The High Ogre maids were busy in the kitchen, focused on a new project. Curious about what they were making, I looked over and saw several short, bar-shaped items being prepared.
"It's a nutritional adjustment food," one of them explained.
Apparently, they were aiming for a product that could provide a full day’s worth of nutrients in a single bar for most races, or three to five for the larger species. I took one and had a bite.
...It wasn't exactly delicious.
"We prioritized nutrition over flavor. Oh, and since we used many filling ingredients, please don't eat the whole thing now. You won't have any room left for dinner."
That made sense.
"What do you think, Village Head?"
Even with them asking for my opinion, I couldn't say much beyond suggesting that they make it a bit easier to eat. I mentioned that adding flavors like chocolate or fruit might help.
"I see. We will take that into consideration."
By the way, what had prompted this sudden invention?
"Lady Yor requested it."
Yor? Was it for her meals while she was on guard duty? No, that didn't seem right. Knowing Yor, she probably wanted something she could eat while operating the Daedalus or the Siegfried.
"Exactly," the maid confirmed.
It was rare for the High Ogre maids to indulge that kind of hobby.
"The High Elves also requested portable emergency rations that are easy to carry."
I see.
"The High Elves have been making their own, but... well, they’re essentially rolled-up clumps of grass. The taste is quite unique, to put it mildly."
So bad you'd spit it out if you didn't know what it was?
"The grassy smell is overwhelming. However, it seems that once you finish one, you lose your appetite for about two days."
I wondered if that was actually healthy for the body.
"They say it’s a last resort."
I certainly hoped so. As a middle ground before reaching that point, they had developed these new bars.
A few days later, they finished several varieties: chocolate, fruit, honey, cheese, yogurt, and wheat.
...Wheat flavor? Not bread flavor?
"It's wheat-flavored."
"Is it good?"
"No, it's terrible."
"Then why make it?"
"Lady Yor insisted that it had to taste awful."
She certainly had some strange fixations.
"The wheat flavor is exclusively for Lady Yor, so we only plan to produce it in small batches."
"Please do."
What were they calling these things?
"We haven't given it much thought, but wouldn't 'Portable Ration Bar' be fine?"
I agreed. As for production numbers?
"We’ve made them suitable for long-term storage, but we aren't sure how well they'll actually hold up. Once we check the ones we have here... oh?"
The Fairy Queen was reaching for a plate piled with the fruit and honey-flavored bars. She was grabbing them by the handful.
"Fairy Queen, you can't have all of them. Leave at least half. And don't let the children eat them—these are emergency rations. If they eat them now, they won't be able to finish their dinner."
When I told her that, she let go of the plate but still made off with several bars of each flavor.
"The fruit and honey versions will probably be popular. Once we've confirmed the shelf life, we'll start regular production."
The High Ogre maid smiled as she spoke. They were quite soft on the Fairy Queen.
"Not as soft as you are, Village Head."
"Was that true? I intended to be quite strict with her. Yes, I was sure of it."
Since autumn had arrived, training for the martial arts tournament began across the village. Everyone usually trained anyway, but things were becoming noticeably more intense. It was good to see everyone so energetic.
On the other hand, some of the Angels came to me asking for a kotatsu. It wasn't even cold yet.
"We want to install it on the airship. Sipping tea in a kotatsu while relaxing in a spacious cabin... it would be wonderful."
These were the Angels who had volunteered for the airship's flight crew. I understood the sentiment, but wasn't the temperature inside the ship already regulated by magic tools? Wouldn't a kotatsu just get in the way?
"Village Head, a kotatsu serves as both a table and bedding," one explained with a very serious face.
Well, as long as the heat retention stones were removed, I suppose it wouldn't be a problem. I gave them a spare table and a futon.
"Also, we'll need that floor made of woven grass."
"Woven grass? Oh, tatami."
It was true that a kotatsu felt incomplete without tatami. I agreed to give them some of that, too.
"Yay!"
Initially, I thought about putting it in the crew's private quarters, but once I installed it and sat down, I realized the windows were too high to see out of. We moved the project to a first-class cabin instead. Those rooms had large windows, so the view would be excellent even from a low position. Since the airship was slated for trade for the time being, the first-class cabins were empty anyway.
I could have used the special cabin, which also had great windows, but that room was already fully furnished. Plus, Lu and Tia were fond of the special cabin, so I didn't want to mess with it.
I tried laying out the tatami and setting up the kotatsu in the first-class cabin. It ended up feeling like a bit of a patchwork Japanese-style room.
"Is it because of the beds?" someone asked.
That was a good point. There were six beds lined up in the cabin, and they really stood out once you were sitting in the kotatsu. I decided to remove the beds and just use futons for sleeping.
"That would certainly make the room feel more spacious."
In that case, I needed to cover the entire floor with tatami.
"But if you do that, won't the door get stuck?"
The cabin doors opened inward to keep the hallways clear. If I covered every inch of the floor with tatami, the door would hit the mats and wouldn't open. However, we needed a place to take off our shoes anyway, so creating a sunken entryway—a doma—near the door solved the problem.
Before finalizing the doma, I had to lay out the tatami. Since they weren't custom-made for the ship, I had to see if they would even fit.
"...There's a bit of a gap left."
Indeed. Once the floor was covered, a gap of about ten centimeters remained between the mats and the wall. Even if I rearranged the direction of the mats, a gap appeared somewhere. I gathered the empty space in an inconspicuous corner and filled the void with wooden planks.
Next, I installed the single-mat-sized doma by the door, surrounding it with a wooden frame to keep the tatami from sliding. I also added a shoe cupboard and a slipper rack.
Finally, I installed the main attraction: the kotatsu. I tended to think of airships as steady, but they did sway. To prevent the kotatsu from sliding and becoming a hazard, I secured it firmly to the floor, just like the original tables and beds.
"Village Head, we need a place to store the futons."
Right. Leaving them in a corner would make the place look like a cheap dorm. The room would lose a little space, but I decided to build a built-in closet.
"It's still wider than it was with all those beds," the Angels noted.
That was true.
"Oh, and we'll need a place to dry the futons."
The airship windows were sealed shut, so drying them in the room was out of the question. However, the area above the cabin section—under the gas bags—had excellent ventilation. When I went up to investigate, I found rows of retractable drying racks already installed for sheets and laundry. I hadn't noticed them on my previous trip.
"With these, we can dry the futons easily."
Indeed.
I finished remodeling the first-class cabin into a Japanese-style room. Personally, the clash between the tatami and the ship’s original pillars and wallpaper bothered me, but the Angels loved it. They were already fighting over spots in the kotatsu.
"Since it's a six-person room, isn't it a problem that the kotatsu only fits four?"
...I replaced it with a larger model that could seat eight.
Given the size of the crew and the guards, I wondered if I should convert the other first-class cabin too. Then again, there were surely Angels who preferred Western-style rooms. It would be fine for now.
However, when we eventually built a new airship, I'd make sure we designed Japanese-style rooms into the blueprints from the start.