Chapter 990

After the pufferfish dish, the second one served was Marui Zenji's Honzen Ryori.

"The noble cuisine you speak of, does it refer to this tofu mushroom fish soup?"

Broly looked at the somewhat overly plain tofu fish soup on the table before him and couldn't help but ask.

"Mountain delicacies and sea delicacies; if a single dish could gather both types of ingredients, in ancient times it would indeed count as noble cuisine.

Times change; nowadays mountain delicacies and sea delicacies have long since spread to the common people's stratum, therefore, viewing past noble cuisine with modern eyes, it indeed feels unremarkable.

However, whether cuisine is good or not ultimately depends on the taste; Broly-sama, why not sample this soup first."

Marui Zenji pushed up the glasses on his nose bridge; from Broly's angle the lenses reflected light, yet gave off a feeling of being confident and in control.

Broly thought for a bit, felt the other party's latter words were also not wrong, so he nodded, picked up the bowl before him, and drank a mouthful of the clear, bottom-visible broth inside.

The broth entered his mouth, and Broly's eyes widened slightly; the soup looked clear, but drinking it was unexpectedly fresh and sweet.

"Is this also clear soup stock?"

"Mm, boiled out with kelp and katsuobushi.

In Honzen Ryori; this one 【Ju】; is for cleansing the palate and resetting the taste buds; the soup base must guarantee clarity and transparency.

So, in terms of seasoning, I only used a little salt and usukuchi shoyu, to add saltiness and a faint soy aroma.

And adding tofu was to add bean fragrance, absorb the savory saltiness in the soup; mushrooms provide guanylic acid, sea bream provides amino acids, and kelp's glutamic acid, as well as katsuobushi's inosinic acid, form a quadruple stacking of umami substances, thereby achieving a sense of layers on the palate.

Mm, please taste the Namasu next to it————"

", it's a bit sour; was vinegar added in here?"

"Correct; the Namasu in Honzen Ryori is actually a vinegar-dressed dish, basically using fish or shellfish paired with julienned vegetables.

I used cabbage and abalone; both were blanched in boiling water first then cut into fine threads; the vinegar is a compound vinegar sauce blended 1:1 from rice vinegar and usukuchi shoyu, slightly sour, lightly salty, more of the cabbage's sweetness, and the fine-thread abalone meat's slightly chewy texture————"

Marui Zenji spoke fluently and at length.

And the Honzen Ryori he made, besides 【Ju】 and 【Namasu】, also had 【Yakimono】 and 【Nimono】.

Among them, Yakimono refers to grilled dishes, generally mainly grilled fish, of course there is also grilled chicken, and what Marui Zenji made was salt-grilled sea bream.

Nimono is a bit like a stew; Marui Zenji used root vegetables and fish meat, added kelp katsuobushi clear soup stock and slow-cooked it.

"May I ask a question?"

Broly raised his hand.

"What question, you just ask away."

Marui Zenji nodded and accepted his question.

"What exactly is the difference between this so-called Ju and Nimono?"

Broly was a bit unable to understand.

"Ju is soup, mainly drinking the soup; Nimono is a dish, mainly eating the ingredients; although the cooking methods are somewhat similar, the seasoning is completely different; the former is palate-cleansing, mainly used to reset the palate; the latter is heavily flavored, mainly used to go with rice."

"I see; can I have another bowl of rice?"

Broly nodded and asked.

"Of course; seeing you eat so much this morning, tonight's rice was fully five big pots cooked."

Marui Zenji helped give him a refill; not only refilling rice, he also refilled Ju and Yakimono.

It was very obvious he had made preparations to host Broly this big eater.

During this, Iwasaki Shun also brought over smoked duck cuisine.

"Duck breast meat; I first cured it with salt, a small amount of black pepper, sake, usukuchi shoyu, bay leaf; afterwards, used bancha, cherry wood chips, sanontou to smoke for color————"

Compared to last night's smoked meat, the smoked duck breast was another flavor entirely; fresh, gentle, tea fragrance mixed with cherry wood fragrance.

"Kiribue Nabe is done~"

After Broly ate another two big pots of rice, Tadokoro Megumi carried the just-finished Kiribue Nabe out from the kitchen, surprisingly bringing the donabe used for stewing along with it.

The pot lid was lifted, white mist rose; the first to drill into the nasal cavity was mizuna's refreshing sharp herbal fragrance, closely followed by yaki-mai's scorched sweet grain fragrance, mixed with the hybrid chicken species cultivated by Yoshino Yuuki's mellow meat fragrance.

When the girl used a large spoon to turn the ingredients in the pot, the kelp and katsuobushi's sea flavor hidden at the bottom, maitake mushrooms and gobo's mountain delicacy flavor, shiro miso's gentle fermented bean fragrance, all drifted up together.

Chicken meat firm and springy, gobo crisp and tough with unique clear bitterness, neutralizing the whole pot's mellow feel; maitake soft tender juicy, mushroom fragrance

rich; leeks cooked soft lost their pungency, turned into gentle sweet fragrance.

But the most, most delicious was the thick rice tube similar to scorched rice that Tadokoro Megumi wrapped cooked rice around a rolling pin and roasted over charcoal fire.

Placed in the pot to cook, yet it absorbed full the flavors of all ingredients in the Kiribue Nabe; chewing carefully there was still a charcoal-roasted rice fragrance.

"Truly delicious!"

Broly did not stint on his praise for Tadokoro Megumi's cuisine, and the Polar Star Dormitory crowd beside him also nodded in agreement one after another.

"Speaking of which, Komekko, your cooking is so delicious, why are your grades still bad at this academy?"

Broly couldn't help but ask.

", she who can make this kind of cuisine, at Totsuki Academy is still the type of student with bad grades?"

Yukihira Soma also looked over in some astonishment; from his family restaurant little boss angle to evaluate, the taste of this Kiribue Nabe Tadokoro Megumi made absolutely could also be placed on his family small restaurant's menu to sell to the public.

"This————"

Tadokoro Megumi lowered her head, but was somewhat hesitant and stammering.

"Komekko's personality is comparatively introverted; usually when cooking it's fine, but during classes and exams, she often becomes overly nervous, thereby leading to situations of not cooking well."

Sakaki Ryouko helped explain.

"So you're saying, it's not because your cooking skill is no good, but because of mindset and personality problems, that your grades are comparatively bad?"

Broly looked at Tadokoro Megumi; the pigtail girl shrank her neck, did not refute this statement.

Broly seemed thoughtful; Lefiya's figure emerged in his mind.

The other party also because of mindset personality problems, couldn't display her due level of strength.

In other words, the pigtail girl before him is actually also someone who needs to train her mindset.

However, training one's mindset definitely cannot be like Lefiya.

After all, this world doesn't have a Dungeon, and Tadokoro Megumi doesn't need to go fight monsters.

Thinking it over, Broly said to the braided girl, "Komekko, how about you learn knife skills from me too."

"Huh?"

Tadokoro Megumi looked over in confusion.

"As the saying goes, 'With a sharp weapon in hand, killing intent arises naturally.' Perhaps once you master knife skills, your easily nervous mindset might also obtain some improvement."

Broly spoke very seriously.

"Nice, that way I'll have a partner."

Yoshino Yuuki was the happiest.

"If Broly-san is willing to teach me, I'm also willing to learn, but I might not be able to learn it well————"

Tadokoro Megumi didn't refuse, just wasn't very confident.

"No problem, can't say about other things, but I have a certain degree of confidence in teaching people knife skills (swordsmanship)."

Broly, conversely, said this to the girl with considerable confidence.

"Then I'll go get daikon?"

Tadokoro Megumi stood up, preparing to go to the Kitchen to get daikon.

"Wait, what do you need daikon for?"

Broly hurriedly stopped her, asking in confusion.

"Uh, practicing knife skills, don't you need to use daikon?"

Practicing knife skills doesn't necessarily require daikon, but daikon is definitely a comparatively cheap ingredient for practicing knife skills.

"Haha, Komekko, you really are an idiot!"

", Yoshino, why do you call me an idiot?"

"You're an idiot of course. Such a basic knife skill practice method as cutting daikon, we haven't needed to practice like that for a long time. For a master-level knife skill like Broly-sensei's, there's definitely a more advanced practice method."

"What practice method?"

"Uh, I don't know that yet, but the ingredients used to practice knife skills definitely won't be hard vegetables like daikon.

Hmm, at least meat. For example, fresh meat that hasn't been frozen or something. Broly-sensei, you say, am I right?"

Yoshino Yuuki looked at Broly and asked.

"No, my knife skills don't need any ingredients."

Broly shook his head.

", then how do you practice?"

Everyone looked over in amazement/surprise, Yoshino Yuuki couldn't help but pursue the question.

"Just need a knife."

Broly answered, entered the Kitchen, and came out holding two kitchen knives.

"You take them, follow me out to the Courtyard."

Yoshino Yuuki and Tadokoro Megumi made eye contact, took the kitchen knives, and followed Broly out.

Arriving at the Polar Star Dormitory front courtyard, Broly began instructing the two, practicing his family's Third-rate Swordsmanship.

The Polar Star Dormitory members who also came out watched the two girls swinging kitchen knives under the moonlit night; the more they watched, the more complex and subtle their complexions became.

"Wait, Broly-san, is this teaching people knife skills, or teaching people killing techniques?"

"Yeah, the movements of Yoshino and Tadokoro swinging kitchen knives look nothing like cutting vegetables, more like chopping people."

"So-called knife skills are nothing but control of power, grasp of technique. As long as one can practice to the degree where the knife follows intent, then knife skills count as mastered."

Broly didn't directly answer the killing technique question, but instead gave a new exposition on the essence of knife skills.

"Yoshino, don't raise the knife too high. Imagine your hand as a whip. When swinging the knife, concentrate your body's power onto the blade edge.

Komekko, use force. You're not posing; you're chopping————um, chopping bones. Imagine there's a two hundred-plus jin pig in front of you right now, and your task is to vertically split this pig into two halves with one stroke————"

Broly doesn't clearly know how knife skills in cooking are practiced, but he knows his family's sword art practice method. Anyway, they're all cold weapons; a kitchen knife is also a type of knife/sword. So practicing like this isn't wrong.

The Polar Star Dormitory crowd felt a bit weird, but Broly's exposition on knife skills didn't seem to have any problems. Plus his knife skills are indeed powerful, therefore no one said anything.

It's just that while this side accepted Broly's knife skill practice method, the medical personnel staying in the Ambulance not far from the Polar Star Dormitory were somewhat scared by the scene of the two girls practicing knife skills in the Polar Star Dormitory courtyard.

"Does pufferfish toxin cause hallucinations?"

"How could it cause hallucinations? That thing is a non-protein neurotoxin."

"If so, then what's the situation over there?"

The young medic pointed out the car window. Under the moonlit night, in the Polar Star Dormitory front courtyard, two girls holding kitchen knives hacking and chopping at the air — one look and it's not something normal people would do.

And another group of people watching from the side, they didn't stop it, but instead looked like they were commenting and judging, also not a normal person's reaction.

"Could it be they ate poisonous mushrooms?"

"Possible."

"Then should we go ask?"

Medical personnel got out of the car, approached the Polar Star Dormitory courtyard. After a round of questioning, they learned the two girls in the courtyard were practicing knife skills.

Although they felt it was a bit weird, after confirming no one here had mushroom poisoning, they returned to the Ambulance.

"Wait, you guys actually called an Ambulance?"

Soma Yukihira asked with wide eyes.

"Wasn't me."

"Wasn't me either."

"Then who?"

"Achoo~"

Nakiri Erina, having returned to the Mountaintop Villa, suddenly sneezed.

"Erina-sama, are you feeling unwell?"

At her side, Arato Hisako, hearing the sneeze, immediately grew somewhat nervous.

"No, I'm fine, just my nose suddenly got a bit itchy."

Nakiri Erina waved her hand, gazing at the night view of Totsuki Academy outside the window, then suddenly asked.

"Hisako, you say Broly went back to make fugu cuisine — he won't actually poison someone, will he?"

"I don't know, but I've already had professionals, carrying stomach-pumping equipment, standing by over there."

"That's good then."

Nakiri Erina withdrew her gaze, growing somewhat expectant about the recorded video Broly would bring tomorrow.

o

In the evening, Broly instructed Tadokoro Megumi and Yoshino Yuuki, conducting an hour of knife skills (swordsmanship) practice, before letting the two stop and go back to rest.

After showering, returning to his own dormitory, Broly left the room through the window, directly flying away from Totsuki Academy to search outside for a good samaritan.

Unfortunately, having changed cities, his luck was comparatively poor; he idly wandered outside until one in the morning, yet still didn't encounter a new good samaritan supporter.

Standing before the convenience store ATM, restraining the impulse to summon shinobi soldiers to conduct a cardless withdrawal, Broly returned to the Polar Star Dormitory dormitory at Totsuki Academy.

", Broly-san, did you not sleep well last night?"

The next day, Yukihira Soma, seeing him, asked with some surprise.

"I didn't sleep well, I'm worrying over something."

Broly nodded in acknowledgment.

"What is it? If Broly-san doesn't mind telling me, perhaps I can help share the burden————"

Hearing this, Broly's heart stirred; looking at the youth he asked: "Soma, do you know where there are bad people?"

"?"

Yukihira Soma had originally thought the other was worrying over some cooking matter, yet hadn't expected Broly would unexpectedly ask such a strange question.

"Broly-san, why are you asking this?"

"Nothing much, just my wallet is empty, suddenly want to eliminate violence and bring peace, and incidentally rob the rich to help the poor."

Yukihira Soma: "————"