Late at night, when an exhausted child and a drunk adult went home, the festival too came to an end. The village headman went to the beach to see the feudal lord and his group off.
“We’ll be fine here. I had a lot of fun today. Thank you.” [Feudal Lord]
“Likewise. Thank you for enjoying the village festivities, my lord.” [Village Headman]
“I see.” [Ryouma]
The feudal lord smiled, but for a moment he tottered.
“Whoops, looks like I drank a little too much today… Ryouma-kun.” [Feudal Lord]
“Yes?” [Ryouma]
“I want to sober up before getting on the boat, can you accompany me for a bit?” [Feudal Lord]
“Of course.” [Ryouma]
“Thank you. Village Headman.” [Feudal Lord]
“My lord, please allow me to excuse myself here. At my age, the chill of the night wind is simply too harsh.” [Village Headman]
“I see. My apologies. Piguu, it shouldn’t take long for me to sober up, so can you get the boat ready with everyone?”
“Yes, my lord.” [Piguu]
The village headman went back to the village, while Piguu-san and the others left to prepare the boat.
Only the feudal lord and I were left at the beach.
With only the sound of the wind and the waves audible, the feudal lord took a large breath.
“…Fuu… What a nice night breeze. Ryouma-kun, aren’t you cold? As you can see, I’m pretty fat, so this level of cold is just at the right level for me.” [Porco]
“I’m fine, my lord. If it were really cold, I could just use barrier magic to stave it off.” [Ryouma]
“Oh, I see.” [Feudal Lord]
The feudal lord rubbed his stomach and laughed.
“As I’ve mentioned earlier, I really had fun today. Thank you for allowing me to eat so many delicious food.” [Porco]
“It’s my pleasure, my lord.” [Ryouma]
“I was completely absorbed in gorging myself, so I’d forgotten about it, but I just realized that I never really spoke to you about the reward of the request concerning food. Is there anything you want?” [Porco]
“If I had to say, then… Oh, but wasn’t this matter spread throughout the region? If so, then shouldn’t a reward have already been decided for completing it?”
“The ash-dried cooking method and the method of preparing 3 kinds of fishes that couldn’t be eaten because they were poisonous and did not taste good… The same could be said for the gyoza, but in any case, there’s no way I could just give you the reward for one recipe when you’ve given me so much information that could start new industries. If the other nobles were to get wind of this, they’ll laugh at me, saying that I couldn’t even give you an honest evaluation and properly compensate you.
To be honest, it requires a considerable amount of investment to start something new. Of course, I don’t mind paying with cash, but you don’t seem like you care much for it, so if there’s someway I can make things more convenient for you and pay you through that, I would be most grateful.” [Porco]
Now that he mentions it… Reinhart-san and Pioro-san previously mentioned that technology is a treasure.
But, frankly speaking, the feudal lord is…
“Something I want… The things that come to mind now are… Ahh, in that case, please make sure to get word around of those things I warned regarding the preparation of poisonous fishes.” [Ryouma]
Thanks to my enormous mana pool, I was able to rely on my Identify spell and my poison slime to distinguish which was safe to eat, but…
“After all, they really are poisoned.” [Ryouma]
“The villagers should also be aware of the poison. After all, even the children are being strictly warned by their parents about it. So if anything, I think people accepting these poisonous fishes as edible will be the harder part.” [Porco]
Well, I guess that’s true.
Although, thanks to the festivities tonight, there were a lot of people who ate them… Of the three poisonous fishes, the most famous of them was the eel. The aroma of the kabayaki was strong, and they were probably also less reluctant to eat it since according to Niki-kun, ‘When there’s nothing to eat, we just endure the taste and make do with it.’
The second most popular was the scorpionfish, while the fish with the strongest poison, the pufferfish, was the least popular. As expected, most people kept their distance from it.
Just like how it’s common sense in regions other than Fatma Territory not to eat Okuta (Octopus) and Water Spiders (Crabs), it’s common sense in Fatma Territory not to eat eel, scorpionfish, and pufferfish. Older people were especially averse to them.
“Of course, now that the villagers know how tasty they are, they need to be careful, but you did warn the mayor during the festival… With new knowledge and technology comes the danger of misusing it, being reckless with it, and a lack of understanding. But if all we do is fear, then we won’t be able to grow or develop.
The knowledge you gave us have the possibility to improve these villagers’ lives. As such, it is only right that we put it to good use by sharing it with others and monitoring its use. Coming up and implementing laws to ensure that is another job for politicians such as myself. As the feudal lord of this region, I’ll make sure that people are properly warned and taught the correct methods to prepare the fishes.” [Porco]
Seeing the feudal lord speak so seriously reassured me.
“In that case, please take a look at this.” [Ryouma]
I took out a bundle of documents from my Item Box and passed it to him.
“Is this the preparation method of the poisonous fishes?” [Porco]
“It’s a record of my findings when I was experimenting. For example, about the fish I called eel. From its sharp teeth and when I handled its bone, I noticed that it resembled another kind of fish called Garden Eel. It still stinks of mud even after leaving it out for just a day, so it can’t be eaten yet. On the second day, most of the stench has left… etc. Anyway, this bundle of documents contains my findings.
I explained and demonstrated the preparation methods to the head chef, but I’ve also written everything in there. They may not be needed immediately, but there are also things I haven’t told the head chef about there.” [Ryouma]
“This is a huge help! …And I’d love to accept this, but then the scales will tip toward my side again. With this I won’t have compensated you at all.” [Porco]
“Ah.” [Ryouma]