Chapter 83

With the acquisition of rice, I want to try something I've been hesitant to attempt.

I pour oil into a deep frying pan I made from mana metal and heat it over the fire.

In the meantime, I slice the meat of the wild boar (officially called a square boar) I took out from the food storage into appropriate sizes, and coat it in flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs in that order.

Now.

What am I making?

The answer is tonkatsu!!

Finally!

Finally, finally!

Our settlement has reached a level of civilization where we can make tonkatsu!!

It's possible to cook!

That's why I'm doing it now!

"This is the best way to eat square boar meat, isn't it!?"

"I've been hearing about it for a long time! You made us wait so long! My patience was at its limit!!"

Plati and Veil are also eagerly waiting right next to the frying pan. But you should move away.

It's dangerous if the oil splatters.

Both of them have known about tonkatsu since we started cooking with the square boar, but they haven't been able to see the real thing until today due to a lack of materials and equipment. Their expectations have been building up all this time.

I'm a bit worried if the taste of tonkatsu, which has reached the maximum level of expectation in my imagination, can be surpassed in reality.

But it's done.

One piece of tonkatsu.

"Wow!?"

I cut it into bite-sized pieces on the cutting board. If I add shredded cabbage, it would be complete, but there's one problem.

There's no sauce.

The tonkatsu sauce that goes on tonkatsu.

It's an essential ingredient, but I don't know the exact method to make it.

I don't even know what ingredients to use, so it's remained untouched until today.

So, should we eat the tonkatsu without sauce?

No.

I'll add one more step.

Prepare another egg!

Mix the beaten egg with the tonkatsu, and pour it over a bowl of rice! Here it is!

It's a katsudon!

This could be considered one of the ultimate dishes that can be made by pursuing the cooking of pork.

A dish we can finally make after cultivating rice fields and growing rice.

Eat it.

"It's so delicious!!"

"What is this, what is this!? The texture of the square boar meat is amazing! The rice with the broth is also delicious, oh my!!"

Plati and Veil are also happily devouring the katsudon. I'm glad they're enjoying it.

"But...!"

We can now make katsudon in our settlement.

It feels like a long journey.

We needed various ingredients.

Rice and pork as the main ingredients, eggs, flour, and breadcrumbs for making the tonkatsu. Even after completing the tonkatsu, we needed dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and onions for the egg and tonkatsu mixture.

...The mirin is a "mirin-like" seasoning that I asked Garalufa to make on the spot.

Whether we can make the real thing is a matter for future research.

However, given the achievements we've made so far, our settlement might have graduated from being just a settlement.

From now on, it should be called something else.

"A farm...!"

A farm that can self-sustain all the necessities of life.

"A Saint's Farm!"

"Since it's a farm managed by the master, it's the perfect name to distinguish it from others!"

You guys are interrupting my monologue.

And you have rice grains on your cheeks. How delicious was the katsudon?

The Saint's Farm.

...Hmm.

I don't like the grandiose name, but maybe it's time to accept it.

I have no choice but to accept it.

I'll accept it.

No, still.

That day, I spent the whole time cooking katsudon for everyone, including the Batis and Paffas who came to try it.

* * *

Now.

What we have created so far at the Saint's Farm.

The fields have expanded significantly, and we are growing various crops.

Tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, eggplants, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, leeks, corn, soybeans, adzuki beans, wheat, barley, and more.

Recently, we've created rice paddies to grow rice, and the main work is done by a team of fifty goblins.

They are reliable companions led by Gobkichi, who has mutated into a brave goblin.

The crops grow at an incredible rate thanks to the hyper-fish fertilizer made from fish monsters, allowing multiple harvests per year.

The harvested crops are stored until they are eaten, but some are sent to other departments for processing.

Plati oversees the brewing and distillery.

The brewing is managed by the mermaid Paffa and Garalufa, and in the brewing facility, they produce miso, soy sauce, and pickles like takuan.

Takuan is a favorite of both the teacher and Arapana, so it's important.

The distillery is a new facility that we've only recently started. I've entrusted the management to the highly motivated Garalufa, but it's still in the experimental stage.

Currently, they are researching how to make beer from barley or wheat.

At the center of the farm is the mansion where we live, and Plati, Veil, the mermaid girls, and the demon girls also live here.

The number of residents increases, and the mansion is expanded accordingly, and it will likely continue to grow.

The monsters that live with us reside in a separate building, a large dormitory for monsters.

In one corner of the mansion, there is a silkworm room where we raise a type of monster that produces high-quality silk, similar to silkworms.

Bati, the demon girl, makes clothes from the high-quality silk produced by these monster silkworms and the cotton grown in the fields.

I'm glad she has talent in this area.

Even with my "Bearer of the Supreme," I can't make good clothes without a sense of aesthetics...

The other monster army, alongside the goblin team, is the fifty-member orc team. Their main job is construction.

Building the mansion and opening waterways couldn't have been done without their help.

Recently, we've built a large kiln and can now attempt pottery.

When there's no construction work, they go hunting in the dungeon, and they are very reliable.

But, I'll probably want to build something new soon, and I'll have to get them to swing their axes again.

Now.

What should I make next?