Hometown

 

Even if I'm far away and never step on the soil again,

the bond will never disappear.

That's what it means to have a hometown. Good or bad, you know?

 

"How's this, Mentor?"

"Ooooooooh…"

I raised my voice as I looked into the bag that Nozomu, a farmer from the neighborhood, had brought over.

"Thank you, Nozomu! It's perfect!"

"That's good, I'm glad."

Nozomu smiled and responded with a relieved expression as I unintentially grasped her hands in response to the beautiful, shining white goods.

"Wait, um, how much does it come out to?"

"No no, I can't take money from Mentor!"

As I was about to take out my wallet, Nozomu panicked in response.

"It's not like I can just take it for free. It's not easy to make, you know?"

"Um… then, just one wor."

I placed a ten wor coin into her hands in response to her modest request.

"It's just a bag, I can't take that much! It's just a bag! How can I take that much!?"

"Hey, it's fine. It's not easy to make, right?"

On wor was originally a ticket for wheat. So one portion of wheat was one wor, the amount of wheat flour that could be made from that, and the amount of bread that could be made from that, was one wor, and that was the standard for value.

Since there was no concept of commission fees in that, it was now at the point where one wor of wheat was made into flour and was worth eleven wor, or something like that, it seemed.

What I got from Nozomu wasn't wheat, but since it was a bag, he said that one wor was fine. But the effort of growing and harvesting a completely new plant from scratch was worth ten wor at the very least.

"Nina, I'm going out for a bit."

After half-forcing the distraught Nozomu to trade it with me for the ten wor coin, I prepared myself. When I called out to the girl who was still in bed, she stirred slightly.

"Good morning, Mentor!"

"Oh, Mentor. Morning~"

"Good morning, Kairi. Morning, Masora."

The villagers greeted me as I walked down the stone-paved road.

I looked about the town as I responded to their greetings.

The number of brick houses in this area had increased quite a bit. Above all, bricks were durable, incomparable to wooden houses. In addition, repairs were relatively easy.

I'd wondered why I didn't see many brick houses in Japan, but this was all thanks to Lufelle's research. Brick houses were very weak to earthquakes due ot their low flexibility and would quickly collapse once subjected to vibrations from their foundations.

Scartlet fortunately sat on a stable foundation, or perhaps earthquakes just didn't occur in this world. In the past few hundred years, there hadn't been any major earthquakes that have caused buildings to collapse. Brick houses were well suited to this area.

"Numera, are you in?"

"Yes yes, come in. Oh, Mentor."

What I visited was one of the many brick houses, a brewery, Numera's place.

Brewers were perhaps the oldest profession in this village. At the very least, it was older than me being a teacher.

This is because brewing was not something I taught, but something that was passed down from generation to generation in the village of Durga. Originally, it was something that the elves taught us. Before the concept of professions and specialization was established, they specialized in brewing.

"Is my the usual ready?"

"Wait a moment… I'm not sure if it'll be good or not though."

I licked the liquid that Numera handed over to me with my finger. It had a particularly unique smell.

"… Yep! It's great, I'd expect no less from you, Numera!"

After going through a similar exchange with Numera as I did with Nozomu and paying ten wor, I headed to my next destination. As I passed through the center of the village, I heard lively voices coming from the square.

People pulling carts laden with goods came and went, along with others putting up their food stalls for the day. Among those who were exchanging goods were those of the four-legged variety, lizards, and elves, all of whom were bustling with activity.

Hmmm, it must be hard pulling a cart all day.

There weren't any animals that could be compared to horses in this world. There were half-human, half-horse creatures, but it was impossible to treat them like livestock.

I once attempted to make a deer cart instead of a horse cart, but it was impossible to control the deer with their wild temper. They didn't live in herds, so they didn't have the instinct to follow the will of other living things.

I tried making a car by carving letters into the wheels and making them into magimachina, but that also failed.

It did manage to move, but the fuel efficiency was too poor. When I made a car that was the size and weight of a person, the wheels that were the size of a normal car couldn't even go ten meters before it had to be restarted.

And with more average magical power, a person would be exhausted in less than a kilometer. Even if I or Nina could hold it for longer, it would be faster to fly.

Wondering what I could do to help, I arrived at a section of the village that had a ranch.

At first, the ranch only had deer and goats, and rabbits, but now, the number and variety of animals has increased considerably.

Cotton sheep, creatures that were similar to sheep, gathered at the bases of trees. They were given that name because they looked like the legendary creatures believed in during the Middle Ages, the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.

The vines that grew from the tree were connected to the tails of the cotton sheep. They looked like animals, but they were actually a type of plant.

Perhaps I should call them herbivorous plants? They were living things that ate whatever grass and flowers were around them while monopolizing the nutrients in the soil. While what they did was a bit disgusting to think about, their nature was relatively docile. Above all, the wool you could acquire from the sheep part was high quality cotton.

Various other creatures were bred as well, such as the large armadillo—which were edible and whose hides could be processed into various things—and the skyjellies which floated in the air, among others.

My focus today was in the back of the ranch.

"Hey Karako, good morning. I'm sorry to bother you, but could you please give me some eggs?"

"Ah, good morning, Mentor. Of course it's fine. How many do you need?"

As for where I'd arrived, it was a chicken coop. I called out to Karako who was preparing feed for the chickens.

"Two… no, three, please."

"Coming right up."

Karako cheerfully replied and went inside the chicken coop. The two chickens were, as their name suggested, small birds with two pairs of four wings. Although they were called chickens, they didn't look much like chickens from Earth. They did, however, lay eggs every morning. Most importantly, they were edible.

As soon as Karako entered the chicken coop, the two chickens that were left to roam free attacked him simultaneously. Like most animals in this world, the two chickens were also very temperamental. On top of that, their four wings were also very sharp, and they were very good at flying. They flew, then suddenly dropped down, hovering in front of him and attacking with their claws.

Still, Karako avoided all of that with ease, picking up the eggs with casual movements and leaving the chicken coop. Mmm, it's amazing to watch him do it even after seeing it so many times. It's as if he has eyes on the back of his head. So skilled that it was hard to believe.

"Alright, Mentor, here you go. I have to go do some chores now."

Karako handed me three eggs and quickly turned around, entering the chicken coop with the feed box… He got me! I didn't get a chance to pay him.

With the fragile eggs in my hands, I couldn't chase after him. I'd probably be too clumsy and end up breaking the eggs right away.

I'll pay you back for this, I swear! With that, I returned to the school.

With the ingredients lined up, I starting cooking straight away. The first thing I took out was a scarlite pot.

Many kinds of metal had been found since then and cooking utensils were most commonly made from iron. The newly found metals were called iron, copper, and silver based on their properties and appearance, but they probably weren't the same as the ones on Earth.

Even I found it strange that silver was both harder and lighter than iron.

Scarlite was a much more rare metal than I'd initially thought and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find. The scarlite sword that Shig made for me was still an heirloom among the Swordsaints.

Althought it was an incredibly luxurious thing to have made a pot from it, it was very convenient because it was good at transferring heat and didn't burn. As I was cooking with what I had received from Nozomu, I heard a groan from Nina.

"… What's that?"

"Breakfast."

Although I answered Nina as if I didn't know what she was talking about, I was keeping up the act.

Before long, the white, shining dish was filled with the rice that had been cooked to perfection. I added the eggs that Karako had given me and poured the liquid that Numera had given me over it, and the dish that could be called cuisine was complete.

"What is that?"

"Something from my hometown, a local dish. It's rice with eggs on top."

Regardless of whether or not it could actually be called a local dish, that's how I referred to it.

When I made some for Nina as well, she stared at it with a serious expression.

I'd prepared a wooden spoon for her, and I took out the chopsticks I'd secretly made for this day and put them in my mouth.

—Yes.

The rice that Nozomu made for me was a bit different from what I knew. It was long and thin, and had a slightly chewy texture. It wasn't perfectly polished either, so it had a slight yellowish hue.

The oil that Numera made for me was made from fermented fish, not from soybeans. It had a unique flavor and was very salty.

The two eggs that Karako gave me were much more yellow than the eggs from Earth. The yolk was thick and the texture was very chewy.

Even so, it was, without a doubt, the taste of my hometown.

Despite being so far away, I've lived more than twice as long in this world than I did in my hometown, and even though I don't even want to go back…

In the end, my hometown was Japan.

"Hmm. It's not bad at all."

Nina spoke, eating the rice with eggs on top next to me.

"Even though it's not a very good-looking food, you didn't hesitate to eat it."

"Something I picked up. The weird things you eat tend to be delicious."

The heck's weird here? I smiled wryly at her words, but I was happy that she liked it.

"Want another? I got three eggs and there's still rice left… huh?"

There was no egg left in the dish, though there should have been.

"Hmm… yeah, it's really not bad at all."

Instead, I saw that another elf had appeared and was eating the rice and egg with a spoon.

"… When did you get here, Ultramarine?"

"Jushnow, kindashmelled good."

I can't understand a word you're saying. Please swallow before you talk.

"Sorry, I tried to stop her, but…"

Another familiar face appeared. From the entrance, another elf was peeking into the room while lowering her head.

"Long time no see, Violet. Please come in."

"Did something happen for you to come?"

I guessed that she had come for a reason, but I didn't know what it was.

Nina asked in a sharp tone.

"Well, please, take a seat."

"Long time no see, Mentor, Nina. Today, I came as the guardian to deliver a message from the Elder."

Violet spoke in a polite tone, sitting on the chair that I had pulled out for her. Her posture and back were ramrod straight with an expression that seemed like she was not saying what she actually wanted to say.

"… We elves have decided to cut off all contact with the Scarlet from this day forward."

—The contents of what she said were what I had predicted.