CH 153

Dinner was waiting, so our group dispersed without drinking too much. I insisted that they accept some snacks and munchies before sending them home, kind of like bribes so that they’d keep mum about what happened during this gathering.

It looks like it’s gonna rain heavily tomorrow, so I gave them a lot, cleaned up the place, then I【Teleport】back home.

I already ate a lot earlier, so for dinner, I decided to grill a fillet of mackerel for some grilled mackerel ochazuke. Well, it’s ochazuke, but I used dashi as sauce and sprinkled plenty of sesame, japanese honeywort, and shredded nori. I broke the fish into small pieces as I ate.

The mackerel didn’t have any fishy smell since I bleed it right away and prepped it with salt and sake. The honeywort gave the fat mackerel a refreshing taste.

It’s nice if I have some ago-dashi, that’s dashi made from flying fish. I wonder where I can get my hands on flying fish? Ah, but then, will those in this world be the same as the ones I know?

Canum’s water is hard, and it’s almost impossible to prevent the umami flavor of kelp and other stuff from leaching out because of the minerals. Actually, the water here is actually more suitable for making bouillon, since it’s made by slowly cooking meat, seafood and vegetables over fire.

Yeah, local cuisines still taste better, I guess. My home has soft water, so maybe it’s better if I get water from Canum when making Japanese dishes, as well as dishes that are meant to be stewed for a long time over a fireplace.

I had wanted to go to the forest if the weather turned out nice tomorrow, but then, it rained heavily at Canum tonight. It already stopped raining over here at my fief, but then, the weather can be very different because it’s on the other side of the mountain range.

And so, I worked on naming the spirits, then enjoyed some quiet time reading. The past days had been very busy, so I got to slowly enjoy my day for today. Even though I already slept through the morning, I still felt sleepy when my usual bedtime came, so I curled myself inside the blankets.

The following morning, Riche and I took a stroll, with the pup carrying X-Stick in his mouth. It’s his turn now, since I already poked X-Stick a lot here and there yesterday.

Wild plums bloomed with white flowers amidst long thorns. Daffodils spread over the fields near the stream, filling the air with their fragrance.

「Riche, don’t eat the daffodils, they’re poisonous, okay? 」

I’ve neglected the fields and forest the past few days, so I tended to them. Canum is still having heavy rains, so it’s a no for the forests over there for now.

I cleared the ivy wrapped around the trees and pruned the branches so that the sun could reach the ground. Also cut the trees that were in the way, and planted more trees to prevent the soil from being eroded, since it’s a mountain, after all. The work might seem plain, but the spirits who loved sunlight flew out of the tree hollows and fluttered around, so it’s fun.

I chop the trees I cut into suitable sizes and dry them to make firewood. The ivy can be turned into baskets, so I chucked them inside 【Storage】. Let’s use them later when I’m free.

The afternoon was spent in the fields.

I plowed the fields to prepare them for planting potatoes. They love soft soil, so I worked carefully. Next, I prepared unglazed pots for the seedlings, since they won’t be planted directly in the field beds.

The season for broccoli is already over, but I still kept a few of them blooming so I can harvest some seeds. The yellowish blossoms similar to rape seed blooms fluttered in the wind. The rest of the leafy left-over parts are given to the livestock.

I fed the chickens. Their butts looked cute.

The livestock were also taken care of, the sheds cleaned, the straw changed. Manure is great fertilizer, but since these guys are free-range, the rest of manure other than those I collected from the barn are left for Mother Nature to handle. Plus, the stinky smell is proof that it’s not yet fully fermented, so can’t use that as fertilizer yet.

I mixed the straw from the livestock’s beds with some withered grass that I also collected. I already added some bran too, so the fertilizer will be nice and ready soon. It’s hard labor all in all, but it’s fine since I got various physical abilities.

I already finished most of the work, so I gathered some red poppy and dandelion leaves that were growing over there. Now’s the perfect time while they are still young shoots; once they bloom they’ll be too hard then. I frequently use the tender leaves for cooking.

Modding some chicory.. No, I mean, this vegetable is still in the process of being improved. The chicory I know has a light color similar to chinese cabbage, but the ones I have here are really green — teeming with chlorophyll, I guess — and it’s only about the size of my palm. The leaves are also rolled up almost completely, making them look like green half-opened rosebuds scattered on the ground.

The vegetables I took home would be prepared for tonight’s dinner. I’ll be adding some boiled eggs to the salad full of that wild flavor, and sprinkle plenty of cheese on top. Main course is 2 pieces of lamb chops. Plus soup and bread, and preps all done.

The lambs who grew up munching on the delicious grass of this season were called spring lambs, and they’re very delicious. The tiny ones had too little fat and were dry, while the bigger ones were too old, tasting more like the mature adult ones.

And so, the lam stored in my food storage are the medium-sized ones.

With the lamb chop in hand, I bit into the juicy goodness and chewed it off. Bone-in lamb loin doesn’t stink and doesn’t have the peculiar taste of mutton, so good! Biting meat off from the bone gives off that special feeling that I’m really gobbling meat.

Riche also had his share of meat on bone and water. For dessert, I enjoyed pudding with a slightly bitter caramel sauce.

Alright, if tomorrow’s weather is great, let’s go to the forest and play with X-Stick. After that, I’ll go to Nalluahdid and check their progress.

The construction workers and the stone masons are probably gathered by now, and the building materials are probably arriving bit by bit. I also ordered a lot of materials for the sanctuary, so I have to check whether they arrived too.

Buying construction stuff and furniture really makes me stick out like a sore thumb, but there’s no helping it. I knew that, so the scheme is to make a lot of things and store them inside (( Storage)) for now.

Well, I guess I can just stock them once the building on the island is finished. The land is wide enough that it won’t be suspicious even if I were to buy a lot of things. They say there’s nothing you can’t buy in Nalluahdid, so I’m looking forward to my shopping spree.

I’m happy living without having to mind what others have to say, so I don’t mind that the transportation takes a long time, honestly.