kscans

Chapter 231 - # The Spring Grand Market ~A Day for Curiosities~ 1. Pepper Dreams (Part 1)

On the second day of the grand market, the one who joined Yuri and his party as a guard was Orban, the tank of "Lucky Footsteps" who also doubled as the party's treasurer.

(...Which means... maybe I should prioritize buying things whose prices are hard to estimate? Orban-san seems to have a good sense of money...)

With this ulterior motive in mind, Yuri decided to target products from foreign lands for the day. He intended to try cultivating crops that were difficult to grow in this country's climate once his greenhouse was completed. Until then, he could use the "chilled setting" option of his Storage skill, a special option given to him by the goddess Anatea, to preserve them in a dormant state, so there was no need to miss the great opportunity of the spring grand market that had come his way. Many of the imported goods from other countries would likely be expensive, but he would silence Dona, who was likely to complain loudly, by bringing up yesterday. He had indulged her wishes and spent a bit of money, though not enough to call it a splurge, yesterday, so if he said that today he would prioritize his own preferences, Dona would find it difficult to openly oppose him.

(...Well... Audel-san and Eto would have some idea about agricultural products... maybe I'll try to aim for things other than crops...)

Thus Yuri plotted a shrewd plan unbecoming of a twelve-year-old. However, on the outside, he remained as cheerful as ever.

"Well then, shall we go!"

.........

The Spring Grand Market here in Laurenzen lasts for four days, but on the fourth and final day, many merchants pack up early, so it is a rule of thumb to buy what you really want by the third day. Although this was Yuri's first time at the Spring Grand Market, he had diligently gathered this information from Eto and Adon. He had accompanied Dona on the first day, but he intended to devote the second and third days to purchasing the goods he had been aiming for. On the final day, he could just pick up the scraps, haggling for clearance items. It seemed everyone else did the same.

"Hmm... Spices are expensive, as expected."

"That they are. With meat dishes, the taste is worlds different with or without them. On top of that, they don't grow in this country."

Towards the end, Old Man Audel glanced at Yuri's expression, but Yuri could only shake his head. Although Salt-Sour Mountain blessed him with a variety of bounties, as expected, there were no peppers growing there. Well, he had found various other herbs, and at present, Yuri didn't feel particularly inconvenienced.

Incidentally, the reason why Yuri, who was supposed to be aiming for imported goods other than crops, was browsing through things like pepper was because...

(...There are surprisingly few imported goods being sold at the grand market...)

If it were a shop, it would be a different story, but for a travelling merchant, it was difficult to transport things that were too bulky or heavy. When it came to things that could be transported without taking up much space and sold for a high price, it seemed that spices and the like were the main items. There seemed to be a decent demand for alcohol and such as well, but in addition to being heavy, the jars could break and ruin everything, the barrels were too large for retail, and the taste was prone to deteriorate when transported with shaking... so it seemed that only specialized merchants dealt with it.

(There seem to be jewelry and clothing as well... but Dona would probably make a fuss... A wise man does not court danger, as they say.)

For that reason, Yuri had been looking around at spices and dried goods, but... in fact, Yuri had not purchased any pepper so far. The price was ridiculously high, from the perspective of Yuri, who was formerly Japanese, but more than that, it was because all the pepper, or "piper" as they call it in this world, on display had been heat-treated. For Yuri, whether he could cultivate it himself was more important than the flavor or aroma, so he was not particularly drawn to a mere "spice" that had lost its ability to germinate. Incidentally, on Earth, there were black, white, and red peppers, but those were distinctions based on the production method, not the type of plant. According to Mr. Appraisal, if you dried the unripe fruit as it was, it became black pepper; if you dried the ripe fruit as it was, it became red pepper; and if you removed the seed coat before drying, it became white pepper. Pepper from Earth was a plant that was extremely difficult to germinate, and it was propagated by cuttings rather than seeds, but the "piper" of this world seemed to be a little easier to germinate.

(...That's probably why only the ones that have been heat-treated to lose their germination ability are distributed as goods...)

After browsing through a few spices and some dried fruits, Yuri was thinking of moving on to a section with things other than food when he noticed it.