Tisse and Ruti peered down with interest.
Now that they mentioned it, I remembered warriors in the demon lord’s army equipped with those strange “devil’s claws.”
“Would you like to try using it, Sir Ruti?”
“Yeah.”
Oh, the former Hero wielding a demon weapon. If anyone from the church saw, they’d probably faint.
Ruti slipped the claw onto a finger on her right hand and swung it twice.
“It’s really hard to use.”
She sure didn’t hesitate to show her displeasure.
“Demons also use swords and spears, so why would they use something like this? It has such a short reach that’s so hard to get any power behind it.”
Rit put the claw onto her left pointer finger and cocked her head.
“We upper-tier demons can freely change form, so weapons such as swords and spears feel different depending on the user’s body. However, devil’s claws can be used the same way, regardless of form.”
“Right. So it’s a weapon for those who can transform their shape.”
I tried putting it on, too…but there was no way I’d be able to block an opponent’s attack or pierce a monster’s thick hide with it.
That was demons for you, being able to fight with something like this.
“Do you think there may be a demand for this devil’s claw?” asked Habotan.
“You should probably skip the demon lord stuff. For any number of reasons.”
“I see…”
Habotan looked crestfallen.
But of course we couldn’t do something like that.
“Also, these people are coming to a festival, so you probably shouldn’t stock things that are too expensive,” Rit said.
“That’s true. Shuriken would be good to draw customers in, but you should probably keep the rest of your stock to cheaper items.”
“Okay…”
“In that case, why not set up something so people can try using the shuriken?” Ruti suggested.
“The claw was hard to use but interesting. I think there’ll be lots of people who’d be interested in trying out Jade Kingdom shuriken.”
“Oh, what an excellent idea, Sir Ruti!” Habotan’s eyes gleamed excitedly.
“Based on the space you were given, the target would have to be a little under two meters away. It’s not that far, but it should be enough for someone using a throwing weapon they’ve never tried before.”
“Shuriken are difficult to use for people without any experience, so that will be plenty.”
Habotan’s chest swelled with pride as she declared that, of course, she could hit the target perfectly. Her smug, childish look was adorable.
“I can do it, too.” Ruti reached out for a shuriken, wanting to prove Habotan wrong, but…
“I don’t want you throwing them in our store,” I said.
“That’s a shame.”
Ruti obediently pulled back her hand. Beside her, Tisse also looked disappointed.
“Ms. Ruti and I would not miss our mark.”
I knew that, but still, I’d rather they didn’t throw weapons around indoors.
“Anyway, it sounds like Habotan has a plan for her shop now.”
“Yes, sir! Draw customers in with shuriken to sell hand towels and brushes!”
She could probably borrow a target from the training range, no problem.
“Thank you very much! It is fun running a shop!” Habotan said with a smile.
“You’re not actually a ninja, though, are you?”
“Correct. My true identity is the demon lord’s daughter,” she declared boldly.
I’m sure she only said it just because she trusted us…but we probably needed to teach her not to go around announcing that.
Rit smiled awkwardly and picked up the conversation.
“You really are knowledgeable about ninja tools and such, and you seem to be set on being a ninja, though, so I guess it just seems a little strange.”
“Ah, that?” Habotan leaned forward as she started talking. “It is a bit of a long story, but…”
She told us about an adventure she’d had while hiding in the Jade Kingdom.
It was really long, so cutting it down to just the essentials, Habotan and a ninja master who was protecting her had fought a spy from the demon lord’s army who’d snuck into the Jade Kingdom, and that experience had left a profound impact on her.
The original plan had been for Habotan to hide herself by pretending to be a ninja, and Torahime had thought she’d be able to pick up some of the personality traits and mannerisms in the process of understanding ninjas by learning their art of disguise.
Apparently, she hadn’t expected Habotan to get so obsessed with it, either.
“I want to demonstrate the appeal of ninjas for the people of Zoltan.”
It really felt like she was misunderstanding things a little bit, though.
Ninjas weren’t really something you were supposed to tell the whole world about.
Tisse and Ruti were in the kitchen with aprons on. Mister Crawly Wawly was there, too, wearing a bandana on his head. He didn’t have any hair, though, so it probably didn’t matter.
“Cooking with medicinal herbs is really hard.” Ruti crossed her arms in a mild show of frustration.
Tisse and Mister Crawly Wawly crossed their arms as well.
“How many dishes are you looking to have?”
“One dish to eat while sitting at a bench, one to eat while walking around, and one to drink.”
That made sense.
Food wasn’t the main focus of her stall; Ruti’s goal was to demonstrate uses for her herbs and to increase their customer base to beyond just apothecaries and clinics. That meant cutting down on the number of dishes and focusing on efficient preparation time was the better choice.
“We’ve decided on the drink already.”
“A drink using medicinal herbs… So herbal tea?”
“Nope. I’ll make it now.”
Ruti put a few of the herbs she’d brought into a big metal cup, along with a pear and some berries. Then she put a fork in it.
“Whoa.”
“You’re stirring it so fast!”
She was blending it faster than the naked eye could follow. It turned into a slurry, then a juice. When she was done, Ruti poured it out into the five small cups that she’d set out beforehand.
“All done.”
She’d only added the raw ingredients, but there wasn’t any trace of them left in the juice.
I took a sip… The drink was quite bitter, but it was tasty, and it had a nice, healthy sort of flavor.
There was only one problem.
“Can a normal person make this?” I asked.
“Yeah, even I can’t copy Ruti,” said Rit.
An average person could squeeze a pear and some berries to get juice. Medicinal herbs, however, generally had to be ground down with a mortar and pestle over a long period of time. Ruti was the only person who could blend them into a juice using just a fork.
“Your goal is to show normal people ways of using medicinal herbs so they’ll buy them from you, right?”
“Mhm.”
“Then wouldn’t it be a problem to serve something that only you can make?”
“I didn’t think of that.” Ruti was astonished.
Lately, it had seemed like Ruti really had things together, but apparently she still had a few blind spots.
“But it’s so tasty…”
“The idea of making a juice… Even if you don’t use it this time for the festival, you should do it when you have another opportunity.”
“Yeah. One day, I’ll open a medicinal herb café.”
“Hmmm, that might be expanding your business a bit too much.”
The festival drink was going to need some more thought.
“I have an idea for the food,” Tisse said.
“We shouldn’t have a problem if you came up with it.”
Tisse had a good head on her shoulders, so I was sure she’d have thought of something easy to make that suited their goal…
“Then allow me to demonstrate.”
She set out various herbs, daikon, and an egg.
“First, boil two types of herbs together with salt to remove the bitter taste, then add sugar, soy sauce, and seaweed to make a soup. Peel the daikon, cut it into slices, score it, and then cook it with another herb. Adding this herb makes the daikon softer to eat.
“After boiling the egg, add a healthy pinch of this herb here, and it will soak up the flavor. This will give the boiled egg an interesting new taste, but when eaten with the soup, the flavor changes in a surprising way. Then simmer it for about five hours.
“I’ve also prepared chikuwa with medicinal herbs worked into the fish paste. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but it’s suited for people who find themselves in a rut eating oden every day.
“Once that is all done, just stew everything together in the soup, and you’ll end up with an oden like this one here.”
After her last bit of rapid-fire explanation, Tisse set out the completed dish she’d prepared beforehand.
Right, Tisse has really strong opinions when it comes to oden and baths…
“……”
“Uhh…”
“Tisse, that looks delicious.”
“Ooh, this one has never seen oden prepared with medicinal herbs before!”
Ruti and Habotan were impressed, but Rit and I had awkward looks on our faces.
Steeling myself, I spoke up.
“Tisse, I’m going to say something a little harsh—no, pretty harsh, so just prepare yourself.”
“I know what you’re going to say, Red,” Tisse said, holding up her hand.
As expected of Tisse, it seemed like she’d already caught on to the problem.
“You wish to explain that creating an original type of oden is like setting sail on the ocean without a compass.”
“Huh?”
“I understand. There are a wealth of options for what to put in oden; however, the most popular are the standard menu of daikon, egg, beef tendon, and chikuwa. The conclusion since ancient oden times is that the classical form should be mastered rather than creating an original type. Yet beyond the edge of the sea lies an unknown world to discover, and seeking that dream is human nature, is it not?”
“Uh, no… I don’t get it at all.”
“I am not so presumptuous as to believe I can change the course of oden history, however this is medicinal oden!” Tisse’s eyes gleamed as she raised her right arm to the sky. “I believe it can bring people the courage to sail the unknown seas.”
“What a moving speech,” Ruti said, applauding generously.
Tisse has these silly sorts of moments every once in a while.
“No, it’s not that.”
“Hm?”
“Listen, Tisse… Here in Zoltan, they don’t have a culture of making oden at home.”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login