014: Once Again...

September 19, 2020 - 7 minutes read - 1298 words

So, there’s been some fallout from the introduction of Reversi and tamagoyaki.

Reversi was introduced into an environment where men and women of all ages can get into a competition at a similar skill level. Of course, one or two Reversi boards can’t handle the interest, so the village carpenter, Herman, was tapped to produce Reversi boards as fast as he could. At any given time, there’s a few villagers waiting outside his workplace for a chance to pick up a board. I only had to visit his house once, to explain how to make the board and pieces.

Herman is only producing Reversi at the moment, any other orders were postponed. I was interested in some other games that required more intricate pieces like chess or shogi, but that just horrified the overworked Herman.

“Don’t start anything else new! Let me get caught up with the existing orders before you try anything.” Herman

I’m sorry Herman.

Already, I’ve taught some other games to Logan, Bartolo, and the mansion residents, so this may be a reminder to be more careful in the future. Herman’s stressful days look to continue.

Thanks to Herman’s efforts, enough boards were made to hold a Reversi competition at Celia’s restaurant. In addition to the two players, some onlookers chose to bet on who would win as an additional method of competition. Bets involved chores, side dishes, and money. For example, the distractable farmer Roland is incorrigible about betting on games. I feel for his wife Natalie. The other villagers also feel for Natalie, and make sure he can’t lose too much. It’s a nice village.

At the end of the competition, the winner was Carla, the daughter of Celia. She was a twelve-year-old girl with a mature look. The reward for the winner was an exhibition match with me, who had introduced the game. That’s why I was coming down to the village this afternoon.

I was hesitant to decisively defeat a confident twelve-year-old girl, but I wanted to introduce the more advanced strategies into circulation. Plus it might lead villagers to not make light of the Slowlette family, so I overwhelmed my opponent like Eleanora overwhelms me. I won handily. My technology improvements are doing well, based on the restaurant activity level.

Even though Carla lost, she countered with “I’ll get better, so I won’t lose next time.”

Tamagoyaki has been really popular, judging by the rate that people are ordering it in the restaurant. I taught Bartolo, and he’ managed to forgive me for teaching Celia first. Since I’m only a four-year-old child, he understands that I can’t go against the women of the village. He still is somewhat resentful though.

Since I’ve been busy with things lately, I decided to relax today at home this afternoon. I wanted to do some different magic practice today, so I built a house with Earth Magic in the morning. In the city, you wouldn’t be able to find a nice spare space to build a house, but the country has plenty of spots around the forest.

My first house attempts were little more than stone prison cells, but as I practiced, I was able to make more conventional rooms. I’d like to use it to build a villa in a nice place sometime in the future. I’m currently daydreaming about my plans since I’m exhausted from my house building this morning.

“Ahh…” Al

I wonder if my eyes look like a dead fish?

“Hmm….” Sarah

“Huh?” Al

The maid Sarah is peeking through my door at me! I’ll move to my bed for now like I’m taking a nap. She nods at this and closes the door. Sarah, where’s my privacy?

After I woke up from my nap, I went to the kitchen to see Bartolo. Passing by the maid’s rest area, I heard more chatter.

“I wonder about Alfred…” Mina

If it didn’t involve me, I’d have gone on to the kitchen, but I decided to hear the rest of the conversation.

“Hey, sometimes his eyes look dead, he doesn’t seem like a four-year-old.” Mel

“Yeah, it’s like he’s burdened by an adult’s worries” Mina

It seems the two maids talking are Mina and Mel, a brown-haired maid who is good friends with Mina.

“I sometimes wonder if he’s fine, but between his magic and his inventions he must be really busy trying to think of the next thing? Spaghetti, reversi and tamagoyaki were all thought up by him.” Mina

“Yes, I’m not sure he’s a normal four-year-old, but I’d like him to keep coming up with new things. The village is booming thanks to him.” Mel

“Ah, that’s true! Speaking of tamagoyaki, it seems if you sprinkle some sugar in, you get a new delicious version.” Mina

“As usual, you’re the one focused on sweet things. Who did you hear that from?” Mel

“I overheard that when Bartolo and Alfred were cooking in the kitchen.” Mina

Mina may be interested in that variant, but Mel doesn’t seem to care. After that, the conversation drifted over to Eleanora, who had recently been able to defeat the village militia’s captain, and Silvio, who had become the strongest opponent in Reversi.

When I entered the kitchen, I ran into Bartolo trying some new ingredients to mix into the tamagoyaki. Personally, I prefer nothing mixed in, but the most popular mixins would be green onions, red ginger, and eel.

“What are you trying as to mix in?” Al

“Oh, I was trying some new things in different ratios.” Bartolo

“I see…” Al

“Do you have any suggestions?” Bartolo

I checked around the kitchen and found some tomatoes and leeks. I haven’t seen any green onions, I’ll need to check for them when I make it to the royal capital. I know a friend who liked to put tomatoes when he ate tamagoyaki.

“How about some chopped leeks to mix in?” Al

“Oh, leeks, that could be a good idea. Want to try it now?” Bartolo

“Sure” Al

Bartolo starts to wash the leeks and slice it up. I feel like I need to let him know about Mina figuring out about our sugar experiment.

“Oh, by the way. It seems like Mina overheard our conversation about mixing that thing with tamagoyaki. Al

“What? Really!” Bartolo

Don’t gesture with your knife when you’re talking. It’s unnerving.

“Truly. Be careful if she asks. Further, divide the reserve into multiple containers and hide them!” Al

Bartolo takes out a small jar from under a loose tile. It’s like he’s a corrupt official trying to hide the evidence.

“Bartolo, is it true that mixing sugar into a tamagoyaki is tasty? I’d like to try it, but we’re almost out of sugar…” Mina

Oh, looks like Mina just walked in.

Bartolo was caught with his last jar of sugar he had been desperately hiding.

“Oh, is that sugar in that jar.” Mina

“No, no, this just some salt.” Bartolo

“Why did you put the salt in that small jar.” Mina

Oh no, Mina can be more detail-oriented when sugar is involved. I’m sure she’ll catch Bartolo now.

“Eh? No, that’s…” Bartolo

“Excuse me” Mina

Mina sticks her finger in the jar Bartolo is holding and licks the grains off her finger. For a minute, I thought we were good, but that hope was soon dashed.

“Sugar…” Mina

“Eh?” Bartolo

“There may be other locations with sugar, I’ll look for them.” Mina

“Hey, no more, that’s all there is.” Bartolo

“Another place to store sugar, maybe Alfred’s room?” Mina

“Ah!” Bartolo

Oh Bartolo, don’t let her know I have some hidden too.

That being said, she can tear my room apart and not find any. I’ve hidden it in a subspace using Spatial Magic.

The mansion stays peaceful for the day.