Episode 87: Board Game
“What is the ‘God of Magic’?”
“Eh… well… doesn’t exist?”
“Magic is not faith, but scholarship.”
“Y-yes…”
“…But, in history, many gods have been lost to war and the destruction of tribes.”
“Then is that it?”
“…Dru, are you from a destroyed civilization?”
“Ah… I guess that’s what it is. It’s too much of a pain, so let’s just go with that for now.”
I said, and drank my tea.
Of course, I feel sad that they don’t believe me! But you can’t expect someone to understand you 100%.
Dealing well with the things you don’t understand is what relationships are all about… and not changing your relationship even when you understand those things is what trust is all about, right?
“Oh, by the way, do you want a snack? I’ve been into making Ice Cream lately… I’m prototyping pudding ice cream. It’s not the final version yet, but would you like to try the beta version?”
“Hmm, I don’t understand what you’re saying at all. But I like Dru’s cooking.”
I smoothly produced the pudding ice cream with magic.
Again, I get a slightly disapproving look for my casual use of magic, but I ignore it.
“…Hmm! Delicious!”
“Hmm, still not enough. There’s something missing.”
“No… I don’t think so. It’s already unbelievably delicious.”
“Really? Don’t you feel a slight roughness on the tongue? More smoothness… a second straining, no, maybe it’s a stirring issue…?”
“…I, for one, don’t think Strider would understand such subtle differences in taste and texture. If anything, I think you should just make the flavor as strong as possible.”
Yeah… that’s true.
I wouldn’t serve dishes that are meant to be enjoyed for their subtle flavors to Strider in this world. Kaede, Margot, or maybe the nobles who occasionally come to my place are the only ones who can appreciate those kinds of flavors.
In fact, the dishes that Strider liked were mostly fried foods, teriyaki, and barbecue. And since they also like sweets, it’s all kinds of sweet things.
Seriously, Shio never says anything other than “Delicious!” no matter what I feed her… well, it’s probably tastier than the roasted beasts your tribe used to eat, you know?
But still, it’s better than being told “This is awful!” no matter what you eat. It might be unavoidable if you’re dealing with an old man who can only say the opposite of what he’s thinking… By the way, if you have a normal sense of taste, you’d choose the artist Elf who lives in front of the forest in that game, right? Personally, I’m also tempted by the weapons shop girl and the tool shop girl.
Anyway, Strider has a terrible palate.
Like country bumpkins from the Sengoku Era, they’re all idiots who think the saltier and sweeter it is, the better it tastes.
In that sense, I need to cherish Margot, who understands the flavors, I guess.
“You know, instead of making the caramel part into ice cream, maybe it would be better to make it into a sauce and pour it on later?”
“I only eat food. I’m troubled if you ask for my opinion.”
Understood…
“…But, for frozen confections and sorbets, it is common to pour or mix in sweet sauces. I would like to try one with the sauce added after completion. I will ask again someday.”
“Okay, come anytime.”
“Hmm. Well, if I spend too much time at Dru’s place, the captain will be in a bad mood, so moderately.”
This world is, as I’ve said many times, medieval.
There isn’t much entertainment.
So what do they do for fun? Children play house or knights. Adults gamble with dice or play something like backgammon. Important people mostly hunt, I guess?
Hunting for important people is mainly about showing off their Martial Art skills. After all, being strong is cool even in aristocratic society…
Recently, that has become a mere formality, and there seems to be a trend of emphasizing “skills” such as hunting and horseback riding rather than strength itself? From here, we may shift to the flamboyant nobles of the medieval and early modern periods that we Japanese imagine.
Me? I… usually, making food using magic or making Demon Swords are my personal hobbies.
Both can be mostly solved with magic.
I only have the knowledge of how to make Chocolate from variety shows I watched as a kid, but I can use magic to instantly finish everything from fermentation and roasting to grinding, stirring, and heating, so I made thousands of prototypes, and that’s the result.
Similarly, for Demon Swords, I use magic to produce iron, melt it, forge it, and enchant it. Sharpening, the handle, the guard, the sheath, and the decorations are all magic. Well, I design them… I’m not bad at CG either. Besides, I’m confident in my artistic sense.
So… when people ask me what I do when I hang out with others…
“Hmm… the wood is disappearing at an incredible rate. I understand why people clear forests.”
“Uoo Rosalinde, give me iron, iron!”
“Hehe, no. I can only produce wheat.”
“Resources…”
Well, it’s board games, of course.
I mix Rosalinde, who had come over at some point, and Tristia, and play Catan.
Eh? Isn’t the royal road of light novels Othello or Shogi?
…No, it’s Catan.
I also have Monopoly, Carcassonne, and Alhambra. I made them with magic.
Diplomacy? That’s too much friendship destruction!
“Well, board games aren’t fun unless you play with someone who can understand the rules to some extent.”
“Hmm. Well, it’s a game that Strider can’t play.”
“My father said he likes this game? He bought many game boards from Dru and is popularizing it among the Mercantilist Faction.”
“Oh, is that so…”
“My father said this board game is amazing?”
“Yeah…”
“You can know a person’s character by how they negotiate? Even things that are hidden when you actually talk, you can know about that person by how they play the game?”
“Wow…”
As expected of Count Missgancia. He’s using it for political purposes in a flash.
He’s still too talented. I can’t keep up with political talk anymore…
“…Hmm, well, it’s much better than dice gambling.”
“Yeah. I don’t really like luck-based games that much. And I don’t like games that involve money…”
“Do you have knowledge?”
“Yeah, some. If I sold it to Count Missgancia, he might build a huge casino… but that’s a story for the future.”
“Hmm. Right now, stabilizing the Frontier Settlement is urgent.”
“That’s right. It seems to be making money, but it’s still not stable. We need to create a selling point for the Frontier Settlement itself, not a distorted economy that relies on Demon Lairs, right?”
“…Can you do politics after all?”
“I don’t want to! I don’t want to!”
While saying such things, I enjoyed board games…