Chapter 707

At last, that thing is here!!!
“Honestly now, I’m so sorry about our child.”
“Ruby, stop iiiit…”

Mariel-chan, with Ruby in her arms smacking her arms peshipeshi, sat down in the seat she was urged toward.

I sat beside her and accepted the tea Suzaku-sama served with smooth, practiced motions.
When Byakko-sama cast me a longing glance, I placed some yokan on the table.

The moment I did, hands reached in from all directions, and the plate was empty in the blink of an eye.

Honestly… what a bunch of gluttons.
Exasperated, I took out some small dorayaki I had made.

“Well… if unfamiliar people suddenly increased like that, anyone would be surprised.”

Sei answered with a wry smile.
He knew that when Mariel-chan’s shyness kicked in, she started tripping over her words.

“Umm… ah, well… these people are the ones you mentioned before…?”

Mariel-chan glanced back and forth at Seiryuu-sama and Genbu-sama.

After entering the special dormitory and some time passing, Mariel-chan had casually asked,
“If there are Byakko-sama and Suzaku-sama, does that mean Seiryuu-sama and Genbu-sama might be somewhere too?”

That question became a known fact when Sei, flustered, responded with, “H-how do you know that!?”

Well, it’s a classic case of past-life otaku instincts.
From Mariel-chan’s perspective, she had simply voiced a question that occurred to her based on past-life knowledge.
But from Sei’s point of view, it was nothing short of shocking…
“Why does she know about the Four Divine Beasts, whose existence should be concealed even within Yahatul!?”

Of course, I later explained that I hadn’t told Mariel-chan anything beforehand, and Sei understood as well.
He said, “I know. If she’d heard it from you, Miss Cristea, she wouldn’t have asked like that.”
And I felt relieved.

“Yes, those two are Seiryuu and Genbu. They normally handle information gathering and vigilance.”

Apparently, since neither of them liked appearing in public to begin with, this arrangement happened naturally.

Huh? What about Byakko-sama and Suzaku-sama?
… Well, they’re far more specialized in offense than stealth, so it’s kind of obvious. Haha.

“Information gathering and vigilance…”
“They secretly monitor the comings and goings of ships from Yahatul, and gather any information they bring. There are suspicious individuals in Yahatul, after all…”

You mean the current Emperor’s principal consort who’s aiming to assassinate Sei, right? I get it.

Mariel-chan was kept in the dark about the facts that Sei was an illegitimate child born from the current Emperor and a lady-in-waiting, that he had secretly been chosen as the next Emperor by the Divine Dragon who protects the throne, and that the principal consort, who had likely noticed, was targeting his life to secure the throne for her own child.

Even so, Mariel-chan, drawing from her past-life knowledge, seemed to grasp that this was no ordinary situation.

“Eek… being protected by the Four Divine Beasts basically screams ‘important Yahatul figure’… like someone destined to become a hero someday…!”

With that understanding, she seemed to take the stance that sticking her nose in would only cause trouble, so she’d behave herself.
Yes. Very sensible.

“For now, there have been no suspicious individuals on ships coming from Yahatul.”
“Most of them are merchants who already do business with the Bastea Company.”

Apparently, ships carrying suspicious people either couldn’t depart due to bad weather or the passengers would fall ill and be unable to move.

Yeah. That’s what you call divine punishment.

“Oh, right, about those ships. There was something this time that I thought Miss Cristea would like.”
“Eh?”

At Sei’s cue, Suzaku-sama brought over a bundle wrapped in oiled paper.

“This?”
“Yes. Go ahead and open it.”
“What could it be…”

Prompted by Sei, I took the bundle in hand.

It was light for its size.
I untied the hemp string holding the oiled paper together and opened it with a rustling sound.

“Eh… this is…”

Inside the wrapping was something light and hard, like a sponge.
But it wasn’t the usual stick kanten.
It was denser, milky white, dried rock-hard, yet still light.

“This is… no way.”

Mariel-chan peered inside as well, her eyes widening.

“Koya-dofu…”

Yes. It was what, in my previous life, would be called koya-dofu.

“Koya…? No, this is ritual tofu.”

Sei corrected me after hearing my mutter.

I don’t care if it’s called ritual or koya, this is tofu! Freeze-dried tofu!
And if this exists, that means regular tofu can be made.

“When performing purification rites at the temple, killing is avoided, so this is offered instead.”

I see. Ritual tofu. It’s probably made at the temple.

“Hey, Sei. If this exists, that means there’s tofu before it’s dried, right?”
“Yes. But transporting it by ship from Yahatul to the Kingdom of Doristan is impossible. It would spoil immediately… We could ask Seiryuu to carry it via inventory, but that’s not something we can do often. I want you to give up on that idea.”

True enough.
Freeze-dried tofu aside, there’s no way fresh tofu could survive a sea voyage.

“Nigari… what about nigari?”
“Nigari?”

Sei tilted his head, clearly thinking, What’s that?

Well, of course.
He grew up under the care of a former warrior family, no reason he’d know about nigari.

“It’s an ingredient used to make tofu. Salt… the liquid produced during sea-salt production. Can’t you get that?”
“Uh… s-sorry, that’s not something I’d know…”

Seeing how desperate I was, Sei answered hesitantly.

“Cristea-sama, do you know the method for producing salt… sea salt?”

Suzaku-sama smoothly stepped in, shielding Sei as he asked me.

“W-well… only as knowledge. I’ve never actually made it… I only know it as something needed to make tofu…”

In the Kingdom of Doristan, rock salt can be mined, and seaweed salt can be imported from Yahatul.
There’s no way I’d try to make labor-intensive sea salt all by myself.
I once wondered if I could just sizzle it with fire magic, but that only evaporated the seawater.

“I see. Then that means Cristea-sama also knows how to make tofu?”
“Well… more or less. I don’t know if I can actually pull it off, though.”

Make soy milk, add nigari, and it should probably work, right?
The details? Trial and error until it works!

I’ve been making soy milk and okara all this time anyway.
Farewell, my days of being satisfied with scooped yuba!
I even tried solidifying things with kanten, but I couldn’t accept the compromise. With nigari, that problem disappears!

Nigari… ahh, nigari.
If I could get a decent amount of high-concentration nigari and store it in my inventory, it wouldn’t go bad.
Give me nigari!

“Then, please take this.”
“… Eh?”

Suzaku-sama smiled gently and placed a small bottle on the table in front of me with a clink.

“T-this is…?”
“Nigari. I hadn’t had soft tofu in quite some time since coming here, so I thought I’d try making it myself. But if you say you can make it, Cristea-sama, I don’t mind giving it to you.”
“I-I’ll make ittt!”

Yes!!
Nigari acquired!

What do you think about this chapter?