I can imagine Mina’s hands holding a pot, so I use Psychic to open the door.

Immediately after that, Mina entered the room with a large pot.

I pull the round table at the edge of my room and put it in the center of my room, then Mina lay the hot pot stand and place the pot on top of it.

「I wonder what kind of ingredients were put inside?」

Then, an impatient glutton quickly opened the lid.

There are vegetables like carrots, potatoes, spring onions, shimeji mushrooms, and Chinese cabbage inside the pot, and slices of cod and bird meat are floating on top.

Maybe it’s because they have already been stewed to some extent that the umami smell of konbu stock, cod, and bird meat spread out to the air.

「What a gentle scent. It seems like it’s going to be tasty even without adding miso」

「No, it will definitely become delicious if we add miso to this」

「The smell will blast out if we just add miso to this!」

Since Sylvio-niisan prefers a mild flavor in his meal, he might like a hot pot with these ingredients. I think I will have a hot pot with just a konbu stock soup next time.

「Now then, I bring go and bring the rest of the tableware here, Alfried-sama please stew the pot with magic while melting this miso!」

「I know」

Since it is difficult to bring the tea wagon to the second floor, Mina will end up with the job of making a round trip to the kitchen and my room. Oh well, but in exchange for that I’ll make her a delicious miso hot pot so please forgive me for this.

Sending Mina off from the room with my eyes, I use Psychic to make the pot float and then create a fireball underneath it.

What’s left is just to wait. Since the konbu was already removed, it should have been stewed until it was boiling before. It should be fine to stew it for three minutes and melt the miso.

「……seeing a pot floating in midair with fire underneath it, what a strange sight」

「Is that so? I feel like I have become used to this」

This is precisely why it’s a convenient and correct use of magic. Even if you don’t have a portable stove or a magic tool, you can still have a hot pot as long as you have magic. It’s really a great thing.

As the three of us wait while looking up at the pot in midair for a while, the pot starts to release steam from its opening.

Seeing that it was the right time, I use Psychic to open the lid, and then I throw in the miso.

And when I continue to stew the content while the miso slowly melts inside, the room was filled with the fragrant smell of miso.

The fragrance was strong enough that it blows away the cold air.

Eleonora-neesan and Sylvio-niisan also lean forward due to the smell.

Now then, it’s time to eat. Now as long as Mina brings the tablewares here.....

「Ahh, amazing. The smell of miso even escapes to the hallway, you know. Just how many times did my stomach growl to get here?」

So I thought, but then Mina returned at just the right timing.

Mina quickly enters the room and put enough bowls and forks for us on the table.

「Now then, let’s distribute the hot pot」

「Leave it to me!」

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