kscans

Chapter 44 - Chapter 4: Latter Half, A Family Photo

After returning from the village, I found myself at a meat processor in the artisan district. I had gone to ask about poisons that affect birds, and they ended up bringing me to Dalgan's workshop.

"So, you're saying you want to use honey instead of sugar?"

"Yeah. To preserve meat, you have to use a ton of salt. But if you use too much, you can't eat it without soaking the salt out. That's why high end products use about as much sugar as they do salt. And your Vinder honey is about the same price as sugar, right?"

Dalgan was pitching a business deal. Using sugar implied something more like ham, not just dried jerky. Without refrigeration, osmotic pressure was the only way to preserve meat. In fact, osmotic pressure is the very reason honey, a lump of sugar that would normally be a feast for bacteria, doesn't spoil.

When it comes to nature producing sugar versus honey, sugar is overwhelmingly cheaper. It might sound surprising, but sugar is the least costly of the three major nutrients to produce. Plants create sugar directly from water, carbon dioxide, and solar energy. They then use the energy from that sugar to go through the trouble of creating proteins and fats.

Plants convert the sugar they make into an easily storable form called starch. That's what grains are. Or they link sugars together to form strong fibers, the building blocks of their own bodies. This just shows how commonplace a substance sugar is for plants.

Conversely, obtaining a large quantity of high purity sugar is difficult.

Even in this world, it takes a vast amount of time and effort for people to cultivate plants like sugarcane in fields and extract the sugar. In the terms of my old world, it means high labor and land costs.

On the other hand, what about honey? To put it simply, honey is concentrated nectar, a thinly distributed form of sugar. If you were to purely calculate the labor required, its cost would dwarf that of sugar.

The key is that honeybees do most of the work. With bees as a low cost labor force, the honey gathered from the vast land outside the fields becomes a sort of bonus for the village.

Incidentally, animal husbandry has basically the same structure. It's the process of using an animal, like a cow, to convert a form of sugar that humans can't digest, dietary fiber, into meat.

In this country's environment, using our apiculture techniques, we can produce it at a price comparable to sugar, or possibly even cheaper.

"Besides, its unique flavor, different from sugar, might lead to new products."

Right, there's that too.

The difference between sugar and honey is whether it remains as sucrose or is broken down into fructose. Fructose, which is abundant in honey, has the property of being sweeter at low temperatures. That's why it's used in cold drinks.

On modern Earth, by the way, we had the technology to convert starch back into sugar, and even to break that sugar down into glucose and fructose, just like in honey. The result was a world overflowing with soft drinks, to the point of causing health problems.

Honestly, just knowing the principles is no match for a specialist's application. I only remembered all that because he brought it up.

"You're right. And our honey production is set to increase even more. But there is one problem..."

"What is it?"

I told Dalgan about the honey being mixed with pollen from poisonous plants.

"You'd normally worry about something like that? You wouldn't be able to eat anything."

"I know, I know."

"Well, as a business partner, that stupid honesty of yours isn't so bad. So, what do you need me to do?"

"Well, actually, I need some small avian species, um, some small birds, as test subjects to check the pollen's toxicity."

Dalgan listened to my request with a look of exasperation, but he agreed to procure some quail like birds for me. Once the director finishes marking the flowers I left with him, I can begin the experiment.

"Alright, business is concluded then. ...By the way, Vinder. Who's the one you're serious about?"

Dalgan suddenly asked, lowering his voice.

"Huh?"

"Come on, you're surrounded by an incredible lineup of beauties, aren't you?"

"No, no, they're not just out of my league. They're like flowers blooming high above the clouds."

"Don't try to hide it. I know you went on a date last week."

"That was, uh, you see... right, it was part of employee training, so to speak."

"So the highest of all those high peak flowers is your employee? That's impressive."

Dalgan teased me with a knowing grin. Maybe I should have called her a shareholder.

I looked across the street. Beyond the main road was the Forum, where we had gone for fun.

"I'm jealous, you know. The gallant Claudia-sama was with you too, wasn't she?"

"So basically, you're bitter that I didn't invite you? Come on, it was just a gathering of classmates."

"Hahaha, besides that... whoops, speak of the devil. Looks like someone's here to pick you up."

A petite girl with swaying black pigtails came running toward us. Did she come all this way to get me? No, wait... it's strange for Mia to be in such a panic.

"Senpai... Alfina-sama... A message came to the shop... she collapsed at the..."

The blood drained from my face at the words that came from Mia, who had arrived completely out of breath.

"That's serious. What's her condition now?"

"Ah, no, she's conscious and..."

Dalgan spoke up for me as I stood frozen. Mia, catching her breath, explained. She said Alfina had collapsed at the cathedral while facing the crystal and had been rushed back to the Grand Duchess's residence.

"They say it's likely from overwork. She insists she's fine and is trying to return to the cathedral, but the Grand Duchess is stopping her."

"But she was perfectly fine just last week. Besides, I thought she said the image from the crystal was already set..."

Mia's words brought a small measure of relief, but what followed was a wave of helplessness.

It had only been four days since our shopping trip at the Forum. I'd asked her a little about the prophecy then. If things were that bad...

"Am I that unreliable...?"

"Calm down. The fact that they sent a message specifically means there must be a reason, right?"

That's right. What's the point of getting hung up on such uncharacteristic conceit? Stay calm.

"R right. First, information gathering."

"Hey, what on earth are you talking..."

"He probably means he's going to visit her, so it's okay, Dalgan-senpai."

"Ah, well, that is what I meant, but..."

"Man, your choice of words was terrible."

Even I thought that was a poor choice. You did a good job interpreting that, Mia.

"Anyway, I get the situation. Go on, hurry. I'll make sure to get the birds ready for you. Some lively ones, so fresh they'd be delicious grilled."

"Ah, yes, please do."

Right, we were talking about the pollen toxicity test. I can probably leave it to him. I'd heard the delicious grilled chicken from the Forum was supplied by Dalgan.

The Forum? Something stuck in my mind, like a thorn in my throat. No, it wasn't about the grilled chicken. It was after that. When the two of us went to buy fruit water, and Alfina...

"Senpai, let's hurry."

"Ah, right. But first, there's something I need to check."

◇◇

"This is the relief, isn't it."

The arrangement and types of stalls were different from four days ago, but there was no mistaking the largest stone slab in the expansive Forum. I stopped in front of it. Mia still looked bewildered.

I stared intently at the magnificent relief carving.

About a dozen men and women stood in a row, dressed in archaic clothing. The composition was like that of the Olympian gods from Greek mythology, or perhaps the Twelve Apostles of Christianity...

"I see..."

I was reminded of the forums of ancient Rome. They had similar reliefs depicting groups of gods. However, the ones portrayed as deities were the members of the imperial family of the time. If that's the case, then the figures depicted here are...

"In short... this is a royal family photo..."

"Senpai? Yes, Rilka said this plaza was built jointly by the great nobles, led by the King and the Grand Duke... Ah."

"...What 'blank space with artistic meaning'."

The blank space near the center. When it was first made, a figure must have been carved there. It was chiseled away later. No wonder it looked so unnatural.

One more thing to check. I headed toward the second largest stone slab in the Forum. There were two, but it was, of course, the one placed to the west.

"Senpai?"

"...So it was a sentence of record erasure."

I slammed my fist on a stone bench. I was furious with my own stupidity. I should have gathered more proper information about Alfina's situation.