71 Episode 70 Development and Expansion (2/2)

You don't eat fish raw, do you?

”Is that what ...... is for?

It's true that we don't see sashimi very often here.

I feel the difference in food culture.

Let's leave it at that. Well, just leave it in the store like that. I'm going to carry the distillation equipment and zunana grass and cultivate a new zunana grass field.

”All right. Please do.

Well, let's finish the job quickly.

For now, I'll throw the distillation equipment into the item box, along with all the related equipment (mainly magic rocks that act like fuel).

I'll take this with me.

”Okay. The people at the apothecary were getting annoying, so honestly, it's a big help.

”This too?

How much do the Apothecary's Guild want concentrated liquid?

Even though we have enough here, there are plenty of other cities, so I understand that they want it, but I wish they would think about our situation a little bit.

We don't know the size of the market, and we don't know how much we should produce yet.

We took off from the warehouse and headed for the island of Zunana grass (the first Zunana island, I believe).

After a short flight, Zunana Island came into view.

Along with it, you see other islands of reasonable size.

I've got my bombing spell ready, and I'm going to secure some farmland while I'm at it.

I'll talk to them when I give them the equipment so that they won't be surprised.

So, I went to the office buildings on the island (there were three more, including a small one with a chimney, besides the one I had set up. The number of employees gathering medicinal herbs has also increased, and Zunana Island seems to be growing steadily.

”Yes. I've brought the distillation equipment, where do you want me to put it?

”What, owner? Where did it come from and when?

I just came from the sky. You got room?

Yeah, yeah. I've already got a cabin for that. This way.

We were led to the smallest of the additional buildings.

Is this why only one of them had what looked like a chimney?

I placed the distillation equipment I had brought with me in the position I was told, and although there were a few gaps, it fit well.

It's pretty good work.

It looks like they called in a carpenter, because they're making a lot of money. They said it was selling like hotcakes, so they raised the price several dozen times, but the sales didn't drop.

I heard they raised the price, but I didn't know they did that.

The price is so high that if they had expanded their production steadily, they might have found themselves in a conglomerate or something.

If we don't, supply and demand won't match up, we might as well ask Mercia and increase the number of employees at once.

How many more people do you think you can put on this island if you use it to its full potential?

There are 8 people on the island now, but I'd like to double that to 16, not including the distillers. If we had 24 harvesters in total, we could probably run the island at full capacity.

”That's about right.

The production pace would probably triple.

From what I've heard, it seems that tripling the production rate won't be enough.

Okay, I'm going to explore the other islands and go home. I'm going to explore the other islands and distill the Zunana plant stock.

We're in, aren't we?

No. Just tell them there's gonna be a loud noise.

I don't get spooked by noises. I'm fine.

It's pretty loud.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'll be back.

We climbed up into the sky and spotted a couple of neighboring islands.

The first is the one on your right.

When I invoke my usual blasting magic and warding, the trees and bumps on the top are blown away at once with a sound of explosion.

All that remains is a burnt field of potential farmland.

This, too, is doomed to be overrun by zunana grass tomorrow.

After the other island was blown away in a similar fashion, we looked at the first zunana plant and saw that it was also causing a commotion.

The employees who were harvesting the zunana grass were pointing at us and talking about something.

I'm not going back to the island because it's too much trouble.

Good luck with your explanation, bearded employee whose name I don't know.

It was still early evening when I came back to Photoren.

I had done all the work I needed to do, and I was bored.

Since I have no time anyway, and since I have a nice tuna and a sharp knife (also known as a magic sword), let's try to spread the Japanese food culture.

To eat sashimi, you want soy sauce, but the best seasoning is salt, which brings out the flavor of the ingredients.

From what I've eaten in the past, the fish here seems to be quite tasty, and that should be enough.

Let's show them the power of Japanese food, which is popular even in foreign countries.

By the way, we also have Leviathan in stock, but it seems to be too hard for ordinary people, so I'll put it on hold.