Chapter 371
(371) Mallegory in chaos
Translator: Tseirp
We returned to Suzuki’s home .
Suzuki returned just at the same time as we did so I pa.s.sed the subst.i.tute doll to him too .
Suzuki would team up with the guards to investigate if the victims had any personal belongings stolen while Carol would immediately start on finding the location where the Doujinshi were being sold underground .
“What should we do?”
“Let me see, for now … let’s loiter around the town . ”
At the moment, the only thing I could do was look through the jobs of the people I pa.s.s by to find the Shaman .
“Okay, I will gladly accompany you . ”
Haru’s tail wagged happily but it wasn’t as though it was a date .
We walked along the road with shophouses on the sides but most of the shops were closed .
A bag of flour that would normally sell for one copper coin was now selling for 10 copper coins at a street vendor . The shop owner was not a Merchant but an Apprentice Swordsman .
It looked like they could not stop the rise in food prices .
But there were not many customers .
Or rather, there were not many pedestrians .
“It seems that some information has already been disseminated regarding the frenzy curse . Many people don’t want to be involved in unnecessary trouble . ”
“I guess … hn?”
A man was having an exchange in front of the flour shop we were pa.s.sing by .
He was slightly older than me . His job was – Cook: Lv16 .
I felt like I’ve seen him somewhere before … what was happening?
The exchange didn’t seem to be going well as I could hear the angry arguments from where we were .
It looked like it would turn to fists at that rate .
“- Master . ”
“I guess I should stop it . ”
I said and quickly approached the man about to brandish his fist and grabbed his arm .
“You should stop . ”
“Let me punch him! This guy is trash!”
“Who’s trash! The only thing I’ve done was to buy cheap and sell expensive!”
“That’s exactly the issue! You knew that the town would be sealed and bought up more than half of the flour from shops! Because of that, there is less flour in the market . ”
I see, so it’s a fight between resellers and their victims .
I guess it was a problem in any world .
“Nevertheless, it would be a crime if you punch him . Your family would be sad if you fall into criminal jobs . ”
“I don’t have any wife or children that would feel sad for me … ? You …”
The man retracted his arm and showed a remorseful look .
“Sorry … I caused you trouble once more . ”
The man politely apologized to me .
Once more?
“Have we met?”
“You don’t remember? Yesterday –”
“Oi, don’t chit-chat here! You’re obstructing my business . ”
The flour reseller chased us away .
It would develop into a fight once more if we stayed any longer so we moved to a location away from there .
During that time, I tried to recall where I met that man .
After all, a lot of things happened yesterday . I met Flute and fought Talwi .
He wasn’t the coachman of the carriage I rode on either .
“Ah, you still can’t recall? Did you call it Dispel? You applied that on me –”
“Ah! You’re the ‘Age = no history with girlfriend’!”
“Yeah . But please don’t remember me that way . ”
He said with an awkward expression .
The man led the way .
“I’m called Fred . I run a bread shop in the town . ”
He mentioned that he runs the shop but the bread shop shelves were empty and it seemed that they were closed .
“It’s embarra.s.sing but the shop is in the state you can see . The shop was closed for a long time so I spent a long time cleaning up yesterday and when I went an hour later than usual to buy flour, they had already been sold out . I only heard just now that the reason was because that man bought a large quant.i.ty of flour knowing the national army surrounded the town . At this rate, I won’t be able to bake any bread . ”
He can’t bake bread … huh .
There was a shortage of rice as well so I couldn’t suggest making gluten-free bread either . It wasn’t a situation where I could suggest to just eat desserts if you can’t have bread .
“Sigh, misfortune comes in pairs . ”
“Ah … well … cheer up . Right, I have some flour so I could share some with you . ”
I said and took out a hemp bag filled with flour from My World .
For the time being, a hundred kilograms should be fine .
“This much!?”
“Yes – – it might not be enough as a merchant though . ”
I did have pre-milled wheat in the tons but they had not been processed .
After all, there were no windmills or water wheels in My World so most of the milling was done by manual labor .
Thinking about it, it might not be possible for a windmill since there was no wind but we had a river so we could do the milling using a water wheel .
I’ll try suggesting it to Pionia next time .
“No, this is sufficient . With this much, I should have enough to bake for everyone in town – – but this – – “
Fred scooped some flour from the hemp bag and transferred it to a small dish before licking it .
Consuming raw flour was hard to digest and I was worried he would get food poisoning so I would prefer if he didn’t do that .
“As expected . This is high-quality flour . I’ve never seen this before . ” “You could tell just by licking it?”
“Yes, I run a bread shop after all . I could actually tell by smell but I couldn’t resist … ah, I want to lick more . ”
The man said and scooped another round of floor to lick .
… Did I mistakenly take out something else? Even if you can get food poisoning from eating raw flour, I don’t think you can get addicted to it .
That said, bread making huh?
I was more of a consumer of bread than a baker .
I wanted to experience baking bread once .
“Fred-san . I want to help with baking bread, would it be all right? Haru is okay with it too, right?”
“Yes, I will help with all sincerity . ”
“Of course … ah, but we need clean work clothes …”
“Don’t worry – – Clean! Now we are completely disinfected and clean . ”
There were various disinfection methods like boiling water disinfection or alcohol disinfection but nothing beats Clean disinfection . It washes and bathes the body, cleans the hands, rinses the mouth, brushes the teeth, cleans the ears and nose . That spell would clean everything at one go . Apart from tr.i.m.m.i.n.g hair and removing unwanted hair .
“Ooo! Lifestyle Magic . So jealous . If I could use that magic, I could save on the washing fee I pay every day . ”
Daily washing fee … Does this world have dry cleaners?
I thought to myself as I applied Clean on Haru as well .
I took the chance to switch my second job to Outdoor Chef and the three of us experienced making bread .
I’ll omit the detailed procedure but a Cook can learn the skill called Fermentation that can strengthen the ability of bacteria so making bread was easy with that skill .
The process that would take over an hour in j.a.pan was shortened by more than half .
While the bread was in the kiln baking, I asked the main question .
“Stolen belongings? I was asked during the investigation but I don’t recall losing anything in particular . ”
So we struck out in the end .
If he was asked about it during the investigation, that meant that the guards in town also suspected if stolen personal belongings were used as catalysts .
As expected, my Outdoor Chef level didn’t increase . We were cooking indoors with complete facilities after all .
The freshly baked bread were hard but delicious .
I could enjoy freshly baked bread whenever I wanted by storing them in my item bag .
As thanks for the bread, I applied the Preservation skill on the remaining flour and Clean on the dirty work clothes .
Immediately as I was leaving the shop, a young man pa.s.sed by me . Was he a customer who came because of the smell of bread? I thought as I perked my ears to listen but,
『Fred-san, you’re back . Do you have anything to wash today?』
『I don’t have anything today . Please come by tomorrow . 』
Looked like it was the dry cleaner .
I got in the way of their business so I apologized in my heart .
“Master – – that freshly baked bread was delicious . ”
“Yeah … next time I will try making bread too . ”
“Okay . Master’s cooking is delicious so I’m very excited to try that . ”
Haru said with her tail wagging .
I’ll have to raise my Farmer level to change job to Cook .