The Neighborhood High School Girl, Miss Isezaki, Is the Great Saintess Returned from Another World~ And I, Suddenly Awakened as Her Exclusive Mana Supply Uncle, Travel Between Earth and Another World with Time-Space Magic~ - 17. Earth Mouse

17. Earth Mouse

Sitting on the bench, I received skewers from Isezaki-san – skewers of earth mouse. Without a word, she handed me two out of the three skewers.

Thankfully, they didn’t look anything like mice, and resembled yakitori commonly seen in Japan. Moreover, the rich brown sauce generously slathered on emitted a delightful aroma.

No issues with the appearance or smell. But, it’s still mouse meat…

Silence enveloped us as I turned to find Isezaki-san staring at me intently. It felt like she wouldn’t let me eat until I did.

…Alright, let’s forget it’s mouse meat and give it a try.

With resolve, I took a bite into the meat at the tip.

Oh, wow!? This is—

The surface was crispy, yet the inside was tender and juicy, bursting with flavor as I chewed.

While I’ve only ever had skewers from supermarkets or izakaya chains, I could tell this was on a whole different level just from one bite.

“This is… delicious!”

As I exclaimed, Isezaki-san, who had been watching closely, broke into a wide smile.

“Hehe, isn’t it? I’m glad it suits your taste, sir! Well then, if you’ll excuse me—”

Isezaki-san took a small bite of her own skewer.

Seemingly familiar with the taste, she didn’t show surprise but simply closed her eyes, murmuring, “It’s a nostalgic flavor.”

***

Having thoroughly enjoyed monster meat, I asked Isezaki-san to take me around the stalls selling monster meat.

However, monster meat was apparently quite expensive, and the monster meat available at these stalls was limited to earth mice.

A bit disappointed, Isezaki-san explained that the taste and texture of earth mouse skewers varied greatly depending on the part.

Following her advice, besides the thigh meat I had initially, I also tried the skin, liver, and heart, all of which were delicious.

To be honest, while I had thought the civilization in this world was several notches below Earth’s, when it came to ingredients, it seemed to hold even greater potential than Earth.

Reflecting now, perhaps the reason canned tuna didn’t sell well was because, besides being a preserved food, it couldn’t compete with the high-quality ingredients here.

Thinking about such things, I finished my last skewer and tossed the wooden stick into the trash can.

While Lady Isezaki was eating, I’d been sitting politely on the bench. But she was full now, so I wandered around while eating.

As I strolled through Skinny Dog Alley, munching on the last skewer, I asked Isezaki-san,

“The town is very lively, isn’t it? I heard neighboring territories are in conflict.”

“Places of conflict tend to attract both people and resources. Since the main conflict is in the wilderness between our territories, the town hasn’t suffered much. That might be a significant factor.”

“They’re quite resilient… But with lords fighting within the same country, shouldn’t the king intervene?”

“Indeed… There was talk of mediating once, and a marriage proposal between the daughter of our lord and the son of the other, but I heard it fell through after my assassination attempt, according to Auntie Emmy. …By the way, sir?”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“Since earlier, where have you been throwing those wooden sticks?”

“Haha, of course, into the trash can. People around are just tossing them on the ground, but that’s not good. Oh, you still have some, Isezaki-san. I’ll throw them away.”

Upon closer inspection, Isezaki-san was still holding several wooden sticks. With a smirk, she handed them over to me.

“Here you go. Hehe.”

That’s a bit strange… Well, whatever. Isezaki-san has been acting strange since coming to this world.

Taking the sticks, I went to throw them into the trash can—

“Sir? That’s not a trash can, you know?”

“Huh?”

At Isezaki-san’s words, I abruptly stopped my hand mid-air.

And then, I looked at the ‘trash can’ again.

“Huh? What is this?”

The ‘trash can’ I thought I was about to throw the sticks into—it was like a gray, ten-centimeter-wide hole in the air, as if a gap had appeared out of nowhere.