When we received word that we were about to arrive in Zaidera, we all left our cabins and headed up to the deck.
The wind was somewhat refreshing, and the light reflected very prettily off the surface of the water. And, just as the sailor had informed us, the ship was approaching the port.
From a distance, the streets of Zaidera reminded me of ancient China. Perhaps it was because the buildings had decorations that resembled those found in Chinese architecture, from the shape of the windows to the pillars.
However, the roofs were shingled in lustrous black tiles, which reminded me of ancient Japanese houses. Made me a bit homesick.
In one corner, I spied a building with Western architecture, albeit one that differed from the style commonly found in Salutania. Maybe it belonged to merchants from another country? Or perhaps it was even Salutanian.
As I gazed out at the townscape, I noticed someone had come to stand next to me. I turned to find it was Albert.
“There’s quite a number of unusual buildings,” he murmured. I thought I sensed a hint of relief in his tone. Perhaps, even though the journey had been much more comfortable than I had imagined, he was tired from being on the ship; he wasn’t any more used to it than I was.
“Yes, it really makes you feel like you’ve arrived in a foreign country,” I agreed as I returned my gaze to the sights. “We have some more traveling to do after we arrive at the port, right?”
“Indeed. We’ll be traveling by carriage to the imperial capital.”
He was referring to the capital city of Zaidera. The emperor lived there, so it was generally called the imperial capital. The settlement we were looking at now was just a port town, like Morgenhaven in Salutania.
The previous delegation was in the imperial capital, so we would have to travel by coach from here. The city was less than a day’s journey away, so if we left in the morning, we could arrive by sunset.
It was currently just before noon—a bit late to be leaving for the capital—so we would be staying here overnight and leaving come sun-up.
We stepped off the ship and put our feet on dry land. While I was relieved to finally return to solid ground, my body felt like it was swaying even after getting off the ship. I supposed it was because we had been rocking for so long.
I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.
“Whoa, it still feels like I’m moving.” May said exactly what I was feeling.
“Oh my, you’re right.” Zara was also feeling it.
It seemed everyone was. But my hypothesis as to why we felt that way was immediately dismissed.
“You’re feeling landsick. It’ll go away before long,” Oscar explained, seemingly just fine as he came after us off the ship.
“Do you think we’ll feel better by tomorrow?”
“It might take two or three days. I hear there’s a cure, though. I’ll tell you later.”
“My thanks.”
I had always assumed that Oscar spent most of his time at my company in the capital, so I hadn’t imagined he would be used to voyages at sea. Maybe his last job had seen him sailing a lot?
“Are you all right?” Albert asked me with concern. He’d noticed me looking quietly at May and the others.
The way he peered closely at my face made my heart skip a beat. A heat bloomed in my cheeks and I prayed that my face didn’t get any redder as I replied in a panic, “Oh, yes! I’m fine.”
“Be sure to tell me right away if that changes.”
“Thank you. I just feel a bit like I’m swaying too, but I’m fine.”
“Good. Let’s start making our way over to the inn, then.”
“Okay.”
Albert led us to where several carriages were waiting. They looked different from the ones I knew in Salutania. Just like the town itself, the carriages had an exotic feel. It seemed we were going to ride in them to our lodgings.
Yuri had already made his way toward them, stretching his arms as he did.
The knight commander and grand magus seem fine. Are they really okay, just like Oscar? Maybe there’s some kind of trick to not feeling the swaying thing anymore. I’ll have to ask later, I thought as I got into the carriage.
We were able to relax and enjoy ourselves at the inn we were taken to. I slept so soundly that I was brimming with energy in the morning, but compared to me—and everyone else, honestly—Yuri was full to bursting. He was practically bouncing off the walls out of sheer excitement.
And it was obvious why: We were having Chinese-style rice porridge for breakfast.
Yuri had never met a rice dish he couldn’t go wild for, so it was no wonder he couldn’t contain himself.
“Lady Sei!” He shouted my name as we sat down for breakfast, making me jump.
“Y-yes?” I stammered in response.
“Is this made with rice?”
In the porcelain bowls before us was the expected rice porridge. It was pretty obviously rice, based on how it looked, and the worker at the inn had also told us as much when he served the food. So, you know, the white grains comprising the majority of the dish had to be rice.
“I’m pretty sure it is.”
“I knew it!” Yuri’s eyes sparkled at the confirmation.
I’d heard that the people in this area typically started their day with a bowl of rice porridge. In Japan, some hotels had served rice porridge for breakfast as well—though, they were few and far between—so calling it breakfast seemed quite normal to me. It also made me think of home.
However, the others were seeing this dish for the first time.
“Have you had this stuff before?”
“Yes, we had it back in my homeland.”
“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“Is it? I made it once at the institute.”
“At the institute… Is this the thing that was just rice and water?”
“Yup, that’s the one.”
Yuri’s tone had taken on a reproachful note, but I had indeed made congee for him once—around the time when he first became obsessed with rice. However, the porridge I’d made back then had been Japanese-style, and since we rarely had the chance to eat rice, I’d just made it the one time, because Yuri asked. In my old life, I’d typically only eaten it boiled from a convenience store pouch when I was sick and didn’t have the willpower to cook anything else.
So, I had basically done my best to make it for him based on a vague recollection of what the recipe might be. However, Yuri had said the food didn’t have the effects he was hoping for, which was probably why he had forgotten it until now.
“So the one we’re having now was cooked differently?” Albert asked, curious after listening to my conversation with the grand magus.
“I’m sure. I made it in the style we use in my homeland, and it didn’t have all these ingredients in it.”
“So, the recipe varies between places?”
“I’d say the way they make it here is pretty close to the cuisine of a neighboring country.”
I’d cooked it with only rice and water. By contrast, the rice porridge we were eating now reminded me more of the Chinese variety, just as other Zaideran food often did.
In addition to the rice, it had chicken, spring onions, and other ingredients too. I assumed that the brown lumps were century eggs. There was also something that looked like a dark green egg yolk in there. I had seen something like it in a magazine once but had never tried it myself.
I wonder what it tastes like? My heart raced in anticipation of trying something new as I scooped up the century egg with a spoon and popped it in my mouth. The texture was soft, and the taste was reminiscent of a boiled egg yolk.
“It seems that this dish increases the amount of HP and MP that we naturally recover. And in large quantities at that! How delightful!” Yuri, on the other hand, had ignored actually eating the food to cast an Appraisal spell instead.
Rice dishes in particular had all kinds of magical effects, so Yuri had turned them into an independent study. This rice porridge was no exception.
Yuri grinned from ear to ear as he began regaling us with his research findings. He wondered if the effects of the rice porridge changed based on what you added, and I had a feeling he would be grilling me about it in no time. My hunch was right, because he begged me to tell him more about how rice porridge was made back in my old world later.
Albert’s smile was powerful, but Yuri’s was just as potent. I had a feeling he was going to do his damnedest to squeeze every single little detail out of me.