ITK C417: Gonkotsu Ramen

We all tasted the plain ramen.
There’s no extra garnishing since it’s still a sample product.
Besides, we don’t have chashu, menma, nitatamago, bean sprouts, and other ingredients that are used as ramen garnishes.
I think this will be a good opportunity to procure them soon.

For now, I’ll sprinkle some chopped green onions…

“BON APPETIT!”

Veil, Platy, and I tried it at once.
Slurp, slurp, slurrrrrp…

“Yum!” exclaims Veil first. “This is good, Master! At first, I thought it was just imitation udon, but the taste is unique! Especially the broth!”

It was a great success.

“Hmm… I prefer it plain like udon…” says Platy as she makes mini ramen on her spoon.

Must women always make mini ramen on their spoons?

“Though I think some people will love… Junior?! You can’t have this yet, baby! Just drink Mommy’s milk!”

We managed to calm Junior down before he could get his hands on the ramen.
Anyway, the ramen is a hit.

“Now, I have a new trump card against that bean girl…But! To let down my guard from this is a foolish act!”

Huh?

“I will further modify this ramen creation to create my own ultimate ramen! Then I’ll never be beaten by that bean girl and wing girl ever again!”

But they say more than enough is too much…

“I just had an idea while we were boiling the wild boar bones! I’m gonna do that right now!”
“Huh? Where are you going?!”

Veil drinks up every drop of soup and dashes out of the room.
I can’t just leave her after what she said, so I go after Veil.

“Mm, ramen’s tasty.”

Platy and Junior were left behind.
Wash the bowls for us, okay?

---

Veil and I arrived at Bacchus’ brewery, where all sorts of sake are being produced.

“Why here, Veil?”

What does sake have to do with ramen?

Ignoring my question, Veil pushes her way through the brewery and ends up at the far end.
There, she kicks one of the bottles.

“Wakey-wakey, you!”
“Ahhh! What is it?!”

A voice came from inside the bottle!
And it was large; probably the largest among all the sake bottles lined up here.
It looks as if it can hold a number of people.

Inside it, floating in a liquid that appears to be sake, is a lizard…
No, a dragon.

“What’s going on?”

I remembered.
This is Seidour, a Grinzel Dragon!
She’s the dragon that came to visit our farm some time ago!

“Oh, my, if it isn’t Sis Veil. How come I haven’t seen you for so long?”
“Well, I had forgotten all about you. But I remember now!”

Almost all dragons in existence are her siblings.

So, that makes Seidour and Veil sisters.
Why she’s submerged in sake is a mystery, though…

“I’ve got a finely aged sake today. My dragon extract makes it taste sublime.”

Even with her explaining things, it’s all gibberish to me.
In short, it’s similar to habu sake? …Nope. I still can’t wrap my head around it.

“But please don’t disturb me. Wake me up only when Father’s successor has been selected.”
“Father has been defeated long ago. Ardheg is the new Geyser Dragon.”
“Whaaaaaat?!”

The sake dragon is startled out of her wits.

“When did that happen?! Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Forget about that and get out of the bottle. I have a new job for you.”

Veil drags her sister out of the bottle with the high-handed attitude typical of a dragon.
She then leads her out of the brewery.

“…”

The only thing that remains is a huge sake bottle that contains nothing but genuine alcohol. It was soaked with a female dragon’s extract until moments ago.
…Hm?

“No way…!”

I think I know what Veil is trying to do.

---

“Ooh… This is a nice hot bath!”

My hunch is right on target.
It’s a bad hunch, though.

The dragon, Seidour, just out of her sake bottle, is now being boiled in a massive pot.

“Just why…”

Veil must have gotten the idea from the tonkotsu broth.
She plans to make dragon broth for the ramen!

“Dragons stand at the top of all living things! Hence, this broth should taste the most delicious! With this, I can definitely beat that bean and feather tandem!”
“Haa… You come up with the craziest ideas sometimes, sister.”

Seidour… right?
As she is being boiled, she transforms from dragon form to human form inside the pot, fit enough to hold one adult human.

From there, she was placed over a direct flame, almost in the style of a drum bath.
However, the water surface is bubbling from the boiling, making it look like a hell bath if anything…

“The water is so nice! The sake was lukewarm, so this temperature is a nice change.”

Even temperatures that would be too dangerous to be shown in boiling bath commercials are no different than tepid water for dragons.
This is supposed to be a bathing scene of Seidour in her voluptuous and alluring human form, but why is it that I feel no sense of obscenity?

“Time to season it with some onions and spring onions~”
“Oh, this must be one of those bath salts! I hear they’re good for the skin!”

Hearing their out-of-sync exchanges, I leave them alone, thinking that these dragons won’t stop even if I tell them to.

Back at the house, I served the residents who had gathered there for ramen with the tonkotsu broth made from wild boar.

It’s a customary event when I make a new dish, after all.

After the tonkotsu ramen had been consumed sumptuously, I went to see how things were going for Veil.

---

“It’s done, Master!”

In the bowl Veil presented are noodles floating in a glistening broth.

“This is the ultimate Dragon Ramen! No, it’s a dragon version of tonkotsu ramen, so we’ll just call it… gonkotsu ramen for short!”

Okay, okay. Calm down.

“I’m honored to be of service to you, sister.”

Seidour looks like she just had a nice hot bath.
She went from having a sake bottle as her dwelling to a pot…

“Have a taste of me and Seidour’s ramen, Master!”
“No, thank you.”
“Whaaaaaaaaaat?!”

Hear me out, okay?

We made dragon sake before.
And do you remember what Bacchus said to me when I tasted it?

“The dragon extract is so potent that drinking it in excess will make you immortal.”

“I can easily imagine a dragon broth being similar! It’s too risky for me to eat it!”
“…”

When I pointed this out, Veil puts down the gonkotsu ramen and collapses to her knees.

“…I also thought of that earlier.”
“Then stop as soon as you realize that.”

Why did you keep pushing the idea till the end?

In the end, only Veil ate up the gonkotsu ramen.

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