Wild Greens Tempura and Returning Home

When we returned from the forest, it was already getting dark. The fight with the bear had taken up quite a bit of time.

"We're home!"

"Welcome home! You're late."

When I called out, Mom hurried over to let us in.

Everyone seemed to have been quite worried, and their faces showed relief.

"What happened?"

"Actually, I was attacked by a bear just as I was about to leave."

"A bear!? Were you hurt!?"

"No, I was lucky enough to defeat it, so I'm fine."

When I told them I'd been attacked by a bear, everyone looked extremely shocked, but when I said I wasn't hurt, they all let out relieved sighs.

But then they started bombarding me with questions about how I had defeated a bear.

As I stammered out my answers, Grandfather came to my rescue.

"Leon seems to have a talent for swordsmanship. He took it down nimbly with a knife."

After Grandfather said that, everyone praised me and didn't press me for more details. Whew, thank goodness. Thanks, Grandfather.

"Well, as long as you weren't hurt, that's what matters. More importantly, you gathered quite a lot."

Mom said that as she looked at the basket.

"Yeah. There were lots of wild greens and raspberries."

"I picked lots, too!!"

"My, that's wonderful. Then shall we make a meal using the wild greens tomorrow?"

"Yeah!"

And then it was dinnertime the next day.

Since we were returning home the following morning, everyone gathered together again for dinner that evening.

It was a meal made with the wild greens we'd gathered the day before.

Apparently, Mom and the others were going to finish their afternoon work early and prepare a feast. I decided to help make dinner, too.

There was something I absolutely wanted to make with the wild greens. Namely, wild green tempura!

There wasn't much fried food in this world, and when there was, it seemed to be limited to things like frying ingredients without batter. But even that used too much oil, so fried food was unheard of among commoners.

This was a feast, so surely they'd let me use more oil than usual!

"Mom, can I make it with you, too? I have a recipe using the wild greens from yesterday."

"Really? Well, Leon's recipes are delicious, so go ahead."

"Thanks!"

"What do we need?"

If I remembered correctly, tempura was made by dipping vegetables in a mixture of egg, flour, and water, then frying them. Probably...

"I need eggs, flour, water, and oil!"

"Is that all? Then I think we have everything."

Saying that, Mom got the ingredients from Grandma.

"First, mix the egg, flour, and water together."

"There it is again. Leon's recipes always turn eggs and flour into goo. Anyone seeing this for the first time would definitely object. I always feel like saying, 'Don't turn it into goo—make bread with it instead.'"

Even as she said that, Mom got everything ready.

I first cracked an egg into a bowl and beat it, then added a little flour and mixed it in. After that, I added water and mixed it again. It seemed a little too watery...

I added a bit more flour and mixed it again.

It was pretty gooey. This was probably right...

I was a little uneasy, but decided that anything was worth trying and went ahead.

"Mom, could you put a lot of oil in the frying pan?"

"How much is a lot?"

"Actually, I'd like enough oil to fill half a small pot, but that's obviously impossible, right?"

"There's no way I can use that much precious oil!"

"Yeah, I figured. So how about just enough to come up to the tip of my little finger in the frying pan? Is that okay?"

Mom pondered with a troubled expression for a while, then reluctantly agreed.

"Well, since we're having a feast today, I suppose it's fine."

"Thanks, Mom!"

"Be sure to thank Grandma and Aunt later, too."

"Okaaay!"

Once the oil was in the frying pan and had heated up, I put in the wild greens I'd dipped in the batter.

There was less oil than in actual tempura, so it was more like pan-frying, but there was nothing we could do about that.

I fried one batch of wild greens after another.

All right, this is the last batch.

"It's done! It's finished!"

When I said that and looked around, Grandma, Granny, and Aunt had gathered around Mom without my noticing.

They were saying things like, "What an unusual dish," and "I wonder if it's really delicious," and generally saying whatever they pleased. Mom was defending the dish, saying, "Leon's cooking is delicious."

Thanks, Mom...

And so dinner was ready. It was a truly lavish spread of wild green tempura, steak, stir-fried wild greens, soup, and bread.

"Let's eat!"

We all put our hands together and began eating.

I started with the wild green tempura. It had already been salted, so it should be good as it was.

Crisp... Delicious!! It's tempura. I feel like this is the first Japanese food I've eaten since coming to this world!!

As I savored the delicious wild green tempura, everyone else kept glancing at it, apparently curious.

Marie was the first to try it.

"Mmm! This is really delicious!"

When Marie said that with a radiant smile, everyone eagerly began eating it, too. I was happy to hear lots of voices saying things like, "Delicious!" and "This is amazing!"

Japanese food really is delicious.

I savored all the other dishes as well and finished dinner feeling completely satisfied.

The next morning.

We were going to return home.

"Everyone, we'll come again!"

"Leon, you absolutely have to come again. We'll make butter together again."

"Come to the mountain with me again sometime."

"Next time you come, teach me lots more recipes."

Everyone said whatever came to mind as they saw us off. They all had kind, gentle smiles.

I'm glad these people are my family...

I kept waving until we were far away.

"Leon, Marie, did you have fun?"

"Yeah! It was really fun. I'd love to come again."

"Me too! I definitely want to come again!"

"Is that so? I'm glad. We'll come again sometime."

"Maybe next time we could stay a little longer."

It really was fun. I wanted to come again. Even if I went on to enter the world of nobles, this was a family I wanted to cherish forever.

Perhaps because our happy memories had lifted our spirits, we reached home without feeling as tired as we had on the way there.

Even so, by the time we arrived in town, the sun was already beginning to set. As we walked home, we discussed having a simple dinner and going to bed early.

Our house finally came into view. Just as I felt relieved, I noticed someone standing in front of it. Someone's standing at our front door, right? Who could it be?

"Mom, Dad, isn't there someone standing in front of our house?"

"There is. I wonder who it is."

As we approached a little more quickly, the person seemed to notice us and turned toward us.

"Anne-san!"

The person standing there was Anne-san, a maid of the Townsend ducal household.

"What brings you here?"

"I have a message from the head of the household for Leon-sama."

"Could it be that you've been waiting here for several days...?"

I asked hesitantly, thinking that, if that were true, I had caused her a terrible inconvenience.

"No, I came here at noon today, but you seemed to be out, so I simply waited here until sunset. It's only been about half a day."

That's still quite a long time!

"I'm sorry for making you wait so long. Please, come inside."

"No, I must return to the ducal household now. I'll take my leave as soon as I hand you this letter."

"I'm truly sorry. Thank you very much."

I resolved that whenever I was going to be away from home for a long time, I'd leave some kind of message behind.

"Then I'll take my leave."

"Yes. Thank you very much."

Anne-san really did leave after merely handing me the letter.

"Leon? Who was that?"

"She's a maid from the ducal household. She came to deliver a letter to me."

"We kept someone from the ducal household waiting for us...?"

Dad and Mom turned pale and began to panic. I hurriedly tried to reassure them.

"No, it should probably be fine, so don't worry!"

I didn't think the people of the Townsend ducal household would get angry over something like this. Still, I felt bad about it, so I'd be more careful in the future.

"Is that so? Well, if that's the case..."

"Yeah! I'm tired, so shall we go inside?"

"Yes. I'm feeling rather tired, too."

And so we finally made it home. I felt like all the exhaustion had hit me at once at the very end.

I need to read the letter soon. With that thought, I went inside.