Published: September 9, 2025
Satou here. In game development, it's common to fail by merely copying the appearance without understanding the underlying structure. Only by grasping the mechanism can one achieve application and advancement.
But occasionally, some people leap beyond understanding to come up with new ideas. Geniuses really do exist~
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“Hey, boy, we’ve got visitors!”
Suddenly, multiple masks hanging on the dining hall wall spoke simultaneously.
Caught completely off guard, Tama’s tail, who was leaning forward to place a stone on the Gomoku board, puffed up. Pochi almost fell off his chair, but Liza, sitting beside him, caught him just in time.
These masks seem to act like an intercom. They weren’t working until yesterday, so someone among last night’s visitors must have activated them. It might have been the mischievous leprechaun who was talking with Tama.
I thought the mirror hanging on the wall would display the visitors like a monitor, but it seems it doesn’t have that function.
When I stood up, the masks stopped speaking.
“I’ll go see who it is.”
Lulu flapped her way downstairs to greet the guest.
We’re staying in the house nestled within the trees we visited on the first day. The Mia family suggested staying at their underground home, but we didn’t want to interrupt the rare reunion and family time, so we chose to stay here.
It’s already been five days since we arrived at the Elf Village.
Since we fulfilled our purpose of escorting Mia, there’s no need to linger, but I asked if I could tour the Elf Village, and they readily agreed. In fact, they responded as if to say, “What are you talking about? Of course, you’ll stay a while.” The time perception between Elves and the human tribe is surprisingly different; their “a while” apparently spans years.
I had thought staying for about half a month would be enough, but I worry if leaving too soon might be rude.
“Master, Lady Nea and the others brought the dish they mentioned yesterday.”
Lady Nea is a 500-year-old Elf lady who enjoys cooking. Recreating the dishes left behind by the hero Daisaku is her life’s work. Apparently, hero Daisaku couldn’t cook and only conveyed the general idea verbally, so she struggled to reproduce the dishes perfectly.
Today, we were to be treated to Lady Nea’s style of hamburger steak.
The only clue the hero left was “a dish made by kneading and grilling ground meat.”
Lady Nea placed five plates on the table with a proud look.
There were small meatball-like spheres, a paste-like grilled meat, a noodle-shaped meat woven into small oval patties and grilled on a mesh, a chunk that looked only like a piece of meat, and finally a plate that looked exactly like a hamburger steak.
“Besides this last one, none of these look like hamburger steaks, but they’re all delicious without a doubt.”
“Yeah, definitely. Especially Lady Nea’s type 2 paste and type 3 woven noodles are tasty.”
Though not exactly hamburgers, these are dishes unheard of on Earth—more like something you’d find at a creative cuisine restaurant.
The reason Lady Nea’s hamburger steaks don’t look like typical ones is she tries to make them solely from meat. She said it’s “100% beef,” so the hero Daisaku’s description seemed inadequate.
Using only meat tends to make the dish dry, but centuries of trial and error seem to have solved that. They’re patient, aren’t they? I asked, and apparently, many derivative dishes have been created. I’ll ask her to teach me some next time.
After Arisa and I sampled them, we had hamburger connoisseurs Pochi and Tama try them too.
“Nyu~? This isn’t hamburger~”
“Hamburgers are softer, springier, and juicy when you bite into them! When you chow down, it brings happiness!”
I snatched the fork from Pochi’s hand, who was waving his arms passionately in front of Lady Nea. Dangerous, you know.
Liza took a small bite of each and nodded approvingly. The corners of her eyes relaxed, so she seemed satisfied with the taste.