by Yuu Tanaka
The receptionists were all busy so, once inside, we talked to one of the apprentices near the door. He looked annoyed at being interrupted by a little girl but went to contact the captain immediately once she showed him Rengill’s coin.
Captain Rengill was higher up in the ranks than I’d expected.
We sat on one of the lobby’s sofas and waited.
Teacher…give me another skewer.
You still want to eat? Will you be fine for dinner?
Of course.
All right.
Nobles mixed with merchants in the lobby. And in the midst of them all, a small adventurer—a little girl, really—quietly sat on a couch and munched away at her skewers. Fran stood out like a sore thumb. I could say that people stared at her, but it felt like they were observing her with curiosity rather than contempt.
Not that anyone attempted to pick a fight. I guessed the people here were too civilized for that. Then again, maybe they were just afraid of Jet, sitting right next to her. And we’d had Colbert to thank for the lack of conflict at the Adventurers’ Guild earlier.
Fran chewed on her skewers until Rengill eventually arrived.
“Welcome. I’m glad to see you so soon.” Rengill smiled and offered his hand.
“Hm.”
“Woof!”
“Ha ha ha, good to see you too, Jet.”
It seemed the captain was famous here. The surrounding traders balked when they saw him extend his hand in gratitude.
Rengill guided us to his office. The plain-looking room was cozy and tastefully decorated, just like Rengill himself. He asked Fran to have a seat before getting down to business.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Hm. I’m going to take part in this.”
“Oh my, the cooking contest? So you’ve passed the preliminaries?” Rengill barely glanced at the flyer. The contest was definitely famous here.
“Not me. Teacher.”
“Teacher? Who are you talking about? Was he on the ship with you?”
“Hm. Teacher’s elusive like that.”
“Aah, then I suppose you’ve regrouped with him here.”
That was the story we’d come up with. I was a wandering teacher who took Fran for an apprentice and set her loose on the world. It reflected poorly on my part, but I couldn’t think of anything better.
“Teacher needs ingredients for the contest.”
“Which is why you’ve come here. So, what will you compete with? The competition is tight every year.”
“Curry.”
“Curry? I’ve never heard of it.”
“Teacher’s original recipe. Here.” She took a plate of curry out of Pocket Dimension and set it on the table.
“Aah, so this is called curry.”
We’d passed it around back on the ship. Rengill may not have known its name, but he couldn’t forget the aroma. He took a deep whiff as he looked at the plate in front of him.
“If you’ll allow me.”
After his first bite, Rengill scooped one spoonful after another into his mouth, cleaning his plate.
“As delicious as it is rare and fragrant,” he declared, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “I thought this would sell well when I first had it. Why, even the recipe would fetch a high price!”
The merchant had passed his judgment, declaring curry as a product worth selling.
“Will you be competing in the food stall phase with this?”
Fran nodded. “Hm.”
The captain looked lost in thought. “I see…”
“Will there be a problem?”
“Arf?”
“Well, as delicious as curry is, it will be difficult to sell at a food stall.”
“Why? You just said it’s good.”
“It’ll take too long to prepare, you see.”
The previous finalists went for either skewers or soups, which could be prepared as soon as the customer placed the order. And more sales meant more profit.
Taking that into consideration, curry and rice was difficult to prepare. You needed to scoop the rice, pour the curry on top, and then give the customer their plate. It would take even longer if the customer wanted it to go.
I see. When he puts it that way, curry rice would place us at a disadvantage.
Should we forego the rice and sell it as a kind of soup? Then again, I didn’t think we could beat Dragon Bone Soup that way.
Fran groaned. “How do we sell a lot of curry with no hassle…?”
“That’s the million G question. It takes more than a tasty dish to win the food stall phase.”
So much for curry rice, then. However, Fran seemed to be struck with inspiration.
“Oh! I have an idea! What if it went the other way around?”
“Other way around?”
“Yeah. Put the curry inside the rice. Like curry rice balls.”
“Woof!”
The rice ball was another of Fran’s favorites, since it was easy to eat and could be flavored with a variety of fillings. It was a good idea, and Jet drooled in silent agreement.
Curry rice balls were good, but the curry would seep through the rice, given enough time. For them to be any good, we’d have to pack the balls tight.
What if we deep fried them? Fran suggested.
Deep-fried curry rice balls?
The name didn’t quite roll off the tongue, although it sounded delicious. But Fran’s suggestion gave me an idea.
Fran, I just thought of something.
Deep-fried rice balls?
No, not that.
Our dish of choice should be something we could make in bulk for cheap. It would be portable and just as delicious at room temperature.
We’re making curry bread!
Curry bread!
Woof, woof!
Fran and Jet’s eyes sparkled. The mere mention of curry was enough encouragement for them. Fran got even more excited when I told her we could make a variety of flavors.
“Curry bread. That’ll work.”
“Curry bread?” said Captain Rengill, noticing Fran’s mutterings. His merchant eyes gleamed with curiosity. “What’s that?”
“They’re curry-filled doughnuts.”
He nodded, able to imagine what they would taste like. “I see. Yes, that could work, actually. The aroma would attract nearby customers, and they could buy several at a time.”
“We can make different flavors, too.”
“Really?! So you won’t be limited to this particular curry?”
“Hm.”
“That sounds wonderful!”
All right. Curry bread was going to be our main product! Still, it wasn’t without its problems.
“We’ll need spices and flour. Can you get them for us?”
“Right… Will bread flour suffice?”
Teacher?
Yeah, that’ll be fine.
“Yes.”
“In that case!” There was tons of flour in storage, so that wasn’t a problem. “I’ll get your flour ready.”
“Please.”
“But the spices…” Rengill hesitated.
“No good?”
“It should be fine. Do you know which ones you need?”
“Hm.”
Fran told Rengill the spices we required.
“Good. However, there has been a spike in prices lately, so it’s going to cost you.”
It was the aftereffects of the Seedrun incident, he explained. The previous king imposed ridiculous taxes on most goods, which contributed to the steep increase in prices. Spices were among them. Fran had overthrown the Seedrunian tyrant, but it would take the current government time to get rid of all the unnecessary taxes. Rengill thought it might take a month for prices to restabilize.
“I don’t want to take advantage of the person who saved my life, but I am still a merchant. Making a profit for the Lucille Trade Association remains my chief responsibility.”
Fair enough. I respected Rengill all the more for that.
“What is it?”
“Would you be willing to sell the recipe for curry rice to the trade association?”
Sell my recipe? Could he make money with it? According to Rengill, it wasn’t such a rare occurrence. The recipes developed by the winners of the cooking contest always fetched a high price.
“We could pay you in cash or sell you spices at their base rate. Which would you prefer?”
I had no intention of opening up my own curry shop, so either option worked for me. Still, I doubted the recipe would be so highly valued. If Rengill was wrong, his position would be on the line, but the merchant captain sounded confident.
“This recipe will surely cover the principal cost. That much I know for certain.”
I was flattered but also felt slightly guilty. I was just reproducing a common Earth recipe, after all.
In the end, I was in this for Fran, so we accepted his proposal.
“Hm. Okay, that works.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to consult your teacher? This is quite an important decision…”
“Teacher isn’t one to sweat the details. He also let me have full control over our participation in the tournament.”
“If you say so… I’ll prepare the documents for the spices and flour.”
“Thanks.”
Rengill handed us papers with a detailed list of the foodstuffs and their respective amounts.
“We won’t be able to give you the ingredients today, since we still need to prepare them, of course. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you. We’ll get them ready as soon as we can.”
Rengill rang the bell on his desk to summon a young beastman. One of the apprentice merchants, I guessed. Rengill gave him the signed documents and told him to prepare the goods.
“Are there other ingredients you need? We can get them ready for you while we’re at it.”
“Vegetables, I guess.”
“Such as?”
“Potatoes, onions, carrots. Oh, and some apples.”
“No problem. We’ll have them ready shortly. We always have plenty of those in stock, although we can’t provide any that are fresh from the harvest, of course.”
That couldn’t be helped. I was thankful to be provided with all of these ingredients. We asked Rengill to source our ingredients from lands which were famous for them.
“We’ll need some meat, too.”
“We have beef, pork, chicken, lizard, and frog, just to name a few.”
“Can you get your hands on some monster meat?”
We asked, expecting a flat no, which was kind of what we got. Monster meat was difficult to get a hold of. If nothing else, the Adventurers’ Guild had dibs on most of it. They would then sell it directly to the Chefs’ Guild and the marketplace, which meant the trade association didn’t see much of it.
I figured that’d be the case. There wasn’t much monster meat in the marketplace either, meaning the Adventurers’ Guild must have been controlling the supply. But what now? If we were going to sell curry, monster meat was instrumental.
“That isn’t to say there is no way of getting your hands on some,” Rengill said, looking oddly tense.
Why? Was he going to recommend some kind of black market? I’d much rather avoid illegal means. Fortunately, my suspicions were soon debunked.
“You could just hunt it yourself.”
“We could?”
“Yes, and I know just the place.”
Rengill told us of a Haunt just south of Bulbola. It was a B-level Haunt called Crystal Cage. This place was the source of most of the monster meat sold in Bulbola. The Haunt was dangerous, crawling with D-Threat monsters, but we could hunt there, and it had the convenience of being near the city.
Sorry I ever doubted you, Captain. I guess you were just nervous about recommending something so dangerous.
Hunting our own monster meat was a great idea, though. What else could an adventurer do without materials? Hunt them on her own. We could make it in time for the cooking contest too, now that we knew where to look.
“It’s quite dangerous, but I’m sure you’ll be able to manage, Fran. Especially when you have Jet with you.”
“Yeah. We’ll be fine.”
“Woof!”
“And do contact us if you have any monster meat left over.”
Rengill’s merchant hat was on tight. We’d have to hunt a little bit more than we need now—it was the only way to thank him for the information. After all, we might need his help in the future.
Ingredients weren’t the only thing we needed.
“We’re also looking for a place to cook.”
We asked him for somewhere with a lot of space but out of the public eye. Not expecting much, I was pleased to see he had a lead. He called on one of his assistants for verification, but it seemed they had a building that fit.
“You’re in luck. Our real estate division tells me that we are in possession of a closed restaurant. It comes with a spacious kitchen, and people are not allowed to enter.”
The place was right next to the marketplace and shopping district too, which would come in handy during the competition. Since the restaurant was no longer in business, we could use it however we wanted.
“Sounds good. We’ll take it.”
“I’ll make the necessary arrangements for the lease. We’ll deliver your spices and flour there while we’re at it. You’ll get the keys together with the delivery.”
“Hm.”
Things were beginning to come together. Rengill must’ve been higher up the corporate ladder than we thought, since he wasn’t worried about any of the arrangements he was making. He offered to throw in paper bags for us to sell our curry bread in too, which was very considerate—we hadn’t even thought of that.
With everything in place, we left the Lucille Trade Association. The sun was setting, and the streets were lit with the orange glow of dusk. We walked along in the lengthening shadows and made our way to the Count’s mansion.
It’ll take a day for us to get to the Haunt on horseback.
A day trip was very much within the realm of possibility.
We’ll have to leave first thing in the morning. It’s going to be tight, but I’m counting on you two.
“We’ll do our best in the name of curry bread.”
“Woof, woof!”
Their appetites remained their primary motivation. I’d have to make a test batch for them when we got to the mansion.
We’ll have to take care of some errands before that.
***
“How goes the experiment in the slums?”
“Things are progressing smoothly.”
“I hear you’ve adjusted its strength and administered it to about a hundred people.”
“It has produced the effects that we’re looking for.”
“Splendid.”
“We’ve also learned that there is a difference in activation time with the diluted substance.”
“That doesn’t sound very good.”
“Yes. Adjustments during the real run might prove difficult.”
“Can’t you just make it as strong as it is now?”
“Then the substance would activate immediately. We would lose the element of stealth.”
“It must be difficult to adjust its strength so it kicks in at just the right time.”
“Yes. People might suspect him if we fail. It would only be a matter of time until he led them to us.”
“It is almost time for the real thing.”
“I’m thinking of increasing the number of subjects. If the slum dwellers aren’t enough, we’ll place an order with the black-market slavers. If worst comes to worst, we’ll have to increase the strength when we mix it in.”
“That’ll do. It’ll be the end for him if it works, anyway. It comes down to how quickly we can cut him off.”
“I suppose. Still, we need a large
number of people to ingest it to complete our goal. Further adjustments are our first order of business.”
“I’ll leave that to you. We must gain that man’s favor at all costs.”
“He is our precious investor, after all.”
“Hah. Even if it’s only on the face of it.”
“It’s a good thing this order came when it did.”
“Indeed. We shall take advantage of the cooking contest as best we can.”
Chapter 2:
Crystal Cage
We walked through the hustle and bustle of the crowd, making our way to the Count’s mansion.
Fult, the prince of Phyllius, had insisted that we stayed with them, and we were compelled to take him up on it.
Jet hid in the shadows. He was too large and a bother to our fellow pedestrians. Also, he would terrify most of them.
This street should take us into the noble district.
“Hm.”
Bulbola might be several times larger than Alessa, but they shared the same basic layout. The Count’s mansion was in the center of the noble district and the center of the town. Around the noble district were the wealthy, then the average citizens, the business district, and finally a circle of the poor.
We were now in the wealthy part of town. The street wasn’t a main road, and barely wide enough to fit a horse and carriage, but it was still crowded regardless.
As we were about to enter the noble district, we were faced with a problem. Namely, there were guards carrying out inspections at the gates. Their job was to keep suspicious individuals out of the noble district. Fran, looking like she’d never had anything to do with a noble, was naturally called out. I couldn’t blame them. I’d suspect Fran of funny business, too.
“You are entering the noble district. Do you have any business here?”
“We can give you directions if you’re lost.”
They were polite at least. Fran looked more like a lost little girl than a criminal.
“I’m going to the Count’s manor.”
“What?”
“Why on earth…”
The younger of the guards looked furious for a second, but the older man noticed something. He whispered in his partner’s ear.