Shock! There’s No Butter!

T/N: I found copies of the previously translated chapters so I will be copying them over to this site. These were not translated by me. 

“Hello, Shinobu. Are you doing well?”

Norn came to visit. It’s been five days since we first met. There was something I wanted to show Norn so I’d been waiting impatiently to see him.

“Welcome, Norn. I’ve been working hard.”

“I brought a present for you today, Shinobu.”

Norn gave me a small horse-drawn wagon. With this, I could bring my homegrown vegetables to sell at the market, and bring the things I bought back easily.

“It’s only been five days so it might be a little too hasty of me,” he said.

Well yeah, there was no vegetable that’d be ready for harvest in just five days. But it was actually good timing.

“Norn, come here!”

I couldn’t wait any longer and pulled Norn by the arm towards the field that I had cleared an 8-tatami mat area of.

Actually, I wanted to make it bigger, but I couldn’t with just my level of strength. But it was already amazing enough for me. Anyway, it was amazing.

“Tada! Look, Norn. Can you believe this?”

In the small area of the cleared field, the tomatoes I had planted on the first day were already sporting some ripe red fruits. The cucumber plants I had planted on the second day already had several cucumbers growing on the vine. The daikon I had planted even later already had thick green leaves and the cabbages were already round and juicy-looking.

All of these vegetables were grown from seeds in the past five days.

I did plant them while chanting ‘grow big quickly~’ but I really didn’t expect the tomatoes I had just planted to grow up to my waist on the next day. When I saw it, I truly doubted my eyes.

The next day, flowers had bloomed, and on the next day, fruits started to grow. When I woke up today, there were tons of beautifully red, ripe tomatoes.

‘So this was the plant ability cheat! It was really amazing!’ I’d thought. Man, I was really excited.

But then I thought, maybe this was normal plant growth for this world. So I’d planned to ask Norn about it. That was why I’d been waiting for him.

“Oh wow, this is amazing. It really looks like a farm now.”

Ahh, this reaction. So that meant, this was just normal plant growth for this world and not because of my ability.

I had had my suspicions. I’d tried shouting ‘Grow!!’ with my hands over the plants but nothing had happened.

I was so glad that I didn’t show off and brag that this was because of my cheat ability. Otherwise I’d be so embarrassed right now.

“Where did you transplant these vegetables from?”

Oh, he got the wrong idea. He didn’t think these were recently grown from seeds. The anticipation inside me that had cooled down began to heat up again.

“Hey, hey. How many days does it take for tomatoes to grow from seeds and bear fruit?”

“Let’s see. I’m not an expert, but I’ve heard it takes a week for the plant to grow. Then I think it takes about 1-2 months for it to grow fruits.”

Then, does that mean…

“These tomatoes, they grew from the seeds I planted 5 days ago. Do you think they grew fast because of the cheat ability I got when I moved here?” I asked full of excitement.

Norn tapped his fist on his palm and had a look of understanding. “That’s right, Shinobu’s cheat ability was called ‘plants’. I thought it was an extremely plain ability, but looks like it’s quite handy.”

I’d only been imagining being able to make plants strong against bugs and diseases, or making vegetables taste delicious, though.

It looks like the company that handled my immigration to this world did a pretty good job.

“Norn, come eat lunch with me. I’ll let you taste the vegetables I grew.”

“I look forward to it. By the way, you didn’t eat the ravi?”

Norn’s gaze was on Pyonkichi who was once again relaxing in the shade eating a dandelion-like yellow flower, nose a-twitching.

“Huh? So the rabbit was food?”

“Ravi meat is very soft and delicious. It was supposed to be your emergency food supply, but I suppose I didn’t explain it clearly. If you want, I could catch it and…”Made with ‘Hanni Newjeans 

My scalp tingled and I abruptly grew goosebumps. If I were a cat, I was sure my fur would be standing on end right now.

“Y-you can’t! Pyonkichi is my pet, you can’t eat him!!”

He was the size of a dog, but Pyonkichi was really cute. Recently I’d been looking forward to petting him whenever I was taking a break from farmwork. I definitely couldn’t eat him!!

“Is that so? But it’s so delicious.”

Norn looked really disappointed as I blocked his gaze from Pyonkichi. I’ll protect Pyonkichi!

Right, I should change the topic.

“So if I want meat, I have to hunt it? I can fish, but I’ve only ever dealt with cut and processed meat before. Isn’t there anywhere I can buy meat?”

“There’s a market that sells meat. People who live in town don’t have the space to have their own livestock, so everyone buys meat from the market. This really is a lack of foresight on my part. Tomorrow, I’ll show you the market. While we’re there you can sell your vegetables too.”

“Really? Alright!!”

Actually, I’d been really hankering for some grains. The eggs that the chickens lay and the milk that Hanayo and Hanako give were of course delicious, but as a Japanese, I really had to have some rice!

Or at least some bread. Anyway, I just wanted to eat some staples.

Once I buy some chicken meat and rice from the market, I’ll be able to make some oyakodon. Just thinking about how delicious that would be, my stomach started growling.

With anticipation growing in my heart, Norn and I brought in some vegetables I harvested so I could get started with lunch.

We even made a deal to see how much the carrots I had just planted today would grow overnight.

It was only noon and I already couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.

“Then I’ll be making our lunch. Norn, you just go sit and wait.”

I rolled up my sleeves and washed the vegetables clean.

Today’s menu was omelette, salad and tomato soup.

All of the ingredients were from my farm.

I didn’t have a lot of ingredients so the food was pretty simple, but they were all fresh so I was sure it would come out delicious.

Besides, I had a secret weapon.

The tomato soup was already done. I only boiled together some tomatoes and cabbage though. If I had some onions and bacon it would taste even better, but I guess that’s something I’d have to look forward to next time.

For the salad, I used homemade mayonnaise for the dressing. I’d made it with fresh eggs so it was more delicious than store-bought mayonnaise. I always put a lot whenever I ate salad.

Lastly, the omelette. The omelette has had a dramatic transformation from the tamagoyaki I made on the first day.

With a grin, I took out a small bottle I had hidden in a cool place inside a cupboard. This was a favorite of mine.

Using it to make omelettes really gave it an amazing taste. And it was also tasty with potatoes or cooked with carrots.

This was butter made from Hanako and Hanayo’s milk. The old man with the horse taught me how to milk cows as thanks for the water.

He said I had to milk them everyday or the cows would be in pain.

When he showed me the ropes, it looked like he was wringing them easily but when I tried it, I didn’t get even a single drop of milk. The old man told me I had to squeeze tighter or milk wouldn’t come out.

I thought it would hurt the cow if I gripped the teats hard, so at first I didn’t put much strength into it. But once I gathered my courage and squeezed, a spurt of milk flew out.

Hanako didn’t even react, so maybe cows didn’t feel any pain from their udder?

So afterwards I didn’t hold back anymore and used all my strength, but after milking both cows my arms were killing me, and the next day the muscle pain was ridiculous.

Thinking back on it, I feel like all I’ve been doing since arriving here were all physically taxing work.

If this went on, maybe a few years later I’d be all muscle-y like a hollywood action star.

Getting to bulk up without ever going to a sports gym, what a bargain!

So anyway, the milk was too rich and was a bit tedious for me to drink. What’s more, I milked two big bucketfuls of it. I definitely couldn’t finish all of it by myself.

While I was worrying over what to do, I suddenly recalled my memories of when I was in elementary and used to spend my summers with my grandma. There was this group that organized various activities for children on their summer vacations.

There were a lot of dairy farms in the region where my grandma’s house was so they planned a family activity for parents and their children to make their own butter.

My parents were busy with work so I participated with my grandma.

Using those memories, I tried turning the milk into butter. It came out pretty soft, but I was still able to make delicious butter. Honestly I’d felt a little moved.

Unfortunately, it took my all to churn the butter and it was really a pain. On top of that, I could only make a little bit.

Therefore I’ve only made butter once.

So the two bucketfuls of milk that I milked everyday, I drank with everyone. Pochi and my horse Brian loved it so much, honestly it almost wasn’t enough milk for them.

I put butter into the heated up frying pan. A sizzling sound and a delicious smell spread throughout the room.

Omelettes were actually my specialty. There were a lot of times I ate alone so I used to just make omelettes and put them on some toast before going to school.

“Norn, it’s done! Eat it while it’s hot.”

Hot foods should be eaten while they were still hot.

“Thank you. It’s quite fragrant. It really whets the appetite.”

“Right? Omelettes really should be made with butter.”

“Butter…? I’ve never heard of it before. Is that a seasoning?”

“Eh, you don’t know what it is? You make it from cow’s milk.”

Norn shook his head. No way!! I was really shocked.

They have such rich milk, but they don’t have butter? What a waste.

But since it was his first time, was he going to be alright? I had a friend who didn’t like the smell of butter. What about Norn?

Norn daintily cut up a portion of omelette with a fork and took a bite. His eyes widened and a smile stretched from his mouth. Seeing that, I unconsciously clenched my fist in triumph.

“It’s very delicious. There’s a distinct flavor of richness coming through. I’ve never tasted it before but it’s delicious.”

Alright! I received the word ‘delicious’ twice!!

With that, I could now relax and eat.

I took a big portion of the omelette and gobbled it up. Then I poured my homemade mayonnaise on the salad and gobbled it up.

It had been a while since I ate with someone else. Just the fact that Norn was in front of me made the food taste more delicious.

You could clearly taste the cabbage in the tomato soup too, and it was quite flavorful. But I still thought it would be more delicious if it had some bacon or wiener.

“The vegetables are also delicious. Not only because of this white sauce, but the flavor of the vegetables itself is quite strong. This is the first time I’ve tasted tomatoes this sweet. They’re usually sour and watery.”

“Maybe because they weren’t ripe? They probably harvested them before they’d turned red so they could last longer.”

Norn inspected the tomato on his fork carefully. Then he closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. “Shinobu, I have a favor to ask of you.”

Norn put down his fork and straightened up. I unconsciously mimicked him and sat up straight too. He continued, “Could you share your butter, white sauce and vegetables with someone I know? His family runs a restaurant, but ever since he took over from the previous owner who died two months ago, the quality of the food has gone down and he doesn’t get many customers. Well, it was inevitable since he didn’t have much experience. But he’s not getting any business and he’s on the verge of closing up shop. I wanted to do something to help him.”

Oh, so it was like that. He had such a serious expression on, I thought he was going to give me some bad news. “Sure.”

Relieved, I returned to eating. Looking perplexed with my anticlimactic response, Norn asked once more. “Eh, are you alright with agreeing so easily?”

“But it’s not a big deal. The white sauce is called mayonnaise and it’s easy to make. But butter, on the other hand, needs time, effort and a lot of milk to make. It’s fine if you’re only making it for use at home, but if you’re making it for business you’d need the milk of more than two cows. I can teach you how to make it, but maybe you should ask a farmer who has lots of cows to supply the milk?” I replied while I chewed.

Norn bowed so lowly his face was almost touching the table. “Thank you very much.”

“You’re exaggerating. It’s not like you’re asking a ramen shop to divulge their secret soup recipe. Anyway, I’ll bring some butter with me tomorrow. Norn, you help too.”

“I don’t know what a ramen shop is, but I’ll gladly help!!”

So there was no ramen here. Too bad. It seemed the cooking level of this world was no match for the 4000 years of history of China.

With that reply worthy of an employee of an izakaya, Norn went back to eating energetically.

He looked like he wanted to quickly finish eating so he could learn how to make butter. His impatience was making me feel a bit hurried.

Slow down. Slow down, okay? I’m still only halfway through my meal, y’know.