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Volume 1, Chapter 10: Let’s go out.

The Ashley Company.

Its main store is located in the Feliformia Kingdom, and it has many branch stores in other countries. It deals in various trades, from foodstuffs to magic tools. It also trades with the royalty in various countries, and has a large hand in distribution.

I am heading towards that large company right now. It is also Tasia’s home before she married Gil. I was able to set an appointment thanks to her connection.

After learning about rice from Basil, I asked Tasia about it. According to Basil, rice is used as fodder in this world. Then it wouldn’t be sold in the markets, but only to farmers.

As I thought, rice was only traded between people in the field. That is why I’m running everywhere to try and obtain it now.

I stepped into a carriage that screamed nobility and headed towards the Ashley Company. Basil, who was accompanying me, held on to my shoulder while she looked out the window at the scenery passing by. She was even humming like a child going on an adventure.

Tasia was also in high spirits to come out with me. It seems her dream had always been to go shopping with her daughter. I felt bad that we were shopping for something as unflattering as rice…she seemed so happy, I decided not to talk too much about it.

They were so lively about it that despite it being my first outing, we reached our destination before I could really appreciate the scenery.

A four-story building towered over me as I got off the carriage. This was probably one of the tallest buildings in this world. The entrance was wide open, and tons of people were coming and going. I followed Tasia into the building and we stopped in front of a large counter.

“Hello there, I’m Anastasia Claude. Is my brother Alex here? He told me he would be around today.”

Tasia asked the lady at the counter, who ran into the back. The family of the founder must all be recognizable here.

After a few minutes, the clerk lady came back and showed us into a room on the second floor. Tasia sat down on the sofa in the center of the room, and was immediately served some tea by the clerk lady and another woman.

By the way, the standard tea here is herb tea. Black and green tea do not seem to be common, in fact I’m not sure they even exist. The herb tea is also made from dried flowers and not leaves. There are no snacks served with tea. That can’t be helped, though, as they don’t have sweets. Instead, they always add sugar to their herb tea. The tea was the only thing I thought was good in this world.

After drinking some tea, there was a knock on the door. On Tasia’s reply, a man entered the room.

“Long time no see, Tasia.”

“Alex!”

After a joyous reunion with Tasia, the man turned to me.

“So this is the girl who became your daughter, Tasia?”

“Let me introduce you, Risa. He is my brother and the head of the Ashley Company. Brother, she is Risa, the daughter I’ve been gushing to you about.”

Tasia’s brother offered his hand to me, and I shook it.

“I’m Anastasia’s brother, Alexis Giselle Ashley. Nice to meet you, Risa. You can call me Uncle Alex.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Risa.”

Alexis could be summed up with one word, dandy. Although the butler of the Claude family, Reid, was also a dandy, they had very different auras. Reid gave off an air of intelligence, while Alexis seemed popular with the ladies…like he caused quite the scandal in his younger days.

Urged by Alex, I sat on the sofa across from him.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?”

Alex cut straight to the chase.

“I have a favor to ask of you, Alex. Could you spare us some rice?”

“Rice? Why rice? I mean, I can do it, but…”

Alex stared at us. No surprise there, anyone would think something was up if two women came to ask for fodder.

“I told you that Risa is from a different world, right? In Risa’s world, apparently their staple is rice.”

It seems Tasia told Alex about my otherworldly origins. Alex’s eyebrows shot through the roof when he heard Tasia’s words.

“By rice, you mean that rice? Are you sure?”

“I haven’t seen the rice of this world yet, but I believe it might be the same thing…”

One glance at Basil’s nodding head and I was sure it was the same thing. Incredulous, Alex bade the woman waiting on us to fetch some rice. After a while, the woman came back with a burlap sack. Alex took the sack and spilled its contents onto the table.

“Here…you’re telling me humans eat this?”

It really was rice, but it was unhulled rice.

“It is the same as the rice of my world. We would hull the rice in a rice mill and eat it.”

“Hull? Rice mill?”

Both Tasia and Alex stared at me blankly. I picked up a grain of rice and peeled off the rice husk with my nail, raising it up for them to see.

“We call this brown outerior a rice husk. What’s left is called brown rice, which is further polished into white rice. All of this is usually done with a machine called a rice mill.”

The two stare at the grain of brown rice between my fingers. It seems they didn’t even think to peel off the rice husk. That makes sense, since the wheat was also whole-wheat.

“I see…it is edible as long as we have the machine for it, then?”

“Yes. Hulling is when you remove the husk. Structurally it looks like a mortar with a d rain attached to it.”

Modern Japan uses fully automatic rice hullers, but we’ll have to use the traditional hullers here. For now, I’ll have to hull the rice…manually.

“I see. What an amazing world you were in, Risa. From what Tasia tells me, the food you make is also really good?”

“Yes! The bread and this food called pasta are so scrumptious!”

It seems Tasia had also told him about my food adventures. Tasia took something out of the basket she had brought.

“Tada! This is the bread that Risa made! Try some, Alex!”

Tasia brought the bread I just made this morning and placed it on a thin piece of paper. Alex took it and his expression immediately changed.

“This is bread!? It’s so soft!”

Uh, it has been a while since this morning, so it’s actually a little hard now…I guess it’s still miles softer than the rock hard bread.

Alex tentatively took a bite.

“…delicious! It’s almost as if it’s not bread!”

No, it’s bread. I can assure you that.

“Right? Isn’t it good?”

Tasia exclaimed and began to lay out her experience with excruciating detail. It can’t be helped when they only know of the rock hard bread…

“Risa, this may seem sudden but would you be interested in spreading the recipe for this bread?”

Alex stopped eating the bread to ask me seriously.

…Spread the recipe for bread. I had not even thought of doing so since I hadn’t left the Claude mansion before. Thinking about it, only I could make the tastiest food in this world, including bread and pasta. That meant that if I wanted to eat good food, I would have to make it myself.

…That wouldn’t be fun. It would all be my own flavor, then.

“Sure.”

I consented readily.

“Really!? I promise to give you royalty! Let’s sign a contract then!”

A merchant will be a merchant. Alex told the woman something, and she brought pen and paper to the table.

“I have some conditions, though. Is that all right?”

I said to the excited Alex.

“First, the price should be as low as possible.”

“What!? The recipe for such good bread would fetch such a high price, though…”

“I want to spread it as fast and far as possible. To that end, I feel that spreading this recipe to the masses would be more important than restricting the audience to rich people.”

“While you have a point, if you don’t set the price higher in the beginning, there will be a time when it is pointless to sell it. After all, people will spread the recipe by word of mouth, as well.”

“I know, and that’s okay. I’m sure profit is the most important thing in doing business, but I want to prioritize spreading the recipe for this bread. Would it be too difficult?”

“No, I understand. It would be great if you could eat this bread no matter where you go, after all.”

“Thank you, I’ll leave it to you.”

Although Alex was initially troubled by the idea, he accepted it with a smile.

“Then as a bargain, will you allow me to sell the other recipes?”

“Of course. Oh, but there are a lot of ingredients that I can’t obtain, so there are things I can’t make…”

“I see.”

“I also require special cookware. I’ll start with simpler food, but as time goes on I will probably require more and more complicated cookware.”

“That’s easy. We have a research and development department in the Company. Anything you want made, we will try to make it for you. We’ll also sell the tools along with the recipes.”

“That sounds good! It would be pointless to have the tools but no recipe, and vice versa.”

There were books in my world that had silicon attached to it, too.

In the end, Alex agreed to support me in all areas, from food ingredients to cookware research and development.

“Now, let’s just sign the contract for today. You can give me the recipe some other day.”

“I understand. Oh, could we let Tasia confirm it just in case?”

“True. Would you do that, Tasia?”

“Of course.”

I could read most of the words, but I read the contract aloud for Tasia to check if I missed anything. Finally, I signed in the alphabet of this world at the bottom of the paper.

“Is this good?”

“Yes, thanks. About the recipe, what day would be good for you to come?”

“I am free whenever.”

“I see. How about tomorrow, then?”

“Sure.”

“Risa, I won’t be able to come with you tomorrow, will you be okay? I can send a carriage for you, but…”

“Don’t worry. You have work too, Tasia, and I’m not a small child.”

“You’ll really be okay? If you say so…Alex, please take care of Risa.”

“Got it.”

After setting up the next meeting with Alex, Tasia and I left the Ashley Company.

I was only here for rice. To think it would turn into a contract to spread my recipes throughout the world. I guess the world is give-and-take, after all.