Chapter 5

After giving powdered milk to all the babies in the village (leaving one can and a bottle at each house with instructions on how to use them) and making all the sick villagers drink Lipovit, the two returned to the living room of the mansion to start their next task: preparing a communal meal.

However, the two were utterly exhausted from their non-stop activity without sleep, so they decided to take a short break, sitting down and drinking Lipovit.

"Oh, this medicine is really delicious. It's quite different from what I expected."

Valleta, holding the Lipovit given by Ichirou with both hands as if it were precious, sipped it slowly and said.

"Right? I like the taste too, and I drink it... not every day, but sometimes."

In reality, he started each day by drinking one Lipovit every morning, but saying he drank medicine every day would sound strange, so he changed his wording.

"By the way, the food situation in this village seems quite bad. Could you tell me what happened?"

Since returning to the village, Ichirou had been wondering about this, and when he asked, Valleta's expression darkened.

"It hasn't rained for a long time, and the drought has dried up the water in the reservoirs..."

"Ahh, so the crops were destroyed by the drought..."

As Ichirou nodded in understanding at Valleta's words, she continued, looking pained.

"The direct cause is the drought, but in the past, we could have managed by drawing water from a large river a bit away. However, due to the war that lasted until four years ago, most of the young people in the village have died... When there's a long drought like this, the lack of manpower makes it impossible to protect the crops."

"Was there a war until recently?"

"Huh?"

At Ichirou's words, Valleta showed a puzzled expression for a moment, but then, as if she had understood something, she began to explain the war to Ichirou.

"Yes, for six years until four years ago, there was a war between Valbar and our country, Arcadia. I don't know the details of why the war started, but I heard from one of Lord Nelson's retainers that Valbar suddenly invaded. Young men from our village were also conscripted as soldiers, and as the war progressed, there weren't enough people, so even women, except for the elderly and young children, were sent to war."

Listening to Valleta, Ichirou grunted. From her story, it seemed that the war between Valbar and Arcadia was a harsh battle for Arcadia, to the point where even elderly men and women were conscripted. The fact that he hadn't seen Valleta's mother since arriving in the village might mean she had died in the war.

"Valbar was also at war with other countries, but four years ago, all the countries at war with Valbar formed an alliance. With the alliance, the countries began to coordinate, and even the powerful Valbar seemed to run out of steam. As a result, an eight-year ceasefire agreement was signed at Valbar's request."

"All the countries had reached their limits after a long war, I see."

In other words, the massive casualties from the war had led to a labor shortage, which was still causing problems in Arcadia. The sudden reduction in young people, who were the main labor force, had likely led to a decrease in food production, a decline in population, and a further reduction in labor, creating a vicious cycle. Probably, other towns and cities in Arcadia were in a similar situation.

"This is the fourth year of the ceasefire, so it will expire in four years. If the war resumes in four years, I think I will be conscripted as a soldier."

At these words, Ichirou was speechless. Even a young woman like Valleta, who seemed completely unsuited for battle, might be forcibly dragged to the battlefield in four years. Unable to say anything, Ichirou remained silent, and Valleta said, "Well, let's get started on preparing the meal. Thanks to the medicine from Kazura, I'm not tired at all."

With a smile, Valleta stood up, and Ichirou, responding with "Right, let's do it," also stood up.

"There's a large pot in the shed that we use for festival dishes. With it, we can make enough food for all the villagers. However, since it's large, we'll need a lot of firewood, so we'll have to ask the villagers to share."

"Got it... I'll prepare the pot, and Valleta, can you go around and tell the villagers to bring firewood? Also, if they could bring some water, that would be helpful."

"Understood. My father should be waking up soon, so please ask him about how to place the pot."

With that, Valleta told Ichirou where the shed was and said, "I'll be back. Please prepare everything well," before running out of the mansion grounds. Ichirou watched her go, then muttered to himself,

"War... I wonder where I'll be and what I'll be doing when it happens."

"Wow, this is huge. With this, we can easily make enough for a hundred people."

Shortly after, the village chief woke up, and together they pulled out a large bronze pot from the shed, which was about a meter in diameter. Ichirou marveled at its size. It was at least 50 cm deep, and with it, they could make enough porridge for a hundred people.

"Yes, every festival season, we use this pot to make a lot of soup for the villagers. We hunt Kafuku in the mountains and add a lot of meat and vegetables, so it's very popular with the villagers."

"Hmm, meat soup, huh? It must be even more delicious when made in large quantities."

While nodding to the village chief's story, Ichirou thought, "Kafuku is probably something like a deer or a boar. And does the word 'soup' even work here?"

"By the way, what kind of grain will we use for the porridge?"

"It's not a very flavorful food, but it's a nutritious grain. We usually cook it as a regular meal, but since many people are weak, I thought we'd make it into porridge."

While explaining to the village chief, Ichirou and the chief made a stone base for the pot in the shed, placed the pot on it, and added 30 kg of unpolished rice. It seemed a bit much, but better to have too much than too little.

After finishing the preparations and learning more about the village's situation from the chief, the villagers began to arrive with firewood and buckets of water. Among them were some of the people Ichirou had given medicine and Lipovit to before sunrise.

"Thank you, Kazura. Thanks to you, I can walk again."

One of the villagers, taking Ichirou's hand, expressed gratitude and looked much better. It seemed that Lipovit was highly effective in this world.

"That's great. We're going to make a lot of porridge, so please eat your fill and get your strength back."

With the help of the arriving villagers, they filled the pot with water and set up the firewood. The villagers all thanked Ichirou deeply, and some of the mothers who had given their children powdered milk were so grateful that they cried and held Ichirou's hand. As Ichirou was surrounded by the villagers and thanked, Valleta returned, and everyone started preparing the communal meal together.

"This is delicious! I've never had such delicious porridge!"

"Really, it's got plenty of salt, and these pickled plums are sour but incredibly delicious!"

After about two hours, the porridge was finally ready, and Ichirou, letting Valleta join the eating side, served the porridge to the villagers. The villagers, upon tasting the porridge, all exclaimed in surprise and joy, "Delicious!"

"Come to think of it, the Arcadian bug soup I had yesterday had almost no flavor. There were no seasonings at all, I guess."

In a world where even salt is likely traded at a high price, the taste probably comes mostly from the ingredients themselves. Ichirou could understand why Valleta and the village chief had said the Arcadian bug soup was delicious.

"Hey, mister, why are you dressed so weird?"

"Huh?"

While serving the porridge to the villagers, who were happily coming back for seconds, a 5-6 year old boy came up and tugged at Ichirou's clothes. Ichirou, for the first time, compared his own clothes to those of the villagers. Ichirou was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with thin stripes, jeans, and a bit expensive sneakers. In contrast, the villagers wore simple, rough-sewn plain clothes and sandals made of woven grass. Ichirou's clothes clearly stood out.

"Well, this is... "

"Colt!!"

As Ichirou was trying to think of an answer, a woman who seemed to be the boy's mother hurried over, picked up the boy, and deeply bowed, saying, "I'm sorry!" before running away with the child. Ichirou, wondering what was going on, noticed that all the villagers were staring at him with worried expressions, and the lively noise had turned into a tense silence.

"K, Kazura, what's... what's going on?"

"Um, is there something on my face?"

When Ichirou responded to Valleta, who had approached in a flustered manner, the tension in the air seemed to dissipate.

"Oh, no! Nothing! I, I'll get another serving too!"

"Ah, sure, go ahead."

While serving Valleta, Ichirou heard words like "That's good" and "Be careful" from a distance, but he hesitated to ask Valleta or the surrounding villagers what was going on, so he decided to forget about it.

"By the way, we have seven more bags of rice left, so after the communal meal, let's teach everyone how to make porridge and distribute it with pickled plums and salt. We'll bring more rice and salt from the country later, so you don't have to worry about food anymore."

While thinking about giving each household a can of peaches, Valleta whispered, almost inaudibly, "Thank you, Lord Graciel."