Chapter 93: Preparations for the Dinner._A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

Chapter 93: Preparations for the Dinner.

 Core Status.

 [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko]s sr core status: [100%]

 It fills up so fast when Im under the sun.

 Yeah, 100%, no problem like always, I answered as I chomped on a meat skewer, one of the many snacks I ced inside my storage.

 Good. This is something neither us nor the saurians could answer, so monitoring it is important. Such a weird biological phenomenon, Saori uttered. You can transform all that energy into nutrients, right? Simr to photosynthesis? Do you really need to eat all the time, because I believe your eating has increased remarkably, regardless of the fact you have [Gluttonous]?

 Touching my new physical characteristic under my clothes, I felt an incredible heat radiating from my chest. My sr core, a feature I got from my evolution, was bursting with energy, filled to its maximum capacity from absorbing all the sun rays.

 Saying goodbye for the day to the saurians, my party walked outside of the woods where sun rays were illuminating the area without being blocked by the woods orange foliage. From how huge the leaf piles were, it shouldnt be long until the tree lost all their leaves.

 Since my core was something Tasianna and the saurians couldnt exin to me, Saori and Tasianna have decided to monitor my condition to learn more about it. I also couldnt say much about it. Everything I knew about it was from its description and the tests weve done the past days. At least I was sure my core wasnt my heart; instead, it seemed like it was an entirely different organ.

 The tests weve done on it were mostly to see how much stress it could take. As I could absorb sunlight and turn it into energy like a nt could, I had to know what its limits were. Using it as a way to feed myself would be aplete waste of potential.

 In battle, I could activate the core to increase my Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration at a certain rate. One trick I found out is if I concentrated fully on either Mana or Stamina, I could continuously use spells and dragon abilities and offset the costs with the increase regeneration speed. The Health regeneration my core could do was a nice backup n in case I ever was at risk of Arcane Fever, as it didn''t umte arcane corruption, but its healing was far inferiorpared to [Major Heal] or [White mes]s automatic healing.

 While it might sound all fine and dandy, doing this while I wasnt absorbing sunlight was foolish. In one of my duels with Master Kush, we fought under an earth dome where the sun was blocked while I had to continuously use my cores energy. In this situation, my core depleted quickly, and an intense lethargy made it impossible for me to continue fighting.

 Eating food helped restore some power, but it couldnt alleviate the energy consumption in an intense duel. Never use the core while fighting inside a cave or during the night, was what I learned. In any other condition, beware enemies of mine, for the sun hungers.

 I could, yes. The energy I get from using the core is fulfilling and we all know how brokenly efficient photosynthesis is in nutrition production. Between eating meat or transforming sunlight into energy, of course, thetter is better, I answered Saoris question, unfazed by it as I finished my skewer. But tasting and filling my stomach is half the fun of eating. My sr cores photosynthesis merely gets rid of the feeling of hunger. Not the cravings. [Young Sunfang Dragon]s description of how it always feels hungry seemed to be true.

 My Lady, I believe Miss Saori knew that and was instead pointing out the fact of our potential food problems in the future, Tasianna interjected herself into the discussion.

 Realizing Saori was talking about money again, I gave a shyugh as Saori sighed about it. With our usual ramblings, we entered the vige and went directly towards Lorenas and Rulds families house.

 We knocked on their door and entered once Lorena let us in. Inside, lively sounds of a filled house could be heard as I saw two teenagers, a boy and girl, a young man, an older woman, andstly a tall, muscr man all crowding around a table. Instead of a warm and friendly atmosphere, an intense argument was currently being held between the two men.

 Holy shit, Ruld, have you learned nothing from your job? If youre selling something, make sure you keep it lookin good! You aint sellin these to a fucking viger, the muscr man scolded the young man, meticulously cleaning something ck with trained movements.

 What do you mean by that, old man?! It aint my fault, here! They were looking perfect, the best shoes Ive ever made! Shout at Wendy for messing around in the house, he then snapped his head in the direction of the two teens, ring at the girl with unbridled anger. Fuckin hell! Those shoes are for the noble priestess, Wendy. Why did you have to jump around like that when you should know how much work we all put into them?! Argh, Wendy, damnit, damnit!

 "C-Come on, bro, you''re being too harsh on her," the boy spoke up for, I presume, his sister. "The Priestess was doing this dance and sis was only copying it. She''s crying, she already said sorry."

 Hick, Im so s-sorry, the girl sobbed uncontrobly, only to be soothed by her mother.

 Okay, what am I looking at?

 After a moment of being shocked frozen at what I was seeing, the family of five eventually noticed us and Ruld quickly apologized for his familys embarrassing disy.

 From Lorena''s exnations, it seems his younger sister Wendy identally spilled some water on the shoes our party requested, which caused both Ruld and his father to panic. They immediately cooperated with each other to dry and clean the shoes, all while throwing insults at each other for different reasons. Ruld was angry at his sister and his father was angry at Ruld for shouting at his sister. Family drama, a ssic.

 "I-I''m so, so, so, so very sorry, mdy Priestess. I-I didn''t mean to do it, so please forgive brother Ruld," the girl, Wendy, apologized heartfully, crying her eyes red as she bowed.

 Overhearing she was copying my dance; I couldnt exactly be mad at her. To be honest, it was only water, and our shoes will have to endure long travel distances anyways so if they fell apart just cause of that, then only then will I be mad.

 I told the girl how ttering it was for me for having my dance copied and that I wasnt angry at her or her brother. She quickly calmed down once she saw me smiling, showing no signs of being angered at all. She even informed me how enthusiastic she was for my next sermon and hoped I could show her my dance again.

 Uh, nah, sorry, Wendy. Never doing a sermon again if I can avoid it. Im not a big fan of doing them.

 With that behind us, Ruld finally had the chance to reveal his creation to us. The nervous expression he and his father made me giggle a bit, as I began inspecting my shoes, I mean boots.

 Before me stood a pair of knee-high boots, colored ck from a charcoal-made paint I could see on the table. They were t, either ''cause Ruld couldn''t make high heels or ''cause Saori made sure they werebat-ready, as high-heeled boots would be risky to use in battle.

 As you requested, the shoes are made from orc skin and the soles from wyvern skin. They were tough to work with, especially the wyvern skin, but the results should tell you everything, Ruld exined to me.

 Gotta say how lucky I am to get my hands on some orc and wyvern leather. Honestly, dy Priestess, I heard from Glenn that you rescued him from those bandits, but I thought those lizardfolk did most of the work. It was a real shock when I came home to see Ruld work on them leathers, Dierck, Rulds father whose name I just learned, said that in the most stoic way possible to hide his excitement and anxiousness. Never had the chance to work on these fine leathers around the vige. Thankfully, Ruld had enough experience with monster leather from his time at Firwood. Praise the Goddess for that.

 From what I heard from Saori, Ruld was a cobbler at Firwood. Compared to a normal cobbler from Earth, Ruld''s job wasnt just creating shoes from animal leather but also monster leather. As a town with monster yers inhabiting it for work, Ruld had many chances to create shoes out of those materials.

 Rulds whole family was specialized in creating anything leather rted. His father was the tanner, his mother a seamstress, and his siblings were trained in leatherworking just like him. The shoes might have been Rulds request, but it seems the whole family worked hard on it to finish them as soon as possible with the highest quality they could muster.

 And it showed, the boots honestly disyed their hard work.

 Orc skinned boots with scaled soles

 A pair of boots made with the thick skin of a D ranked orc,plemented with wyvern leather as their soles. The sturdiness of the boots can stop mostmon weapons, while the flexibility allows the wearer to stay agile.

 Skill [sh Resistance Lv. 3]

 [Physical Resistance Lv. 3]

 [Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 4]

 All theponents of the boots came from the materials we gathered in the Belzac forest. We used the orc skin I got from the ones I defeated in the cave, while the wyvern leather came from the three C ranks who pursued me. Ruld couldnt process the wyvern leather with his tools so Saori had to help him with her ws.

 Ability-wise, they werent anything spectacr but what was more important was the design. They exuded a modern vibe, probably a result of Saori''s design, as they heavily contrasted the vigers shoes.

 Both the toe box and the heel counter, the front and hind ends of the boots, were missing as it needed to amodate the ws and scales on my feet. It might seem weird that the hind part was also missing but, from initial wearing tests, my scales would scratch on the leather, causing some unwanted damage. It was decided that both the front and hind had to be removed to ensure the boots longevity.

 To finish its design, ck shoces kept them tight to my legs while I was wearing them.

 Feels awesome, I thought as I wore them.

 Looking over at Saoris and Tasiannas, I could see simr design choices to mine.

 Saoris looked exactly like mine, only with heel counters as the fur on her feet didnt irritate the boots. As her ws were also long, the front had to be removed too. Ruld mentioned that most beastmen he worked with had sandal-like designs due to the ws on their feet, so he was already used to it prior to our request.

 Tasianna was the only one among us who had shoes. Hers looked simr to the ones maids in maid cafes always wore. No idea if it was the same design in this world, as Tasianna never wore shoes in her fairy form.

 These are awesome, thank you very much, everybody, I thanked everybody involved in the creation of our shoes.

 After Saori gave them a huge amount of meat as the payment, which shocked the whole family at how much we had, we said our goodbyes as our business was done here.

 Before I walked outside, I leaned close to Lorena to whisper into her ears, How was it? Did you tell your parents?

 She paused for a moment, looked at me for a second before giving me a nod, Yes, thank you and Saori for telling me to do that. My parentsthey told me that they already had a feeling it would happen after I was taken to that man. They didnt me me but they were furious at him for, well, deflowering me. However, they also understood if anybody knew this, I would probably be in more trouble than I could think of. They told me that the best way out of this was to marry somebody as soon as possible before my belly started growing.

 Marry, huhI guess her choices were pretty limited to begin with.

 On Earth, there was the choice of having an abortion but Im pretty this choice was impossible with theck of a doctor in the vige. I mean, most of the vigers relied on priestsing to the vige for healing. I dont think anybody could do such a task here.

 Do you want to marry? I asked her in a serious tone.

 I mean, I have to even without this circumstance. My mother and father do want grandchildren, and me tooa real one is what I want, she replied as she nced at her stomach. But Im not sure who to choose. It has to be someone I can trust with this secret and is willing to help me.

 Have you asked Ruld, yet? Youre always blushing around him ever since he arrived, I nonchntly stated, causing Lorena face to turn into a ripe tomato.

 W-What?! No, no, no, no, I couldnt. Hes a childhood friend, a very dear friend, I just couldnt, but before she could continue, Ruld suddenly came over with a leaf-wrapped package.

 Ahh, thank the goddess you are still here, dy Priestess. This here is a special cleaning wax made with tree sap and honey used for cleaning monster leather. You gave us enough meat tost us through the whole winter, so this is on the house. Thank you so very much for your patronage! he said before dashing back into the house, where his family already began processing the meat into jerky.

 Seeing how Lorena was blushing in the direction of Ruld, I gave her a small knock on her shoulder and wished her luck, before rejoining my party. We returned home and immediately started the dress-up session, with Saori testing out a few prototypes on me before we finally decided what fitted me and the boots.

 As this was my only footwear, my outfit for Count Helvas dinner invitation had to suit it. Saori also took the chance to remind Tasianna and me that we shouldnt be fighting in our new footwear, as they werent made with mana threads. If Saori or I were to transform mid-fight into our original forms, then the boots would rip apart and be ruined forever. Tasianna wouldnt rip apart her shoes cause she turns smaller, but they would fall off and might get destroyed in the crossfire.

 Our shoes were for our everyday life. They were there for us to look normal, in other words. Although the saurians werent wearing any sorta shoes either, suggesting people from Caedhul werent shoe fanatics, it was appropriate to wear them in this country.

 After the dressing session, Saori went back to work and started adding more details to my dress until it was time to sleep. I heard Saori and Tasianna were staying in their normal outfits as they were technically my retainers ording to their titles, and this was the impression they gave Count Helvas'' head butler Barathan.

 The next morning, the day before my meeting, our yeast had finally finished cultivating. Seeing the bubbles forming above the water and taking in the sour, vinegary smell was nostalgic to experience. Its been a while, but nothing beats homemade yeast water made with delicious fruits.

 Wow, so this is how yeast is made, Tasiannamented with curiosity, saying yeast in Common tongue for us to know. The elves always brought the finished version to us, so I didnt know how to make it. Especially this sourdough. This was a wonderful experience.

 Apparently, the concept of yeast wasnt unknown in this world. Yeast was used in elven bread, something Tasianna has tasted before. I wasnt sure if this country knew about it but considering how close it was to the elven kingdom, it would weird if they didnt. I expect at least nobles and merchants to have heard of it.

 With the yeast finished, we took the three bottles with yeast starters and went to the viges bakers. Tasianna, unexpectedly, followed us as she was interested in the usage of yeast.

 Ahh, Miss Saori! Wee, wee, are you here for more flour and rice? My husband hasnt finished todays batches yet so I cant trade you any yet, ha ha! a woman about the size of Saori cheerily answered the door, smiling like she was greeting a good friend until she noticed Tasianna and me. And a fe-! Ah, dy Priestess! I apologize for not greeting you first, he he. I didnt get the chance to thank you but bless your soul for all that youve done for us. I heard from my friends you saved about what you did for them and I cant help but thank you with all my heart. May the Goddess keep the shadows away from your path.

 Rita looked like she was a few years younger than Harriet, Colwyn''s wife, as she had a few wrinkles. Her belly was bloated, not ''cause she was obese but due to pregnancy, I believe. I havent seen a single obese person in the vige yet and I dont think Rita would be the single exception here.

 She gave me a friendly praying bow, before resuming, I heard from Miss Saori that the vigers are giving you a hard time. Please dont take it too badly. Miss Saori and the people you saved told me how friendly you are despite being a noble priestess, but most people dont know that fact. The priests who visited our vige rarely spoke with us and mostly stayed at Lord Count Helvas mansion, while every kid is taught to not get too close to nobles. There are also a few who are afraid of beastmen, heh heh heh.

 You arent? I asked her, tilting my head to the side.

 "Nah. Beastmen adventurers usually visit the bakery or my brother''s tavern, so I know how they are. Some are real handfuls while others are pleasant to speak with. Just like in our vige. There are ck sheep and idiots here, too," she answered before beckoning us to enter, swinging her medium-length hair around. Ah, where are my manners. My name is Rita, and I thank the Goddess for our meeting today. Now,e in, please. If you are here, mdy Hestia, then does that mean you''ll make me a new oven?"

 Considering Saori was making friends with the whole vige, I guess it was no surprise she knew my name. I did also announce it at the sermon, so I guess that could be a factor, too. Honestly, Saori has been making friends with everybody. If I wasnt so preupied with my own training, I would do that, too!

 As we entered her house, Rita tried to strike up a conversation with Tasianna but as our fairy friend wasnt a human lover, she simply thanked Rita for letting her inside and stayed quiet. Hey, it was better than the time she met the unconscious Lorena.

 Inside, we quickly noticed howrge the interior was. I probably should have noticed the size of the house before we came in, but I only realized it after we came inside. Compared to Lorenas and mine, Ritas house wasrge enough to fit two family bedrooms, a living room with plenty of tables, a separate space for the hearth and, possibly, ovens. It looked like a bakery was mixed in with the family part of the house.

 In the cooking area, I asked Rita how many ovens she needed and how they were supposed to look. She told me she needed two ovens as the demand for bread was extremely high throughout the year, especially with unmarried men as they rarely knew how to bake properly. She didnt give me any details for the appearance as it only needed to berge enough for her to put multiple batches of dough inside them.

 Knowing it had to fit inside their house, I went outside and constructed two [Terra Wall]s. In the middle of them, I carved arge hole in the shape of a half-circle, and emptied its inside for the kindling and dough to fit in. It was a very simple construction I saw on TV, but it seems none of the vigers could craft one now as houses were a priority for the builders. Well, none of them could make ovens this sturdy, so I guess waiting for me to do it was better in the long run.

 Putting them inside my storage, I went back into Ritas house and ced them inside like in that one life simtion game. That Sim game, I mean. With Rita expressing shock at how fast I made them, I ignored her and took out the three yeast bottles.

 Two of them were filled with bubbly red water while one was doughy with holes like cheese. These three were all yeast starters, although different in their preparations.

 Huh? What are these? Is that juice? And why did you put dough inside a stone bottle? Some kinda food preparations where you came from, dy? Rita asked with genuine confusion at what she was looking at.

 You dont know yeast, Miss Rita? I asked her.

 She frowned, scratching her head as she replied, Yeast? Sorry, never heard of it. What is that?

 Not knowing if she had her own preparation for yeast, I exined to her the process of making yeasts and what they were. Essentially, yeasts are fungus responsible for the creation of those bubbles inside my three yeast farms. In baking, they were responsible for making bread fluffy and soft to eat, helping it rise and grow during the baking process.

 There were two ways to make them, one way was with fruits and the other way with only flour. Both methods work and the only difference between the two was the end appearance and the taste of the bread.

 With the fruit method, you ce your fruit of choice inside a bottle and feed it sugar and water before closing the lid and giving it a good shake. In our case, we chose fragassa, the Peolyncian strawberry, and used honey as refined sugar wasnt avable to us.

 The process takes around four to five days, where you have to open the lid to let oxygen inside for the yeast to use. Always give it a good shake after you open the lid. Bubbles will start forming on each day, growing in size and number, until the top is filled to the brim with bubbles.

 This, with the sour smell of fermented food, is the sign of ready yeast water. Simply remove the fruits and the yeast water is ready for baking.

 The other method is a bit moreplicated. Add two spoons of flour, sugar, and water inside the bottle and give it a good twirl with the spoons. Close it up with a lid and let it cultivate. Again, we used honey as our sugar while our flour was made from wheat and rice.

 On each day of this five-day process, repeat the instructions above until a sticky, slimy dough with tons of air bubbles is made. Compared to the yeast water, this was called sourdough and gave a nice sour-ish taste if you made bread from of it. It is immediately usable so you can start baking with it anytime.

 In both cases, it was important to use natural water. Thankfully, Tasianna''s and Saori''s water was pure water without anything dangerous for the yeast, like chlorine. If this were Earth, I would say dont use tap water as I heard chlorine was inside it. Instead, use filtered water or pure water.

 In any case, both methods deliver great-tasting bread, so I would rmend home bakers to try making some just for the experience like my Mama and me.

 Unfortunately, it seems Rita still couldnt understand what yeast was so I concluded that this vige at least had no idea of its existence. Nheless, it wont stop me from doing what I came here for - to make a cake!

 ording to our agreement, as I made her ovens, my party was given permission to use them whenever we needed to. Using a bottle of the yeast water, my party immediately began the cake making process. Rita tried to intervene, telling me that Harriet would be unhappy if I was to bake. Apparently, using magic to create an oven was fine for me to do, but baking? Heavens no!

 dy Priestess, youre a noble and as a noble you are not allowed to join the fun of cooking and baking. Bah, what a joke, Iined to myself.

 Stating that Ill handle Harrietsints, Rita shrugged it off and began inspecting the baking process. It seems like the baker inside her awakened once I began using the yeast water. Normally, you would use baking powder as a leavening agent to soften the mixture, but as we didnt have any, we had to amodate this in our recipe. My Mama taught me I could either use yeast or add more eggs into the mixture to help it rise, alleviating the need for baking powder. As I was nning to make strawberry pound cake made with fragassas, this was just perfect.

 The yeast will help the cake rise up. Without it, the pound cake would feel dry and hard. You wanted a fluffy, ky feeling when you bite in, after all.

 While instructing Saori and Tasianna, we added in the necessary ingredients. Wheat flour, chocochuckle eggs, horned gheeper butter and cream, wild honey, and a bit of fragassa juice. Give it all a good stir and pour it into a rock pan I made for the asion. Dont forget to butter and flour the pan, so nothing sticks onto it, and put it all into the oven with the mes on.

 Wait until it finishes rising and boom - a delicious, moist fragassa pound cake. Compared to a vani butter pound cake, the interior was sweet pink, showing off a cutesy appearance.

 Yum!

 W-Wow, its so soft. This is some incredible bread you made there, dy, Rita announced after touching a sliced piece of pound cake, before biting a piece off. Mhmm, incredible, its, wow, so sweet! Damn, this is even sweeter than fruit juice! Hrk!

 While Rita was enjoying the taste, she suddenly tensed up, looking behind her as she noticed Tasianna exuding an aura of hostility, while speaking, Miss Rita, this is Lady Hestias. Her treat with her tea she uttered through clenched teeth.

 O-Oh, I- I apologize. That was really, really rude of me. Im sorry, dy Hestia, I think I acted a bit too, uh, friendly there. This is a nobles food, Rita apologized once she understood what she did, bowing before me despite herrge belly.

 "Ah, it''s ok, don''t worry about it. In fact, Im happy to hear that my cake is so popr with you. Thats good to know, I replied to soothe her before looking over at Tasianna to reprimand her. And Tasianna, sharing is caring. Dont be like that, okay? Especially when were guests inside her home.

 Realizing she was the one who made the mistake, Tasianna imitated Rita and apologized profusely for her rudeness. I think she must have noticed her own actions as she also apologized to Saori for her mistake.

 Shrugging it off, the four of us then began tasting and eating the cake. Tasianna offered to hand hers to Rita as an apology but I told her it was ok. I knew her trauma was controlling her actions, so I understood I had to have patience for her. She was learning, seeing as she was here instead of inside our house.

 Ahhh, this is the best! Tea with cake. A tea party with cake. I feel so fancy.

 Once we were done with this sample, I knew my recipe would work for the one for Count Helvas. Rita insisted she wanted to make the next one but after telling her this was for the lord of thend, she submissively gave up on the idea, instead, I told her it was alright for her to make some good ol'' fashion bread with the sourdough mix.

 tedly, she boasted she would bake something amazing as payment for the delicious cake. Using the other oven, she began baking.

 After the cake and Rita''s bread were finished, we packed everything inside my space storage and said our goodbyes to her. We were nning toe over once in a while to do more baking, so we told her to wee us the next time we came over.

 As the sky began to darken, we called off our training session with the saurians and instead used this time to help me familiarize myself with noble customs. Colwyn and Harriet had to be capable enough to wee the lord of thisnd in their house, so I finally took the chance to ask them some very important questions.

 I used there the excuse that etiquette could differ between countries, and they were genuinely excited to answer everything. For the most part, it was information I already knew. Nothing that would shock me really.

 However, a few questions were impossible for them to answer, like dining etiquette and noble-to-noble interactions. All I could do in this case was to use the information my etiquette teacher pounded into me.

 There were things that differed but I could count them as differences in culture and worlds. Peolyncian, or Kingdom of Artorias, versions, if I may call them so.

 Once that was done, we went back home. We ate some of Ritas bread for dinner and then called it a day. Once morning came, it was finally time for my meeting with the first noble of this world.

MillionNovel

Chapter 93: Preparations for the Dinner.