By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 24

Chapter 6 Episode 24: A Wish and Warning after the Festival

Tuckered-out children and pie-eyed adults gradually trickled out of the plaza until we officially closed the festival late into the night. After that, the village elder and I accompanied Lord Fatoma and his men to the beach to see them off.

“You’ve seen us far enough,” Lord Fatoma graciously said. “Such a wonderful night. Thank you.”

“We were all happy to see you, my lord.”

“Wonderful,” he smiled and faltered for a moment. “Oops... I may have gotten carried away with my drink tonight... Ryoma.”

“Yes?”

“I’d like to sober up some before getting on the boat. Would you care to converse with me for a while?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” the lord said, and turned to the village elder.

“I must beg your pardon, my lord. The cold night air is not very kind to my old bones.”

“My apologies. I shouldn’t be too long, Pigu. Could you take the men to prepare the boat?”

“Yes, my lord.”

The village elder began making his way back to the village, and Lord Fatoma’s company left us to prepare the boat for departure, leaving just him and me alone on the beach.

Amidst the sounds of the breeze and waves, Lord Fatoma took a deep breath. “Such a lovely breeze. Oh, are you cold, Ryoma? With all the meat on my bones, I find it quite comfortable myself.”

“I’m fine. If I get really cold, I can just cast a barrier spell.”

“Ah, that’s right,” he heartily laughed, and rubbed his gut. “As I said, I had a splendid night. Thank you for all the wonderful dishes.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“This completely slipped my mind, but we haven’t discussed your pay for coming up with the dish. Is there any price you had in mind?”

“Now that you mention it...you told me you’ve searched wide and far throughout the land for a recipe. Isn’t there a price already set?”

“I mean a price accounting for the ash-smoking, not to mention your methods for safely cooking three fish we previously thought inedible. Combined with the gyoza idea, they could each generate a new industry in the land; that’s certainly worth more than what I was going to pay for a single recipe. Now, the other nobles would scoff at the idea and probably tell me that I can’t even discern valuable information when I see it, or worse, accuse me of being unable to properly pay for them. And let’s get serious—new projects cost money. I wouldn’t mind paying you directly, of course, but I don’t think you’re the type that prefers money above all else. It’d be better for me if you wanted to negotiate a price of your own.”

Fair enough. Reinhart and Pioro had both told me that technology must be treasured... But damn, Lord Fatoma wasn’t beating around the bush at all here.

“Let’s see, what would I want... For a start, I would like you to ensure that the people are educated with the proper method for preparing those poisonous fish.” It was easier to provide them that night because I could rapid-fire Appraisals, supported by my huge well of magical energy, and double-check with the poison slime. “They are still poisonous, after all.”

“The villagers should be well aware of that; every parent makes sure their children know of that. I expect the bigger issue will be winning people over to this idea.”

That made sense. The excitement of the festival might have helped, but there were a good number of villagers who’d tried at least one of the poisonous fish... The most popular of which was the eel-like one. While the smell of the glaze seemed to help, Nikki had also told me that the eel-like fish was eaten on occasions when they really couldn’t catch anything else. Second place went to the rockfish, and the puffer fish-like creature—the most poisonous of the three—was dead last, with most people merely peeking at the dish from a distance, but nothing else. Just as people outside of Fatoma didn’t eat octos (that is, octopi) or water spiders (that is, crabs), people here didn’t eat eel, rockfish, or puffer fish, least of all the elderly.

“Those in the village who’ve acquired a taste for it must proceed with caution, but we did warn the elder about that during the festival. Risk is inevitable when it comes to new knowledge or technology—ignorance, carelessness, misuse... But fear of those risks halts progress. You have given us knowledge that may greatly improve the lives of my people. It is my job as the ruler of this land to educate the people on said knowledge and manage the industry, as well as draft rules surrounding it. I will ensure that the safe cooking methods are properly introduced to the people,” Lord Fatoma said with all seriousness. He had definitely earned my trust.

“Then please take these.” I handed him a pile of documents from my item box.

“Are those instructions on how to prepare the fish?”

“They’re all records of my experiments. The fish that I call eel, for example, had sharp teeth and bones similar to another fish I know called the pike conger. A day of soaking the fish wasn’t enough, but the odor was mostly gone by the second day. There’s also some other data that I’ve been keeping. I did show the preparation and cooking process to the head chef beforehand, but these documents contain all of the findings I’ve made through my experiments. I can’t guarantee it’ll all be useful, but there are things that I haven’t even gotten the chance to tell the village elder. I hope this can be of assistance to you somehow.”

“Wonderful...! I’d be happy to accept it, but you do realize that this tips the scales even more greatly in my favor, yes?”

“Uh...” W-Well, maybe I can just call it a bonus with the recipes.

“In that case... I know! Could I have some of the bamboo that grows near the hot springs cottage?”

Lord Fatoma had said something about bamboo shoots the other day, and bamboo could be used for charcoal on the grill, or for construction. It was a rather useful plant; I’d just need to set up a dedicated space to grow them in my mountain.

Lord Fatoma stared at me for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “You’re too humble... As you’ve seen, there is an abundance of bamboo growing wild up there, and I haven’t done anything with it. You can take as much of it as you like. Anything else?”

At this point, I started considering just asking for money, but that didn’t sit right with me. I tried to remember if anything else came to mind. “I heard that Fatoma is famous for its pottery, as well as its fish.”

“Indeed, we have a healthy supply of local clay. Would you be interested in some pottery?”

There was an earthen cooking pot that I’d enjoyed using when I was cooking at the festival, so I wanted to buy a few of those. People mostly use wooden or metal dishware in Gimul, so they might find it fascinating if I brought it back; perhaps I could buy a few extra and take it to Serge’s shop. I might even decorate the meeting room of the shop with a good-looking piece of pottery. Not that I had any knowledge in that sort of fine art, though...

“In that case, I can give you one of the decorated pots from my manor. It’s a decently valuable piece, one you could decorate your shop with. I’ll also introduce you to my favorite ceramist, where you can pick up any souvenirs or merchandise for your shop. They’ll accommodate you to the best of their ability.”

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. This is your payment for completing my requests...not to mention Reinhart’s letter.”

“If you say so.”

Lord Fatoma chuckled. “Speaking of, do you remember when I told you about my relationship with Reinhart?”

“Yes. You were schoolmates, and Duke Reinhart struggled with others’ expectations of him, considering who his father was.”

“Indeed. My father had built many roads in this land, but Duke Reinbach had accomplished so much more than that, which must have put quite a lot of pressure on him. His family has plenty of enemies as well.”

“Right...”

“Of course, considering his family, their power and history, on top of his father’s achievements and making a contract with a divine beast, I’m fairly certain no one would be mad enough to start a fight with him head-on while he’s alive... Actually, I’ve started to hear frequent rumors of vandalism in Reinhart’s land.”

What?!

“He’s a smart man,” Lord Fatoma continued. “Especially as a student, he was always in the top five of his class, but only because he worked harder than anyone else. He isn’t a natural genius... Of course, I’m not saying that he lacks skill or talent. That’s not what I want to say...”

He gazed up at the night sky for a few seconds in contemplation before continuing, still staring into the night. “From now on, I am not speaking to you as a noble, and this is not a formal request. Just a personal wish of mine... Would you be so kind as to help Reinhart as much as you can? Talented though he may be, a lord cannot rule alone. He’s the type to bottle things up and try to handle everything on his own.”

“Really?”

“You seem surprised.”

I was, somewhat... I mean, I thought Reinhart was the one who was worried about me bottling up my feelings and not asking for help. I told Lord Fatoma as much, and he broke into his now-familiar snorting guffaw.

“A-Apologies, but... I see. He told you to ask people for help, did he? I didn’t expect him to be unchanged from our school days, but perhaps he’s fixed that habit of his. Back in the day, he nearly broke himself because of that. On the other hand, he might have spoken out of his own experience.”

He seemed happier now, nodding to his own conclusion. “I’m glad to hear he has people he can rely on, especially if that includes you. After seeing how you’ve handled my requests, I can see that you have a different perspective on things than the rest of us, and quite expansive knowledge as well. Small wonder that Reinhart wants your talent all to himself. If it wasn’t for that letter, I would have recruited you myself.”

I was just about to tell him I was honored when he added, “And that’s exactly why you must be careful.” His jubilant tone had made way for a serious one, as his gaze now met my own.

“I’ve told you that I intended to offer you those two quests after hearing the rumors of the Barley Tea Sage. The fact that your reputation preceded you to me should show you that your fame, although not many know that Sage to be the adventurer Ryoma based in Gimul, is spreading rather wide. I’m far from the only one who can summon a member of the Semroid troupe, or send someone to gain more intel on you. Reinhart has already warned me as much, and I never intended to ask about everything you’ve done in the past... But there are people in this world that all too easily cross the line between good and evil once they see money to be gained. Noble or otherwise, not everyone you meet will be like Reinhart and me.”

Lord Fatoma had calmly warned me as such, but I felt like he knew more about my past than he let on.

“Thank you for the advice. I’ll be careful.”

“Mm. You’re close enough to Reinhart, so use his power to your full advantage.”

Lord Fatoma then performed a long stretch. “Right, I think I’m sober enough now. Don’t want to stay out too late,” he said, and began packing up. Maybe he had made time specifically to give me that warning, which I really was thankful for.

“Oh, and Ryoma,” he added, “when will you return to Gimul?”

I had to pack for the journey home and wanted to buy souvenirs for everyone in Gimul as well as capture some mud slimes, which I had put off in lieu of preparing for the festival, so I was intending to stay for a few more days. That said, I was concerned about the rumors of Reinhart’s land becoming more dangerous. I could trust Carme to run the shop, and I wouldn’t worry about security with my staff...but I thought it would be best to expedite my return as much as I feasibly could.

“I plan to get ready tomorrow, and leave the day after at the earliest.”

“I see. In that case, I’ll reach out to the ceramist first thing in the morning and have them hold onto the pot from my manor for you. The end of the year is a social season for us; we’re going to be busy preparing for it.”

“Understood. Thank you for doing all of this in such a busy time... and for everything else.”

“I had a splendid time. Farewell.”

Lord Fatoma told me the name of the ceramics shop before walking onto the dock and onto his boat, which eventually returned to the other side of the lake.