Chapter 186:
It’s a Hit!
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?”
“Sorry, I really can’t. But thanks for the boxed lunch.”
They’d asked me to stay and eat with them, but I had to turn them down so I could go take care of Sora and Flame. They’d been in their bag ever since sunup. They both seemed fine whenever I checked in on them, but I wanted to let them get out of there as soon as possible. They had to be hungry, too.
“Will that be enough food for you, dear?” Druid’s mother asked with concern.
I looked down at the wooden box I was holding. From its heavy weight, I could easily imagine a feast the likes of which I could never finish in one sitting.
“Don’t worry, this is more than enough.”
“Are you sure? We have plenty to spare.”
“Oh, no, ma’am, I really am fine, thank you.” In addition to the lunch, Druid was carrying a box of onigiri for me. And judging by the labored way he was holding it, I was almost scared to open it and see how many onigiri were inside.
“Sorry again about today. I didn’t think things would get that hectic. Can we give you your wages tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
Everyone looked exhausted from the unexpected rush that day. Anything that wasn’t urgent could definitely wait until the morning.
“Mr. Druid, are you sure you don’t need to stay?”
“Of course, Ivy. I’m going back to the plaza with you.”
Druid had also been asked to stay for dinner, but he’d decided to walk me back to the plaza instead. Now that he was on good terms with his family again, it would have been perfectly fine for him to stay…though I guess I was a little grateful for the help carrying all my things home.
“Take care, you two. See you tomorrow.”
Druid’s brother and sister-in-law had both gone home to take care of other business, so it was just his mother and father who said goodbye to us when we departed for the plaza.
“Have Sora and Flame been doing okay?” Druid asked, looking at their bag.
“Yes. At least, they’ve seemed fine every time I’ve peeked into their bag.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”
I guess he was worried about them being left alone all day. Druid might actually be a bit more overprotective than I thought he was.
On our way back to the plaza, an older man called out to us, “Oh, hello there, Druid! That was great!”
But by the time Druid was able to respond with a “Huh? Oh, thank you,” the man had already gone off somewhere.
“What do you think that was about?”
“Probably the grilled onigiri.”
Oh, that makes sense. It’s pretty unusual to get complimented in the street like that…was what I thought, but a lot of people proceeded to thank Druid. And every time, he thanked them back.
“Are you okay, sir?”
“Yeah, I’m all right. But I’m pretty stunned at how big a hit your onigiri became in just one day. That’s really impressive.”
He was right. People of all ages were approaching us. It seemed like the popularity of our onigiri had crossed all boundaries.
“Do you think we’ll get another big crowd tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yeah, and we’ll probably get big crowds for quite a few days. I just don’t think it’ll last that much longer. Our main objective here is to make ryce popular.”
He was right. The whole reason we’d thought of selling onigiri in the first place was to get people over their aversion toward eating rice. And we couldn’t exactly say we’d succeeded yet, but the townsfolk were eating our onigiri with no resistance. Some were hesitant at first, but once they were confronted with the delicious taste of the rice balls, they no longer seemed to care. We also sold a good amount of uncooked rice, too.
“Ivy, I think you have a real knack for business.”
“Huh? What makes you think that?”
“Well, because you’re good at luring people to you.”
Am I, though? I feel like I’m cheating a little, since I rely on memories from my past life so much.
When we returned to the plaza, the smell of grilled rice greeted us from all directions, which made us both laugh. Apparently, everyone had wasted no time eating our onigiri.
I went back into my tent and let Sora and Flame out of their bag. “Sorry for leaving you both cooped up all day.”
Both slimes jiggled in reply.
Oh, good. They’re not angry with me. They probably know I was busy with other things.
“I’ll just set out your potions, okay?”
I laid down some extra potions for them and watched for a while as they ate. They were eating the same way they always did, so they really did seem to be fine.
“I’m going to go eat my dinner now, okay?” I told them, stepping out of the tent.
When I got out of the tent, I found that Druid had set all our dinner out on the table we’d borrowed from my neighbor. I looked next door to see if he wanted to join in, but he wasn’t home. I’d borrowed his table without his permission so many times now, and I really did want to thank him properly as soon as I could.
“Thank you for helping,” I said to Druid.
“All I did was put it on the table,” he replied.
“Well, let’s eat.”
“Okay! I’ll just go make some tea.”
I heated up some water in the kitchen and got the tea things ready. Somebody was cooking rice nearby, and it smelled good. A smile spread across my face. I never dreamed that we’d see such dramatic results in just one day. The whole thing made me feel kind of giddy for some reason.
“Your tea, sir.”
“Why, thank you. Boy, just how many people did my mom pack this lunch for?”
As I thought, between the boxed lunch and the onigiri, the table was piled high with food. No way was this a meal for two.
“Well, well. I’d say you kids scored a big victory today.”
“Oh, Mr. Mentor! Perfect timing. Would you like to join us for supper?”
Druid’s old mentor was walking toward us with a tired look in his eyes. But when he saw the feast I was pointing at, his eyes lit up.
“Well, that does look good. Are ya sure there’s enough for me?”
We looked at the box… There was definitely enough for three people. And then some. In fact, we needed his help eating it. There was just way too much food.
“Be our guest, Master,” Druid said, pulling out a chair. Naturally, it was borrowed from my neighbor. I really, really needed to thank him properly.
“You look awfully tired. Are you all right, Master?”
“Yeah, well, getting the adventurers together was nice and all, but we didn’t exactly have any solid proof that our method for curing the berserk monsters would work. So, well, ya can probably guess how that caused a few issues.”
He was right. We didn’t have any solid proof. It was just a theory we’d arrived at by reading the old texts, and we could possibly be wrong, so I could understand why the adventurers might put up a stink about it.
“Well, the merchant guild guys were excited. They finally had hope that the food shortage would be resolved.”
That’s right, Druid’s father did get that request about the rice from the merchant guild. I was glad our plan had succeeded.
“We thought people would be more reluctant to try ryce, but surprisingly, they weren’t,” Druid said, taking a bite of onigiri. The flavor had soaked nicely into it. To people who were used to strongly flavored food, something delicate like rice would feel lacking to them. That’s why we used a lot of seasoning when we grilled the rice balls. The savory aroma was quite potent, and Druid’s family liked it a lot. They seemed to enjoy filling the onigiri with other ingredients as well.
“These are really good, ya know.” Druid’s master liked the onigiri, too. I suddenly realized that his aversion to rice had significantly decreased. Maybe eating it seemed normal to him?
“So, are you okay with eating rice now, sir?”
“I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this, but yeah. I’m fine with it.”
So it’s true. All it takes is one delicious bite and all resistance disappears.
“Why were you so resistant to eating it before?” It was a question I’d always had on my mind. I could understand him feeling a little strange about eating something he thought was animal feed, but he’d been so thoroughly repulsed by it earlier.
“It’s probably the church. They preached that ryce was an unclean thing for humans to eat.”
The church? Did they really say that? What a strange thing for a church to say.
“The church, huh… A bunch of meddlers, that’s all they are.”
Druid’s words startled me. There was a low stiffness in his voice I’d never heard before. Did he have some sort of bad memories involving the church? As for me…well, I certainly didn’t have any good memories.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login