CH 140

“What I found in new territory.”

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

“What I found in new territory.”

The day after I made seiro, I decided to go out of the royal capital after breakfast. The purpose of this trip was to look around the royal capital to understand the topography of the area and to search for new materials.

Titania, the capital of the Schells Kingdom, had a strong presence as the center of the country, both in terms of position and topography, and was a large city where all kinds of goods and people from all over the country gathered.

The pentagonal walls protecting the city were as high as 10 meters, protecting the lives of more than one million citizens. Each side of the Pentagon had a gate to enter the capital, and each side had a street leading to a territory ruled by a nobleman belonging to the kingdom.

The area surrounding the royal capital was a plain with a great view, and it was a peaceful land where monsters rarely appeared. Even if monsters did appear, they were quickly exterminated by soldiers and knights who regularly patrol the area for training.

Therefore, bandits did not come close to the city, and a certain level of safety was ensured in the area around the royal capital. Because of this high level of safety, peddlers and travelers could pass through without worry, and it was said that the number of daily visitors to the Royal Capital was larger than that of Orargrand, a labyrinth city in the Kingdom of Schells.

“Let’s go that way.”

Since there was no particular destination, I decided to go around in the order of east, west, north, south, and west.

On the east side, there was a plain and a road, and in the middle of the road, there was a rocky area where one could take a rest. On the west side, there was a beautiful clear river, which was also a good place to take a break, but I did not find anything particularly new.

The south side was a hilly area with small hills and dense grasslands up to about knee height. And finally, to the north…

“Hmm, a forest.”

There was a wooded area with trees growing at regular intervals. There were also aromatic herbs, mushrooms, fruits, and other ingredients for cooking.

“Is this…seed oil plant?”

When I proceeded beyond the wooded area, I found an open, wide space with a row of bright yellow flowers that I recognized. I picked one up and analyzed it, and this was the result displayed.

“Let’s goooooo!”

I let out a yelp at the results of the analysis. I discovered a plant that could be used as a raw material for the long-awaited vegetable food oil.

If I could mass-produce it and process it into oil, I would be able to spread the new cooking method of frying. First, I would have it grown on a trial basis in my mansion, and then in an orphanage. Finally, I would bring the story to the king and ask him to mass-produce the oil. The country would have no complaints since they would have a new cooking method and oil.

At any rate, if I uprooted it, it might not grow again, so I would pick only what I needed and throw it into storage.

“Good, good. I can make fried chicken, french fries, and potato chips. And I can make tempura, fried chicken, and pork cutlets all I want!”

The sight of me mumbling the name of the dish as I was harvesting the plants would have been extremely suspicious from the outside. However, I was the only one present, and even if I had been seen, it would have been useless to say anything to someone who could not understand the importance of the situation, so there was nothing for me to worry about.

“Hmm, I guess that’s about it for now.”

I mowed down about 30% of the yellow plant that was growing wild in the area and decided to leave the rest as it was. I was relieved that I did not have to shout that I had come to search around the royal city and got nothing.

I headed back to the royal capital, thinking in my mind what kind of dish I would make with the cooking oil from the newly acquired yellow plant.

As an aside, I should tell you that there was one moment during the return trip when I realized that I could have used instantaneous movement, and I laughed.

*****

“Is Dodris here!?”

“You don’t have to shout so loud, I can hear you, little Rolando. So, what are you doing here?”

Returning to the mansion, I quickly went to Dodris, the gardener, and explained the situation. I took out a yellow plant from storage and handed it to Dodris, who observed it sullenly with a dubious expression on his face.

“You mean you want to plant this in one corner of the garden?”

“Yes, I do. Do we have a suitable open space?”

“Yes, this house is huge. There is plenty of room for one or two more fields, but are you really going to grow this?”

“Right. Anyway, please tell me where I can plant it.”

Half skeptical, but unable to resist the words of his own master, he tilted his head and took me to the place where I should grow the yellow plants.

I was led to a place where there were no plants managed by Dodris in the vicinity, and there was really nothing there. Certainly, there would be no problem growing some strange plants here.

“Right here.”

“Yes, I’m sure it won’t interfere with the growth of the other plants here, this is good.”

“Well, then, let’s get to planting.”

Hearing Dodris’ words, I immediately tried to plant the yellow plant. When I said “plant,” I did not mean to plant directly what I had taken, but rather to use alchemy to make it into a seed state and then plant it.

I didn’t want to waste time waiting for them to grow, so I used tree magic to promote their growth, and in the blink of an eye, they grew so fast that the whole area was covered with yellow flowers.

“Yeah, that doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

“Little Rolando…isn’t this too much?”

For Dodris, the gardener, there must have been something that touched his pride, and he had a difficult expression on his face as he distorted it. Because you could see the results right away.

At any rate, since the results showed that cultivation was possible in the royal capital without any problems, I decided to leave everything to Dodris, the gardener, from this point onward. Dodris was reluctant at first, but when he heard that a new dish could be made using this plant, he was delighted as if his hand had been turned inside out. Phew, the power of cooking is great.

Since there was still not enough to process as oil, I increased the area to be planted and harvested a certain number of yellow plants by growing them with wood magic.

I asked him to take some time to grow it a second time to check and see if there were any differences from the first time.