abcnovels
Chapter 8 - SMELLY THINGS ARE DELICIOUS?
Chapter 8 - SMELLY THINGS ARE DELICIOUS?
Chapter 8 - SMELLY THINGS ARE DELICIOUS?
Chapter 8: Smelly Things are Delicious?
“Master, here.”
Noela advanced step by step into the forest while pulling my hand.
“Are we not there yet? At the place where we can harvest edible plants.
“Little more.”
With her tail wagging from side to side, Noela walks like she’s having fun.
I think her mood has gotten better recently.
Previously, when I had forgotten Noela and returned to the store, she had become upset.
When I said I’d do anything she wanted as an apology, she said she wanted me to come with her to the usual forest to harvest edible plants.
And that’s where we are right now.
“Master, look, here.”
With an excited face, Noela pointed at some fallen wood.
“What about that?”
“This tree, sign. We’re close. Noela always, around here, harvests.”
Before she met me, seems like she’d come to this harvesting spot to harvest edible plants, selling them in town and eating them herself.
Noela, who was proudly walking, stopped her steps.
N? Are we there already?
Looking around at my surroundings with the Appraisal Skill, there are a ton of weeds and no vegetation you can eat.
“Noela?”
When I look, she’s pinching her nose with teary eyes.
“Mashter, shtinks.”
“? Eh, what? … Stinks?”
Noela nodded her head up and down.
Stinks…?
I do? … probably not, na…
“Something I haven’t seen before, weird, is here.”
A little ways from Noela’s pointing finger, a giant flower is blooming.
It has a poisonous look to it and an inflated, bulging pistil.
It was around the length of a small child.
It was an eerie flower without stalk or leaves.
[Utsubo Flower: a flower that produces an unpleasant scent that only monsters and beasts can sense.]
I took a few steps closer to see, but I can’t sense anything.
“Ah. It’s because I’m a human. – It’s fine as long as you pinch your nose, I guess?”
When I made to go ahead, Noela shook her head side to side.
“Eyes, hurt a little.”
Is it too stinky?
Sometimes the stimulus from stink can make your eyes spin, na…
When I asked if there were any other routes, it seems like it’s easy to get lost any other way, so it’s dangerous.
“Should we stop for today?”
“Ruu… Master, outing together … ruu…”
Noela’s ears drooped.
Even if she says that … if Noela, who knows the way, can’t move forward, there’s no point to me going ahead.
… This flower.
If it’s effective for warding off monsters and beasts, then I might be able to make something from it.
I approached it, put several petals and some pollen in a bottle, and closed it up, airtight.
Noela hasn’t moved forward from earlier, but she doesn’t want to make the outing with me pointless-.
Noela’s quite the cute one.
“U-n. … Ah. In that case, should I make something that will erase the smell?”
“Ru?”
Myokon – Noela’s ears stood up.
Returning along the path we came, I picked several types of plants and flowers, like the aero that became the ingredients for potions from before.
Arriving at the river we went to before, I improvised a deodorizing medicine.
The bottle’s contents glowed, and it became a light green liquid.
[Deodorant: Completely clears away unpleasant odors.]
… That’s something like commentary for a restroom air freshener.
“Alright, made it. If I spray this on that flower, the smell will be completely cleared away.”
“Smell, gone? Smell.”
“Probably; it should be fine.”
“Ru-?”
We went along the path back to that giant flower from just then, and I used a spoon to scoop some of the deodorant from the bottle and sprinkled it on.
I can’t smell it at all, so I can’t tell if it worked.
Beckoning with my hand, I called Noela over, and she came while pinching her nose.
“How is it, Noela? Is the smell still there?”
“… Not there! Not there, Master! Master! Master-!”
“Yeah, I got, I got it, so please stop tugging on my clothes with all your might.”
A werewolf’s power is amazing, so I’m being shaken around left and right.
Removing her hand from her nose, Noela sniffed deeply with her nose twitching, then turned to look at me with a serious face.
“Disappeared. Smell…”
“You’re so surprised you turned serious.”
Passing the obstacle, we came to the place where edible plants were naturally growing.
However.
“Buwa-!? Stinks -! What the hell is this smell!?”
It feels like my nose is gonna warp.
Oeh-.
… Uwa, my eyes also hurt! What is this smell!?
“Noela, are you o …kay?”
When I looked at Noela, she was humming in a good mood, going, “Ru-ru-ru-,” and picking edible plants.
Why? Is it just me?
This whole area stinks -.
[Bilko Grass: A kind of edible plant that gives off a strong smell. There are a lot of people who dislike it, but there are also people who like to eat it.]
And Noela-san is carrying them, a lot of them…
She’s gathering them like she’s having fun…
– It’s thaaaaaaaat!
Eh. Noela is also munching on them!?
“Master-! A lot, picked!”
“Y,yeah…”
Is it that? Something like natto? Something stinky that is delicious? Like that?
I like natto, but … this is a little -.
“Aruji, here.”
Noela happily presented the edible plants to me.
Uwa-!? S,stinks so much, I,I’m crying–
“Eat. Master, eat.”
Should I try it?
– Nopenopenopenopenopenope.
The people in this other world eat this?
A-. I fully understand the feelings of the foreigners who can’t stand natto…
“I’m really sorry, Noela, but I can’t. It stinks too much-“
“Ru!? Isn’t, stinky! Isn’t, stinky!”
Muu; Noela got sulky.
Somehow, it seems these edible plants are Noela’s favorite.
It’s something she’s saying to take and eat, na.
Ah. Right. The deodorant I made just now.
I’ll use this.
It stinks so bad I’m having trouble breathing.
Taking it out, I sprinkle it lightly.
“… Huh. The smell disappeared…”
The deodorant’s amaaaaaazing!
“Master. Face, serious face.”
Noela, you were like this earlier.
Noela presented the edible plants to me again.
There isn’t anything you shouldn’t eat among the ingredients for the deodorant, so there shouldn’t be any problems eating something with it sprinkled on, but …
“Master, Master. This, tasty taste.”
“Really…?”
Closing my eyes tightly, I tried it.
Munch munch; I chewed it.
– The essence is spreading in my mouth!
That intense smell shot through my nose.
I unconsciously spat out the edible plant that was in my mouth.
“Hoe-. – Noela, I really can’t.”
“Ruu…”
The ears of Noela, who was unable to share the joy of something she likes, drooped.
Everyone has their own tastes and likes, Noela, so I hope you’ll forgive me.
Even so, Noela harvested quite a lot of the edible plants.
So the people in this other world eat this while saying it’s delicious, huh?
It’s my first culture shock.
When we reached our house, Mina came to greet us.
“Welcome home-. Ah. This smell is.”
The small backpack on Noela’s back has a lot of edible plants in it.
But Mina doesn’t have a disgusted look at all.
“Hey, Mina. Is this good? Everyone eats it?”
“Yes, that’s right-. Washing it in hot water will reduce this fierce smell, and after that you can saute it or pickle it~”
“… You don’t eat it as it is?”
“What are you saying, Reiji-san? The smell is too intense so you can’t eat it as is.”
I see. Noela was eating it like that so I didn’t know, but it’s something you eat after cooking it.
For dinner, Mina set out a dish cooked from the super smelly edible plants on the dinner table.
Picking up the stir-fried edible plants, I timidly put it in my mouth.
“Ah. … It’s good…”
Hm… how to say it; I might be able to get used to this smell.
If this was the first time I ate this, I’d probably think I couldn’t deal with it.
But I had that intense smell in my mouth, so I can eat this and think it’s delicious.
“Ru-“
Noela is making a super smug face. Like she’s saying, “Look, see?”
“Reiji-san, there was a medicine that I haven’t seen before that came out of your bag.”
“Aah, that’s a deodorant. If you sprinkle it around, it will completely clear away smells.”
“A-! If that’s so, then let’s leave some in the restroom! I’ll do that! You’ve made another useful item again!”
“As expected, the place you’d use it in this world is the same, na.”
– When the deodorant was put on the shelves in the future, it ended up selling explosively to homeowners and housewives.