Chapter 173 - Training (1/2)

Abby ignored all of the political talk and focused on making sure Adam was eating his carrots. He really didn't like them.

”If you finish all of them I'll give you some fruit snacks after,” she whispered conspiratorially. Adam ate his carrots with gusto after that.

Fruit snacks were one of the things she and Sia had worked on creating together. They weren't as sugary as the ones back home since they were made with real pureed fruits and vegetables but they were a novelty here, kind of like marshmallows because of the gelatin.

One day Abby had desperately wanted a fruit-by-the-foot but they didn't exist here. They created a type of fruit leather that wasn't terribly similar to the highly processed taste she loved but it got her wondering what else they could make. Thus fruit snacks shaped like tiny circles were born.

An entire project spanning the better part of two months began after that. Sia's family handled the bakery while she and Abby were holed up in the kitchen at her house trying to recreate things from memory and limited knowledge.

She did this because she missed foods from home, not expecting anything else to come of it. The cookbook had been a surprise but it also brought a lot more money into the village that allowed them to build the inn faster than they would have otherwise. The props and costumes at the theater became slightly better too.

The Kanta were doing very well for themselves considering there were only about two hundred a.d.u.l.ts and teenagers between the two villages. Everyone else was too young to contribute much to the economy or infrastructure.

But that was why Abby had founded the school; she wanted those kids to have more tools to help them help their homeland when they got a bit older. The first of those children had already ”graduated” and moved to the workforce when classes ended for the summer.

There were about four of them and they had already proved to be fairly innovative at their apprenticesh.i.p.s.

One worked at the printing office and wanted to write a novel for older children in addition to making picture books. Another worked under a stonemason and had already worked together with his mentor to discover a more efficient way to use this world's version of cement.

All in all, she considered the limited education she was able to offer the Kanta children a success. She wanted to tell Blaise about it but wasn't sure how long he would be stuck in his camp. With any luck it would only be a few days.

===

Blaise and the other Warriors hadn't been allowed to leave the camp for two weeks and he was seriously considering sneaking out to meet Abby and simply accepting the punishment at this point. She was so close yet felt even further away than she had when he was in Shibatsu.

Training began a few days after they arrived once there was time to set up a schedule.