Chapter 98
Kazura returned to his room with Liese and picked up the remote control for the air conditioner that was on the table .
Liese stood there like a stick with a stunned expression as she looked at the refrigerator, laptop, and a large pile of cardboard boxes in her room .
Kazura pointed the remote to the air conditioner and pressed the ‘cooling’ b.u.t.ton .
The air conditioner in the corner of the room emitted an electronic ‘beep’ and slowly turned the blower on .
“Sit down properly . I’ll show you a few tools . ”
“Oh, um, what’s that box over there that’s moving on its own?”
Liese asks the question while staring at the air conditioner that has started to move on its own, forgetting to even stop being respectful .
“This is an air conditioner, a tool that heats and cools the room . Go near it . ”
“Yes”
As prompted, Lise walked under the air conditioner .
Kazura operated the remote control and set the air volume to high and the temperature to 16 degrees .
“Ah, the breeze … it’s cool!”
Liese marveled as she felt the cold wind blowing out of the air conditioner on her face .
Her expression loosened at the feeling .
“Do you like it?”
“It feels good…”
As if it was so pleasant, Liese continued to bathe in the cold air with a blissful expression on her face .
Her expression had completely relaxed .
”Let’s get you a cold drink too?”
Kazura took out a pitcher of barley tea that he had made from the refrigerator and together they poured it into a silver cup that he had chilled in the fridge and handed it to Lise .
“Yes, this is cold barley tea . It’s delicious . ”
“Oh, thank you … it’s cold!”
Receiving a cup of chilled barley tea, Liese marveled again .
“Here, let’s add some ice, too?”
Kazura took more ice out of the ice room and put some in the cup Liese was holding .
The ice in the cup with a clang, making a unique sound as it made a crunching sound as it dipped into the barley tea .
“What? Ice! It’s summer now, right!”
“Yeah, it’s summer . ”
“Why is there ice in the summer?”
“This is a tool called a refrigerator, and it can be used to keep food cold and make ice . Well, just take a sip for now . ”
“Yes, yes, I’ll take it … it’s delicious! It’s cold!”
“I know, right?”
Kazura nodded at Liese, who was happy to see his expression change, and sat down on a chair at the table with a book bag in his hand, which had been left in the corner of the room .
“I’ll show you some tools, would you mind sitting there?”
“Yes!”
He waits for Liese to take a seat and search through the contents of his Book bag .
Liese is staring at it, holding a cup of barley tea in her hands .
“So, this is a LED lantern, a lighter and…”
“Ah”
As Kazura began to lay the tools on the table, Liese noticed the lighter and spoke up .
“That’s the one I picked up when I met with Kazura-sama in the commercial section, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah . I was just sneaking in to visit then, so I was in a hurry when Liese picked up my lighter . ”
“Yes, I was as surprised as I was at the time… oh, I’m sorry! I’m not sure I’m being respectful…”
Liese looked awkward as she realized she’d been being respectful the whole time .
“It’s okay . It’ll take some time to get used to it . ”
Kazura picked up the lighter and made sure the firepower setting was at a minimum before offering it to Liese .
“Here you go . I’ve got it so it won’t produce as big a fire as before, just press it . ”
“Uh-huh . ”
Liese put down her cup and accepted the lighter .
She grabbed the lighter with her left hand and attached her right index finger to it as if she was scared .
When you push the b.u.t.ton firmly in, a small fire appears with a click .
”Oh!”
Liese ticks the ignition b.u.t.ton on her lighter and then shouts out as she watches it go off .
“How on earth does this work? I don’t know how you can start a fire just by pressing it…”
“It’s filled with flaming air, and when you press the b.u.t.ton, the sparks that come out will set it on fire . You can adjust the size of the fire with the k.n.o.b . ”
“Yeah, well…”
Whether she understood or not, Liese fiddled with her lighter with a mysterious look on her face .
She turned the firepower setting to the maximum and ignited it again, and was amazed at the size of the fire, “Oh!”
“This is an amazing tool . Making a fire is very difficult, so I think everyone would be very helpful if they could use something this useful…”
In this world, a method of ignition known as the Fire Plow method is used to start fires .
In this method, a wooden stick is placed vertically on a dug-out wooden board and the stick is rotated by rubbing it with both hands .
The sawdust produced by the rubbing creates sparks from the heat of the friction, which are ignited by blowing cotton or wood chips into the sawdust .
A skilled person can make a fire in a short time, but an inexperienced person will not be able to make a fire for a long time .
I can’t keep doing this every time I need a fire, so I usually store the sparks in the ashes .
At the Balin residence in the village of Grisea, the firewood burned to some extent in the hearth was covered with ashes and used as a spark for the next morning .
Once charred wood was covered with ashes, the fire would continue to burn slowly until the next morning .
Therefore, when the ashes were removed in the morning, the charcoal could be removed from the charcoal which had turned bright red .
Incidentally, burned firewood, other than that used for sparks, is put into a pot, covered, extinguished, and stored as extinguished charcoal .
The extinguished charcoal is easy to ignite and will continue to burn for a while in the same way as firewood, making it good fuel .
“It’s true, but those tools are quite conspicuous, so we can’t just hand them out all over the place . I’m not going to go . They’re going to talk about where it came from, and if they make too much of a fuss about it, it’s not going to be about domestic politics . “
”I see… yeah, you’re right . If they find out about Kazura and Greysior-sama showing up, it’s going to be a big deal . ”
Consciously correcting her language, Liese spoke in an effort to keep her tone natural while making an effort to correct her language .
She wasn’t quite ready to change her mind yet, but she was struggling to keep up with Kazura .
“That’s why I want you to keep the tools I have private . So, the next tool . ”
“Oh, um…”
As Kazura continued to pick up the LED lantern, Liese coyly interrupted him .
“Hmm? Was there anything else that bothered you?”
“Oh, no, no, I just wanted to ask you something . ”
“Do you want to hear it?”
“Yes”
When Kazura tilted her head slightly, Liese nodded with a serious expression .
“Lately, my mother’s hair and skin seem to have suddenly become very beautiful, but that… Could it be that Kazura did something to you?”
“Oh, that . Yeah, I did . ”
“What did you do?”
As if she was really interested, Liese leaned forward and asked Kazura .
“I brought some skincare products and hair wash detergent as gifts for you . Also, did I give you some bath salts to take a bath in?”
“Cosmetics … Does it really work that well?”
“Yeah, it’s a bit of a unique piece of equipment . You see, Zirconia, it’s not comparable to what they use in our world . It works like no other . ”
“Oh, I see…”
“Would you like to try Liese?”
When I offered that to Liese, who gulped, her expression lit up .
“Is it alright?”
“It’s alright since I’d appreciate you for all the hard work you have done before” .
“Yes! I understand”
Where was the faltering feeling from earlier?
Liese nodded with an expression full of expectation and motivation .
Liese seems to take extra care of her hair and skin on a regular basis, so she can’t help but be curious when she hears about the tremendously effective cosmetics .
From his book bag, Kazura took out the moisturizing gel and other cosmetics, shampoo and conditioner, and even bath salts .
Looking at those containers laid out on the table, Liese’s eyes sparkled .
”So beautiful … I’ve never seen such beautiful containers before . ”
Gazing at the plastic container of the moisturizing gel, Liese let out an exclamation of admiration .
The shiny plastic containers are very beautiful and give off an atmosphere of luxury .
In this world, none of them would ever be available .
“All of the cosmetic containers are so beautiful . I don’t know how many different kinds there are, but there must be more than 100 different kinds . This is all I’ve got right now . ”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of them…”
“I’ll get you some next time . ”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah . I’ll bring you a few things that I think would suit Liese . ”
It’s almost as if she’s fishing for something, but she seems to have become very motivated .
Earlier, she seemed to be frozen in a state of nervousness and anxiety, but the mention of her fancy of the cosmetic products seemed to ease his mind somewhat .
It looks so cute that he gladly picked up the container of moisturizing gel and said, “I did it!”
(I see, those people who are paying tribute to Liese for all kinds of things have been hit by this smile) .
I’d like to believe that the smile I’m showing you now is authentic, but those who often give Liese gifts must have been captivated by this smile .
This made her cheeks bleed and said, “Thank you! What girl wouldn’t be thrilled on the day when she was told that she was going to be able to get something like that?
In fact, when Kazura presented Liese with a pendant before, the cuteness of her smile made me tie knots inside .
I’m going to show you how to use it now . I’ll give you some shampoo and bath salts, so you can start using them today .
“Yes! Thank you!”
Kazura received the container of moisturizing gel and opened the lid, explaining how to use it to Liese, whose eyes sparkled in antic.i.p.ation with excitement .
About an hour later, I was in a room in the mansion .
In a room in the mansion, Kazura and the Isteria family were having dinner .
As usual, Kazura and Nelson were discussing the progress of their work and future measures while chatting with each other .
Zirconia was also interrupting the conversation from time to time, but she glanced at Liese, who was sitting diagonally across from her earlier and turned her attention to Liese .
”Nyu fu fu…… . . ”
(…what is this…)
Zirconia was puzzled by Liese, who seemed to be in some kind of a good mood, loosening her cheeks and bringing the food to her mouth with a crispy smile .
After the incident during the day, she was prepared for today’s dinner to be awkward .
But when they came in, Kazura doesn’t seem to be in a particularly bad mood, and in Liese’s case, who was expected to come in sulking, but her cheeks are still loose .
I had no idea what was going on anymore .
Eira, who is standing by the wall, is also watching the situation and has her eyes glazed over .
“You’re in a very good mood, Liese, is something good going on?”
As Zirconia was thinking about this, Nelson noticed Liese’s condition and called out to her .
“Yes, a very good thing . ………ugh . ”
“Well can you tell me what’s going on?”
Nelson’s eyes loosened at the happy expression on his own daughter’s face .
Liese was always smiling and affectionate, but it was quite rare for her to appear in such a good mood .
“Earlier, Kazura-sama gave me some cosmetics and hair wash for caring for my skin, and I’m looking forward to using them…”
Liese replied with a slight scowl on her face .
Her face seemed to say, “I’m so happy . ”
“What, from Kazura-sama?”
Nelson turned to Kazura, and she smiled at him .
“Yes, I’ve always been very grateful to Liese-san, so I thought I’d pay you back for that . I gave you the same product I gave to Zirconia-san before . ”
“Oh, I see . Thank you for your concern . But as for those items…”
“Oh, it’s all right about that . In fact, I decided to talk to Zirconia and tell Liese about it during the day today . I’ve already explained everything to them, so they know what to expect . I’ve already explained everything to them, so they know what to expect . ”
Hearing that, Nelson looked a little surprised .
He had been letting Liese help him with quite a bit of work these days, so it was just as he was thinking of discussing whether it was time to tell Kazura’s ident.i.ty .
Hearing that Kazura himself had suggested revealing his ident.i.ty, Liese was glad that Kazura had approved of him .
“Was that so? Liese, I’m glad to hear that . Keep up the good work, please . ”
“Yes, I’ll do my best . ………nyu fufufu . ”
(“Yeah, I’m being fed…!”)
Zirconia was relieved that Kazura and Liese weren’t on bad terms with each other, even though she felt something black as she smiled at Kazura, who was smiling at the two of them’s cordial exchange, but Zirconia was relieved that Kazura and Liese weren’t on bad terms with each other .
Liese seemed to be maneuvered well by the thing, but on the surface, the relationship seemed to be good .
It made my head hurt to think about how to get things back on track from here, but for now, I’d better be happy with the situation .
By the way, I think it’s time we went looking for a place to build an ice reservoir in the mountains to the northwest . I have to go back to the village of Grisea in about 10 days, so I hope I can get there before then .
“Well, I’ll get my schedule in order and we’ll be on our way soon . May I bring Liese along with me?”
“Yes, of course . I’d like the craftsmen to accompany me on the day, so it would be helpful if Liese was with me . Would that be okay with Liese too?”
“Yeah, it’s fine . Eira, you’ll have to rearrange my schedule later . You can say no to any meeting you can refuse at this point . ”
“All right, all right . ”
…hmm?
Nelson’s eyes darted to Kazura and Liese, who suddenly exchanged words in a shattered tone .
Zirconia, too, looked stunned and had her mouth half-open .
“On the day of the event, I think we can take a carpenter with us…… . . Also, since we’re going to make a building material called mortar, I want you to prepare lime, sand, and a few other materials . It is . I’ll give you what you need later on a piece of paper . ”
“Okay, sure . I’ll have it ready immediately . ”
“Let’s do some prototyping before we head into the mountains . We’ll be using it a lot in the future, so make sure you have plenty of materials on hand . ”
”The only thing we plan to use mortar for in the immediate future is the reservoir construction, so far . ”
But we will also have to deal with the river construction and the collapsing of buildings that have been a problem in the slums .
Since a tremendous amount of mortar will have to be used, we will need to purchase a large quant.i.ty of materials in advance .
“Mr . Kazura, what’s the difference between that mortar and plaster?”
“It’s used in a similar way to gypsum, but it’s much stronger and more resistant to water than gypsum . If you use mortar to build a reservoir, there’s no need to worry about water leaking into the ground, so it can be used as a reservoir for ice making . I thought it could be useful . ”
Hearing this, Nelson let out an ‘oh’ .
“Stronger and more water-resistant than plaster, and the materials are lime and sand? That sounds very user-friendly . Most importantly, it seems to be cheaper to gather . ”
“It’s inexpensive and can be ma.s.s-produced, so I think it will be very useful in the future . Since we’ll be using it everywhere, we’ll have to start up a specialized industry . ”
“What about having a gypsum worker do the work at the same time? The more similar the work is, the quicker they can get used to using the mortar . ”
“Yes, that might be a good idea . Also, it would be good to have a potter do the job at the same time . We can use discarded pieces of pottery as material, so it would be very convenient to have a potter on hand . ”
“You use pottery pieces too? There is a place on the outskirts of the city where they throw away all the pottery that is no longer in use, so I will collect it later . ”
“Oh, if you have a place like that, you could build a cellar of mortar material near there . Hey . It saves us the trouble of shipping . ”
“I see… Liese, do you have time for the plasterers and potteries?”
When Nelson asked Liese, she nodded with a smile, “Yes”
“I’ve visited the potter’s workshop many times . I’ve never spoken to a plasterer, but I’ve been able to talk to another profession I’ve been a.s.sociated with . I will . I’ll ask them to send someone with good skills around . ”
Liese had always ordered containers for cosmetics and accessories directly from the potter himself .
She also visited the workshop herself and communicated with the artisans, and since she was a bit of an advocate, they would listen to some of the unreasonable requests if Liese asked .
“Hmm . I’ll give you all the details about the number of people and so on later . ”
“Okay . I’ll take care of it . ”
“I knew I could count on Liese to be there for me . Keep up the good work . ”
“Yes”
“I’m getting carried away”
And so the dinner time pa.s.sed in a slightly different atmosphere than usual .
It was late at night that day .
Kazura was having tea with Eira in the dimly lit kitchen as usual .
Eira waits for Kazura in the galley every day without fail, so the late-night tea party has become a daily routine for the two of them .
“Kazura-sama, Liese-sama’s mood seemed different from the usual, what happened?”
Eira looks puzzled, perhaps remembering Liese at dinner .
It’s natural to be puzzled when she was making an end-of-the-world expression in the daytime, but just a few hours later, she has such a delighted expression on her face .
“Oh, that’s right…… . . well, are you not angry with Liese anymore?”
“I’m not mad at her . We’ve talked about it together since then, and Liese has apologized properly, and I don’t care anymore . ”
“Well, that’s good . ”
Eira was relieved to hear that .
Even as she returned to the mansion and began to prepare dinner, she was anxious for the two of them to get on bad terms with each other .
“But the two of you seemed to be acting differently, what is going on? Was it?”
“Oh, that . We suggested that we should go out with each other in our natural state from now on . Liese seemed to be getting into the habit of acting out, so it was better for her to do so . I thought it might be easier to pull out . ”
“Soooo, at a bare minimum, both of you have been talking more casually…I hope it’s okay…”
“It’s still a little awkward, but I think she’ll probably be fine . Besides, if you can talk to her in a straightforward manner, she should be able to relax her shoulders, so she’ll be more comfortable with you . I think it’s going to be like that . ”
“Yeah, I guess so . ”
Eira hurriedly nodded in agreement with Kazura, who was interpreting the meaning of “I wonder if it’s okay” that Eira had blurted out in a much different way .
Liese’s true personality was quite open when she was acting, so Eira was worried that Kazura would pull away .
I don’t think she has a particularly terrible personality, but her personality when acting is so perfect that the gap is not half as big as it is when compared to her true state .
”Eira-san, if you can stop acting like you’re weirdly pushing Liese in the future… Oh, I know that in Eira-san’s position, she couldn’t help but act the way she did until now, so please don’t worry about that .
“I’m sorry…”
For the past few days, Eira had brought up the subject of lifting up Liese every night at tea with Kazura .
Lately, the two of them seemed to be getting along better than ever before, perhaps because of that effect .
But one incident during the day ruined everything .
At the meeting with Zirconia in the evening, it was an event with both of them keeping their mouths shut .
I said, “Well, let’s call it a day . I look forward to working with you in the future . ”
Yes, thank you .
Eira smiled in relief at Kazura, who said cheerfully as usual .