kscans

Chapter 235 - Dried Fruit

Leaving the spice-selling area, Yuri and his companions wandered aimlessly and found themselves in a section lined with, if not entirely dubious, then certainly peculiar items. He could have sworn the crowds were a little thinner here, too. While his companions’ sense of caution and alarm grew, Yuri’s own anticipation was skyrocketing. The sketchiness, the weirdness, the shadiness, wasn’t that the very essence and fun of a flea market?

"Still... these are all things I can’t even tell what they’re used for..."

"Come on, Dona, that’s what makes it interesting."

Yuri, who had sported the eyes of a dead fish during yesterday’s clothes shopping, was now sparkling with excitement. Dona, in contrast, was on high alert, but she seemed to have decided to go along with it reluctantly, perhaps because she felt a sense of guilt for having dragged Yuri along the day before. Although her opinion of him had risen slightly after the piperu incident, her trust in his shopping habits was low to begin with. He had bought heaps of things like Papas potatoes, which were no better than poisonous tubers, and chard, which was livestock feed. He had also purchased what was clearly an excessive amount of wine, five large barrels, and had bought out all sorts of potions. Even though he lived a life beyond the comprehension of ordinary people as a recluse on Salt-Sour Mountain, there had to be a limit to his lavish spending.

...He was surely going to buy up all sorts of suspicious things without a shred of self-restraint this time, too...

"...Well, it’s Yuri-kun’s money, and he’s buying what he wants. It’s not our place to say anything..."

"That’s true, but..."

"Adon-sama also said not to interfere with Yuri-sama’s shopping..."

"Even you, Eto-kun..."

Adon, who acted as Yuri’s agent, knew Yuri’s financial situation better than anyone. He didn’t seem to think that a shopping spree at the great market would put a dent in Yuri’s purse. Adon’s true desire was likely to let Yuri freely buy what he needed and freely advance his product development.

And so, with no one to stop him, the curtain rose on Yuri’s unrestrained shopping raid.





Yuri’s first conquest, being close to the spice section, was a stall selling dried fruits and the like. He set his sights on fruits unfamiliar to this region and bought one after another. However, his method of buying wasn’t to clear out the entire stock. Instead, he seemed to be selecting as many varieties as possible, specifically those with seeds still intact. The fact that he was checking the origin for each type, even of the same fruit at different stalls, suggested he was also considering regional differences. Old Man Audel, observing this, found it made perfect sense.

(...It seems he's aiming to secure seeds, clearly with cultivation in mind. Fresh fruits from distant lands don't make it here, so dried fruit seeds are about the only way to get them...)

It wasn't a bad strategy, he thought, but...

(However... from what I hear of their places of origin, some of them seem difficult to cultivate due to the climate...?)

But this was the exceptional Yuri. He probably had some sort of plan. Old Man Audel stopped thinking too deeply about it.

What Yuri was thinking about was a greenhouse.

He had already begun operating a small, experimental constant-temperature room. He had also placed an order at Inba’s shop for a mechanism to automatically open and close the windows for temperature regulation. All that was left was to procure lumber from Ems's workshop and secure additional silica sand, the raw material for glass, and he could probably build a small-scale greenhouse. It was a difficult season to go collect it himself, but he figured he could get it if he asked Adon.

(Fruit trees that grow too large might still be difficult... but it wouldn’t hurt to start securing seedlings grown from seed early on.♪)

Incidentally, with the dried fruits, he wasn't just after the seeds, but also any yeast that might be clinging to them. Yeast had many, many uses (lol), so Yuri wanted to secure as much of it, and as many different kinds, as possible.