17-Big leaves and ravi ears

I hummed a song as I worked on the farm. As I dug up the soil to plant some eggplant seeds, an earthworm poked out. I transferred the earthworm to a different spot and buried it again.

Earthworms were good for the soil. I had to take good care of them.

"I'm sorry for digging you up. Make the soil all fertile, okay?"

Though there was that unexpected occurrence of not being able to return to my previous world, my days were just as usual. I gave water to my animals, milked my cows, and farmed in the field.

Whether I could return or not, time still passed and I still got hungry, and when the sky got dark I still grew sleepy. I still missed my grandpa and grandma. But even if I couldn't visit their graves, I could talk to them every night before I went to sleep, so that was alright.

Besides, even if the gate had disappeared, my cheat skill hadn't. Thank goodness.

Once I can harvest the eggplants, how should I cook them? Grilled eggplant, pickled eggplant, eggplant tempura, or maybe stuff them with minced meat and cook them like that. I would love to put them in some miso soup as well, but unfortunately, I didn't have any miso.

The problem of no soy sauce and no miso were the most important things that I had to resolve now that I was going to continue living in this world. I kept in mind to do something about it someday as I planted the seeds into the earth.

Just then, I heard the sound of a horse galloping.

Oh, he was here again today. Lately, he's been coming every day.

Despite the intense heat that was enough to have me sweating buckets in my regular clothes, he was still wearing that full body armor. He really had it hard.

Krish-san has been speeding by my house on a horse for the past few days. Just after noon, he would be rushing from town past my house, then rushing back to town after ten minutes.

Krish-san's horse was many times bigger than Brian and it was fast. The first time I'd heard his horse galloping, I was eating lunch and the sound of it had me spitting out my milk and hurrying out to investigate.

It had made such a loud racket, I'd thought there had been a landslide or something.

In fact, it was just the sound of Krish-san's horse running. He'd apparently been sent on errands by Firks-sama.

I kept on working even as I pictured the owner of that galloping horse. After listening to Norn's story the other day, I now knew what exactly Firks-sama's important duty was. At the same time, I realized that Firks-sama's knight Krish-san must be a very busy person as well. I thought I shouldn't casually call out and bother him.

However, Krish-san was a true gentleman; he always stopped and chatted with me whenever he saw me.

Today too, he got off his horse and took the time to come into my farm. Seeing that, I hurriedly came up to meet him.

"Krish-san, you're on an errand again today? Good work."

"Thank you. How are you, Shinobu?"

He probably knew about the gate disappearing and my inability to go home. That's why he was always checking up on me.

He asked me how I was yesterday and the other day, too. And I always thanked him and told him that I was doing fine.

"I'm great!! About the message I asked you to relay to Firks-sama, what did he say?"

When I'd heard about the situation with the trees of life, I'd wondered if my cheat skill could do something to help. So I asked Firks-sama if there was anything I could do.

Now that I was a permanent resident of this world, I thought I should do everything I could to ensure the continued existence of everyone.

Though for such a serious topic, when I spoke about it... I myself find that I didn't come across as serious at all.

"I've come to deliver Firks-sama's message. He says, 'I'm thankful for your feelings, but right now there's no need for your power to make vegetables grow fast. If there comes a time for it, I will definitely count on your help.'"

I knew it. Even Firks-sama, with his ability to talk to plants, didn't know the cause of the withering. So there was no place for my cheat skill.

"Then, I'll be leaving now," Krish-san said.

"Okay. Good luck with work."

The busy Krish-san immediately returned to his horse and left in the other direction from town after giving me the message. Just like usual, he was only gone for ten minutes before he was speeding back to town.

If I had Brian running at top speed like that, would he be that fast? I kinda wanted to try it, but I'd probably just fall off him if I did.

~

A few days later, I met up with Couge in the morning, a basket of sandwiches on my arm. He'd started to think about his marriage with Norn seriously, and was considering how to make more income with his restaurant operating as usual. So he'd come to me to ask for any opinions or ideas I had.

I could only think about raising the price of the menu, but if he did that, he'd probably lose his customers.

Then I'd remembered something that Nott had said before. When I'd made him his requested smoked meat sandwich, he'd kept saying it was delicious as he ate it, and even said, 'If this was sold in stores, it would make a ton of money.'

Sandwiches could be prepared beforehand and sold as takeout. Like that, the restaurant could make more money while keeping to its normal business hours.

This world didn't have things like boxed lunches, and people either ate their meals at home or in restaurants. If we introduced this concept, it would be something new.

So now I showed him some trial products. Couge's eyes shone as he inspected the ingredients. These weren't exactly novel, but it'd be great if someday I could make something like a yakisoba pan.

But before that, I had to make the noodles for the yakisoba first.

If it were udon noodles, I knew the ingredients. It was just flour, salt and water. But how did you make yakisoba noodles?

I explained, "This sandwich is filled with smoked meat and vegetables. This one has an omelette, while this one has hamburger steak. You could also cut a bread roll in half and fill it with a sausage and some vegetables; I think that'll be delicious. Now the only thing is what to use as a filling."

The people here ate a lot, so each slice of bread had to be thick, and it had to be stuffed full of fillings.

Couge took a massive sandwich that I would have trouble getting my mouth on, opened his mouth wide and chomped down. What a manly way of eating!!

He licked the mayonnaise off his fingers with a satisfied grin on his face. He'd been completely turned into a mayo lover. He told me he'd been researching various sour flavors but that he liked the mayonnaise that I made best.

Couge said, "I heard about smoked meat from Norn, but the real thing is more delicious than I imagined. By the way, you made Norn eat animal feed?"

"You heard about it? It's a staple food back in Japan, so I didn't think it would shock Norn that much. It seems the white grains looked like insect eggs to him."

Even if he found it delicious, if he couldn't get over how it looked, he'd never come to like it.

"As a cook, I kind of want to try it," he mused.

"Hmm, but peeling the husks off is very time-consuming, so I don't think you can serve it in your restaurant. I was going to buy some rice today and find the time to hull them little by little. When I'm done, I'll invite you over for a meal. I'll make something else for Norn."

"Are you going to the market? I'll come with you. I need to find something to wrap the sandwiches with anyway. And I'll make sure you don't get lost."

Couge snickered as he said it. My face burned.

Being discovered by a regular customer when I got lost was already embarrassing enough, but the most embarrassing thing was being mistaken for a child reuniting with his parents when I met up with Norn and Couge!

I cast an upward glance at him as I pleaded, "Don't put a leash on me, okay?"

Couge burst out into laughter.

We wandered around the market. We found a good-looking basket and a square, handkerchief-like cloth, but there was nothing that we could use.

Not to mention the basket, but even the cloth was too expensive. If we used those things to hold the sandwiches individually, the restaurant would go in the red.

If only we were in my previous world, then we'd have things like plastic bags or cling wrap...

"Can you think of something that's cheap, easy to throw away, and wouldn't dry out the bread?" I asked.

"Something that wouldn't dry out the bread, huh. Do you mean something damp? But wouldn't that make the bread soggy?"

"Hmm, this is difficult."

The marketplace was crowded and bustling today as well.

To prevent me from getting lost, Couge told me to hold his hand as we walked. It was too childish and embarrassing, but as someone who'd caused so much fuss last time I got lost, I couldn't refuse.

Fortunately, we hadn't met any familiar faces so far. I just hoped the trend continued.

Once we reached the edges of the market, I noticed an increase of residential buildings. And in front of a bare plot of land, there was someone sprinkling water on the ground as he waved a leaf branch around.

"Couge, what is that person doing?"

"Hm? Oh, they're going to build a house. Right now, they're praying so that happiness will visit the people who are going to live there."

"Praying? Who are they praying to? God?"

"Who's god?"

Even if you ask me 'who'... How should I explain?

"Umm, in Japan, before you build a house, you would have to pray to the god residing in the land...uh, I guess that doesn't explain it. God is something that you can't see, but it's...a sacred being? That you ask to watch over the construction work and make sure that it ends safely. Something like that?"

What was it called, a ground-breaking ceremony? I remember grandma's neighbor's son had it done when he was having a house built for his family.

Couge replied, "That's the same as what we do. Though we don't pray to anything; it's more like the head of the household who'll be living in the new house resolving in his heart to live in happiness.

That liquid that he's pouring is a medicine to prevent plants from sprouting and breaking through the floors."

The plants of this world were really robust! They could actually pierce through the floor of a house if they were left alone.

That reminds me, I think something like that happened back in Japan. A daikon plant was able to sprout on a paved road, breaking right through the asphalt to grow.

It even made the news and was called 'the gutsy daikon'.

"Hey, Couge, look! Those leaves are so big!!"

Right in the back, there were huge leaves spread out on a table. When I saw that there were vegetables and fruits on top of it, I pulled on Couge's hand.

Couge explained, "Those are gifts to be given to the neighbors after the prayer's finished."

"Aren't those leaves perfect? If you wrapped one of those around a sandwich, it wouldn't dry out the bread, and it'll be easy to throw away after you're done. Are those something that's easy to get your hands on?"

"Oh, those things are sold at the market. They're what's used to wrap up the meat that customers buy. And they're cheap too, so that makes it convenient."

"That's that decided then. Great!"

Afterwards, we went back into the market to buy the leaves. As we walked, we chatted about selling the sandwiches tomorrow as a test and maybe increasing the options if they were popular.

Suddenly, the smell of roasting meat wafted over.

"Since we're here, let's buy some grilled ravi for Norn," Couge suggested.

"Sure! It's Norn's favorite, after all. He'll definitely be happy!!"

We bought four skewers of grilled ravi. Just then, I saw the store owner casually leaving the ravi ears with the pelt still on out on the table. I couldn't help screaming and hiding my face on Couge's back.

I'd received quite the damage when I saw that skinned ravi at the butcher's last time, but seeing even just the ears was a little traumatizing too.

The market was an unexpectedly dangerous place.