CH 14

After being treated like a princess by Katharina and being asked about various things, the visit is over and I am back at my family’s mansion. She seems to be longing for a princess in a fairy tale, and she seems to have completely thought of me as that princess. As I thought that I shouldn’t destroy a child’s dream, I answered the question while somewhat lying to her. If she knows my real life, it’s too far from the image of a princess.

“Thank you for visiting for my sister’s sake,” said Helmut as he thanked me. During the visit, I had lunch with Katharina to observe her eating habits, but the amount she ate was small and the menu was almost always the same. This is probably what I’m looking for.

The true identity of the disease has been plaguing Katharina since childhood, isn’t it malnutrition and a frail constitution caused by eating small and unbalanced meals?

You might think that an aristocrat who should be wealthy, albeit on the lower end of the hierarchy, wouldn’t suffer from malnutrition. But, even in earth’s aristocrats, it seems that there were many patterns of illness due to unbalanced nutrition because they were choosy with their food and eating unhealthy amounts of it, rather than malnourishment from lack of food.

Nowadays, medical science and nutritional science have advanced greatly, and everyone knows that it is better to eat a well-balanced diet. But medicine and nutrition were developed only a hundred or two hundred years ago. It wasn’t until around the end of the Meiji Period that vitamins were discovered, and those were an everyday item in modern Japan.

Of course, even before that, you had your grandmother’s wisdom and folk remedies, such as what to eat at what time, and what to eat to make your body strong. However, many superstitious things have no scientific basis, and there are many things that are completely ineffective or even counterproductive.

Of course, if you’re a gluttonous aristocrat, you probably won’t suffer from hunger, but on the contrary, since you’re in a position to decide what you would or would not eat, you were probably plagued by illnesses and poor physical condition from bad diet, compared to commoners who just ate whatever they can and naturally maintained a balanced diet.

Looking at Katharina’s meal today, I’m certain that there is a problem with the menu. There is no doubt that this poor menu for almost every meal is one of the causes of her poor health. Perhaps other illnesses are eating away at Katharina’s body. I wouldn’t know about those, but if I just improve her diet, she will definitely be better off than she is now.

However, it is difficult to say what to do. It’s not like Helmut’s parents just thoughtlessly continued to make their daughter eat unbalanced meals. They had probably already started to try to feed her other things and to begin with, they wouldn’t know what to try to feed her to try and make her better.

From my feelings about her symptoms, I can theorize it would be better to let her take in protein, calcium, and vitamins. There may be other things that are lacking, but it’s easier if I don’t think about it too hard and just let her eat a well-balanced diet.

The question is, then, what is a balanced diet menu? Things are different here than on Earth. Not all ingredients and seasonings are exactly the same. Without an ingredient list, I couldn’t even tell exactly what nutrients Katharina was lacking. If Katharina would eat anything, it would be fine to feed her something different every day if she just ate anything, instead of having a lot of likes and dislikes and very unbalanced meals. She wouldn’t be suffering from this weakness and malnutrition, to begin with, if it wasn’t for that.

Next, even if I try to improve her malnutrition by feeding her various ingredients and seasonings, how do I get her to eat them? She won’t eat anything she doesn’t like. Also, I haven’t tested it, so I wouldn’t know, but maybe she has some kind of allergy which is why she can’t eat most things.

Instead of forcing her to eat anything, it may be necessary to research little by little and find out if she is a picky eater or if she can’t eat things due to allergies.

After all, this world is overwhelmingly poor compared to Earth, no, compared to modern Japan, which had all of its needs overwhelmingly satisfied. Even the spreads of the Margrave’s manor, of someone who is comparable to or even surpasses the Dukes, tends to be so deprived that it makes me sad.

There are no seasonings such as salt, sugar, oil like olive oil, vinegar such as wine vinegar, herbs and spices, and the wine used for stewing. I’m hardly in the kitchen either, so they might be using substitutes, but when I eat the food that is served at our home, that’s all I can think of when I eat it. I’ve never even seen any sauces or even spices.

The fact that cooking and seasonings are well developed is proof of wealth. In a country or world where there is nothing to eat that day, neither culinary arts nor seasoning will develop. I’m sure we’ll be able to somehow find ways to eat things that are thought to be inedible, and the wisdom and technology related to food preservation will develop further, but enjoying meals is a luxury in itself.

Well, even with all that said, nothing will be solved if you just yearn for something you don’t have. Protein and calcium come from milk and eggs, and vitamins are from vegetables, fish, and pork. It’s just my imagination, so I don’t know if it’s correct, but this is the image that comes to mind with my lay person’s knowledge.

These are easily available in Japan. If you collect such ingredients and cook various dishes so that you don’t get bored, your malnutrition will eventually improve and your weak constitution will heal. The problem is that in this world, they don’t exist. There are similar substitutes. But there is no guarantee that they will be exactly the same.

For example, eggs from that same modern earth may count as different ingredients depending on whether they are chicken eggs or not. The main ingredients may be similar, but since they are not exactly the same, even a dietitian cannot say which one is better or worse unless they know each ingredient.

And meat and vegetables can be managed to some extent. Regardless of whether it’s the same thing as Earth, we’re not malnourished because we usually eat it, so we’re probably getting the necessary nutrients. More importantly, the problem is the lack of access to high-quality, nutritious ingredients such as milk and chicken eggs, as well as fish.

Cooking methods and seasonings are important for Katharina to eat various ingredients, thanks to her choosiness. Among them, it is very painful if I can’t use nutritious and easy-to-use ingredients like milk and chicken eggs. The width of my possible dishes is limited and I don’t know any alternative nutrition sources.

I know there is something similar to a chicken egg. Even in our home, it doesn’t come out much. Modern Japan is the only country in the modern world where hygiene is so thorough that chicken eggs can be eaten raw. It’s not that there’s no custom of eating raw eggs in foreign countries, but rather that they don’t eat raw eggs because they can’t be safely eaten raw.

People may not believe that Japanese people eat raw eggs, even those from countries called the most advanced countries of the modern world can’t do the same, but in this world that’s probably far behind modern era technology, why would you even worry about raw eggs? You don’t even have them to start. If it is freshly harvested in the morning at a nearby livestock farm, you would, but we’re at a state where they’re impossible to distribute to the wider public.

I basically can’t leave my house. Since I can’t go out into town and look for ingredients, I’ll ask Helmut and Isabella to gather ingredients from the town. I go into the forest behind my house and look for natural ingredients. I can’t go out into town, but if I go deep into the forest, I won’t say anything. On the contrary, there were many times when I was forcibly tossed into it for training purposes.

Once I decided on my future plan, I felt a little better. Let’s sleep now and do our best from tomorrow.

Two weeks after I went to visit Katharina, I, no, we collected various ingredients and seasonings. If I go into the kitchen without permission, the chef of the house will protest, so I ask Helmut and Isabella to buy various things and repeat the tasting in the outdoor kitchen made further inside the training ground behind the mansion.

It’s not like I’m a picky eater myself. If you don’t know what kind of ingredients and seasonings are available and what kind of taste they have, you can’t cook. So first taste it and then think about how to cook it. Most of the seasonings available around here were just what I expected.

Vegetables are mostly similar to earth, so it’s not too much of a problem. As for meat, if you translate it into modern Japanese, there is something called beef here. However, this beef is different from the Wagyu beef and Holstein beef that you imagine in Japan. On Earth, the closest expression would be “bison.”

With its splendid horns, huge physique, and ferocious personality, it is rather a dangerous animal that would rather attack first. It’s definitely different from the laid-back Holsteins you’re imagining. Of course, this Holstein is just in my imagination, and if you actually raise them, they become more ferocious than you think…

However, milk and chicken eggs are almost impossible to obtain. There is milk other than cow’s milk, but I don’t know if there is a problem with the necessary nutrients. However, I want to use it regardless of the ingredient’s source because the menu will be very different depending on whether or not there is milk in the dish. However, the amount isn’t that large and it seems that it is not always available.

I have eggs, but I can only get fresh ones every morning at the place where I raise them. There are only a few places in Carruzan where you can breed them, and even House Carruthers, the most powerful and prioritized family in the territory, can’t get a place for them.

That’s why I decided to keep chickens myself. I’m also translating this into modern Japanese terms, so I call it a chicken, but it’s actually a little, no, quite different from the chickens of earth. They were originally raised not for eggs but for their meat.

I bought a few live chickens before they are slaughtered and kept them in the coop I made in the forest behind our manor. If this works, I’d like to keep a cow, too, but it’s difficult to take care of them. To tell the truth, I’ve kept about the chicken issue and haven’t told Father. No matter how much I can keep cows, it will be too big and I’ll definitely be found out.

The coop is surrounded by walls all the way to the top. Outside it, there is a space surrounded by fences, although the top there is not closed so that they can be left free. When no one is watching, such as at night, I put them in the coop so that they are not attacked by natural predators or other animals, and in the morning, I or one of my attendants releases them and let them roam along the fence.

In this case, even if you don’t have much knowledge, chickens will walk around and eat food on their own. I asked Helmut and Isabella to inquire about simple breeding methods when they bought these chickens, but in the end, I’m still an amateur.

Finally, I got almost everything I wanted: vegetables, meat, milk, and eggs. Speaking of luxuries, I also wanted fish, but since the capital Carruzan is not near the sea, sea fish are rarely available. If it’s a river fish, you can get it occasionally, but the fish caught near the town, somewhere downstream has a slightly strong smell. Some of the fish upstream in the depths of the forest are better, but there aren’t many people who go to catch them, so they are rarely available.

Occasionally, I can get it while I’m in the forest and forced to survive. In any case, it is impossible to get it now or stably get it when I want it.

I have the prospects of cooking, so next time I have to go to Father’s office. Until now, he’s listened to my requests many times, but what about this time… I headed there while my heart was pounding, this feels like it’s going to be tough.

I came to my father’s office and stood in front of his desk. Of course, Marius is also here today. When Father calls me for some secret business, I’m informed in advance, but when I visit of my own volition, there’s almost always someone else there. Well, it’s not inconvenient for Marius to hear it, so I don’t have to worry about it.

“Father, I’ve come with a request for you,” I said.

“…Is this request related to what you are secretly doing in the depths of the forest?” Father asked.

Aah~……, it seems I’ve been found out, after all… it’s not like I was trying to hide it, though. The chickens may smell and cry loudly, so if you’re just keeping them in a remote place and if you’re trying to hide them, you’d have to get serious about it. One of the three of us was going deep into the forest to take care of them every day, so if you observe a bit, you’ll soon notice there are things deep in the forest.

“I could say that it has something to do with it, but… it was prepared because as a prerequisite for the request I am about to make now, so it has nothing to do with this,” I said.

“Oh… then what do you want?” Father said.

He narrowed his eyes and stared at me. I feel uncomfortable as if he’s searching my heart, but I shouldn’t panic or look away. I calmly state my business.

“I want Helmut’s sick sister, Katharina, to be treated at our house,” I said. “Therefore, I have come to ask permission for Katharina to be given room and board.”

“Are you saying you can cure Helmut’s younger sister, Flora?” Father asked.

He did not make a clear yes or no with his reply. If I make a mistake here, everything will be ruined. I choose my words carefully so as not to make mistakes.

“I can’t say for sure that she can be cured,” I said. “But, there are ways to improve her condition.”

“Didn’t the entirety of House Royce fall to cure their daughter?” Father asked. “How can you cure a disease that neither doctors nor healing wizards could treat, Flora?”

House Royce would be Helmut and Katharina’s family. Helmut’s full name would be “Helmut von Royce.”

“My idea is neither difficult nor unknown,” I said. “Helmut and the others may have also thought of trying this method. But for some reason, they appear to have given up. I want to try myself and find a way to make it work.”

“Then what is this illness of hers?” Father asked. “You say that you will treat her in this mansion but won’t it spread to our family?”

Worrying about whether you will get sick means that you are thinking about what to do if I accept. If this is the case, will I be able to get permission soon?

“There is no name for the disease,” I said. “If I had to give it one, I would say ‘malnutrition’. It’s like poor health caused by an unbalanced diet, and if it continues for a long time, the body will weaken and other illnesses will occur. It’s not something you should just ignore because it’s a problem with the food you eat, so it’s not something you can spread to other people, and treatment will take a long time, but the patient should be able to gradually recover by improving their diet.”

“I see,” Father said. “Such legends and customs certainly exist. However, if you say that it will cure illness, it has not been proven. And if you say that it can be cured by improving their diet, there is no need to bring her to our house. You should tell House Royce about this and tell them to change their diets.”

Certainly, even in this world, there are folk remedies that treat food-related illnesses, such as grandma’s bag of wisdom and superstitions. In Japan, when you have a cold, there are pickled plums, green onions, and so to treat it. There are very few people who fully believe in it, as the effects are not so clear and some seem to have no effect at all. It’s like a charm that only works once you get better.

Besides, as my father said, if she was malnourished, we don’t have to bring Helmut’s sister to our house to give her proper meals. But they can’t do that, so I’m saying that I want to invite Katharina to our house.

“As I said earlier, even Helmut’s family should have tried to improve their diet,” I said. “But, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will work and she will be cured, but because she’s such a picky eater with such strong aversions to food, would she really just eat anything if you tell her to? That’s why Katharina’s unbalanced eating habits and malnutrition haven’t improved until now.

“And you think you can improve her condition if you bring her to our house and you feed her, Flora?” Father asked.

“There are foods that humans need in order to live and grow. If you don’t eat them because you don’t like them, like Katharina, you will lose your internal balance and become malnourished. If it’s up to me, I can make Katharina eat the ingredients she needs.”

This is a half bluff. Actually, I can’t help but worry about whether the food I’m thinking about will be enough to nourish her. If it’s the ingredients of earth, I can think of a balanced meal menu to some extent, but it’s just a gamble whether it’s enough with the ingredients of this world where I don’t even know what they’re made of.

But that’s why I think I have to watch the symptoms and add accordingly. I don’t think there is anyone other than me who can think that far in this world.

And the food in this world is not very tasty. Mostly just salty, or at best stewed with herbs and wine. It may be different if it’s court cuisine, but even the table of the Margrave is at such a level that it’s not that much better than the commoners’ table.

If it’s me, I can make dishes with flavors that don’t exist in this world, by referring to Earth’s cuisine. Japanese parents also thought about various dishes that would make even picky eaters eat foods they disliked.

“I will allow it,” Father said. “However, I will also have our family’s doctor check the condition of House Royce’s daughter. Please know that if her symptoms do not improve for a long time, I may send her home regardless of what you say.”

“Yes! Thank you, Father!” I said.

Hooray! Permission has been granted! I haven’t said anything to Helmut and Katharina, but I have to go tell them now!