Translator: Reo
Editor: PalenMisha
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 72 – Alternative Food – Assam
I got a message from Laham, and as I read through it, I could feel the corners of my mouth lift up. It might be possible to perform Toki’s heart surgery tonight.
Apparently the maihan and my earlier attempts at pouring in mana through Toki’s rectum1 had a positive effect. It also seemed that Toki’s treatment was more important to Laham than his day off and that he’d come back in to do the surgery.
Well, that probably meant that his talk with Yarra went well, right?
If we have Toki drink my semen one more time, eat more maihan, and then pour some more mana into his rectum, his body will be ready for the surgery. And, when his heart is healed, we can finally do “what comes after.”
Suppressing my impulses, I tried to have a conversation with Toki when another message came in from Laham.
It was about the staple food of the poor – “How about returning it to them?” he wrote.
What did he mean by that?
He wrote that Kiha would explain it to me in more detail. As I needed to tell Kiha to make maihan for dinner tonight anyway, I summoned him to the room once again.
“Assam, is over. Magic give?” Toki said. He’d been sitting cross-legged and staring at the projections without getting tired of them.
It was cute how he begged me for more magic and, after planting a light kiss on his lips, I granted his request.
His innocent reaction filled me with desire. However, I quickly remembered that I’d called Kiha over and managed to restrain myself.
“Toki, Kiha is going to be here soon. There’s something I didn’t tell you about maihan.”
“Hm? What is it?”
It was better to tell him now than for him to find out later from somebody else.
“Maihan is the staple food of the poor. It is also used as fodder for livestock. In order to make maihan your staple food, it was decided that the kingdom will purchase it as a luxury food item. Kiha will be arriving soon to discuss an alternative food option for the poor. Do you also want to listen in?”
“Un.” He nodded without hesitation.
“Do you have any thoughts? About your staple food being the food of livestock and the poor?”
It was possible that he wouldn’t want to eat such a thing now that he knew the truth behind it. There is no person who would happily eat animal feed. I thought that if he felt that way, it was ok for him to reject the maihan from now on.
However, what Toki said back to me was an unexpected but exceedingly obvious fact.
“I, from different world. Of course taste is different. Is not obvious has food to eat. Am thankful just can eat. Even if animal feed, will die if no eat.”
It was like getting hit on the back of the head. Toki’s words made me acutely aware of my own inadequacies.
“I thank person who make. I thank that food was found. Making it look luxury I understand. Money moves, everybody happy. Assam think did. Thank you, Assam.”
The obvious fact that Toki was someone from another world, and the words he just said, I should tell them to everyone. If I do, people’s impression of Toki eating maihan will change and they won’t look down on him.
“Thank you, Toki. You always say such surprising words. From now on as well, I ask you to please make up for my inadequacies.”
He tilted his head at my words. Well, for Toki, doing such a thing was just a matter of course. That was his strength.
It was announced that a visitor had arrived and when I gave Kiha permission to enter the room, he was surprised to see Toki there.
“Toki knows about maihan. Please explain the alternative foodstuffs in detail.”
I prompted him to speak, but it seemed Kiha still found it hard to open his mouth. Toki, who noticed this, called out to him.
“Kiha, thank you. Cook doesn’t want make food with animal feed, right? But Kiha made for me. I, from different world. Of course taste is different. If no eat, die. Have something to eat, not obvious. Am thankful has something to eat.”
Kiha’s eyes opened wide at Toki’s words. I knew that there was dissatisfaction in the kitchen when I gave them the order to cook maihan. I was grateful for Kiha who, among the kitchen staff, created maihan dishes that Toki could eat with relish.
“Kiha’s food, to my life did connect. From now on, animal feed no good? Might ask to cook things you don’t eat. Is ok? Will make for me?”
When asked those questions, Kiha answered, “Yes, leave it to me!” with teary eyes.2
“A chef cooks with the person who is going to eat their food in mind. I devote all the food that I make to Toki-sama. Whether it be sand or stone, if it is what Toki-sama wishes for, then I shall cook it for you.”
I stopped myself from saying that there’s no way he’ll eat sand or stone, because he’s from a different world after all.
“Thank you, Kiha.”
“I’m sorry. I’m crying for some reason. I apologize for my classless words. About the staple food for the poor… Your Highness, have you heard of kint3?”
“I don’t mind the language you use. If I remember correctly, kint is an emergency food ration. There are seedlings in the palace warehouse.”
“Apologies and thank you. As it is an emergency food ration, its production is currently being regulated under the pretext of ‘ensuring that there will be enough of it to grow in times of emergency.’ However, kint grows just as fast as maihan. Incidentally, maihan can be harvested within one leaf.4”
“One leaf you say? What does that mean?”
The details are as follows.
Around ten forests5 ago, there was a minister of finance named Leda. Leda had a young wife and he doted on her.
His wife was very conscious of her social status and pressed Leda to do all kinds of reckless things. As Leda didn’t want to lose his wife, he earnestly fulfilled every single one of her reckless requests. The kint incident was one such request.
In the past, regardless of status, kint was eaten as often as bret6. However, the wife didn’t approve of her noble self’s favorite food being eaten by commoners. So Leda turned kint into an emergency food source and began regulating its production. He forbade everyone but a few kint farmers that were close to him to grow the plant. Then, he told all the other farmers who previously grew kint to grow maihan instead. Of course, the price of kint then rose and the common people could not afford to eat any.
On the other hand, unlike kint, there was no demand for maihan due to its bad taste, and even if the farmers grew it, they couldn’t sell it and their quality of life became poor. As their destitute selves could not afford to buy food, in the end, they had no choice but to eat the maihan that they grew. And thus “the poor” were created.
