My skill is terrifying, Renya earnestly thought.
The item Renya made with his hands just moments ago is brightly shining as it reflects the flame of the workshop’s hearth.
To begin with, how did I end up creating such thing, I wonder, he ponders.
Once he tries to enable his appraisal skill, he was in the process of forgetting as it had been quite a while since he last used it, a message streamed in at the edge of Renya’s field of vision. Copyright by Infinite Novel Translations
It’s a terribly high-priced, amazingly sturdy and yet dreadfully pointless item.
As for its performance, I won’t know unless I use it.
Probably the elves really don’t believe in their wildest dreams that I will use their treasured metals as material for cooking utensils. There shouldn't be any elf who would do such an eccentric thing either.
Or rather, cooking utensils themselves don’t exist in this world in the first place.
The beginning of this event is after Renya and the others returned from the elven country.
After returning to the city, Shion and Rona are often absent due to going out frequently. Kurowaal, who followed them from the elven country, is studying under Frau, who is able to speak in the human common language as well as the elven language. She was frantically trying to learn the common language.
The education of Kurowaal was entrusted to Frau.
Shion isn’t able to speak the elven language and Rona didn’t want to get involved overly much with an elf.
As for Renya, he is completely useless in this case.
He is able to write and speak the elven language and the common language at any rate, but the person himself, who is using those, isn’t able to comprehend why he is able to use them at all.
Renya himself is convinced that he is using the Japanese language in speech and written word.
It looks like those are changed into the language of this world at the moment he speaks or writes the words, but from Renya’s point of view the words he is using and the characters he is writing are all intended to be in Japanese. This was translated by Infinite Novel Translations.
Thus he isn’t be able to teach her.
Renya wondered whether Kurowaal dislikes being taught by Frau, who is a fairy that hasn’t lived for such a long time since being born, as person who is 70 years old herself, but Kurowaal has accepted her role as student very obediently and it has reached the point of her calling Frau teacher (T/N: sensei).
Due to her excessively obedient manner, Renya tried to question Rona whether elves are really arrogant and full of pride, but her answer was something terribly vague like “such elves exist as well.”
For ten-odd days, Renya had far too much free time.
The debt at the time of buying this house ended up being quickly repaid when Frau’s magic gem sales got on track.
The real estate agent, who had resolved himself for the debt repayment to prolong endlessly, had a pleased expression due to the unexpectedly swift repayment.
Moreover, the magic gems, which were distributed while being cautious of not breaking their market price, have been securing an extremely stable funds income as compact items put up for sale in the store space of the mansion.
Once it had become like this, there was no necessity for them to force themselves to turn up at the guild and to finish requests.
Even so, after being told by Rona that their registration will be revoked if they don’t show their faces there at all and are judged as people who won’t do any work, it became necessary to go there occasionally, but still, the frequency had fallen.
In other words, Renya, who had nothing to do, spent his days by doing requests, which look like they can be finished right away in a close-by location, from the guild by himself or by tending the store, but one day packages from the elven country arrived at Renya’s place.
Those, which took several elves for pulling the carts, started with Kurowaal’s personal belongings and furniture and went on with the metals promised to Renya by the elven emperor, money, gems, a number of precious metals and moreover a large quantity of miso and soy sauce, a number of vegetables, that can’t be found on human markets, and a large amount of rice which was stored in wooden boxes.
While they were at it, they added several book volumes and cards as well as documents guaranteeing Kurowaal’s social status on the human continent.
“As for the consumable goods, we will provide resupply as soon as we receive the notice that they ran out, but since there’s no way for us to eternally provide those for free, we will soon demand a certain amount of money”, the elves left those words and departed.
Deciding to ignore the inevitable situation of it causing quite the uproar in the surroundings due to the visit of a large amount of elves one usually don’t encounter on the human continent, Renya, who was the only one having free time, immediately started to check the items in the packages.
As miso and soy sauce are goods that can be preserved for a long time, he tossed them all together into the storehouse.
As for stuff like vegetables, he decided to storage them in the preservation cellar of the kitchen so that those can be eaten after frying or boiling them, but the problem was the rice.
Being called alos, this produce is rice-like no matter how one looks at it.
I will cook and sample it right away, Renya judged but then a problem came up.
There was no cookware for the sake of cooking rice in the kitchen.
When Renya tried to ask Frau, who is in charge of the housework, he was told that something like cooking it until its fluffy isn’t done for rice in this world as its popular cooking use is to boil it and then put it together with ingredients and soup into some kinds of thin hot pots, just like paella in his previous world.
Once that came to light, he wondered whether this world’s rice is Indian rice and not Japonica rice, but the rice, which was stored in the boxes, can only be regarded as Japonica rice as far as Renya is able to judge it.
There’s no other choice but to try eating it then, Renya decided to create cookware.
At first he thought about making an iron pot, however he felt like it was in some ways oversized as cookware for the sake of trying to eat the rice experimentally.
Thus Renya decided to produce a cooking utensil.
In the beginning he planned to use iron as material for the cooking utensil, but Renya, who felt like the smell of iron would permeate the food somehow, considered another material.
He pondered first about using gold so that there would be no smell permeability and that it would be strong against corrosion, but as there’s no gold amongst the items he received as reward, he immediately dismissed the idea as melting down money had the stench of a crime.
If it’s like this, there is no fitting material.
There’s no way for something like aluminium to exist in this world over here, when Renya was thinking stuff like that an ingot of mithril, that was included in the reward, caught his attention.
“It has an attribute of being light, durable and corrosion-resistant”, is what Renya heard about the traits of mithril. Support the translator by reading it at Infinite Novel Translations
Isn’t that a metal that can be interpreted as aluminium alloy then? He ended up wondering.
Once he made up his mind, he was quick at getting started.
Putting it into the fire of the workshop's hearth, he melted down the mithril ingot and what ended up being created in the blink of an eye was the item which emerged at the beginning.
“I feel like Kurowaal will get really angry if she sees this.” (Renya)
It can’t be helped that I ended up making it.
Even when he tries to persuade himself like this, Renya can’t stop having a cold sweat thinking about the time it gets leaked.
There can already be nothing done except using it only secretly and feigning ignorance by storing it away in my inventory after usage, huh? At the moment Renya began to think that, he feels the presence of a person at the workshop’s entrance.
Being far too occupied with the worthlessness of the item he created, Renya was late in noticing that presence.
Once he looked towards the entrance in panic, the entrance door was opened a bit and he saw green eyes peeking inside.
“Kurowaal, huh? Why are you sneaking around for?” (Renya)
“Renya-san, You seemed- busy with- work.” (Kurowaal)
The reply of Kurowaal, who came inside through the open door while looking a bit bashful, is extremely stiff.
The reason why she is talking while thinking and stuttering is because she was told by Renya that she has to use the common language.
Kurowaal desperately studied under Frau, but she is unable to use the common language for anything but barely keeping up a conversation somehow.
If one considered the time when she started learning, you could say that she’s learning at an astounding rate though.
“What- are you- making?” (Kurowaal)
“Ah… well. I made a tool to cook the grain I received from the elven country, however…” (Renya)
Judging that it might cause strange suspicions if he tried to hide it, Renya decides to talk about it honestly.
“This is it. It’s a tool to cook the grain called alos or such.” (Renya)
“Renya-san, this is, possibly?” (Kurowaal)
“It’s probably that possibility. I made it out of mithril.” (Renya)
Renya said while feeling scared in his heart what kind of reaction she will return, but Kurowaal’s response was unexpectedly calm.
Picking up the cooking utensil she likely sees for the first time, she examines it all over by looking at it and turning it over.
“Cooking- tool?” (Kurowaal)
“Yes. You wash alos with water in this, put the same amount of water into it, close the lid and finish cooking it over a fire.” (Renya)
“Do- you want- to try- making- it- right away?” (Kurowaal)
“Yes, I want. Unless I don’t try using it for the time being… say, aren’t you angry?” (Renya)
Kurowaal looks far more strangely than the face of Renya who says that while looking strangely.
“Angry- about- what?” (Kurowaal)
“Well, you see, mithril is a treasured, precious metal for elves, isn’t it? Isn’t there originally a proper way to use it for a totally different purpose?” (Renya)
“…” (Kurowaal)
Doesn’t she know whether it’s fine to say something though she wants to or can’t she say it as she is sorting the common language sentences in her head? Kurowaal is fretting.
Renya tried to wait for a while, but there was no indication of her speaking.
“It’s alright to use the elven language.” (Renya)
“Ah, yes. Renya-san, what the heck is the proper way of using mithril?” (Renya)
Being asked in reverse, Renya returns a reply after pondering about it for a bit.
“Well, isn’t it logical to use it as material for armours or weapons as standard after all?” (Renya)
“That’s the reason why elves hid mithril. Well, it’s something we were able to do because the majority of mining spots is located in the elven country.” (Kurowaal)
Kurowaal said while frequently gazing at the cooking utensil made by Renya.
“Certainly, armour, which used mithril as material, boasts a higher performance than armours made with common metals. However, mithril is a light, durable, long-lasting and beautiful metal by nature. I believe it’s incorrect to say that it can’t be used for anything but armours.” (Kurowaal)
Kurowaal continued while returning the cooking utensil she finished examining roughly.
“Isn’t it fine to use it for cookware? If the people of this world favoured the usage of mithril for such purpose, the elves wouldn’t do something like hiding mithril, I believe?” (Kurowaal)
While holding the cooking utensil she returned, Renya nods with a complicated expression.
“Well, I’m able to understand it somehow, but… there’s also the argument that it’s somewhat difficult to make the mithril, I received, into a weapon.” (Renya)
“I don’t think there any necessity for you to hold back, is there? The share, which was given to you, Renya-san, has been handed over to you with the approval of father-sama, who is the elven emperor, to use it as you see fit. It’s also a fact that mithril-made weapons have an excelling performance.” (Kurowaal)
“I see, in that case I can use it without worry, huh?” (Renya)
“Please let me- participate- if you- use it- in your experiments.” (Kurowaal)
Did she finish saying what she wanted to say? Kurowaal apparently returned to using the common language again.
For Renya, who hears the elven language and the common language in the same way, there was not a single advantage to it since it just makes it difficult for him to follow her, but since he told her “Use the human language since you are on the human continent”, there’s no way for him to overturn that at this point in time either. Copyrighted by Infinite Novel Translations
She will probably be able to handle the common language sooner or later if it’s Kurowaal, thus I will put up with it for a while, Renya decided.
“That’s right. I want to see how things will turn out with my cooking methods.” (Renya)
“Master.” (Frau)
Renya, who said “Let’s go to the kitchen then” to take along Kurowaal, is detained by Frau who stood in the workshop’s entrance before he became aware of it.
“It looks like we have a visitor ~no.” (Frau)
“Who is it?” (Renya)
“I think it’s probably Liaris-sensei ~no.” (Frau)
Searching his memories for a moment as Renya doesn’t know who that is even when he heard the name, he recalled the face of the woman who works together with Az as teacher at the adventurer school after a little while.
Losing in a mock battle with her students, he received a request from Az that he should do something about her class that caused a disruption. It was a story from quite a bit ago, but Renya has no memory of accepting a visit from that Liaris.
He has doubts just what kind of business she has with him, but as he immediately understood that he won’t resolve those doubts unless he listens about it to the person herself, Renya tells Frau,
“Please guide her to the dining hall since we will carry out experiments to cook rice in the kitchen.” (Renya)
“Got it ~no.” (Frau)
Giving a single nod, Frau heads towards the main gate to welcome her.
After seeing her off, Renya headed to the kitchen while taking Kurowaal along.
“Is it- fine- although- there’s a visitor?” (Kurowaal)
“Isn’t it totally fine as it’s a visit without appointment? Since she’s related to my friend, I believe she won’t say anything annoying.” (Renya)
If something happens, I will have Az smooth it over, swallowing those words, Renya passed through the door of the kitchen for the time being.