Chapter 11

This time it's a bit shorter.

Next time, I'll make it longer.

After parting ways with Father Nord for a moment, I went to look at what was being sold in the square.

I want to find delicious and useful things in this fantasy world. It would be great if there were rice or something. I wonder if the colorful mushrooms I saw earlier are okay?

Also, I want to go to the cafeteria and try the regular food. What kind of dishes do the common people in this world eat? They seem to eat eggs, but there's no rice for an omelet. Maybe there's tamagoyaki? If not, I'll have to get someone to make a special frying pan.

If they serve Japanese food, I'll really have to talk to Baltro.

First, I headed to the young man selling vegetables nearby.

"Hey, are you here to trade or to buy?"

My entire fortune today consists of two silver coins from Mother Elna and ten copper coins from Baltro. It's more than enough pocket money in a rural village.

"Um, I'll buy."

Laid out on a rough cloth like hemp are vegetables.

Peas, spinach, carrots, potatoes, and dried fruits. Hmm, that's nice.

"Hey, how much is all of this?"

"Ah, the dried fruits are two copper coins for a wooden box, peas are five bandit coins, spinach is two bandit coins each, carrots are five bandit coins for two, and potatoes are one copper coin for five. So, um, all together—"

"Four copper coins and two bandit coins, right?"

"Ah, yeah, probably about that much. Are you good at arithmetic?"

"Um, I guess I'm pretty good?"

"If you can do arithmetic at your age, you have a bright future ahead."

Smiling, the young man wrapped the vegetables in the cloth.

"You have to bring your own bag to avoid being charged, so bring something to put things in next time. This time it's on the house."

"Got it! Thanks."

In exchange for the young man's vegetables, I handed over four copper coins and two bandit coins from my pocket.

By the way, the currency in this world is like this:

Black gold coin: 10 million yen

Platinum coin: 1 million yen

Large gold coin: 100,000 yen

Gold coin: 10,000 yen

Silver coin: 1,000 yen

Copper coin: 100 yen

Bandit coin: 10 yen

It seems to be a decimal system. I'm glad there are no awkward denominations like 2 yen, 20 yen, or 2,000 yen. It would get complicated if there were more.

Then, a little away from the square, I used spatial magic to store what I had just bought.

This is one of the spatial magic techniques. Recently, I've been thinking about what else I can do besides teleportation, and through trial and error, I've developed this. I can also distort space to crush objects, cut through space, and apply gravity to a small extent.

This storage magic allows me to freely take out and put things into a subspace.

When stored in the subspace, it seems that time does not exist, so food doesn't spoil. This way, I can always have ingredients available wherever I go.

Merchants would probably want this magic more than anything.

To store things in the subspace, I just open a gate-like image of the space and put things in, which is easy. However, it's difficult to retrieve things as intended. I have to clearly imagine the item I want to retrieve, so I need to remember what I've stored. If I have multiple of the same item, I can grasp how many are left by imagining just one, which is a relief.

After that, I bought a lot of various foods and materials that could be used for play.

Do I remember everything? I need to take notes and remember everything so I don't fumble like a future cat robot when retrieving items.

After a while, Father Nord returned to the square.

The meeting with the village chief was over.

"What were you doing?"

"I was looking around to see what was being sold. The rainbow mushrooms looked really suspicious."

"Ahaha, you'll understand when you grow up."

Ah, I see, they were that kind of thing. When I asked the lady selling them, she just said, "I wonder?" and treated me like a child.

"Father Nord, let's have a little lunch."

"Hmm, sure. Since we're here, let's try some of the village's dishes."

By the way, in this world, hardworking farmers often snack and eat four meals a day.

Sometimes it's because the calories per meal are low, but in poor areas, people often collapse from physical labor after eating only two nutrient-poor meals a day.

Recently, our whole family has been eating three meals a day. After all, it's best to eat in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.

We entered a cafeteria with a sign depicting a spoon, fork, and a beer-like image.

Pictures are great because they convey information to everyone, even those who can't read.

"Welcome! Ah, my lord!"

When we entered the shop, a plump woman in an apron greeted us.

"Hey, Sera. How are you doing?"

"Hey, thanks to the spaghetti from your place, I've had more customers and it's been a big help. But recently, the salt is running low."

Ah, we use a little salt for boiling, but fortunately, a nearby friendly village produces a lot of salt, so we can get it cheaply, though salt is generally expensive.

"Hmm, that was Al's idea. This kid, this kid."

"Is this kid Alphred?"

"Yep."

"Wow. Do you have any new dishes?"

Think of them yourself. You are a chef, after all. But maybe it's natural for your mind to become rigid when you inherit things from your parents or take them for granted.

For example, in elementary school, I never questioned starting roll call with boys and then girls. And the custom of taking the husband's surname after marriage.

"Hmm, I do have some ideas, but I don't have the tools or the sauce."

"Do you? Tools? If you need tools, I can have Logan make them for you?"

"Really!?"

"Leave it to me. I'll talk to that stubborn old man. In return, you have to teach me right away."

"Okay, I will! I'll also teach you some variations."

After the deal, it's time for lunch.

"Al, do you want to be a chef?"

Father Nord asked me with a wry smile.

"No, cooking is just a hobby. We have Baltro, so that's enough."

"Ahaha, I see... I don't understand."

In the end, there was no Japanese food.

The menu included soup, stew, and spaghetti. That's a shame. There are so few options. I need to add more.

If you have any suggestions for this kind of play or daily life, I might consider them.