Iām going to stay in the smithing shed for today, so Iām making onigiri ā rice balls. I made a lot of assorted fillings like crunchy plums, fried cod roe, shiso miso, manila clams, tuna with mayonnaise, rice balls wrapped in meat and also some toasted ones sprinkled with plenty of dried bonito flakes and sesame seeds.
Itās quite a pain in the neck preparing a lot of ingredients, so I made a huge batch each and stowed them away in ćStorageć. Iāve been making rice balls a few times now, eating them when Iām feeling lazy and donāt want to cook.
I wrapped three pieces each in the bamboo shoot peels, which I peeled from the big moso bamboo shoots, washed, then dried overnight.
According to some article I read before, Japan has around 600 species of bamboo, but I only have moso bamboo, Japanese timber bamboo, sweet bamboo shoots to make menma ā fermented bamboo shoots usually used in ramen ā ack, I wanna have some ramen.
Spirits float around as I am using the ingredients I harvested from the garden. Theyāre not the big ones, just the teeny tiny ones with no consciousness of their own. Thereās a barrier blocking the entry of spirits in my house so these are from the vegetables and fruits that I brought in.
Theyāre plant-type spirits ā the ones born in trees, flowers or fruits. Most of the tree spirits often stay in the trees where they are born for a long time, but the flower and fruit spirits often leave quickly, like moving on to another flower of the same type.
Flower and fruit spirits can only retain their characteristic forms for a short while, then they will disintegrate into fine particles and merge into the seeds, roots, atmosphere and earthās surface. They seem very happy when they dissolve, unlike the other spirits who want to keep their forms.
The first time I cut the vegetables, they suddenly dissolved and got sucked into the food right beside me. I didnāt know what to do then, and it even made me feel a bit guilty.
While I was watching them for a while, they dove into the pot and happily swirled around, seemingly satisfied with being deliciously cooked and that made me feel relieved. Some of the spirits donāt disappear, just pouring their power into cooking even though they came from the same vegetables as the others and thatās quite mysterious.
After preparing lunch, I store plenty of hot water in ćStorageć, place a tub outside the shed, and wear my mask. Preps complete.
First job for today is to make charcoal. I chose pine trees because theyāre easy to ignite and have excellent heat value. The mileage I can get out of it is pretty bad so I need to use a lot.
I already have pine charcoal prepared beforehand, but I still have to cut the uneven pieces to 2-3 cm squares. Itās actually pretty hard to check the grain of the wood and cut them to the size I want without getting a lot of dust. Not to mention the whole body, even the inside part of the nostrils will become pitch black!
Smithing needs a lot of prep work. A teeny, fluffy, sparrow-like black bird the size of a fingernail flew around.
Hey, can you stop doodling on me with charcoal dust for the meantime, alright.
I finish up, pour hot water into the tub and wash my pitch-black body. The clothes I wore are probably hopelessā¦ Can the laundry lady make it clean again? I donāt think charcoal and ink will come off, though.
I feel refreshed, so I have my lunch outside with Riche. The taste of rice balls eaten outside is exceptional. Thereās no filling distinction, so itās gonna be onigiri russian roulette-style, but thanks to ćAppraisalć that didnāt happen. Well, everythingās filled with my favorites, so I donāt mind whichever I pick.
Spring is in the air around my house. Several tiny clover-like plants spread.
The grass is mostly of the same length, but there are some tall and thin ones sticking out. Riche seems curious about them as he frolics around munching them. Itās great that heās enjoying himself.
There are no bugs around here, so I lay down and take a nap. Riche returned and stayed beside me, still gnawing on the grass.
The afternoon is spent melting the magic ore we gathered in the tunnels and turning it into steel, putting it in water to rapidly cool it, removing the impuritiesā¦
We only use the finest grade of magical ore, but the price is fixed. If you get one now ā the
A similar line from a television shopping program flashed through my mind while I worked so seriously.
Donāt put any spirits in the kidsā blades! Say the guardians, so I continue doing āclang clangā while keeping the spirits off limits. But what to do with the tiny ones that are being generatedā¦?
Never mind, itās not like the swords will get fire attributes, just making them a little bit sturdier, so itās better to not mind it.
Vakās sword is a thick sword that carries power and can inflict damage; Enās is a single- edged sword with a short curved blade.
En requested to have something fancy and got scolded by Dinosso and Shiva. Yeah, I agree, I donāt think itās a good idea right now, but once he nailed the foundation and he can follow the basics then it will probably be okay then. Heās gonna be more excited about it, too.
The kidsā swords are finished, so my work for today is done.
Shiva and Butlerās requested swords have overlapping attributes, so Iāll be making theirs tomorrow.
They both wanted magical silver weapons. The ones effective against wraiths, ghost-type monsters, vampires and the like ā wait a sec, do vampires really exist?
Both of them already have their main blades, so these will be sub weapons.
Shiva requested twin swords with different lengths built for slashing with speed, one ice, the other a different attribute. She said itās for when encountering monsters thatās immune to ice. Oh yeah, come to think of it, I feel like I did hear about such monsters during my trip to the north.
Butler wanted three knives that can fit inside his cuffs, with either dark or ice attributes.
Apparently, he also has an ability that could store anything that can be stowed inside a pocket or in the cuffs, although it canāt store anything big unlike En and my ćStorageć.
Noth would take out towels and stuff like that sometimes and I did wonder from time to time where he got those things, but I just assumed that itās just an ability that is part of being a butler.
By the way, itās an ability called ćDark Vesselć. The nameās reeking of danger; totally not for a butlerās use.