Ah, I Want to Eat it...
The next day, we went to the fifth floor. It was hot here too, but it was closer to a grassland.
A monster called a Mantis appeared. It looked exactly like a praying mantis and was about the same size as me.
While we were on subjugation duty, Raphael and his knight escorts were gathering parts for curry powder, having heard from Natalia what was needed. They were apparently taking a few samples of each variety from the root upward.
Also, the thick yellow root they didn’t know what to do with turned out to be turmeric. Good thing—if we were wrong, we wouldn’t be able to make curry powder.
And since we had more than enough fighting strength for the subjugation, Brother Chris and I helped out with the gathering too.
However, gathering things little by little didn’t get us much. At this rate, we might not be able to secure enough curry powder to bring home as a souvenir. That would be a disaster!! I have to do something.
I can’t afford to make Mother angry.
Other than the turmeric, the usable parts are fruits and seeds, so we just need to cut the upper part. The rest can be picked up… no, picking them up would take time.
Since defensive magic is still magic, maybe I can spread it out like cloth, avoiding the stems. Imagine the cloth with the stems sticking into it. If we can do that, the cut parts will land on it and can be collected easily.
When I shared my idea with Brother Chris, he said it sounded interesting and encouraged me to try.
But since we’d have to pick things up manually if it failed, I tested it over a 2-meter square area.
I managed to spread the defensive magic like cloth, and Brother Chris used wind magic to cut just below the fruits.
The fruits dropped nicely onto the makeshift cloth of the defensive magic. When I tried lifting the far end of the cloth to gather them into one spot, some of the fruits fell through holes made by the stems, but most of them were collected successfully.
What a waste. Is there another way? As I was thinking, Meyer suggested,
"How about using wind magic to gather everything into one place?"
If I could block the holes while lifting the cloth, that would be best, but Meyer’s idea seems like a good way to collect everything without waste.
Let’s prioritize efficiency here.
For each type of spice, I spread the defensive magic cloth, then Brother Chris and Meyer cut the plants with wind magic. After that, we used the cloth to gather everything close to us, and everyone helped pack them into bags.
When Raphael asked in disbelief, “Can we really take everything?” I asked him to verify whether things in the dungeon would grow back soon.
If not, I suggested we try leaving behind one-half or one-third to see if that helps them regrow.
I also told him we should try planting the collected seeds in the same area to increase the yield.
We were satisfied after collecting everything, but Atre and the others were nowhere to be found. Where had they gone?
Brother Chris told me, “Raul and the knights can handle things around here, so Atre, Bianca, and Ciel said they were going off to hunt and scattered.”
No wonder no monsters showed up.
I shouted, “Atre! Bianca! Ciel! We’re heading back, so come home!” And they all returned. Yep, they’re smart.
On the way back from the dungeon, Raphael said,
“Reinhardt, I saw what you were doing, but I’d like to know what kind of magic you used. How did you collect the spices?”
I recreated the cloth-spreading with defensive magic and explained how Brother Chris used wind magic to cut just below the fruits, then we gathered them into one place and packed them.
He asked if it would be okay to teach the knights this method for large-scale harvesting, and I told him I’d be happy if they put it to use.
After returning to the ducal house, we cleaned one bag’s worth of each spice thoroughly and dried them all according to Natalia’s instructions.
Since we didn’t have time to dry everything to a crisp naturally, we used wind magic to finish the process.
Then we crushed the seeds and fruits into powder. What a laborious task.
I’m not doing it, but the knights of House Clondale are working hard—good luck to them.
Once we had a decent amount of spice powder, I used my notes to mix them.
The notes weren’t in Japanese—I had rewritten them in the local language and brought them with me.
I smelled the finished product—it was curry powder. Looks like it turned out well.
I brought the jarred curry powder to the kitchen and asked the head chef to make curry soup and to coat skewered meat with curry powder.
But I was told the meat couldn’t be served on skewers, so I said it was fine to take it off the skewers before serving.
The head chef stared at the curry powder, unsure about its color, but since Raphael—who usually doesn’t come to the kitchen—was there, he immediately began preparing the dishes.
Before long, the delicious smell of curry filled the kitchen.
Ahh… I want to eat curry rice and curry bread. I don’t know how to make curry bread.
Maybe that beastkin girl who has memories of her previous life knows how to make it?
But I don’t have a way to contact her… that might be tough.
What do you think about this chapter?
