284 - Material Hunting and Completion of the Transcription
The second half of the meeting turned into quite a commotion. The medicines that were supposed to be selectable from three had suddenly been reduced to two after the break. It was only natural that would cause an uproar.
Christoph calmed the murmuring meeting hall by declaring, "This is a divine revelation brought about by an ancient Japanese divination technique." In truth, it was just an amida lottery, but apparently there were some strange misconceptions about Japan, and it was a truly bizarre sight to see the confusion in the hall settle down with a resigned, "Well, if it's a divine revelation, there's no helping it."
The remainder of the meeting became even more heated than the first half. It was decided that the two remaining slots would be divided equally, one each between our country and the Sedovara Church, and the meeting was adjourned. After that, it seemed the country and the Sedovara Church would each hold further meetings to reach their conclusions.
...Well, I'm happy that we were able to do something, so that's good.
After the meeting, I returned to the detached palace and immediately checked the prescription. The medicine that had been selected entirely by luck had fortunately turned out to be lucky, as the prescription fell within the range where the transcription was complete. At the very least, it seemed there would be no need to use the original research materials of Saint Yuuta Hiraga, which was for the best.
...It's a good thing I've been doing the transcription bit by bit.
In a sense, I was grateful for my own good fortune as I separated the transcription in progress, the original, the completed bundle of transcribed papers, and the prescription for the Pant medicine that had been decided to be revived this time. I wasn't going to do any more transcription work today, so I decided to return the original to the Silver-White Knights. The research materials of Saint Yuuta Hiraga, which were guarded even more strictly than I was, were basically managed by the Silver-White Knights. When doing transcriptions, they handled the research materials, and I worked under their watchful eyes.
...I'm really glad Jasper came.
Just by reading out the names of the ingredients and materials included in the prescription, Jasper would tell me whether they were available or not. If Jasper hadn't come from the city of Grenore, I would have had to do this work with someone from the Sedovara Church whom I was meeting for the first time.
...Even just that alone would make me want to put it off, absolutely.
I was aware that I was shy around new people, so Jasper's presence was incredibly reassuring. I planned to borrow Jasper's help when actually compounding the medicine, but once the secret arts were completed, I wanted him to act as a go-between to convey the compounding method to the Sedovara Church. In short, he would be treated as a liaison to the Sedovara Church.
"Dried Abuvri grass should be kept in stock. It's one character different from Abuvruu grass, but are you sure about this? That one is a poisonous weed."
"Eh? Is that so?"
Hearing that it was a poisonous weed just one character different, I checked the transcription. Yuuta Hiraga's handwriting was idiosyncratic and difficult to read, but at least the direction of the strokes for 'ri' and 'ru' were different, so there was no way to mistake them. When I answered that Abuvri grass was fine, Jasper told me about other materials kept in stock at the Sedovara Church and materials with confirmed collection sites.
"...The ones we need to find from scratch are three, then."
I breathed a sigh of relief that it was fewer than I expected, but Jasper's expression was grim. Even if we knew the names of the materials and ingredients, we still had to investigate where they could be obtained, so even a small number couldn't be viewed optimistically, he said.
"Snow Hat, Adorutoru's unfertilized eggs, Larushuu pollen... indeed, not knowing the collection sites is tough."
That was precisely why they had been excluded from the meeting for taking too long, and why I had carelessly drawn them in the amida lottery. Since it was decided by lottery, it was hard to say, "Actually, can we change this?"
"Do you have any leads on any of these, Jasper?"
"Adorutoru is the name of a bird. It's a large eagle that lives in the Saenard Kingdom side of the Erath Mountain Range, roughly north-northwest from the capital?"
"...Without a doubt, that's the Saenard Kingdom."
"Yeah."
It was a neighboring country that was apparently in a state of tension with our country. This might not be something where we could just say, "Let us enter your country to collect some materials." When I voiced my anxiety as it was, Jasper replied with a surprising comment that there was probably nothing to worry about. Regarding the revival of the secret arts this time, the Sedovara Church was cooperating. Even if it was a neighboring country on the verge of becoming an enemy, since they received the blessings of the Sedovara Church, they probably couldn't turn down a request from the Sedovara Church, he said.
"Come to think of it, the Sedovara Church is incredibly flexible when it comes to the import and export of medicine, isn't it."
"That aspect is also one of Saint Yuuta Hiraga's achievements."
Saint Yuuta Hiraga was known for establishing the compounding of medicines and creating numerous drugs, but he also left various other influences on this world. The establishment of bath culture and the Sedovara Church's principle of putting human life first were examples, but surprisingly, even the trend of "preferring plump married women" was something Saint Yuuta Hiraga had rooted in place. So that women who bore the great role of childbirth would not put unnecessary strain on their bodies through excessive weight loss, he had given a rationale to a pre-existing trend and helped it take root.
"So with the Sedovara Church's cooperation, the border itself isn't a problem."
"We can cross the border to collect materials, but first we have to identify the locations."
For research, the library would be the place, so we moved locations and pulled out maps. The maps, drawn with gentle curves, were probably not very accurate. The domestic areas were drawn in somewhat more detail, but when it came to neighboring countries, only the names of major cities and fortresses were written.
This continent, called the Erath Continent, currently had four countries. In the center of the continent was a massive mountain range called the Erath Mountain Range, roughly dividing it into east and west. To the southeast of the continent was our Ivizia Kingdom, and to the northwest was the Divine King's Domain Quebia. Looking at the map, the Empire was terrifyingly vast, but this was due to the influence of a reincarnator who appeared about two hundred years ago and created gunpowder weapons. Originally it had been five small countries, as I had also learned at the Menhishumi Church.
"The habitat of the Adorutoru is around here."
Saying this, Jasper drew a circle with his finger on the eastern side of the great mountain range, but unfortunately, there was no notation on the map. The nearest landmark that could serve as a reference was a fortress called Alsuta, quite far to the east from there. Looking at the map alone, it was the closest landmark, but there was a distance equivalent to from the western edge to the eastern edge of the Saenard Kingdom.
...Who was it that made an accurate map of Japan on foot during the Edo period? Would you please reincarnate into this world? Please make an accurate map!
Also, I'd like the positions of towns and villages to be marked in more detail, but apparently that would be difficult since it could be used during war. Information about one's own country that could be shared with other nations was limited to things like major towns that inevitably leaked through the mouths of merchants and such.
"Snow Hat and Larushuu pollen don't seem like something we can find on a map either."
"For the pollen, we might find it if we look through books on plants... but for Snow Hat, all we know is, 'It's probably harvested in winter' or so."
In any case, we decided that we had no choice but to search for place names and such from domestic documents we could investigate, and we began reading through the kingdom's history. People and countries are living things. There are names of towns and villages that change, names that disappear from history. Even if the name had vanished from current maps, it might have been used as a place name in the past. Even if not, historical texts from the era when Saint Yuuta Hiraga was alive might contain some hints.
"I wish we had old maps, or slightly more accurate maps."
It was just a complaint, but Giselle's response to hearing this was swift. She apparently received repeated warnings to be careful in handling the items since they were important, but Giselle borrowed old maps from the library and brought them to me.
"...Come to think of it, there was something called a library in the royal castle."
Basically, I had a shut-in personality, and there was also a library in the detached palace. I had no business seeking books from outside, so I had forgotten its very existence, but Giselle had borrowed blueprints of the detached palace for me before as well.
Gratefully, a life spent glaring at the old maps that had been prepared, along with current maps and historical texts, began.
While glaring at old maps and historical texts, when I felt depressed, I would do transcription work. As a result of continuing such a life, by the latter month of autumn, my transcription was complete. Jasper grumbled that it was too fast, just like when I had picked out prescriptions from Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials, but I couldn't help it. Japanese was my native language from my previous life. There was nothing strange about being able to read it smoothly.
"With the transcription, I can read it in bed or drink tea beside it, right?"
"I'm not sure about reading while lying on the bed or crumbling snack bits all over the place, but it's a transcription you made for your own convenience. If you use it in a way that lets you tell the difference between the characters you wrote in your notes and the characters you copied, then there's no problem."
With permission from Alfred obtained in this manner, I decided to bring the transcription into my room without hesitation. This was not the original research materials of Saint Yuuta Hiraga, of which only one copy remained in the world, but merely a transcription. Since it could be recreated anew, it could be handled even in a room with fire.
...I'm glad I finished the transcription before the real winter came.
I had made a kotatsu so we could keep warm even without using the hearth, but it seemed the worst-case scenario had been avoided. Thanks to being able to use fire even in winter, I could get into the kotatsu in a warm room.
...I could probably have ice cream in the kotatsu during winter, huh.
In terms of frozen desserts, Grenore was actually easier to obtain than the capital. This was simply a matter of distance. Anyone could understand that considering the effort of transporting ice harvested from the Erath Mountain Range, it was cheaper in Grenore than in the capital. However, just because it was cheaper to obtain in Grenore did not mean ice was entirely unavailable in the capital. The detached palace I was staying in was within the royal castle, so if I steeled myself to be extravagant, I could have ice brought in.
"...Tina, you're drooling."
I closed my mouth at the accusation that I must have been thinking about food again. I hurriedly wiped around my mouth, but there was no sensation of drool. It seemed I was being teased a little.
"So, what kind of sweets were you thinking about this time?"
"Alfred-sama, that's rude. I am not always thinking about sweets, you know."
"Then what were you thinking about in the middle of our conversation?"
"Huh? About how ice cream in a kotatsu would be the best..."
Prompted to answer, I realized it. Indeed, what I had been thinking about just before was food.
"Tina, I understand 'ice cream,' but what is 'o-kota'?"
"It means kotatsu."
I could clearly tell Alfred was exasperated that I had indeed been thinking about food after all. Staring at me with a look that seemed to have something to say, I held up a piece of paper where Alfred could clearly see it to hide my face and distract from the situation. Feeling Alfred's gaze run over the paper, I busily thought about what topic to bring up next.
"...Christina, what is this document?"
"It's a prescription for a newly discovered secret arts technique from up to yesterday."
I thought that submitting this would prolong the meeting again, and since I wanted to discuss what to do about it, I had compiled it as a document timed with Alfred's visit. As expected, faced with the document, Alfred's hand, which had been about to reach for my cheek, lowered.
"Should I... not have submitted this?"
The meeting will be extended again, right? As someone who had been adding prescriptions after the fact, I was starting to worry. When I timidly poked my face out from behind the document and looked up at Alfred, he let out a grand sigh once, and then the arm that had supposedly lowered reached out to my cheek.
"That doesn't mean I can stay silent, either."
Pinching my cheek with a squish was probably Alfred's way of getting back at me. He was annoyed at having more work dumped on him, but he couldn't get angry given the content. It felt like that helpless emotion was contained in the pinch, so I resigned myself to having my cheek pinched.