The ramen was met with mixed reviews.
"Hey, can't you make it spicier than this?"
"...Huh? I can, but is it okay?"
"Yes, it's still good, but it's a bit bland, isn't it?"
"...."
Aria shook her head as if something was missing.
"Oooh...This is surprisingly tasty, I think it's perfect for a meal."
Zion took a few spicy bites at first, then started eating the ramen.
"Hua, hua, it tastes good, but don't you think it's too spicy?"
Ranya stuck her tongue out and sipped her Coke.
And the saint said.
"You're crazy."
A short but powerful statement.
"Oh, I don't mean crazy, I mean crazy delicious...like that."
"Don't worry, I won't take it the wrong way."
It's said that casual speech comes from habit, so it was clear that the saint often swore.
With that, I shrugged off her crazy reaction and tried the ramen noodles with everyone.
"Whoa, whoa, it's so spicy, I'm sweating, but I keep going in!"
"I can't eat it, it's too spicy. I need some water, fast!"
The ramen was generally well-received, but the spiciness needed to be adjusted.
Unless you have an unusual palate, like Aria, the mainstream reaction was that it was too spicy, although some people seemed to enjoy it.
'We should make two flavors.'
Mild and spicy.
It seemed like it could be divided like this.
*
The direction of the ramen was clear, but the process of creating it was not smooth from the start.
"This is going to be hard."
Looking at the 'noodles' of the ramen, Ciel shook her head.
"The shape is complex, but the texture is unique, so it's hard to do without a base."
Alchemy is the study of imitation and imitation is not a 100% match to the real thing.
You can get as close to 100% as you want, but you can never be the real thing.
So there is no such thing as a perfect alchemy.
However, if you have a base, it's a different story.
Just like Coke has carbonated water, Pringles has potato dough, and gelato has milk and cream, ramen has a base, and if you have that base, you can make a completely processed food.
In the case of ramen, there were two bases.
"We need a base of this red powder and this thing called noodles."
The base of ramen soup and ramen noodles, which determine the flavor of ramen, must be prepared.
The base of the ramen soup is.
'It's chili powder.'
Of course, there are various other seasonings, but the typical base of ramen soup is chili powder.
And chili peppers were not difficult to find in the otherworld. It was popular as a garnish, not for eating.
However, I decided to add one more ingredient to the mix.
MSG.
MSG was the key to flavor in processed foods.
It's not just processed food. In my previous life, almost everything had MSG in it.
One food researcher had this to say about MSG.
'It sounds like a simple thing to flavor, but it's quite a challenge. You need to have the right balance of sweet, salty, and sour flavors to make something taste 'good,' and that's not easy, but when you add a little MSG, it's like magic.'
It's almost magical because you can just sprinkle it on anything and it makes everything taste good.
That's why I tried to make my own MSG.
I figured that if Aria had such a sensitive palate, she could make MSG work.
The result was a failure.
'I'm sorry. I don't know what it tastes like.'
This was because the flavor of MSG in Pringles was not specifically identifiable.
I was stuck, but I didn't care.
I had just come up with a way to figure out the flavor.
"It's the sugar cane you mentioned."
"Thank you, Count, as always."
"Haha, I'm the one who thanks you. If you need anything else, just let me know. I'll get you whatever it is that the wizard wants."
What Count Trion brought was sugar cane, the raw material for 'sugar'.
Sugar existed in this world, so the sugar cane from which it was made was also available.
However, sugar cane was a state-controlled item, so if I had tried to get it on my own, it would have taken a long time.
Count Trion has one foot in the sugar cane business, so as soon as he heard my story, he got the cane and brought it to me within a month.
"Still, it would have been difficult for even a count to bring sugarcane without a reason, but you brought it so quickly."
"Since it's the wizard's work, the military cooperated."
"...That's good."
The military treated me strangely well because of the canned food.
'Sugar cane, that's it.'
Sugar cane is the source of sugar, but it's also the source of the iconic MSG.
It was a staple in processed foods.
Of course, getting the MSG out of the cane is another matter, but....
'It'll work.'
I've seen it on TV in a previous life.
It was a program where a master chef with a great sense of taste wore an eye patch to taste food.
Even with the blindfold, he was able to accurately identify the flavors and contents of the food.
In my previous life, there were several people with similar abilities.
People with a keen sense of taste who could identify the ingredients and flavors of a single bite of food.
The world praised them as the 'Tongue of God,' or 'Absolute Taste.'
Aria was the closest thing to absolute taste that I encountered in the other world.
'She can tell what's in a Coke just by tasting it.'
I'm sure Aria could detect the flavor of MSG in sugar cane.
I went to Aria with the sugar cane I'd gotten from Count Trion.
"Are you saying that this is how we'll know what the 'flavor' is?"
"If you can feel it."
"...I'll try."
Aria accepted the sugar cane without argument. Her pride was bruised from her previous failure.
Aria was the kind of person who had to finish what she started.
*
After accepting the sugar cane, Aria didn't leave her room from that day on.
She ate her meals in her room, slept on her stomach, and was obsessed with the sugar cane for a week.
"So, how's it going?"
"Haha, I think I know...it's hard."
Wrapping her forehead, Aria shook her head.
The stress of the problem seemed to be building up.
Of course, Aria is not one to give up, so she focused on the sugar cane again but just focusing on something doesn't fix the issue.
I knew this best from my own experience of turning my imagination into reality.
"Just thinking about it doesn't make it happen. You have to let it out."
"What does that mean?"
"It doesn't have to be perfect the first time."
"?"
"Come with me."
I took Aria to the tower's cellar.
The ten-acre warehouse was filled with transparent crystals.
These weren't ordinary crystals, but 'magic stones' that contained magic power. High-grade magic stones.
I had spent all the money I had earned from processed food to buy them.
'Even if it fails, I'll at least try to make it.'
Aria's problem was that she wanted everything to be 'perfect'.
This was the reason why she didn't use a gemstone, but tried to figure out the flavor of MSG in her head.
She would only use the gem after she had the flavor perfectly in her mind but imagination is not something that can be perfectly represented from the start.
It could be vague, or strange but if she keeps it in her head, she's only going to keep it in her head.
You have to fall down and break your nose to get it right.
"Just do it. It's okay if it fails, so create to your heart's content."
"...You want me to use all these expensive gems?"
"There's no point in saving them. You have to use them to get something out of them."
"What if I use them all up and can't make anything? They're yours."
"Then you'll have to start over."
It's a waste of money, but I'll just make them again. However I can't make processed food without MSG.
More than anything, I was confident that Aria would be able to implement MSG.
I had already seen people in my past life who could identify MSG and I was sure.
After all, she could identify the contents of Coke or Pringles.
If there was one thing Aria lacked, it was experience. That's what I brought her in for.
"Never mind the money, you just make it."
"...Sometimes I think you're crazy about processed food."
"Maybe."
From the perspective of someone who hasn't lived in the modern world, I might seem crazy for spending a fortune to make processed food.
"But it's better than eating something that doesn't taste good, right?"
"I suppose so."
Aria finally agreed.
Otherworldly food was just as tasteless.
*
In the end, Aria succeeded in implementing MSG but in the process, half of the stored magic stones evaporated.
"I thought I was being carefree, but I really used it all up."
"That's what you told me to do."
"Well done."
I'll take it if it's sloppy and I get something out of it.
Aria asked excitedly.
"So, what do you think?"
"It's good."
A satisfied smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
"Perfect."
A fine white powder poured from my fingers.
The magic white powder was the food additive MSG.
Now that the base was ready, it was time to make the ramen.