Chapter 206: Taste Comparison Experiment
I headed to my tower today to work on the renovations at the very top. The top of the tower has a shape reminiscent of a chess rook, with a small hut featuring a conical roof sitting right in the center.
I felt a bit bad for the carpenter who did the renovations, but I decided to leave the floorboards as they were. First, I removed the roof and walls and tossed them into [Storage]. Thanks to the Zanzenken and [Storage], the task was easy. I had initially planned to leave half of it intact, but due to waterproofing issues, it was better to take it all down.
I tidied up the jagged sawtooth walls on the inside. I laid down mortar on the floor to make it level, then fitted in thin, round pieces of marble that I had cut. Marble has a low water absorption rate, and I also used marble for the bathtub.
The marble slabs looked like they might crack under their own weight if lifted, but since I wasn’t planning on lifting them, it was fine. Waterproofing was a hassle, but with this setup, I just needed to fill the gaps with something called bitumen or natural asphalt, and I’d be done.
I teleported down to the lower floor, climbed the stairs, and made an entrance hole from below. After that, I added stairs to accommodate the thickness of the earth and created a drainage hole—since the marble slab itself had a slight incline, I thought that would work just fine.
Alright, time for a break. Lunch!
As I munched on a rice ball, I heard Auro calling from below.
“What is it?”
I went downstairs and poked my head out the front door.
“The craftsmen are in an uproar over the sudden disappearance of the roof from this tower.”
“That happens sometimes.”
I hoped they would understand that sometimes a roof just appears out of nowhere.
They looked at me as if to say, “That can’t possibly happen!” but I didn’t mind. I had considered working at night to avoid drawing attention, but it would be inconvenient to align everything in the dark.
“Just play it off. It’s unusual for Kiel not to be with you, huh? Oh, right, it’s lunchtime.”
“…Kiel and the others are preoccupied with cutting the cake.”
Auro sighed as he replied.
Ah.
“It was chaos because I cut it haphazardly.”
Auro announced with a hint of satisfaction.
“So you served it as dessert after lunch?”
“It seems Soleil didn’t intend to serve it, but as soon as Kiel and Marlu saw the wooden box, they nearly started a fight… Thanks to Soleil’s suggestion, everyone began cutting it up, but it looks like they’ll take up the entire break time with that.”
I thought they might as well use a scale, but that would probably lead to disputes over fruit distribution.
Auro mentioned he was skipping lunch.
“Won’t you miss out on food if you go back now?”
“I don’t feel any lack of energy yet.”
“Oh, then help me with an experiment. Wait here.”
I led Auro into the hall and dashed upstairs. I set up a plain table in the empty room and arranged thin slices of bread spread with garlic and olive oil. I had prepared this for a taste comparison out of curiosity.
“I’m ready, come up.”
“What is it?”
He asked, his tone polite but tinged with the usual boredom of someone reluctantly going along with my whims.
“Well, I was wondering which combination would taste the best.”
I had lined up crops bought from the city, crops planted in my field, hybrid crops from the pantry, and items from [Storage].
“Oh, and there’s some wine.”
I said that casually because I had made white sparkling wine, but I hadn’t had a chance to drink it myself. Next year, I’ll be of age!
According to Chris, it has a non-sticky sweetness and a bubbly texture that dances on the palate.
Auro sighed and said, “Let’s dig in.” Well, I couldn’t blame him for being indifferent to food, but I hoped it would at least fill him up.
“This has no flavor.”
“Yeah, that’s the stuff from around here.”
“This one has no flavor either.”
The pantry item was a bust.
“This one has flavor.”
It was a combination of the pantry item and vegetables harvested from my field.
I took a sip of the wine, and it seemed to have flavor as well. The grapes used were from the pantry, planted in the orchard.
“With this wine, mealtime might become a bit more enjoyable.”
How painful must mealtime usually be? I could see how it would be unpleasant if the flavorless companions around him were having a good time.
“Oh, but the flavor is gradually… This is delicious! What is this?”
Ultimately, it turned out that the hybrid crops from the field had the most flavor and were the most enjoyable. If olive oil was used generously, even with other mixed ingredients, it still tasted pretty good.
“I see.”
I had somewhat expected this outcome, especially after giving him the cranberry cookies made with strawberry dough when we first met.
The gods who visit my place also find that the items they create from the pantry have no flavor unless they’re their favorites.
A well-skilled herbalist’s medicinal tea was said to have flavor, but whether it was delicious or not was a different matter. It seemed that spirits might be the ones giving flavor to the crops they meddled with.
So, it appeared that a hybrid of spirits and materials yielded the best results.
“Lastly, what about this?”
I presented a cheese omelet made from milk of cows that grazed on grass from the garden and eggs from the chickens.
The cows were producing milk even without calves. The livestock shed was open for spirits to come and go freely, so… I had been eager to bring them to the island, but now it seemed a bit uncertain.
“This is delicious…”
Auro looked somewhat astonished.
“You don’t like sweet things, do you, Auro? Thanks for your help; I’ll make sure to serve non-sweet dishes from now on.”
It seemed he could eat non-sweet things just fine, which was a relief.
“Alright, I’ll get back to work.”
“I’ll assist you.”
Auro wore an unusually genuine smile.
Huh?
“No, it’s more comfortable alone.”
“Feel free to think of me as a convenient tool. I won’t do anything to disadvantage you, and I can cover up the roof situation from earlier.”
Huh?
“Did you eat something strange?”
His attitude seemed off. And wasn’t he standing a bit too close? He had kept a distance of over a meter until now.
“I had a truly delicious meal.”
Auro said cheerfully.
Wait? No, it was just garlic-flavored bread!