I Was Nearly Killed by My Fellow A-Rank Party, but Now I Fed a Nine-Tailed Fox Deep in the Dungeon. ~ “My Master, I Shall Never Leave Your Side for All Eternity,” the Legendary Monsters Said While Doting on Me. Before I Knew It, I Had Become the World’s Strongest Lord of the Demon Realm~ - Chapter 34

She Turned Out to Be a Super Shy Pervert Yokai

Before I started cooking, I looked around the room.

There were piles of nuts and fruit peels tucked away in the corners.

…Looks like Nurara doesn’t really get good food or cook much.

“Tamamo, there’s no airflow in here, but is it okay to use fire?”

“Relax, foxfire’s magic. It doesn’t follow normal rules, so even in a sealed room it’s totally fine.”

I started pulling cooking tools and ingredients out of the Infinite Storage Pouch, and Nurara watched with wide-eyed surprise.

“Y-you can actually cook!? S-such a perfect guy~”

“Perfect guy?”

“Ah, never mind! P-please make the food!”

“What kind of stuff do you like, Nurara?”

“U-um… I only eat nuts from the forest nearby… Oh, but I really like hard nuts! My life has zero excitement, so I love that crunchy texture…”

“What a weird girl.”

“Excitement, huh… maybe something spicy would be good. And crunchy too…”

I pulled out a wok and the ingredients.

“Tamamo, can you make the flame really hot?”

“Got it.”

I grabbed the wok through a cloth so I wouldn’t burn myself and held it over the pillar of fire.

I added oil, then started stir-frying ground pork.

Once the fat turned clear and started popping, I threw in chopped garlic, ginger, and doubanjiang.

“And now for this.”

“A square… block!?”

“Oh, you’ve never seen it? This is called tofu. I blanched it earlier to squeeze out the extra water.”

I dropped the pure white square tofu into the red sauce.

The tofu dancing on the wok looked like an iceberg floating in lava.

I poured in chicken stock, then adjusted the flavor with soy sauce and sugar.

For the finish, I swirled in some cornstarch slurry, asked Tamamo to crank the heat to max, and let it boil hard.

“Alright, it’s done!”

“Already!? S-so fast!”

“This dish is all about speed.”

The golden, glossy gravy clung to the tofu, and I finished it off with a sprinkle of Sichuan pepper.

That numbing aroma hit, and my special ‘Mapo Tofu’ was complete.

“It’s super hot, so be careful.”

“Nuraraaa… i-it looks insanely delicious…!”

I scooped generous portions into deep plates for everyone and handed out spoons.

I watched Nurara as she nervously brought the mapo tofu to her mouth.

The second it touched her tongue, her cheeks flushed bright red and her eyes flew wide open.

“——I-it’s delicious! Wow, this is real excitement! Such an adult flavor!”

“Glad you like it. Hang on a sec, I’ll make a side dish.”

I put a little extra oil in the empty wok and set it back over Tamamo’s foxfire.

Then I tossed in the leftover rice from last time.

Juuuuuuuuur!!

The second the rice hit the screaming-hot oil, every grain puffed up like blooming flowers.

I skillfully shook the wok, keeping the rice in one flat chunk on purpose, and fried it until it turned golden-brown and rock-hard.

Once the surface was a solid “plate,” I slid it onto a cutting board.

Thump, thump!

When I tapped it with the back of the knife, it rang out like ceramic.

“Perfect. ‘Okoge’ done. Nurara, gimme a plate.”

Right in front of her, I cracked the golden okoge in half with a loud snap and piled tons of it on top of the steaming mapo tofu.

“Here’s that crunchy texture you wanted. Try it with the mapo gravy.”

“Nuraraaa…!”

Nurara scooped up a piece of golden crunch floating in the red sea with her spoon.

The okoge, now lightly stained red from the sauce, went straight into her wide-open mouth.

CRUNCH!

A powerful cracking sound echoed, and Nurara’s eyes shot open in pure bliss.

“A-amazing! It’s rock hard! Just like a wall!”

“I made it pretty hard— you okay?”

“Yes! It’s seriously delicious! I could handle it even harder!”

“Even harder…? Wow, you’re something else, Nurara.”

Everyone else was happily munching on the mapo tofu and okoge, their bodies swaying with delight.

“As expected from Kuon, everything except fried tofu is amazing.”

“Big brother Kuon’s a genius~!”

“Making another piping-hot dish, huh… well, it tastes good cold too.”

“Glad everyone liked it again.”

Once we all finished eating, Tamamo, Suzu, and Nurara leaned back against the wall looking super satisfied.

While they did that, I was still boiling azuki beans over the foxfire.

Yukime peeked in from the side.

“You’re still making something?”

“Dessert. I was hoping you’d help at the end, Yukime…”

“You don’t have to keep checking, of course I’ll help.”

“Ahaha, I’m really happy we’re getting along, Yukime.”

When I said that, Yukime’s face turned bright red.

“It’s frustrating, but I can’t make delicious food like you and make Lady Tamamo happy. So… thank you.”

“It’s fine. Making Tamamo happy makes me happy too.”

“I see. And… sorry. I’ve been saying pretty mean stuff about you ever since we met, right?”

“Hehe, you’ve been worrying about it the whole time, huh? I noticed you sneaking little apology glances during the trip.”

“——Wha!? A-anyway, keep taking care of Lady Tamamo from now on!”

Yukime cleared her throat, her face still flushed.

It felt like I got to see a rare side of the usually cool Yukime—probably because we’re inside these walls with no one else around.

I simmered the azuki, adjusted the sweetness, poured it into molds, and stuck sticks in.

“Okay, can you freeze these?”

“Got it.”

Yukime let out a soft breath and froze them with her cold air.

“Everyone, dessert’s ready!”

When I called out, the three of them who had been chatting stopped and came over.

“Suzu and Tamamo like warm stuff, so these are for you.”

I handed them ‘Shiratama Zenzai.’

“Yukime likes cold things and Nurara likes hard things, so these are yours.”

Then I gave the other two ‘Azuki Bars.’

“What is this? Is it really hard?”

“Yeah, it should be super hard.”

Nurara bit into the azuki bar looking half-doubtful.

She started trembling like she was putting all her strength into it.

——CRACK!

With a sound like biting straight into ice, the azuki bar snapped between her teeth.

“——!? Amazing, it’s so hard! And sweet and delicious!”

“Right?”

“I’ve never seen such a solid, impressive food before!”

Nurara stared at the long azuki bar with an entranced look.

“Mm, it’s a sweet treat.”

“Delicious~!”

“S-so hard…! But tasty.”

Tamamo, Suzu, and Yukime were all savoring their desserts too.

While we ate dessert, I brought up the topic with Nurara.

“So, about what we were saying earlier… we’d really like you to come with us, Nurara—”

“I’ll go!”

“…Huh?”

“Please let me come with you! I beg you!”

Nurara even dropped into a full dogeza in front of me.

“W-wait, what happened? You didn’t seem that into it a minute ago.”

“Ehehe, I’ll go, so um… Tamamo-san, just like we promised…”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Promised…?”

Come to think of it, while I was making dessert earlier, Tamamo and her were whispering about something…

“Tamamo, what exactly did you promise?”

“This girl said she wants to watch me and Kuon getting it on.”

“…Eh?”

“That’s how it is, Kuon. This is also for achieving our great goal. Just accept it and obey like a good boy.”

With that, Tamamo gave me a seductive smile and started walking toward me, backing me into the corner of the room.