Chapter 313

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 27, 2025

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After such a satisfying meal, Marin stroked her belly with a face that looked like it might melt at any moment.

“Whew… This is the most moving meal I’ve had since last night…”

“Yeah.”

What a fleeting moment of emotion.

“Gasp…! Could it be that the land isn’t actually a terrifying human hellscape full of pain and violence, where humans are always on the lookout to catch and eat mermaids, but rather a maritime paradise where you can eat delicious food every day!?”

“Like I said, the land was never such a hellscape from the beginning.”

No. What even is a “human hellscape”?

Still, the fact that she’s spouting nonsense means she’s probably relaxed enough.

I won’t tell her, but maybe I should ask again about what happened when she drifted ashore?

“By the way, there’s something I want to ask.”

“Yes! Ask me anything! I’m so full right now that I can generously answer any sensitive questions! Right now, I might even tell you the size of my tail fin if you ask nicely!”

“Forget the tail fin… Can you tell me the real reason you drifted to Leila?”

“Huh? Oh! That, that was really just because I sprained my fin while swimming and drifted away!”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m just asking because I’m worried about you. If something happened, maybe we could help.”

“No! Really, that’s all! Nothing happened at all!”

Marin, instead of showing any change in attitude, firmly denied it, even skipping the usual hesitation.

Hmm…

I thought she might have relaxed enough to give some information, but maybe it was too soon.

“Tsk… This isn’t easy.”

“At this rate, Marin’s wounds might heal faster.”

“Maybe we need to find another way.”

Seeing her stubborn attitude, the group quietly whispered among themselves, and I had no choice but to agree with them.

If this continues, it might backfire.

Eventually, I realized that continuing to question her would only rebuild the walls she had started to lower, so I stopped pressing her.

Maybe, as they said, I should give up on persuading her with cooking and find another way…

…

And the next day dawned.

There was a suspicion that perhaps I should find another method to persuade her, or maybe even change the approach entirely and deduce the truth of the matter independently. But regardless, my task remained the same.

For now, I would do my best with what I could.

Unless there was a better alternative, the only thing left to do was to serve her the most delicious food possible and continue to get closer to her.

Thus, the third meal.

If we count the days since hiding Marin at the Inn ‘Red Shell,’ it would be the second evening.

For safety, we could reuse the fish cake and oden dishes that had a good response, but unfortunately, we didn’t have much time.

To turn her heart in the short time before her injuries healed, it would be most effective to give her a fresh shock.

The first dish was fried fish cake, the second was a soup dish, so the third would be a grilled dish.

Thus, the third dish was Piranha Meunière.

In this life, it’s a meaningless distinction, but as the name suggests, it’s a French dish using fish.

If you’ve never heard of it, you might think it’s a complicated, high-end dish due to the image of French cuisine, and it is indeed a dish often served in high-end restaurants. However, the concept is surprisingly simple.

Meunière refers to a method of cooking seafood like fish or shellfish by coating them in flour and butter, then pan-frying them.

The intuitive and simple nature of this dish, combined with the chef’s skill and recipe, allows for endless variations, making it a staple from French home cooking to high-end restaurant signature menus.

After melting flavorful butter, heating it with various herbs and spices to infuse the butter with their aroma, the deboned man-eating piranha is pan-fried like a fry.

The fish skin is placed face down to remove any fishy taste and maximize crispiness, while the top, which doesn’t get as much heat, is repeatedly basted with melted butter using a spoon.

This allows the butter to seep into the fish meat, infusing it with the aroma and heat of the butter and spices.

This method, like Meunière, is a traditional French cooking technique.

The finished Meunière, while lacking the direct violence of a strong Maillard reaction like direct grilling, instead has the luxurious aroma of butter and spices permeating the flesh.

“Whaaa!? What is this!? Is this really fish!? The fish I’ve eaten before didn’t taste like this! Just one small bite fills my mouth with a fragrance I’ve never experienced before!? The aroma is coming from my mouth! I’ve never smelled this before in my life!”

Thus, Marin, having eaten the Piranha Meunière, was instantly captivated by its flavor.

From start to finish, the fish skin, pan-fried in butter, unlike poorly cooked steamed or grilled dishes, had no fishy smell and crumbled with a crisp texture and a light, airy sound with each bite.

It was more like the batter of a fry than fish skin.

The fish meat, infused with the aroma of butter and spices, transformed the originally mild and less flavorful fish into something incredibly rich.

The result was a dish that looked similar to ordinary fish dishes but had a completely different, melt-in-your-mouth luxurious taste.

If it was this impressive to an ordinary person, how would it feel to a mermaid who had lived underwater with limited cooking methods?

“It’s so delicious!”

Thus, Marin trembled with each bite, overwhelmed by the aroma of butter and spices as she ate.

…

Thus, the third meal served to Marin also ended successfully.

“Indeed! I finally understand! This is the taste of land fish!”

“No. What even is ‘land fish’?”

Still, the fact that she’s spouting nonsense means she’s probably relaxed enough.

I won’t tell her, but maybe I should ask again about what happened when she drifted ashore?

“By the way, I want to hear more about when you drifted…”

“Eek…! Actually, it might be unexpected, but drifting to the land wasn’t just an ordinary swimming accident.”

No. I thought so from the beginning.

Though the words were on the tip of my tongue, I swallowed them and quietly listened to her.

After all, unlike the previous day when she remained tight-lipped, she was now willing to talk about the incident that led to her drifting.

“But I can’t say more than that! I’m sorry, but this incident is deeply related to the mermaid village. If I talk about it, information about the mermaid village will inevitably leak. So I can’t say more than this.”

“I see…”

But contrary to my expectations, that was all she said.

The only information I gained was that the incident was deeply connected to the mermaid village.

While it was good to have some new information, the implications were far from positive.

The involvement of the mermaid village meant that Marin, who feared humans, would never want to divulge information to protect her kind.

Though I had hoped her attitude had changed, all I learned was that my plan would be more difficult than I thought.

Would it really be possible to get information from her within two weeks?

Maybe, as the group had suggested, I should look for another way.

…

Thus, even with new information, I couldn’t help but feel gloomy.

…

Another day passed.

Before I knew it, half the week was nearly over.

We hadn’t gained any meaningful information from her, and with the prospect of it being difficult to do so, we were growing increasingly anxious.

Perhaps it would be better to give up on trying to open her heart and consider another approach.

But for now, I had to do what I could.

Thus, the fourth meal.

Having used frying, soup, and grilling, this time it would be a steamed dish.

Like the Meunière from the previous day, it was a French dish: Papillote.

A dish where meat, seafood, and vegetables are wrapped in paper and cooked in the oven.

Originally, cooking in the oven is a grilling method, but by wrapping the ingredients in paper, the steam from the vegetables and fruits is trapped inside, making it closer to steaming.

Thus, by wrapping and cooking in paper, you can enjoy the overwhelmingly moist texture of meat and seafood, more so than with ordinary grilling.

The dish I made was a seafood Papillote.

The moist and tenderly steamed vegetables and fish meat didn’t even need a knife; just a spoon was enough to gently separate the fish along its grain.

The moistness and tenderness were such that you could almost eat it with a spoon.

While the Meunière from the previous day was flavored with butter and herbs, this Papillote was flavored with the freshness of tomato sauce.

The taste was a clean contrast to the heaviness of butter.

After the heavy meal from the previous day, today’s dish was light and moist.

“This is unbelievable! The fish I ate underwater wasn’t this moist!? Land fish are amazing! And what’s this bright red liquid on top of the fish!? I can’t stop eating even though my mouth is watering with every bite!”

The result, as before, was a huge success.

Marin, as always, screamed with shock and joy, diving into the meal with abandon.

Wait.

Actually, I’ve been worrying a lot about whether the mermaid’s taste buds would like the food, but maybe mermaids would find anything delicious?

…

Thus, the fourth meal also ended, and Marin, filled with satisfaction, stretched out lazily.

Seeing Marin, exuding peace and relaxation from a mix of satisfaction and happiness, I thought.

Honestly, while I’ve been serving various dishes to build trust with her, the prospects of this plan are far from bright.

If it were just a personal matter that caused her to drift, getting close might allow her to reveal the truth. But with the involvement of the mermaid village, the chances of her revealing anything dropped drastically.

If we divide the world into public and private matters, information about the mermaid village clearly falls into the public domain.

Thus, no matter how close we get personally, she’s unlikely to divulge anything.

Even the original goal of getting close to her within two weeks, given her fear of humans, wasn’t easy. Now, even if we do get close, the chances of getting information are even lower.

Perhaps from tomorrow, I should give up on persuading her and consider another direction.

But before that, one last time.

I won’t tell her, but maybe I should ask again about what happened when she drifted ashore?

“By the way.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“It might sound persistent, but about when you drifted… No, I’m not trying to pry… Just a little curious.”

Maybe it’s because I lack confidence.

I feel hesitant even asking.

Just as I was about to give up and ask anyway.

Marin, with a serious expression, opened her mouth to us.

“This is just between us… Actually…”

Thus, she began to talk about the circumstances that led to her drifting, adding that it was a secret from others.