I’m going to the Reincarnators Association the next day in order to learn my next dish. I also want to go to the Men’s Club, but I won’t be able to cook over there, will I? Everyone either eats his husband’s cooking or from the food stalls.
[Did you buy pepper stones?]
[Yeah. Because it’s cheaper that way.]
[Well, it’s indeed cheap but… it’s hard, right? It won’t break unless your husband does it, and mine doesn’t like it. I always buy the finished pepper.]
[Although it’s hard, I’m a man. I can break it myself. If I think of it as a good training, it’s not that hard.]
I can even cut firewood, I wonder if I will gain some muscles with my everyday life.
[You are surprisingly positive. The reincarnator who quickly got used after being called here still needed one month, you know. All the women were crying until they fall asleep. The men would say ‘impossible’ and once run away.]
[Right, right. I also cried for one month. My husband is also a bearded old man, breathes roughly, saying ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it’…]
[It’s because there are no handsome men(ikemen) in this world. There are generally only men with good physiques. Moreover, everybody grows old while waiting for their turn in the ceremony.]
[That’s how it is… I think that if he’s at least in his teens then he would not be disliked by the girl. That’s why in order to for my son to be able to get the ceremony as early as possible, I’m thinking of saving gold.]
[Me, too. But there are always a sequential order to this. And it’s not like I can let him become a hero in order for his turn to come quickly.]
[It’s totally impossible. Since my son is weak, he’ll die before he becomes a hero. I was even predated by my son in the war on my past life, as if I will also let my son die even here.]
As I was talking to the grannies, the real issue at hand just isn’t moving forward. But since I’m scared of interrupting them, I keep quiet and brush it aside. If you try to prevent someone from doing something, the retaliation will be dangerous.
Throughout the morning, it’s full of talks regarding their sons’ ceremony.
The ceremony is important more than anything else in this world. They won’t be able to get a wife if they don’t get the ceremony. There’s a line in the ceremony, and they will be recorded on the list of names the moment they’re born. They will get the ceremony in order from the top(of the list), but there aren’t many priests to perform the ceremony.
In this town’s scope, there about 50 priests. To perform the ceremony, it need 10 to 15 priests. In other words, there can only be 5 ceremonies performed simultaneously even at maximum.
The ceremony will be carried out for 7 days continuously. If one year of this world has 365 days then to think it simply, the ceremony is performed 260 times in a year. In this town with a population of 5000 people, it will take at least 19 years for everyone to get the ceremony.
But the ceremony isn’t simple. It’s seven days without drinking or eating. The priests will be sordidly tired after one is finished so there won’t immediately be a next. I wonder how long they will take a break. If they interject 10 days of rest, then the number of times a ceremony can be carried out will be 105 times a year.
If it’s 5000 people, it’s going to take a little over 47 years to finish. (TN: Y’all, my head hurts. Just compute it if you want to know if it’s accurate. I’m just following the numbers. I can’t do math.)
[…… So the ceremony is such a toiling thing.]
When I quietly murmured, the grannies nodded in unison.
[It is. That’s why I want my son to be able to get it even if it’s a just day earlier.]
They get on the list the moment they’re born. In order to be pushed to front, they can only either pile up gold itself or have status.
The best is the Champion. I who have only lived in this town don’t really know, but the existence of monsters in this world is quite big. Those who beat countless of those are revered as Champions, and they must leave their blood behind*. (TN: Bloodline)
That’s why Champions are written on top of the list.
When I thought that Heroes are after the Champions, it seems I was wrong.
Regarding the ceremony, the grannies are more knowledgeable than the Men’s Club. Well, the number of people is different after all.
To get the ceremony, it will be according to the order of the list. However, there’s a special entry of about 5 frames a year. To get in there, one can just stack up 10 times the amount of the ceremony which normally costs 1 million ales.
Or, obtain a privilege. First is the Champion and next will be the treasure craftsman.
[Treasure craftsmen?]
[That’s right. They’re not ordinary craftsmen. They create items that no one else can make, those craftsmen are called treasure craftsman. They elevate the town’s popularity, and they also bring in gold from outside. They become the town’s honor. That’s why in order for such people to leave behind their blood and technique, their names will be written on top of the list.]
[After that is the Hero. That’s your husband, huh. After it are craftsmen, officials, merchants, and then the farmers, ranchers, and charworkers.]
[The food stall owners at the market, are they merchants?]
[They’re not. People like them are charworkers. Well, anything can become a store. Although it makes good money, since it’s something anyone can do, they’re putting it off. What’s called merchants are the peddlers. Passing through the dangerous forests and mountains, buying up articles from town to town, transporting and selling them are what’s as called merchants.]
[Because mine is a farmer, he’s third from the bottom. The one with the most number of people is the farmer. The order here is by birth. That’s why there are parents who put them on the list before they’re born.]
[They immediately get found out though.]
[Whenever a child is born, he must be taken ascertained by the officials. Because there are a lot of liars, that rule came to be.]
The grannies sighed after that was said. They were probably speaking from their own experiences.
Because Saine is a Hero, he’s on the third on the list. According to the grannies, there are ten Champions and about 50 treasure craftsmen in this town. There are 100 Heroes.
Saine immediately said after seeing me that he was going to apply for the next ceremony. Thinking it simply, in front of Saine are 160 people lined up. Well, it’s not all Champions are free, or rather, it’s rare for a Champion to be single.
Meaning, the line is composed of treasure craftsmen and Heroes. Saine’s turn might come pretty early.
I got flower seeds and turnip seeds from Granny Haru.
Turnips are 2 ales if I bought it at the market, but I got 10 grains of seeds. Because all of these are from the harvest, I saved 20 ales. I will leave one without harvesting and only take the seeds. If I do so, I don’t need to buy turnips.
Apparently the turnips in this world can be harvested throughout the year*. I heard that it can be harvested in 10 days once the seeds were sown. Because I was told that even idiots can grow them, it won’t take much time. All I need to do is till the soil in the garden until soft and water it everyday.
I buy a 1 ale bag of worms. 5 eggs for 1 ale, 2 ales of vegetables, the usual bird meat and white rice, and without forgetting. sake. Today’s vegetables are big leaves named parth. I put the leaves on my shoulder and return home.
Today will also be bird meat and stir-fried vegetables. However, I will also put eggs today.
According to Granny Urara, if I want to be good at cooking, I shouldn’t add this and that too much. Until I’m able to make one dish easily, continue making it. If I want to change a dish from somewhere, I should only change it once.
With that said, the side dish for tonight will be eggs and bird meat and stir-fried vegetables
I grapple with the worm oil. I think I’ve considerably gotten used to it. I think I was making it for about an hour. Taking a deep breath, I cut the meat and vegetables.
About the time I thought that it’s ready, Saine returned.
Looking at Saine’s appearance, I pour the oil in the saucepan. I first take out the bird meat and then put the vegetables in. These leaves might look hard due to its volume, but the amount started to shrink after it passed through the fire.
Actually, it seems that I need to keep using the same ingredients until I get used to cooking, but as expected we’re going to get tired of it if I do that so I will only change the vegetables.
I wonder if it’s about time that I change the meat as well. However, it’s delicious, this bird meat. I also like this bird even when I was at the food stall. It seems to be a bird called Ras, is it a chicken?
Returning the meat, I season it with salt and pepper, and I added two scrambled eggs. There are 3 remaining eggs. I’m going to cook those for breakfast and lunch.
I serve the finished dishes on the plate. Saine was already on his seat and drinking sake.
Facing each other, we eat. Just like the worm oil, I’ve also gotten used to Saine a bit. Also, the silence isn’t heavy. The both of us eat silently.
White rice, I want to boil it after all. Even though the dish is warm, the cold rice is somewhat delicious. Once I’m able to make worm oil in 10 minutes, let’s boil the rice.*(TN: Not really sure about this.)
Tomorrow, I must make some pepper. Since I finished all of it in this cooking.
Saine quickly ate and stood from his seat. On the table are the empty plate and sake jar. Saine’s alcohol expenses is 1 ale per day.
I must economize more.
TN: * – I googled and found this -> “Turnips are easy to grow if sown in the proper season. They mature in two months and may be planted either in the spring, late summer or fall for roots or greens. … Because rutabagas require 4 weeks longer to mature than turnips, they are best grown as a fall crop.”)