Chapter 40 – Wild Grape and Sugar Beet
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I promised Minori that I would practice magic with her in the afternoon. But before that, both teams would show the fruits of their respective explorations.
“Yay, let’s go! Our team gathered lots of stuff thanks to Mashiro～ Right, Sousuke?”
“Yeah, now I can also make scented soap.”
We went around, mostly collecting ingredients for that. Except for the visit to the sea, of course.
The girls were delighted by my words.
There seem to exist various categories of scents, but I got the girls to teach me the easy ones. When it comes to 『Citrus Aroma』, it’s based on citrus fruits, while 『Floral Aroma』 stems from flowers. Relying on Mashiro’s nose, we searched for those scents. (T/N: Sounds a bit silly in English, but in JP it makes sense)
“Umm, we got 『Geranium』 as a floral type, 『Lemongrass』 as a citrus type, and 『Chamomile』 as an herb type. For the time being, I’ll use those to make soap prototypes, and if they have a nice scent resembling their types, we’ll look for more of them.”
The girls brought their faces close to the table as they stared at the items we collected.
“The lemongrass smells great.”
“The soothing scent of herb types is so wonderful.”
“Wow…! Lemongrass and chamomile can also be used for herb teas. I’m looking forward to that,” Shion clapped her hands together, looking happy.
In addition, we collected sand, ocean water, seaweed, small amounts of shells, and sponges. Going by the sand on this island and a part of the sea sponges, it’s clear that you can also get 『Silica Sand』. This will allow me to make glass, I think.
It’s also possible to make natural sponges out of sea sponges.
The feeling of gradually improving our lives here is definitely fun.
“Our team collected mushrooms, fruits, and herbs, which we knew to be edible. Thanks to Kuno-kun’s ability, we found three.”
“Eh? Three as well!?”
Shouko was surprised. Minori looked at Chiyu, triggering Chiyu to nod and speak up.
“First, we discovered a water source.”
According to my childhood friend’s explanation, a lake has appeared within walking distance of our base. And that lake didn’t exist there until yesterday.
“Ah, the addition of 『Water Sources』, huh?”
“Mmh, as expected, the mysterious blackboard is actually changing the environment.”
As for the deployment of 『Meat』, you could have somehow explained it away with the liberation of animals that had previously been kept locked up, but…when it comes to changing the terrain, we don’t have much choice but to accept the blackboard’s power.
Of course, we do have to add the connotation that it’s ultimately limited to the current situation, but it’s also possible to assume that the mysterious blackboard won’t lie. It gives us what it promised to provide.
It’s also possible that it’ll backpedal later on, but maybe it’ll also stick to its word when it comes to the rewards.
“As for water, it means it’s become unnecessary for Sousuke-kun to go to the ocean to fetch new water whenever we run out.”
I nodded at Shion’s words.
“Certainly, that’s going to make it a bit easier on me.”
“Second…is this here.”
What Shion took out of her basket were grapevines.
“Eh!? Grapevines!?”
Shouko’s eyes flew wide open. But, somehow, the grapes seemed small. Once I 『itemized』 them, my ability told me that those were 『Wild Grapes』.
“It seems like those are 『Wild Grapes』.”
“In other words, they’re edible?”
“So far as it goes, my ability tells me that they are――”
“Yahoo! ――――Ugh, those are sour…!?!”
Probably because the grapes were too sour, Shouko dashed towards the window and spat the grapes out of her mouth.
While Shion smiled bitterly at Shouko’s behavior, Minori looked at her with a troubled expression. Chiyu remained as expressionless as always.
“As expected… Being able to eat something raw and something tasting delicious to a human are two different pairs of shoes…”
“Uh…tell me about that earlier.”
“Umm, this is something Minori-chan taught me. But, if those are wild grapes, we can use them for jams, juices, dry fruits, and even wine.”
Being able to obtain precious sweetness and a beverage is very appreciated. But, going by Shion’s way of talking, the part about the grapes being usable for wine probably is the most important to her.
“Huh? Shii-chan, you drink wine?”
“Hehe, I’ve never drunk any alcohol so far.”
After giving it some thought, I had a certain idea.
“――Ah, I see. Is it because you can make alcohol and vinegar out of those?”
“That’s right…!”
So far, our food has only had salt in it, but with this, Shion will also be able to use vinegar in her cooking.
“How nice. We should create all sorts of stuff with them as soon as possible.”
Even I was happy about the range of our dishes increasing.
“About the third and last one――I wonder whether I could have you 『Itemize』 this as well?”
With those words, Minori put something like a rather short daikon with lots of leaves on the table.
“A daikon? Now, wait. This one must be somewhat different as well. Daikon is way too famous, so it’s unlikely that it grows on this island!”
This time, Shouko was cautious after having learned her lesson from the sour grapes.
Once I 『Itemized』 it――
“『Sugar Beet』?”
“Eh? Calling me a genius goes a bit too far, Sousuke. I mean, I’m awesome for learning from my mistakes. So feel free to praise me a lot more, okay?” 1
“Ah, that’s not what I meant. It’s the name of this thing.”
“Eh?”
“As I thought…! So, that’s sugar daikon, huh!?”
Minori cheered rather loudly, considering it was her, probably because her assumption proved to be correct.
Being told all that, it finally clicked for me as well
“Oh, that means, we’ll be able to get sugar from now on!?”
In that case, I can understand why she became so excited. In Japan, you can buy sugar in any convenience store, but on this island, it’s a super precious item.
We’ve started to be able to eat meat, but until now, mushrooms have been a staple food for us. If you exclude the meager soup stock, the only seasoning we’ve had so far is salt.
But now the king of all sweetness, sugar, has finally made its entrance.
“The road to sweets and confections has opened up on the third day…?”
Even Chiyu, who’s usually expressionless, was fidgety.
I can fully understand her feelings on this. The third day seems short, but it feels as if we’ve spent a whole month here. I’ve heard about Japanese people craving Japanese food after a few days of being abroad, but now I’m able to experience the very same sensation myself.
The charm of food that is deeply ingrained in your body is hard to escape, even if it’s just for a few days.
“Now that it’s come to this…I’m starting to want wheat as well…”
“If we add eggs to that…we’ll be able to make hot cakes.”
Chiyu said while slurping her saliva back up.
We already have sheep’s milk, water, sugar, and butter, or we can make them right away. If we get wheat and eggs in addition, hot cakes will become available.
“I guess we’ll have to wait for a poll when it comes to wheat and such… I want to make bread and cookies. If we get breadcrumbs…we’ll also be able to make breaded boar cutlets.”
“Oh, cutlets!”
Shouko reacted to the idea of cutlets like any average guy would do.
“In regard to the poll, I’m a bit worried that it might become something like 『Wheat or Rice-Plant』.”
“That seems likely… Wheat or rice, huh…? That’d be a very troubling choice to make.”
Since I want both, I don’t want to be forced into choosing one. That’s why it seems likely that we’ll be forced to pick one, though.
Maybe the one that doesn’t get chosen will reappear in another poll. Or not.
“Man, you three found some really amazing things as well,” Shouko praised in admiration while nodding repeatedly.
“Indeed. I’d like to have more of those grapes and beets.”
“Ah, in that case, how about borrowing Mashiro-kun’s nose to go look for more in the afternoon?”
Probably because those were usable for her cooking, Shion was very enthusiastic about it.
“Totally! I’ll go as well.”
“I’m happy that we were able to find all those, but if not for Kuno-kun’s ability, we probably wouldn’t even have the leeway to care about such things.”
“Mmh, rather than trying to extract the vinegar from grapes, we’d look for edible stuff around now. Thanks to Sou-kun, we can act while not having to worry much.”
“The mysterious blackboard might have some sort of aim in deploying stuff that can’t be eaten unless you know that it’s edible or that requires some effort to be prepared.”
I talked about this with Shouko as well, but things would be totally different if stuff like apples would grow normally over here. But food that can be easily identified hasn’t been deployed on this island.
As such, people have no other choice but to brave the danger and give food a try or endure not eating it, unless they possess the necessary knowledge or an ability like mine. Observing that plethora of different reactions might be the objective of the blackboard.
Given that Minori had guessed it to be a sugar beet even before I put it into my Inventory, people like her can survive by themselves as long as they get the hang of it. But, it probably won’t change the fact that it’s a rigid survival life for a female high school student.
“In other words…once again it means 『NoLessSou』?”
Shouko mentioned it once again.
“『Nothing less of you, Sou-kun』,” Chiyu readily went along with this.
“『As expected of you, Sousuke-kun』,” Shion chimed in as well.
She was unexpectedly easily influenced by the mood.
With this, everyone’s attention focused on Minori. I tried to tell her that she didn’t need to care about it, but while her eyes darted around and her face became red, she spoke up.
“A-A-As 『As expected, Kuno-kun』.”
The other three exclaimed, “Ohhh~”
Minori is probably working hard to get used to things around here in her own way. I judged that this wasn’t the right occasion to tease her.
“Thanks. But I wouldn’t be able to lead such a life either if all of you weren’t around. Please keep lending me your assistance.”
The four responded with a nod to my words.
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Translation Notes: