Overlord: The Undead Oh! Chapter 17

Food Report Dojo (食レポ道場) is the seventeenth chapter of the Overlord: The Undead Oh! series.

Summary
Narberal Gamma gives Albedo her secret scheduled report while working as "Nabe." Albedo after hearing about her and Ainz Ooal Gown's successful job as cargo escorts and killing a monster as "Momon" asks if the target of her affections has mentioned her. Sadly to Albedo's utter disappointment Ainz has never mentioned her while he was acting as Momon. The only topics that she and her master ever discuss were work related. Albedo then suggests that Narberal add her name into the conversation, but Narberal had already tried doing that leading to such conversations concerning Albedo to end in three seconds.

The only type of in-depth conversation that the two have are regarding food. Though the maid thinks it to be idle chatter, Albedo corrects her stating that Ainz is gathering intelligence on the local cuisine to see if they are of use to Nazarick. Since Ainz is hiding his status as an undead to the locals and lacks taste, Narberal is providing him vital intelligence to him when she tastes a new dish and describes it to him. Narberal is ashamed she didn't see this sooner, but Albedo is willing to give her special training to assist her in her role and advises Narberal to return to Nazarick.

Narberal reports to the 9th Floor Dojo. There she finds Albedo, now wearing a hakama and wielding a kendo stick, who welcomes her in attending "Food Report Dojo" where she will train Narberal to sharply express the meaning of food and feel the five tastes: spiciness, acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and umami. To start Albedo decides they need to investigate Narberal's taste buds. Narberal though informs Albedo that she is of the Doppelgänger race so her taste buds might be a bit different. Albedo doesn't think that it's a problem as being a Doppelgänger means that the maid still has the same tongue. So what they should be working on is Narberal's experience with taste after hearing Narberal's account of tasting a New World drink in the Empire and her limited description. Though Albedo tells Narberal it may not be her fault entirely as some food prepared in Nazarick may have no comparison in terms of taste to food in the New World.

To prepare for whatever kinds of various food cultures she may encounter, Narberal's training begins with tasting various unknown dishes prepared by the Head Chef. The first dish is a plate of aspic which Narberal finds difficult to put into words, but the closest being "sweet, salty and sour" simultaneously. Albedo then shows her an example of tasting food and tries the aspic, calling it a complicated taste that combines salty, sour, bitterness, and umami. Narberal seeing what Albedo is trying to teach her successfully gives a more detailed taste description. The next lesson is describing texture and Albedo presents a plate of various confections. Since it’s difficult to verbalize textures, Albedo suggests to Narberal to employ onomatopoeia, using a word that expresses the sound that is generated. However onomatopoeia in its use is hit and miss. The two continue with textures and Albedo brings in another dish, a kuzumochi, for which Narberal gives an elegant food report on its taste and texture. Albedo announces Narberal to have completed her training and closes the dojo.

Pleased with herself in training Narberal to an extent, the Overseer Guardian realizes she could use this to her advantage to advance her relationship with Ainz. So Albedo tells Narberal that whenever she eats something with Ainz, to add an analogy of her when she describes the taste. Though Narberal thinks this a bit too unreasonable she reluctantly complies.

The next time Narberal and Ainz are eating out as adventurers, the report she gives Ainz on a bowl of tomato soup makes her sound just like a gourmet reviewer. However when she mentions the noodles to be chewy and soft like Albedo's lips, Ainz catches on that it's was from Albedo much to Narberal's embarrassment.

Character Appearance

 * Narberal Gamma
 * Albedo
 * Ainz Ooal Gown
 * Solution Epsilon (Cameo)
 * Entoma Vasilissa Zeta (Cameo)
 * Herohero (Cameo)
 * Bukubukuchagama (Cameo)
 * Punitto Moe (Cameo)

Known Locations

 * Great Tomb of Nazarick

Chapter Notes

 * This chapter first appears in the Monthly Comp Ace September 2018 Issue.