Chapter 212: Chapter 196: Regrettable Beauty Once Again

We, who had left the magic tool store went straight to the blacksmith and placed a detailed order on the magic iron plates and rice cooker pot. Furthermore, I asked him to make whatever I needed myself, and then I had ordered even more and on top of that, I bought a pot they were selling there.

“”We bought so many~””

“That we did, didn’t we~”

It was still bright when we finished shopping, so we were strolling around the town.

“Please give me food!”

Then, we encountered Vivian who abruptly requested food.

“... Oy, Vivian. Is this the only opening line you have?”

“Ah! Have you completed the Yellow Millet dish?”

“Oy!”

I did promise her the last time to let her eat a meal made out of the Yellow Millet. I did, but... that’s not it!

“Ah! Takumi-san, this is Red Wheat that grows in a certain area, it’s actually treated the same way White Wheat is... Takumi-san, aren’t you interested?”

Red Wheat? By treated as White Wheat, does she mean it’s used as fodder for domestic animals?

N~ I wonder what it is~?

“Is it red, since it’s called Red Wheat?”

“I would say that the grains itself are more whitish then White Wheat? It’s called Red Wheat because of the skin? Husk? around it, I think? It’s bright red, after all~”

Heeh~ the husk is red, huh~ n? That reminds me, I have no idea what color the White Wheat husk is, or how it is grown. I used the logic I know when it comes to rice out of my own convenience, but... that’s not necessarily true, right~

Rather, I feel like it’s definitely different! I mean, I only polished the White Wheat I got clean! When it comes to fodder for domestic animals, they surely wouldn’t remove the husks like that!

“Vivian, I have never seen a White Wheat plantation, do you perhaps know what part of the plant the white grains grow at?”

“Yes, I know~ Err... it’s a plant that grows a little higher than my knee-height and~ the top part has several circular sacks growing on it~ umm, the white grains come from those sacks~”

... N~ Did I hear something similar? No, but wait——

“Does each sack have a grain? And is the Red Wheat the same?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Gee~ you have so many questions~ I would like to eat right about now, though~ I have no choice but to reply, but please do increase my meal in return, okay~ To answer your question, each sack is the size of a coin and every sack contains about twenty grains~ And, the Red Wheat is really only different in color~”

Ahh~ it was a bit different, just as I thought.

Still, it’s something similar to rice, huh~ something similar... hey——surely not!

“Vivian, do you have that Red Wheat on you? Let me see it for a bit.”

“Yesyes~ this is it~”

Vivian handed me a leather bag with reasonable weight and inside were grains that resembled rice, just as Vivian said. But this is... glutinous rice!?

“”What is it~?””

Allen and Elena peeked into the leather bag too.

“I think it’s glutinous rice~”

“”Glutinous~?””

“Yeah. I should be able to make something springier than with rice.”

If this really is glutinous rice, then I could make... isobe mochi (soy sauce, nori mochi), daikon oroshi (grated daikon radish), with anko... beans——would I be able to do roasted soybean flour by powdering beans? Looks like I would be able to do lots! Ah, rice dumplings in sweet soy sauce might be good too!

“I want to eat that! Takumi-san, please make it at once!”

“Allen wants to eat too~!”

“Elena too~!”

Vivian immediately wanted to taste glutinous rice, Allen and Elena took the opportunity to jump on board with her.

“Allen, Elena, you guys just had lunch, no?”

“”Snack~!””

They have just eaten with Grandpa, but the two apparently have space for a snack.

“Well then, where do we have you make it~”

“... You decided for me, oy.”

“It’s decided~ I mean, the children said they want to eat as well, you know? You shouldn’t be able to ignore that, Takumi-san!”

... I certainly can’t ignore that, but being told that by Vivian makes me annoyed.

“”Wanna eat springy~... can’t~?””

“... Kuh.”

Allen and Elena’s puppy eyes are too effective on me.

“... I can only try whether I really can make mochi out of this. Let’s give it a try.”

“”Yaay~!””

“Ohh! You instantly sunk, Takumi-san!”

“Be quiet, Vivian! You don’t want to taste it Vivian, do you?”

“Ah, sorry. I will keep quiet! And so, I will eat!”

Shutting the bantering Vivian up, we moved to the inn she stayed at just like the last time.

“First of all, this should be fine.”

Glutinous rice should be washed and left soaking in water for a while, but I settled that with Aging. It should be fine to cook it normally in the rice cooker.

While the rice cooker was working, I prepared ingredients and sauces that go well with mochi.

“Salty or sweet, which do you prefer?”

It’s not like I could use all seasonings, so when I asked which do they prefer——

“”Sweet~””

“Both!”

“”Ah! Both!””

Allen and Elena who chose sweet at first immediately corrected themselves after hearing Vivian’s choice.

N~ Is this going to have a bad influence on the children? Or is something like this not a big problem? What a complicated thing.

“... Let’s make something salty-sweet then.”

I mixed the same amount of sugar and soy sauce in water.

“”It’s cooked~””

“Shall we pound it then?”

“”Pound~?””

“That’s right. It becomes springy after ponding.”

The rice just finished cooking, so we have to pound it while it’s piping hot.

“”Pound? pound?””

Pounding while matching Allen and Elena’s voice, the stickiness came out in no time.

I expected it to take strength and time until it gets sticky, but it became sticky easier than I thought.

“It’s same as glutinous rice up until now.”

“It looked like White Wheat, but it’s completely different, isn’t it~ and so? Are we going to wait for this to rise?”

“No, just make it into round, bite-sizes and sauce them up.”

“If it’s making it round, then even I can do it. Now, now! Let’s make it quickly and eat!”

We finished quickly with four of us making balls, but... Vivian’s round mochi were quite large. But well, Vivian is going to eat those, so oh well. This Red Wheat was brought by Vivian in the first place.

“”Is done~””

“It’s done~”

“Alright! Let’s give it a try then!”

“””Yaaay~”””

... I feel that Vivian got reduced to children’s equal, but I decided to sample the mochi.

“Oh~”

I was relieved by the texture I was expecting.

It’s mochi. Undoubtedly, mochi. As I thought, the Red Wheat really was glutinous rice.

“””N~~~”””

The three who tasted mochi for the first time let out their voices in delight. Seeing them like that, they must quite like it.

“Takumi-san, it’s delicious!”

“I am glad to hear that. And so, Vivian. Where did you get this Red Wheat from?”

“it’s a secret.”

“Oy?”

I would like to get my hands on this Red Wheat by all means, but when I asked, Vivian refused to tell me.

“Well~ I really can’t tell you that. But, but! I have secured plenty of Red Wheat in case something like this happened, so please let me off with that!”

“......”

I got quite curious about the secrecy, but all’s good as long as I can get my hands on it.

“Got it. Then, I won’t ask further, but will you sell me the rest? How much?”

“No way. Not selling.”

“Oy!”

“I can accept only bartering! Therefore, please give me lots of food!”

I hung my head at the Vivian-like reply, but I prepared plenty of Yellow Millet food for her and got lots of Red Wheat in exchange.