'Adaptability' – The skill I received as a favor from the manager first showed noticeable change in my gradually shortening sleep time. But starting from a certain day, I stopped feeling tired easily, and now even if I don't sleep for two days, I don't feel fatigue. Looking at it this way, it seems like a good skill, but in many ways, it's a strange skill that makes me feel both comfort and discomfort simultaneously.
"Ah..."
Why am I suddenly saying this? Even though I slept after pulling an all-nighter for two days and going to the dungeon, my eyes open not long after, so despite the lack of fatigue, I can't feel like I've properly fallen asleep.
"Something feels off..."
As I might have said before, it's a weird feeling where my body is refreshed but my mind isn't refreshed at all.
"Definitely good, yet not good, this feeling..."
After finishing this non-complaint complaint, I got up from bed and checked the time.
"6:30... So I slept for about 4 and a half hours..."
Just a few days ago, I'm sure I slept for 5 hours, but somehow it's gotten even shorter.
"...Should I really take sleeping pills or something?"
With that, I came out of my room, seriously considering internally whether I should forcibly take sleeping pills for my mental rest, and
"As for senior... I should let her sleep more."
The moment I was about to open the door to wake Naza as usual, I remembered her appearance last night tinged with fatigue, so I let go of the doorknob I had grabbed and headed to the god's room.
"God, wake up."
"Hmm..."
"I'll be making breakfast, so come down slowly."
"Okay..."
With that, I headed to the ingredient storage to make breakfast, but
"...What is this?"
Corn was taking up the entire side wall of the storage.
"Oh, Miach..."
As the saying goes, habits from age three last until eighty, perhaps because just a few weeks ago he was struggling with debt, Miach had a habit of buying things in bulk at cheap prices whenever he saw them on sale.
"I thought it was fixed... I let my guard down..."
There's no other reason for this much corn to be piled up in the storage, and since it's already happened and I know better than anyone that habits aren't easily fixed, I just held my forehead.
"How should I handle all this corn..."
Boil it and eat it normally? Or make butter-roasted corn, which has almost no haters? Or maybe make popcorn with various flavor variations? While thinking of foods to make with corn, a suitable breakfast dish suddenly came to mind.
"Now that I think of it, corn potage... no, corn soup, right?"
I had bought a mixer that rotates blades by pulling a string while wandering the market before and left it unused in a corner because there was no place to use it, but now I finally have a use for it.
"I need to add a lot of corn."
Since there was also fresh-looking milk, I hurriedly gathered onions, potatoes, and corn in large quantities and headed to the kitchen.
"Slice the onions thinly, peel the potatoes into slices, and stir-fry them."
Originally, it should be stir-fried with butter, but unfortunately, in this world without refrigerators, butter is close to a luxury, so sadly, I had to use oil this time.
"When the onions and potatoes are about half-cooked, add corn and season with salt and pepper while stir-frying together."
Once all ingredients are evenly stir-fried, put them in the mixer with milk and pull the string, then the blades inside rotate and the contents turn into a porridge-like consistency.
"Huff!!"
'Whirr! Whirr!!'
Now, repeating this process continuously will finish it.
"Is it because the mixer is small... This is complete hard labor..."
After repeating about 20 times, I made about 6 servings of corn soup and immediately tasted it.
"...Huh? It's lacking sweetness... Why?"
Even though I made it according to the recipe I remember, something feels bland, right? Anyway, after thinking about what I might have missed,
"Ah... On Earth, I used canned corn to make it, right?"
I quickly realized the reason.
"...Should I just pour in some sugar?"
Having found the problem, to solve it, I scooped a little corn soup into a bowl and tasted it while mixing in sugar bit by bit, and
"If this much sugar goes into one bowl of soup..."
I finally succeeded in making it similar to the taste in my memory.
"Now, after deciding whether to make it thick with milk or thin, boil it once and that's it!"
With that, I left the kitchen and headed to Miach, who was waiting at the table, but
'Sigh...'
Instead of Miach, the sight of Naza sleeping face down on the table first caught my eye.
"You're here?"
And next to Naza like that, Miach, with his always kind-looking smile, greeted me in a quiet voice so as not to wake Naza.
"I deliberately didn't wake her to let her sleep more..."
"When I came to this room, Naza was already sleeping like this."
"...If that's the case, there's nothing to be done. Rather, for breakfast today, I made soup. Do you prefer it thick or thin?"
"Hmm... Since it's soup, thin might be easier to eat."
"Yes."
With that, I went back to the kitchen, added more milk to make the soup thin, and after boiling it thoroughly, the unique savory and sweet aroma of corn began to spread in the kitchen, and
"Give me food quickly..."
Naza, who had come to her senses at some point, leaned against my head as a support and started whining for food in a still-tired voice.
"It'll be done soon, so sit down."
"Okay..."
After a while, when I headed to the table with the completed soup, Naza was having a conversation with Miach about the things made this time, so we talked about the upcoming experiments while eating until the meal ended, and immediately started the demonstration.
"Now, then..."
Since the press I made was large, we started the demonstration with the things Naza made first.
"First, these are 12 types made according to the recipes I wrote down, and 12 types I made by supplementing what I felt was lacking in my own way, totaling 24 types of cosmetics..."
"...Huh?"
"I worked hard making these in less than a week..."
"No... I thought you made about 3, but you made all of these?"
"Well... Since there were already completed recipes, the only somewhat difficult part was gathering the ingredients..."
"What ingredients were problematic?"
"Of course, spices were the problem..."
"Ah..."
Among the few things that are always included in the cosmetics recipes I made, one is spices responsible for good fragrance.
"In the case of the bath bombs we've been making, they were made with ingredients like lemon or rose that have strong fragrances and are easy to obtain in large quantities, but the ones made this time each require several times more spices than that... I looked through all the recipes you gave before and barely managed to create substitutes..."
"Kai, I remember that among the recipes you showed us before, there was something called artificial spices, so Naza and I made them together."
"...There was such a thing?"
"Why do you not know..."
"That's... With just the thought that I had to earn money, I wrote down everything I remembered almost half-crazily... Honestly, because there was so much, I don't remember well what I wrote down..."
To what extent? There were cases about three times a week where I had a good idea, hurriedly wrote it in a notebook, and when I went back home, I had already written it down as an idea.
"Well... Since one large bookshelf is entirely filled with research records or manufacturing methods like theories I've never seen before, it's understandable..."
"Just now, while talking, I remembered—artificial spices, didn't I only write down a few ingredients I remembered and basic theories because I didn't know the proper manufacturing method?"
But isn't making artificial spices more amazing than making all those cosmetics? Even if I wrote down basic theories and information on essential ingredients, did they complete artificial spices with this world's current technology?
"Actually, since the information written was less than the recipes you usually showed, I thought it was an unfinished recipe, so Naza and I experimented all day to figure out what was lacking and somehow barely completed it..."
"No... That can be done in one day?"
"Well... Although we're in a situation struggling with debt now, we were a decent mid-tier Familia in the past, and besides the Dual Potion, we've continuously developed existing potions by researching various methods together, so we have some confidence in this area..."
"Haha. Since I have the alias 'God of Medicine,' shouldn't I work hard in this field?"
...As expected, since they are people connected to the protagonist, both are not only talented but also amazing people who never stop making efforts.
"Anyway, thanks to this artificial spices, we no longer have to suffer from ingredients like roses or lemons that require paying expensive money if we miss specific seasons..."
"Production costs have decreased, and the fragrance is much stronger than existing ones, so isn't this 'killing two birds with one stone'?"
Truly, they always show results beyond expectations, making me happy but also sorry for making them work so hard.
"You're really amazing... Both of you... Now we just need to test if there are any particular issues by using them ourselves."
"Regarding that, we've already resolved it, so we can sell immediately..."
"Huh?"
"While you were holed up in your room for 5 days engrossed in making the press, whenever Naza completed new cosmetics, she gave samples to some regular customers as upcoming new products and already finished all preliminary investigations on whether there are side effects or shortcomings."
Hmm... Since I think I didn't come out of my room for a long time, I have nothing to say about this part.
"Anyway, I've shown all the cosmetics I made, so now only the thing called press that you made is left..."
With that, after Naza's turn ended, when I was about to bring the press I made for a demonstration,
"The size is one thing, but there's one biggest problem."
One problem occurred.
"I just noticed it too..."
...How do we test this?
"...Did our home have any tools like a forge or anvil that a smith uses?"
"...A whetstone?"
"Sigh..."
"The purpose of this press is to quickly hammer heated ingots, so we need to test it properly..."
Operation itself isn't a problem, but we need to confirm if there are issues using it for its original purpose.
"I have a shop I often go to... But that won't work, right?"
"...We can't just show it anywhere."
Since it's that kind of item, it's ambiguous to show it recklessly anywhere; in short, we got stuck even before starting.
"It's become a troublesome situation..."
What should I say... It feels like preparing hard for a game boss raid for days, but on the raid day, the motherboard breaks down.
"...Should we just do what I made later when preparations are ready?"
In such a situation with no answer, quickly giving up and planning for the next time is also a good method, so we decided to first determine how to sell Naza's properly prepared cosmetics.
"Since we've already confirmed there are no side effects, we can sell immediately, right?"
"Will the sales method be the same as last time?"
"From my perspective, that method is the best, but..."
The existing sales method for bath bombs is a maximum of 20 per person, and for adventurers currently active, they can only purchase bath bombs if they buy other products worth over 1,000 valis...
"There were more complaints about this than expected..."
"When we explain the reason, everyone understands in their own way, but..."
"Certainly... Since a god blinded by money tried to incite other adventurer customers by saying we discriminate against adventurers who risk their lives fighting..."
"No, wait! That happened?!"
I didn't know about this either?!
"Well, it happened while you were in the dungeon..."
"Moreover, thanks to a child of Ganesha who came to buy bath bombs, it ended as a simple incident, and there haven't been such things since."
The rule I made by racking my brains—as with all laws in the world, satisfying one side leads to complaints from the other...
"I'm glad nothing serious happened..."
"Well... Of course, I was surprised—who would have thought the captain of Ganesha Familia would come directly to a shop in such a remote place..."
"...Huh? Who came?"
"Huh...? The captain of Ganesha Familia."
Ganesha Familia is one of the top five Familias in Orario, practically responsible for all of Orario's security instead of the guild, which has almost no military power, right? The captain of such a Familia came to our shop?
"It's as surprising as when we found out a regular customer was the 'Great Axe' of Loki Familia..."
"No... I'm more surprised that the 'Sage's Staff' came than the 'Great Axe'...? And she was a regular?"
...I realized anew how popular the bath bombs were.
"...Let's just keep the rules the same as before."
Somehow... I strongly feel that if I mess with the rules, something big might happen.
"Even if the method is the same, it would be good to reduce the maximum quantity per person. Hmm... About 3 per person seems fine, what do you think?"
"Certainly... Considering the time needed to make them..."
"But if we cut the number this drastically, complaints might arise..."
At Miach's words, while momentarily lost in thought, a sales strategy I saw before flashed in my mind and
"I thought of a good method, would you like to try it...?"
As a result,
"Quickly... Open the door now!!!"
"There's enough stock today, right?! There has to be enough!!?"
"Now that my body can't live without the products you make, open quickly!!"
Two days after sales started, a scene much larger than when bath bombs were selling like hotcakes—no, a crowd of women was vividly playing out right in front, as if they might break the shop windows and come in.
"Uh..."
"This is too much..."
"Haha... If this goes wrong, I might not even dream of sleeping for a while..."