After Michael-san left, Rusty spent a few days away providing his transportation. When she finally returned, she brought Draim along with her.
"Welcome back," I said. "And thanks for the hard work."
It seemed Draim had come specifically looking for seafood. The fried dishes were especially well-received. He showed a great deal of interest in the squid I had hanging up, but since they weren't dry yet, I didn't let him touch them. I also tried making a dashi stock using some small dried fish... it wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was quite delicious.
Come to think of it, I wondered why river fish usually tasted so muddy while sea fish seemed normal. The theory was that muddy river fish tended to eat their food along with the soil and stones on the riverbed. Apparently, there are places where river fish don't have that muddy taste; they just don't happen to live around here.
The sea fish were a massive hit with Kuro and the others as well. At first, they ate them as they were, but once I fed them fish with the entrails removed, they refused to eat them any other way.
I suppose I've taught them the joys of a refined palate. I felt a bit of regret over that.
I also remembered something about not giving honey to babies. I couldn't recall the specific reason, but I had a nagging memory of seeing something like that on TV in my previous world, so I decided not to let them have any. To make sure no one ate it by mistake, I tried to think of sweets that used as little honey as possible.
In the end, I decided to simply enjoy sweet potatoes and chestnuts. I knew how to roast sweet potatoes, but I didn't know the proper way to roast chestnuts, which led to some trouble. If you don't cut a slit in a chestnut before roasting it, it will explode. That was quite an ordeal.
Besides, when it came to sweets, the various fruits we grew were already excellent, so I felt there wasn't much need to branch out further. Making pudding had been a mistake—even now, every time I made a batch, a fight broke out because I couldn't make enough for everyone.
I wondered if I should hold off on making ice cream. Even though I hadn't even started yet, people were already somehow pressuring me to make it. When I finally finished a batch, a conflict very similar to the "pudding wars" erupted. At the very least, I knew the reception was good.
While I was out harvesting mushrooms, a sudden curiosity struck me, and I tried digging into the ground. I ended up finding truffles. When I had used the Universal Farming Tool to grow mushrooms, I had used my vague knowledge that truffles grew near tree roots. It had been a "it would be nice if this worked" kind of experiment, but I managed to harvest about ten large black truffles.
They were high-end ingredients in my previous world, but I wondered how they were viewed here. Personally, I never thought they were all that delicious; I much preferred shiitake. Maybe I just never had a "proper" truffle back in my old world.
When I showed them to the others, they were shocked. Apparently, truffles existed in this world too, but they were so rarely found that only the incredibly wealthy ever tasted them. They were known as "Black Jewels."
"In that case," I asked, "should I stop trying to grow more?"
The entire village immediately urged me to increase production. I worried about crashing the market price, but I figured it would be fine as long as we didn't ship them out.
Anyway, we tried eating the ones I'd harvested. The High Ogre Race knew how to process them, so I left the preparation to them. They ground some into powder to sprinkle over dishes and sliced others to be eaten with the food. As I expected, I didn't think they were anything special. I still liked shiitake better.
However, it seemed I was the only one with such a lukewarm reaction. Lu, Tia, Rusty, and Frau savored every bite, and the others ate theirs with a mix of trepidation and focus. The Beastman Race were practically weeping with joy.
Kuro and the others wanted some too, but since there wasn't much to go around, I only gave some to Kuro and Yuki. Their tails wagged with frightening intensity. Meanwhile, the stares from Kuro's children—the ones who didn't get a taste—were truly terrifying.
Yes, I’ll get right on increasing production.
Later, a message arrived from Michael-san via small wyvern. It seemed the goats, horses, and dried kombu were ready. He had also managed to gather a decent amount of the shrimp and crab I had requested.
To my surprise, people in this world apparently ate shrimp but rarely touched crab. I thought there might be something wrong with the flavor, but according to Michael, people just didn't view them as food. What a waste.
Wait, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I needed to taste them first. There was probably a reason they weren't considered edible. Regardless, they were ready, so I wanted to go fetch them.
Once again, my request to leave the village was rejected. I knew I couldn't just leave the fields unattended, but still...
In the end, Rusty went to pick them up, with Frau acting as our representative since she was already an acquaintance of Michael's. When they returned a few days later, I was stunned. Rusty was in her dragon form, and she had unconscious goats and horses strapped to her back.
"They were thrashing around so much, I didn't have any other choice," Rusty explained.
"Well, I suppose it would be weirder if they stayed calm while being carried by a dragon. Are they hurt?"
"They seem okay. And even if they were injured, I can just use recovery magic."
Fair enough. At any rate, we finally had goats and horses. They were our newest companions.
I had initially thought about keeping them with the cows, but I wondered if it would be better to separate them. I decided to expand the Cow Area. I took the current size of eight-by-eight field plots and expanded it to the northeast, making it a total of twelve-by-twelve plots. At the same time, I officially renamed it the Ranch Area.
Two male goats and eight females were released there, along with one male and one female horse. I hoped they would grow up healthy, but the goats tried to escape multiple times right away. One of them actually managed to slip past Kuro's security and boldly ran into the forest, only to come sprinting back after being attacked by a fanged rabbit. After that, the escape attempts stopped completely. The horses, on the other hand, were obedient from the very beginning.
To balance out the Ranch Area, I expanded the Dog Area to the east, though it made the layout a bit long. I planted some grass and trees to provide shade. I debated changing the name to the Wolf Area or the Kuro Area, or maybe even the Watchdog Area. None of them felt quite right, so I decided to keep calling it the Dog Area.
Finally, we sat down to enjoy the seafood. I used the dried kombu to make a dashi and prepared a soup. Everyone was amazed by the flavor. While the High Elves and the Beastman Race had never eaten shrimp before, they enjoyed them without any issues.
However, the crab was a different story. For some reason, everyone was hesitant. The only ones who had no resistance to the idea of eating it were me, the High Ogres, and Rusty. It was surprising that even Lu and Tia were put off by it.
The crabs looked very similar to the horsehair crabs I knew from my previous world. Wait... did they think it looked like one of Zabuton's children?
I went to check with Zabuton just in case. "Is it okay for us to eat these?"
Her answer was a definite "Yes." Apparently, they weren't related at all. That was a relief.
I gave it a try, and the taste was excellent. In fact, it was delicious. I realized that very few people in this world knew how good it was. Those of us who were eating it looked at each other and nodded. There was no need to force the others to eat it if they didn't want to.
Raw, boiled, or grilled—it was all fantastic.
A few days later, Draim came by specifically requesting crab, but by then, there wasn't a single one left. The only downside was that your hands ended up smelling like crab afterward. I made sure to wash my hands in water with lemon juice.
I’ll have to put in another order with Michael-san soon.
(Scale: One square is approximately 50x50 meters)
□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆Ranch◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□Field Field Chick Field ○○○○○○○○○○○○ ━Upper Waterway━━━━━Pond Pond □Field ◇◇ Field ○Dog ○○○○○○○○○○○○ ━Drainage System━━━━━Pond Pond □Field ◇◇ Field ○○○○○○○○○○○○ □□□□□□□□□□□□Field House House Dorm ○○○○○○○○○○○○ □□□□▼Bath ▼▼▼▼▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼Residential ▼△New Field △△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□▼▼▼▼▼Inn ▼△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△
The river is about five kilometers in that direction. ← The wasabi water paddy is so small it hasn't been included in the map.