After lighting the wood with fire magic, I put the frying pan on the ground, add a little oil, and line up the rice balls to be grilled.

　When the surface of the rice balls started to brown, I spread the soy sauce sauce on them with a brush.

　Then the fragrant smell of soy sauce wafted out of the air.

　The sweet and spicy smell made our stomachs flutter.

'Whoa!　That smells so good!

Oh, that's an absolutely delicious one!

It smells good.

　The three of us who smelled the scent of the rice ball stared at it, screaming with admiration.

　While they stare at me in silence, I turn the rice ball over and spread soy sauce on it with my brush. And then, another fragrant smell.

"Sis, you're drooling again.

You're the one drooling, Asmo.

　They point out to each other and wipe their mouths. But their eyes never wandered away from the grilled onigiri.

The only thing you need to do is to spread the sauce on the surface until it gets burned. I'll leave the grilled onigiri to Thor.

Yeah, I'll grill it for you.

　Seeing Asmo and Sheila-san staring at me with such a devouring look on their faces, I'm worried about them on the contrary. I'll leave the matter to Thor, who seems to be somewhat calm.

　I use water magic and fire magic to create hot water, and then pour it into the bowl.

　Then I put the remaining rice in a colander and place it on top of the bowl of hot water.

''This way, you can add a little water to the rice to soften it up--are you two listening to me?

'What?　Oh, yes!　I heard you!

Of course.

　Sheila-san replied hurriedly and Asmo replied with a flustered expression.

　However, her gaze was turned towards the grilled onigiri with its fragrant aroma.

　Well, if this one smells like miso too, I'll have to focus my attention.

　The smell of burning soy sauce is good, but the smell of miso is also fragrant.

　It's easy to explain, so let's proceed first.

　After about two minutes, I drain the rice that was in the hot water.

　Then I threw the rice into the bowl with the hot water drained.

Mash it up so that a few grains of rice remain.

Okay.

　Leave the stick for grinding to Asmo and let him do the tedious heavy lifting.

　With Asmo's strength and stamina, it wouldn't take long.

''Like this?''

Yeah, I feel good about it.

　It's crushed just right, and the consistency is increasing.

'Well, now let's make them into an oval and pan fry them.

　As I say this, Asmo takes the other pan that was hanging on the wall and puts it on the fire.

'You don't need to pull the oil off,'

Okay.

　If you add oil, the rice absorbs the oil and loses its original flavor of rice. No oil.

　While Asmo is heating up the pan, Sheila-san hardens the rice into an oval shape.

''Is that about right?''

'Yeah, that's fine. I'll grill those and stick them on a stick, and you can make enough for a few people so they don't get too big.

　I borrow the frying pan from Asmo for a little while, leaving Sheila to adjust the amount.

　This is just a small step in making the miso sauce.

　I lightly mash some walnuts from Thor's house. Then I lightly fry them in a frying pan.

　I added the walnuts to the miso sauce to make it more fragrant.

　Once the walnuts are cooked, all I have to do is mix them with other seasonings like miso, sugar and soy sauce and the sauce is ready.

Ah, it smells so good from there too...

I'm not hungry anymore.

　From the right side, it was the smell of grilled onigiri, and from the left side, it was the smell of miso sauce of gohei rice cake.

　This smell must be pretty bad on an empty stomach.

The only thing left to do is to stick the roasted rice into the stick. Are you done with that, Thor?

　While quieting down Asmo as he baked the rice, I checked on Thor.

'Some of it fell apart a bit, but it's all cooked!

Well it was all your stuff that fell apart.

It's not the same!

　Tor denies it, upsettingly, but you can tell who made it by the shape of the rice ball, right?

　It's probably Thor's that crumbled anyway, which had a lax grip.

　It's a very good idea to have a good grip on the game.

　The one I gripped is smaller, so it's easy to see that it's cracked open.

.........Oh, mine is cracked.

Hey.

　I mumbled my blunder and Thor turned his white eyes on me.

''........I'm sure Thor didn't bake it right.

I may not be a good grinder, but I'm not a bad burner.

　Ignoring the piercing gaze, I quickly apply the soy sauce sauce sauce to the crack with a brush.

You see, this will allow the sauce to penetrate the inside and make it delicious. This is what you need to do.

　I muttered to myself and let Thor take charge of serving the grilled rice balls.

'Al, I stabbed the rice with a stick,'

All you have to do is put some miso sauce on it when you eat it and you're done!

Finally!

　Hearing my words, Sheila-san shouted the loudest voice of the day.



　◆



Let's eat then!

　As I said this, the three people seated at the table quickly moved their hands as I took a portion of the yaki-onigiri and gohei-mochi on each plate.

　The first thing they put out their hands to was the grilled onigiri. They couldn't stand the smell of soy sauce, which had been smelling badly all along.

Mmm!　Mmmm!

　The first person to shout was Thor next to me.

　He stared at the grilled onigiri with his eyes peeled open and gobbled it up.

The sweet and spicy soy sauce sauce goes great with grilled rice.

　Asmo chews on it like he's savoring it with a big mouthful of disappointment.

　Because sweet and spicy soy sauce and rice go well together. I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference in flavor and aroma when you spread the soy sauce on and grill it.

Sigh........it's delicious.

　Sheila-san took a small bite of the food and mumbled happily with her hand on her cheek.

　From the looks of it, I'm pretty sure Sheila-san likes it.

　This could be a negotiating move.

　I look at Thor to start the mission, but he's too busy munching on his grilled rice ball to notice.

　He takes the next one without looking at me.

　No, this guy. The deliciousness of the grilled onigiri completely forgets the plan.

　I give Thor a dumbfounded look and pat him on the shoulder.

'What the hell, Al?'

Our mission.

... oh, I almost forgot.

　I whispered to Thor, who looked at me sullenly, and he replied as if he had remembered.

　If you remembered, I'd like you to not take the grilled rice ball in your mouth again.

　When I made sure that Thor swallowed what was in his mouth and put the grilled rice ball on his plate with regret, I looked at Sheila-san who was facing me.

　Okay, let's bring Sheila-san's plate over here to give us the advantage first.

　As I reached for Sheila's plate with that in mind, I suddenly heard a dry sound and my arm was popped.

'Huh?　This is mine, isn't it?

　...What was that?　I reached out and Sheila played with my arm?　I didn't see Sheila-san move her arms at all....

　And although she had her usual calm tone and soft smile, I could feel a chill down my spine.

　This somewhat chilly air is very similar to the air you get when you violate the prohibition of asking a woman what she weighs.

　Have I done something wrong?

Uh-huh. Yeah, that was a mistake. Sorry.

'Okay. That's just the way it is sometimes~

　When I apologized for being frightened by the unearthly atmosphere, Sheila resumed her meal with a smirk on her face.

　The eerie atmosphere fizzled out without a shadow of a glance.

''Hey, Asmo. What's going on here?　This isn't going to work out the way we want it to, is it?

''I think she probably likes the grilled onigiri quite a bit. I haven't had a sister so quick and alert in a while...

　When I ask Asmo about it, he gives me such an answer.

　Does that mean Asmo didn't expect this?

''You mean you can't take the food away from Sheila now?

'Maybe next time I do the same thing, I'll be beaten so hard my skin will turn red. I was in a similar situation when I got the rare demon meat in the past.

　From the somewhat convincing look on Asmo's face, Asmo must have been beaten so hard in the past that his skin turned red.

　I know the Asmo family loves food more than anyone else, and I know they have a strong appetite, but I didn't think it would go this far.

　Then I thought I could just take it with an unmagical psychic instead of extending my arm directly, but my sixth sense whispered to me that it was even worse.

　Anyway, so it's impossible to take food away from Sheila-san now.

''Well I feel like we should simply offer a bargain here, don't we?　If it comes down to it, you can threaten to use ice magic to cool him down. It looks like a bad idea to take it head-on anyway.

'Yes. I will.

　I nodded at Thor's words and looked at Sheila-san again.

　Sheila-san seems to be happily munching on her grilled onigiri. I'm in a good mood now, and it looks like I should be able to negotiate as normal.

''Sheila-san,''

Hmm?

Can you do me and Thor a favor for a minute?

''Is that going to be a long story?　We still have some grilled onigiri left and the gohei-mochi that we worked so hard to make, but...

　I tried to say it again, but he suddenly denied talking to me.

　It was true that the negotiations from now on might take a long time. If that happens, the hot grilled onigiri and gohei mochi that we worked so hard to make will probably get cold.

　Grilled onigiri and gohei mochi are delicious even if they are cold, but there is nothing better than being warm.

　Since the action of taking away the rice is more risky than you can imagine, you might change your strategy and negotiate after you finish eating the food.

　If you feel better after eating something delicious, your negotiations will go well. In short, it's the same as a meal reception.

"...Okay. I'll finish eating.

I understand!

　When I said that, Sheila nodded, smiling at me.

　I let out a small sigh and took a bite of the grilled onigiri in my hand.

　The surface of the grilled onigiri is crispy, and when I put it in my mouth, the hot, soy sauce-soaked rice crumbles in my mouth.

　The more you chewed, the sweeter the rice and the sweeter the taste of the soy sauce spread in your mouth.

　The rice is coated with several layers of soy sauce and baked to a crisp, so it has a concentrated, delicious taste.

　After devouring the grilled onigiri, you reach for the gohei-mochi rice cake on a stick.

　I spread the special miso sauce on the rice ball and then boldly took a bite.

　Then, you can feel the chewy texture and the strong taste of sweet rice. The taste of sweet rice and miso spread in his mouth. The sweetness of the rice and the taste of the miso were a perfect match, and it was very satisfying to eat.

　'The gohei mochi is delicious too~!

　Sheila, who also ate a gohei mochi, said with an enraptured expression.

　It's a simple dish, but that's why you can feel the taste of the ingredients and it's delicious.

　After all, it's best to eat food while it's warm.

　But why is that? The strategy is progressing, but I have the feeling that none of it is progressing as we envisioned.