Chapter 8: Northern Forest Expedition Second Team

Chapter 8: Northern Forest Expedition Second Team

Sorry for the slow release. My main translation project Growth Cheat is kicking up again so Water Magician translations would slow down slightly but it is still ongoing! Thank you for understanding!

“Now, the second team for the Northern Forest Expedition is here!”

Ryo declared to nobody but he was determined.

“This time I will fulfill my food enrichment!”

The previous time, he went to the Northern Forest to enrich his food but the Assassin Hawk blocked his progress.

The Assassin Hawk hunted just as its name ‘Assassin’ implied, killing its prey even before it was noticed.

It would fire an invisible wind magic Air Slash from a blind spot in the air.

Ryo was able to dodge the first attack of the Assassin Hawk the other time by pure coincidence.

This time, was he ready for the Assassin Hawk?

“I can’t win yet so I will withdraw immediately if I meet it.”

It sounded like he had not made any progress since his last encounter but that was not the case.

Now, he should be able to retreat with more leeway than before ... maybe.

His inability to defeat it was a matter of compatibility.

The Greater Boar was not inferior to the Assassin Hawk in terms of strength.

However, the difference in how Ryo was able to beat the Greater Boar and not the Assassin Hawk was dependent on whether he can impair the movements of his enemy.

Once the Greater Boar enters Ryo’s effective magic range, he could stop its movements using Ice Bahn.

However, he could not do that with the Assassin Hawk that flew in the air.

Even when he tried to surround the Assassin Hawk with <Ice Wall Package> the previous time, it was able to escape.

The basis of Ryo’s hunting style was to block the movement of his enemy and then attack it.

At present, without a means to hinder the Assassin Hawk’s movements, it was an enemy with the worst compatibility with him.

And so, he decided on ‘retreat on encounter’.

“Regardless of the Assassin Hawk, I gathered Ichizuku (fig) the previous time. The last time I gathered Ichizuku that was about to be ripe so it would be great if I can find something else like pepper ...”

His equipment was a waistcloth made of Lesser Boar leather, sandals, a knife-tip bamboo spear, and a hemp bag.

His usual set of expedition gear.

Immediately after leaving the barrier to the north, he reached the location where he picked the Ichizuku the last time and found freshly ripe Ichizuku ‘figs’.

“Yup, it’s a great haul.”

He stored 10 Ichizuku in his hemp bag and headed further north.

Then, he arrived at the location where he was attacked by the Assassin Hawk the other time.

About 200 meters from the barrier.

“I was attacked here the last time. But it looks like it is not here this time.”

After looking around carefully, he noticed that at that spot, the dense forest was slightly interrupted and there was not much overlapping of trees.

In other words, it was a suitable place to attack from the sky.

“I didn’t notice at all the previous time. I guess that was my limit.”

He advanced further north while maintaining vigilance of his surroundings.

By the time he reached around 500 meters from the barrier, he finally got his hands on it.

“It really exists... this green exterior ... looks like a pepper ...”

A green pepper the size of a Delaware grape soaked with some liquid so that seeds don’t stick to them ...

Ryo would have been scolded severely if he told that to grape or bell pepper farmers as they were not similar at all!

He picked one and bit into it.

A peppery and spicy scent filled his mouth and nasal cavity.

Typically this would be harvested while still green and dried over time until it turned black and become black pepper.

However, in Southeast Asia on Earth, they use these pepper while still green and fry them with chicken meat and such.

Nevertheless, it was the first time Ryo tasted it while it was in its green form.

“Alright, time to harvest!”

He packed the pepper into his hemp bag until it was about half-full when combined with the Ichizuku.

If it was the Age of Discovery, that alone would have been a fortune!

“Although the initial goal has been reached, let’s try going further.”

After advancing another 300 meters.

A wetland spread across his view.

“When speaking of wetlands, Lizardmen comes to mind ...”

Unfortunately, there were no Lizardmen in the wetlands.

“Well, if there were, I would have no choice but to run away with all my might. They would probably be better at handling water magic than I can now.”

The Lizardmen’s racial characteristic was extremely high compatibility with water attribute magic.

On 『Phi』, Lizardmen can’t communicate with humans so they were not considered as 『Intelligent Monsters』.

A human that approaches a wetland would be attacked without questions by Lizardmen.

“It seems a little difficult to skirt around this wetland and go further north.”

A bamboo spear on his right hand, a hemp bag on his left hand.

There was the important pepper inside the hemp bag.

If ever the pepper fell into the wetland or it got dirty with mud ...

“I guess I should be satisfied with getting this far this time.”

He was quick to jump to conclusions even though he was not even able to hull the rice yet.

In current Earth, the established theory was that the origin of rice cultivation was in the China Yangtze river basin more than 10,000 years ago.

Of course, it was the aforementioned Japonica rice.

It was said that the practice was brought to the west and gave rise to the Indica rice variant and Japonica was the first rice strain to be cultivated.

He picked up the rice grain and tried peeling the husk with his nails.

“It is surprisingly easy to remove. At worst, I just have to peel them one by one.”

Just how many hours was he planning to spend on hulling rice ... Or was this Japanese commitment to rice?

Was there any better way to peel the husk ... Ryo pondered.

The methods Ryo could use were limited to Water Attribute Magic.

Among them, ice would probably be the most applicable.

Then he remembered the <Ice Roller> that he used when tanning the Lesser Boar skin.

That time, he used it to press the tanned leather to soften it.

This time, he would be using it to ‘Peel’ instead of ‘Press’.

He wondered if by using two ice rollers and increasing the number of revolutions, could he peel the husk through the momentum when he put the rice grains between the rollers?

He made the ice rollers with Water Attribute Magic and made them rotate in the air.

It should be possible if he was able to control the magic well!

The rollers were ready. He placed an ice box at the end where the hulled rice would fly toward.

First, he tried to pass five grains through the roller.

Garri

The husks were peeled off. They were peeled but ... the rice was crushed too.

“We-well, it shouldn’t affect the taste even if it is crushed.”

After that, he continued to pass the rice through the rollers.

It seemed that the size of the grains varied considerably so if he tried to match the roller with the smaller grains, it would crush the larger grains; if he matched the larger grains, the smaller grains would just roll off the roller.

After combining compromise and pretending not to see, he managed to finish about two go (~0.3608 litres) worth of hulled rice.

“Phew, this is even more difficult than fighting the Assassin Hawk ...”

Next, he had to cook it. To boil the rice.

In the house Michael (pseudonym) prepared, there was a stove.

And there were two pots with wooden lids to be used on that stove.

Ryo was planning to use that to cook the rice.

First, he washed the pot clean.

Then, he also washed the rice in an ice bowl.

When washing, he could see the rice bran come out from the rice harvested from the wild rice.

He placed the rice in the pot.

Placing his hand on the rice, he added water until the back of his hand was submerged. To be honest, Ryo had no idea how much water was needed to cook wild rice.

As such, he used the knowledge he had from Earth.

Then, he covered the pot with an ice lid.

He made a slightly heavier lid so that it would not fly off from the pressure.

In Ryo’s parents’ house, they did not use electric rice cookers to cook rice but with a pot on a gas stove.

Because they believed that it was tastier that way.

However, since he never controlled the strength of the fire on the stove, Ryo had completely no idea how to do it.

But! There was common sense in the world to cook delicious rice!

“First let it simmer in low heat, then shift to high heat to bring to a boil, and don’t take the lid off even if it cries like a baby.”

That said, Ryo did not know how many minutes it should take before he shifts to higher heat ...

“For now I’ll try 300 seconds? I’ll increase the strength of the fire after five minutes.”

Handing fire was already his specialty.

A Water Attribute Magician who is good at handling fire.

That seems to give the impression of a jack of all trades but master of none ...

In total, it took 20 minutes to cook.

After extinguishing the fire, he waited for a while. It seemed to be steaming.

After steaming for about 15 minutes ... finally.

“Rice, is now served!”

After a large amount of steam puffed out, there was white rice ... or rather, yellow rice.

“We-well ... a slight difference is understandable.”

With an ice bowl in his left and rice scoop in his right hand.

He calmed himself down and slowly scooped into the bowl.

He canceled the scoop and formed two ice chopsticks in his right hand.

“Now then, thank you for the meal.”

......

“It’s a little sticky and different from Japanese rice and the taste spreading in my mouth is also different ... but this is undeniably rice!”

Ryo trembled with joy and wholeheartedly scooped rice into his mouth.

There was a figure of a Water Attribute Magician eating rice while crying.