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At the Set-Meal Restaurant Suiren in the Friendship City, Hikari, the shopkeeper Kaori was cooking a delectable meal. It was still early in the day before her opening time, which would normally be the time she would make her food preparation, but since she was expecting a visitor today, she had finished the preparations ahead of time.
Just as the cooking for the person who would soon be visiting was about to finish, there was a knock at the back door, not the entrance to the restaurant.
[……Welcome, Shige-san! Hannah-san!]
[Sorry for coming early again today, Kaori-chan.]
[Hello, Kaori-chan.]
The visitors were Okura Shigenobu, someone who played the role of Hero just like Kaori, and his wife, Hannah.
Shigenobu and Hannah have been friends with Kaori for a long time, and they would come to her store about once a month.
[I don’t really mind, as we can talk as we please before the store opens…… Come on in.]
[I’m sorry for the intrusion. Ahh, Kaori, these are vegetables we harvested from our farm. Please eat them when you have the chance.]
[Thank you as always! I have something I really want you to try out, Shige-san. It’s amazing, so you can look forward to it.]
[Heehhh…… I’m expecting it then. I’ve got some interesting stuff that happened on my side, so I’ll tell you about it later.]
Kaori guides Shigenobu and Hannah into the restaurant and making sure they are seated at the counter, and offering them a glass of water, Kaori then puts a bowl of white rice in front of them with a proud expression on her face.
[I should actually serve this with the side dishes, but I wanted to show it off first!]
[White rice huh? It has such a nice gloss to it. Let’s see-!? Oi, oi, this is quite astonishing.]
[What do you think? Isn’t it great?]
[I haven’t had good rice for decades. I’m amazed you found rice of this caliber.]
[Indeed, it’s very tasty.]
Both Shigenobu and Hannah looked surprised at the taste of the white rice served by Kaori. Shigenobu himself likes the taste of Japanese food, and that’s why he and his wife were stocking rice for their personal use.
Although they do not cultivate their own rice, as he’s now a retired person who enjoys farming more as a hobby, they are very particular about the rice they buy.
Originally, white rice was only grown in a few remote areas of the Hydra Kingdom, and although it’s not as much as in other countries, there are farmers in Hydra Kingdom who grow a certain amount of rice.
Shigenobu also tried rice from many different farmers, and bought the tastiest rice he could find, even though it’s rather expensive…… but the rice they just ate was clearly on a different level.
[Recently, I’ve gained a new connection and was introduced to Razelia-sama…… Raz-sama, as I call her, the fairy who makes this white rice. It’s really high level, isn’t it?]
[Yeah, it’s incredibly amazing. I’d like to buy some of this too…… but this must be pretty pricey, isn’t it?]
[No, that is…… It’s partly thanks to the person who introduced me to her, but because he was the one who introduced me, I was able to purchase it very cheaply…… about 2/3 of the price of the rice I was buying before.]
[I see…… Hey, Kaori-chan. I won’t say it anymore if it’s not possible but……]
[Don’t worry! I knew Shige-san would definitely want it, so I stocked up on more. I’m indebted to Shige-san, so I’ll sell this to you at the purchase price.]
[I’m grateful for that. I look forward to eating more of this rice in the future.]
Anticipating Shigenobu’s desire for rice, Kaori had stocked up on more after confirming with Razelia in advance if it would be acceptable to sell them to her acquaintance.
Seeing the delighted Shigenobu, Kaori smiled and continued.
[Well, to begin with, Raz-sama lives in the Demon Realm, so I couldn’t just go there or have her come here every month so I could stock up…… Thus, I stock up six months’ worth in bulk, so I can totally adjust the quantity.]
[Six months’ worth? Kaori-san, is it really alright to store that much for a long time?]
[Well, about that, Hannah-san…… Please look at this.]
Hearing Hannah’s question, Kaori wryly smiled and brought a “black magic box” out of her palm.
[Oi, oi, Kaori-chan…… That’s one outrageous item you bought there. Being black-colored, that must be over a hundred million yen, wouldn’t it?]
[That’s the thing, Shige-san…… I didn’t buy it…… I was given it.]
[Huh? That was just given to you?]
[Unnn. Raz-sama told me “It’s convenient for storing Rice-san, so I’ll give it to you!”…… No, of course, I refused. I told her I couldn’t receive such an expensive item…… to which she responded with “It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just a thank-you for buying a lot of rice~~”…… I’m wondering about it myself. A black magic box, not that big of a deal, she said…… I feel like we live in two different dimensions.]
[Ummm, this Razelia-sama…… who in the world is she?]
Hearing that she had just been handed out a black magic box that was supposed to be extraordinarily expensive, Hannah asked back with a stunned expression on her face.
Of course, even Kaori thinks that being given a magic tool of this level for free was out of her common sense, so she could understand their astonishment.
At any rate, she herself still wonders if she really should have accepted this free gift……
However, there is indeed one difference in perception between them. Usually, magic tools using black magic crystal were extremely expensive, but for Kuromueina’s family…… or “for those who are close to Tre”, that isn’t the case.
Yes, it might sound extreme, but they can buy a cheap magic crystal from a store, have Tre change the purity of this magic crystal, and then make their magic box themselves or ask Sechs to make one for them at a low cost.
Well, even if one were to buy it normally, it was still not a lot of money since Razelia herself has a large farm and wholesales vegetables to a trading company owned by Kuromueina……
[……I was also curious, so I asked her about it…… but she was apparently the first Fairy King, and is now in an Executive-like position at Kuromueina-sama’s camp……]
[……What the heck happened for a shopkeeper of a Set-Meal Restaurant to be introduced to such an extraordinary person?]
[……Indeed, I wonder what the heck just happened.]
Shigenobu’s words brought a distant look to Kaori’s face, something she had become accustomed to doing recently.
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