ALL NOVEL Chapter 172
172. Counting How Many Cards You Have, Is Necessary, Isn’t It?
Nobuna and her group started investigating the wrecked ship, so I stepped aside to avoid getting in their way.
A little distance away, I noticed a flashy-looking pretty boy sitting casually on a rock.
“Yo! That was awesome!”
The guy waving lazily with one hand was Lucas, our companion from earlier on the road.
“What are you doing here?”
“Huh? Some gorgeous samurai babe came riding a bird, so I followed her. Then she started fighting a kraken, so I stuck around to watch. She had a really fine, tight backside from afar, just my type. Gonna go hit on her!”
“You’re unbelievable…”
I couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.
Did he seriously chase Nobuna all the way here after spotting her in the city? What an idiot!
“Since the fight’s over, I’m gonna go talk to her!”
Without even looking back at us, Lucas dashed off in Nobuna’s direction. That guy. Total fool.
“Well, love is free, after all.”
Kyle said with a wry smile.
“Anyway, let’s keep exploring. I want to learn more about the local culture.”
“Yeah, good idea. Hmm?”
Something caught my eye: a strangely pristine beach. The sand was unnaturally flat, clearly smoothed out by human hands.
“What’s that?”
I walked over out of curiosity. A group of men was scooping seawater, sprinkling it on the beach, and using wooden tools to smooth the sand.
What a pointless activity.
At first, I thought they were cleaning it for tourists, but then I remembered the warning at the northern gate to avoid sightseeing.
As we got closer, one of the workers shouted loudly.
“Hey, you lot! Don’t come any closer!”
We stopped abruptly.
“Uh, we’re just tourists looking around. What are you doing here?”
Some kind of ritual, maybe?
“Huh? Can’t you tell? We’re making salt.”
“Salt!?”
Salt is essential for daily life. In the kingdom, rock salt is the main source, and it’s pretty pricey.
Especially in the remote Elixir territories, the cost skyrockets.
“We condense seawater using the sun, collect the salt from the sand, and then boil it down.”
“What? You’re using seawater?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen the ocean. Go on, taste it.”
Some of us, including me, rushed to the sea and took a sip.
“Pffft!?”
The overwhelming saltiness made me spit it out, earning laughs from the workers.
“Bwahaha! Drink too much seawater, and it might kill ya!”
“You’re kidding, right!?”
“Everything’s poisonous in excess. Especially salt—don’t eat it all at once.”
“I-I see…”
I’d never thought about using a lot of salt at once, so I couldn’t imagine it.
Still…
I gazed out at the vast ocean.
“All of this is salt…?”
“What a treasure trove! Can’t we take it back?”
“Salt, maybe, but you can’t transport that much water.”
The workers laughed again.
“That’s why we process it into salt!”
“I see.”
The workers showed us their setup nearby, where they were boiling seawater. More precisely, they were transferring the salt from sand to seawater to make a denser solution, which they then boiled.
I handed them some silver coins as thanks for their detailed explanations, and they accepted happily—unlike samurai. This method seemed promising for dealing with commoners.
Eva and Leafan, in particular, seemed fascinated and asked a lot of questions.
“So you just concentrate the solution first, then use less firewood to make the salt?”
“If you boiled seawater as is, you’d run out of firewood in no time.”
“You guys are sharp! Wanna marry my son?”
“Uh, I’ll pass on that, haha.”
“I already have someone in mind.”
“Aw, what a shame!”
Listening to their conversation, I had an idea.
“Hey, so if you evaporate seawater, you get salt, right?”
“That’s right… Oh!”
Leafan seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“Excuse me, could I borrow this barrel?”
“Sure, if a cute girl’s asking, but what for?”
“I want to try something!”
Leafan filled the barrel with seawater and set it before me. I nodded, took out an alchemical powder, and poured it in.
A cloud of steam rose violently, and in no time, the seawater had completely evaporated.
“As I thought.”
“Wha-what the heck is that!?”
It was a water-evaporating alchemical powder I’d created—widely used for bridge construction and steam engines.
“I’m an alchemist. This powder evaporates water.”
“No way!?”
The powder is harmless and evaporates with the water, leaving no taste. I tasted the crystallized salt to confirm—perfectly normal.
Even using [Appraisal] didn’t reveal anything unusual.
“Can we buy this miracle powder? If it’s cheap, we want it!”
It’s not “dangerous powder”, just alchemical dust. How rude.
The powder was cheap to produce, but I wasn’t sure if I should sell it. Looking to Kyle for help, I saw him smiling diplomatically at the men.
“We’ll have a chance to meet with the leaders of the Mizuho Divine Nation. We’ll ask them if this would be useful.”
“Ah! Wilhelm-sama will surely understand!”
“Please put in a good word for us!”
Kyle deftly avoided giving a direct answer while earning their trust. Impressive.
Wilhelm, huh? I’ll remember that name.
We thanked the workers and moved on, gathering again at a safe distance.
“That was valuable information.”
“Yeah. It might be a good card to play in negotiations.”
“Agreed. And if we have access to the sea, salt could be mass-produced easily.”
“The kingdom has coasts to the south, right? What about producing salt there?”
“Our coasts aren’t secure yet. Mizuho’s ability to build ports here, where monsters like krakens show up, is incredible.”
“True.”
Even though this bay is supposed to be relatively safe, massive monsters still appear. I can’t believe they built a port here.
“Maybe their fundamental approach to such things is different.”
“Could be.”
The salt workers were nonchalantly working despite the kraken’s rampage nearby.
Reflecting on the cultural differences, we resumed our sightseeing tour of the town.
◆
After a few days of carefree exploring, a messenger finally came to our inn.
“So, you’re the kingdom’s envoys!”
The first to speak was Nobuna, the samurai woman from the kraken battle.
“Now it makes sense! I thought the kingdom had loads of adventurers on that blue-haired guy’s level, but you’re special guards for the envoys!”
Of course, there aren’t that many people on Raidoc or Solar’s level.
If there were, frontier development would be a breeze. But life’s not that simple.
Nobuna stood before Raidoc, who shook his head.
“We’re just escorts. Talk to Kyle-sama or his attendants.”
“Got it!”
Kyle stepped forward, bowing politely.
“Hello. I saw your valiant efforts from a distance, but this is our first time speaking. I’m Kyle Golden Dawn von Elixir, Frontier Count of Maugaria and its territories. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Hmm, you’re young to be a lord. Is that like a general in charge of a castle or fortress?”
In the city-state of Mizuho, the concept might be unfamiliar.
“I’m not fully familiar with Mizuho’s political system, so I can’t say for sure, but that’s not far off.”
“You’re very composed. I’d like to give my brother Kanetsugu a dose of your discipline.”
“I’m constantly trembling at the weight of my duties.”
“…You’re really put-together.”
Nobuna blinked in surprise, then cleared her throat.
“My apologies. I’m Nobuna Wilhelm, the eldest daughter of the Wilhelm family, one of the Three Great Houses. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, Nobuna-san.”
Oh, so Wilhelm was a family name, not just a title.
Judging by the salt workers’ reverence, it’s likely a powerful family. This could be promising for negotiations.
“Craft, that’s a flag!”
“Don’t lump me in with you!”
I won’t let Jitaro jinx this!
Better to stay cautious.
And so, we were formally invited as envoys to the Mizuho Divine Kingdom.
Finally, progress for our delegation!