Chapter 11: To the Northern Mountain Range
I had said this before but I will say it again.
I want some sushi!
There is rice in this world. So, I am not worried about that. Although, it was called white grain instead of rice. It wasn't popular since bread was a stable food source here in this kingdom.
However, according to my knowledge, rice was a staple food for one of the countries far to the East of this continent, in a country called Amanto.
It is a country that has similar traditions and culture to Japan, China, and Korea with Rice being their staple food source. However, this was like the old culture of Japan, China, and Korea back in the old day of around the 15th-16th centuries, were samurai and the Sengoku period was more of influences. Of course, only with magic involved.
Even though I said that this was similar to Japan, China, and Korea back in the 15th century, only with magic involved, there were more differences than similarities. For one, their culture was more of a mixed match between fantasy magical anime with more Japanese influences rather than Chinese or Korean influences. For two, their food cultures were more simple than the food culture from the eastern Asian on Earth. It was not as developed compared to Earth's 36th Century food culture.
Like every country in this world, where magic was the norm, their cultural development was far behind. They have tastes of salty, spicy, bitter, sweet, and sour, but that's it. Their wines are the only ones that could be considered more developed than the food.
In terms of balance, the food in Amanto was pretty balance with no other interesting tastes. And yet, Amanto's Empire was one of the strongest countries in this world, ranking at #1. A hidden number 1, but a number 1, nonetheless.
Even though there was no information about them in this continent, as someone who is the master of Bel-chan, I can access information that none can have. Not even to Prince Yui. After all, Amanto's country, island, was on the other side of the world, right at the edge of the dividend that separated the human world from the Daemon's world.
Strangely enough, the daemons avoided them. I think that it might be because that island had a holy ground so daemon, in general, will instinctively avoid going in those directions.
Only stupid daemons of a low class who doesn't have enough intelligence/wisdom and or instinct would go there and become a stepping stone for the people living there. Which, admittedly, was properly much why they are far stronger than the human in this continent.
After all, Daemons give out a load of experience points. That doesn't change even in this world.
So, asides from Amanto Country, Rice wasn't that popular in this continent.
That's fine with me. Not being part of the staple food here doesn't mean that it doesn't have it here, I am sure that one of the stores near the Commerce Guild sells them. It might be a bit expensive but that's fine. If I could get some seedlings and plant them myself, then that's fine too.
Who knows, maybe the rice in this world might be different from the ones that I had already planted inside my Homestead space. Ah, you don't need to worry because inside my homestead space, there's a machine to automatically detect pests, insects, and take care of the watering level, along with the wind usage. Along with couples of puppets that I created to harvest, organizes, and take cares of the warehouses, so the farms inside my homestead Space was alright.
Well, you can say for sure that the machines will automatically check the plants, waters it, taking care of the pests, and then help the puppets harvest the rice automatically once it reaches maturity.
After that, it would automatically bag them up into air-sealed bags and place them inside my farm-good storage warehouse to be transferred into my Inventory via spiritual formation. Of course, the amount that the farm could yield was only about 100 bags, about 10,000 pounds each bag, for each farm per season. So, there wasn't a lot of rice that I have in my Inventory. What? I eat a lot, okay?
Even though I had set up more than 1,000 farms specifically for rice already. And yet, they were barely enough rice to feed me.
I could just increase the number of farming lands that I have inside my Homestead space but, here comes the problem. There aren't enough Puppets to watch over it as the number of puppets was limited by Bel-chan and me as a precaution. Too many puppets inside the homestead will cause my tame beasts to feel aggressive and threatened, so I can't create too many puppets in there.
As a result, there was a limited amount of rice that I could produce monthly due to the puppets being the main workers there. If only some of my beast learns agriculture too, it would have been so easy. Too bad, even till today, I have no beasts that are interesting in agriculture at all. They are more interested in eating it than farming it.
Normally, rice farms would take about four to five months to grow and mature, but since the time inside my External Spatial Spaces ratio was not the same as the outer world, the maturity of the rice was near-instantaneous in my Internal Worlds Spaces. As such, outside, it was a couple of hours but inside a long time has passed by already.
After all, we're talking about a time dilation of 1:525600. One day outside was already more than 800 years inside my External Spatial Spaces.
However, luckily, the kinds of rice that were actually inside my Internal Worlds/Realm Spaces were not the ones that I normally ate daily. No, it was the ones that are currently being cultivated inside my Space Dimension Homestead- which was an External Spatial Space for me. The time ratio dilation of the External Spatial Spaces was only 1:60. Not the 1:525600 ratios ones.
As a result, once every 3 or so days, I would have a new stock of rice to eat. Luckily, Bel-chan didn't restrict my rice intake in the worlds that I went through. Otherwise, those worlds might have gone on a hunger stroke because my body would have automatically absorbed nearly all its energy. This was why I have a LOT of rice in my Inventory Space to eat- amongst a lot of other things.
So, I won't worry about high-grade rice. Inside my External Spatial Spaces farms' warehouses, I have enough rice to feed hundreds of billions of people for a couple of hundred thousand years with no problem.
Not to mention, the rice inside my External Spatial Space was all from other worlds so their taste is different and due to it being produced with the spiritual energy of my internal realms, the freshness would always stay flashes for as long as I am still alive. So, I am not worrying about rice that much.
What I am worried about, however, was the fishes.
Would the ice elemental fishes be good for making sushi?
I really don't know since any of the worlds that I been to before having any ice-elemental fishes that are this docile and this edible. Well, ice elemental fishes that are used in alchemy and other subjects, yes- there's a lot, but edible as food a food source? No. Not unless you want to freeze your internal organs up from eating it. I can eat it with no problems- but the humans in those worlds can't. Even Prince Yui would suffer dire consequences if he forces himself to eat those Ice Elemental fishes that I have.
So, I am kind of interesting in these ice elemental fishes in this world that are pretty much made/create to be eaten.
Since the Prince's birthday had already passed by a couple of weeks ago, I don't need to go accept the requests from the Commerce Guild but I went to the Commerce Guild anyway. Why? Because there's a lot of people requesting those ice elemental fishes.
Noblemen, rich merchants, food lovers. Etc. Etc.
Even me. No, especially me.
When I set foot inside, Liz's cousin, a male named Jeya, welcomed me.
"Good afternoon, Master Shirin," Jeya smiled brightly at me as he welcomes me. Since it was the afternoon, there should have been a lot of people inside the guild but because of the mana pool, a lot of the merchants had already been so busy. So, there was only me and a couple of other low-ranked merchants here.
I nodded toward Jeya as I went to the quest board. The request for the ice elemental fishes was still here, 15 of them, so I grab all of it.
In total, there are requests for 500 Ice Salmon, 250 Frosty Bass, 250 Rainbow Tuna, 100 Frost Mackerel, and 10 Blue Seabeam. All for noblemen and rich merchants. One of the quests was from Lady Luciana, with 10 Ice Salmon, 10 Frosty Bass, and if possible, 2 Blue Seabeam.
The price for Ice Elemental Fishes always changes but at this time of the year, and because of the mana pool, the cost had increased by at least 10-25 percent.
So, The Ice Salmon, Frosty Bass, Rainbow Tuna, Frost Mackerel, and Blue Seabeam, all respectively had an increase in cost from at least 50 small gold coins to 60 small gold coins depended on the sizes of the fishes themselves.
So, all in all, if I don't get at least 3-4 Platinum Coin then this would be a waste of my time. Well, a little bit. Not that I care about it.
Afterward, I went to the Adventurer's Guild and take another three subjugation quests. One of them was a Rank B quest, dealing with a horde of mutated ice-elemental beasts that can use ice magic in the Northern Mountain Range, where I am going.
Normally, I wouldn't be able to accept this many quests and missions but because of the mana pool, the limits that the guilds had set on was lifted for any Adventurer who was rank C and above. So, I had no problem with accepting additional requests.
Elena, one of the Adventurer's guild clerks, had asked me to let a party go with me but I rejected. Because they would only slow me down. I didn't bother feeling any remorse at the look of surprise and rage on those adventurers' faces as I continue on.
After that, I rented two extra-large Storage Backpacks and a large wagon. The wagons are for in case of extra carcasses that won't fit within the two storage backpacks.
Truly, I shouldn't be able to rent two large backpacks but due to my... connection with Prince Yui, the Adventurer's Guild didn't stop me from renting two backpacks. In fact, they beg me to take another more but I rejected.
"Master Shirin, excuse me for asking this but, you are a chef right?" She asked, with a slight puzzle and hesitated look on her face.
"Yes, I am a chef," I thought that everyone already knew that I was a chef, so why is Elena asking me this again?
"Will you really be okay without guards and protectors?" She asked, worried that I had rejected her opinions of having another party to go with me. Again.
"I am far stronger than I looks, Elena. Don't underestimate me just because I am a chef," I replied to her worries with a small, chilling, smile on my face. I don't feel offended or anything like that, it's just that she keeps pushing the party to go with me, so I am a little annoyed.
Elena paled. "I-I'm sorry!" She bowed, looking like she's going to faint.
Sigh. This is why I have to be very good at controlling my emotions. Because just a slight annoyance from me was enough to cause someone like Elena to be this frightened already. If I don't control my emotions good enough, yeah, I don't need to say out loud what would happen.
it
"Don't worry about it, Elena. The only reason why I am still a rank C Adventurer was that I'd really don't care about my rank and because I had just started being an Adventurer. You don't need to be that frightened of me, okay?" I did a little hypnotize into my mana as I congealed it into my voice.
Shouldn't she be worry that I, as a chef, wasn't even selling my foods in a restaurant or shop and was an adventurer instead of my health about going to the North by myself? Elena, oh Elena, you are so... Forget it.
"H-hmm, Yes, Master Shirin," She replied, slightly relieved and yet, showing no sign of being hypnotized but was already hypnotized nonetheless. I nodded as I grabbed the two Backpacks that I rented and left the guild along with the accepted quests/missions paper.
Outside of the guild, to the right, was the stables for the 'horse' like creatures that the natives in this world called "Jule".
It looks exactly like a horse, only longer and taller, along with two additional legs to the four it already has. This horse-like creature, the Jule, has six legs total, and it can run much faster than a normal horse since it is a monster. Tameable monsters.
The tamers at the guilds breed these monsters to be used as wagon carriages and puller like a horse. However, since the Jule was a large monster, its price was about 10 times as a horse, so only rank A merchants would want to rent it. This, wasn't a problem for me so I rented two of them and exchanges the wagon that I had rented for even larger ones. The two Jules pulling a wagon the size of a bus looks slightly awkward since there aren't any guards beside them.
And yet, no one dares to sly them. Why? Because I was sitting on top of the wagon and not even steering the Jules but they were still moving at a straight line like there was an invisible person steering them.
This could only mean that the two Jules were terrified of me enough to not acts out of place.
Since monsters like the Jules have good instincts and insights, they are often seen as reliable sources of strengths measurements when someone wanted to test something. In my case, it speaks of disciplines and strengths. It speaks of more than just maturity, pride, or whatever it was that people test nowadays. So, no one dares to say anything.
By the time that I got even close to the Northern Mountain Range, the weather had changed into a colder atmosphere and snow started to appears. This happens only four days later, as I didn't stop on the road at all. The Jules wasn't that tired since there aren't any burdens within the wagon, so the speed was very fast. And since I put a protective shield around the wagon and the two Jules, whom I named Jily and July- there aren't any monsters attack. Why? Because the shield cause all of us, even the wagon, to turn invisible in their eyes, and erase our presence along with the sounds that we made as we travel.
This was why I didn't want the other party to come with me. They would just slow me down. And if they were with me, I won't be able to use the invisibility spells. Costing both times and my patience.
We rest midway through, at a village called Corles Village.
Corles Village was a small, one hundred household village, with a village chief, five normal guards, and a watchtower. The watchtowers were the watchtowers that the Adventurer made in every village as a lookout for monsters. Of course, nowadays, a lot of the towers were already destroyed. The only reason why this out-of-nowhere village's tower was left intact was the fact that there was a large moat around the villages.
Except that this moat was filled with freezing spikes made out of poison... Yeah, now I know why this village is safe even now.
I buy food for the Jily and July as we rest in the village's only tavern for the night. The owner, an old woman with long light pink hair and two small ears on her head was smiling happily that she got a customer for the first time in half a year.
The Corles Village was a safe village, yes, but it was also in a very cold region. The rooms were barred with airtight woods that had been augmented with anti-cold air, causing the room to be slightly warm, at about 68 Degree Fahrenheit- if I was being specific.
Seeing the old woman, who was the only one taking care of this tavern being this happy, I let her cook for my dinner, too. Of course, I give her my ingredients.
This woman was a bear-were woman. Her name was Callera Mickfield. Yes, she had the last name.
I didn't use Bel-chan to analyze her info but she told me who she was anyway when she notice that I didn't even bat an eye at her last name. Her husband was a soldier for a rank Landgrave whose land was already gone- but her last name was still inherited.
The old woman was really talkative but I let her. She's... similar to my grandma. No, not their situation. Callera's looks was very similar to my grandma- of course, without the ears. Her personality was a lot milder compared to my grandma but well... I won't hide the fact that I have a slight case of a grandma-boy complex. So, I just let her talk all she wants.
After dinner, a lot of the villagers came with their children to talk with me.
They wanted to know what's going on outside their village as they had never left this place. I am tired of talking so I just brought out a large TV that I have to create using magic and shows them what was going on in the past three years- in a summary documentation kind of film that Bel-chan had to do.
Afterward, I sell them some of my low-level rice and wheat. Well- more wheat than rice since the rice was only eaten by a couple of people. Surprisingly, I also sold a lot of my dried vegetables and herbs too.
Especially the dried tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, and cabbages. Since I have a lot in my Inventory Space, I made it very cheap for the villagers.
Even more surprisingly, when the villagers saw me taking out my Bamboo Baskets from the Storage Backpacks, they asked if they could buy it too.
That might be because all of my bamboo baskets were more or less just like Fujinuma Noboru and Iizuka Shōkansa's Japanese Bamboo weaving. Although, mine was made with functionality and practicality in mind, so they are more simple.
I don't know if I should be surprised that my large bamboo basket- which was the air-tight ones that are able to hold waters and liquid, was the one that was sold the most.
Turns out that the merchant who came here to sell stonewares haven't been coming here for three years already. So, the villagers were so thankful that my bamboo basket was both air-tight and lighter to use.
I sold about 400 of them. All in various sizes ranging from 20 copper to 60 coppers for small ones to large ones that cost up to a couple of large silvers that are able to hold up to 20 gallons of water.
I can't believe that something that I made as a hobby could be used by the people of this world. Maybe I should teach the kids how to make these bamboo baskets too.
Afterward, we left early in the morning with a farewell from the villagers. My mood was slightly pleasant and calm but it still caused the two Jules's moods to be very good as they both run at a steady pace without a care in the world.
On our way, I found a couple of fruit trees that are pretty interesting in both tastes and looks. Of course, I only pick the ones that look adorable and taste good.
There's one tree in particular that looks like a branch of red bells, it tastes was very similar to lychee mixed with mangosteen, so I took out the whole tree along with the roots with me. Afterward, I plant tens of its seeds in that area and used magic to accelerated it to full maturity.
I repeated that on fruit trees that I found to my liking.
By the time that I made it to the town closest to the Northern Mountain Range, a week had already passed by.
It was very boring. If not because I was studying the new plants that I acquired, I would have quit already. What? So what if I have an unnatural interest in plants?!
Do you know how bored I am? Researching was the only thing left that interest me so I am naturally going to inspect every plant that gains my interest.
Due to my... extremity shitty of great-lucks, it was both a curse and a blessing for me, so the things that I had interests in don't last long. Passion can only last so long before it turns into something natural.
So, yeah, for a long time ago, I was constantly bored. Nearly to death.
Oh? Was that the rumor Northern Mountain Range? Man, it's high!
I can't even see the top of it even with my eyesight!
"Bel-chan, examine the height of this mountain range in front of me," I said as I opened my eyesight to see the surrounding.
[Yes, Master]
Northern [Asura's Frost] Mountain Range
Height: 280,000 meters
Monsters Reside: Ice elements Monsters 50%, Mutated Beast 20%, Wild Beast 15%, Savage Beast 10%, others 5%
Levels: 70+
Boss(es): The Ice King, The Frost Daemonoid, Mutated Fox, Clan of the Mutes, Savage Falcons, Ice Frost Boa, Frost Poison Frogs
Dungeons: The Snow Towers, Icebergia's Tower, Cave of the Death Frost, Asura's Maze
Population Estimates: 160,360,000,000s
Habitals Area: Mountain 50%, Snow 40%, Ice Elements Lakes 10%
Okay... So, this mountain range was really called Asura's Frost, and there are four freaking damn dungeons? The fuck? How was it that the people living here can survive for this long?
And a stagnant amount of 160 billion monsters? Damn, the majority of them were all ice elemental monsters, beast, savage beast, and all. Luckily, there was no magic beast. Otherwise, yeah, the humans living near here wouldn't be able to survive.
"Bel-chan, Show me the area where the lakes are and the numbers of ice elemental fishes,"
[Yes, Master]
I could had used my own ability but Bel-chan was also bored so I used him to help out occasionally.
A large map about the size of Texas was shown to me. On the map, 15 areas were marked with a yellow circle, along with a couple of numbers on top. The numbers show how many fishes were in the lake, what kinds of fishes it was, and the average size.
Hmm, the nearest ones were the smallest lake. And then the nearest town, Frozen Frost Fortress, was about half a day away from here. Okay, let's head toward Frozen Frost Fortress so that Jily and July can stay there while I go gathers some fishes and kill all the monsters listed on the quests that I accepted.
The Frozen Frost Fortress was built half-buried underground to prevent being overrun by monsters.
When I came near to the edge of the fortress, I cancel the invisible spell on us and continue onward. But before that, I filled up the wagons with all kinds of furs, thick clothes, fabrics, and cold resisted things. Along with a lot of flours, spices, and southern goods.
At the sight of a tall, white, tower, I knew right away that it was the Watch Tower. This makes this fortress looks very solemn and cold, not homely at all. Well, what can the people here do? This was to protects their homes so looks aren't really a part of what they had in mind when they were building it.
There were ten guards at the gates with Fire Elements weapons, stopping me.
"Hello, do you have your Card?" The guard asked. I nodded as I handed them my Adventurer's Card and Commerce Card.
The guard takes my card and places them under the Analysis Stone to verified my cards.
"What?!" The guards who were confirming my cards shouted in a loud voice as he saw my success rate for quests along with my ranked.
"E-excuse me, Master Shirin!" The guard's expression turns respectfully and not as dull as before. He bows to me as he handed me my cards back.
I nodded, completely ignoring the looks the guards give me. I handed him the fees for the entrance and another two large silvers coins for him to share with the rest of the guards.
"Thank you, Master Shirin!" The guards all look thankful.
Since there was no one here at the gate asides from me and the guards, I didn't rush into the city.
"How were the situations here nowadays?" I asked, trying to gather some information.
The guards then told me about the current situations of the fortress, what inn to go to, where to go get something, where to sell my things, etc., etc.
Wow, I asked one question, and they give me about ten years' worth of information...
"Thanks for the info. Here, since it's cold, have these. Share them among yourself. Try not to get sick, okay?" I said as I passed them some of my fire element sake, the soft and long term ones. It's not strong in terms of alcoholic but the fire element within the sake was very good for all kinds of body, and it wasn't harmful to the bodies.
Since I didn't make a lot, I can only give the guards two bottles for them to share.
"One mouthful will last seven hours, do not drink more than two mouthfuls within a day, or your inside will make you feel like you are being cooked alive," I warned as I went inside the fortress.
"Yes, Master Shirin!" The guards all bow at me.
Although, they all have a puzzled expression on their faces.
One of the guards, the first one to speak to me, gulped and opened the bottle to take a small sip.
I can hear the gasping breaths of the guards but I ignored it as I continue onward.