Volume 5 - CH 4

Translator: Silver  Editor: Namorax

「Landria」Part 2

While she never met the elder, Ariane had been to Landria before, so she acted as a guide for Chiome and me.

It was like two country bumpkins coming to the big city for the first time, but that couldn’t be helped given the layout of the village.

Some of the apartment buildings that were built next to the large trees easily reached seven or eight stories high.

From a distance, the buildings simply appeared to be tall trees, but upon closer inspection they could easily pass for high-rise apartments from my former world.

There were corridors connecting the buildings and several elves could be seen walking between them, even from ground level.

“There are so many people here, just how many live in this village?”

Chiome asked any unexpected question as she glanced our surroundings.

Ariane looked back and replied with her best guess.

“I don’t know the exact number, but it should be around forty thousand? It might be higher given the influx of temporary residents.”

Chiome eye’s bulged at Ariane’s reply.

“I believed Raratoia to be a large village, considering that it was built in the depths of a vast forest, but the difference in scale is unbelievable…… I never believed such a city could be built.”

Admiration could be heard in her voice.

The hidden village Chiome called her home was built in the middle of the Calcutta Mountain Range and a thousand people already exceeded its limits, yet this village had a population about forty times larger than that.

The only town I’d been to that matched this village’s scale would be Rhoden’s capital.

Eventually, we left the apartment area and arrived at a lively section of the city populated with the mushroom-like houses I’d seen in Raratoia.

A few of these houses turned out to be shops with various types of good arranged in front of them, with some people that were calling out to potential customers.

The entire area was like a lively shopping district, many colorful goods I didn’t come across in human cities caught my attention and the sea breeze covered the district in a faint oceanic fragrance.

“Hmm, this smell…… the variety of spices is abundant.”

“Kyun!”

Mixed in-between that fragrance was a blend of distinct spices that caused Ponta and me to simultaneously look around for its source, while Ariane provided supplemental information

“The spices that permeate the marketplace all originate from the Fabuna’ha Kingdom

When I heard her say that, I involuntarily swallowed my saliva as I remembered the hamburger steak I had back in Raratoia.

Ponta restlessly moved about on my helmet as she tried to find the source of the spices that called out to her.

My appearance and Ponta’s behavior must have made us stand out more the usual because an elf shopkeeper called out to me.

“Hey, my friend in  the fancy armor, how would you like to buy some fresh tomatoes today?”

The man had the green tinged, blonde hair and the average features of normal elves that I’ve become used to, but he spoke like a slightly vulgar barker and he was desperately trying to get me to pay attention to what he was holding.

When I looked in his hand I saw that he was holding what was unmistakably a ripe tomato.

“Oh, fresh tomatoes are sold at the harbor.”

I stop walking and voiced the thought that crossed my mind at the moment.

Because I only saw dried tomatoes back in the Raratoia, I’d thought that the tomatoes were already processed by the time they reached the Great Canada Forest.

The tomato in the merchant’s hand was round like the ones from my former world, but it was a little smaller than those.

“If we can buy these in Landria, is there any reason to go to Fabuna’ha ?”

Ariane stepped forward and took a look at the tomatoes that the merchant had to offer and voiced her opinion. However, I shook my head and flatly refused to do that.

“This and that are two separate matters. We’re already at the edge of a new world, it’s too late to turn back now. Besides, we can’t deny Chiome-dono the opportunity to see a country built by her people.”

When I said that Chiome stepped forward and feverishly shook her head in agreement.

Ariane shrugged her shoulders at that while, I turned to the merchant and placed an order.

“Shopkeeper, please sell me one tomato for tasting.”

“Huh? One tomato…… for tasting?”

The merchant started acting weird when he heard my request and even repeated it himself for clarity’s sake.

Not knowing what was wrong with him, I turned to Ariane to see if she knew what the deal was, and she began to ask the merchant something.

“Ah, have these tomatoes not been processed?”

“That’s right, I can wholesale tomatoes for cheap by not processing them.”

I was still out of the loop about everything, but the shopkeeper replied to Ariane’s question and she nodded as if she understood it.

“Tomatoes are poisonous if they’re not processed correctly, so these can’t be eaten right now. Since we only have gold coins at the moment, this would still be rather expensive even if we paid with a quarter piece, so you should adjust the amount.”

Something that Ariane said just made the marketplace and everything else fade away.

“So Ariane-dono, how many sho…… Wait, did you just say tomatoes were poisonous?!”

I couldn’t prevent the shock I’d just received for slipping into my voice.

It was the shopkeeper that stepped up to answer me.

“What? Do you not do much cooking? That’s quite the surprise! Tomatoes are inedible in their natural state, you have to remove the poisonous bits first. Though, I suppose the worst that could happen with only one would be an extreme case of diarrhea! Hehehe.”

The shopkeeper rolled the tomato in his hand as he chuckled.

As he did that Ariane took over the explanation.

“Originally, tomatoes were known throughout Fabuna’ha as ‘the diarrhea fruit’ for those suffering from constipation. Apparently, Fabuna’ha’s first king named them tomatoes and greatly suffered because he enjoyed eating them so much. When the tomatoes were first imported to the forest, founder Evangeline created a method that removed the poisonous elements. From what I heard, the king was so grateful that the friendship between Fabuna’ha and Canada deepened.”

My eyes returned to the tomato in the shopkeeper’s hand when she started getting into the relationships between the two countries.

“…… The diarrhea fruit, quite an unflattering title.”

I shock my head while voicing my thoughts about the disgraceful name.

Could I eat a raw tomato with my current physiology without contracting diarrhea?

I never heard of a skeleton with diarrhea, but I wasn’t willing to risk it.

However, the fact that Fabuna’ha first king would name the so-called diarrhea-inducing drug “tomatoes”, suggested that he had been a person with circumstances similar to mine.

There was a high probability that Evangeline was from the same world as I was and she had still been around six hundred years ago. Maybe these two struck up a friendship while figuring out how to eat tomatoes.

The Fabuna’ha Kingdom was founded five hundred years ago. Even now that friendship still exists in the form of trade between the two nations, maybe I can learn more about their relationship through this trip.

“So how are the poisonous elements removed from tomatoes?”

I turned away from the tomatoes and asked Ariane that question.

If they were unsuitable to eat in their current state, then I could only stare at the mountain of tomatoes in front of me.

“You need to soak them in a tub of water along with 『Detoxification Crystals』 for two hours, then you can cook or preserve them…… I think?”

Ariane was a little unsure about it so she looked to the shopkeeper to get his input on the matter.

He nodded with a large smile on his face before speaking up.

“I can’t offer you anything else right now…… But, if you can get your hands on some 『Detoxification Crystals』 you could eat some raw tomatoes.”

I reluctantly said goodbye to the shopkeeper and checked out the other shops in the area.

There was an abundant amount of spices from the Southern Continent on display and the foods I wanted to eat with them filled my mind as we passed them by.

While my mind was filled with thoughts of different types of food, a certain shop caught my attention.

It was a shop that specialized in papyrus, parchment, paper, and similar things considering that scrolls and paper bundles of various sizes lined the store front. What had caught my attention, though, was a painting that had been hung up nearby.

“Shopkeeper, what’s that landscape drawn there?”

The shopkeeper seemed worried when he looked up to find me in my full-body armor, but I paid no mind to hims since the painting had the majority of my attention.

The item I’d pointed out was a painting of some kind of city and its surrounding landscape. It wasn’t the only painting of its kind, though, as there were several similar ones scattered throughout the shop.

“Oh, that thing? It’s the image of Fabuna’ha Kingdom’s capital, Plymouth.”

Having recognized me as a potential customer, the shopkeeper did his best to deepen my interest in the item.

When the shopkeeper saw Ariane and Chiome take interest in the painting as well, he started showing off the other paintings in the store.

The transportation methods in this world weren’t all that advanced, so paintings offered a sense of wonder and entertainment to viewers.

“See anything that peaks your interest?”

I nodded at the shopkeeper’s question and pointed out the item that I wanted to purchase.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Why did you buy that stuff? I was sure you’d buy one of the paintings.”

A few minutes after leaving the shop, Ariane asked me that question with a confused expression.

Just as he said, I didn’t actually by one of the paintings.  Instead, I’d bought a bundle of A4 sized papers held together by strings and a couple of writing implements.

“Ariane-dono, 【Transfer Gate】 allows me to move to any location I want so long as I can remember the scenery, and therein lays its limitation. However, it’ll be considerably easier to remember up locations if I draw the destination on pieces of paper.”

I explained the thoughts that had occurred to me when I first saw the paintings.

Ariane immediately agreed with my idea after she heard it.

“It’s a good way to strengthen your memories of certain locations. Otherwise, you could confuse your intended location with other places and transfer there by mistake.”

I listen to Ariane rather rude comment as we left Landria’s shopping district and entered the harbor.

The vast sea that spread before my eyes was accompanied by a small neighborhood built atop of the cliff we found ourselves on. There was a stairway built into the cliffside that led to the actual harbor where various ships were docked.

I could see many people moving at the bottom of the cliff, but there weren’t many people taking the stairs.

After descending the high stairway, we found ourselves on the quay, which was connected to the warehouses built into the partially hollowed out cliff.

Apparently, this district was built in two layers.

The warehouses and other buildings built into the cave sat on solid ground and overall it was a rather active place.

“It’s more like a hidden base than a harbor……’

I became a little excited as we approached the harbor, however, there was a chest high gate at the end of the stairs that prevented us from entering the harbor.

“Only harbor personnel are allowed beyond this point. But we’ll be able to enter when it’s time to board the Liebbelta tomorrow.”

While feeling a bit disappointed by that, I craned my neck to see the ship Ariane had pointed out.

That mysterious ship I saw in the underground lake was the only other similar looking thing I’d seen in this world, but the near hundred meters long Liebbelta easily exceeded that one in size.

There weren’t a lot of decorations on it like human ships, but that lack of unnecessary features, along with the three masts with folded sails, gave the ship a dignified beauty.

The hull of the ship wasn’t wooden, instead, it had a slightly reflective, whitish tint to it that reflected the gentle waves of the sea.

“Ariane-dono, what’s that ship made out of?”

I unintentionally asked Ariane about the ship’s construction and she thought hard about it before she answered.

“Hmm〜〜, I don’t really know all that much about ships…… But, I’ve heard dragon scales were implemented to increase the ship’s durability.”

Ariane looked towards the Liebbelta as she spoke.

A faint sense of joy entered my head when I heard about the fantasy-setting appropriate concept of including dragon scales in ships.

While I didn’t know the defensive capabilities of dragon scales, the ship seemed to be ironclad.

Although it was too far away to see clearly from here, several cannons lined the deck of the ship. I’d call it a battleship rather than a trade ship.

But, ironclad ships were made using steel and iron as their base. Those types of ships had been developed to defend against the cannon fire from other ships, so why had this ship been ironclad?

Based on what Ariane said about the cannons back at the underground lake humans haven’t even begun to produced cannons……

Ariane tapped me on the shoulder before I became too lost in my thoughts.

“Let’s head back, we can get a closer look tomorrow instead of peeking from here.”

I turned away for the anchored Liebbelta and nodded at what she said.

Let’s leave these difficult things for later and focus on the joy that tomorrow’s vogue would give me.

I was so excited, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.