This Novel is not my Novel

In any case, the team selection was now complete.

It was time to check the ingredients we had been given and decide what to make.

We gathered with our teammates and spread out the treasure notes bearing the names of the food ingredients.

Various vegetables, beef, butter, baguettes. And even seasoning and spices...

There were a few duplicate ingredients, but even so, we had an abundance.

At this point, there were probably fewer dishes we could not make.

"I don't know much about cooking, but this is everything we need, right, ☆Pretty Girl☆?"

"...Are you doing that on purpose?"

"If you're asking whether I singled you out just so I could use the title ☆Pretty Girl☆ one more time, then no. I only asked because you're the only one among us with any knowledge of cooking."

The protagonist of someone else's novel had to know.

Explaining himself that way would not dispel my suspicions. It would only make them grow.

In other words, he was unquestionably teasing me.

So if I lost to my embarrassment and became angry, he would only enjoy it more.

I could feel heat rising to my face, but I forced myself to remain composed and answered in a calm voice.

"...As I have said before, Yor is the one with knowledge of cooking, not me."

"Oh, right. That's what you said. Yor, are these ingredients enough?"

This time, the protagonist of someone else's novel directed the question at the baby dragon.

Yor responded with a "Meow meow" and nodded.

I tensed, worried that the sly protagonist of someone else's novel might tease me again by asking something like, "☆Pretty Girl☆, what did Yor just say?"

"Then what kind of food can we make with these ingredients?"

Had my calm response dampened Reisir's mischievousness?

Surprisingly, instead of addressing me again, Reisir continued his conversation with Yor.

「Many」

"Many...? So... since we have all the basic ingredients, you mean there are a great many dishes we can make?"

"Meow."

"Then I'll change the question. Could you recommend something that beginners like us could make easily with these ingredients?"

「Tomato beef stew」

As expected, my baby dragon was wise.

Stew could be cooked in large quantities all at once.

And much like curry, if you prepared the ingredients, threw everything into a single pot, and seasoned it properly, the result would somehow be edible.

It was probably the most suitable dish for our current situation.

"Does anyone object?"

Reisir asked as he swept his gaze over the team.

Perhaps because none of them knew how to cook, not a single person spoke up to suggest making something else.

"Then now that we've decided what to make, let's hurry and collect our ingredients too."

Reisir and Yor had not even spoken for that long.

Yet the other team had already shown their treasure notes to Professor Bjorn and was carrying the ingredients written on them in baskets.

Since Pret alone had secured close to twenty ingredients, perhaps he had already decided what he wanted to make.

"Take only a reasonable amount. If too much is left over, disposing of it will be troublesome."

As we approached, Professor Bjorn offered that advice.

The seasoning and spices came as sets, so we could simply take the whole tray and use what we needed.

The problem was everything else.

"If we assume one of each per person... nine each? No, the professor and the familiars need to eat too, so should we take twelve each?"

"Some people may dislike carrots, so perhaps we could take slightly fewer of those."

"Everyone likes meat. So... we could take more meat to make up for the missing carrots..."

Sveinn, Vigdís, and Ríolíkin spoke in succession.

The comment from the person who had revealed her dislike of carrots was unimportant enough to ignore.

But I could not ignore what the other two had said.

If we gathered ingredients according to their suggestions, not only would the balance be completely wrong, but we would end up making an utterly unmanageable amount of food.

Not to mention the considerable time we would waste preparing all the ingredients and boiling them until they were cooked.

"Wouldn't that be far too much? Even if we're all going to share, we still have to eat what the other team makes too."

Fortunately, the original protagonist stepped in to stop the people who knew nothing about cooking.

However...

"So let's cut it in half."

It was hardly any better.

I stopped examining the seasonings and spices with Yor and had no choice but to interfere.

"That is still too much! Think about it sensibly. There is no way one person can eat one whole potato, onion, carrot, stalk of celery, tomato, bell pepper, and so on in a single meal, along with meat. Your entire standard for a single serving is wrong to begin with!"

"Then... should we cut that in half again...?"

"Simply reducing the total amount is not enough. You need to consider the balance."

"Hearing that only makes it feel even more hopeless... Can't you just put in an appropriate amount of each ingredient, ☆Pretty Girl☆?"

So this was how it had to be after all.

Ríolíkin and Professor Bjorn are large and probably eat a lot, so making exactly six servings would not be enough. Should I prepare around seven or eight?

In my previous life, I usually... No, I prepared and ate most of my meals alone.

Even so, to manage ingredients and reduce wasted time, I would buy a week's worth of food at once, prepare it, and arrange it into meal kits.

Or I would cook a large quantity, divide it into portions, freeze them, and eat them over several meals.

Drawing on that experience, I briskly placed a suitable amount of each ingredient into the basket.

The protagonist of someone else's novel gave me an inscrutable look.

"Didn't you say you didn't know how to cook?"

"I have never cooked before, but I have eaten tomato beef stew. Anyone can estimate the approximate amount and ratio of ingredients."

"I can't..."

"That's because you've never thought about it."

"Hahaha! You're right. I've honestly never once thought about something like that while eating."

"Then start thinking about it from now on."

"All right. I will."

My excuse must have been convincing, because he did not appear suspicious.

I could probably keep covering for myself this way in the future.

"Um, well... ☆Pretty... Girl☆...? How large should we cut the ingredients?"

Once we brought the ingredients to the worktable, Sveinn asked the question with an expression as though he had bitten into an unripe persimmon.

He seemed quite displeased by having to address me with that title.

The one who should have been genuinely offended was me, forced to hear the traitor from the original work call me ☆Pretty Girl☆.

"...Cut them to about the same size as the chunks you have eaten in stews before. And I will say this again: Yor is the one who knows how to cook, not me. So if you have questions, ask Yor."

Accounting for shrinkage during cooking, they should have been cut larger than that.

But explaining as much would have made them suspect that I knew how to cook, and I also wanted to shorten the cooking time, so I deliberately answered that way.

And then—

"Myo-myaaow! Myo-myaaow! Nyo, nyo, nyo!!"

"Kar... No. ☆P-Pretty Girl☆...? What is Yor saying right now?"

Now even Vigdís was calling me by that accursed title.

Fighting the urge to squeeze my eyes shut, I turned my head and saw the tomato on the cutting board.

She must have been about to slice it.

"She says you must not simply cut the tomato. Score it in a cross, blanch it briefly, peel it, and then crush it."

"Ah! So 'Myo-myaaow, nyo nyo nyo' meant all that!"

"That is what it meant."

My guess was that she had merely said "tomato" and "no," but who cared?

That was not what mattered right now.

"Reisir! Stop for a moment."

"Hm? Why?"

"You need to remove the fibers from the celery before cutting it."

"The fibers...? Aren't those supposed to be good for you?"

"They are, but if you do not remove them, the texture will be coarse and tough, and stringy pieces may remain in your mouth or get caught between your teeth. It is better to remove them when possible."

"How?"

"Place the knife against the edge of the stalk like this..."

I explained how to remove the fibers from celery and demonstrated it for Reisir.

The protagonist of someone else's novel let out an intrigued "Oh..." and gave me another inscrutable look.

"I'm telling you this in case you misunderstand, but Yor taught me this too. Yor once made me a celery smoothie because she wanted to look after my health, and I learned it while helping her..."

For the record, that was a lie.

Yor had never made me a celery smoothie.

"How did Yor learn things like this?"

"She reads a lot of books... and she's a genius?"

"Oh, I see. But if you prepared the celery, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that Yor had you make it according to her instructions, rather than that you helped Yor make it?"

"Yor was the one who put the ingredients in the blender and turned it on, so Yor was the one who made it."

"Ah. R-Right..."

After somehow managing to excuse myself, I turned toward Ríolíkin.

And found yet another problem.

"Ríolíkin. Aren't those pieces of meat too large?"

"Hm...? But the pieces of meat in the stew at my house are about this big..."

"Cut them to half that size. Something that large will take far too long to cook, and every other ingredient will turn to mush in the meantime."

"Yeees..."

"Wait. What in the world are you doing with that knife?"

"Just... cutting... properly?"

No one who saw the way Ríolíkin handled a knife would have described it as proper.

He gripped the handle tightly as though he were holding a hammer and cut the meat through sheer force rather than using the blade.

Meanwhile, the fingers of his left hand, which held the ingredient steady, were spread wide open.

"It is remarkable that you have not injured your hand yet."

"Ehehe..."

"That was not a compliment. Hold the knife lightly like this, as though wrapping your hand around it. And when you steady the ingredient, curl your fingers like this..."

"Like this...?"

"Well... at least you probably will not cut off a finger now."

"Eek...!"

After successfully preserving Ríolíkin's fingers, I thought I could finally take a breath.

"☆Pretty Girl☆! How is my knife work? Am I doing it correctly?"

The protagonist of someone else's novel called me over and asked me to teach him how to use the knife.

I looked up at the sky for a moment and sighed.

Then, since I was already at it, I gathered Sveinn and Vigdís as well and held a full lesson.

"The hand holding the ingredient really does look like a cat's paw. Is that because a cat taught you?"

Unlike the others, who listened quietly and returned to their places without incident, the protagonist of someone else's novel insisted on saying something pointless to secure more attention for himself.

"Who are you calling a cat?!"

"Yor, obviously."

"......"

"You're teaching us what you learned from Yor, aren't you?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Then why did you suddenly shout? Did you think I was calling you a cat, ☆Pretty Girl☆?"

"...Hurry up and finish preparing the ingredients."

I waved him away and checked on the other team.

Sure enough, Pret was being called all over the place to help everyone.

Watching him, I could not help feeling a sense of kinship.