The food that came was a little different than I expected. "Hey Becca, you said your favorite snack was peanuts, right? Do you want me to ask the waiter if there is any chance they also have peanuts and can switch them with the almonds they brought us?
Becca had a small frown on her face. "There is no way a casual restaurant like this would have peanuts."
I furrowed my brow in confusing, "what do you mean?"
"Oh, you probably don't know this. Peanuts and almonds were pretty interchangeable when I was younger. However, about 2 years ago, the price of peanuts sky rocketed. I'm not really sure why, but I remember people saying at the time it had something to do with a disease that was killing the peanuts. Now, peanuts are only eating by nobles. There is no way a restaurant in the market would have them on the menu. Even my father would only let me have them once or twice a year on a special occasion nowadays. But I like almonds okay, so it's not the end of the world."
I was pretty surprised. How bad must the disease have been to make such a shortage? James told me before that the soil in the Duchy had an average fertility. If the peanut farmers stick it out for long enough, a mutation should occur that makes the disease obsolete. I'm going to have to find a peanut farmer and fund them to keep farming as much as possible until a good mutation occurs. Once I help out a farmer and get them on my side, I can get Becca as many peanuts as she wants.
"How can you say it's not the end of the world? I'll make sure to provide you as many peanuts as you want from now on. When we are home, eat to your hearts content."
Becca put her hand on her cheeks and sighed, "you spoil me too much."
"Who else am I supposed to spoil besides my lovely wife?"
"Yeah yeah. Come on, let's enjoy our drinks."
Becca held up her mug towards me. I raised mine as well and clinked our glasses.
"Cheers!"
I downed half of it in one go. Becca on the other hand only took a few small sips since she would only be drinking the one beer. We then started snack on some of the almonds and chatting.
Since the restaurant felt somewhat like a sports bar to me, a question came to my mind. "So Becca, what kind of sports do you guys have here? I used to be a big fan of sports in my world, but I'm pretty sure most of the ones I watched don't exist here."
Who's heard of baseball or basketball being played in medieval times? But maybe there is a specific sport Becca likes that we can enjoy together.
"Yes, we have variety of sports that are enjoyed. The most popular would probably be hunting. That is why it is a part of the annual Duchy celebration. We also have sports with horses like jousting. There used to be gladiator games before I was born, but it stopped after slavery was no longer in the Duchy. My favorite is a shooting competition where people will try to hit a bullseye with their basic magic spell. It's one of the reasons I became so accurate. I can't wait to compete now that my magic ability will be revealed."
"That's great. I hope you blow everyone else out of the water. By the way are there any team sports?"
"Hmmm…now that you point it out, I can't think of any. I guess the Kingdom is too individualistic."
"That's too bad. Team sports were my favorite to watch. I also think people of the Duchy learning to work together for a greater goal would be good for everyone. Maybe I should bring a team sport from my world over here."
"That sounds like fun! Do you have any ideas?"
"I think the one with the simplest rules to follow would be a game we used to play where there would be two baskets at opposite ends for each team to score at. There is be a leather ball you use to score points by throwing the ball through the basket. The game is played with 5 on 5 teams, so you can pass the ball to open teammates while the other teams is guarding you to try to take the ball away before you can throw it through the basket. I'm my world you had to bounce the ball when you walked to make it harder to score, but maybe for the first team sport ever, we should keep it easier for now."
Introducing basketball to the world should be doable. We just needed someone to make a leather ball and a thin metal hoop. The level of difficulty to play without needing to dribble was very low, so everyone should be able to have a little fun. Maybe it should be implemented during the Duchy celebration like most of the other sports Becca mentioned.
Becca's eyes sparkled at the novelty of the sport. "Were you good at this sport?"
"I used to play it a lot as a kid. My specialty was shooting the ball from a long distance and still making it into the basket."
"Once we get a ball and a basket, the first thing I want to do is see how far I can make it from."
"Having range was a import part of it."
We kept talking about random things and enjoying ourselves. I was starting to get hungry, so I called over the waiter to order our food and another beer for myself. Becca still had over half of her beer left. She wasn't showing any signs of being drunk yet. I was happy she didn't try to drink too much to keep up with me.
After a few minutes, the waiter came back with our food. I thanked them for their hard work and turned to look at the food that Becca had been praising all this time.