This is a weird way of putting it, but I am an adult. Not for being of a certain age or for having sexually matured, but because of the years I had survived out in the workforce. I worked a job and I got paid for it.
For many, making excuses was no longer an option out in the real world. Through high school, for example, the only unreasonable adult one might come in contact with would be their teacher or parent. Once in the workforce, though, everyone one met could be one. Bosses, coworkers, subordinates... most of them are unreasonable. And so, you become one of the unreasonable adults, too. Society is a lot more complicated than the textbooks make it out to be.
“I’m grown up enough to recognize that kind of thing, in my experience.”
“Hm. I have no idea what you’re trying to say. What’s the connection between you being an adult and us living with Milon?”
I had spent a good portion of the day speaking to Mister Garish at the Adventurers’ Guild and later cooking at the shop. It was nearly dusk. While my pockets were full from selling my wristwatch, it would have been a hassle to start looking for a place to stay at this hour. And I was tired. I just wanted to take a bath and go to bed. So, Mister Milon offering us a bed at his house was of great help.
“It means I’m grown up enough to not turn away goodwill.”
“But won’t it cause trouble later if we become too close to one particular merchant? You’re more of the expert on the subject.”
“You’re right.”
I was an employee of the government. Even when buying some miniscule stationary at the office, we had to make sure not to order too much from one particular company or the other. The most feared outcome was to be accused of favoritism.
In our case, we had to avoid people thinking that the Hermits had a vested interest in Mister Milon’s business.
“But we need connections, in any case. The names of those connections don’t really matter.”
Even if we did turn down Mister Milon’s offer, we would have to create connections with some merchant in the future. No one would buy edamame from us off the street, after all. If we aimed to make connections with each of them anyway, there was no point in shopping around for a special merchant now. It seemed better to cherish the connection we’d stumbled upon.
“I see. This the grown-up response, then?”
“You get it?”
“I thought you only accepted because you didn’t want to go back out on the streets tonight.”
“N-N-N-No way, José!”
“I won’t ask you why you won’t look me in the eye, but we have a bigger problem ahead of us.”
Rolling onto the bed provided, Tiamat changed the subject. On her stomach, she had her arms outstretched and her tail curled. She reminded me of a cat starting to make itself comfortable.
“Edamame alone won’t cover the necessary nutrients, right?”
“That’s true. I’ve got to think this one through...”
I laid down, too. Not that it mattered, but we were sharing a room. Just wanted to mention that one of us was male and the other female.
In any case, since reverting to eating brown rice wasn’t an option, the people of this world had to get the necessary nutrition from non-rice dishes. Edamame wasn’t a sustainable option. While it was reasonable and tasty, there wasn’t enough variety in ways to cook it.
“Research may be needed to validate the lack of variety,” Tiamat chuckled.
“I’m sorry.”
The lack of alternate uses of the edamame was my fault. But what was I supposed to do? I’m a public worker, not a chef.
“What about the other foods you’ve mentioned? Like potatoes or pollock roe?”
“The season for potato harvest depends on when they were planted. Technically they can be harvested year-round.”
There was a slight problem to make potatoes a common food, though: their eyes are toxic. While it would only cause minor food poisoning and wasn’t fatal in any way, it was a little dangerous to advocate eating potatoes without proper advisory.
The pollock roe was even more troublesome, because of the season. The Alaska pollock fishing season is the middle of winter. There was no way for me to obtain any in early summer, let alone the fact that I didn’t know how to process it.
“And you call yourself a Dosanko.”
Dosanko being what people from Hokkaido call themselves.
“Nowadays, I’m sure many Dosanko don’t know how to clean fish.”
“The times we live in.”
“Even if I knew how to clean them, it’s doubtful that they gillnet in this country.”
“It seems we’ll need to do more research on seafood.”
“Looks like it.”
We would have to look for other foods while edamame held them over. The realistic option seemed to be the gagd.
“Let’s hit up the guild again tomorrow. We have to find out things like where they live and how to hunt them.”
“You’re going to hunt them?”
“Don’t make me laugh; I’ll hire a hunter. Or that’ll be your job, Tia.”
“The antithesis of self-reliance,” Tiamat said, with a giant yawn.
The next morning.
As I was washing my face at the well in the courtyard, Mister Milon appeared. Compared to the previous day, he looked much better.
“Good morning. How do you feel today?”
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve woken up without feeling sluggish.” he responded, with a smile.
While one might wonder how a single night could make such a difference, beriberi is an ailment caused by malnutrition. When the body is provided with the necessary nutrition, it healed at a remarkable speed. With plenty of vitamin B1 and a week or so of rest, his symptoms would completely subside. However, since the diet of the people of Azur Kingdom perpetually lacked vitamin B1, his symptoms would come right back unless we made a drastic, nation-wide change to people’s diets.
“That’s great to hear. Keep eating those edamame.”
“I had some this morning already. It’s refreshing enough to have for breakfast. The problem is...”
“The problem is?”
“That it makes me want some ale, I suppose.”
“Ah-ha. I agree with you there.”
The merchant’s sense of humor put a smile on my face. Ale was a form of beer that was quite common in fantasy fiction. While there was a distinction in taste between ale and the common lager beer from modern-day Japan, they were both beer. How could ale not be good with edamame?
“You can’t drink for a while, though.”
“You break my heart.”
“It won’t be too long.”
“I’ll be looking forward to the day, Sir Eiji.”
We had already explained to Mister Milon that we wanted to obtain some gagd. While not nearly as much as pork, boar meat contained some vitamin B1. About the same amount per weight as edamame, in fact. However, meat could be a real dish.
That was huge; people could eat it every day. Boar meat was nutritious all around, too. High protein, low calorie, and abundant in minerals... I was almost sure, although I couldn’t be quoted on it as I didn’t remember the exact amount.
“Are you headed off to the guild today?”
“Yes. I don’t know about Tia, but I’m not a hunter. I need to post a quest or hire a hunter outright.”
“Don’t worry about the financial aspect. We are ready and willing to support you on that front.”
Mister Milon declared himself a sponsor. He didn’t grow his business this big on dumb luck; he knew how to strike when the iron was hot. Feeling the change in his condition, he must have assessed that edamame would be a hit, along with boar meat.
“We may have the right knowledge, but we don’t have any way to spread it. Your assistance in that would be invaluable.”
“It’s my honor to aid in your endeavor, Hermits.”
We shook hands. While his response was filled with platitudes, I didn’t doubt that he was sincere in trying to achieve the same goal as I. After all, business would only go up when people were healthy.