Keeping five days’ worth of food despite the return trip taking four days was basically an insurance plan.
“That’s one cheap insurance. A day’s worth of extra won’t do any good if something were to happen.”
“Peace of mind can make a difference.”
I chuckled at Tiamat’s logical counterpoint. On the topic of how much backup stock to keep, nothing was truly enough, actually. These were things not intended to be used to begin with, as long as things went according to plan. Keeping ten days’ worth of food for a four days’ trip was pointless.
“If something were to happen,” Tiamat had said, but the job of the brain is to draw up the plan so no accidents would happen. Preparing for the unexpected isn’t in the job description. If a party has to prepare for an unexpected event from the get-go, there was something wrong with the plan. ‘Never tell me the odds’ is, unfortunately, not a plan but more of a declaration of determination or a rationalization of impulse. A plan’s no use at all if it’s made with room for error.
“I can’t really tell if you’re careful or daring, Sir Eiji.” Syfer laughed as he approached us.
“Indeed. In other words, he draws his lines in strange ways,” the dragon chimed in.
“You think so? I’m just saying there’s no point in considering a back-up for the back-up for the back-up.”
“Still, you kept five days’ worth of food.”
“I told you. I’m buying my peace of mind.”
With exactly enough, we would have always been plagued by the anxiety of ‘what if there isn’t enough?’ As the amount decreased, our insecurity would have magnified. With insurance that we can be up to a day late in our journey, said anxiety would be drastically lower.
“But we’re out of luck if we’re two days late, right?”
“True, Syfer. But a plan with a chance of a two day, so 48 hours, delay is flawed to begin with.”
“I see...”
Despite nodding along, my theory didn’t seem to click with him. That couldn’t be helped. Alas, it was the unbridgeable gap between management and talent.
“In any case, Lord Eiji, we shall feast tonight.”
Hieronymus approached us too. With Miss Maley at his side. Since when were they so chummy? Not fair.
“Is anything the matter?” he added.
“Nothing. Not jealous or anything, no sir.”
“What is this? Surely these can’t be the words of a gentleman accompanied by the exquisite Dragon Princess.”
The Cait Sith laughed, taking my remark to be in jest. I mean, of course it was, but...
“You’re being showered with compliments, Tia.”
“Hm. With my sublime beauty, it can’t be helped.”
Was that so? I couldn’t get with that standard of beauty. Tiamat? She was just a greenish Zeke with wings.
“Just so you know, that one is quite the beauty too. Whether you can see it or not.”
I really couldn’t see it. I had seen a version of Zeke as a little girl though, which was super adorable!
“Humans do have trouble seeing the beauty of the opposite sex in any species other than their own.”
“And you guys don’t, Tia?”
“We do, generally speaking. But some species are sexually attracted to humans, too.”
Orcs, one of the staples of fantasy, for example. Half-demon half-humans, as well as half-human half-elves are common within the fantasy here. The protagonist of Dragonlance, one of the pioneers of epic fantasy and the predecessor to many Isekai fantasies, was also a half-elf, I thought.
“Although Tanis was born of an elven queen violated by a human man.”
“You’re familiar with the material, Tia!?”
The series’ first publication was back in 1984. I doubt that fantasy readers of today are familiar with it. Even I was only a year old or so when it came out. However... If we lose sight of the classics, or laugh it off as outdated, what are we to carry on into future generations? The shoulders we stand on aren’t as insignificant as that.
“I’ve read the whole series. I’ve shed tears for Sturm’s death, too.”
“Woah...”
How should I put this? I felt like I could share a good drink with her.
“Shall we discuss it through the night, Eiji?”
“Of course, Tia.”
“No. We’re leaving early tomorrow. Please get some sleep.”
At Syfer’s exasperated interjection, Tiamat and I shrank apologetically.
“We’re leaving,” I called out from my seat beside the coachman of the leading carriage.
Rays of morning light were beaming down on us. All four carriages were filled to the brim with beet roots; they weighed about a literal ton in total. If the sugar content of rygel was 1%, we should yield about ten kilograms of sugar from this haul.
With a confident neigh, the horses began their march.
“It does look like there is a little more sugar in these, thanks to the good soil and climate.”
“There is? ...You can tell?” I asked Tiamat, who sat beside me.
“I ate a few of them whole. It tasted too sweet to only contain 1% of sugar.”
Ate them whole...? Come to think of it, Baze did the same while in the field. What wild spirits they were.
“Tasted like 4 or 5, maybe even 6% if we’re lucky.”
“That’s super accurate, isn’t it!?”
Wow. Did she have a Brix meter for a tongue?
“All the foodies would be impressed.”
“Yep. I’d give you a standing ovation if I could.”
“That being said, I can’t be too concrete with the numbers. It’s only a guess.”
“That’s still impressive.”
My tongue, on the other hand, couldn’t tell the difference between beer and a low-malt beverage. And I wasn’t struck with awe or anything when I drank from a bottle of Kubota, a super fancy sake. I just felt like I was drinking water. Apologies to the sake connoisseurs of the world.
“Even if it’s 4%, that’s amazing.”
“Mm-hm. Ten kilos turns into eighty kilos. This calls for some forethought, Eiji.”
“Yep.”
I nodded, picking up on my partner’s shift in tone. If that much sugar could be produced from the rygel it had the potential for profitable business. We couldn’t expect Mister Milon to be the sole keeper of the sugar’s ingredients and manufacturing technique. We go about this the wrong way, there will be blood.
Only the inhabitants of modern nations have the privilege of underestimating the value of sugar. Even on Earth, and even on the streets of America, there are boys who commit murder for a couple of bucks.
...And sugar was worth way more than a couple of bucks.
“...I think we need to visit the king.”
“A government cap?”
“Exactly.”
A type of economic control. Even in Japan there are a few examples of this amidst its free-market economy. Tuition for kindergarten, for example. Since the government has set a minimum and maximum price for it, institutions are forced to set their prices within that range. Of course, the goal of these restrictions is to prevent anyone from gaining an outrageous profit. This could be something that becomes necessary for the bartering of sugar in this world.
“We can’t rest easy just yet. The king of this nation is a descendant of the hero who imported white rice into this world.”
“Yep. Dark clouds ahead.”
“Of course, it all depends on the successful refinement of sugar.”
“Oh, right. We can screw up there.”
We shared a chuckle. Discussing the ramifications of sugar upon this world at this point was, even with the most generous interpretation, counting our chickens before they hatched.