My Eldritch Horror Wife Followed Me To Another World
Chapter 68: Botany Lab

Chapter 68: Botany Lab

Mijko was pitiful. First, she got robbed of her sausage when Monkey arrived right when they were done. Then, she had to give up her sausages because she gave Kai and Utri too many. And now, she had just been pushed to the back of the queue so far that she had to wait for the next batch to finish frying.

She was starving. She hadn’t gone entirely without. She had managed to get one for herself. But that had only made her hungrier.

Alas, she could only blame herself. Who told her to catch Monkey’s eye? She should have stayed home or been on the other side of the world or something.

She could only suffer.

Nick couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He had a feeling that the others weren’t doing anything because they didn’t know what to do and because they both feared and respected Monkey.

But Nick both knew what to do and didn’t fear Monkey.

It seemed that in the sausage haze, the others had forgotten part of the invite.

They didn’t have to just eat sausage the entire day.

Nick grabbed some of the vegetables, oil, spices, and headed inside. He could probably do it on the fire, but there wasn’t much space left, and he wanted to do it properly. Since he was going to do a lot, he wanted some space and ease of movement. It wouldn’t go well if he did it crouched in front of the fire.

So, doing it inside was his only option.

But he could trust the others outside not to go wild without him. Hopefully.

He grabbed the wok he had stashed away after buying. He wasn’t even sure if he had used it more than once. He heated it up on high while he cut the vegetables into smaller pieces.

Usually, different vegetables have different cooking times. Some even wanted to be cooked on their lonesome before being added to the stir-fry.

But Nick had no idea what kind of vegetables he was dealing with. Some looked similar to ones on Earth. Others looked like unholy creations he might find in a secret underground botany lab.

Fortunately, he was a god-given talent in the kitchen. He wasn’t. But he could tell that the harder vegetables would need a longer time to cook, and the softer ones were probably fine with less time. At worst, he would just have to fry everything a little too long to make sure everything was cooked through properly.

He didn’t think it would be as good as the sausages, but it was his first time using these vegetables. He was sure the others would show him some leniency if he messed up.

"You’ll help me, won’t you?" He asked the tentacle hovering over his shoulder while he chopped vegetables into the wok.

That was another reason why he didn’t mind heading inside to cook. He felt a little strange admitting it, but he missed the tentacle after spending so many hours with the others.

The tentacle nodded and pointed at a pile of soft vegetables and then at the pan.

"They need longer?" He asked.

The tentacle nodded vigorously.

Nich wasn’t sure how the tentacle could possibly know that, but he trusted the tentacle. For reference, he tasted it first. He was a little scared about putting a soft, brown, stalk-like thing in his mouth when he had no idea what it was, but it was for the sake of making a good meal. He had to be brave.

As soon as he took a bite, his face scrunched up like a firmly gripped rag.

He was not sure what it tasted like, but he was sure it was extremely bitter and sour. Just as it was, it would ruin the meal. He trusted the tentacle, but the taste of the vegetable made him reconsider.

However, the tentacle didn’t give him a choice. It grabbed the pile of brown stalks and dumped them in. They hissed and sizzled like a horde of angry, pea-sized cats. After a few minutes, the hissing deepened and became like the grating, hoarse sound of a well-used party blower.

Nick looked at them skeptically as he continued chopping and adding the vegetables in the order the tentacle recommended. He hoped it would turn out well. He couldn’t stop wondering how trustworthy the tentacle was in this area, though. It hadn’t tried helping him when he cooked food before.

Was it because he hadn’t needed it? Was it because it was more familiar with these ingredients than the ones he used?

Curious, he had to ask,

"Were you originally from this world?" Maybe the tentacle monster had an accident and ended up in his world and helped him when he had his headache. Something then happened to him and his house six years later, which made them pop off of Earth. Due to the tentacle monster’s presence, they returned to its original world instead of vanishing from existence.

That was why the tentacle monster had said it wasn’t its fault they moved, but it had something to do with it. They ended up in this world because of it, even if it wasn’t it that made them move.

The theory checked out with what Nick knew so far.

However, the tentacle monster shook its tip back and forth.

It was not originally from this world.

"Where are you from then?" He asked curiously.

The tentacle paused and just looked straight at him.

"Right..." He was about to say that it couldn’t answer questions with answers he couldn’t guess the answer to, or that couldn’t be answered with yes or no.

However, before he finished, the tentacle pointed upward.

"I’m guessing you don’t mean the second floor or the ceiling, so...Space?" He tilted his head. That wasn’t a surprise.

But it wasn’t quite right. The tentacle made a strange movement that was neither yes nor no.

’Kind of.’

"I am curious about what you mean by that," Nick said. "Unfortunately, I don’t even know where to begin guessing, so I guess it’s another thing on the list of things to talk about once you can talk."

"Who are you talking to?"