154-Chapter 9-13 Bitter Experience at Hidden Village

This is the village you want?

I don't see anything unusual about it.

Amur heard my muttering and replied that. It's true, Amur represented what I felt for him. The same impression was shared by my grandfather, who nodded his head without saying so.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work. Other than the fact that it's a hidden village, there's no difference between it and a normal village.

Our question was answered by Blanca, who said she had been to this village many times before. It was true that they were just different in appearance, but the rest of them were no different from the beastmen, so there was no way that their lives would be any different. Rather, the way of life centered around the forest might be similar to the life in Kukri village.

We walked straight through the village for a while and stopped in front of one of the most magnificent buildings in the village.

This is the village chief's house. Hannah-sama is here, so I'm sure she'll be fine, but keep in mind that if you harm the village chief, everything in this village will be against you.

The three guides seemed to finish their work here, and with the words of the tiger-faced man, they left the front of the village chief's house. It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for. It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

''The village chief here is a gentle man and rarely gets angry, so just be normal and you'll be fine.

I guess she was worried about me and my grandfather, who had gone quiet about the people in hiding, and Hana told me that and told me about the village chief. And as it was, we walked into the house without a good greeting.

''Come quickly. The village chief is waiting for you.

We (including Blanca) hesitated as we went in, but Hana-san beckoned us to come through the door with half her body peeking out. The house is like an old house that looks like it could be found in the Japanese countryside, and the inside is just as I've seen it on TV.

Come on, come on in.

Hana went up to the front door as casually as if she were back at her parents' house, opened a nearby sliding door and walked in. Inside the room was an old (seemingly) tiger-faced beastman.

'Don't be shy, come over here,'

The tiger-faced beastman inside was an old man and even more so a woman, just as I thought he would be. The tiger-faced old woman greeted us with a gentle voice and told us to sit across from her seat. According to Hana-san, she is the village chief and elder of this village.

I took my seat, wary of my surroundings, just in case, but the only signs nearby were a different beastman than the one who had led me here (who seemed to be a guard, and who was waiting just outside the room) and what appeared to be a few women. Incidentally, the women's presence was gathered in the kitchen, and they appeared to be family members or maids. In fact, one of the women brought the tea just after we were seated, but by all appearances, she was a normal (though cat-faced) woman.

''Is this ... green tea?''

The cat-faced woman brought a complete green tea, and the name was accepted here as green tea, too. Green tea has been popular in the south for a long time, and apparently there is still a lot of work on how to drink it, how to make it, and breeding it. By the way, the green tea we were served was hot tea, but the elder's seemed to be cooled enough and did not have any steam.

We are not good at using our cheek pouches, so it is difficult to drink hot tea.

The elders, who could tell from my gaze that I was wondering, answered my question. He also said that he is not good at chewing, and it is not easy to live in a city of beastmen like Nanao in terms of such a diet.

''The main reason is that some of these beastmen have a sense of discrimination among them.

It is said that this is because the beastmen, especially the younger generation, do not know that there are beastmen with animal faces like the elders in front of them. It seems that some beastmen, especially the younger generation, don't know that there are animal-faced beastmen like the elders in front of them, and in the past, it was common for them to persecute or assault women who gave birth to animal-faced babies, claiming that they gave birth to a demon, or even kill their children, calling them demons. It is said that the heads of towns and villages, like Hana-san, know about it, and older beastmen can be taught by the older generation, but some of the older generation have a strong sense of rejection. What is not being taught to the younger generation is the old custom to prevent confusion that they might be close to a demonic race, but nowadays, there is a discussion about stopping this custom and telling them that animal-faced beastmen are rarely born from a young age.

It's difficult to do that because it would expose the people who live in these villages to the elements. Moreover, some of the people who live in these villages have experienced discrimination and threats to their lives in the past, so they have a strong sense of camaraderie, and some of them are very resistant to the idea of their fellow villagers being turned into a spectacle.

And so it's a lot more difficult than it seems. Moreover, even if they were able to clear these difficulties and live with the other beasts, there was a possibility of friction with the human tribe's country this time.

The main reason why the southern autonomous region was established in the first place was because there were many beastmen who were driven away by the human race in the past. One of the reasons why they were forced out was that the people persecuted the beastmen with animal ears and tails, claiming that they were not people like them. Even now, there are a few human tribes that do not recognize the beastmen as the same people and discriminate against them, and there are also nobles and those with similar power. If such people found out about the Hidden Village, they might become even more discriminating. It would be fine if they colluded to attack us head-on, but if they took a guerrilla-like strategy, there was a high probability of annihilation of every village or small town, and if that happened, it could lead to a war between the tribal nations and the southern autonomous region.

''Perhaps the biggest problem is that even if we are going to raise awareness, it can't be just in the south.

At Hana's words, the tiger-faced old woman nodded her head in agreement. Hana-san seemed to want to get on with the problem right away, but the elder seemed to think that she still needed a long time to get on with it.

''So, why did you bring us here?''

Hmm?　It's almost over now. I just wanted you to know that there was a village like this, and that Amur, as a member of the Viscount family, had to be brought in eventually.

In short, you'd like me and Tenma, who has a lot of influence with the royal family and powerful nobles, to provide a buffer in case of emergency, or perhaps just tell the royal family what's going on and hope they'll take measures as well?

As I was thinking that just because I want you to know, aside from Amur, that's not a reason to bring us here, my grandpa, who had been sipping his tea in silence until then, opened his mouth. And from the look on Hana-san's face, Grandpa's idea seems to be the jackpot.

''Well that's right. I can't bring this issue up from me, so I want you to convey it indirectly.''

If the head of the southern autonomous region leaked this sensitive issue, some people would have a problem with it, so they took this approach. By the way, if people found out that you brought me to this village, it would be a problem in itself," he said, adding that we happened to be on our way to the Viscount's forest to gather and ran into some men who happened to be hunting there. They are going to make it to It's a pretty unreasonable plot, but as long as there's really a chance of coincidence (...), they'll make it work as long as all the people involved are willing to talk about it. Incidentally, the reason why Hana-san and Blanca were together is because they wanted to keep an eye on us so that we don't go near the forbidden area (near the hidden village)....

"For the time being, all you have to do is talk to the king, right? Well, I'm sure Maria will be asking questions about what happened in the south, so I'll just let it slip by accident. By the way, this tea is delicious.

I'm sure there's some good tea at home, I'll give it to you as a gift.

I'd like some of these tea plants as well.

I'll see to it.

Since I hear Hana-san's request, I decided to make a request here as well. It's probably because they know that, that's why Hana-san has kept her head down since a while ago. It's a form of taking advantage of a weakness, but now we've got this green tea plant. If it works, we might be able to drink homemade green tea, and if it doesn't, we can just buy the tea leaves through the Viscount family.

''It's not a substitute for a tea treat, but I just found some berries on our tree, so here you go.

Saying that, the elder had him bring a small red fruit. I was wondering how he was going to eat them, but Amur grabbed a few red berries and put them straight into his mouth. Apparently there is a seed in the center of the fruit that takes up nearly half of the fruit, so he scrapes off the fruit around the seed in his mouth and eats it, then spits out the remaining seeds. It's the same way to eat pomegranates and akebi.

The seeds are sweet and sour and taste great, but be careful not to eat them too much, as they can keep you up at night.

Hana-san warned me. I knew it when I heard that story. I've seen this species before. I've never seen them in the flesh, not in this world, but they look exactly like the processed seeds and the ones I've seen in books and on TV. What is this fruit....

'Coffee grounds'?

'You know it well. These berries are only grown in a few parts of the South, and the berries are so small that they aren't even distributed outside of the South.

Hana, Blanca and the elders were a little surprised and impressed. Amur was looking at us, but he seemed to be more concerned with eating the coffee berries than admiring them, and he was taking advantage of the opportunity, with everyone's attention diverted from the berries, to eat them with his mouth full.

Can I have the seedlings of these, too?

Hmmm ... I don't think that's possible.

I don't think we can harvest enough coffee to drink on a regular basis, but even if we had a few, we could expand the range of our snacks, so I asked, but Hana-san refused to let me know. I had given up on the idea that the coffee seedlings were valuable because they were only grown in a few areas of the country, but I found that the situation was different.

The problem is that the coffee plants are not very valuable, so it's not a problem to give them away. The problem is the climate in the capital.

According to Hana-san, the most important condition for growing coffee trees is to have a warm climate throughout the year, so even if it gets a little cold in some seasons, the fruit will grow, but in the winter, when it snows in the capital, it's hard to know if the tree will grow properly, let alone bear any fruit. Incidentally, it's not uncommon for people to say that they've never seen snow in the southern autonomous region, and as far as records are concerned, there's no record of snowfall in the southern plains. The only exception to this is in some of the mountains in the southern autonomous region, where there are several mountains of thousands of meters in height, and it is said that snow can fall and pile up on the peaks and hillsides.

It would be better to give up then. In that case, I'd better give up. Even if the berries do grow, I don't think they'll be enough to make you drink coffee.

Do you want coffee?　What do you mean?

Hana and the others (including Grandpa) reacted to the words he said casually. And perhaps they sensed that it was food-related from the content of the conversation, but this time, Amour showed the biggest reaction of the five of them.

I've drunk coffee many times in my past life, but I've never experienced the stage of roasting coffee beans, and at best I've ground them in a coffee mill a few times. So I tried to explain to him as clearly as I could, based on the hazy knowledge I had seen and heard, but he didn't seem to get it, so he actually made me do it.

A frying pan was used to roast the beans instead of a coffee mill, and a cloth-wrapped crane was used instead. I should have ground the beans evenly, but I gave up because I didn't have the tools to do so. Instead, I used a colander to roughly divide the beans, so it was better than nothing.

The two ways I've done it are drip coffee and drained coffee, but drained coffee takes longer, so I excluded it this time. I substituted a thin cloth for the drip paper (I don't know what it's called, but I always called it that) needed for the drip coffee, and I actually made the coffee....

""Niiiiiight!"

Everyone who drank shouted the same thought at the same time. Incidentally, when the elder was about to drink the coffee, his guard, who was waiting outside the room, drank it instead as a poisonous taste, so he was not harmed.

''How can this be so bitter?''

Hana asked me over a cup of tea for a palate cleanser, but I didn't know if this was actually the taste of coffee in this world or if I had just messed up, so I said, "I don't know, I just heard the story, too, so I'm not sure. But I've heard that the coffee itself is bitter in nature," he replied.

At any rate, I've heard that they drink it like this... just in case, they also dilute it with water or mix it with sugar and milk.

To be sure, I tried diluting it with water or mixing it with sugar and milk, but the bitterness still prevailed and it didn't taste as good as it should have. Maybe I'm making a mistake in the roasting stage, so if I have the time and beans, I'd like to experiment.

I don't need to force myself to drink coffee with this flavor.

That's what the elder said. But he said he will study it in detail because it could be a new specialty of the south part of the country, if he can sell the extra seeds he had been throwing away. The reason for this is because there are only a few seeds available, and they need to increase the production of seedlings in anticipation of future demand.

I think it's time to have a meal.

The women who had been in the kitchen brought in platters of food one after another. In Nanao, the food was divided up for each person, but in most households, the food was basically served on a platter and divided into small portions for each person to eat.

The dishes served were vegetable and chicken stewed or stewed in miso, and we thought that the Japanese transmigrant was largely responsible for the taste.

After the meal, Hana-san and the others guided us to take a walk in the village (I think it was probably also meant to be a good look at the villagers), and we decided to leave the village before the sunset. When we were leaving, the elders gave us gifts of herbs and food (the herbs were to make an alibi that we were here to collect them, and the food was to replace them as we didn't have any specialties). Well, we ate the souvenir dishes before returning to Nanao (mostly by Amur and our gourmand duo), and the souvenirs for the Honorary Viscount Lobo were gone... or rather, we all forgot about the existence of the Honorary Viscount Lobo.