Chapter 4: House
The exterior of the house is a typical design for this region, featuring stone walls in a pale yellow hue that leans neither too white nor too black, resembling a sandy color. The roof is a warm, reddish-brown. Well, the large glass windows give it away, and the stream that flows around it, complete with a water gate for flood control, is quite something too.
Beneath the cobblestone floor, water flows, keeping the interior pleasantly cool. In winter, I’ll probably have to close the water gate to avoid the chill creeping in.
Inside, the walls are coated in white plaster, with dark brown beams supporting the ceiling, and the floor is made of bright brown stone. It looks like large tiles have been laid down, but it’s actually a thick cobblestone. The same stone continues onto the terrace outside the large sliding windows. Above the terrace, there’s a shelf that will eventually serve as a grape arbor. The second floor is lined with dark brown boards that match the beams.
On the first floor, there’s a kitchen and a living room, with a room connected to the kitchen that likely serves as the housekeeper’s quarters on the right. To the left is a reception room. The second floor features a bedroom, a study, and three guest rooms. There’s a staircase in the living room leading up to the bedroom, and another staircase in the entrance hall that leads to the guest rooms, creating a clear division between the public and private areas. The hall is spacious—definitely gives off a wealthy vibe.
Additionally, there are several food storage and pantry areas. The pantry in the basement has a small window for light on the entrance hall side. Due to the difference in land height between the northern side with the living room and the southern side with the entrance, it only has a small window that fits a few steps of a short staircase. Each bedroom and guest room comes with its own bathroom, and the bedroom’s bath has a large window to let in plenty of light.
The most outrageous features of this house are the plumbing, sewage system, pantry, and toilet. Normally, you’d have to draw water from a well or river into a jug, but here, turning on the tap gives you water, and the bath has hot water too. The toilet is also flushable; I prioritized the plumbing over the stove and lighting.
While there’s no gas stove or electricity, the firewood supply never seems to dwindle. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of gathering firewood anymore. Plus, I had two cooking hearths and ovens installed, and even a large Chinese-style stove that’s not found in this country. It’s designed to hold pots too.
The stone oven is perfect for baking bread repeatedly or for slow-cooking meals overnight, retaining heat even after the fire goes out. There’s another one meant for pizzas and direct-fire cooking that maintains a high level of insulation to keep the flames burning. They look similar, but apparently, the lower parts are made of different stones. I’m not quite sure how that works.
The pantry is stocked with a variety of ingredients. While the selection isn’t infinite, I chose items that I’d likely use a lot, as well as those that are either unavailable in this world or have significantly different flavors, and some that are hard to come by… or at least, that was the plan, but it ended up being quite a lot.
I thought of the dishes I wanted to eat, made a list of ingredients, and received advice on what to keep or discard, but it was surprisingly difficult to cut down the list.
On the square-divided shelves, starting with rice, there are napa cabbage, potatoes, tea leaves, miso, soy sauce, and various types of koji mold. Cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken are neatly arranged on boards. In a barrel, sweetfish swim, and Pacific saury gather—rather than just swimming in the barrel, it feels like the water’s surface is constantly shifting to keep the fish centered. It’s strange; this world shouldn’t be connected to Japan, so what’s going on?
It’s a dream pantry that doesn’t deplete when used. To be honest, I put the most effort into this food storage. I was actually recommended to focus on [All Magic] instead of [Magic Talent], and [All Martial Arts] instead of [Martial Talent], but I chose food and comfort!
The house is clean, with neatly arranged linens, and it looks quite cozy.
Without my permission, no one can recognize or enter this place, and no one can harm me within this property. It’s a perfectly safe home.
In this world, where magic exists, so do demon beasts. I’ve been told I’ll be protected while I learn about this world for three months after being transported here. No wonder I sensed the presence of beasts but never saw one. The snow was tough, but it seems the demon beasts were a close call too.
Naturally, no demon beasts are allowed on the property, and pests are kept out as well. The aftermath of living on an island where insect bites were severe is evident. The only beings here are invisible spirits, beneficial insects, birds, and beasts. With the advice of those people, I’ve even permitted the beasts to roam into the forest.
Compared to my sisters, I should have a much longer lifespan, but the lack of skills is likely due to the investment in this house.
I can grow on my own, and I’ve been given talents, so I have no regrets. I do think I should train a bit just in case I need to deal with my sisters.
It seems that if I grow stronger, those who protected me will also gain strength. Well, it looks like cooking a lot or making this house more comfortable will also help me grow, so I don’t need to think too deeply about it. For now, I’ll sever ties with my sisters, the Ball of Light, and two of my sister’s friends.
People can change based on their circumstances, so I plan to use this ability as little as possible, but I don’t think I’ll regret using it on these four.
I placed Rishu in a basket lined with a towel and immediately headed for the bath. I have the bare essentials like soap and other toiletries, but I’ll likely add more of my favorites later. —Even though I had bathed, my dirty body didn’t lather well, and I felt disheartened by the strange floating things in the water. How odd; even if my appearance has changed, the dirt remains the same.
After the bath, I felt refreshed. Looking in the mirror, I saw a handsome face staring back at me. It was like a blend of Van, Rudil, and Ish… with black hair, white skin, and deep violet eyes, my body was well-proportioned.
I must have used those three young men as references for my appearance. I look just like their son, thank you very much.
Unlike a glamorous beauty, I lack flashiness, and thanks to the manly Van, I’m not as frostily beautiful as Rudil, nor as coldly beautiful as Ish. But I could probably get free meals at taverns just by sitting quietly.
…What does the typical appearance look like in this world, I wonder?
I opened the water gate to let water flow into the waterwheel, milling rice from brown to white. I used [Appraisal] to figure out how it works. The details regarding food are incredibly helpful. What should I do with the rice bran? Should I save it to make pickled vegetables when I have enough?
Though small, there are types for both milling and grinding into flour. There are other mechanisms separated by walls, and when I used [Appraisal], it said “for fabric felting” and “for leather tanning.” I don’t know what felting is, and since it’s not food-related, I’m puzzled about how to use it. I have a feeling I won’t be using those.
The structure is different from what I’ve seen in period dramas; most of the waterwheel mechanism is underground, turning the mill from below. Even though it’s underground, since the house is built on a slope, entering from the opposite side leads to the first floor. The stone walls give it a mysterious feel.
Coincidentally or not, there’s also a spacious oven for baking bread. I think the second floor is meant for storing grain, but I don’t really need this much space. I have a pantry and storage, and it’s just me. Is it even normal to have a waterwheel?
—I’ll bring some wheat from the pantry later to grind.
There are three types of wheat, which surprised me; it seems to be cake flour, bread flour, and pasta flour. The pasta flour is separate, which is a shock—it’s durum wheat!
It’s a bit warm, but I lit the hearth and oven, giving Rishu some water. It seems he mainly needs water, but he can eat meat too. However, since he’s weak right now, I’ve been advised to wait until he’s stronger before feeding him. If I hadn’t known better, I might have stuffed him with something high in nutrients that a puppy could eat.
I rinsed the milled rice and put it in a pot to cook. I shredded some cabbage and grilled a sirloin steak. The side dish might seem odd, but what I craved during that survival ordeal was freshly cooked rice, meat, and shredded cabbage, so it couldn’t be helped.
I also tossed root vegetables and chopped chicken with bones into the pot and placed it in the stew oven. This is for the next meal, and all the pots are thick iron ones.
Still, after eating the same fish and crabs for so long, the smell of grilled meat felt overwhelmingly intense.
The meat was delicious to the point of tears! Even though it was just seasoned with salt and pepper, it was incredible!
Maybe my stomach has shrunk; I could only eat about half of what I expected. I’ll [Storage] the rest and eat it tomorrow. Time doesn’t pass, so I can store anything that’s not a living creature, except for plants.
I set Rishu’s basket and water bowl beside me and fell asleep on the fresh sheets in a clean bed. It’s still daytime, but there’s nothing urgent I need to do while the sun is out. It feels nice—
I had spent about a week just lazing around—perhaps it would be more accurate to say I was bedridden. Thanks to [Healing], my bruises and scrapes healed quickly, and I should have been in good health, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get up. The only time I managed to rise was when it was time to eat. Good thing I had prepared some bird dishes.
I needed to clean my room and wash the sheets. Today, I planned to make ramen. When I [Appraised] the main ingredients, the effects of [All Cooking] kicked in, and a recipe popped into my mind—such a convenient design.
However, it was based on dishes I had already eaten, so I wanted to explore the local cuisine of this world.
I had bonito flakes. The kombu was fresh, so should I dry it first? Oh, I also needed to grind some wheat. In the end, I found myself eating rice with grilled horse mackerel, though I wished I had some pickles to go with it.
Wheat could be used for both bread and udon. I wanted to grind it quickly, but I didn’t have any bags or containers for storage.
I received the same amount of money that my sister had initially received from the country. I wasn’t sure if it was a lot or a little, but since I wasn’t struggling for food or shelter, I could allocate some for other things. Today, I would go shopping.