Chapter 102: Struggle

It turned into something like a cooking party…

“Darn, I didn’t think it would be this hard…”

Isamu’s voice of complaint echoed in the backyard of the laboratory.

After returning to the capital city of the Viscount’s territory, Klaufendam, following a seven-day journey, he immediately began deciphering the unread magic circles, but it was fruitless…

Even after disembarking, the journey went smoothly.

After thanking Viscount Jansen for the ship and checking on the progress of the household shrine, they made their way back to Klaufendam after spending a night en route.

The rough report given on the same day ended as expected, with the lord and lady being amazed by the large number of artifacts discovered and readable magic circles.

And the next day, he arrived at the situation described at the beginning.

Isamu’s struggle wasn’t with deciphering magical arrays, but with “polishing rice.”

More precisely, it was the process before that, called “hulling.”

Isamu had bought up grains that seemed like rice in Inotia, but he somehow knew that it would take a lot of effort to turn them into white rice from their state.

So, until returning to his territory, he hadn’t attempted it, but as soon as he returned, he felt the desire to eat rice ignite within him.

First, he had to remove the hulls from the grains, but he stumbled upon this process.

“As for threshing and rice polishing, I’ve seen them in class and on TV, so I kind of understand, but I don’t think they do much when it comes to removing the rice husks. So I thought it would be easy, but isn’t this task actually the most difficult…?”

I vaguely remember them doing something like rubbing them with something, so I tried rubbing them with a wooden stick-like pestle in a wooden vessel, but I could hardly remove any.

At this point, Isamu, who already had no other ideas, sought help from Eto and the others.

In this world of Ethersia, grains like barley are commonly eaten, so he found a way out there.

“Wheat husk? I think it comes off with the wheat when it is removed from the ear, so I have never heard of the process of removing the husk…”

First, with regard to wheat, the chaff is removed during threshing, without having to take the trouble to remove the husk in the first place.

“We all pound the barley together when the weather is nice.”

Barley, which is harder to remove from the husk than wheat, is spread out and hit with a stick.

However, even if you do this, the hard outer husk remains, but barley is almost always processed into ale. Since that equals using it for malt, there is no need to polish it.

Isamu couldn’t find a way out with the barley method, so he next turned his attention to a stone mortar.

“If it can be removed by rubbing, then maybe rubbing it with a stone mortar will work.”

Stone mortars are commonly used to make wheat flour, so he borrowed one and tried it out.

As a result, it turned into rice flour containing plenty of husk powder.

When roughly ground, it was slightly better, but it was not at a level where it could be cooked and eaten. It might be too hard or heavy, or perhaps the tool used to powder it was too fine.

It seems like it might work if a dedicated tool is made while adjusting it, but it will take quite some time, so he put it aside for now.

In the end, Isamu vaguely remembered his junior high school days when they used a wooden mortar and pestle during the Yayoi period, so he decided to make a long wooden mortar and a thin pestle.

He put a small amount in the mortar and pounded it with the pestle. Absentmindedly pounding for a while, most of the husks came off, albeit with some cracks.

As a pleasant surprise, a considerable amount of polishing seemed to have been done at the same time.

“Hmm, the so-called bran part is dark pink. The inside is also slightly pink, so it doesn’t feel like white rice.”

Isamu looked at the polished rice in his hand.

As he had seen when buying it, the bran part was a dark pink color, and the part below it, called the endosperm, was not pure white but a pale pink color.

However, the faint scent wafting from it was unmistakably the nostalgic smell of rice bran.

“Alright. Let’s polish about three portions for now. I don’t have a measuring cup, so it’s approximate.”

From there on, it was simply a battle of patience.

Silently, sometimes lightly casting a strengthening spell, he pounded away tirelessly. This work, which started in the morning, continued until evening, interrupted only by lunch and dinner.

By the time he was starting to get sleepy, the work was finished, and about three cups of white rice (pink) were made based on his approximate measurements.

As it was the first tasting, the main reason it took so long was because Isamu tried to remove the bran as cleanly as possible.

Since it was not appropriate to cook rice in the middle of the night, he decided to finish the work here and go to bed, planning to taste it for lunch the next day.

The next day, just before noon, Isamu was in the kitchen of the Viscount’s mansion.

Isamu was polishing the rice while all the chefs including the head chef, Annemarie, Eto and Willem who were helping with the rice polishing work, and for some reason even the viscount and his wife were watching with great interest.

“What does this process mean? It seems a little different from washing…”

The head chef, Guido, asked Isamu, who was doing an unfamiliar task.

“Oh, this grain called rice has a slightly peculiar smell around the tastiest part. I removed most of it yesterday, but there are still remnants and flour, so I’m polishing it well to remove the peculiar smell.”

As he said this, Isamu efficiently polished the rice several times and put half of it in a strainer, while leaving the other half soaked in water.

“Why did you separate them?”

A simple question came from Eto.

“The one on the strainer will lose some moisture and develop slight cracks on the surface if left for a while. That way, it’ll be easier to absorb moisture when cooking or, rather, simmering.” 

In the previous world, rice was sold in a clean state with the help of magic tools, so this process was unnecessary, but it seems they used to do it this way in the past when there were many hard ones.

I saw my grandmother do this when I was in elementary school and found it strange, so I told Eto about what I was taught.

After waiting a little while, he soaked the remaining half in water for a bit longer.

I realized this while camping, but rice is usually fine as long as it’s soaked well in water. On the other hand, if the soaking time is short, no matter what you do, it won’t taste good.

He put each portion of rice and water in a small pot and placed it on a magic stove equipped with a prototype mechanism incorporating magic power adjustment discovered in the ruins of the Kalenberg territory.

“First, put it on medium heat and wait for it to boil while covered.”

Isamu started cooking the rice while explaining.

Soon, it began to boil, and when bubbles appeared through the gaps in the lid, he lowered the heat and continued heating for about 10 minutes.

A nostalgic smell of rice being cooked wafted through the kitchen, something the members of the Viscount’s household had never smelled before.

Occasionally, he would open the lid slightly to check if there was any remaining moisture, and once the moisture was gone, he briefly heated it over high heat and then stopped the fire, leaving it covered to steam.

“All right. This should be good…”

After steaming for about 10 minutes, Isamu opened the lid with a hopeful feeling. The gallery, too, watched with bated breath.

“…”

With a large wooden spoon, Isamu scooped up a little of the rice that had been placed in the sieve and tasted it first.

In silence, he then tasted a mouthful of the rice that hadn’t been placed in the sieve.

For a moment, as Isamu chewed with his eyes closed, a single tear ran down his cheek.

“…It’s rice.”

And he murmured quietly.

“I-Isamu-san… are you okay?”

Seeing Isamu freeze with the wooden spoon in his hand, Annemarie worriedly called out.

“Oh, uh, sorry! It’s just… it reminded me of something from the past…”

Wiping away the tears with a swipe, Isamu answered with a smile.

“I see… How did it taste, though?”

As it was the soul food from Isamu’s hometown, which had always made delicious dishes, it was impossible not to be curious.

“It’s perfect. It’s a bit light in flavor, but unmistakably rice!! The one that was sieved is closer, but both have been cooked perfectly.”

“”””Oh!!!!!!!””””

The group cheered at Isamu’s declaration of success.

“Shall we all taste it then? There’s not much, but…”

With a wry smile, Isamu and Guido divided the rice into deep small dishes.

“It’s a beautiful color.”

Watching the rice being served, Nicolette murmured.

The freshly cooked rice shone with a faint pink hue, resembling red rice without adzuki beans. Seeing this, Isamu named this rice “Sakura Rice.”

“Normally, rice is a staple food, so it’s eaten with side dishes. But today, since it’s a small amount for our first taste test, please try it with a little salt.”

Explaining this, Isamu sprinkled a pinch of salt over his own rice.

“Now, let’s give thanks for today’s sustenance.”

“Thank you.”

Everyone offered a prayer before starting their taste test.

“Mm, it’s a unique texture, but it’s good.”

“Yes, it’s chewy with a hint of sweetness, very delicious.”

As the Lord and Lady enjoyed the meal, they commented while eating.

“I understand now why you mentioned eating it with side dishes. It’s delicious enough on its own, but it seems like it would go well with something rich since it seems to absorb soup well.”

Guīdo’s comment was fitting, as expected of a seasoned chef.

“I prefer the one that was sieved.”

“I prefer the softer one that wasn’t sieved.”

Already, there were preferences forming between those who preferred firmer or softer rice.

“So this is the taste of Isamu-san’s hometown…”

Annemarie ate with a deep sense of emotion, yet with a happy expression.

After the taste test, it was unanimously decided to experimentally cultivate Sakura Rice from next year onwards, and they immediately began searching for suitable locations or soil since it was said to grow in marshy areas, but there were obviously no rice paddies here. If there was suitable soil near a river, they would cultivate there, and if not, they would bring soil back to Klaufendam to create rice paddies.

In any case, the first step would be to test whether this area’s climate and soil were suitable for cultivation.

And there was one more thing. There was a significant challenge that needed to be addressed urgently.

“Eto-san, Willem-san, I’m going to make equipment for hulling and milling, okay? It took almost a whole day just to mill the amount we ate today from the rice I bought…”

“It’s rare to see Isamu so serious. It sounds interesting, so of course we’ll help.”

“We brought a lot back, so I’d be thrilled to help out with hulling and milling, too.”

Eto and Willem responded to Isamu’s unusually serious expression with a smile.

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