Volume 6 Chapter 124 Jaguar
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”I didn’t know rice could taste this good.”
Claude muttered while eating white rice together with pot-au-feu (French meat and vegetable stew). It was Toyata Swamp Koshihikari. It could not match the best Japanese rice, but it was still very tasty.
When I glanced at Ms. Shirakaba, she turned her eyes away for some reason. Strange.
”The climate around Toyata Swamp seems good for rice farming. For now, there are no pests, so pesticides are not needed.”
In fact, many rice pests may have gone extinct because of Wall Barley. If rice farming spreads, new ones may appear. We will deal with that when it happens.
”Ojiya (Japanese rice soup)? Eating it soaked in soup feels rude.”
Even as Kisarra said this, she was eating it too. Ojiya, okayu (Japanese rice porridge), risotto. All are similar, but each a little different.
Strictly speaking, Kisarra’s style was not ojiya. She just dumped rice from her bowl into the soup dish with pot-au-feu. It was more like reverse bukakke rice. Elegant? Not really.
Fine then. Let’s eat elegantly. I served rice in a curry bowl, then poured pot-au-feu from a sauce pot, showing it off.
”Father, that’s unfair, only you eat so elegantly~desuwa.”
”Oh, that’s the thing for curry roux! I’ve never seen anyone actually use one. So it was real.”
Those sauce pots are often shown on curry packages. They can be used for sauces or dressings too, not only curry.
”Few curry restaurants use them, but they are sold in stores and not very expensive. I bought one once, but used it only one time.”
Too many dishes to wash, that was the problem. In the end, Mother planted a cactus in it and placed it by the window. Oddly stylish.
”And this is the proper way for ojiya. Hitori nabe set.”
I set a small pot with pot-au-feu on a tiny stove using solid fuel. When it boiled, I gently added white rice, then an egg. Our country plans to produce solid fuel made from paraffin synthesized from peat. Summoned Heroes of the production type can make many things if given a budget. Some are lazy or cheats, but even if only one project in ten succeeds, it’s profitable.
”No udon? No chopped green onion?”
The Shirakaba family had their own style. They added chopped seri for color. In my family, seri is the must-have herb for hot pot.
But the Apiaceae family includes many poisonous plants. Since they are from another world, some are dangerous. Luckily, Claire is very knowledgeable, so we’ve avoided problems.
”Want to taste?”
Everyone nodded, so I served portions into small mame chawan (tiny rice bowls used for side servings).
”It’s very tasty—but far too little.”
As expected, Uno complained.
”Good chance to let everyone try different rice dishes.”
I served prepared takikomi gohan, pilaf, inari sushi, and more.
”Ah, so this is a rehearsal for the world after Wall Barley disappears.”
”That’s fine if you think so.”
Now for the special dish.
”This is Jagar. Try it.”
”What? Like the animal jaguar? Isn’t this nikujaga (Japanese meat-and-potato stew) without the meat? So just potatoes? Jagar??”
Ms. Shirakaba spoiled the joke right away. Well, it only works in Japanese anyway. Still, Ms. Nina looked pleased.
”So this is the famous nikujaga? Such deep flavor~desuwa.”
”I understand now that the potato is a wonderful crop.”
”The ingredients are only potato, onion, and salt. This dish tests the cook’s skill.”
As expected, Ms. Nina explained beautifully. Did she watch me cook? She looked proud.
No sugar, no mirin, not even soy sauce. Only the onion’s sweetness. No kombu, katsuobushi, or shiitake either. A challenge for skilled cooks. Cutting, heating, seasoning—all matter. Not for beginners.
”So it’s a dish without sugar, something commoners could make too~desuwa.”
”As expected of Father. You truly are a benevolent ruler.”
The children misunderstood, but it was harmless, so I let them believe it.
”And here is normal nikujaga.”
I brought out the regular version for comparison. Each household has its own style, so what is “normal”? A philosophical question.
”Normal nikujaga is delicious!”
Ms. Shirakaba didn’t care much about family recipes.
”Sweet and tasty! Real sugar flavor.”
Claude likes sweet things. He loves cola. There’s even cola nikujaga. I should make that for him someday.
”I might like this one. A simple, easy-to-understand taste~desuwa.”
So Jagar is harder to appreciate? Maybe I was overconfident. I thought a dish could be good with no meat or sugar, only natural flavors. But the children’s reaction shows I missed something.
”Kisarra, that was careless. Father is a gourmet demon!”
”Eh, ah, eek!”
Claude waved his Ultimate gourmet manga, scaring Kisarra. That manga’s father figure isn’t normal. Don’t use it as a model.
”Well, anyway, potatoes are useful. They taste good, are high in calories and nutrition. The downsides are their toxic sprouts and that they don’t last as long as grains.”
”I already studied potato cheats in light novels.”
Claude bragged proudly. Light novels aren’t bad, but I wish he’d read farming manuals.
”Even if Wall Barley vanishes, poison may remain in the soil. Still, in regions unsuited for rice, potatoes will become the top famine relief crop.”
”And speaking of famine relief, sweet potatoes too? Aoki Kon’yo!”
Fine. I took out candied sweet potatoes.
”You get it. I love you.”
Not sure if Ms. Shirakaba was talking to me or the sweet potatoes. Better not to ask.
Sweet potatoes grow fast from cuttings, even more than potatoes. The vines can also be stir-fried and eaten. Weak against cold though.
”Sweet, too sweet. Is this a dessert?”
Claude didn’t seem to like it, but still kept eating.
”Candied sweet potato is perfect when you’re a little hungry. High in fiber, good for digestion, and makes the skin healthy.”
Without guilt, he reached for more.
Before anyone was full, I brought the next.
”Yaki morokoshi!” (grilled corn on the cob with soy sauce, often sold at Japanese festivals)
”Oh, the smell of soy sauce burning!”
Ms. Shirakaba cried tears of joy. It was sweet corn. In America, dent corn is grown mainly for livestock, but sweet corn is good for people. Especially at festival food stalls, the smell of soy sauce grilled corn awakens nostalgia in Japanese hearts. Ms. Shirakaba even cried. Selling grilled corn at a stall for Summoned Heroes could make a fortune.
”It’s tasty, but not exactly refined.”
Kisarra seemed worried about the cob left after eating. Fair enough.
”There’s this too.”
I showed them canned corn and mixed vegetables.
”Corn cobs can also be used as a medium for growing mushrooms.”
”What about biofuel?”
”Ethanol, huh. Corn liquor… was there something like that?”
”Bourbon! Bourbon!!”
Ms. Shirakaba had turned into a drinker.
”Alcohol is wonderful.”
”Let’s have a tasting event!”
Uno and the spirits loved alcohol. I remembered that my uncle had sent us bourbon before. If there was none left, it meant they had already drunk it all.
”No choice then. This one is for special days.”
I brought out a whole barrel of bourbon. I usually kept it as a trump card when asking dwarves for difficult favors. Only a few barrels were left. I should have bought more. Maybe I could send my uncle gold bars for more. Platinum and cobalt had piled up here too, and we didn’t use them much.
”Every day is special.”
El said something that sounded nice. She wasn’t talkative, but when she spoke, her words often carried weight. Whether thoughtful or natural, people tended to follow her words.
”El said something wonderful! Every day’s a festival, let’s drink!”
Now nobody could stop them. Even Claire happily raised her cup. Bourbon is strong distilled liquor, but they didn’t care.
”Drinking isn’t wise when facing food shortages.”
Ah, Ms. Nina wasn’t drinking. She was right. Alcohol is mostly made from grain, which means food.
”Even if prohibition is too harsh, some kind of regulation is needed.”
Drunken eyes turned toward me. But really, if people might starve, shouldn’t we give up luxuries? Too much alcohol is bad for health too.
”Let’s put a tax on alcohol. A consumption tax system works best.”
Ms. Nina had studied Earth’s tax system well. She probably knew more than me now.
”No to consumption tax! No tax!”
Ms. Shirakaba jokingly shouted a slogan. The spirits copied her, not knowing what it meant, but they loved noisy festivals.
”Tax is an effective way to reduce consumption. It gives control over the economy.”
So an accelerator and a brake both. Nina wanted alcohol use to stay reasonable. But drinkers always drank as long as there was alcohol. Riots could happen.
”No, Nina. You don’t understand the hearts of the people.”
Tizzy was drunk too. She wasn’t using her sobering magic today. She meant to enjoy herself fully.
”I only want to save people from hunger. I have only book knowledge.”
”I have seen many hungry villages. If the village head is careless, sometimes they forget to harvest Wall Barley.”
Wall Barley grows and ripens on its own, but people must harvest it. If they leave it, seeds drop and sprout for the next generation. There’s some margin in the harvest period, but if a foolish son replaces the head, he might forget. It had actually happened a few times last year. The Toyata village head was still capable compared to others.
”Then, Tizzy, what would you do? Please teach me.”
Oh, Ms. Nina was furious. Red-faced even without drinking.
”It’s simple~desuwa. Produce more food. Then the surplus can go to alcohol, and no one will starve.”
That made sense. Nina was for saving, Tizzy for producing more. Different answers, both correct.
”Let’s also grow dent corn, the type used for bourbon. It’s not as tasty as sweet corn, but the yield is high. It’s also good as animal feed. Maybe we can raise brown quail too.”
”Quail are tasty, but they used to be pests. If Wall Barley is gone, they may eat rice. And what about the Sky Whale problem?”
”Not even Uno can beat one?”
”No way. They’re monsters. Maybe someday a god will deal with them. In a hundred years? A thousand?”
Sky Whales were demigods made by some god to cull the overgrown creatures fed by Wall Barley. If only they disappeared together with Wall Barley. But different gods had made them, so it was like the problems of divided administrations.
”Another god might send something else powerful to fight the Sky Whales.”
”Don’t say that out loud, Uno.”
If a strange god heard it, they might think it amusing and actually make it happen. Uno probably didn’t know the story of the mongoose and the snake (T/N: a reference to introducing one species to kill another, which often causes new problems).
”Anyway, it’s turning into a mess. Let’s finish with tomato gazpacho.”
Gazpacho is a cold soup with tomato as the main star. If Wall Barley vanished, tomatoes could be grown in open fields. I preferred to chop ingredients into small pieces, not puree them. Like preferring chunky bean paste over smooth.
”This is amazing! Fresh sour taste, pleasant saltiness, crisp vegetables! More than tasty—it’s wonderful!”
”Elder brother’s poor vocabulary cannot express this strength. I usually dislike vegetables, but I like this~desuwa.”
”Is gazpacho like this? It feels like fancy hotel tomato juice.”
Overall, good reviews. Some dislike raw tomato smell, so I added herbs to balance it.
”It is tasty, but we should grow grain first, not vegetables.”
”Kisarra, that’s not right.”
”Why, Father? We don’t die without vegetables.”
Kisarra sounded like a picky child.
”You do die. Without vegetables, you get scurvy and die. Many other diseases too. Wall Barley was filled with vitamins by divine and alien science.”
Should I explain vitamins? I didn’t know much myself. They are things you lack that make you sick. That was enough for them to understand.
”But Father, is it really right to erase Wall Barley? Even with problems, it feels like the Goddess loves humans.”
As Ms. Shirakaba said, the Goddess of Fertility surely did love the human race. But such narrow love warped the world in the long run.
”Sudden reform confuses society. Maybe the falling birthrate problem could be solved with more rice instead? Let’s leave Wall Barley to the future.”
If not for my promise to the Demon Lord, I might have postponed it too.
But one day, food will vanish suddenly. Chaos will follow. And if people find out I was behind it, I’ll be recorded as the worst villain in human history.
If I do nothing, the Demon Lord will return in three years and erase Wall Barley anyway.
They were even preparing a Godkiller. Maybe they planned to erase the Goddess herself.
”Someday, someone must do it. Better sooner than later.”
”Then let’s say the one who erased Wall Barley was the work of the Secret Phantom Thief.”
Secret Thief? What nonsense? Too much anime?
Wait—maybe?
”You mean invent a fictional character and use them as the scapegoat?”
”Exactly. That’s Tizzy for you. Anime has plenty of dark heroes. My pick would be Arsène Lupin.”
”Arsène Lupin… wasn’t there a bishop against Wall Barley with a similar name? Arnul, I think?”
Close but not the same. Just one syllable different. Uno shook her head—she never bothered with names anyway.
”I don’t remember the name, but I recall a strange guy with an owl mask setting fire to Wall Barley. Like this—”
She grabbed fine paper my uncle sent, and scribbled with crayons. Crayons are children’s tools, but in Uno’s hands they turned into real art. The drawing lacked realism but nailed the message. I had framed some of her past works in the castle.
After burning through many sticks, the final picture was creepy.
”This is Mothman!!”
Ms. Shirakaba was thrilled. She really liked occult stuff.
”Mothman? That Western yokai?”
”Not a yokai, a UMA. And American, not Japanese. Don’t pretend to know if you don’t.”
…Was that a scolding?
”So this is Arsène Lupin. A striking figure.”
Tizzy looked dreamy. A monster, really. Compared to this, goblins were practically human.
”So someone dresses up like this and acts as Phantom Arsène?”
Kisarra looked excited. Still a kid, after all.
”Maybe we should ask Yakou?”
With her, either she’d love it or complain the design wasn’t cute enough.
”Called and here I am! Dark punisher ninja, Yak-Yak!”
Spirits came and went freely, especially light and dark ones. Yakou loved surprises, but this wasn’t shocking. As expected, she disliked the Mothman idea—until Ms. Shirakaba added that beneath the mask was a beautiful phantom thief. Then she was in.
While Tizzy and the others got carried away with character design, Ms. Nina and I focused on crop planning.
”Three years is too short. A five-year plan would be better.”
Five-year plan… like Starrin’s Soviet Union. Nina knew that much? For national projects, five years was a neat cycle. Japan had many too.
”It’s decided already. We’ll do our best with three years.”
Even using Uno’s Nest helped a lot. Just planning basics cost time.
”Father, for our country alone, three years is plenty. But…”
Ah yes, Claude could see the future. What a cheat.
”But not enough to save other nations?”
”Nina is kind, but if we aid other countries, they’ll target us. Hungry nations will attack to steal our food.”
Ah, so that’s the worry.
”Wouldn’t free farming tech and seed rice help?”
”Foolish kings do nothing until starving. Then they demand food—or attack outright.”
True. A foolish king can ruin a nation, yet still stay king. Aid can make us look weak.
”What would you do?”
”Our survival rests on two paths. First, defend. Starving invaders without supplies will collapse. Stay in a stronghold, and within days we win. Second, conquer. Strike now, take all nations, and force agricultural reform. With my surprise attack, I could fell one nation in a single day.”
”So either siege after Wall Barley falls—just cause on our side, but slaughtering peasant soldiers—or conquer the world now. Less death, but Your Majesty branded an invader.”
”No wonder Father admires you. So wise.”
Don’t fall in love, Claude.
Still, he was right. For maximum lives saved, conquest was the answer. Done right, fewer than a hundred would die. With siege defense, the enemy farmers would be wiped out.
”Conqueror’s infamy… history will curse me.”
”History is written by victors. Your name will shine as a hero.”
I never wanted to be a hero. But neither did I want infamy. Did I care too much about reputation? Must be childhood conditioning.
Maybe I should throw out all those limits.
If I want to save lives beyond my country, clean ideals won’t work. So be it. Infamy is fine. Rulers who can’t feed their own people should step down.
Something clicked into place in my head.
”Claude, will the fool who attacks us be the Larse Emperor?”
”He’s just the mastermind. The real threat is Larse’s neighboring states.”
Refugees fleeing the Demon King, huh.
”And the small Totoana states?”
”Already destroyed by the Demon King. Only a few Larse troops remain.”
So Larse had sent their Demon King army to occupy Totoana. Not even a greeting for us, who defeated the Demon King. Arrogant superpower.
But maybe useful. A just cause. We’ll protest. If they attack, the cornered mouse bites the cat.
”Claude, can your raid capture the Emperor of Larse? If so, we conquer the world in one day.”
Larse had many cheat heroes. But if we won before they understood what happened, no battle needed.
”Killing the emperor is instant. But ruling an empire takes more. We’d need to map its chain of command, over years.”
True. Even Yakou would need years. But—
”There’s someone perfect. He’s planned to seize Larse for years. The emperor’s own son.”
”Can he be trusted?”
”Well, maybe.”
Humans are never certain. Plan for betrayal.
”Accept both good and evil. Father, you truly are fit to rule the world.”
If that’s just flattery, fine. But his eyes were shining.
Notes:
• Claude – A handsome boy, son of the narrator and Uno, with a flashy name possibly inspired by ‘The Tale of Genji’.
• Shirakaba – A paladin who seems to be a skilled fighter. She’s introduced as someone with a strong defense and healing abilities. Now, she’s mc’s wife.
• Kisarra – A beautiful girl, daughter of the narrator and Uno, named after a legendary saint.
• El – She is a giant woman, appeared as Saburou’s captor, living alone in a large tent, skilled in hunting and cooking, proposes marriage to Saburou.
• Ms. Nina – Doll Princess (Auroora 217), renamed by the protagonist. Beautiful blonde, ~168 cm, slim waist. Wears adventurer attire. Made from artificial parts and wooden limbs, resembling a princess. Knowledgeable, can read, write, and use basic healing magic. Reliable partner, often saves the protagonist with her skills.
• Nina – Doll Princess (Auroora 217), renamed by the protagonist. Beautiful blonde, ~168 cm, slim waist. Wears adventurer attire. Made from artificial parts and wooden limbs, resembling a princess. Knowledgeable, can read, write, and use basic healing magic. Reliable partner, often saves the protagonist with her skills.
• Tizzy – Claims to be Duke’s daughter, a noble with advanced magic skills. MC and Ms. Shirakaba lover. Now Mc’s wife.
• Yakou – A newly created kunoichi spirit with high specs from Mubiel. She pledges loyalty to the Narrator as her ‘Lord Shogun’ and seeks to punish villains.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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