The next day, Rowan leads me to the village and introduces me to everybody in the village. It's so many people, I can't remember all their names. Luckily, Mittens is keeping track for me. Everybody seems to know each other here. Usually, they'd spread the news about the feast this evening among themselves, but since I'm staying here for longer, we're telling them as I being introduced.

In the early afternoon, We enter a smithy.

“Hey, Beretta, I've brought company!”

A young, muscular Felinefolk woman with dark hair with amber and red highlights comes to the front and greets us.

“Good afternoon! What can I do for you?”

“This is Aster, he'll be staying at my place for now.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Aster.”

“I'm Faberetta. Like everyone here, you can also call be Beretta, I'm the local smith. I specialize in handling blessings grade Banum.”

“Banum?” I ask.

Faberetta hands me a dagger. It's made of a slightly silver blueish metal. I get my knife from my pocket. They're both about the same size, but the Banum knife is much lighter.

“May I see that knife?” Faberetta asks.

I hand her my knife.

“At first glance, it looks like a simple iron knife. But this is steel, and it's unlike any kind of steel I've ever seen before. Just by looking at it, I can tell they should last about as long as my Banum knives, although my Banum knives are much lighter.”

So Banum is a metal about as strong as steel but much lighter… is it Titanium? Or maybe Chromium?

“My knife is made from something I know as stainless steel: as long you don't expose it to rust, the steel protects itself against rusting.”

“I can't tell by looking, but it's possible it's made by adding Banum to the Steel alloy.”

Faberetta looks at my knife for a while and then states: “No, I don't sense any Banum in the knife at all.”

Sense? That's odd… My guess is Banum is most likely Titanium. Stainless steel has Chromium added to it. I try giving Faberetta back the knife, but she refuses.

“Keep it.”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“If it were just about the normal use, I'm sure your knife will be useful. But Banum tools work a lot better in conjunction with blessings. With that strong blessing of yours, I'm sure you'll find a use for it.”

“But isn't making those tools expensive?”

“Yes, it's a gift celebrating us getting to know each other. I'm sure you'll be back for more.”

She wholeheartedly laughs.

“Thanks a lot, then. I'll use it with care.”

And I'll have Mittens analyze it at some point.

“Before we forget,” Rowan adds, “We're preparing a feast for this evening. There's even Snow Boar.”

“Is that so? Thanks for telling me. I'll make sure to drop by.”

“You're welcome,” Rowan says, “see you later.”

“See you later.”

❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆

Rowan and I go back to the elder's house to get the meat. I follow Rowan to another house further to the north. Some villagers are preparing a fire.

Inside, Rowan calls for the owner: “Uncle, we're bringing in the meat.”

“Ah, there you are, Rowan, I heard you and your friend hunted something big,” a middle-aged man answers. His hair has red and blue highlights.

“Aster hunted a Snow Boar,” Rowan shows him the meat.

“Hello, my name is Aster.”

“I'm Nell. As you can see, I'm the butcher of the village. During pilgrimage season, I also sell grilled meat to travellers.

I see the boar is already disassembled.”

“Rowan warned me about Snow Boars having poisonous innards,” I answer, “so I let him do it.”

“Yes, that meat looks fine. If only your skills in cooking would improve…”

“Are you really that bad with cooking?” I ask Rowan.

“I fear that's a lost cause,” Rowan answers, “besides, I don't need to be able to cook to become a merchant.”

“So you're still set on becoming a merchant. I guess I'll have to find a different person to succeed me,” Nell turns to me, “how about you?”

“I haven't really cooked before, but I'm willing to at least try to learn it.”

“Alright, help me with preparing this meat!”

“Are you sure? I've never done anything like this before!”

“It's just something simple this time,” Nell shows me some red powder, “this is Red Spice, it's made from fruits that grow in these parts.”

That's… a simple name. He rubs some powder onto the meat. I take a little powder and try smelling it. It has a slightly cheesy smell to it. The powder tastes salty and slightly sweet. I rub the powder in my hand onto a different piece of meat. Is this enough? Yeah, it's looks about the same as the chunk Nell prepared. He grins.

“Is something amiss?” I ask.

“It's nothing…” he answers.

After we're done with the meat, Rowan tells me to rest for a bit.

❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆

A few hours later, I hear someone knocking on the door. I get the door. It's Rowan.

“I assume it's time, Rowan?” I ask.

“Yes, everything is ready. We're only waiting for you.”

We go to the plaza. Rowan leads me to a seat next to the elder.

“Since we're all here, let me formally introduce Aster to all of you. He comes from a place far away and is not privy to our customs. Due to circumstances, he'll be staying in our village. Even though his home doesn't have such traditions, he decided to join Rowan on his pilgrimage.”

The villagers cheer.

“Thank you for the warm welcome. Even though it will not be for long, I'm looking forward to staying here in Dewick Village.”

We begin eating. The meat is red outside. Cutting it reveals the colour is just on the outer layer. Inside, it's completely cooked. I put a piece into my mouth. The grilled meat tastes… for lack of better words… great. I expected something like the flavours of the spice and the flavour of the meat. Yet, the taste of the grilled meat is completely different.

“This is so good!” I exclaim.

“Yeah it is, but I should warn you some richer folks don't like the red colour,” Nell answers.

“I see, I will keep that in mind,” I take a sip of wine.

The wine tastes slightly unusual to me. I don't dislike it, but I can't put my finger on what the difference is…

“Is something amiss, Aster?” Rowan asks.

“It's nothing much, the wine just tastes kind of unexpectedly different from what I'm used to. I mean, yes, it obviously tastes different, but this feels like something else. The food as well, it's like everything I've tasted before was just a cheap imitation.”

“I will gladly teach you anything I know about cooking,” Nell answers, “here, have another cup of wine.”

❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆

I wake up in my bed. Ugh… I have a terrible headache…

“Good Morning, Aster,” Mittens greets me, “I should have warned you about the alcohol.”

“Good Morning… What about the alcohol?”

“Beverages from the replicator commonly have their alcohol content limited to 1%, stronger beverages up to 5%. To preserve the taste, a suitable amount of compounds with similar tastes but without the intoxicating effect are added.”

“So yesterday, when I was drinking as always…”

“… you were drinking quite a lot more alcohol than you are used to. Acute symptoms of alcohol poisoning may include confusion, vomiting, seizures, loss of short-term memory, slow breathing, irregular breathing, pale skin, hypothermia and unconsciousness. Secondary effects up to a day after that are commonly called hangovers. Typical symptoms of a hangover may include headache, drowsiness, concentration problems, dry mouth, dizziness, fatigue, gastrointestinal distress, absence of hunger, light sensitivity, depression, sweating, nausea, hyper-excitability, irritability…”

“I get it,” I interrupt Mittens, “is there something I can do against this headache?”

“Usually I would suggest you taking isotonic beverages. Just drinking water should help a little too.”

“But man, I don't remember anything from yesterday evening. What did I even do?”

“Too much to summarize into one sentence.”

I hear someone knocking on the door.

“Aster, are you awake?” Rowan asks.

“Yes, I am,” I answer, “give be a minute.”

I hurriedly get out of bed, get dressed and open the door.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Rowan, I still have a headache, but at least I can move.”

“You don't have to push yourself. I have already explained to everyone you only have diluted wine at your place. Just be careful the next time.”

“Thanks, Rowan. Did I… did I do something yesterday? I don't remember.”

Rowan blushes and looks away, “no, nothing special.”

This doesn't bode well. What on earth did I do?!

“Let's go downstairs for breakfast,” Rowan suggests.

CC-BY 4.0 quốc Thái “RPGReki” Chung
https://amau.ga/1/4/