Volume 2 Chapter 4.2

Chapter 4.2

Gender boundaries are, by and large, blurry in elven society and, as such, there exists no othering of women who can’t cook or pick up a needle to save their lives. Men get assigned physically intense jobs, while women get the long term endurance heavy jobs, but that’s about as far as the gender divide goes. Every other task that isn’t particularly demanding in any of those aspects is done by whoever happens to have their hands free.

As such being inept at cooking does nothing to hurt a woman’s pride in the larger societal context. However, being inept at cooking in a more local context where almost everyone around her is immensely superior to in terms of skill is plenty damaging. Cooking skills also happen to carry over to alchemy and potion making proficiencies, so it’s not hard to see why she’d take it a bit personally.

「All of that aside, Eru, how’s your little brother and sister doing these days?」

「They’re still infants so it’s still too early to say for certain but, at least for the time being, they’ve yet to contract any major diseases and are doing just fine.」

Aeris goes along with Fum’s fumbling attempt at changing the topic, not wanting the awkward atmosphere to linger on for any longer than necessary. There wasn’t much to work with, seeing as how it’s only been a month since their conception.

「The crew had plenty of work on their plate back then.」

「Now that you mention it, weren’t they frantically going about trying to sew some fancy-looking baby clothes?」

The ladies gossip about the premature royal family’s babies over a cup of homemade herbal tea. The two were twins, both legitimate children of Elena and Layotte, much like Aeris.

Hiroshi had been tasked with the burdensome chore of urgently putting together an extra pair of baby clothes, seeing as how not only were the two twins but prematurely born to make matters even worse. With Farlane’s current advances in medicine it was impossible to tell if they were twins beforehand, meanwhile Alfemina, who wanted it to be a surprise, did not communicate the fact to Aeris in their exchange. The only one who had a vague feeling that might be case would be the queen herself.

After the realization had sunk in they had their work cut out for them, brewing all the baby friendly medicine they could think of and providing the queen with specially modified food fit for a well-balanced post-pregnancy diet. After all was said and done they set out near the end of February and an entire month had already passed since then, symbolizing the first milestone in the newborns’ development.

「When’ll you be publicly announcing the news?」

「After the first month’s physical examination and the blessing procedure take place.」

Newborns are known to kick the bucket at the drop of a hat, they’re feeble, fragile little creatures at the end of the day, and there’s only so many miracles medical technology is capable of pulling. That’s why it’s a Farlane custom to put off any public announcements regarding the successful delivery of its royal family’s latest addition until about a month or so after the fact.

Naturally since there was no active effort in trying to conceal neither the queen’s pregnancy nor the babies birth, rumors spread across the city like wildfire. However them being twins, and other fine details for that matter, were unknown to the public, so even now they’re excitedly waiting in anticipation for the announcement.

「Will you be the one doing the honors?」

「Yes, that is the princess priestess purpose after all.」

Aeris responds all in smiles and proceeds to gracefully finish off the remainder of her tea. Just from this little episode alone one would certainly not get the impression that this princess was actually quite the glutton.

「That aside, how’re things going back there?」

「The town’s people seem to be on the edge of their seats in anticipation for the announcement, but asides from that its business as usual. Without boss man and the crew around there’s no one to introduce any new spices or some odd dishes to shake things up.」

「Well there is this one thing.」

「Fum, have you got something to add?」

「There’s this soba shop that recently opened up near the market district and its owner is an old guy who boss man got along well with. I’ve done some poking of my own and word is that it’s the top dog when it comes to soba in Wulls.」

Aeris face lights up at the mere mention of soba. Needless to say she had no restraint to anything soba related. Hiroshi taught her all the various ways of partaking in the dish, making her the unofficial Farlane soba connoisseur.

「I’d hate to burst your bubble but the food quality isn’t going to be anywhere near what boss man and Haruna make.」

「I see…」

「Look on the bright side, once soy sauce becomes more readily available the number of soba shops will increase, allowing people to enjoy scrumptious soba at an affordable price range. Kombu and niboshi aren’t that pricey after all.」

Aeris was bursting with joy at the prospect of soba sweeping Farlane. Wanting to see others appreciate the same things one does is only human.

「There is a way to accelerate the process even further.」

「What do you have in mind?」

「If we spread word that the princess priestess personal favorite dish is soba and get the state to openly support soy sauce and katsuoboshi production it’d be a piece of cake.」

「That… actually sounds like a decent idea.」

Aeris thoroughly chews over Nora’s suggestion. The state openly supporting their production was off the table. However if word got around that soba was a personal favorite of the priestess princess, to the extent that she’d have some on new year’s eve, coupled with the easy accessibility of cup soba for those unable to find the time to make some themselves, it might just be able to join the ranks of Farlane’s national foods within a few years, give or take.

「That’s fine and all but I can’t help but wonder what everyone’s up to right now.」

「It’d be nice to know if they even made it there safely in the first place.」

「No need to worry, Alfemina assured me of their safe arrival about two or so days ago.」

「Why on earth’s a goddess concerning herself with such insignificant matters?」

「Alfemina’s got quite the soft spot for Elle… doesn’t she?」

Teres and Nora find it hard to get over Alfemina’s off-handed use of power. In their minds a god was to be above such matters.

「Are you sure it’s fine for her to be tossing around prophecies left and right like it’s nobody’s business?」

「Well I’ve been receiving them on a daily basis for quite a while now, so I don’t believe there’s any issue?」

「On a daily basis, huh…」

Aeris’ and Alfemina’s relationship was more akin to that of some inexplicably influential ladies and her beloved puppy dog of a child than that of a goddess and an oracle. Even taking a look bac,k the only other instance of a priestess princess being as favored as Aeris was the very first generation one. From that fact alone it was hard not to tell how truly special Aeris was in Alfemina’s eyes.

「To be fair it’s not like we need a prophecy to tell us that they’re either working on another one of their weird thingy majiggy’s, trying out new recipes with some never before seen ingredients or getting themselves into a whole heap of trouble.」

「Teres, what kind of food is standard in your village?」

「Besides the fact that there’s little in way of meat and that our staple food is not a wheat per se, it’s not all that different from here.」

「What do you mean by ‘not a wheat per se’?」

「Lars wheat, a type of cereal. It doesn’t grow around these parts so it’s no wonder you’ve never heard of it.」

Everyone listens on in awe about the mysterious crop. What none of them knew, having never seen the real thing, is that it was actually a type of rice. Just to be clear all three of Hiroshi’s apprentice knew what rice meant and that it was a cereal.

「Do you ever get an urge for it?」

「On occasions, though there’s a bunch of food here that I’ve never even seen or touched before, so that’s keeping me busy from getting overly homesick in that regard.」

「I see.」

「If it ever gets too unbearable I’ll just arrange a trip back with the party.」

「Sounds like a solid plan.」

Aeris breathes a sigh of relief seeing Teres lovingly smiling. What she didn’t know at the time was that, around halfway through April, Teres would be making frequent rounds to the village and back, having succumbed to said rice urges. Teres would spend the time leading up to April in ignorant bliss, unaware of what the near future had in mind for her.

「Razor-clawed jaguar meat is an acquired taste.」

「Man eaters are anything but…」

「You can say that again.」

The very next day after the girls gossiping session and Hiroshi’s experimenting, Haruna and Mio found themselves stuck with downed man eaters and some other spoils Takeya and Makoto had hunted down on their way back to the village. They would be making Doria for dinner, so for lunch they had to make due with what they had on hand.

「Man eaters aren’t worth the hassle, let’s give up on the idea of putting them in our stomachs.」

「They’re usable for potions and consumables.」

「We can use them for practice later, just be sure to teach me what and how can be made from them.」

「Roger.」

Man eaters weren’t suited for human consumption. After all, even Haruna’s expertise got them nowhere, so it was much more logical to just use them for something else.

「Could razor-clawed jaguar meat be made into a cutlet?」

「Mask the stench with spices, throw in some perilla and serve with cheese. That sounds like it could work.」

「What about eliminating the stench and smoking it?」

「I could see that working out as well.」

The razor-clawed Jaguar, being a carnivore, had a distinct stench attached to it. Granted it was nowhere near as bad as the Cerberus, which was downright inedible, but it still required some working around to make it tolerable. On top of that it could only really be either fried or baked, boiling the meat would render it hard as a rock, so it’s not fit for something like curry. As a result the forms it can take on a plate were fairly limited.

Its qualities were much like the other inner southern forest carnivore – the blood stained wolf. Except that this one was a bit easier to make strength enhancing potions with, so it made much more sense to use it as for that purpose over ham-fistedly forcing it into a food item. Both of them tasted almost identical as well, so it was a no brainer at that point.

「Good thing the exploda-bear meat didn’t turn out to be half bad.」

「Yea.」

「How does bear meat and fresh veggie Doria sound for today’s menu?」

「Mouth-watering.」

Despite being an active monster and a bear to top it all off the exploda-bear was, surprisingly enough, a herbivore of all things. Its primary source of food were carnivorous plants such as hunter trees and man eaters, because it liked its food with a little bite to it. It’s one of the most powerful monsters within the compounds of said forest, capable of unleashing deadly explosive balls of pure energy in battle. But alas, there’s one single weakness holding it back – its deadly vulnerability to oxygen rings, the kryptonite of all animal type monsters.

「What’re we going to do with its fur?」

「The razor-clawed jaguar’s white fur is a rarity, so we could use it for cloaks, I guess?」

「Who’d even wear one of those?」

Mio looks at Haruna in complete and utter disbelief upon hearing her silly question.

「It’s indispensable for any serious rapier user.」

「Wait, I’m the one supposed to be putting that thing on?」

「Do you see anyone else around?」

「How exactly do rapiers and cloaks go hand in hand? I don’t follow.」

「God’s will. The people’s will. The mmo’s will.」

This time Haruna’s the one to stare on in disbelief as Mio lists off a bunch of nonsensical, nonspecific reasons.

「Haru, what was your in game gear like?」

「Well I did have the epic quality Starlight blade and the Mirage armor set.」

Mio listens intently, absently nodding after every word. The starlight blade’s specifics were a mystery to her, while the Mirage set was fairly high priced yet could be easily found on the market on most days, so Mio was well aware of its specifics. It was one of the iron plate sets, so it’d be more accurate to say that anyone with over two years of game experience was well aware of them.

The set pieces, which are a mixture of cloth and leather, drop from mobs in the sweltering tower wing of the Scorching Desert instance. Upon completion of the set a certain special effect occurs, what’s known as a set bonus, and its set bonus in particular was the most widely known. It’s not as hardcore as something like the hell class instances but it’s certainly one of the harder ones to clear and, as such, has some nifty stats to show for it.

It’s really no wonder why so many backliners loved it to pieces: It had a low grade magic resist buff, a twenty percent enemy hit chance debuff and enormous additional hit chance and dodge penalty passive to any sight reliant enemies. It had anything they could’ve ever dreamed of.

That being said, it was considered a joke set by any serious melee classes due to its lacking physical resist, its overall durability being one of the lowest among special armor sets and the fact that its passive effect, the enormous hit and dodge penalties for any sight reliant enemy, was next to useless against a vast majority of hell class foes. Said passive was its main, and perhaps only, selling point, the stats by themselves weren’t impressive by any means. Just to get an idea of how relatively meager they were – Hiroshi’s self-crafted wyvern leather armor set had around a third more magic resist and twice the physical resist.