novelraw Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Chapter 118
It was clear that the disappearance of the alchemist from the territory was an accident.
However, the fact that he was the only alchemist in the entire territory—that was the Lord of Henil’s mistake.
He should have trained more alchemists somehow.
If not that, then he should have taken thorough measures to protect him so that something like this wouldn’t happen.
“It’s a secret handed down for generations, isn’t it? Forcing someone to reveal his own secret techniques seemed a bit much.”
Perhaps the real problem lay in the Lord of Henil’s attitude.
He felt more like a representative of the residents rather than a lord.
He truly didn’t seem like a lord at all.
If he was truly the master of Henil, he should have forced the alchemist to train more, even against his will.
Protecting the residents’ rights was important, but the survival of the territory was even more so.
‘He seems like a good man, but…’
Well, that kind of person was exactly why Henil had become a subordinate territory of Johnson so easily, after just one call for reinforcements.
Even from his attire, he didn’t seem like someone with much ambition—perhaps he wasn’t even fond of holding the lord’s seat.
Still, considering he had managed to govern the territory smoothly until now without major issues, he couldn’t be called incompetent.
During Father’s time, we’d often received military aid, but since I became the lord, there hadn’t been any such support.
So, I could regard this incident as an unforeseeable accident.
‘Even in this world, it’s rare for a man from the coast to vanish just because he went fishing.’
Now that I had roughly assessed the situation, it was time to prepare a countermeasure.
Not that there was much of a countermeasure needed.
I could simply handle things as they naturally should be.
“I’ll send you mana crystals. I’ll make sure you have plenty, so please use them without worry.”
“Then, should we give you a Heartstone in return?”
“No, use that here as well. You’ll soon find yourselves needing a great number of mana crystals.”
We could just send them mana crystals, after all.
If nothing else, mana crystals were the one thing we had no shortage of.
–Are you planning to keep supplying them with mana crystals?
‘That wouldn’t be ideal. We can’t just keep rubbing mana crystals all day, can we? Our alchemists are always busy as it is.’
Indeed, we couldn’t afford to keep supplying mana crystals forever.
The alchemists of Johnson Territory were some of the busiest people alive.
Even handling the mana crystals we ourselves needed was a full-time task—if we took on Henil’s share too, there might be a strike.
Or, all other research might grind to a halt.
So, we needed to set up a long-term plan.
“Peter, how about teaching some alchemy to the people of Henil?”
“Hmm, should I?”
“Lord Bruner, if there are any who wish to learn alchemy, please send them to us. We’ll teach them at the alchemy workshop in Johnson Territory.”
“Ohh, you would do that for us?”
Yes, I intended to have the people of Henil learn alchemy directly.
‘Whether it’s a secret technique or not, there’s no reason we can’t teach it.’
Judging from the talk about secret traditions, it seemed Henil’s alchemist had refused to share his knowledge with others.
To be fair, he was probably just protecting his own livelihood—hardly something to condemn.
Still, the fact that there wasn’t a single other alchemist besides himself was a serious problem.
Of course, that was their internal matter. Ours was a bit different.
Even though we had a high-level alchemy workshop capable of producing top-quality potions, the residents of our territory had no interest in learning alchemy.
Perhaps because our place was full of macho men whose brains were made of muscle—they didn’t like using their heads much.
–Indeed, the residents of Johnson Territory are a bit… odd. Sometimes I wonder if they’re even human.
‘If not human, then what?’
–Something more beastlike than Beastmen? Come to think of it, they’re kind of like the Bear Tribe.
‘Ugh, Bear Beastmen, huh? Hard to argue with that.’
But what could I do?
It was simply part of our local character.
To outright reject the path to becoming an elite, intelligent alchemist—it was baffling to anyone else. But our people were far too eccentric for me to get worked up over it.
Ever since I saw those mild-mannered aunties grab flails and whack a Raptor on the back of its head, I’d given up trying to understand.
‘If anyone’s willing to learn, I’ll teach them. That’s all.’
So, recruiting students from Henil wouldn’t be an issue.
If we picked about ten promising ones and taught them alchemy, then sent back around seven, that would leave us with three new alchemists for our own territory.
Maybe we could even accept applicants among the new settlers?
Our original residents would certainly refuse, but perhaps some of the people who came from Haken or the Levelium Region might want to learn alchemy.
If we were going to teach anyway, we might as well gather everyone at once and save ourselves extra work.
Peter would surely agree without complaint.
‘He’d benefit too, since it means more alchemists for us.’
The Lord of Henil seemed genuinely intent on training new alchemists, so as long as we selected and trained a few talented ones, things would turn out well.
“It seems that part’s settled then. Any other issues?”
“No, other than the lack of manpower, everything’s fine. Our grain situation is slowly improving as well.”
“Oh, really? That’s good to hear.”
“Yes, though being short on people is something we can’t really help.”
Henil, being a coastal territory, had little arable land—grain shortages were a constant issue.
Of course, they made up for the lack of crops with seafood, but people couldn’t live on seafood alone.
At least things were reportedly improving lately, which was reassuring.
‘The manpower shortage is just this region’s chronic problem. Nothing we can do about it.’
The population was small, and most of the young men had to prepare for battle, so labor shortages were inevitable.
It was no wonder they recruited soldiers and knights regardless of gender.
There simply wasn’t any other choice.
I also hoped the people from Hawrun Territory would adapt well here—for more or less the same reason.
‘We’d have been in deeper trouble without the Rabbit Tribe.’
Of course, even the Rabbits were starting to pick up weapons more often lately, but since they could balance farming and fighting perfectly, it wasn’t much of an issue.
In fact, the Rabbit Tribe might be the most ideal workers for this region.
–They farm! They dig tunnels! They fight alongside us! They do everything!
For once, I couldn’t argue with that loudmouthed rabbit.
The Rabbit Tribe was perfect, and Bestia was divine.
‘Though, of course, Lord Bestia truly is a god.’
It was late spring.
After inspecting the salt kilns and hearing about the local situation, a delightful meal awaited us.
As expected from a coastal territory, the table was filled with fresh seafood.
Various fish, shellfish, and even vibrant seaweed.
For me, it was the very definition of “this is it.”
“Wow, what kind of fish is this?”
“It’s flying fish.”
“Flying fish?”
“Yes, flying fish. You’ve really chosen the perfect time to visit, my lord. You can only taste such fresh flying fish at this time of the year.”
“Oh, really? It’s quite thick.”
“Yes, freshly caught flying fish are best eaten raw, sliced thick like this.”
“Then, let’s see…”
The most impressive dish was the flying fish.
Perhaps because this was another world, it looked quite different from the flying fish I knew—at first, I even mistook it for tuna.
The way it was sliced and served reminded me so much of tuna sashimi.
And when I actually tasted it, the flavor wasn’t all that different from tuna either.
Freshly caught tuna sashimi—it felt like my mouth was being spoiled.
“I can’t believe raw fish tastes this good. I’ve wasted half my life.”
“I agree. This is absolutely delicious~.”
Even the beast-women with me were thrilled by the flying fish sashimi.
Apparently, it was a dish that could divide opinions, but it seemed to fit perfectly with their tastes.
‘Still, they’re quiet when they eat.’
It seemed that delicious food was the best way to keep the two of them silent.
“Oh, this is… Charcin, isn’t it?”
“Haha, it’s something everyone in this region enjoys, isn’t it?”
“Right. When you’re eating something greasy, there’s nothing like Charcin to balance it out.”
It was the kimchi-like dish I’d mentioned before.
Basically, it was a salad made with cabbage mixed with garlic and red pepper powder—its name was “Charcin.”
It was one of the region’s representative traditional foods, and Henil Territory also prepared and ate Charcin.
Since flying fish, like tuna, was quite fatty, eating it together with Charcin made it taste even better.
“Oh, this one…”
However, Henil’s Charcin was a bit different from the one we had in our territory.
How should I put it—more elaborate?
They used properly salted cabbage and let it ferment thoroughly.
If the Charcin I used to eat was more of a spicy cabbage salad, this one was closer to actual kimchi.
“There’s something else added in this, isn’t there?”
“Oh, sharp palate, my lord. We’ve added seasoning made from fermented fish. It’s one of our proud creations.”
“Ah, I see.”
Fermented fish seasoning—so something like fish sauce?
No wonder it tasted different. They’d added that and fermented it.
After only eating imitation kimchi, tasting real fermented kimchi again—it made the little Korean in my heart roar with joy.
I wanted to tell them to introduce that fish sauce to our territory immediately.
“This soup tastes a bit different too. The savoriness really stands out.”
“Oh, the lady has quite a sharp palate as well. This also has a special seasoning.”
“What kind of seasoning?”
“It’s a special condiment made by grinding seaweed and small fish. It completely changes the flavor of the broth.”
They even used natural seasonings here.
Just as Yuria said, the flavor was deep and rich—it was clearly something made with great care.
‘Henil Territory… this place isn’t to be underestimated.’
These people took food far more seriously than I thought.
Who would’ve imagined that in this world, people would make both kimchi and natural seasonings?
But Henil Territory’s surprises didn’t stop there.
“This is… cheese?”
“Yes, that’s right. We recently started making cheese again. We were actually planning to deliver it to the main city on our next trade trip.”
“Wow, that’s incredible.”
The traditional dish of Henil Territory—thin dough topped with assorted seafood and cheese, then baked—left me speechless.
Cheese. Actual cheese.
Of course, before the Great Cataclysm, cheese production existed in this region, but with all the goats and cows wiped out, I never thought they’d manage to bring it back.
‘Before the Great Cataclysm, cows weren’t raised in the south. Same for goats. So cheese used to be one of this region’s specialties.’
We raised quite a few mountain goats ourselves, so goat milk had become relatively common—but could we make cheese from it?
I had no knowledge in that field, so I couldn’t even tell if it was possible.
“Oh, this is really…”
“Wow, seriously…”
Korean women had always loved cheese.
Cheesecake, though a bit too rich for my taste, was insanely popular, and so were pizzas and pastas loaded with cheese.
Apparently, beast-women in this fantasy world weren’t any different—their reactions were far more enthusiastic than ever before.
After all, there’s no greater praise than eating without saying a word.
‘I’ll have to keep Henil close, no matter what.’
Henil, the territory that knew the true taste of food.
A treasure trove of flavors—fish, seafood, fish sauce, seasonings, and even cheese.
I’d always liked Henil, but now I liked it even more.
If the Lord of Henil’s intention was to win us over through taste and use that to revive his territory, I’d say he had completely succeeded.
Yuria, even meat-obsessed Leisha, and I—all raised our white flags in surrender.
This place was far stronger than I ever imagined.