The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 2

Act 2:

Imported Products

“YOU’RE DRINKING IT again?” 

The moment I entered Johan’s office to deliver some documents, the smell of coffee hit my nose. If memory served, every time I’d come into his office since that fateful day in the capital, the room had brimmed with that telltale fragrance. He was becoming a bit of an addict, that Johan was.

“Don’t say it like that,” he protested. “I’ll have you know I bought these beans with my own personal funds.”

“I know, I know. But it’s just not healthy to drink too much of it! You’ve been going at it nonstop recently, haven’t you?”

Johan averted his gaze. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

However, I wasn’t really one to talk—it was my fault that coffee had gained such popularity at the institute in the first place.

Immediately after I got back to the institute on the day that I had coffee with Albert, I went and asked Johan if he knew someone who could make the brewing apparatuses I described. He did. He’d had no idea what he was in for, or so the saying went.

Johan referred me to the artisans who produced the experiment apparatuses for the institute. We summoned someone from the workshop to visit the institute, and I explained what I wanted made. It had been delivered a week later looking just as I had described it.

Once I had both coffee beans and the proper tools, I went ahead and brewed coffee in the institute’s dining hall. As this drink was the latest fad in the capital, a number of people gathered to watch, their interest piqued. Johan had been first in line. All eyes were on me as I used my brand-new nel drip to slowly brew the coffee.

Murmurs of interest and admiration spread through the hall as the spectators watched the black liquid drip through the filter into the glass pot. While some of my colleagues didn’t care for the unfamiliar smell, the majority of them found it tantalizing. What else could you expect from researchers at an institute that specialized in medicinal flora? They were so used to the smell of herbs that a number of them easily tolerated a strange new fragrance.

Many of them wanted to taste it right away as well. Although some of them had already tried coffee at that café. Those who had, ended up concluding that the coffee I made was easier to drink. I had to assume that was because the taste of nel drip coffee wasn’t nearly as strong as that of Turkish coffee.

Long story short, coffee was now all the rage at the institute.

“Please only drink it in moderation,” I urged Johan. “We had a word for caffeine intoxication back in Japan, you know—caffeinism. It’s not good for your health to drink too much of the stuff.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll watch my intake. But you don’t imagine I have enough to actually grow intoxicated, do you?” He chuckled dryly.

“I suppose.”

He wasn’t wrong. Coffee beans were imported from abroad, so they were quite expensive. As a result, Johan took his coffee in a small cup, meaning he never drank that much at once. No matter how many of those itty bitty cups he drank in one day, he’d be hard-pressed to reach the point of intoxication.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but worry. The coffee in this world was much stronger than the coffee I remembered in Japan.

Coffee had become popular at the institute for more than its taste. While its anti-drowsiness effects had been up for debate in Japan, it was quite apparent that coffee really worked here. I was shocked to see that by drinking coffee, a person who had worked through the night for three days straight could still manage to be bright-eyed and mentally on the ball. One of my colleagues had even proposed that we might be able to call coffee a potion that cured abnormal status effects—specifically those that caused a person to sleep. 

Consequently, the dangers of coffee were on my mind. My colleagues were a little too overjoyed at the thought of being able to cut down on how much they needed to sleep. I had never heard anyone warn against drinking too many potions, but I was starting to worry that people were drinking too much coffee to their detriment.

Fortunately, the cups Johan drank were usually made by the chefs, so at least there was that. The person who’d stayed awake for three days straight had done so after he drank one of my brews. My fifty-percent-bonus curse was at it again, though I wasn’t sure if the culprit this time had been my Pharmaceuticals skill or my Cooking skill.

After handing Johan the documents, I headed back to my station and bumped into Jude in the hallway. He was on his way back from fetching some herbs from the storehouse. We acknowledged one another and continued to the workroom together. As we walked, I asked Jude about something I had thought of just the other day.

Having run across coffee, I had started longing for the flavors of my home country. Since Jude came from a family of merchants that specialized in food, I wanted to ask him about something. He seemed likely to know about the plants they dealt in.

“Rice?” he asked. “That’s a new one for me.”

“You’ve never even heard of such a grain?”

“Nope.”

“I see. Darn.” I was sorely disappointed.

It occurred to me that maybe it just had a different name—like with the tea-coffee divide—so I started to describe its characteristics, but Jude merely looked puzzled.

Before I knew it, we arrived at the workroom. We went to our separate desks, but then Jude came back over after he set down his herbs. I gave him a questioning look, and he asked me to tell him a bit more about rice. He wanted to ask his family if anyone had ever heard of it. They were more knowledgeable about food and so forth than he was. I was quite grateful for his offer, so I told him everything I could remember.

“What are you two talking about?”

“Oh, Johan.”

I had just finished describing rice in agricultural terms and was explaining to Jude that rice was a staple food in Japan when Johan walked over to us. Just like that, it wasn’t only Jude and Johan listening attentively to my explanation. A whole gaggle of other researchers had gathered. Even though rice had no medicinal effects, I was talking about a plant my colleagues didn’t know about—as researchers who focused on plant life, their interest was piqued.

I mean, it can’t be because they’re interested in learning more about a new kind of food, I thought. I was admittedly only half joking.

Jude chimed in now and again to relay the information I’d already told him.

“Rice is a grain, is it?” Johan asked.

“Yes. The food is made from the harvested seeds,” I said.

“Hmm. I’ve never heard of it.”

“Aww…” I sighed. So even Johan hasn’t heard of it—and he knows so much about plants. Now all I can do is have hope that someone in Jude’s family knows something.

At that moment, Johan had what I could only call an epiphany. “Maybe you should ask Franz about this too?”

“Why?”

“He used to travel the world a long time ago. He might’ve heard something.”

Hm. Well, coffee came from another country. Maybe rice was grown in another country as well. It seemed entirely possible that as an experienced merchant, Franz would have researched the products of every place he visited while he traveled. Could I afford to get my hopes up for this?

As soon as work finished, I wrote a letter to Franz. To my delight, I received a reply a mere few days later. On the same day, I also received a response from Jude’s family. Interestingly, both had the same answer.

“Morgenhaven?” I said aloud as I read the letter.

“It’s a harbor city to the east,” said Johan, who happened to be nearby.

Ah, right—I had learned about the place during one of my lectures at the palace. I had thought it sounded familiar, but I hadn’t been able to place it.

“If I remember correctly, it’s famous for trade, isn’t it?” I asked.

“That’s right. I’m surprised you know.”

“I learned about it in one of my classes. I don’t think about it often or anything.”

Franz wrote that he had once seen a grain similar to the one I described, but it had a different name in a country to the east. Morgenhaven brought imported goods from that country to Salutania. Typically, they shipped only goods that the kingdom had requested, but there was a chance that the latest convoy had brought rice to sell as well.

Similarly, a member of Jude’s family wrote that they had seen a similar kind of grain in Morgenhaven before, though they didn’t remember its name.

Taking both letters into account, it seemed highly likely that both Franz and Jude’s family member were talking about the same kind of plant.

Hm. I guess for now I could ask Jude’s family to order the grain for me? I’d asked them to get different ingredients for me before, so we had an arrangement. 

Just then, Johan piped up with his own idea. “How about you take a trip to Morgenhaven yourself?”

Huh? Wait, can I really do that?!

***

Morgenhaven was a seaside port city in the eastern region of the Kingdom of Salutania. It was surrounded by a surplus of hills, so we didn’t actually even see it until we had crested the tallest of those surrounding slopes.

I leaned out the window of the carriage to get a look at the peaceful city. The coachman stopped so I could drink in my fill.

The city was built on a bunch of smaller hills, and its roads rose up and down over them. It seemed like it might be a bit difficult to traverse.

I looked toward the harbor to find a number of moored sailing vessels. A bit out to sea, a ship unfurled its great white sails. Was it on its way in or out?

“We’ll be there soon,” Jude said from his seat across from mine as I took in the sights.

“Yeah…”

I ducked back in and straightened my posture with a nod. The carriage started to move again.

It had only been a week since Johan had suggested we go to Morgenhaven. We’d decided it would be a bit of an extended vacation. Johan had insisted we take our time, as I hadn’t taken any days off since I started working for him.

I thought that was a bit of a misleading claim, mind you. It wasn’t that I hadn’t taken any days off, it was just that everyone at the institute told me that what I chose to do on those days couldn’t be considered relaxation. But even if I spent those days making cosmetics for myself, cooking, and reading books in the palace library—I mean, that was all plenty relaxing, if you asked me.

However, I found it hard to resist the dream of actually finding rice, so I’d decided to take Johan up on his offer.

Thus, this time I was traveling with Jude, as he was terribly interested in other countries. Several knights from the Third Order were accompanying us as well. They weren’t coming for vacation but for work—specifically, they were with us as our escorts.

Unlike in Japan, the kingdom was plagued by not only monsters but bandits. The main roads were well maintained by the lords of each domain, and they were relatively safe. However, that didn’t mean they were completely free from danger. Therefore, the knights were assigned to be our escort while we traveled. For the record, the escort had been the palace’s idea, but I was grateful to have them, so I had readily accepted.

Speaking of knights, Albert wasn’t with us this time. I had been hoping he would come, but unfortunately, he had been compelled to stay behind at the palace. He was a knight commander, after all, and had a ton of work he needed to attend to in the capital. He had come to see us off before we left and looked incredibly disappointed that he couldn’t join us. 

To be honest, I had a feeling there was another reason he wasn’t able to accompany us—one that was even more pressing than his other responsibilities. You see, I was going on this trip not in my capacity as the Saint but in disguise…as a regular person.

Why? Because things always had to be all ceremonious and extravagant when I conducted myself as the Saint! In order to avoid that rigmarole, we were pretending to be a group of merchants. Even the members of our knight escort were disguised as mercenaries.

If we had tried to sneak Albert into that group, the jig would have been up in no time flat. We’d just look like a bunch of nobles trying extremely hard to travel incognito. Albert just gave off this, this sparkly aura. There was no suppressing it, even if you dressed him up like a mercenary. That was, in my opinion, the biggest reason Albert had been forced to stay behind.

Well, if he couldn’t come with us, I wanted to buy him something unusual from abroad to bring back as a souvenir, even if we couldn’t find rice. Of course, I planned to buy things for Johan and the other researchers too.

“Are you sure I don’t look too weird?” I asked Jude. It wouldn’t be long before we reached Morgenhaven, so I checked my appearance, which I normally never did. I was in disguise, after all. Black hair and black eyes was an unusual color combination in the kingdom, so I was wearing a wig and glasses in order to hide both.

I peered into the hand mirror Jude gave me and studied the woman who stared back at me. She had brown hair and wore glasses. The glasses didn’t have corrective lenses, and they felt a bit uncomfortable on my nose. It had been so long since I had last worn anything like these spectacles. All in all, it wouldn’t do much to disguise me from people who already knew me, but it was fine. I was just wearing a wig of a common hair color so I wouldn’t stand out as much.

It wasn’t long before the coach entered Morgenhaven, and we soon arrived at the inn where we were planning to stay.

We had been sitting for a long time at that point, so I was eager to get out and stretch my stiff limbs. Jude, who had been sitting across from me, got out first. When I moved to follow, someone held their hand out to me.

Is Jude helping me out of the coach?

I took the proffered hand and looked up to say thank you, but then I froze.

“Welcome to Morgenhaven.”

“Oscar?”

It was Oscar, as in the merchant guy from my company. What was he doing here?

My confusion was no doubt apparent, as he hastily explained himself while he helped me out of the carriage. Oscar had come to Morgenhaven for business reasons, but he had heard that I was coming to search for some kind of ingredient and rushed over to catch us.

“As I knew you were here, I just had to say hello,” he concluded.

“You really didn’t have to go out of your way like that,” I said.

“But I must. It’s all because of you that we have such a successful shop.”

You’re exaggerating. I didn’t say that out loud, but I couldn’t help but make a face. I chuckled awkwardly, but Oscar showed no sign of letting that bother him. That same smile remained fixed on his face.

Jude had gone ahead and told the inn we had arrived while I was talking to Oscar, so it was time to be shown to our rooms. For some reason, Oscar accompanied us. I thought that was strange, but it turned out that Oscar was staying at the same inn.

“This is a great establishment. It’s clean, and the meals they serve are delicious,” Oscar said.

“Is that so?” I said.

Hooray, food! Though I’m not sure how much I can trust that statement, I thought as I recalled what Salutanian fare was generally like. I’d worry about that later, though. For now, I followed after the inn employee.

We were shown to the doors farthest down the hall on the second floor. The room on one side was for a knight and the other one was for Jude—the knight was staying next door as our full-time guard.

“And this is your room.”

The employee opened the very last door, so I thanked him and followed him inside.

Uh… I froze. The room was far bigger than I had imagined. This is considered a pretty fancy room, right? Is it okay for me to be in here? Can I touch anything?!

I looked at the employee worriedly, and he smiled at me. From that smile, I understood that this was indeed the room that had been reserved for me. I smiled sheepishly back at him.

“I hope you have a pleasant stay.” He bowed and took his leave.

For now, I’ll go ahead and unpack my things. However, I had only really brought clothes that needed to be hung in the closet, so I was done pretty quickly.

Just as I finished, there was a knock at the door. Jude identified himself when I asked who it was, so I opened it for him.

“Whoa, this room is huge!”

“Did you come to check it out?”

“I confess, I was curious. My room’s pretty big too, so I wanted to see what yours was like.”

“Ah. So? Is mine bigger than yours?” I moved out of Jude’s way so he could take in the whole room.

Jude took a single step inside to look around. Then he said with admiration, “This room is huge. I bet it’s the biggest one in the whole inn.”

“What? Really?!” I was shocked. We were disguised as regular merchants—so why was I in such a nice room?

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine.” Jude casually dismissed my worry.

“But we can’t just—”

“Ladies from well-to-do merchant families do stay in rooms like these on occasion.”

Just how well-to-do were we talking here? Whoever stayed in a room like this had to be pretty well-off indeed. I squinted suspiciously at Jude, but he didn’t say anything more.

Once he was satisfied with what he’d seen, we headed to the dining room on the first floor. We had agreed ahead of time that we would reconvene after we put our luggage away so that we could talk through our plans.

At the bottom of the stairs, I spotted the knights who had come with us. For some reason, Oscar was with them too. We walked over to them, and Oscar waved.

“Are you taking a break?” I asked.

“No, I was waiting for you guys.”

Did he have some kind of business with us? I tilted my head to the side questioningly, and Oscar told us something quite interesting: “A ship carrying imported food just arrived today.”

“Really?”

“You’re here in search of a type of grain from overseas, correct? It turns out that this ship was carrying grains as well.”

What luck! I struck a victory pose in my mind.

Meanwhile, Jude asked just what kinds of grains the ship had brought. Unfortunately, Oscar didn’t have any specific identifying information—he couldn’t describe them or anything. However, he did tell us that he had heard one kind was a staple food overseas, which made me all the more hopeful.

Since the ship had only just arrived, its goods would probably be available at the morning market the following day, so we decided that we would head over to check it out at that time. The ship had reportedly brought a ton of different types of food in addition to the grains, so I was really looking forward to it.

In any case, we were planning to stay in Morgenhaven for a few days, so if we didn’t see the ship’s food for sale the next morning, then surely it would be on the market before long.

Oscar promised us that, in between his business obligations, he would look into things that we might not be able to find at the market. I was grateful for his help, especially as he said that if I needed anything not readily available, he could order it for me himself. I told him I’d love to take him up on that offer if the situation presented itself.

After that discussion, we all headed back to our rooms for the evening to recover from the long days of travel.

***

The morning air was crisp and clear. However, when we reached the market, which was thronged with crowds of people, that clean, simple feeling vanished. The sun had only just risen, but the market was bustling, and the hot air was intense.

I knew that mornings started early for people in this world, but I was still amazed to see so many people gathered so soon after dawn.

“This is quite a crowd. Practically as many as I would expect to see in the capital.”

“Morgenhaven is the largest trading port in the kingdom. There’s probably even more people than usual since that new ship arrived yesterday. People want to see what it brought.”

“Ah, yeah. That makes sense.”

We had more or less the same agenda; we intended to keep coming back early in the morning until we found out what was on that ship. No matter how surprised I was by all the people, I couldn’t say anything if I was doing the same thing they were. 

I chatted with Jude while we walked around the market. As one would expect from a trading port, the market had tons of goods I had never seen in the capital, all of them sitting on display for sale. Every new thing caught my attention, and Jude had a hard time keeping up with me. I realized I’d been haring off in different directions without warning pretty much nonstop when Jude finally latched on to my arm.

“Hey, stop wandering all over the place.”

“Sorry, sorry. There are just so many interesting things here, I keep heading toward them without thinking.”

“Well, think a little more!”

I apologized to the exasperated Jude again before turning my attention back to the items on sale. I didn’t want to annoy him any more than I had, so now whenever something new caught my eye, I told Jude before going over to it. We ended up trading general knowledge about our different worlds as we walked, which was surprisingly fun.

“The perishable foods here aren’t all that different from what we can find in the capital. Is the only difference the cost?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think the local specialties here are cheaper.”

“And the only imports I’ve seen thus far are things like handicrafts.”

“They’re interesting just to look at.”

“They really are.”

Specifically, we had found textiles woven with patterns I had never seen in Salutania, so they were fascinating to examine. My eyes jumped from cloth to cloth, but in the end, we were still looking for food first and foremost. Now wasn’t the time to let other things distract me.

So, we returned to our food search, but we came up empty yet again. I did see some teas, though, as well as coffee and sugar. Everything was being sold for a much cheaper price than could be found in the capital, so I was tempted to make some purchases. If we can’t find what we’re here for, maybe I’ll just buy those instead.

“Hmm, I don’t see any rice,” I said.

“You don’t?” Jude asked.

“Nothing new. Speaking of, have you seen anything unloaded from that ship that just came in?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention. Should we ask one of the shopkeepers?”

“Good idea.”

We had reached the end of the market, and while we had seen lots of wheat and barley, we hadn’t seen anything that looked like the kind of grain that would have come from another climate. There was a possibility that we had just missed it, so asking around was definitely the way to go.

Just as we turned, I heard what sounded like people quarreling. I stopped and turned again to see a ring of men on the wharf. “I wonder what’s going on there.”

Jude also stopped and frowned at the ring. “Is it an argument?”

The knights who were guarding us from a short distance away had noticed the disturbance as well, and they came over to us.

I strained my eyes to see what was going on. At the center of the ring stood a tall man who was facing down the other men with a grim look on his face. He had long, black hair that was held back in a ponytail. I’d heard that black was an unusual hair color in Salutania, so he was probably a foreigner. The words “treated” and “mage” floated over to us.

“I wonder if someone’s injured,” I said out loud.

“What do you mean?” asked one of the knights.

“It sounds like someone needs treatment.”

“I heard there was an accident on the docks yesterday.”

“What kind of accident?”

“Some stacked crates fell over and someone got pinned beneath them.” The knight had overheard people talking about it in the dining room at the inn this morning.

“You can understand what that guy is saying?” Jude asked.

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

The knight frowned. “Huh. Well, you see, that tall fellow over there isn’t speaking Salutanian. I suspect he’s fallen back into his native language due to stress.”

As a result, the people he was talking to were at a loss, as they were having trouble understanding him.

For myself, I hadn’t noticed he wasn’t speaking Salutanian at all. After my summoning, I had been granted the gift of being able to understand pretty much all the languages of this new world.

Well, if someone’s injured… Given that man’s expression, it might be a race against time. I should pitch in.

“Wait, Sei!” Jude cried out, but I ignored him and headed toward the ring of people.

The knight also tried to stop me, but I raised a hand to stop him.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything silly.

“Shall I interpret for you?” I asked one of the men when he noticed my approach. 

He smiled with a nod, no doubt relieved that someone might be able to help.

I then looked up at the man who was having trouble communicating. His reddish-brown eyes met mine. He was a full head taller than me, and though he eyed me with due suspicion, I smiled to reassure him.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“How do you do? My name is Sei. Would you like me to interpret for you?” I asked, focusing on making myself speak the words of his language.

“You know the language of my country?! Yes, please do!”

Yes! It worked as I’d hoped it would. This translation perk sure was handy.

From that point forward, I conveyed the tall man’s meaning to the people gathered around us, though I was met with concerned looks. The tall man was alarmed when they shook their heads, and he looked at me pleadingly.

I wasn’t too surprised by their reaction, though. This fellow was looking for a mage, after all.

It turned out that the rumor about the accident on the docks was true. The person who had been hurt was one of this man’s crew. Several people had been injured, actually, but one in particular had been gravely wounded. He had imbibed a potion, but his condition hadn’t really improved. Therefore, the black-haired man, who was the ship’s captain, was looking for a mage who could use Healing Magic.

However, while Morgenhaven had alchemists, no mages resided in the city. That was pretty normal, given the way mages were organized in Salutania. Every mage proficient enough in Healing Magic to be able to heal serious injuries lived and worked at the palace, and they rarely left the Assembly unless they were on a monster-slaying expedition.

I explained this to the captain, and his brow furrowed as he looked down at the ground. The locals regarded him with real pity, and the ring gradually dispersed. They knew there was nothing they could do to help.

Hmm. It’s true that there are no regular mages who can use Healing Magic in Morgenhaven. However…

I glanced at Jude, who vehemently shook his head. Our knight escort wore dour looks as they slightly waved their hands to signal their own disapproval.

I’d had a feeling they’d take that stance. Chances were that I could heal this injured crewman. However, people would be bound to talk if I healed an injury that severe. Jude and the knights were trying to stop me because they were well aware of the uproar I could inadvertently cause.

I understood this as well, of course. I only hesitated because I had already involved myself. I knew I could help, and the thought of leaving without doing so pained me greatly. I desperately wanted to do something.

After mulling it over for a moment, I sighed and raised my head. “Um, can I ask you something unrelated?” I asked the captain in his native language.

“Yes?”

“Did you use a mid-grade HP potion?”

“That’s right. I asked for the most effective kind of potion they had and that was what they gave me.”

“I see.”

That was lucky. Lucky for me or for him, you ask? For him, of course! He must have had some good karma. You see, since he said that he had used a mid-grade HP potion, I could get away with giving him something a little special.

I fished around in the bag I had slung around my shoulder and took out a potion, which I handed to him. He looked at the vial in confusion.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Another HP potion. I carry it around with me just in case, but feel free to use it on your crew member, if you’d like. I hope it’ll help him feel better.”

He probably assumed I was giving it to him for my own peace of mind. He paused for a moment, and then, wearing a smile that made him look like he was on the verge of tears, he said, “Thank you.”

I waved and headed back to where Jude and the others were waiting for me.

“Sei…” Jude said in a tone that made it sound like he had more to say, but I shrugged and urged him to start heading back in the direction we had come from.

I didn’t say anything until we had gotten far enough away from the wharf that the black-haired captain couldn’t hear me anymore. “I didn’t use any magic! I just wanted to help a little… Hopefully that’s enough to help the poor guy get through the worst of it.”

“Let me guess, that potion was…” Jude didn’t finish his sentence. 

I chuckled sheepishly.

The potion I’d handed the captain was indeed a potion I kept in my bag just in case—a high-grade HP potion made by my own hand. If that wasn’t enough to help the injured fellow, he really would need Healing Magic.

In my defense, I figured that even if any of these guys realized the potion I’d given them was unusually potent, I could claim that was because it was high-grade stuff. And if someone tried to say that it was stronger than a normal high-grade potion, I could feign ignorance and say I’d inherited it from my parents—sorry, don’t know the details!

It was the least I could do, if I couldn’t use magic. I hoped my escorts would overlook it.

***

After the commotion on the wharf, we asked around with some of the shopkeepers, but the only unusual staples we heard of were wheat and beans. No rice to speak of.

However, we heard that the goods from the new ship—which turned out to be the same one that had suffered an accident—still hadn’t been put on the market, so we decided to come back again the next day.

We quietly went back to the inn and stayed there until morning.

As I was eating breakfast with Jude and Oscar in the dining room, we heard a commotion coming from the entrance to the inn. We looked over and saw the black-haired captain we had met the day before walking over to us, grinning ear to ear.

I glanced around and everyone seemed to have stunned looks on their faces; no one seemed to recognize the guy. A moment later, he reached our table.

“So, this was the inn you were staying at!” the captain said in his native tongue.

“Uh,” I said eloquently.

“Excuse me, but do you have some business with the lady?” Oscar stood as he spoke, sliding between the captain and me. To my surprise, he spoke the man’s language as well. I was also impressed by how smoothly Oscar acted at the drop of a hat—it was like I actually was just a well-to-do lady.

He was probably being cautious because of the captain’s sudden approach. Oscar was smiling, but he had a sharpish aura.

The captain was surprised by this attitude for a moment, but he immediately straightened his posture and offered his name and affiliation. His name was Ceyran, and he was the captain of the ship that had come from a country called Zaidera.

The potion I had given him yesterday had worked so well that his crew member had been able to get right back to work. The fellow’s legs had been so terribly injured that they would have had to have been amputated if not for the potion. Thus, Ceyran had been searching for me ever since. The potion’s power had made clear just how valuable it was, and I had given it to him for nothing.

I was relieved I’d been able to do something, especially as if I hadn’t, someone might have lost their legs. If they had already performed the operation, a potion wouldn’t have been enough to heal the man.

“I wanted to express my gratitude again,” Ceyran said. “Thank you.”

“I’m just glad I was able to help.” I smiled.

I assumed that would be the end of the conversation, but there was more. Ceyran entreated us to let him pay for the cost of the potion. “It was incredible. I simply must give you something in return.”

“Um…” I was at a loss. I’d figured that if anything, he would ask why it had been so effective—I hadn’t imagined that he would actually want to pay for it.

Technically, I had kept the potion on my person just in case, but really, I had taken it because the institute had way, way too many of them, and it probably wouldn’t be used if I didn’t. I hated the idea of anyone giving me money for such a thing.

Furthermore, the high-grade potions I made weren’t even available on the market, so they didn’t technically have a price to begin with. Could I ask for compensation on the level of a regular high-grade HP potion? Oof, I had the feeling that if I did, it might cause some kind of problem later.

I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Oscar saved the day. “As it turns out,” he said, “that potion was one the master had specially prepared for my lady.”

“Is that so?” Ceyran asked.

“Indeed. As for its worth, I believe we will have to ask for quite a considerable sum.”

“Ah, well, if the money I have on hand is insufficient, then I will make up the difference after we have finished selling our cargo.”

“That would be acceptable. However, my lady is quite generous of heart and would feel guilty for receiving any additional compensation.”

I listened to the exchange nervously, but Oscar managed to arrive at a good compromise. Ceyran would let us peruse his cargo, and if there was anything we wanted, he would sell it to us at a significant discount.

Ceyran readily agreed to this, and we decided to head straight for his ship. Oscar’s proposal helped us out a bunch, as we had actually been waiting for Ceyran’s cargo to be put on the market.

When we got to the docks, we boarded the ship and were shown to the storeroom, which was where all of the cargo had been moved after the accident. It was dimly lit and chilly inside, as if magic had been cast there to keep it cool. I rubbed my arms against the chill as I followed the captain. The goods they had brought were things they were planning to sell in Salutania, so it was mostly wheat. Unfortunately, I had assumed this would be the case.

“Um, do you have any specialty products from your own country?” I asked.

“Specialty products? Hmm, we have a few but not that much. I’m afraid they don’t sell very well here.” 

Ceyran led us to a corner of the storeroom where he showed us spices used in Zaidera: chili pepper, sansho pepper, and star anise. I started getting excited, seeing all these spices I recognized from Japan. These were all spices used in Chinese cuisine! If they had these, then maybe I really could hope that they had rice.

My hope bore fruit. When I asked if Ceyran had anything else from home, he brought us to another corner, where I finally laid eyes on my prize.

“Rice!” I gasped so loudly that all three men with me jumped in surprise. But in that moment, I didn’t care what anyone else thought—all I cared about was the glorious fact of the rice in front of me.

“You have heard of rice, my lady?” Ceyran asked cautiously.

“Yes!” 

I responded with such energy that Ceyran was a bit taken aback. However, he swiftly recovered himself and answered all my questions. As it turned out, rice was a staple food in some regions of Zaidera. Hardly anyone in the Kingdom of Salutania imported it, so Ceyran was surprised I recognized it. I surreptitiously tensed up at that observation.

“I, ah, I read about it in an encyclopedia,” I said. He seemed to accept that answer for now.

Ceyran and his crew hadn’t thought that they’d actually be able to sell the rice, so they hadn’t brought that much of it with them, but I told him I’d like to go ahead and buy as much as he’d let me. After all, I had no idea when they would be back again.

Given my enthusiasm, Ceyran promised he would bring even more rice the next time he came to Morgenhaven, and Oscar began business negotiations without a moment’s delay.

“He’s amazing,” I whispered to Jude.

“Yeah.”

I was left thunderstruck by how quickly they came to a deal about not only the rice but the spices as well. Furthermore, Oscar leveraged my gift of the potion to haggle Ceyran down considerably. He truly was skilled at this sort of thing.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

We looked toward the new voice to find a boy behind us, carrying a tray. He had the same black hair as Ceyran, so he might have been from the same country. He looked to be about the same age as Liz and Aira, though my guess was that he was a member of the crew.

Several steaming mugs sat on his tray. I looked from the cups to the boy in confusion, and he shyly started handing them out. “It’s so cold in here, so I thought you might like some soup to warm yourselves up.”

“Thank you!” I accepted the cup and grasped it with both hands, reveling in its warmth. It brought a smile to my face.

The boy then introduced himself. He was indeed a member of Ceyran’s crew—and he was actually the person who had avoided terrible misfortune thanks to my potion. A feeling of incredible relief washed over me when I realized I’d been able to help this young boy escape having both his legs amputated. He kept bowing his head while thanking me. I had a bit of a hard time getting him to finally stop.

By the time I did get him to stop, the mug had warmed my palms considerably. The hot soup was finally at a decent temperature to drink. I bent my head to take a sip but stopped when the smell of the soup hit me.

This smell…

We were in a dimly lit storehouse, so it was hard to make out what the soup actually looked like, but I knew this fragrance. My heart leapt with hope as I took a sip. Oh! It had been so long since I had tasted this flavor.

My nose went numb, and the corners of my lips quivered. I held back the tears threatening to overflow from my eyes and took another sip.

“This is a soup from the land of my birth. Do you like it?” the boy asked in his native Zaideran.

“Yes. It’s delicious,” I responded in his tongue. And then in Salutanian, I asked Jude, “What do you think, Jude? Do you like it?”

“Yeah. It’s got a peculiar taste, but it’s good.”

“He said he likes it too,” I interpreted for the boy.

The boy beamed. “Really?”

“This flavor really is unusual. What did you make it with?” Jude asked.

I conveyed Jude’s question to the boy, and he answered shyly, “We use a seasoning called miso.”

Miso soup. It had been so long since I had last tasted it. Although it didn’t make me feel quite so homesick that I cried.

The boy assured us that this kind of soup tasted much better back in his hometown. He had just quickly whipped this together. Jude was nevertheless terribly impressed.

I bet the boy was right, though. Compared to the miso soup I had enjoyed back in Japan, this soup, for which he had just melted miso in hot water, did lack a bit in flavor. However, it was still delicious, especially since it had been so long since my last taste.