「Where would you like to look around?」
「Let’s go see the market first.」
We headed to the Quilbas marketplace and went around looking at the foodstuff.
「Takumi-samaaa! They have grilled skewers!」
「Then let’s buy one for everybody.」
Finding Milk Buffalo meat skewers, Maria asked for some. I was also interested, so I decided to buy for everyone, even a portion for Kaede who is currently inn-sitting.
「Nom, Ta, kumi-sama, that, nom, also, nom, looks good.」
「Maria, don’t talk while you’re eating, if there’s something you’ll want then we’ll buy it.」
While stuffing her cheeks full, Maria asked for the next delicious-looking food.
「Even so, there really are a lot.」
「Yes, there are more varieties of sausage here than in Volton.」
「There were no sausages in the beastman villages.」
「Then why don’t we buy all kinds of sausages to take home?」
「Yes!」
Laeva’s village was apparently a poor, scanty village, and they had no surplus to make preserved food with. Condiments were nearly nonexistent, and they’ve only recently learned of flavors aside from salt.
「Still, because I started sending the wages I’ve received from Takumi-sama there, I’ve received a letter saying that they’re no longer having difficulty over food.」
「I see, what a relief. Wouldn’t they be happy if we send household items next time?」
「You’re right. When I’ve become able to make magic devices, I’ll send them useful magic devices.」
「Then let’s send a Purifier DM and hand pump together with your next remittance.」
「Eh, is that alright?」
「You have a little brother, don’t you? I think it would definitely be useful for them.」
「Thank you very much.」
I heard from Laeva that it’s hard for inland villages to buy salt. Now that she mentions it, Bohd Village was a marginal village[1] at first too.
After that, we bought and snacked on all sorts of new vegetables, sausage-like processed food, as well as purchased spices and eggs.
「Even Quilbas’s staple food is wheat, isn’t it?」
「Yes, I believe wheat is the staple wherever you are in Valkyra Kingdom.」
「The staple in my village was korne[2] flour.」
Apparently Laeva’s village mixes the Korne, an ingredient similar to corn flour, with water and lightly toasts it into tortilla-like product, and it is their staple food.
「Let’s see, I don’t remember it very well, but I think it was wheat bread for us.」
Maria was sold to the Moulin Slavery Company at a young age so she says her memories are vague.
「So there’s nothing like rice, huh.」
「Rice? If I remember correctly, Samandour Kingdom largely live off of grain.」
「Eh! It exists! Rice!」
Even though I’m fine without eating Japanese food when staying in a foreign country, it’s not like I wouldn’t eat rice. My sudden outburst surprised Sophia.
「Y-yes, if I am not mistaken, a part of Lomaria Kingdom cultivates it as well. I believe Valkyra Kingdom does not know how it is eaten therefore it isn’t circulated here very much.」
「Takumi-sama, this is just a guess, but it might be sold at the Royal Capital.」
「Wha! Shoot!」
When Maria pointed it out, I was astounded by the possibility.
To take a peek at the Royal Capital’s marketplace. I was dragged around by Sophia and Maria, we even went to clothes shops one after the other and yet I forgot to check out the marketplace.
「I have to do my best to raise the skill level of my Time-Space attribute magic!」
「Do you want to eat rice that much?」
Sophia was astounded, but it can’t be helped. My Time-Space attribute magic is at level 6. I’m now able to activate Short Warp instantly and stably. But I’m not able to use Long Warp yet. My intuition is telling me that I would definitely be able to do it at level 8 or higher. Among the magic that I written in my research into Time-Space attribute magic in the library, the four I can’t use are 『Long Warp』, 『Dimension Cutter』, 『Gate』, 『Time Operation』. If I can use Long Warp or Gate, I can go to the Royal Capital anytime.
「Takumi-sama! Leaving that aside, isn’t this it?」
Absorbed in my own thoughts, Maria called out to me and pointed at a shop selling milk. They’ve set up not a street stall, but a proper store.
「R-right, we’re buying milk and dairy products right now.」
Distracting myself from my embarrassment, I went binge shopping for milk. If it’s stored in the Item Box, its freshness is maintained, so there’s no problem with buying as much as I could buy. Knowing that it could be used in cooking, the girls did not object.
Having the milk store refer us to another shop that deals with cheese, we headed there next.
「Bloomy rind, fresh, blue mould, semi hard and hard types of cheeses, huh. It looks like there’s no washed rind type of cheese.」
There are various types of cheeses displayed in the cheese shop. We sampled each of them and respectively bought the cheeses that were to our liking..
Sophia and Maria bought large quantities of the bloomy rind type and the soft fresh type that had no peculiar odors. Laeva was pleased with the semi hard types and kept bringing some to me. I eat all types so I bought a bit of the blue mold and hard types as well.
「Really~ Dear customer is buying splendidly~. We are very grateful though, yes.」
「It’s because it is Quilbas’ specialties, after all. Now, there’s something I’d like to ask, but do you know a shop that sells seasonings and alcohol?」
「For seasonings, if you go all the way to the right, there is a shop near the end. For alcohol, it is three stores next to the aforementioned shop.」
「Thank you.」
Following the cheese shop’s owner’s suggestion, we then bought a variety of items from the liquor store and seasoning shop. Sophia seemed to want to drink wine, so we bought a barrel of wine and ale.
「Sorry, Sophia. You held back on drinking alcohol, didn’t you?」
「It is fine. I understand that Takumi-sama and Maria have just barely reached adulthood, so I thought you didn’t know the taste of alcohol.」
I feel bad for Sophia. I wasn’t much of a drinker even in Japan, and since coming to this world, even though I’m considered an adult, I still intuitively come out as a 15 year old child.
「From here on, let’s try out different kinds of alcohol and find ones we like.」
「Yes.」
「Ah, please let Maria drink as well.」
「Since I didn’t drink when I was in my village too, I’d like to try drinking.」
「Okay then, how about everyone drinks a bit during dinner tonight?」
「「「Yes.」」」
After that, we found and bought bacon and ham, then returned to the inn once we were satisfied with the massive amount of groceries we bought.
***
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