Published at 5th of August 2023 5:53 pm

Chapter 356: Now, Let's Go To The Mountain

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

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After we have our breakfast, I was walking and about to return to my room, but then I heard a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen.

This is the sound of oil……is someone making karaage?

I got a little curious and as I enter the kitchen, there was Bartolo making something that looks like karaage.

I was often surprising Bartolo when I approached him from behind like this, so I make a detour so I can appear in his line of sight.

Regardless of whether I was blamed for being inconspicuous or they don’t feel my presence, he was frying food right now so safety is the first priority here.

「What? Are you here for snacks too, boy?」

「Ah, no. I just had breakfast. With the way you’re asking me, who’s the one who asked for snacks before me?」

「It’s Miss Eleonora and Mina」

Aah, that was an extremely easy-to-understand lineup

Eleonora-neesan suddenly headed out from the dining room before, maybe, she might have heard the sound of Bartolo making karaage.

「By the way, why did you make karaage in the morning? Eleonora-neesan also doesn’t have vigilante corps training, right?」

We just finished breakfast now. If it’s the usual time, then Bartolo and the maid’s meal are the same as what we ate. Since it will cost them less time and money if they do that.

Our family doesn’t usually eat karaage in the morning, so it means that he just made all this karaage from the start.

And Eleonora-neesan also doesn’t have vigilante corps training today, so she doesn’t need a lunch box. And yet, Bartolo is preparing karaage first thing in the morning so I’m curious about why he did it.

「Aah, this is not for Miss Eleonora, this is for my lunch box」

「For Bartolo?」

「I’m just going to go to the mountain to draw some spring water for a bit」

「You can’t use the water from the well?」

You don’t have to take the trouble of going to the mountain to draw spring water, there’s the water from the well in the courtyard.

When I throw such a naive question at him, Bartolo told me as though he was emphasizing the reason.

「It’s not that I can’t use it. The water in this village is clear and even the water from the well is good. But, the spring water in the mountain is even better」

Heeー, it makes me curious about it if you say that much.

I drank the water from the river, but I have never drunk the spring water from the mountain.

「How should I say it, the water used to make the tea that everyone drinks every day is mostly using spring water, y’know?」

「Could it be, it’s Elna-kaasan’s instruction?」

「……yeah, it looks like using spring water is the most delicious in making tea」

Bartolo answers while having a faraway look when I asked him in amazement.

I had no idea that we already use spring water in our daily lives.....no wonder it was so delicious, that Royal Feed.

「You don’t say, so you’re drawing spring water from the mountain to brew tea, Elna-kaasan is really a hardcore tea fan, huh」

「Err, you’re also the same, aren’t you boy? You made a kitchen and fire cause you want to eat on the spot. And when you went to the Sylford’s territory, they say you don’t want to sleep in the carriage so you made a house using Earth magic, right?」

「Magic is a useful thing meant to enrich our lives. And so, there is absolutely nothing wrong with how I use magic」

「……you and your mother are really similar in that part」

Bartolo gives me a somewhat amazed look when I resolutely told him that.

Rather than personality, I would prefer if I resemble her a bit in physical appearance though.

「Now, because of that I’m going to the mountain. You can come along with me if you’d like, boy?」

Hmm, I usually just drink the spring water without wondering where it came from, but I’m curious about how it tastes.

Climbing the mountain to search for water, and then eating our lunch box in the middle.

That looks kinda like a picnic.

Though it feels sad I’m going there together with an old man, I can’t take it slow if I were to take Eleonora-neesan together with us.

「Un, I’m curious about the taste of spring water, I will also go」

「Ooh, that’s good to hear. It will be very helpful if you can help in bringing the water back using that Psychic magic of yours, boy」

Bartolo earnestly requested while emphasizing the ‘very helpful’ part.

Oh well, water is quite heavy after all. But, if I carried them with Psychic, then such hardship of carrying heavy things will not affect me.

「Sure. I can do that much」

「Yossha!」

Bartolo rejoices as he did a fist pump.

It must have been tough even for Bartolo - a strong person - to carry an appropriate amount of water from the mountain to our mansion. His joy tells me about the hardship he faced.

「Okay then, I will make a lunch box for the two of us. I will make onigiris, can I leave this karaage to you, boy?」

「Un, that’s okay」

And this is how I ended up making lunch boxes in order to head toward the mountain.

◆

We left the mansion after we finish making our lunch box.

「By the way, boy. How big of a container you can carry with your magic?」

「Hmー? If it’s water then around ten barrels should be okay」

I never tried to test how heavy of an object I can lift, but I’ve lifted a whole tree and a large stone before. I wonder if I can handle around ten or hundreds of barrels with ease?

「O, ooh, as expected, even ten is no problem for you, we should bring one barrel this time」

Saying that, Bartolo headed to the back of the mansion and return with a barrel.

Then I make that barrel float using Psychic.

Un, no problem making a single barrel float.

「Yosh, looks like there’s no problem with a barrel, then shall we depart?」

Nodding to Bartolo’s words, we left the mansion and starts walking.

Today too, the weather is nice and warm. It’s not extremely hot like the other day, it’s the kind of hot when you gradually sweats after you walk for a bit.

The road stretching out from the mansion is wide open and there is not a single shaded place under the tree to be seen.

I want to quickly arrive at the mountain where there is a lot of shade. It should be cool near the place where the spring water is since there is a lot of shade and moisture.

I wipe my sweat while imagining the sound of the cool spring water.

「Come to think of it, is our lunch box inside that basket?」

At the back of Bartolo - who walks beside me - is a large pack basket.

I can’t see our lunch box on his person, so he probably put it inside that? I don’t want it to be the case of an ‘I forgot about it’, so I asked that just in case.

「Yeah, I put it here. It has become a lot easier for me thanks to you boy. While we’re at it, we will also collect some ingredients in the mountain」

I see. When you’re bringing a barrel of water alone, you would not be able to gather the wild ingredients in the mountain.

Is he looking happy because of that too?

「What’s a tasty wild ingredient at this time of the year?」

「Mountain vegetables, Shirabi, and Nobiru1」

Shirabi is a spring onion-like plant with a thick stem and two leaves. It tastes like a really sweet and soft spring onion. It’s tasty when you stew, softened, and eat it whole.

While Nobiru is a garlic chives-like (allium tuberosum) plant with long and narrow leaves and it has a small, turnip-like bulb at its roots. It’s also good to be used as a condiment when you chop it finely, the root can also be stewed, or eaten as it is as a salad, it’s a plant with a lot of usability.

「I’ve only been getting requests for deep-flavored dishes lately. I have to make lightly seasoned and highly nutritious food for everyone now」

「It’s because the magic stove was installed, right」

「You know it well」

We bought the magic stove back at the royal capital after all, and the request for deep-fried food like karaage and kushiage had inevitably been increasing. Well, the magic stove is that convenient for making things like that, so a lot of those types of food have been added at the requests of Elna-kaasan, Eleonora-neesan, and Mina.

Guess we should take the food in moderation in terms of nutritional value.

If anything, I agree with what Bartolo said as I am someone who belongs to the light-flavored group.

「I’m going to hold back from making a lot of deep-fried food from now on」

「But, there are kaarage in our lunch box, right?」

Although he said all that, he just made karaage this morning.

There is a lot of karaage in our lunch box.

Bartolo stiffened for several seconds after hearing what I said, and then he says,

「……both of us are fine」

「That’s true」

Oi what the heck, or so I want to retort, but I’ll be very troubled if he told me I will get no kaarages so I’ll just nod obediently.

I mean, I can’t have him remove the karaages inside the onigiris after all.

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