Rice Farmers
Around afternoon tea time, ten rice farmers came to the lord’s manor. Their faces showed clear confusion at why they had been summoned.
“I apologize for the sudden call.”
Hearing Belle's father say that only made the farmers even more self-conscious.
“First, there’s something I’d like you all to try. Jess.”
At his order, the steward set down in front of each farmer a simple salted rice ball, shaped like a bale. None of them touched it—until the youngest of the group finally picked one up. The rest of the farmers watched him closely.
“… Delicious.”
At his murmur, the others nervously began to eat as well.
“Yeah, this is good. But what… exactly is it?”
Belle's father didn’t answer right away. He waited until they had all finished before speaking.
“So? Tasty, wasn’t it? … The truth is, I want to make this our territory’s specialty product, and I’d like your cooperation to achieve it.”
“Th-then, you mean we should stop growing rice?”
“The opposite. What you just ate was rice.”
[Ehhhhh!?]“Until now, we’ve been using rice as animal feed, but the way we’ve been handling it was wrong. The one who taught me that is Lady Joan Lampail, Belle’s friend, standing over there.”
Every eye turned toward Joan, who was standing by the door with Jess and Belle.
“As just introduced, I am Joan Lampail, eldest daughter of the Lampail family.”
She greeted them with a graceful curtsy.
“What you know as rice is this, isn’t it?”
She showed them some unhulled grains she had prepared in advance. The farmers nodded.
“Humans can’t eat it like this. But if you remove this brown hull and polish it down, inside you’ll find the white rice you just ate. That process is called milling. Properly milled rice is what’s eaten. In the eastern kingdom, it’s their staple food. In fact, even in the Lampail lands, where we didn’t realize rice was being grown here in Burst, we’ve been buying imported rice from the east. But when we compared them, the rice grown here tasted far better. That’s thanks to all of you, who have cultivated it so carefully, even if only as animal feed. And I want many people to enjoy this delicious rice.”
“But… even the people of Burst only think of rice as animal feed. How will you convince them it’s actually food?”
“First, by handing out those rice balls for free. By the way, cooked rice is called ‘gohan,’ and when you shape it like that, it’s called an ‘onigiri.’ The reason we’ll give them out free is so people can experience how good it tastes. Folks won’t pay for an unfamiliar food, right? But if it’s free, they’ll be curious enough to try it.”
[Certainly…]“For two days, we’ll give out one per person. Then, on the third day, we’ll reveal what it really is.”
“Why wait that long?”
“Eh? Because it’s more fun that way.”
[What!?]Even Belle and Belle's father were taken aback by her answer.
“Picture it: you eat something tasty, and then you’re told you’ll find out what it is tomorrow. Wouldn’t you be itching with curiosity?”
“Well… I guess you’d want more.”
“Exactly! That suspense makes the reveal even stronger. If people know from the start it’s rice, they might dismiss it as animal feed. But this way, when we finally reveal it, the surprise is guaranteed! And on the first day, we’ll use simple salted rice balls. On the second, we’ll hand out corn rice balls.”
[Corn rice!?]“Jess.”
“Yes, sir.”
At Belle's father’s signal, the steward brought out corn rice balls and distributed them.
“This is good too!”
“We really didn’t know how to eat it properly…”
“All this delicious food, wasted on livestock…”
“So? I want Burst to become known as a rice-producing land. What do you think?”
“Are you serious, my lord? Forgive me for saying so, but I can’t believe people would buy this just because that young lady says so. Sure, it was tasty, but will outsiders accept it? And if we increase production only to fail at selling it, all we’ll have left is debt.”
Some of the older farmers nodded. As expected, they were cautious about the plan.
“I understand your worries. But remember when wheat failed and rice thrived? I don’t want our people starving like that again. For now, let’s try Miss Joan’s free distribution plan. We can’t plant again until spring anyway. So let’s test this now and decide how to proceed.”
“… Alright.”
Once the farmers left, only Belle's father, Hans, Belle, Joan, the steward, and Athos the head cook remained in the parlor.
“Then I must ask Young Lady Joan and Athos and his team to handle the distribution starting tomorrow. If you need anything, speak freely to Jess or Hans. Belle, help Lady Joan.”
“””Yes.”””
Together with Athos and Bel, Joan went to the kitchen to explain the plan to the other cooks and start cooking rice.
Tomorrow would be salted rice balls, the day after would be corn rice balls. Given the number of townsfolk and adventurers in Burst, they would need to prepare quite a lot. With so many hands tied up preparing, dinner was left to Joan and Bel.
“Joan, what should we make?”
“I was thinking curry rice.”
“Curry rice?”
“Mm-hm. It’s like a spiced stew I used to eat often, poured over rice.”
“Oh, that sounds exciting. What can I do to help?”
“Peel carrots, potatoes, and onions. We’ll need ten of each for the servants and the guards.”
“Okay!”
What do you think about this chapter?
