Chapter 683

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From the transfer room in the royal capital, we moved to the transfer room in the territory and boarded the carriage we had requested in advance.

… Since we had more people than expected, they hurriedly prepared an extra carriage, but as expected of the Duke Ellisfeed’s household staff, we didn’t have to wait long.

Father said, “Ride with me in this carriage and explain about the magic tool,” but I replied, “I’d like to chat with my friends on the way,” and avoided it.

I’d have to explain everything to Galvano Ojisama later anyway, so I really didn’t want to be bombarded with questions during the ride.

“Um… about the magic tool you mentioned yesterday… is there anything I can help with…?”

Mariel-chan asked me hesitantly.

“There is. Actually, I’m counting on you alone!”

“Eh? Just me? That’s way too much pressure! You know success depends on me not interfering with cooking, right!?”

I handed a piece of paper from my inventory to the flustered Mariel-chan.

“Huh?”

“Take a look at this.”

“Eh, what is this? A machine that serves rice automatically? … No, ice? … Ah! This is—”

“I thought it was time to finally complete it.”

What I showed Mariel-chan was a diagram of something like an upside-down open box with a slightly deep dish underneath it and a square box on top. There was a line pointing to the square box labeled “ice” and a hand-crank drawn beside it with the note, “Turn this handle and shaved ice will come out below.”

Yes, it’s a shaved ice machine.

Ojisama had attempted it a few times before, but my poor diagrams never managed to convey the idea properly, so we failed every time…

In the end, he’d say, “Wouldn’t it be easier with ice magic?”

Sure, it can be done.

If I visualize shaved ice from my past life clearly enough, I can brute-force it with magic.

But honestly, unless you have massive magic reserves like me, you need to control extremely fine magic and hold a clear image of the final product, right?

Considering the effort it takes, all you get is shaved ice… yeah.

For now, we can make fluffy shaved ice using Galvano Ojisama’s super-sharp slicer.

But it’s so tiring on the hands.

It’s like shaving dried bonito flakes, but by the time you’ve shaved enough to make a good mound, the bottom starts melting…

That’s why this time, I’m determined to make a shaved ice machine that anyone can use easily.

And I’m putting an end to making Ojisama look all dejected, saying, “Forgive me, I’ve failed you again, when you’d been looking forward to this…”

Also, I just want to try both crunchy and fluffy shaved ice varieties.

“… So, that’s why I need you, Mariel-san, because you’re the only one who can look at this diagram and understand what the tool is for.”

“Wait, wait. You’re setting your expectations way too high.”

Mariel-chan looked flustered, but she didn’t say, “This will be easy to make,” when she saw my diagram, did she?

In fact, she was making a face like, “Why is she so hopeless when it comes to drawing…?” I noticed, you know?

I’ve always been terrible at drawing, even in my previous life! Grr.

By the way, when I asked Sei if they had shaved ice in Yahatul, he said ice in summer was so precious they mostly cooled watermelons and melons in well water for hydration and to cool off.

Hearing this, Mariel-chan and I both said, “That sounds amazing!” so we decided to order seeds for next year.

As we continued chatting about Yahatul’s ways of coping with summer, the carriage arrived at the craftsman district.

“Sounds like you had a fun time,” Oniisama said as he escorted me out of the carriage while Mariel-chan was flustered being escorted by Sei.

“More or less… we were learning how summers are spent in Yahatul,” I replied.

“Oh? Like what?”

“Well… like changing doors and windows depending on the season, or sprinkling water on the streets to lower the temperature.”

In the Doristan Kingdom, we change curtains and bedding with the seasons, but we don’t switch out doors or screens.

Oh yeah, there were those snow-viewing shoji screens with glass at the bottom, weren’t there?

I remember seeing on a Kyoto townhouse program how they changed fittings twice a year and thought it was charming—it was a way to live comfortably in each season.

As for sprinkling water on the streets, in modern Japan it sometimes backfires due to humidity, but it’s still a clever traditional practice.

“Different cultures really have different ways of handling things… we’ve arrived.”

Oniisama said.

We’d reached Galvano Ojisama’s workshop/home before I realized it.

“Hm, closed again… figures.”

Father grumbled, frowning at the tightly shut door.

Ojisama often drinks late into the night and sleeps in until noon.

But since I’d sent a letter in advance, I thought he’d taken it easy last night.

“Oh, you’ve arrived already, sorry about that!”

Ojisama’s voice came from behind us, and we turned around to see him approaching, carrying people on both shoulders.

What do you think about this chapter?