Chapter 233: Try to Meddle
「You always say wild stuff, or should I say things that I don’t even imagine. 」
「Agree, my brain shuts down even before I can listen carefully! Makes me realize just how sensible I am. 」
Dean and Chris are completely criticizing me now.
Hey, I never imagined I’m going to pick up Khan too, you know!?
We chatted some more while eating and drinking. Dinosso went home first to the house where he’s got a family waiting for him, so all that was left here was four bachelors.
Adventurers mostly work to earn and save a lot of money, and once they have enough they get themselves a wife and retire. Retze also wants to have a wife and have a small shop for her to manage, apparently.
Most male adventurers marry late. There might seem to be no gap between men and women in a world where the spirits bestow abilities regardless of gender, but women still opt to marry early and quit being an adventurer probably because of the problem of too many women dying during childbirth.
There’s also some spendthrift adventurers like Dean even among the skilled ones. They probably think they can still goof around since those around them aren’t married yet either.
Some male adventurers also get married early like Dinosso, but they usually don’t last long and are impatient, probably because of the risky nature of their livelihood. Folks like Retze who are systematic, constant and stable are very rare. Those with reliable characters who often choose to work in normal business and trades are overwhelmingly many.
Merchant families with money and aristocrats — even if they don’t have money — marry early. It’s probably because this is a world where a lot of people lose their lives due to illnesses and accidents. Even the farming families would marry, make some children and leave the house to them as soon as they’re able to put food on the table.
Still, a lot of people here are single; only those with lands and houses are pressured to marry.
I was introduced to Lilith not as an adventurer, but as a businessman and expert pharmacist specializing in potions. It’s a good excuse for the spirit silver and for the thank you gift that I received after saving Ash’s life. But, it’s also because of this excuse that she’s been pressuring me, and intensely at that, to make some progress with my relationship with Ash…
By the time the night deepened, Dean and Chris were babbling incoherent words that only the two of them understood. They kept on laughing at agreeing with each other, so I stared at them with disgust while trying to talk about love with Retze, which I failed.
「Ask Dean about that kind of stuff, alright. He’s experienced in those sorts of things. 」
「I already asked him about it. It’s always the same old story so I’ve had enough. 」
Dean can’t keep his mouth shut about anything about himself when he’s drunk.
Ah, but when the topic is about commissions, he becomes sane no matter how drunk he is, so I’m actually baffled whether he’s in his right mind or not. By the way, Chris speaks elaborately and poetically so I forgot half of what he said.
「Forget it, just drink up, alright. 」
Hmpf, you think they’ll quiet down if you just let them eat and drink, huh? Well, you’re not wrong, I guess.
Having drinking parties with male buddies sure is nice. Chatting about crazy stuff, rolling on the floor wasted — I don’t drink the wine that Dean and the other guys bring and I don’t get wasted probably because of 【Heal】doing a little bit of background work, but still, I wanna lie down with them for a bit.
Well, I guess it’s better to do drinking parties while sitting on the floor, huh. Maybe a low table and some tatami mats — ack, they’re not suitable for a stone house like this, so maybe cushions and carpets would do, huh. Ah, but the only available space in this house is the third floor’s room facing the city walls. It’s too cramped for five to six guys to lie down.
***
I didn’t feel drunk the following day, so I did my morning routine as usual. Riche is cute today too.
Today, I prepared preserves that we’ll be taking to the Labyrinth as well as some seasonings I can use for our daily meals. First step, put pork fat into a pot, let it simmer and bubble until the liquid fills the pot, then adjust the heat so that it won’t burn before leaving it.
I made a lot of lard so that we’ll have plenty to use for frying and making rillettes, which is a preserved food that has less aftertaste than liver paste but with more texture than jam. I’ll be making them two, three days before we leave for the Labyrinth.
For today, it’s croquettes. And also a bit of karaage too. I thinly shredded a lot of cabbages and also some Japanese ginger while at it and prepared some cold tofu too. Last is steamed eggplant with ginger soy sauce.
Yep, looks healthy with the veggies, so time to enjoy while washing it down with cola, yeah! I crave croquettes and karaage from time to time. I bit into the crunchy, piping hot croquettes and savored the beef and fluffy potatoes, and enjoyed the luscious sinful combo of karaage and soda.
After enjoying my dinner, I went to the first floor of the barn to process the fruits and vegetables harvested from the fields by drying, pickling and simmering and bottling them afterward.
The olive oil is stored in half-buried jars in this shed’s cellar. There’s still a bit left from what I squeezed myself.
I also made a lot of wine this year, and I’m all for making wine vinegar too. Balsamic vinegars can take more than a decade to make if you want to make it properly. It’s a bit hasty of me, but I already prepared several barrels in different sizes while looking forward to the grape harvest in autumn.
Spirits fluttered around me, diving into the jars first just when I was supposed to stuff them, or sniffing the huge peaches and looking captivated while doing so. The things they touch don’t change shape like spirit silver does, but the taste improves a notch or two, and the effectiveness of potions with fruits and vegetables in it rises too.
Spirits can enter and leave the shed freely, so the things I made here might be so good they’re illegal. I’m making huge batches and the kitchen’s too cramped so they just bear with it, okay.
There’s still a lot of things I need to do to enjoy this slow life of mine while being self-sufficient!
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Sometimes I think the spirits are like those old Looney Tunes cartoons, being colorful and wacky in the background.