Ore no Ongaeshi: High Spec Murazukuri

Following a report from a painting girl who was entrusted with the job of secretary, I came to a food pantry in the heart of the village.

Confirm the situation inside the warehouse with the village chief's granddaughter Risha and three painting girls.

"I see, this is certainly a problem"

"Sorry, Brother Yamato..."

"No, it's not Chloe's fault. The situation is always fluid."

"Thank you... Brother Yamato."

The depressed painting clerk girl... stroke Chloe's head to cheer her up.

It wasn't her fault that something went wrong. Rather a credit for noticing and reporting the problem faster than anyone else. I'll give you a proper compliment.

"You do have a lot of salt loss, Yamato"

"Oh. At this minute, it's gone faster than planned."

The problem was the "salt” reserves in the village warehouse.

My calculations run out of salt in the village of Uld on a "not far away day”.

“Not enough salt."

This is the most headache problem for the village.

Because this village of Uld is in a mountainous basin. It's a difficult location to get salt in terrain far from the sea.

'People can't live without salt' This is a serious problem in any world.

Last fall, when I vowed to rebuild the village, the first thing I checked was the stock of salt.

"There is some salt storage in the village's stockpile"

Last fall, Risha, the village chief's granddaughter, explained that to me about the current state of salt in the village.

In the village the salt was managed by the village chief and distributed to the villagers on a regular basis.

Sometimes salt is a valuable product, and it is kept strictly hidden under the floor of the village's food pantry.

So he's also escaped last year's bad lord's food collection, and he's been in stock until now.

"I was pretty thorough saving..."

"Salt is always something to use, Mr. Riesha. I have no choice."

But today, when I did the recalculation, I discovered the problem.

No matter how much salt you save and use from now on, you will run out of salt stocks in your village in the not distant future.

"Probably because of changes in village food and more people"

"Sure... when you say that, Mr. Yamato"

This time, I also caused it.

I still haven't figured it out about the eating habits of the people of Wold. The problem was the amount of salt used to salt the preservation.

("Salted” is common sense in this world without freezers. I haven't even calculated my predictions yet...)

In this medieval world, food is "salted” anyway. Fish caught in streams, meat from beasts planted in the woods, etc.

I used a cool amount of salt for the preservation of the meat, especially of the Great Rabbit (Vic Rabbit) and the Great Pig (Wild Bore).

Solving the food problem as soon as possible has come to my back. However, this cannot be helped in an era without refrigerators.

Explore another way to solve this than to regret what is missing.

"You've bought salt before."

"Yes, salt was being purchased from pedestrians..."

As Riesha explains, in mountainous areas where there is no sea, we have to buy salt from the outside.

Previously, from the pedestrians who regularly came to the village, they said that salt was bought at high prices. It was bought and sold by coins obtained by selling village specialties, etc.

"But the Great Bandits came down the street, and the pedestrians couldn't come."

"Yes... thanks to the Great Bandits, I can no longer even go to the city to buy them out of this village..."

One of the problems with the village of Uld is that it is a completely closed settlement.

A large band of bandits had surrendered along the streets from the village of Uld in the mountains to the nearest city.

A brutal, outrageous armed group attacking passers-by and luggage cars in Islam. The scale is many times bigger than the bandits we confronted the other day, and it's a bit of an army.

The neighboring Lords' army crusaders could not reach such a border, and the thieves were frightened with their faces.

"Let's put the issue of the Bandits' crusade behind us. Now let's find a way to get salt."

The Negijo of the Great Bandits is quite far from Uld. Like the last time they did, the odds are pretty low of hitting this mountain perimeter from beyond.

More than that, we need to explore ways to ensure that salt is available.

(Get salt...)

The need for salt is also high in the history of the planet. Rather, it is no exaggeration to say that the history of salt is the history of mankind.

During the primitive hunting days of mankind, salt and salt were taken from the guts and spinal cords of the beast (sequoia).

Since the farming age, humankind has developed explosively, obtaining salt from natural salt fields and refining from seawater.

Salt, which is essential for living, has long been a tax product with many state-owned and proprietary patented countries with huge profits.

(Uld is a mountainous area... far from the sea...)

If I had seawater nearby, I could have refined as much salt as I could with my modern knowledge.

But this is a basin off the coast, and you can't make something without it.

(then by different means...... no, not really)

It was then.

I was thinking. I remember a video. It was in my head that a "memory” in this village came back to life.

"Mr. Riesha, Chloe. Keep a secret about the salt thing for a while. I have a solution."

"Is it true, Brother Yamato?

"Nice to meet you, Master Yamato"

The two girls, who were blue-faced from a sense of responsibility, get better at what I say.

Sometimes salt is a delicate problem, and the village chief unexpectedly keeps it secret.

"Okay, I'm gonna go for a little while"

Leaving two people in the pantry, I decide to visit someone who could be a solution to the salt.

◇

"Apparently, you were here."

After passing through the village square, I reach where the intended person is.

There will be a Lord here, because there will be signs from within the building.

"We're coming in, Mr. Jii."

"What is it, kid? Did you draw some interesting blueprints again?

My visit was to a blacksmith's workshop outside the village. The person of interest is Gaton, an old artisan of the Mountain Hole clan.

"What's wrong, with a serious face sometime"

"Actually, there's something I'd like to ask Mr. Jii"

"Hmm? What?"

I didn't expect Jii to read my expression. Is my Pocaface undertrained?

I may have been in a bit of a hurry about salt, which is a dead and alive issue.

"I want to know where this is."

"It's..."

I point to the red crystal sculpture on the shelf of the Gaton Workshop.

It was Jii from Gaton who sharpened and created this. Then you know where to get it.

"It's... it's not just a rock salt crystal, is it?

"Oh, I know"

I remember seeing this sculpture when I first came here. that there were red crystals of this rock salt in the workshop.

"'The Mountain Hole tribe knows all the truth about the mountain'... right?

"Oh yeah then..............."

Somehow stubborn, the Mountain Hole tribe only loves metals and rocks carved out and processed by their peers.

In other words, Jii of Gaton should know where the rock salt is.

"Or..."

But for some reason, Jii of Gaton is clouding his words. Maybe there's something wrong.

But this is a dead and alive issue, not if you are reluctant.

"The crystals of its rock salt... were collected by the eagle from a rock salt mine near here..."

"What? Is there a rock salt mine nearby"

"Oh... but I can't get anywhere near that mine right now..."

A stubborn, fearless gaton crushes with a small voice that disappears.

I've never seen such a frightened Jii before.

"Talk to me. I'll listen to you."

I decide to ask the old blacksmith Gaton what's going on.