CH 4.36

Journey and Whim

The land of the former Azedda Empire, now home to a group of small nations, is fertile.

Wheat was actively grown around the town of Janpemon, and fruit trees and whatnot were being grown in the surrounding city-states.

In addition to that, as evidenced by their use of white sauce in the inn’s meals, they must have also been doing livestock farming.

Now, what would happen is that I can now eat sweets in addition to regular meals.

If you put wheat, milk, butter, and fruit together, it would seem as if you could make any kind of candy.

Although honey and sugar are available, they are precious and expensive, so even if they are used, they would be in small quantities.

To make up for this, a fruit is processed as dried fruit to enhance the sweetness, and is used to sweeten confections.

Come to think of it, speaking of the sweetness of barley, is it possible to make starch syrup from malt?

I have something like that in my memory from my previous life, but…… I don’t know how to clearly make it, so I guess it can’t be helped.

So today I was in the middle of eating sweets while walking around.

The guide is the girl at the inn, Nonna.

When I tempted her with sweets when she was just free of work, Nonna followed along without a hitch.

Seducing a ten-year-old girl with sweets is definitely a matter of concern in the world I lived in my previous life.

However, as I have only been here in Janpemon for a week, I am unfamiliar with the town, so I had no choice.

Six days work, one day rest.

It was the custom when I was in the town of Vistkort, in the Kingdom of Ludria.

Working hours per day should also be enough to avoid leaving you tired the next day.

Eat well, rest well.

If anything, I would even take a little nap.

In my case, I can only concentrate at full strength for five or six hours a day, so I should keep my condition at its best so that I can fully perform in that time.

I delivered 32 spear tips in six days.

The staff of the blacksmith union didn’t expect it to be over 30, and when I told them I would take the seventh day off, they looked relieved.

I wanted them to leave everything to me if possible if it were spears, because I couldn’t see the overall balance if I only had the tip of the spear, but there was no point in complaining about the job I had been given.

They will have another job for me tomorrow.

“Mm~! Mm~! Delicious!”

With a big smile on her face, Nonna tastes the cake with whipped cream and dried fruits on top.

Yes, I was a bit surprised to find that some of the pastries made in the town of Janpemon were coated with whipped cream.

To make a sweet whipped cream, however, a lot of sugar and fruit juices are used, as sweetening and flavoring must be added.

In other words, its price is incredibly high.

The cake that Nonna is eating right now is also something that I paid for with silver coins.

She seems to be eating it for the first time, and is very pleased, or rather, very excited.

Well, sure, yes, it’s delicious.

The strong sweetness, which I haven’t had in a while, makes me want tea, but unfortunately, the culture in that area does not seem to have spread yet.

I took out a clean cloth and wiped the cream from the head of Nonna’s nose.

Then she shyly and regretfully stares at the cream on the cloth, but as expected, I think it’s too immodest to lick it off after wiping it.

After quickly folding the cream-covered part of the cake inside, Nonna finally came to her senses and deceptively brought the cake to her mouth.

And again, with a big smile on her face,

“Yummy~!!”

She raised her voice.

What an interesting creature indeed.

It seems that in Nonna’s head, the events that happened a moment ago no longer remain.

I couldn’t help but be taken in by her truly happy smile.

As I thought in the town of Saurote in the Republic of Vilestrica, it is a good thing that food is abundant.

My heart was definitely richer when I ate with a sense of joy and sorrow over the contents of my meal, rather than when I brought the same food to my mouth day in and day out without feeling anything.

Yes, just like knowing the poem “Stone boat floating on a sea of golden wheat”, for example, makes one’s heart a little richer.

Perhaps that is what people call culture.

Of course, not everyone enjoys this richness.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

Suddenly, my long ears catch the shoppers talking across the street.

The reason why I was concerned about that voice was because it was mixed with feelings of anxiety.

“I heard that the Dalotte’s army attacked the northern border fort of the Kingdom of North Zairu.”

North Zairu is the northernmost country of the group of small states, and it has two cities.

Incidentally, there used to be a South Zairu, but it seems to have disappeared after being absorbed by the North Zairu.

It is also a country of warriors and mercenaries who gather from all over the small states, and it is also called the northern wall of Azuedda.

In contrast, Dalotte was originally a country created by nomadic people who drifted from the east and destroyed the kingdoms in the region, and had a powerful cavalry.

The difference in status is very large, with the descendants of nomads as the ruling class and the descendants of the people of the ruined kingdoms as the ones being ruled.

Dalotte is also said to be a belligerent country that likes to fight and pillage.

Since there are monsters in this world, if they want to fight, they should just turn their fangs to them, but I think they are a difficult bunch.

“The Azuedda Alliance may be called upon.”

Their talk concluded with these words.

For the time being, it’s a rumor, and I don’t know the truth yet.

However, the story must have come from far and wide to the north for ordinary shoppers to talk about it.

Even if not everything in the story is correct, there are definitely some roots and bases.

When I suddenly realized it, Nonna was looking at me worriedly while I was deep in thought.

“Acer-san, what’s wrong?”

I cut my remaining cake in half and put it on Nonna’s plate to deceive her.

There is no need to make a girl, who is only ten years old, uneasy by telling her war stories.

Though Nonna, with her eyes shining with joy, was easily fooled, but…… I’ll have to ask the blacksmiths guild for the details tomorrow.