2
Things went smoothly afterward at The Great Southern Tree, too.
I had more of a businesslike relationship with Naudis than Nail, so I was concerned he might have finally been fed up with me after all this. But fortunately, he ended up begging me far more passionately than I ever expected to keep on doing business with him.
“It’s true that my wife insisted it would be dangerous to get any closer to you people of the forest’s edge. And that picked up even more so when we learned it was the powerful Count Turan who you had such a rocky relationship with,” Naudis stated. “However! My inn’s name is on the rise for being the first place to offer your cooking. If I pull back now, I may well end up yielding that fame to The Sledgehammer!”
It seemed with his mixed blood from the south, Naudis might have felt even more competitive toward The Sledgehammer than I had imagined.
Still, even if I didn’t exactly welcome the animosity between the south and east, I felt business rivals competing fiercely with one another was only proper.
“Besides, your fame in the post town is reaching an all-time high. As a businessman, it would clearly be the wrong move to cut ties with you now.”
“Huh? What was that about my fame?”
“Naturally, I’m referring to the attention you’ve been getting for how the famed gourmand Count Turan’s daughter fell for your cooking skills. That information spread only just last night, but it’s already caused quite a commotion around the inn.”
“Right... But you were serving Reina Ruu’s cooking here too, right? So those who’ve eaten both our dishes and compared should know she’s no less skilled than I am, right? And the women have been selling their cooking at the stalls, too.”
“Yes, yes. But my customers who have come here to Genos over the course of the last few days are still unaware of the taste of your cooking. Reina Ruu’s skills may well be great, but that only further inflates their expectations as to just what your cooking must be like.”
That was certainly quite a high hurdle that had been set for me. Even more so considering Reina Ruu had pulled ahead of me for a time when it came to making giba soup with tau oil.
“It’s true that both of you seem quite comparable when it comes to soup dishes. However, I personally find your cubed giba meat stew the most delicious. Naturally your meat and chatchi stew also came out wonderfully too, but I couldn’t stand to lose that dish.”
At any rate, I was certainly glad to hear that Naudis wanted to keep doing business with me.
And after explaining to him the same conditions I had informed Nail of, I headed out for our final destination, The Kimyuus’s Tail, feeling that I really couldn’t afford to let my guard down. However, something awaited us there that you might say was an omen of future troubles.
“Hey, what’s that about?” Ludo Ruu called out from the head of the group, being the first one to notice. And when I glanced over his shoulder up ahead, I gulped just a bit.
The Kimyuus’s Tail was the inn that I was most familiar with. And next to that large building with its red roof sat a huge boxed carriage.
“A totos wagon, huh? That wasn’t here when we passed by before, right?” Ludo Ruu narrowed his eyes, clearly on guard.
However, Ai Fa and I knew exactly what we were looking at.
After all, there was a showy crest right there on the side of the two-totos carriage. And just last night, Ai Fa and I had passed through the castle gates in one decorated with the same symbol.
“Hey, so you’re finally here,” a large figure called out from the shadow of the carriage.
At first Ludo Ruu reached toward his hip, but then he muttered, “Oh, it’s you, huh? I almost beat you up there, you know. What’re you doing dressed like that?”
“I’ve got all sorts of stuff happening on my end too. And I worry about my hide too, y’know.” The man standing there in a hooded leather cloak like someone from Sym with gray cloth wrapped around his mouth was none other than Zasshuma, the bodyguard. “If it got out that I helped connect the people of the forest’s edge with the house of Count Daleim, that’d definitely put me in danger. And since he’s got no intention of hiding himself, I had no choice but to make sure nobody could recognize me instead. Oh, and don’t call me by name in front of people, either.”
Zasshuma’s eyes were smiling from under his hood as he said all that.
After first thanking him for yesterday, I then went ahead and asked about the details of what was going on now.
“Lord Polarth headed out early. When we stopped by the stalls, we were told you were heading around to the inns, so we’ve been waiting here.”
“In that case, should we move locations? I don’t want to get the innkeeper wrapped up in things.”
“It’ll be fine. I mean, we’re going to be getting everyone in the post town involved in all this, so it shouldn’t be any more dangerous for him than anyone else. This is why I didn’t want to go relying on that guy till the Northern Whirlwind made it back...”
That was a seriously unsettling statement there.
Yet even so, Zasshuma’s eyes just kept on smiling.
“Still, the issue he wants to discuss is the thing the Northern Whirlwind was planning to do from the very start. Lord Melfried isn’t exactly flexible, so he alone isn’t going to be enough to oppose Cyclaeus. In that sense, we’re just speeding things up by a few days here. Actually, according to the plan, the Northern Whirlwind should have long since returned to Genos...”
“I’m just understanding all this less and less. Could you explain in a bit more detail?”
“Ask Lord Polarth directly instead. We’ll just be putting in double the effort for no real reason, otherwise.”
Having no other choice, we went ahead into The Kimyuus’s Tail.
And the first person we found awaiting us was Milano Mas, wearing a sour look.
“Ah, Milano Mas, umm...”
“So you’re finally here, eh? You’ve got a noble waiting for you in the dining hall... Ah, guess I shouldn’t run my mouth though, since that noble wants to rent out that hall till the second hour for three white coins,” the inn owner stated with a displeased look. “Can’t stand nobles myself, but this is just business. I’m only renting out the dining hall though, so get moving already.”
“Right, sorry about this.”
I owed Polarth my life, plus he had overturned my expectations when it came to nobles in a good way. But I still really didn’t know a lot about him, and I wasn’t fond of heavy handed methods like this.
At any rate, though, Ai Fa and Shin Ruu accompanied me in, while the remaining four stayed on guard outside.
Inside the dining hall, a wall had been set up to isolate a section further in. There was a soldier stationed at the barrier, and once we passed by him to go inside, we found a familiar plump face awaiting us at the farthest seat.
“Greetings! You look to be doing well, Sir Asuta, Lady Ai Fa. As for myself, I had grown rather tired of waiting.”
Polarth was seated at a table for six, waving his short yet thick arm. He had his dark brown hair neatly combed down; bright, light brown eyes; and a milky-colored long robe around his plump figure, making him look just as he had yesterday.
And behind him stood an additional two soldiers. They were even better outfitted than the guards about town, so they must have fallen directly under the Daleim house.
“Now then, make yourselves at ease. Shall I have some fruit wine or the like prepared for you?”
“No, you don’t have to do that for us. Um... Did you have some sort of urgent message?”
I sat down at the wooden table right across from Polarth, while Ai Fa and Shin Ruu stood on either side of me. And, still wearing his mask, Zasshuma stared from the side like some sort of referee.
“Well, I suppose that I do! I hadn’t intended to hurry matters along quite this much, but when my father and brother returned this morning they scolded me thoroughly. ‘What were you thinking, defying Count Cyclaeus!’ ‘Are you trying to lead the house of Daleim to ruin?!’ and so on. Really, it’s quite unreasonable that I should be reprimanded as such for attempting to uphold the laws of Genos.” Whenever he spoke, the chair and table would creak. “Hmm, I don’t especially find establishments in the post town distasteful, but the seats in this place are a touch too narrow! The table is even up against my stomach.”
“Right... Um, why is someone of your status coming here to the post town so casually? I really didn’t expect this.”
“Hmm? Well, the house of Daleim isn’t quite so fixated on formalities. If it weren’t for circumstances, we wouldn’t have even gained nobility in the first place. And even now, the lords ruling over other towns likely don’t even see us as nobles at all,” Polarth said with a grin. “Originally the Genos house themselves only had the rank of count, and our families were initially nothing but knights serving them. But in these past hundred years the Genos house was raised to dukedom, while the Turan, Daleim, and Saturas houses were given the rank of count, though in name only. Were there some sort of auspicious occasion in the capital, Lord Genos would surely be the only one invited. After all, we are nothing but upstart so-called nobles from the outskirts of the kingdom.”
“Right...”
“To put it another way, the only ones with fortune enough for anyone to envy are Duke Genos and Count Turan. Up until now, that is...” Polarth said, rubbing beneath his nose with his finger.
Zasshuma’s critique of Polarth that Ai Fa had told me about yesterday sprung to mind: “He’s calculating, that one.”
“That is why I went along with Sir Zasshuma’s plan... or Sir Kamyua’s, I should say. Duke Genos is one thing as the ruler of this land, but Count Turan should not be the only one allowed to line his pockets. It is only when all of its citizens live prosperous lives that Genos can brag to other domains of being a town of plenty. Do you not think so, Sir Asuta?”
“I definitely agree with that, but...”
It seemed like we were getting to the heart of the matter, even without me needing to pester him about it.
Polarth’s already round back rounded even further as he leaned in toward me.
“Well then, will you tell it to me? That secret of the poitan you hold, Sir Asuta.”
“What? What’s this about poitan?”
“Shh! Not so loud. If Lord Cyclaeus catches on before I can make my move, I truly will be ruined. You cannot carry out a revolution without caution layered upon caution, after all.”
“Revolution...? That certainly escalated quickly.”
“Worry not. The only one who shall be left out of sorts in the aftermath will be Lord Cyclaeus.” It was true that Polarth was still wearing a nice, relaxed grin. “Not long ago, I picked up a snack from your stalls on the way here. There’s no mistaking that white fuwano-like substance was poitan, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. It’s not as if I was particularly trying to hide it from anyone.”
“It certainly is a surprise that you caused no commotion like that! According to my attendant who sampled it, the taste was in no way inferior to fuwano. Poitan is far cheaper than fuwano, so imagine how much of a profit could be made if we could use the former instead of the latter! How could no one have paid attention to that fact up until now?”
“H-Hold on a moment. Since poitan is cheaper than fuwano, if it becomes a staple food won’t the total earnings go down instead?”
“Not so. As it’s Count Turan that produces fuwano, his fortune will decrease, while that of the plantations that make poitan will rise. That is the sort of result we would be facing, wouldn’t you say?”
Those words stirred up my memories.
I had insisted I wasn’t hiding it from anyone, but I had also been warned that I should keep the technique secret as much as possible. And by Kamyua Yoshu himself, at that.
From what I could recall, it had been back when we were discussing jerky here in The Kimyuus’s Tail... A bit before Lala Ruu’s birthday, I believed. Kamyua Yoshu had said the more expensive fuwano were cultivated by folks from the castle, while townsfolk grew the cheaper poitan. And so carelessly spreading my poitan baking techniques would cause great losses to some noble and earn me their ire.
Back then, the identity of that noble had felt ambiguous. But later, after the second meeting between Cyclaeus and the leading clan heads of the forest’s edge, the answer became abundantly clear.
In the Turan lands to the north they produced the mamaria that was used in fruit wine, as well as the wheat-like fuwano. And so when negotiations with Banarm were advancing, that proved inconvenient for Cyclaeus as they specialized in the same sorts of produce, so he had used Zattsu Suun to interfere. That was what I had been told, as far as I could recall.
In other words, the noble who would lose out from poitan gaining in popularity was none other than Cyclaeus.
At the very least, though, I’d like you to keep in mind that that delicious way of preparing poitan could act as a blade pointed toward the nobles, Kamyua Yoshu had once said. In order to keep on living, sometimes you need a blade. But if you make a mistake about when to use it, you can end up wounding your allies, too. So you should be careful when it comes to handling it.
As I remembered Kamyua Yoshu dropping that on me with his usual aloof grin, I gave a deep sigh.
Though I hadn’t seen him for quite some time, it seemed I was still dancing on the palm of that guy’s hand.
“I finally see what you’re getting at, now. You mean to say that this new method of cooking poitan could act as a powerful weapon against Cyclaeus, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. You heard as much from Sir Kamyua as well, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, though in a really roundabout way... But even if we can deal a blow to Cyclaeus like that, only the plantations and townsfolk would benefit, wouldn’t they? Do you not mind that you don’t stand to benefit personally?”
“Ah, so you were not aware? Our Daleim house was granted control over the land to the south where the plantations are located. And so those farmers who work that land are my people.”
At last, I was satisfied.
That was why this man was a last resort, as well as a blade against Cyclaeus.
“This is an unbelievable tale, isn’t it? Flipping the connection between fuwano and poitan would do the same to the power difference between the Turan and Daleim houses! It’s enough to make you tremble, is it not?”
As he was saying all that, Polarth wore the same unchanging grin.
“H-Hold on just a moment. That may be an effective strategy after all, but will things really be alright with the other nobles? If you overturn the state of the town market like that, won’t you risk making an enemy of even Duke Genos himself?”
“Hmm? I don’t see how Duke Genos stands to suffer any losses from this. Well, if Count Cyclaeus falls, it could have an impact on the castle town at first, but if the Daleim house earns more in turn it should all be the same in the end.”
I didn’t get it at all.
Perhaps seeing my complexion, Polarth sat back up straight.
“Sir Asuta, it seems you still do not know anything at all about this land of Genos. Well, I do suppose this town has a rather unique form of government. Genos is of a moderate scale for a town, but I do not believe there are any other such examples of one being split into four, each ruled by a separate house.”
“Right...”
“I believe that is because the capital thought it would be dangerous to have a town so much more prosperous than its size would imply be governed by but a single house. Just as I explained before, roughly a hundred years in the past our three houses were granted counthood and tasked with ruling this land alongside Duke Genos. The true lord of this land is ultimately the duke himself, but the capital ordered that the Turan house was to govern the orchards to the north, the Daleim house the plantations to the south, and the Saturas house the post town. So as long as nothing impacts the prosperity of the castle town, we should earn none of Duke Genos’s displeasure.”
I really hadn’t ever imagined I would be learning of Genos’s inner structure in a place like this.
Stealing a glance out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ai Fa and Shin Ruu were just expressionlessly listening to Polarth’s words.
“And even just a few dozen or so years back, there was no great disparity in wealth between our three houses. The Turan land had rich soil but not as much space, so they only grew fuwano and mamaria, while the Daleim land had poor soil but plenty of space, allowing us to produce a variety of vegetables. And the crops from both led to the post and castle towns flourishing alike. But when Lord Cyclaeus became the head of his house, the Turan fortune alone massively expanded.”
“You’re saying he used inhumane methods?”
“Inhumane, is it? Well, he bought a great number of slaves from the north and had them work for him. Even now, I suppose the majority of the workers in his orchards are slaves. Thanks to that, a great many people lost their jobs and ended up moving to the post town or Daleim farm lands. As a result we yielded more in taxes, but the Turan fortune grew far more.”
So slavery was involved there, huh? The conversation had certainly started to take a disquieting turn.
“I suppose your people would be more knowledgeable on the details beyond that. Like how he had the envoys from his business rivals in Banarm attacked, or installed his younger brother Sir Ciluel as the militia leader... He used a variety of other methods as well, and as a result Lord Cyclaeus’s fortune and authority have grown vast. In a mere thirty years, Count Turan’s power has swelled enough to rival even that of Duke Genos.”
“Right...”
“And that is precisely why we need a revolution! No matter how one looks at it, it is the fuwano and mamaria propping up the Turan fortune. And since poitan are easier to grow and cheaper than fuwano, if they were to become a staple food here in Genos, his fortunes would be halved. And that difference would in turn be restored to not just the house of Daleim, but all of our people!” Polarth exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. “Of course, the ones to benefit most will be the farmers who grow the poitan and our house as the owners of that land. But as I’ve said again and again, poitan can be obtained incredibly cheaply. I believe it requires one and a half times as many coins to obtain the same weight of fuwano as it does poitan.”
“Yeah, I think that’s about right.”
“Hmph! Of course, it is not as if fuwano itself is an especially expensive ingredient, so that would make only a slight difference each day. But every little bit helps, as they say. And if the people of Genos can spend those saved coins on other things, then they can all live more prosperous lives than they do now.”
“But the people of Turan will become poorer in turn, won’t they?”
“Yes. Yet the Turan orchards are run largely by slaves who do not receive compensation. And all the fortune earned from their efforts ends up directly in Lord Cyclaeus’s hands. The non-slaves living in Turan lands engage in work unrelated to the production of mamaria and fuwano, so it should not have that great of an impact on them, I would imagine.”
At that moment, I thought of Mikel, who worked as a charcoal maker in Turan.
It was true that he didn’t exactly look like he was any better off than the people of the post town.
“And with a plan of this scale, we should also be able to gain the support of the house of Saturas, who oversee the post town. Even my father and elder brother will be left at a loss for words! And of course, the same would be true of Lord Marstein Genos... Duke Genos is a true believer in meritocracy, so he should have no issue with us defeating Count Turan through our own strength.”
“But will things really go that smoothly? Even if poitan isn’t inferior at all in terms of taste or nutrition, I can’t imagine it eliminating fuwano when that stuff has been a staple food for so many years...”
“There’s no need for it to replace fuwano completely. At the very least, I would imagine the prideful citizens of the castle town will not make the change easily. But there is no reason for the people of the post town and plantations to avoid a cheaper foodstuff like that! From there, I suppose it just matters how we go about things.”
I turned and looked at Zasshuma, only to find the man’s eyes still smiling as he shrugged his shoulders.
So it’s all according to Kamyua’s plan still, huh...?
I gave a little sigh, which apparently didn’t escape Polarth’s notice.
“Are you uneasy? So am I! But even if we leave things be, Lord Cyclaeus will eventually learn you possess a method of making poitan taste delicious. And when that time comes, the people of the forest’s edge alone will face his wrath. So why not spread that technique all throughout town and make it so he cannot focus his anger on any one point?”
“Right... I can definitely understand that logic.”
“I will handle all the troublesome arrangements on my end! After all, I have no interest in fearing assassins lurking in every shadow! So let us spread word of how wonderful poitan are throughout Genos before we capture Lord Cyclaeus’s eye!” Polarth exclaimed with a hearty grin.
◇
“Things certainly seem to have taken an unbelievable turn...” I said to Ai Fa after Polarth left along with his three soldiers.
However, she replied, “Is that so?” with a tilt of her head. “I do not think it’s an especially harmful idea from our end. Did you not say before that it is dangerous to be the only ones possessing a special technique such as that?”
“Yeah, you mean when we taught the Suun women back before the clan head meeting, right? But what we’re talking about this time around is on a totally different scale.”
“At any rate, we don’t even know if it will work out. There is no point in worrying about it now.”
As he watched over us with crossed arms, Zasshuma chuckled and agreed, “That’s right. And at any rate, the showdown with Cyclaeus is in just five days. Such a short period of time isn’t enough to do anything that big, so for now just shaking the other side up would be plenty.”
“Hmm, I get the feeling it’ll have too much of an impact on the town in comparison, though.”
“There’s no helping that. The essential point is that we may make allies of some other nobles in the process. But unless we show them Cyclaeus’s fortunes may not last forever, they won’t take the risk, right?” Zasshuma said, rubbing his cheeks through his mask. “Our banner falls under Lord Melfried, ultimately. But that man is just too inflexible. It’s difficult for someone who believes laws are absolute to take down someone working to undermine them.”
“Right...”
“That was why we had no choice but to rely on Lord Polarth yesterday. I somehow managed to get news of what happened to Lord Melfried in the castle and he promised to investigate Cyclaeus’s manor, but by following official procedures that probably would have taken until when the sun hit its peak today.”
It was hard to say what would have become of me in that case.
Regardless, I certainly felt Zasshuma had made a wise decision.
“At any rate, I’ll handle the troublesome stuff. There’s probably all sorts of things we’ll still need you for, but until then just keep working hard like you have been so far.”
With that, Zasshuma left the dining hall.
And in his place, Milano Mas barged on in.
“It’s almost the agreed upon time. If a customer shows up, I’ll be letting them come on in.”
“Ah, right. Sorry about the trouble.”
“You’re always apologizing, aren’t you? If you really feel that way, then try living a life that doesn’t lead to you needing to say sorry all the time.”
I really couldn’t think of anything to say to that.
Since yesterday, Milano Mas had constantly been going around in a huff.
“So? Are you going to be heading back for the day already?”
“Yes. The leading clan heads should be returning from the Turan domain soon, and I intend to ask them how things went.”
Honestly though, I had left The Kimyuus’s Tail for last precisely because I had wanted to take my time talking to Milano Mas. And so, full of deeply apologetic feelings inside, I went ahead and voiced what I felt took the maximum priority.
“Um, whether or not I work in the post town again depends on the results of that meeting, but if things go well, would it be alright to keep doing business with you like I have been up till now?”
“I’m still renting stalls to you people of the forest’s edge even now, so why would I go and turn down your request...?”
“No, but I mean I was also in the middle giving you cooking lessons.”
“Wasn’t that just a service you were offering without getting anything out of it?”
“But my plan was to have you hopefully eventually handle giba meat too, so I considered it a proper part of my business.”
Milano Mas removed his cylindrical hat and scratched roughly at his dark brown hair. “It was nobles behind that whole incident, so there’s nothing to blame you over. You’ve been helping me out a lot lately, so how exactly am I supposed to react when you act all modest like that...?”
“Ah, if I’m bothering you, then I apologize.”
“I’m telling you, stop bowing all over the place like that...”
Despite how long I had known Milano Mas, we still seemed to have an awful lot of awkward moments like this.
Was that down to my own inexperience, or a mere matter of chemistry...? At any rate, I still found this stubborn, bad-mouthed guy just as precious to me as Dora, who was always so open and kind.
“Regardless, my place hasn’t suffered any damages at all on your account. So rather than getting weirdly worried about stuff like that, think more on how to protect yourself.”
“Right. Thank you.”
In spite of everything, it seemed that Milano Mas had no intention of giving up on me.
As I gave a stealthy sigh, I went ahead and moved on to the next topic.
“Well then, there was something I wanted to tell you about the dish I was thinking of...”
I told Milano Mas about how a dip made with pickled and dried kiki — a plum-like fruit — might go best with the kimyuus meatballs.
As he put his hat back on, the innkeeper raised a single eyebrow.
“Dried kiki fruit, huh? Plenty of customers want it as a snack to go with their drinks, but still... that’s one heck of a wild combination.”
“I’d give it a pretty firm recommendation, myself. Just mashing kiki fruit and dressing the kimyuus with it would be plenty, so please go ahead and give it a try.”
At last, I was finally getting a chance to put the experience I gained in the castle town to use.
But as that thought was running through my head, Ai Fa went and tugged on the sleeve of my t-shirt.
“By the way, Asuta, what exactly was that dish I ate last night?”
“Hmm? Ah, that was fried kimyuus.”
“It had a wondrous taste... Would it be possible to make that dish with giba meat?”
“Well, I’d like to change the method a bit for giba and make giba cutlets.”
“Giba cutlets...”
With that, I turned back toward Milano Mas.
“Um, is it possible to get a hold of reten oil here in the post town?”
“Reten oil? I’ve only ever heard the name of that stuff. I mean, it’d be way too expensive for guys like us to afford, anyway.”
“Is that so? Then what about karon milk and kimyuus eggs? Are those expensive ingredients too?”
“The kimyuus dealers will sell you as many eggs as you want. I eat them a lot in the mornings, myself.”
“Huh? Then why aren’t there any in your kitchen?”
“Eggs are used in place of meat. Only a seriously cheap inn would go serving that stuff to customers.”
“Umm... So what you’re saying is that eggs are cheaper than meat but it would cost too much to serve both, and eggs alone would be too meager of an offering?”
“Hmph. Well, I guess you’re not too far off the mark, there. Some poor folks eat nothing but eggs, after all. Even for dinner.”
“Well then, exactly how much are we talking in terms of price?”
Apparently you could buy four for a single red coin. Strangely enough, that was the same cost as poitan. In that case, it seemed like I could manage to squeeze them in as an ingredient.
“And the other one was karon milk? At the very least, I would say there isn’t anyone eccentric enough to try to stock the stuff here in the post town. Dabagg’s the only place in the area that raises them, and it’d go bad on the way here, wouldn’t it?”
“But Dabagg is half a day’s distance from Genos, right? Apparently karon milk lasts two to three days, so I don’t think it should spoil that quickly.”
But it really might have been true that people avoided karon milk because it kept so poorly. Though it was different for nobles, who didn’t see any issue with just throwing it out if it went bad.
“I don’t even know how you use the stuff. And I can’t imagine it’d be any cheaper than fruit wine.”
That was because the fruit wine sold in the post town was so cheap to begin with. You could get around one liter for a single red coin, which was quite a reasonable price.
If you converted a red coin to 200 yen, then poitan and kimyuus eggs would be 50 yen each, aria 40 yen, giba burgers 400 yen, and karon leg meat 74 yen per hundred grams at the dealer’s rate (or 160 yen for the general public).
So if fruit wine and karon milk were both 200 yen per liter, I would say the fruit wine was priced rather cheaply, while the karon milk was a bit pricey. Like, if red wine and cow’s milk were the same price, I’d say the wine was way too cheap.
Oh, and based on these calculations, a liter of tau oil would be 2,000 yen and a bit under a kilo of gyama dried milk 4,000 yen, which went to show just how expensive imported goods were.
Going even further, the vegetable knife I bought from Shumiral would be 36,000 yen, and the meat cutting knife from Diel 24,000 yen. Considering the wagon we had Gilulu pull only cost ten times as much as the meat cutting knife, it really was clear how pricey metal was, too.
“If it’s possible to get karon milk for not so different a price than fruit wine, then I’d like to try doing so eventually. I guess for that I should try talking to a meat trader from Dabagg?”
“I’ve got no clue, but probably. This time of year, they generally show up around once every three days.”
“I see. Thank you.”
That left figuring out if we could make our own dried milk and milk fat, as well as how to use skim milk. For that, I would just have to get my information from a merchant from Dabagg.
“Ah, also, where should I go to get a hold of some fuwano flour? Do I need to go all the way to Turan land for that?”
“No, there are fuwano sellers here in the post town. Not among the stalls though, but around here where the inns are. You all use poitan, though, so what do you want with fuwano at this point...?”
“Well, I get the feeling that fuwano has its own unique uses. So I’d like to try out all sorts of stuff.”
I figured it wouldn’t be smart to get overly greedy, so I decided to stop there for today. If I could get eggs and fuwano flour from the kimyuus and fuwano sellers, that alone would add plenty of variations to my giba cooking.
Surprisingly enough, I may actually complete the giba cutlets first, I thought as I stole a glance over at Ai Fa.
Just the thought that I would get to feed her new dishes was enough to fill my heart with delight.
It was a sensation I couldn’t savor back in that brick manor, and it made me feel like there was a lump forming in my throat.
At last, I would be able to have my precious clan head taste those dishes I had worked so hard to create. And now, it really sank in just how great a thing it was that I managed to reclaim this joyous feeling.
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