Chapter 66–Al Kadia’s Village

 

“Is it time already?” Alisha asked as she rubbed her eyes... is it morning, nope! If that was what you are asking...

 

“Get up already unless you want to stay there?” Iris asked as she opened the door of the vehicle, revealing a tiny village enclosed with 8-foot tall wooden fences; the village was slightly dark but was still illuminated by traditional torches contrary to the street lamps on the capital, it wasn’t dark because the torches were weak but it was because of the tall trees that covered the entire village... I wonder how they grow plants here, I thought as Iris exited the vehicle before she was immediately greeted by what looked to be the village head.

 

“Thank you for taking your time to come here, young lass!” an old man with a long white beard, holding a wooden stick said as he welcomed us together with the villagers; the villagers in the village were slightly thinner than the ones in the capital but still were if not more healthier than some of the people from the capital.

 

“It’s fine since we were heading to the furthest village around, might as well take our time to send out the monthly aid here”, Iris said as Alisha and I exited the vehicle which soon closed itself before they led us inside the village; contrary to the exterior of the village, the interior was fairly clean... it had stone pavements, and each building was well illuminated by a proper source of light, though the buildings were made of some twigs weaved in a certain arrangement... The windows of each building were also made of simple twigs, the interior was full of wood. The amount of wood being used in the village gave it an earthy feeling, the only building that wasn’t made out of wood was located in the center... It was a tiny stone building with wooden windows, and that was also the place where we were led to.

 

“What was your aid request again?” Iris asked as we sat down on a wooden chair that was painted with what seemed to be varnish; this place is amusing to me but to Alisha, it apparently wasn’t but she still was surprised to see what a village looked like... probably because she had no vision back in her days.

 

“The exact details are here, young lady.” the old man said as he placed a small crumpled note that was made out of another papyrus like material; the crumpled note had weird looking symbols on it, which I can clearly understand... The note contained a list that mentions several items such as seedlings, some meat, reinforced wood, and some farming tools.

 

“Is that all?” Iris asked as she took one of the pouches that were hanging from her waist and placed it on the table as the old man opened the pouch before nodding; is that all, I expected some kind of fun deals like “kill a monster” or something but yeah... not everything that happens in anime, happens?

 

“Is there anything you two like to do here?” Iris asked as Alisha shook her head, but I had a different plan that might interest her... “If I recall properly, you said there was a special dish being sold here. Can we try it out?” I asked as Alisha’s eyes suddenly glowed brightly after hearing the word “dish”.

 

“Where is it?” Alisha asked as her face glowed; as I expected, a glutton will only react when there is food involved...

 

“Oh you mean, Tac’o?” the old man said as he smiled; Tac’o... is that literally taco but with an apostrophe before the o?

 

“Ah–there was that, do you have it?” Iris asked as the old man nodded and he said, “We always have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner... are you three going to join us?”

 

“If that is fine with you”, Iris replied as Alisha and I nodded; I want to see how they make the tacos here, I wonder if they use crispy shells or soft shells... or do they use any shells for them?

 

“Well, let’s head to the diner then”, he said before we nodded and followed him towards an enormous building made out of wood; this building was enormous enough to hold over a hundred people... apparently this place is where most people would eat because of the lack of cooking devices here, they usually only offer tac’os or so what I was told.

 

“Ah, it’s the chief!” a youthful man said as he bowed down to the old man; he must be really respected here, huh?

 

“What would you like to eat today, chief?” the youthful man asked as we took a seat on a nearby table; how rude ignoring us... I thought, but well, we are technically unknown here for now.

 

“It’s not me eating today, it’s these three young lassies here that want to try out our special tac’o, bring them the best one you can give!” the old man said as the young man nodded before rushing towards what seemed to be a counter which was, as usual, made out of wood.

 

“What do you think about this place, lass?” the old man asked as he looked at me while supporting his head with his arm which was on the table; what do I think about this place... hmm, maybe earthy? I mean, it does give a sturdy feeling maybe because of the wood that was being used... it also gave off an antique feeling which was especially shown on the light sources that were being used which were torches that were placed on a torch holder on a wall.

 

“Hmm... it is quite antique if I had to say,” I replied as the old man chuckled before his mouth opened... “It is antique, it was built during the early days of the empire by our founder... this place has gone through more events than you can think but it was always repaired, it is also the only place standing right now that was built by our founder... the other buildings that were built by our dear founder were demolished in several events, from heavy winds to wars.”

 

Wow, so I was slightly right, huh... I wonder what is so special on this building that the inhabitants repaired it with every event, it must be because of tradition right, I thought as the fresh aroma of vegetables, meat suddenly crept up to us before the young man came back carrying four plates on a black tray, the plates were simply made out of wood.

 

“Here is your tac’os” the youthful man said as he placed the black tray on the table before carefully placing each plate on our respective places before asking... “What would you like for drinks?”

 

“Just get some juice out there!” the old man said as the youthful man nodded before rushing out once again leaving us alone with our tac’os... “You three can start eating now.” the old man said as we nodded; the tac’o was exactly what I thought it to be, but the shell was softer than usual, the vegetables gave off a fresh feel together with the meat which looked to be cooked fairly well, besides the meat and vegetable, there was also melted cheese on it and what seemed to be ketchup... wait, there is ketchup here?!

 

“Are you eating or not?” Alisha asked as she munched on hers while looking at mine... whoops, the glutton is targeting my food...

 

“I am eating, of course!” I said as I grabbed the tac’o with my own hands before taking a bite on it; not long after taking a bite on the tac’o, the delicious taste of meat covered with melted cheese entered shrouded my taste buds as the lettuces and other vegetables gave it a refreshing taste, if I had to compare the tac’o to some restaurant on my previous life... it would be Taco Ball, I mean it isn’t that bad but still... It tastes like those tacos in Taco Ball, not long after I started eating; the drinks arrived, the drinks were placed on a wooden cup, and guess what the drinks were... it was coconut juice, which gave me nostalgic feels as I continued to eat my dish.

An hour passed by as we finished eating our dinner for the day after we ate dinner... we toured around the village where we discovered what goes on their lives... despite being in poverty, they still gave off a bright smile with some parents giving away their privilege to eat... it showed a perfect example of what familial love was, the willingness of the parents to sacrifice everything for their children’s smile.

 

The few places we toured in the village were the marketplace which was filled with vegetables and some meat from there; the next one was a nearby tavern which apparently we were legal to drink but I’d rather not... the tavern was as you expected, a tavern made out of wood filled with the smell of alcohol and drunkards of course; after the tavern, we moved to a sewing factory where they apparently create the clothes by hand... it was the place that greatly interested Alisha and I as it was exactly what our planned business would be, what shocked us on our tour inside the sewing factory was the skillful movements of the sewers, each movement they do were swift and accurate without the need of magnifying glasses while also looking at a small drawing which was placed on the table, it was very interesting to see what was inside one... they didn’t use any machine to create the clothes but instead used the traditional needles and thread; the thread were made from silk which should have been an expensive material but apparently; it is extremely cheap here for some reason.

 

After our small tour, we headed back to the vehicle where we discussed about the few things that we learned from our little tour, especially the ones that might help us in our business which was a sewing factory... the questions I asked Iris were about how to acquire silks and the likes to which she responded, “You can simply acquire them on a silk factory for about a bronze coin for a large amount”... silks are extremely cheap, I could probably buy thousands of them if I wanted to and probably crash the market but I’ll probably refrain from doing that.

 

The designs that Alisha drew required wool which was apparently fairly expensive as there was a lack of animals that gave off wool, but that was for the sweaters... the dresses she designed simply needed some silk and the likes which were fairly available in the market; soon after we finished discussing, the two of them fell asleep meanwhile I took out the book I was reading before...

 

The page I am reading on the book was about a movement technique that can only be applied to grimoires who were in their human form... the movement technique is named “Instantaneous Teleportation” which as the name implies, teleports the caster to a certain distance... It has a distance limitation of course which was about 4 to 8 meters depending on your mana capability.

 

How instantaneous teleportation works is actually not teleportation but a very swift movement that makes it seem like teleportation, it requires a colossal amount of mana which is why it is only recommended for grimoires; it simply works by pushing you to a certain direction of your liking by exploding mana behind you, of course, you have to be cautious when using this as any miscalculation could injure you, apparently.

 

The next few pages detailed how to control your mana to the smallest detail in order to execute the technique, it was very complicated and required advanced mathematics which was not my favorite but I had to learn it otherwise in times of danger, it will be risky.

 

While reading the pages, drowsiness soon encompassed me as my eyes felt heavy before I fell asleep while hugging Alisha.