Chapter 43: Seafood Feast in the Castle

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Carrying a pile of seafood and returning to the castle, Liszt did not immediately have the kitchen prepare it.

These seafood items indeed resembled those from his memory, but whether they were edible or poisonous still needed to be verified. The verification process was simple: Marcus took a few of the town’s scarce hunters to set traps on the outskirts of Thorn Ridge and captured several wolves and wildcats, among other carnivorous animals.

The wolves and wildcats locked in cages were starving.

When the seafood was thrown in, the beasts voraciously gobbled it up. Then, the cooked seafood was given to another group of animals. After waiting for a day, by the second day, aside from two animals that died after eating a certain type of sea urchin, the other creatures were still lively, showing no signs of poisoning.

“This indicates that the flavors of the sea here are quite similar to Earth’s seafood, except for the sea urchins. We’ll remove the sea urchins, and the rest of the edible seafood will be used to create specimens for the serfs who harvest the sea to reference,” he said.

After some thought, Liszt was not in a hurry to have people harvest the seafood.

He needed to make others understand that seafood was delicious, not something distasteful.

Many kinds of seafood can be eaten raw, but Liszt did not recommend eating them this way; he always felt that consuming too much seafood could lead to infection by parasites within.

Without any medical facilities, infection by parasites meant waiting for death.

So he called over Cook Abbie Spoon, “Mrs. Abbie, let me show you how to prepare seafood. See this crab? Use a brush to clean it thoroughly, then steam it directly; same with this shrimp—clean it well, then boil it in plain water.”

“Look at this clam; you can use it to make soup or stir-fry it directly. And these oyster meats are actually edible raw, but I don’t eat raw seafood, so you’ll need to boil it in water or stir-fry them. We have plenty of oyster meats here, which I call oysters. If there are any leftovers, they can be dried and used to produce oyster sauce by boiling the dried oysters,” he explained.

Oysters, scientifically known as Ostreidae, are a type of shellfish.

They are a delicacy.

Back in his hometown, Liszt was very fond of eating oysters because they are rich in zinc—zinc plays an important role in the development of human secondary sexual characteristics; having trace amounts of zinc in the blood makes one more vigorous…

Therefore.

Oysters would undoubtedly become an essential delicacy on the Baron’s dining table.

Fortunately, Fresh Flower Town was situated by the sea and had not been overharvested by humans, so the sea was teeming with oysters, and there was no need to worry about zinc deficiency.

The sixteen-year-old Liszt, still in a period of rapid growth, needed to eat more to grow stronger.

After teaching Mrs. Abbie Spoon how to prepare the seafood, Liszt did not expect the first time he tasted seafood in this world to be memorable, or rather, he had already experienced it— at Long Taro Castle, fishermen had found rock lobsters from the sea.

As an archipelago nation, the Duchy of Sapphire had quite a few fishermen.

The serfs, driven by necessity, naturally sought food from the sea and discovered the deliciousness of seafood. However, due to inconvenient transportation and a lack of information, the ways to enjoy seafood from the different islands could not be shared. On Coral Island, the Tulip Family had not yet finished reclaiming wasteland and had no incentive to exploit the sea.

That’s why the subjects of Fresh Flower Town had never thought of harvesting seafood for the past ten to twenty years.

“Mrs. Abbie cooking seafood for the first time would probably fail even at steaming crabs properly; she could only continue to explore how to cook the most flavorful dishes and slowly improve her cooking skills.”

Indeed.

At lunchtime, at the castle’s dining table, Liszt ate the familiar seafood but could not find the familiar taste.

The crabs were oversteamed, the shrimps overcooked and mushy, the oysters stir-fried too tough, and the clam soup was full of sand. However, he still enjoyed it quite a lot—it was much more appealing than his usual bread with roast meat.

Marcus, Goltai, Isaiah, and Blair accompanied Liszt at the seafood feast.

“Delicious!” Marcus simply commented, and then buried himself in the shrimp and crab.

Isaiah smiled, “Tasty!”

Blair gave a thumbs up, “A rare delicacy!”

The most exaggerated was Goltai, who initially disliked the oysters for their ugly appearance and couldn’t bring himself to eat them. But once he tasted them, he couldn’t stop. He cleaned his plate in no time and then ordered two more servings.

After a sip of hoppy beer and a bite of oysters, his face full of wrinkles lit up with happiness, “I remember now, I remember now.”

“Remember what?” Liszt expertly cracked open a crab shell.

“When I was young, I visited a small island called Flying Fish Island. I had these… oysters at a local’s home. I got drunk that night and ate a pile of oysters, had a marvelous evening. After sobering up and leaving Flying Fish Island, I never found that delicious taste again, until now.”

“Then eat more, maybe another wonderful thing will happen tonight,” Liszt said with a smirk.

He already knew Goltai had found a young girl in town, only sixteen or seventeen— if she hadn’t willingly chosen to follow Goltai, Liszt would have definitely stopped this cradle-snatching behavior.

Goltai laughed, “Who knows, but I’ve already fallen in love with oysters.”

Isaiah and Blair chuckled knowingly.

They were all adults, understanding the implication of the words.

Even Marcus’s eyes lit up with expectation, and he turned to start eating oysters.

Upstairs in the living room, nobles and knights were indulging in the delicious seafood, while downstairs in the kitchen, the servants were equally enjoying the pleasure that seafood brought.

“These shrimp are really good. If I hadn’t tasted them myself, who would’ve thought something so ugly could be so delicious?” Eileen Four Fingers devoured them with relish.

Abbie disapprovingly said, “Young lady, don’t eat so rudely, you’re practically like a boy.”

“I’m just a kitchen maid, why can’t I eat like this? At home, I always ate this way. Mr. Carter never said anything about it.”

Carter elegantly sliced his oysters, as the butler, he always strived to ensure all his actions, including dining, were befitting of a noble butler’s demeanor.

He also expected other servants to as much as possible conform to noble etiquette.

Upon hearing this, he said, “Eileen, you’ve seen Miss Li Vera’s personal maid, perhaps you should learn how she dines.”

“I don’t want to learn from her, holding a fork and knife so daintily. One might think she’s some noble lady. Miss Maisie’s manners have even been praised by the master, but she doesn’t eat that way.”

Maisie laughed, “I grew up in the village; no one taught me how to dine elegantly, but I’m learning from Mrs. Morson now. She worked at Tulip Castle, where the maids know more noble etiquette than many noble ladies.”

Morson Paddy Field pinched the shrimp head and squeezed out the meat, “That’s because nobles have the right to break the rules, while we servants must strictly follow them, or face harsh criticism and punishment.”

Eileen suddenly clamored, “The master would never punish the servants, Tom broke a vase in the castle yesterday, and the master didn’t even scold him.”

“The master is kind; I will definitely not break anything next time,” Tom said with a respectful expression on his face.

As Thomas ate his scooped oysters, he snorted with disdain, “That’s not certain. Clumsy Tom, breaking a vase is just the beginning. You’ll break more things in the future, the master should just ban you from going upstairs.”