I frowned at her action, despite understanding her reasoning for it. Master had just told us about the different methods to acquire equipment in this world, how to better ourselves once we become established. Seeing as Saori always worries about our financial future, she was the first to suggest making money.
“Saori … Quests. Adventure work. We can make money hunting down monsters like we always do, alright? We don’t need to become alchemists to live. We can just pay somebody,” I argued, finding her worry a bit too unnecessary. “Besides, if you’re suggesting it, why don’t you do the walk? Less talk the talk?”
“I am the party’s chef and clothier. Besides, do you want to take care of our finances? I did my family’s taxes, Hestia. Did you?”
I squinted my eyes “… Touché, but a low blow … But it isn’t like we can open a restaurant or boutique, you know. Or, do you want to stay in a single place for a year or so?”
“That is an exaggeration. We can stay in a place for a month or two to get to know the place, plan your concert there, and then we may go after making some money. Also, ever heard of street food or market selling? ‘Never put all your eggs into a single basket,’ there is your financial tip for the day, kid. We need money for our equipment and quality of life, and I will make sure we are not poor.”
I puffed up my cheeks as I couldn’t speak back. Saori had to experience being poor, while I never faced any financial struggles in my life. Even now, I didn’t have to, since I didn’t need to buy anything. Then again, considering we were making everything we needed to live, right now, maybe it would change in the future.
In any case, morning had come after yesterday’s little lecture from both Saori and Master. As I had decided yesterday, I would be evolving, but we kinda had to handle some stuff before then. First things, though, would be having breakfast with my two best friends. As always, it was delicious, and for some reason, it tasted better than usual. I wondered why.
Regardless, once we were done, we decided on taking care of the plants in our garden. Now, it was currently late autumn and the weather was practically winter at this point. It got so cold, I had to wear an extra layer of clothing to stay warm, just so I didn’t need [Body Temperature Control] to regulate it.
So, how were our plants not dying? Well, easy, I already had a solution for that. We were already using this item to warm up our showers and baths, so why not use it to maintain warmth like a radiator?
Exactly, my heater balls. Sadly, I couldn’t create anymore since I lost my ability to cast fire spells—ahem, Shiterno, ahem. Technically, [Symphonie des Feuergottes] was a fire spell, but it was a large scale one which I couldn’t compress enough to fit into a baseball-sized ball. Using my scale-dust was also an option, but they created sparks—explosions. They’d always been like this, so using them for my grenades and bombs was more practical.
Thankfully, I made a ton beforehand, so the ones we were using right now were from a month ago. However, as wear and tear affected them, our supply would run out soon if I didn’t figure out an alternative.
“Amazing job, Tasianna. You really have a green thumb just by how healthy and green these plants look,” I praised her, as Tasianna was our primary gardener. Surprisingly, she had a hidden talent for taking care of plants, considering how much she enjoyed doing it.
“Thank you Lady Hestia, your praise warms my heart,” Tasianna replied, wiggling her elven ears in elation. “I am very glad to have obtained [Herbalist] while I was doing this in the Belzac forest. The skill is amazing.”
Think of the skill as a specialized version of [Identify] that only showed the advanced or hidden parameters of a plant. Tasianna could learn if the plant had gotten enough water, sun, warmth, carbon dioxide, or even other information like the toxicity of the soil. Some plants even required a certain amount of mana in the ground to grow.
It was an essential skill to have if you wished to cultivate many interesting and fantastical plants. Specifically, we needed to make sure the plants and seeds we’ve gotten from the Belzac forest could grow and produce.
Since our stay with the lizardmen, Tasianna and I had been cultivating plants inside pots. We would periodically take them outside my storage to let them take in the rays and air if we had the opportunity to. Now that we were here in Carine village, not traveling, we could leave them outside.
Whether it was fruit or herb plants, they were still growing so we couldn’t harvest anything yet. However, once they reach adulthood, I would make a fragassa cake … and Tasianna could make more of those coffee tasting leaves. They reduced arcane corruption, so we could make pre-brewed fulinoe leaf tea for combat.
“These will surely produce some money for us if we sell the excess,” Saori suggested. “Otherwise, they can solve some of our food expenses. Hestia, you and I have pretty large appetites, after all. I believe Mister Kushlek’zar mentioned that recovering Mana would require food.”
If somebody wasn’t affected by [Mana Fever], a status effect that appeared when your Mana reached zero, one would naturally regenerate Mana by absorbing it from the air or through food and drink. [Mana Recovery], or similar skills, accelerated the regeneration process.
I always thought my large appetite was due to me being a dragon, but I guess my usage of spells and abilities was also a major factor. For example, Master Kushlek’zar and the two of us could eat as much as the saurian warriors—Krim-Slak, Grazlahta, and Akast—despite our smaller frames. The only exception was Tasianna whose mana body had a different biology compared to ours, so she needed far fewer calories per day even after going crazy with spells.
“Hmmm, you know, why should we sell the product in their raw form?” I mentioned. “I know how to bake, don’t forget. Cake, cookies, biscuits, honestly, we can turn everything into pastries and sweets, right? Those have to sell for a higher price, just like a finished good.”
“Oh, really?” Tasianna tilted her head, confused on the matter. “Why would we earn more if we sold them as baked goods? Whether you buy pastries or buy the ingredients for it, it should be the same price at the end of the day, correct? They’re food.”
Oh right, Tasianna was a fairy, a race that didn’t have any monetary transactions. Items and goods were instead traded amongst each other by exchanging favors, labor, or other goods. Essentially, the fairy village was similar to a village before universal, backed currency.
The fairies were a carefree race who celebrated a lot, so restricting one’s access to certain food or drinks was seen as crazy. Exclusivity was a foreign word for them as even the royal family would share dwarven and elven delicacies to the populace after they returned home from an ambassador mission.
The idea of trading goods and labor for money was unknown to Tasianna, which meant Saori and I had to educate her on that subject. That was why she didn’t understand the concept of “manufacturing costs” which would increase any finished good’s final price.
The cost of the raw materials used in the production of the product, the cost of labor as time was needed to produce it, and any indirect costs that were required for the production like rent, water, electricity, etc. As the goal of a successful business hinged on the profit you made per product sold, knowing how to calculate this was important.
Impressed that an idol nerd would know this? Well, it was mostly thanks to Papa and Mama as I too asked them the same question when I was younger. “Why do sweets cost so much when we can just make them ourselves, Mama?” or “Why do tickets to your Orchestra always cost so much, Papa?” were a few childish questions I asked them. It just didn’t make sense when I was a kid.
“Hmmm, I think I understand, thank you for your explanation, Lady Hestia,” Tasianna thanked me with a bow after I finished the explanation. “So, because baking a cake requires so much time, and as we need to create funds from it, increasing the price would be smart?”
“Exactly,” I agreed by showing her an “okay” sign. “Charging for only the raw materials would make no sense because we would be wasting our time. The time we use for the baking process could’ve been used for something else. That’s ‘opportunity cost.’”
I should also thank the economics lessons at school for this as I would otherwise never research it by myself.
As Tasianna was praising me with “Amazing, as expected from my mistress!” Saori was pondering on something. “Do you really think that is a good idea? The material costs would be high.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with genuine curiosity. “You are already trading in some of our vegetables, fruits, and meat for stuff like eggs, milk, and grains, right? We will be able to keep the cost down with this, especially with how much meat we have. We might have worried about our winter rations in the Belzac forest, but we still have monster meat from our ‘Idol Concert Strategy’ time.”
Our worry for our depleting storage was a real concern when we were still in the Belzac forest as our daily calorie consumption was immense there. Here in Carine village, I’ve noticed that we have been eating less of our meat and more of the rice and other products we received from the village.
Well, technically, Colwyn’s family was mostly paying for us. One of the reasons why I couldn’t exactly reject the offer to give a sermon, as our daily rations have enriched our meals.
Now, with our reduced meat consumption, Saori has been going around the village, trading our meat with any products the village could trade-in. I’ve heard from her that villagers would mostly eat dried jerky they made before winter as their main source of protein, so what fresh meat we had was a blessing for them.
They technically had Peolyncian versions of sheep, chickens, and cows at their home but nobody would think of killing them if meat was still available. Farming animals would produce dairy products like eggs and milk, which would benefit them in the long run. The only animals that would be slaughtered would be pig equivalents. Fatten them up until autumn time and send them to the butcher.
There was the option of hunting monsters and animals, but anything inside a forest was the property of the lord. The saurians and our group have been hunting them but only on the request of Colwyn, where our payment was the monster body itself. Any animals or rank G monsters were to be handed to him, where we would receive additional village products for compensation.
Although I might say any rank G monsters, Colwyn has declined to accept goblin and kobold bodies since eating goblin or kobold meat was frowned upon as ‘dirty.’ Well, not like we would eat them, anyways.
“The village doesn’t only grow rice, but also wheat, which we can turn into flour. We got some ourselves and if we needed more, we just needed to ask. We got eggs and milk, and I believe some of the villagers are turning their milk into cheese, cream, and butter, so no problem on that end. We also have honey and fruits to substitute the sugar part, reducing the costs even further,” I counted out the ingredients. “I used to bake a lot with my mom. She taught me how to make homemade yeast and also how to make cake without baking powder. I can promise you a delicious pound cake that would sell easily.”
Saori looked at me for a moment before sighing and muttering, “… Somehow, this might be a foreboding to our future financial problems.”
What is that supposed to mean?
“Fine, I do not know about selling, but we can certainly make it for ourselves,” Saori finally agreed with exasperation. “So, what do we do about the oven? You want to make one yourself?”
I thought on the idea for a second before responding, “Hmm, I could, yes, but I think I’ll ask around the village first. There should be a baker around, I think.”
With that decided, Saori and I went outside to find an oven. Tasianna stayed home, as usual, to avoid the villagers and take care of the garden.
I’ve already told Saori and Tasianna about my desire to evolve but until the lord of this land sent our invitation, we didn’t know when I had the time to do so. Saori explained that rejecting or even coming late to a noble’s invitation could mark us as criminals back on Earth. As if I wanted to risk that when our village life hadn’t even properly started yet.
So, until that time came, we could spend our days leisurely. Gotta be responsible here.
“Hey, excuse me, could I ask you something?” I called out to two young women around Lorena’s age, carrying buckets of water from the village’s well.
“Huh?!”
They gasped the moment they saw us, putting their buckets down before greeting us with a prayer bow. The taller woman with the green hair then started to speak, “M’lady Shrine Maiden, w-we pray to your health and for gracing us with your time. Excuse us for not noticing you earlier. We thank you so very much for yesterday’s sermon. May the goddess bless your benevolent soul.”
Once the women started saying that, all the villagers around us dropped their hustle-and-tussle and greeted me similarly before excusing themselves and practically running away.
“Urgh.” Watching them run caused my heart to ache a bit. “You … I saw you speak with Lorena once.Are the two of you her friends?”
“Yes!” the smaller, brown-haired woman answered with a shout. “I-I mean, we are, yes, m’lady Shrine Maiden. Before the raid, we lived in the same neighborhood and were of the same age, so we naturally became friends. D-do you need something from her … if I may ask that, of course.”
She was stuttering and acting extremely nervous in my presence. This was more draining for me, you know?
“Please, do not worry.” As I was wallowing in my annoyance at how they were acting around me, Saori suddenly took the helm. “My lady and I are simply asking where she is as we have a favor to ask for her. She’s a good acquaintance, we do not mean any harm.”
“O-oh right, you’re Miss Saori, right?" the green-haired woman spoke up, nearly turning her shock expression into a small smile. “Right, right, Lorena did say that m’lady Shrine Maiden saved her and her folks, right? We apologize, we acted quite rude.”
Seeing both of them apologize to me with a bow, a certain sting in my heart reappeared that I haven’t felt since … I reincarnated. “It's ok. No harm done …”
Once they informed us that Lorena was in the fields, we said goodbye to them and went in that direction.
“… Hey, are you feeling alright?” On the way, Saori asked me with a brow raised. I guess my unease was clear to see.
“… Honestly? Annoyed,” I answered reluctantly, instead of trying to make an excuse. “They aren’t like those bitches from back at school but …”
“You do not like the fact that they are treating you differently, correct? Due to their assumption that you are a noble shrine maiden?” Saori ended my sentence for me, forming a wry smile as she guessed my worries correctly.
“Haaa … yeah…” I uttered meekly, looking back at the two women rather sheepishly. “I don't want them to act so nervously around me. I’m a girl just like them, just with a few more benefits. It’s so annoying to see everybody greeting me and then run away as if their life was in danger. It’s not like I even admitted any of their claims, but they’re already fully accepted that I was a noble and a clergywoman. Fuck’s sake …”
I didn’t know if it could actually be called bullying, but it honestly felt like that when I was training to become an idol in my past life. The other trainees would tease and annoy me to the point I just blew up on them, causing my reputation among them to plummet to the point that nobody wanted to have anything to do with me.
And why did they do this to me? ‘Cause my parents were rich and they thought I was given everything on a golden spoon. Sure, I might have a great family but that didn’t mean I cheated or slacked on my training. I worked as hard as they did ‘cause I honestly wished to become an idol. It wasn’t a spontaneous, rich-girl fancy, but a true aspiration. A calling. My life.
Sure, I was born an imperial princess in this life. I’ve also received Aurena’s, Kargryxmor’s, and, unfortunately, Shiterno’s blessings. It didn’t mean that I wanted to be treated differently okay? I behaved and spoke properly not ‘cause I wanted people to revere me but ‘cause my two companions preferred me like this.
“Hiehie, well I am just glad that you are not trying to hide your feelings like in the past.” Saori, patting my head as if I was a child, joyfully recalling how I acted in the past. “Besides, was it not your fault that they are seeing you in that light? You behaved so gracefully when you first greeted Chief Colwyn, that I personally thought you were doing it on purpose.”
“No, of course not!” I denied it immediately. “Tasianna taught me how to say it to sound more authentic. How could I have known that it was over the top?”
“Then why not do it like me? Talk with everybody. I have gotten to know quite a few people just by trading for some eggs and milk,” Saori suggested.
“Didn’t you see how they tried to avoid me? How can I talk to them if they act so nervous? The only people who were okay with talking to me were the people I saved from the bandits, the same people that have become my followers,” I responded. “And even then, I think they’re super anxious around me because I speak formally. But I can’t help it. They are strangers and I feel awkward speaking to them like I would speak to you, Tasianna, or the saurians.”
I honestly would have liked a few more relationships similar to the one I had with the lizardmen but what could I do?
Leaving the village through the gates, we ventured closer to the river where the farming fields were situated. The fields were completely empty compared to when we first came to the village, which meant their harvest was done for the year.
While there weren’t any crops, villagers and animals called equerochs—a mix between a horse and ox—were plowing the field. Saori and I didn’t know much about farming so we could only stare at them for a moment until we noticed the figure of a young woman plucking up a blue balloon-like plant.
“Ahh, Hest-Lady Hestia! Saori!” The moment she saw us, Lorena began waving her hand and ran towards us. “Blessing of the light to you two. Oh, and Lady Hestia, I listened to your sermon yesterday. It was certainly something different than what we usually got but it was pretty nice hearing you sing. Thank you so very much for your blessing. Can I ask why you two are here?”
“We’re here for you, but before I ask my favor; is that a macula plant?” I pointed at the two blue balloons she was carrying. “Were you checking for the mana concentration in the area?”
“Huh? These?” Lorena tilted her head as she held onto one of them. “I don’t really know much about them. I just wanted to help out because most of the farmers had to help with the rebuild, and Dad said this was perfect for me. I heard from Chief Colwyn and the farmers that these plants drain mana from the ground and grow up. I’m supposed to take care of them because Lord Count Helvas demands every single one harvested.”
Master explained these plants were an essentially piece of any mage’s equipment, as the mage’s guild forced mages to take care of the aftermath of their spell casting. The more spells or mana used, the more it would contaminate the local area. While it wasn’t an issue in the Belzac forest, society actually regulate the amount in their soil.
Monster spawning was the primary reason why mages had to plant macula plant seed, not only to determine how much mana was in the area, but also to make sure strong monsters didn’t just randomly appear. If it became ripe too fast, then it was a clear indication that mana was in overabundance. If a rank D were to spawn around Carine village when we were gone, it could spell disaster.
It was every mages’ responsibility to either drain the ground of mana, or report it to a local adventurer or mage’s guild. We had reported the area around the bandit camp to Colwyn, so people should be handling that for us. Thankfully, we haven’t heard of any strong monsters spawning around the area.
Also, we weren’t allowed to completely drain the area of mana as that would slow down or even harm the growth of certain plants. A major reason why I felt the area was so low in mana was due to macula plant draining.
While our training was posing a danger to Carine village, there was a financial incentive why the lord and Colwyn hadn’t reprimanded us yet. The water these macula plants produced, dubbed “macula water,” was high in mana and was considered an essential component of alchemy.
Well, high-quality mana water was essential, not this one specifically. As these seeds were common and inexpensive to buy while mana water was in high demand, Colwyn explained that his lord would “ignore” what we were doing if we handed in all the macula plants we got.
Due to the profitability, Saori had suggested infusing our mana into normal well water, but Tasianna told us it had to be done naturally. It would be “impure,” apparently, so if we wanted some mana water, we needed to make some through macula plants. It was a shame, but we could probably buy some from Master … Although, we didn’t have any money right now.
Damn! We’re poor!
“Anyways, we have a favor to ask you. Do you have time now?” I asked Lorena.
“I still have a few more to pick up but afterward we can talk at my house, if you want,” she replied with a sweet smile, showing no sign of the same distrust or anxiousness her two friends had.
“… I’m honestly glad that you’re like this. Really, thanks,” I answered with a wry smile.
“Huh?”
“Oh nothing, come on, I’ll cheer you on while you work. Harriet would probably complain if I helped,” I stated, pushing her forward to the next macula plant.
After wandering around the three giant farming fields of the village, collecting every ripe macula plant, we then returned to the village and gave Lorena’s house a visit.
AbyssRaven We have the Slice-of-life tag, so here is some slice-of-life. A bit of a chill chapter since we had the last more intense side chapters.
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Thank you for reading this chapter.
I frowned at her action, despite understanding her reasoning for it. Master had just told us about the different methods to acquire equipment in this world, how to better ourselves once we become established. Seeing as Saori always worries about our financial future, she was the first to suggest making money.
“Saori … Quests. Adventure work. We can make money hunting down monsters like we always do, alright? We don’t need to become alchemists to live. We can just pay somebody,” I argued, finding her worry a bit too unnecessary. “Besides, if you’re suggesting it, why don’t you do the walk? Less talk the talk?”
“I am the party’s chef and clothier. Besides, do you want to take care of our finances? I did my family’s taxes, Hestia. Did you?”
I squinted my eyes “… Touché, but a low blow … But it isn’t like we can open a restaurant or boutique, you know. Or, do you want to stay in a single place for a year or so?”
“That is an exaggeration. We can stay in a place for a month or two to get to know the place, plan your concert there, and then we may go after making some money. Also, ever heard of street food or market selling? ‘Never put all your eggs into a single basket,’ there is your financial tip for the day, kid. We need money for our equipment and quality of life, and I will make sure we are not poor.”
I puffed up my cheeks as I couldn’t speak back. Saori had to experience being poor, while I never faced any financial struggles in my life. Even now, I didn’t have to, since I didn’t need to buy anything. Then again, considering we were making everything we needed to live, right now, maybe it would change in the future.
In any case, morning had come after yesterday’s little lecture from both Saori and Master. As I had decided yesterday, I would be evolving, but we kinda had to handle some stuff before then. First things, though, would be having breakfast with my two best friends. As always, it was delicious, and for some reason, it tasted better than usual. I wondered why.
Regardless, once we were done, we decided on taking care of the plants in our garden. Now, it was currently late autumn and the weather was practically winter at this point. It got so cold, I had to wear an extra layer of clothing to stay warm, just so I didn’t need [Body Temperature Control] to regulate it.
So, how were our plants not dying? Well, easy, I already had a solution for that. We were already using this item to warm up our showers and baths, so why not use it to maintain warmth like a radiator?
Exactly, my heater balls. Sadly, I couldn’t create anymore since I lost my ability to cast fire spells—ahem, Shiterno, ahem. Technically, [Symphonie des Feuergottes] was a fire spell, but it was a large scale one which I couldn’t compress enough to fit into a baseball-sized ball. Using my scale-dust was also an option, but they created sparks—explosions. They’d always been like this, so using them for my grenades and bombs was more practical.
Thankfully, I made a ton beforehand, so the ones we were using right now were from a month ago. However, as wear and tear affected them, our supply would run out soon if I didn’t figure out an alternative.
“Amazing job, Tasianna. You really have a green thumb just by how healthy and green these plants look,” I praised her, as Tasianna was our primary gardener. Surprisingly, she had a hidden talent for taking care of plants, considering how much she enjoyed doing it.
“Thank you Lady Hestia, your praise warms my heart,” Tasianna replied, wiggling her elven ears in elation. “I am very glad to have obtained [Herbalist] while I was doing this in the Belzac forest. The skill is amazing.”
Think of the skill as a specialized version of [Identify] that only showed the advanced or hidden parameters of a plant. Tasianna could learn if the plant had gotten enough water, sun, warmth, carbon dioxide, or even other information like the toxicity of the soil. Some plants even required a certain amount of mana in the ground to grow.
It was an essential skill to have if you wished to cultivate many interesting and fantastical plants. Specifically, we needed to make sure the plants and seeds we’ve gotten from the Belzac forest could grow and produce.
Since our stay with the lizardmen, Tasianna and I had been cultivating plants inside pots. We would periodically take them outside my storage to let them take in the rays and air if we had the opportunity to. Now that we were here in Carine village, not traveling, we could leave them outside.
Whether it was fruit or herb plants, they were still growing so we couldn’t harvest anything yet. However, once they reach adulthood, I would make a fragassa cake … and Tasianna could make more of those coffee tasting leaves. They reduced arcane corruption, so we could make pre-brewed fulinoe leaf tea for combat.
“These will surely produce some money for us if we sell the excess,” Saori suggested. “Otherwise, they can solve some of our food expenses. Hestia, you and I have pretty large appetites, after all. I believe Mister Kushlek’zar mentioned that recovering Mana would require food.”
If somebody wasn’t affected by [Mana Fever], a status effect that appeared when your Mana reached zero, one would naturally regenerate Mana by absorbing it from the air or through food and drink. [Mana Recovery], or similar skills, accelerated the regeneration process.
I always thought my large appetite was due to me being a dragon, but I guess my usage of spells and abilities was also a major factor. For example, Master Kushlek’zar and the two of us could eat as much as the saurian warriors—Krim-Slak, Grazlahta, and Akast—despite our smaller frames. The only exception was Tasianna whose mana body had a different biology compared to ours, so she needed far fewer calories per day even after going crazy with spells.
“Hmmm, you know, why should we sell the product in their raw form?” I mentioned. “I know how to bake, don’t forget. Cake, cookies, biscuits, honestly, we can turn everything into pastries and sweets, right? Those have to sell for a higher price, just like a finished good.”
“Oh, really?” Tasianna tilted her head, confused on the matter. “Why would we earn more if we sold them as baked goods? Whether you buy pastries or buy the ingredients for it, it should be the same price at the end of the day, correct? They’re food.”
Oh right, Tasianna was a fairy, a race that didn’t have any monetary transactions. Items and goods were instead traded amongst each other by exchanging favors, labor, or other goods. Essentially, the fairy village was similar to a village before universal, backed currency.
The fairies were a carefree race who celebrated a lot, so restricting one’s access to certain food or drinks was seen as crazy. Exclusivity was a foreign word for them as even the royal family would share dwarven and elven delicacies to the populace after they returned home from an ambassador mission.
The idea of trading goods and labor for money was unknown to Tasianna, which meant Saori and I had to educate her on that subject. That was why she didn’t understand the concept of “manufacturing costs” which would increase any finished good’s final price.
The cost of the raw materials used in the production of the product, the cost of labor as time was needed to produce it, and any indirect costs that were required for the production like rent, water, electricity, etc. As the goal of a successful business hinged on the profit you made per product sold, knowing how to calculate this was important.
Impressed that an idol nerd would know this? Well, it was mostly thanks to Papa and Mama as I too asked them the same question when I was younger. “Why do sweets cost so much when we can just make them ourselves, Mama?” or “Why do tickets to your Orchestra always cost so much, Papa?” were a few childish questions I asked them. It just didn’t make sense when I was a kid.
“Hmmm, I think I understand, thank you for your explanation, Lady Hestia,” Tasianna thanked me with a bow after I finished the explanation. “So, because baking a cake requires so much time, and as we need to create funds from it, increasing the price would be smart?”
“Exactly,” I agreed by showing her an “okay” sign. “Charging for only the raw materials would make no sense because we would be wasting our time. The time we use for the baking process could’ve been used for something else. That’s ‘opportunity cost.’”
I should also thank the economics lessons at school for this as I would otherwise never research it by myself.
As Tasianna was praising me with “Amazing, as expected from my mistress!” Saori was pondering on something. “Do you really think that is a good idea? The material costs would be high.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with genuine curiosity. “You are already trading in some of our vegetables, fruits, and meat for stuff like eggs, milk, and grains, right? We will be able to keep the cost down with this, especially with how much meat we have. We might have worried about our winter rations in the Belzac forest, but we still have monster meat from our ‘Idol Concert Strategy’ time.”
Our worry for our depleting storage was a real concern when we were still in the Belzac forest as our daily calorie consumption was immense there. Here in Carine village, I’ve noticed that we have been eating less of our meat and more of the rice and other products we received from the village.
Well, technically, Colwyn’s family was mostly paying for us. One of the reasons why I couldn’t exactly reject the offer to give a sermon, as our daily rations have enriched our meals.
Now, with our reduced meat consumption, Saori has been going around the village, trading our meat with any products the village could trade-in. I’ve heard from her that villagers would mostly eat dried jerky they made before winter as their main source of protein, so what fresh meat we had was a blessing for them.
They technically had Peolyncian versions of sheep, chickens, and cows at their home but nobody would think of killing them if meat was still available. Farming animals would produce dairy products like eggs and milk, which would benefit them in the long run. The only animals that would be slaughtered would be pig equivalents. Fatten them up until autumn time and send them to the butcher.
There was the option of hunting monsters and animals, but anything inside a forest was the property of the lord. The saurians and our group have been hunting them but only on the request of Colwyn, where our payment was the monster body itself. Any animals or rank G monsters were to be handed to him, where we would receive additional village products for compensation.
Although I might say any rank G monsters, Colwyn has declined to accept goblin and kobold bodies since eating goblin or kobold meat was frowned upon as ‘dirty.’ Well, not like we would eat them, anyways.
“The village doesn’t only grow rice, but also wheat, which we can turn into flour. We got some ourselves and if we needed more, we just needed to ask. We got eggs and milk, and I believe some of the villagers are turning their milk into cheese, cream, and butter, so no problem on that end. We also have honey and fruits to substitute the sugar part, reducing the costs even further,” I counted out the ingredients. “I used to bake a lot with my mom. She taught me how to make homemade yeast and also how to make cake without baking powder. I can promise you a delicious pound cake that would sell easily.”
Saori looked at me for a moment before sighing and muttering, “… Somehow, this might be a foreboding to our future financial problems.”
What is that supposed to mean?
“Fine, I do not know about selling, but we can certainly make it for ourselves,” Saori finally agreed with exasperation. “So, what do we do about the oven? You want to make one yourself?”
I thought on the idea for a second before responding, “Hmm, I could, yes, but I think I’ll ask around the village first. There should be a baker around, I think.”
With that decided, Saori and I went outside to find an oven. Tasianna stayed home, as usual, to avoid the villagers and take care of the garden.
I’ve already told Saori and Tasianna about my desire to evolve but until the lord of this land sent our invitation, we didn’t know when I had the time to do so. Saori explained that rejecting or even coming late to a noble’s invitation could mark us as criminals back on Earth. As if I wanted to risk that when our village life hadn’t even properly started yet.
So, until that time came, we could spend our days leisurely. Gotta be responsible here.
“Hey, excuse me, could I ask you something?” I called out to two young women around Lorena’s age, carrying buckets of water from the village’s well.
“Huh?!”
They gasped the moment they saw us, putting their buckets down before greeting us with a prayer bow. The taller woman with the green hair then started to speak, “M’lady Shrine Maiden, w-we pray to your health and for gracing us with your time. Excuse us for not noticing you earlier. We thank you so very much for yesterday’s sermon. May the goddess bless your benevolent soul.”
Once the women started saying that, all the villagers around us dropped their hustle-and-tussle and greeted me similarly before excusing themselves and practically running away.
“Urgh.” Watching them run caused my heart to ache a bit. “You … I saw you speak with Lorena once.Are the two of you her friends?”
“Yes!” the smaller, brown-haired woman answered with a shout. “I-I mean, we are, yes, m’lady Shrine Maiden. Before the raid, we lived in the same neighborhood and were of the same age, so we naturally became friends. D-do you need something from her … if I may ask that, of course.”
She was stuttering and acting extremely nervous in my presence. This was more draining for me, you know?
“Please, do not worry.” As I was wallowing in my annoyance at how they were acting around me, Saori suddenly took the helm. “My lady and I are simply asking where she is as we have a favor to ask for her. She’s a good acquaintance, we do not mean any harm.”
“O-oh right, you’re Miss Saori, right?" the green-haired woman spoke up, nearly turning her shock expression into a small smile. “Right, right, Lorena did say that m’lady Shrine Maiden saved her and her folks, right? We apologize, we acted quite rude.”
Seeing both of them apologize to me with a bow, a certain sting in my heart reappeared that I haven’t felt since … I reincarnated. “It's ok. No harm done …”
Once they informed us that Lorena was in the fields, we said goodbye to them and went in that direction.
“… Hey, are you feeling alright?” On the way, Saori asked me with a brow raised. I guess my unease was clear to see.
“… Honestly? Annoyed,” I answered reluctantly, instead of trying to make an excuse. “They aren’t like those bitches from back at school but …”
“You do not like the fact that they are treating you differently, correct? Due to their assumption that you are a noble shrine maiden?” Saori ended my sentence for me, forming a wry smile as she guessed my worries correctly.
“Haaa … yeah…” I uttered meekly, looking back at the two women rather sheepishly. “I don't want them to act so nervously around me. I’m a girl just like them, just with a few more benefits. It’s so annoying to see everybody greeting me and then run away as if their life was in danger. It’s not like I even admitted any of their claims, but they’re already fully accepted that I was a noble and a clergywoman. Fuck’s sake …”
I didn’t know if it could actually be called bullying, but it honestly felt like that when I was training to become an idol in my past life. The other trainees would tease and annoy me to the point I just blew up on them, causing my reputation among them to plummet to the point that nobody wanted to have anything to do with me.
And why did they do this to me? ‘Cause my parents were rich and they thought I was given everything on a golden spoon. Sure, I might have a great family but that didn’t mean I cheated or slacked on my training. I worked as hard as they did ‘cause I honestly wished to become an idol. It wasn’t a spontaneous, rich-girl fancy, but a true aspiration. A calling. My life.
Sure, I was born an imperial princess in this life. I’ve also received Aurena’s, Kargryxmor’s, and, unfortunately, Shiterno’s blessings. It didn’t mean that I wanted to be treated differently okay? I behaved and spoke properly not ‘cause I wanted people to revere me but ‘cause my two companions preferred me like this.
“Hiehie, well I am just glad that you are not trying to hide your feelings like in the past.” Saori, patting my head as if I was a child, joyfully recalling how I acted in the past. “Besides, was it not your fault that they are seeing you in that light? You behaved so gracefully when you first greeted Chief Colwyn, that I personally thought you were doing it on purpose.”
“No, of course not!” I denied it immediately. “Tasianna taught me how to say it to sound more authentic. How could I have known that it was over the top?”
“Then why not do it like me? Talk with everybody. I have gotten to know quite a few people just by trading for some eggs and milk,” Saori suggested.
“Didn’t you see how they tried to avoid me? How can I talk to them if they act so nervous? The only people who were okay with talking to me were the people I saved from the bandits, the same people that have become my followers,” I responded. “And even then, I think they’re super anxious around me because I speak formally. But I can’t help it. They are strangers and I feel awkward speaking to them like I would speak to you, Tasianna, or the saurians.”
I honestly would have liked a few more relationships similar to the one I had with the lizardmen but what could I do?
Leaving the village through the gates, we ventured closer to the river where the farming fields were situated. The fields were completely empty compared to when we first came to the village, which meant their harvest was done for the year.
While there weren’t any crops, villagers and animals called equerochs—a mix between a horse and ox—were plowing the field. Saori and I didn’t know much about farming so we could only stare at them for a moment until we noticed the figure of a young woman plucking up a blue balloon-like plant.
“Ahh, Hest-Lady Hestia! Saori!” The moment she saw us, Lorena began waving her hand and ran towards us. “Blessing of the light to you two. Oh, and Lady Hestia, I listened to your sermon yesterday. It was certainly something different than what we usually got but it was pretty nice hearing you sing. Thank you so very much for your blessing. Can I ask why you two are here?”
“We’re here for you, but before I ask my favor; is that a macula plant?” I pointed at the two blue balloons she was carrying. “Were you checking for the mana concentration in the area?”
“Huh? These?” Lorena tilted her head as she held onto one of them. “I don’t really know much about them. I just wanted to help out because most of the farmers had to help with the rebuild, and Dad said this was perfect for me. I heard from Chief Colwyn and the farmers that these plants drain mana from the ground and grow up. I’m supposed to take care of them because Lord Count Helvas demands every single one harvested.”
Master explained these plants were an essentially piece of any mage’s equipment, as the mage’s guild forced mages to take care of the aftermath of their spell casting. The more spells or mana used, the more it would contaminate the local area. While it wasn’t an issue in the Belzac forest, society actually regulate the amount in their soil.
Monster spawning was the primary reason why mages had to plant macula plant seed, not only to determine how much mana was in the area, but also to make sure strong monsters didn’t just randomly appear. If it became ripe too fast, then it was a clear indication that mana was in overabundance. If a rank D were to spawn around Carine village when we were gone, it could spell disaster.
It was every mages’ responsibility to either drain the ground of mana, or report it to a local adventurer or mage’s guild. We had reported the area around the bandit camp to Colwyn, so people should be handling that for us. Thankfully, we haven’t heard of any strong monsters spawning around the area.
Also, we weren’t allowed to completely drain the area of mana as that would slow down or even harm the growth of certain plants. A major reason why I felt the area was so low in mana was due to macula plant draining.
While our training was posing a danger to Carine village, there was a financial incentive why the lord and Colwyn hadn’t reprimanded us yet. The water these macula plants produced, dubbed “macula water,” was high in mana and was considered an essential component of alchemy.
Well, high-quality mana water was essential, not this one specifically. As these seeds were common and inexpensive to buy while mana water was in high demand, Colwyn explained that his lord would “ignore” what we were doing if we handed in all the macula plants we got.
Due to the profitability, Saori had suggested infusing our mana into normal well water, but Tasianna told us it had to be done naturally. It would be “impure,” apparently, so if we wanted some mana water, we needed to make some through macula plants. It was a shame, but we could probably buy some from Master … Although, we didn’t have any money right now.
Damn! We’re poor!
“Anyways, we have a favor to ask you. Do you have time now?” I asked Lorena.
“I still have a few more to pick up but afterward we can talk at my house, if you want,” she replied with a sweet smile, showing no sign of the same distrust or anxiousness her two friends had.
“… I’m honestly glad that you’re like this. Really, thanks,” I answered with a wry smile.
“Huh?”
“Oh nothing, come on, I’ll cheer you on while you work. Harriet would probably complain if I helped,” I stated, pushing her forward to the next macula plant.
After wandering around the three giant farming fields of the village, collecting every ripe macula plant, we then returned to the village and gave Lorena’s house a visit.
AbyssRaven We have the Slice-of-life tag, so here is some slice-of-life. A bit of a chill chapter since we had the last more intense side chapters.
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