BXBX NOVEL Chapter 385
Edited by Gumihou
Where the previous chapter suffered from access of inane dialogues, this one suffered from a serious lack of interactive dialogues. Gumi sort of... went crazy and took over
After leaving Lambert’s, I immediately headed for the general store and bought up all their bottles. I need them for the Divine Medicine, Hair Power [6] as well as for the shampoos and conditioners.
I ended up with 1,000 bottles. Including the ones at home, surely these would be enough?
Once I got home, I called the commoner families over and told them about our sudden rush order.
[6] “...so, I need all hands together on the refilling job, and Celia, here’s Sui’s Elixir and the dropper, I’ll depend on you to make the Hair Tonic.”
[6] “Yes,” said Celia as she accepted the items.
[8] “All other jobs, gardening, cleaning, cooking will be put on hold. I’ll be making tonight’s dinner so, any requests? Since this is overtime, I will be giving everyone a special bonus, so think about what you want, alright?”
[8] “Oh, but anything would do. We’re already living under amazingly good conditions and eat very nice food with plenty of meat already. It would be absurd to insist on more!”
Was what everyone told me but I am determined to reward them anyway. After all, I, Mukouda, do not run a Black Company. My employees would have good working conditions, rest days and be rewarded for any kind of overtime job!
“Speaking of which, someone call Tabasa and the rest to help too. Many hands make light work, I’ll be making dinner so look forward to it everyone!” [5] [5]
Please read this at dot com ~
[8]
As I was making my way to the kitchen, I found my way blocked by three hungry familiars.
“Oi, feed us,”
“”Where have you been all day? I’m hungry!””
“”Sui is hungry too~~””
“Ah, well, the errand this morning lasted longer than I thought it would. Here, have these first,” I took out most of the rest of the premade food and let my familiars have at them. “I’ll be making something good tonight, so look forward to it~”
“Umu, very well.”
“”Uhoh, since you told me to. I shall!””
“”Aruji~ Can Sui help Aruji~~?””
[8]
[9] “Ahh, Sui-tan, if you want to, sure~~”
[8]
Once in the kitchen, I took out a nice thick piece of Higher Species Dungeon Beef and observed it for a moment.
Fumu, when it comes to nice cuts of beef like this, the first thing that comes to mind is steak. Thick steaks.
Ahhh, but isn’t steak a bit too boring?
Wait, there’s another recipe that would not only showcase the taste of good beef but also enhances its flavour.
[6] I did this before with Chimera meat. On its own, Chimera was already very delicious, but when made into a katsu or breaded deep-fried cutlets, the flavour elevated to something similar to Ground Dragon meat!
Yes, it is decided. Let’s make Beef Katsu.
Suddenly, images of thickly sliced Beef Katsu with Demi-Glace sauce, Beef Katsu in a sandwich, Beef Katsu on a bed of warm rice danced through my mind.
Oooh, let us make lots!
The main protein would be the finely marbled Higher Species Dungeon Beef, as for the rest of the ingredients, hmm, I had just received a sack of cabbages and tomatoes from Alban, let’s finely slice the raw cabbage leaves as a side and cut the tomatoes into wedges.
Beef Katsu is delicious, but it could get a little greasy so having fresh cabbages and tomatoes on the side makes sense.
For the rest of the ingredients, let’s look up [Net Super].
I’ll need wheat flour, eggs, bread crumbs, canned Demi-glace sauce, good red wine and butter. [5] [5]
[10] Why the canned Demi-glace sauce, you ask?
[10] Because I can’t be bothered to make it from scratch, that would take hours. I plan to use the canned stuff as a base and add value to it for a more luxurious finish. [5] I did the same when I made Chimera Katsu last time.
To make a value-added canned Demi-glace sauce, first, simmer the red wine and let it reduce until about half the liquid is gone. Then, add the canned Demi-glace, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, butter, sugar etc to adjust the flavour. Simmer until it reduces a little more before turning the fire off.
[10] There’s really no need to use good wine to make Demi-glace sauce since we’ll be boiling the heck out of it, but I bought the fairly good stuff since I could afford it, hehe.
While the wine was simmering on the stove, I started the prep work for the Beef Katsu.
The beef should be cut down to steak size, of course, maybe a little thinner since breadcrumbs brown very quickly. Once I have a nice pile of steaks, I scattered salt and pepper all over them. I checked the reduced wine and added the other ingredients to make the sauce.
[10] Next, I prepared a small tray of flour, a tray of beaten eggs and a deep tray of breadcrumbs. I seasoned all three trays with a little salt and pepper. It’s important to season at every step!
[10] After coating the steak with flour, and dusting off the excess, I dredged the meat through the egg wash before placing it onto the tray of breadcrumbs. [9] I had Sui help me with this while I finish the job with my Value Added Demi-glace Sauce.
After the sauce was done, I placed it into [6] our brand new ‘Magical Cooling Device’, aka refrigerator, to be cooled.
[9] “”“Master, Sui is done~””
[9] “Wow, you did a good job, Sui,” I said, admiring the neat rows of breadcrumb covered steaks.
[10] Time to deep fry. The first sizzle is always magical~
Aaahhh, this is going to be delicious, I just know it!
I fried the Beef Katsu over high heat. This would achieve a rare steak Beef Katsu, which is the best way to serve this kind of high-quality beef if you ask me. Anyway, it took about a minute for the breadcrumbs to firm up and turn into a nice golden brown in the oil. After which, I took the Beef Katsu out and let it rest on a cooling rack to allow the beef to rest before cutting into it.
After cutting the first Beef Katsu into bite-size pieces, I slathered on a generous amount of Demi-glace sauce and...
“Oh, wow, this looks really good~”
[9]
Sui vibrated beside me, “”Sui wants a taste too~””
“Fufufu, Sui can enjoy a special thing called the ‘first tasting’, which is something that only cooks get to have.”
“”Really~~””
“Here, this is Sui’s and this one’s mine,”
“”Yay~~ Nom~~”” [5]
I ate two pieces while Sui had the rest.
“Uhoh! Wow! That’s amazingly outstanding~!”
“”Yummy~ yummy~””
Sui was trembling over her food. Once it was gone, she turned to me and said, “”Can Sui eat more?””
“You can have more with everyone later, I’m going to fry the rest for dinner now, okay?”
[6] ““Mu, okay...””
[6] “Hey, what did I say about imitating Fer!”
[6] “”...not to do it? Is Sui bad?””
[6] Ahhh, is that a tear? That’s totally a tear, isn’t it? “Ahem, Sui should only follow good examples. Saying ‘mu’ or ‘umu’ is not good. As long as Sui stops doing it, it’s fine.”
[6] “”Okay~~ Sui will listen to Aruji~~””
[6] Ahh, Sui-tan is now rubbing up against my ankle. How cute is that~
“Ahem, anyway, I’m going to fry up lots of stuff now, okay? So, go play somewhere else. We’ll have lots to eat later.”
“”Yay~ Delicious meat~ Lots~~”
After waving Sui goodbye, I spent the rest of the afternoon frying and frying.
Whew, I took a break in the middle to slice up cabbages and cut up tomatoes before frying, frying and frying...
[5]
Please read this at dot com ~
At the long dining table, everyone was seated with a plate of Beef Katsu plated with shredded cabbages, tomato wedges and a bowl of Demi-glace sauce on the side. [5]
[6] Naturally, I have already plated everything nicely, only leaving them to pour as much or as little of the Demi-glace sauce as they like.
[8] Fer, Sui and Dora-chan’s extra-large plates have five pieces of sliced Beef Katsu on a bed of shredded cabbages and tomatoes topped with Demi-glace sauce.
[6] “Oi, what’s this leaf doing on my plate?” grumbled Fer.
[6] “It’s good for you, and delicious too. If you really don’t want it, I won’t put any on your seconds.”
[6] “Gununu, you had better not.”
“Alright everyone, thank you for your hard work today. Let’s eat!”
[6] Yup, let’s not imitate those stupid company dinners with long speeches and have my workers enjoy their food properly~
[11]
“It’s delicious! Brother Mukouda, I really like this one!”
Ahh, trust sweet Lotte-chan to be the one to start things off...
“Yum!”
“Delish!”
The twins were as eloquent as always.
“My, to think we never had such good things until we came here as slaves, wuuu,” Teresa was suddenly crying as she chewed her food.
“Ah...”
“My dear...”
Oh no, Alban is crying too. In fact, the rest of the commoner adults were crying.
Wh-what should I do?!
“I must say, everything Mukouda-san makes is delicious. However, today’s meal is exceptionally wonderful,” came Tabasa’s steady voice.
Peter and Bartel nodded solemnly as they ate at a more regular pace.
“Ahh, what’s this serious atmosphere? Eat, eat, there’s more where that came from!”
The twins, who had been licking their plates suddenly paused.
“Wait, you’re saying-”
“-we can have seconds?!”
“Hmm, but you’ll have to work hard tomorrow...”
“Yes!”
“Absolutely!”
“SECONDS!!”
“Yes, yes, hold on while I fetch more,” I reached into my [Item Box] and took out a large plate of uncut Beef Katsu. It’s actually meant for my familiars but I guess it works as an extra plate of seconds for the people on this table. “Hold on, I’ll have to cut them first...”
“No need!”
“We can just-”
Biff! Bam!
“Mukouda-san, please allow me to cut and serve the meat,” said Tabasa calmly, her fist still smoking.
“Ah, yes, go ahead. Here’s a knife and a cutting board. Oh, and anyone who wants extra cabbages, tomatoes and sauce...” I took out the items one by one, placing them on the table when-
“Oi! I want my seconds, no leaf!”
“”Me too, I want more sauce!””
“”Sui wants more too~~””
“Ahem, Tabasa, I trouble you to serve the rest while I feed my familiars...”
“No trouble,” Tabasa grinned, the knife glinted in her hand while the twins trembled on the side with their plates in hand. “I have everything under control.
“Oh, goody.”
[11]
[Gumihou: Okay, Note 11 onwards, Gumi just sort of... took over]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information – there was a scene where Mukouda ‘made his way to the basement where the others were working’ followed by... nothing.
The next paragraph was a cut scene of the dining table. Yeah, since the author could not be bothered to write that scene, I’m just going to delete that throwaway line.
In writing, everything that makes it onto the paper (or Word) counts. If there are 5 siblings but the youngest did nothing but appear as a named character twice at the dinner table doing nothing, it’s better to just work with 4 siblings.
Delete.
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – assist the story with something that makes sense...
Like... there’s no need to ‘ask’ Tabasa to ‘help’, or for you to ‘ask’ your slaves what reward they would like for their ‘overtime’. There’s cultural differences, and then there’s being absurdly stupid.
[9] There’s an entire scene where he shared food with Sui, remarking ‘who knows where the other two are’, without an explanation in the end as to their location. Pre-empt this by having Sui follow Mukouda to ‘help’ him to set the ‘Man-&-Slime alone in the kitchen’ scene.
[10] Cooking details, mostly from Gumi since I have made katsu before. Trust me, it’s important to season everything!
Actual recipe from an expert
https://cookingwithdog.com/recipe/gyukatsu/
[11] Write a ‘Delicious! Delicious!’ scene interestingly