I’m Back in the Other World? Chapter 75

Chapter 75 – Exhibition

The prepared ingredients were sold out at 7 koku, or 2 in the afternoon. What shall I do after this? According to the schedule, it should’ve been sold out around the time the parade starts but…

U~n, since the parade is after the evening, shall I take a look at the exhibition? I also want to take a look at Graham-san’s work… The exhibition was held at the castle’s hall, wasn’t it?

Eh? Why did I begin a stall all of a sudden, you ask? There are several reasons, but roughly speaking, there are two I suppose?

The first is to spread out delicious things. Just like I have explained in the past, the seasoning in this world is basically salt, pepper, and a few herbs. Rather, I’m sure it’s better to say there’s nothing other than that. To say it nicely, it shows off the flavour of the raw ingredients, but…

If I’m cooking for myself, at least in my house I’m able to eat things I think are delicious, but… Anything delicious becomes a distant thing when it comes to something like in the middle of travelling you see…

So there I thought, ‘If that’s the case, it would be good if I spread out delicious things’. Of course, the flavour wouldn’t advance if the recipe was simply given out freely. So that’s the second reason.

I’ll have them know it’ll be delicious depending on the seasoning! Which is my strategy. Luckily, tourists flock into the Royal Capital from all over the country for this festival. So I thought, if I sold items with new flavours, wouldn’t it catch the attention of many people?

Of course, there is also the meaning of confirming these flavours are profitable. And the result could be said that when people realize that delicious things are popular, they will produce their own delicious dishes. When humans experience something delicious once, everything else will easily drop in rank ne1…  A terrifying plan, even if I do say so myself, is it not!?

Fufufu, with that, the day when I can eat delicious things even if I’m travelling is approaching ne…

Eh? Why did I do yakitori, you ask? That’s… the cost and convenience of a rental stall, you see… Right, also because I was late coming up with the idea, on top of the rental stall and concerns of procuring stock, the only choice was to be a yakitori vendor. By the way, the most popular stalls are most easily the ones which deal with meat. Following that are the ones which deal with drinks. Yakitori is simple and it’s said that it’s not very profitable so they’re not popular, you see. Well, because of that, I was able to apply even if it was a fairly last-minute thing.

Therefore I started as a yakitori vendor, but… Looking at the reactions up until today, it’s good to think of it as a huge success, I suppose. If I have another chance, I’d like to try something different ne.

Takoyaki would be… since there isn’t a culture to eat octopus in the first place, it would be difficult ne.

takoyaki – kinda like fried octopus b.a.l.l.s

Yakisoba as well, since preparing the noodle portion would be difficult, as for shaved ice, there is the problem of the ice and the season.

yakisoba

Would
 okonomiyaki or crepes be good, I wonder…? Let’s think of something before the next opportunity.

okonomiyaki – a type of savoury pancake-like thingo

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After this and that, right now I’ve come to the exhibition’s venue.

Is it because the time is the mid-afternoon? There is a rather small amount people. Thanks to that, I’m able to take my time and look ne.

This exhibition is divided into four parts. First is the accessory division. Things like the engravings and designs are the targets of evaluation in this division. Because the displayed items are small gorgeous ornaments, just looking at them is enjoyable.

Of course, although the appearance is also important, since it doesn’t say that luxurious materials must be used, people with money do not have an advantage. The creators of the works evaluated in this exhibition can get noticed by n.o.bles over here or rich people over there, which is to say, it’s a shortcut to their dreams of being a professional at their field.

Second is the magic tool division. From the freely created magic tools, they will be evaluated on their idea, design, completed condition and etc. Amongst them are, ‘What do you use it for? What kind of situation do you use it?’ and other ambiguous things, but that’s also the interesting part of this division I suppose. For the excellent works, it seems there are offers from the research inst.i.tute as well.

Third is the armor division. Though it’s just the name, the armor designs, performance and etc, are evaluated. There are also things with strange designs, but it seems it’s basically evaluated in the direction of its reliability. Last year’s excellent work was a simple portable plate armor capable of attaching and detaching, it seems it’s been deployed to practically a portion of the Chivalric Order. By the way, it appears that several joke-like armor always gets displayed every year. I wonder what it will be this year?

Fourth is the weapons division. Graham-san’s exhibit is also here. With the freedom of choosing the shape of the weapon, from those they’ll be evaluated, including things like its practicality, general purpose and design. By the way, the most popular are swords, and the least popular are blunt weapons.

Blunt weapons, how plain ne…

In the armor division and weapon division, magic tools are prohibited from display. Of course, there are works with a prerequisite of magic tools as well, but it seems that’s regarded as a different part of evaluation.2

Graham-san’s exhibit is a one-handed straight tempered sword. Although I’m not well-informed, a clear distinction can be seen from its brilliance and design compared to the other exhibits. Could this be bias as an acquaintance, I wonder?

However, when I look at them like this, there sure are various things ne… Among them which attracted my attention, a fantasy work, is the familiar bikini armor…? What sort of person would wear that…? Even if it wasn’t that, female adventurers are fairly scarce, and not even an entire ten percent of them become a knight. Really, who is it made for ne…

Ah, but if someone like Princess Aria wears it, its effectiveness would be high, in a different meaning ne. At least if the opponent was a male, I’m sure it would be able to create an opening…

Oops, after taking my time looking, a considerable amount of time has pa.s.sed. When I looked outside, the sun as already noticeably set. Since the time for the parade appears to be close as well, it’s about time I should return huh.

When I went outside, it became extremely noisy. It seems the people who are going to look at the parade have gathered.

Although the parade is something simple where all the royalty board several carriages and parade around the town, magic tools and sorcery are used in it. Well, simply put, illumination-like sorcery are used like fireworks.

Nevertheless, the average person rarely have the chance to see sorcery, although the sorcery used is intermediate leveled, due to a number of people using it, it becomes something considerably large-scaled. In addition, there isn’t often an opportunity to see royalty up close either. So, because you can see such rare things in this parade, it’s popular.3

Well, it doesn’t feel that rare for me but…

When I preceded ahead while pus.h.i.+ng through the crowd, a large cheer rose up in the direction of the castle. Followed together with a large noise, fireworks bloomed in the sky.

Although I can’t see because of the crowd, it seems like the parade has begun.

Since I’ve taken the effort, I went towards the front. In times like this, my small body is convenient. ……Right, only in times like this…

At the front, a group of knights on horseback came advancing. Behind them were infantry hoisting their company flag, while slowly walking.

Occasionally, a magician I wonder? When a person on horseback dressed in a robe waved their arm, multi-coloured lights burst forth here and there.

Later on following the group of knights, were several gorgeously decorated open carriages. There at the front was the King and Queen, though I couldn’t see the next carriage, it was most likely boarded by the previous King and his Queen. The next carriage had a group of robes on it, the fireworks were shot from there to the sky. Ah, Len-san was also on it. The carriage after that were Prince Edwill and Princess Abelia. Princess Abelia, so you were still in this country ne…

The next carriage was boarded by Prince Sedrim and Princess Aria. Muu, he’s somewhat like a completely different person, waving his hands with that refres.h.i.+ng smile. Even though inside of him is that Prince, he really ends up looking like royalty. I ended up feeling frustrated for some reason.

Come to think of it, I have a feeling it’s been a while since I have seen the Prince’s face ne. It appears he was continuously busy with matters of the festival since the end of the year, he hasn’t come to eat since the first half of December either… I was also busy with the matters of the stall and commissions ne.

……Huh? Could this be the first time I haven’t been able to see the Prince’s face? No, well, it just felt a little odd, you see. This is natural.

……I wasn’t thinking something like I was lonely, you know?

Nn? I have a feeling the Prince looked over here just now. Although I said I was at the front, since I’m concealed within the crowd of people because of my height, I’m only peeking out from the gaps so I wouldn’t be noticed, right? Although I somehow seemed to have seen his refres.h.i.+ng smile collapse for an instant, it was my imagination, right?

During the large cheers, when the group of carriages pa.s.sed through, the Chivalric Order subsequently came walking. With the respective squads a.s.sembled in file, they advanced with perfect steps while hoisting their company flag. Occasionally, the sorcery of a magician, who has slipped inside, excites the spectators.

When they pa.s.sed through, the cheers gradually moved towards the town.

While the spectators here each spoke of their thoughts, they began to chase after the cheers towards the town.

I also went with the flow and returned home.

While having a gloomy feeling inside my chest, I thought about what I should make for today’s dinner.