Volume 4 Extra 1.2

Volume 4 Extra 1.2

Translator: Reflet

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Agreeing with Hiroshi’s proposal, Haruna organized the commodities needed in her head. In one sense you could claim this was a date, but 90% of the procurement was food/condiments and the remaining 10% was for materials for practice. She was simply not the best example of a woman well-versed in love affairs.

「Can we also get some sand oysters and cacti?」

「’Course we can.」

While showing some signs of joy (but subtly so as to not make Hiroshi uncomfortable), Haruna made a totally unromantic suggestion. Hiroshi immediately gave her the go, not thinking all that deeply about why she asked. So in the end, despite being all cheery about just the two of them going around gathering things, poor Haruna never quite realized that this could very well be considered what one might call “a date”.

「So I hear that you’re back?」

Layotte visited the workshop after Hiroshi had finished making Fum’s child-sized pickaxe.

「Lay, wazzup?」

「I thought this might be a good time to discuss a few things.」

「Yup, I also have a few things mate.」

Layotte showed up at what one might consider perfect timing, and Hiroshi welcomed him.

「Let’s start with what ya wanted to tell me, Lay.」

「Alright. Then first is the instant ramen factory.」

「Oh, ya really startin’ with that eh.」

「Yes, seeing as how it’s an important industry in this country.」

Hiroshi inwardly felt repulsed at Layotte’s serious expression. Really, what kind of country builds its foundation of government management and national policy on instant ramen factories?

「We currently have a clear idea of when the sites will be acquired. We only need three more people to sign the contract, pay the money, and then move to that area.」

「……I’m glad ya accomplished this so fast, but ya did it without pissin’ anyone off, right?」

「Why would we risk that?」

「Well hey, good point there.」

Ignoring Hiroshi’s slightly doubtful demeanor, Layotte began marking the location of the planned factory site on a detailed city map. Hiroshi’s face did a double take on the scale.

「This is mighty large, mate.」

「When developing/manufacturing new products and brewing soy sauce, miso, and mirin ensite, including material storages and storages for putting away goods prior to shipping, wouldn’t you say that we need about this much space?」

「……I mean, you ain’t wrong.」

Understanding what Layotte meant, Hiroshi now really wanted to know how many people Layotte removed from the premises just to secure them. The same could be said for the budget and the assistance given to the people who were forcibly removed.

「And I’m sure you’ll be concerned about this, so let me tell you a few things: we purchased the area at double the market price, and we also ensured that the people we moved got better property than they originally had, with the government paying the moving fee. Our budget for this is provided for by using the remnants of ruined properties, so there is no need to worry about the treasury taking a hit or the people getting more cumbersome taxes. Hoarding money will only kill the economy at any rate.」

「Good job gettin’ the budget for that.」

「The Minister of Finance is also a fan of instant ramen, that’s why.」

「That’s seriously the reason……」

Hiroshi just weakly commented on these inside stories regarding the budget. Of course this was not the only reason the budget was allowed. With any new industry, and specifically those that you know are 100% going to hit it big comes guaranteed increased tax revenue. The Farlane Minister of Finance was certainly not so daft as to be stingy with all this in mind.

In the first place, if we’re talking about bad influences on the economy, Hiroshi and friends were already at that point in any RPG where you almost cleared the game and have no use for your money, so they couldn’t talk.

「Also. This general area is already filled with empty houses, so would it be alright if you went ahead and began demolition?」

「Well hey, sure we can. Give us three days ‘n you’ll git vacant land far as the eye can see.」

「Alright. Then go ahead and start at your leisure. Also…」

Layotte’s face grew serious for the next topic. Getting a bad feeling about this, Hiroshi still straightened his posture.

「Instant ramen is great and all, but we’re going to need more variety than that. Is there anything else just as easy to eat and carry around?」

「……Well……There’s always cup soup, and then stuff like stew, broiled freeze dried retort, vacuum packaging, and then I guess stuff to heat up ‘n put in cans, bottles for later.」

「What’s freeze dry?」

「It’s a method where ya pour boiling water in to make it go back to normal.」

「And that’s somehow different from instant ramen?」

「Well the method used for noodles is a bit different, but yes, there’s also a freeze dry variety for cup noodles.」

Layotte couldn’t quite keep up with Hiroshi’s overly advanced technology. This world hardly had any concept of dried food in the first place, so of course you had to explain the necessity and functionality involved with the method of draining food to preserve most of the nutrients and reduce the volume until you needed it again and pouring water (boiling or not) to restore it.

While it was true that there were preserved foods in the form of dried salted meat, this was to prevent parasitic activity. Also, the meat was less dried than it was smoked. Not only was the meat tough, but also very salty, and not very well eaten other than in soup to substitute for salt.

「Well, I’ll show ya a few prototypes. And then retort is whatcha git when ya heat a container all the way up to kill off bacteria ‘n put in the food ‘n close it. And if ya put in anything that ain’t soup then ya also gotta take all the air out. Now while it ain’t as long-lastin’ as Prevent Rot, with the right amount of care it could last over a year, mate. Vacuum packagin’ is the same as retort except takin’ the air out when ya seal it.」

「I don’t get this bacteria thing very well, but all you do is add heat?」

「Yeah, the reason ya can’t eat stuff is usually cuz of microorganisms ‘n oxidation caused by air. Most bacteria are weak to heat ‘n if ya go the vacuum route then all the air’s sucked out. Here’s another trial product.」

「Alright. Then what about the last thing you mentioned regarding cans and bottles? At least the bottle part uses bottles, so I get that, but…」

「It’s the base form of retort, essentially. When ya eat retort, usually ya warm it in a vessel placed in hot water, but many cans ‘n bottles can save food even if it’s cold. These methods all rely on airtightness, mate. I’d better show ya another trial product.」

「So the bottled variety is different than putting potions into a bottle?」

「They’re definitely similar, but sliiightly different.」

Layotte’s face was somewhere between understanding and confusion. As expected, explaining something to someone who has no concept of it wasn’t so simple.

「Welp, I better make all of ‘em so I can show ya.」

「Yeah. I probably won’t be able to say much until I actually see them.」

Agreeing with Hiroshi, Layotte decided to end that topic. While it was an important problem not just for the military, but for adventurers alike, this could be solved by instant ramen in the meantime.

「One more thing. You could say it’s somewhat related, but it’s a different issue that I want to hear your input on.」

「Like what?」

「Well, not so much of an issue, but just a question as to whether or not we can create a method to make large amounts of food efficiently.」

「What’d ya do until now?」

「We just made fires or used improvised kilns to cook at campsites. This is working to an extent, so it isn’t the highest priority, but you know…」

Hiroshi nodded a few times at Layotte. It certainly didn’t seem like a high priority, but they might as well clear up all military food problems well they were at it.

「I can certainly think of a tool to put on the horseload and throw a buncha rice in in there to cook it, if that’s what ya want.」

「You can make something like that?」

「Well, it’s only really for cookin’ rice ‘n maybe makin’ miso soup, that’s about it.」

「So you’re basically saying you can cook rice and soup with that contraption?」

「Yup, basically. ‘Bout 45 minutes for the rice, and 100 servings per each machine at once, but the real problem here is the amount of rice.」

「……Yeah, I guess this can’t be solved immediately.」

Hearing the explanation, Layotte felt confident in what had to be done next. Indeed, simply changing the food from wheat to rice solved the transportation issue to a certain extent. Compared to wheat, rice took less time to cook and taste just as good. With wheat you had to first make it into bread or noodles, which become really bulky in large amounts, and turning them into powder to eat would still take time and effort.

Milling wheat into flour to resolve the transportation problem wouldn’t work in this world. In powder form it had the same properties as wheat on earth, but for whatever reason the human race could not digest grains in their pre-milled form. As a result, wheat or sand wheat with its similar property to regular wheat used for porridge or boiled barley was never used. If the non-human races hadn’t been turning barley into powder to make bread, wheat probably would have never been a staple food.

There was always the option of bringing along barley to use in porridge instead of rice, but there was a difference taste and texture that would make a difference to most people. The battleground was already a tough place to get tasty food, bread would at least be a bit better. Even if the soldiers weren’t as picky as Hiroshi’s group, Layotte saw it as crucial that his soldiers had the best quality food possible so that they kept their morale and displayed more than enough of their power.

So in light of all this, anything other than rice was probably not a good idea. In which case, it would be more constructive to think about a rice production increase.

「That will have to be after we see the prospects improve a bit.」

「You sure about that? From what I can tell, the experimental farm fields are lookin’ pretty good.」