Foreigner Volume 9, Chapter 213

Volume 9 Chapter 213, Demonic Dragon ~ 28

　The journey continued smoothly.

　Gradually, Satoru and the others became accustomed to the environment and gradually began to spend more and more time flying. Basically, Satoru chose to fly in less popular places, but he also chose to fly at night when there were more people around.

　Three days later, Satoru reapplied the art that had been applied to the outside of Yamato.

　This was because the art applied in Deligrande was art for airships in the Ancient Magic Kingdom era, and was not necessarily suitable for the enclosed Yamato. Leia and Solor identified the problem by rubbing their foreheads against each other and incorporated the countermeasure into the chanting, which was completed that day.

　Since Satoru was a novice when it came to sorcery chanting, he left it entirely up to Solor and Leia. After reapplying the art, Satoru asked Leia,

「By the way, how did you improve it?」

「The best way to increase the anti-magic and anti-physical defenses and to reduce the problem of the difference in atmospheric pressure is to clothe it with a thin layer of wind. The rest is simply increased strength. And I also added a 【Distraction】 so it should be less noticeable unnecessarily.」

「I see.」

　In this world, the means of flying are limited to taming flying beasts or individual sorcery. Occasionally, magic tools containing 【Levitation】 or 【Flight】 can be found in labyrinths, but this is rare. In other words, it is rare and conspicuous to see a being other than a bird soaring in the sky. Although 【Distraction】 is not a foolproof art, it at least reduces the rate of attention.

　Three days after the reapplication, Satoru dropped Yamato off in a certain forest, left Solor in charge, and stopped at a town called Teichel.

　This was for the final restocking for the trip to Nevis, the Sacred Mountain.

　Since the weather was expected to get colder, they bought a large amount of cotton and cloth that could be used as bedding.

「What are we going to do with all this cotton?」

　Rico, who had no idea of the purpose of this, was so confused that she was bewildered. When Satoru replied that he intended to use it for a bed, Rico was taken aback. He said, "It just so happened that Teichel was in a region where you could get it cheaply", but using cotton as bedding is a luxury that only the nobility would have.

「I'd love to make a comforter out of feathers」

　When he replied, she was even more stunned. Isolde and Minerva take on the role of carriers while 【Shrinked】 by Leia, who is hiding in Satoru's shadow.

　Rico replenished the supplies, mainly food, and here Satoru encountered an unexpected pleasure.

　It was the presence of rice.

　This world was based on a wheat diet. The common people usually ate black bread. For the upper classes, soft-baked bread called white bread seems to be the staple food, but black bread, while not bad, is basically hard and has a strong presence of barley. It keeps well for a long time, but as time goes by, it becomes harder and harder. Therefore, it is usually eaten soaked in soup or other dishes.

　However, although he was sure he had found rice, unfortunately, the taste was not satisfactory for Satoru. He was allowed to sample several rice-based dishes, including rice steamed, dried, powdered, and then made into rice cakes, rice flour as noodles, and even as pizza dough. There was a culture of eating rice as it was, but it was mainly steamed or boiled rather than cooked to include all of the water, and it was often made into porridge or, at best, a paella-like dish. It was not a culture where rice was eaten as onigiri (rice balls) or as rice cooked in a bowl.

　After careful consideration, Satoru decided to buy five kinds of rice, both brown and polished.

　He bought 10 pounds (15 kg) each of brown rice and polished rice. The store owner was astonished, but he was even more astonished by Satoru's physical strength, as he lightly lifted a 100-pound bale of rice by tying it to a string.

　Incidentally, he also purchased a total of two pounds of wheat.

「For the time being, I don't know which ones are suitable for cooking. Mixing them up is a must too.」

「......I didn't think Satoru would be so particular about it.」

　Rico, who was accompanying Satoru as he feverishly examined the rice, blurted out somewhat tiredly. Satoru's reply was straightforward.

「Because I'm from a country of rice.」

　―Of course, Rico did not get the joke.

　With a question mark filling her face, he told Rico about Satoru's food culture.

「Rice, cook(炊く)? I don't understand what you mean by "cook". Is it different from boiling?」

「No, it is not. Cooking is when you turn on the heat and let the grains get all the water in them.」

「...... Hmm, is it right to think of it as a state in which the water has gone after boiling?」

「It's a little different, but ...... there's no culture of cooking the rice in this world?」

　Rico, who knew a lot about things, didn't seem to know either. Leia, by the way, also did not know about it. When she was human, she had eaten rice once, but it was milk porridge, and she had only recognized it as a mysterious grain at the time.

　Liz, Isolde, and Minerva, who had been shopping separately, also returned, so he asked them about it. Surprisingly, Isolde returned.

「I have heard that some tribes, like the Parmelant, have established their own food culture with such cooking methods.」

「A-at the tribal level, ......, there are not so many allies」

　The people of the country of rice often lamented. But anyway, he got the rice, so Satoru is determined to study the best way to cook it, considering the mixture, the amount of water, and so on.

「Now all we need is miso(味噌) and soy sauce(醤油)! I can't find it anywhere!」

「Miso(みそ)? Soy sauce(しょうゆ)? What's that?」

「It's a seasoning made from fermented soybeans.」

「I know soybeans, but I'm not sure what you mean by "Hakko(fermented)". ...... What? Like six months? Isn't that rotten?」

　He thought the conversation was not going well, but it seems that Leia was talking to Rico in 【Telepathic】 communication. Satoru remembered that he had talked to Leia about fermentation before.

　The men of the town occasionally cast a disapproving glance at Satoru as he walks around with the beautiful girl, but it soon faded away. He is carrying ten 10-pound bales of rice, tied together with a string. Even an ordinary man who boasts his physical strength would be able to carry a bale of rice, but there aren't many men who can walk around with such a weight on their backs and still have time to talk to each other.

　In other words, they stand out. It was Isolde who noticed this point.

「Um, ...... Milord」

「Hmm?」

「I know that your physical strength is extraordinary, but I think it would be conspicuous if you were carrying bales full of rice in such a large quantity and so lightly.」

　Satoru stopped moving. He was so happy to get the rice that the thought had slipped his mind. He glanced around him and saw that the townspeople were looking at him with a stiff gaze.

「I've done it. ......」

　Satoru once took down the bundle of rice bales and ordered Leia to 【Shrink】 them down to a smaller size, then threw them back into the leather bag and put them back on his back. It's a little late for that.

　Isolde, by the way, had no knowledge of miso and soy sauce. However, after listening to her talk in detail, she told him that in some northern regions, there is a seasoning made from fermented fish.

　As the former head of the Holy Sword Clan, Isolde has information from all over the world. Food culture is one of the things she knows about.

「Fish sauce,......, Nyokumam, Nam Pla, shotsuru, huh? Certainly a good substitute for soy sauce.」

「Uobisio, I hear it is called. But after Nevis, it is tentatively Rothfort, right? We don't plan to travel that way.」

　Ngugu, Satoru groans. But now that he has rice, he still wants soy sauce, even if it is a substitute. But since even Rico didn't know about it, it was unlikely to be commonly available. Unlike modern Japan, where Satoru lived, the distribution of soy sauce is not so well developed. At least, it was not sold in the town of Teichel.

「...... A-anyway, we're going to keep traveling in the future, so we'll look for it in every town we stop at.」

「I don't know what it is, but you're very enthusiastic about it,...... I understand. I'll keep that in mind.」

　The shopping for this party was basically left in Rico's hands. Satoru's enthusiasm has led to the addition of "uobisio" seasoning to their future purchases for now.

　Also, during this journey, one thing that had been a problem since he was summoned to this world was finally resolved.

　It was the toilet paper problem.

　Satoru has been using hemp and cotton scraps as toilet paper up to this point, and although he has gradually become accustomed to it, it is still difficult for a modern Japanese person to use such cloth to dispose of excrement in the butt hole. And even though they were scraps, they were expensive, and replenishing them was honestly a hassle. Rico said that it was an outrageous extravagance, and she also criticized it.

　As it turned out, Satoru made it himself.

　The hint came from papyrus.

　Papyrus is a simple paper made by pounding a strong fibrous plant, laying it out, stretching it, piling it up, and drying it. He had never thought of using papyrus for wiping his butt hole because it was too stiff to be used for that purpose, but he suddenly thought of a strong-fiber plant that is made by washing moss or soft tree bark in cold water, sandwiching it between rocks, and then using sorcery to remove the water.

　It is simple wood pulp.

　Isolde told Satoru that in some regions, sponges are also used to wipe the butt hole, and it occurred to him that moss is almost inexhaustible in the forests and woodlands, and since it is a soft material, it can be easily processed.

　After repeated trial and error, and after repeatedly forcing Solor to use sorcery to dry it, he finally produced something he was satisfied with.

　His companions were staring at the soft, mysterious material, which could neither be called cloth nor paper, but it was well received. Satoru personally was dissatisfied with the color, as it was not the pure white that Satoru knows, but the texture was good and the slime melted away with no problem, so that settles it.

　Basically, Solor would make it while everyone was asleep. Solor was rather pleased with this extra work at night.

「The work itself can be finished in one hour (40 minutes), and if everyone is happy like this, I am happy too.」

　The Yamato's cabin has been almost completely renovated, and comfortable space has been prepared.

　Traveling in your own home in the sky ― it's easy. At any rate, you won't get into any unnecessary trouble on the streets.

　The home is also fully equipped with a bath, so the slaves can enjoy the hot water and have a good time.

　To tell the truth, the seeds of unnecessary trouble that had been sown up to this point were slowly germinating, but Satoru was unaware of this.

　Early in the morning three days later.

　The Middle Sea(?中つ海), where the Sacred Mountain Nevis, their immediate destination, is located, spreads out before their eyes.

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