It's about time my clothes were dry after playing a bad game in the creek.

'This must be my vegetable patch.

　Me and Asmo had come to Thor's house field.

'Wow, so you grow mostly vegetables over here, unlike in front of your house.

　I've never been to this field before because I always come by the field right next to my house.

　In front of me, there were small red tomatoes and purple eggplants growing in the thick foliage. There were numerous vegetables lined up like that.

'What do they grow here?

'You're doing a lot of detail, like cucumbers, small tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, eggplant.

Hey, is this all Thor's farm?

No, that's all the way down to Asmo's field.

　So you're not only a house, but also a neighbor to the farm. Well, our houses are close to each other, so it's natural, isn't it?

What kind of things do they grow in Asmo's field?

We're just like Thor's house. We grow a lot of different kinds.

We'll have plenty to eat. It's easier for us to manage.

　Well, it seems like life is easier that way than growing a large number of one kind of thing.

　In fact, many of the villagers in Coriat village are growing various kinds of things rather than those who specialize in growing something.

　After a certain amount of explanation, I'm free to walk through the fields of Thor's house.

　In front of me are cucumbers.

　The way the cucumbers twine around the thin pillars of the garden, their leaves growing thicker and thicker, is like a curtain of greenery. It's probably cooler than normal in the shaded area. If it was a bit bigger, I could have walked through it, but there was still a little bit of residue
A reminder.

Where are the cucumbers............

　I looked through the yellow flowers and leaves and saw several long, thin cucumbers growing behind them.

Oh, they're growing nicely!

Of course I do. I grow them right.

Can I take one of these?

Oh, yeah, it's a good choice.

　I point to the one in front of me and Thor yells out in admiration.

'You know how to tell a good cucumber from a good one?'

'You want one that's dark green, even in thickness, and with even more painful spines, right?　Bartolo taught me a few things.

Correct. You know Al, you know what to do.

　I replied and Asmo nodded firmly.

　Well, I know that much, I've cooked in my past life and I know that much. But when it comes to things like how to raise them, I hardly know anything about it.

　At any rate, the two of us have given our approval, so I immediately reach out to rip off a cucumber.

'Oh, the thorns hurt.'

　However, the thorns of the cucumbers are sharp and a bit painful, probably because they are so fresh. They'll sting your hand if you try to pick them up.

Haha, you've got the knowledge, but you're not very good at picking them. You just have to grab them by the thornless part and twist them around.

　Thor laughs at me and tells me to try it, but it doesn't work well because it has a lot of thorns.

''Well just like Thor, this cucumber is a bad boy. He does a lot of pranks.''

Not only am I raising you, but I'm raising my sister, too.

　The cucumbers that sister Emma carefully grew for me. When you think about it, it seems like this vegetable has far more value than the usual ones.

　At any rate, the thorns sting and hurt when I take them off with my hands, so I use a quick wind magic and send the little blade flying to cut off the top stem.

'Okay, I've got it.'

Hey, wait a minute!　Now there's something sharp flying through the air!　You did magic!　I hope you didn't cut all the cucumbers in the back!

　As I was looking at the cucumbers I had taken with my wind magic, Thor, who was beside me, let out a shout.

''I just used wind magic to send the little wind blades flying. I didn't damage the other cucumbers, let alone the leaves and stems.'

I mean, are you sure?

　I explain, but Thor seems uneasy, pushing away the stems and leaves with his hands to check on the situation. 'You'll have to trust my magical control a little bit,' he says.

'For now, let's just eat the board. Here, salt and a cutting board. I got it from Thor's house.

'Yes. And if I eat it as it is, the thorns are going to hurt.

　Asmo brought a small jar of salt and a cutting board, so Asmo and I decided to prep it.
The salt and cutting board are both from Thor's house.

　The salt and the cutting board both belong to Thor's house, but I won't go into either of them. This level of detail would be commonplace between the two houses.

　For now, I make a round tub with earth magic and fill it with water with water magic to lightly wash the cucumbers.

　When that's done, he lightly applies salt to them and then lays a cutting board on top of the vat to make a planking.

　Roll the cucumbers around on the cutting board with both hands.

　The salt makes the surface of the cucumber clean and brightly colored. The tough thorns are removed and smoothed out, and the scratches and bruises make it easier for the flavors to soak in when seasoning the cucumber. In addition, the foul smell and bitterness can be removed, which is a good thing!
It's a comb.

Hey, isn't that my family's chopping block?

Come on. I boarded up Thor's share.

　Asmo hands Thor a planked cucumber to get him in a good mood. Thor took it naturally and said, "Well, that's okay.

　After cutting the cucumbers for the three of us, we rinse them off with water to remove the salt, and then it's time to taste them.

　I didn't try to cut them up with a knife, I just held them in my hands and bit into them.

　You can hear a nice crunching sound in your mouth and the fresh taste of the cucumber spreads.

Oh, I love the texture.

'Cucumbers taste better when you bite into them like this than when you cut them up and eat them, and I feel like I ate them!

　Thor takes a bite of a cucumber while smiling and saying.

　It's amazing to hear him chewing on his cucumber even when he's far away.

'It's a nice touch. It tastes like a proper cucumber.

A little bit late in harvesting and they'll get ridiculously big and lose their flavor. I'll probably have to pick all the ones growing here today or tomorrow.

　Yeah, cucumbers get as big as zucchini after harvest time.

　As they get bigger, they get extra nutrients and become watery, so it's better to eat them during the harvest season if possible.

　Thinking about this, I take a bite of the cucumber.

　Ah, the rich water that overflows. Even if I don't drink water, just eating the cucumbers is enough to rehydrate me. It's just as you'd expect from a vegetable that's made up of ninety percent water.

　The slight saltiness that was applied to the cucumber during the itadzuri process is very effective, and it accentuates the flavor subtly, which is also good. I'm very happy for my body when I'm sweating right now.

　Salt is good, but I'd like to try it with miso. This is such a fresh cucumber. I'm sure it would go well with Kagura's miso.

I need some miso.

"......　

　I somewhat muttered and Thor and Asmo looked surprised.

'Al gave me some miso, but I'd never thought of that.

"...Al, you have a terrible idea.

　Hmmm... If the two of you have discovered the taste of miso, you can imagine how horrible the combination of cucumber and miso is.

''Alright, just some miso from Thor's house...''

f*ck you!　You borrowed a chopping board from my house just now!　Now go get it from your house!

　Thor stops Asmo from going to Thor's house to get it as soon as possible, but he stops his shoulder with his hand.

'There's a difference in rarity between a chopping board and miso!

When you get together at my house, I'm offering you fruit juice for whatever it is you do!

Tsk, okay.

　As expected, the biting Asmo, who was weak when told that he was serving fruit juice every time, retreated unusually.

　Well, there's also the hardship of Thor preparing fruit every time. It's a good thing that he's being stubborn about eating, so he understands the hardships involved.

　Asmo reluctantly heads home to get some miso.

　Then Thor, for some reason, Thor started to move.

I'm going to harvest some new cucumbers while we're at it. I'm going to rob you of your miso by the roots with these big cucumbers, not the little ones.

'Wow, that's a nasty thing to do,'

It's all right. He eats our food at home all the time. We're going to get even. Here's a plate for you, too.

　Thor offers me a plate of cucumbers with a bad smile on his face.

　Well, it's not enough for me to taste the cucumbers with miso, if it's only this half-eaten cucumber.

　I toss the remaining cucumbers into my mouth and accept the new ones that Thor offers me.

　As we wait like that, playing our tricks, Asmo comes back to us.

　However, in his hand was not the jar I had given him, but a small plate with chokon and miso on it.

'Hey, Asmo!　What's with that little plate?

What did you bring me with the miso?

　Thor questions him, but Asmo replies in a somewhat slurred voice.

'If you're going to bring miso, why don't you just bring the jar that Al gave you!

'Ah, yes. But miso is miso, and that's okay, right?

　The sound of his voice is normal, but his expression is somewhat of a smile. Perhaps Asmo acted after seeing through Thor's intentions.

　He saw through this from the beginning, avoided the worst, and settled his debt for the fruit juice at the right moment. What a schemer.

''..........''

　Thor's glaring gaze is met with a mocking glance at it.

　Although I have an evil heart, on the flip side, that's how important miso is to both families. If you think about it, I'm glad I gave it to them.

"Well, let's just eat it anyway.

Tsk, that's enough for today.

　I say chidingly, and Thor clicks his tongue and backs off.

　He's still the same guy with the thug language.

　Then we get along and dip the cucumbers in miso and bite into them.

　The savory miso taste spreads, but the cucumber, with its fresh water content, neutralizes it nicely. The taste is indescribable when I say it's just right.

'Whoa!　This really fits!

If we do this at home, we'll run out of miso in an instant...!

　Thor and Asmo were also shocked by the chemistry, and with a change of color in their eyes, they dipped the cucumbers in miso and took a bite out of them.

　The water from the cucumbers and the saltiness of the miso gently permeates your body in the summer when you sweat a lot.