Unfairly Fired From the Healer's Guild After Five Years of Dedicated Service

Episode 75 – The Food Capable of Counteracting Bitterness

This curry might help me eat the Dumbbell Weed. I wasn’t exactly sure yet what would happen with the balance of the bitterness and spiciness, but this curry had a lot of potential in my eyes.

“What a wonderful meal! It was so good!” (Lewin)

“Hearing you say that makes me feel that making this curry was worth it.” (Clive)

I thanked the shopkeeper and cleaned up my plate. Today, yet again… I rediscovered the profound depth of cooking. The Glutamate Herb was a shocking discovery, but if I had to choose, I’d say that this experience with the curry was even more eye-opening. It was amazing how spices that did not taste good individually became delicious when mixed together. I now understood why spices were able to be sold for such a high price.

“…How was it? Was curry the dish that you were looking for?” (Nina)

While I was washing the dishes, Nina spoke to me from behind. Was the grandma talking about curry? Considering the impact, there was a chance it was indeed curry.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure. Since all I heard was that it was a dish with multiple spices in it, I wasn’t even clear what dish it was in the first place. But… I was able to learn that curry is an amazing dish. Nina, thanks for suggesting it!” (Lewin)

“N-no, all I did was think of it. Clive-san was the one who actually cooked it, so I didn’t do any–” (Nina)

“Then, next time I want to try eating Nina’s curry. There are lots of other types of curry, aren’t there?” (Lewin)

When I asked this of Nina, Lyra pitched in from across the room.

“Yup yup! There are lots of types of curry! You can even add more spices to change the flavor, or you can add meat and vegetables and even seafood to make it better!” (Lyra)

“….That’s right. I like curry with lots of vegetables in it. If you’d like, how about I make it for you next time, Lewin?” (Nina)

“Really? I’d love to try your vegetable curry!” (Lewin)

“Then next time I’ll make meat curry for you too!” (Lyra)

“It’s great that you seemed to enjoy the curry. So, is there anything else you’d like to ask me in particular about spices?” (Clive)

“There’s nothing else I’d like to ask for now.” (Lewin)

As soon as I said that, I suddenly remembered something. It didn’t really have to do with spices, but I realized that I totally forgot to ask him about Glutamate Herb.

“Sorry, actually there is something I’d like to ask. It’s about this plant here…” (Lewin)

I fished out a Glutamate Herb from my bag and handed it over to the shopkeeper. After he held it in his hand for a while, staring at it unblinkingly, the shopkeeper tilted his head, stumped.

“Huh? What is this plant? It’s not a spice, right?” (Clive)

“Ah! Glutamate Herb, was it? Clive-san, this plant is amazing!” (Lyra)

Noticing the plant that I handed over to him, Lyra started explaining to the shopkeeper. Lyra relayed what I was going to say in a clearer and more technical fashion.

“…Hoh. Sounds like an interesting herb. Lewin, do you only have this one stalk with you?” (Clive)

“Ah, no. I have about 5 on me.” (Lewin)

“Then would you sell those 5 to me? For now… how about 1 stalk for 5 silver coins?” (Clive)

“1 stalk for 5 silver coins?! Is Glutamate Herb that expensive?” I exclaimed, a little shocked at the high price. If 1 stalk could go for 5 silver coins and if I could synthesize 2 stalks of Glutamate Herb in one day with my current magic power capacity, that meant that I could earn 1 gold coin per day. If I just used [Plant Master] to synthesize Glutamate Herb each day, I could live very comfortably.

“That’s mainly because I haven’t heard of Glutamate Herb before. For now, I just set the price at 5 silver coins. Well, this is just a tentative purchase price; if it turns out to be a capable plant, there will eventually be people who’ll go out to collect it. I think that there’s a good chance this will be the peak price, so you can expect the price to drop. If I find that it isn’t useful, then in our next transaction, there’s the potential that it could drop to as low as 1 copper coin.” (Clive)

“I see. Then this time, the price of 5 silver coins per stalk is plenty! Let’s proceed with that price.” (Lewin)

“Then we have a deal!” (Clive)

After concluding our second deal, in addition to the 5 gold coins I got from selling the spices earlier, I received another 2 gold coins and 5 silver coins from the 5 stalks of Glutamate Herb.

It wasn’t just curry; I realized that I had been completely underestimating the importance of food-related goods. I had the feeling that this encounter would completely change not only my financial situation, but also my eating habits.

“Shopkeeper-san! Thank you for everything today. I’ll definitely be sure to frequent this shop in the future.” (Lewin)

“Sure thing. If you gather some spices again in the future, be sure to stop by and sell them to me. I’ll let you know if I figure anything out with the Glutamate Herb I just bought from you. Also… it’s a ‘lil late for this, but my name’s Clive. Feel free to just call me that.” (Clive)

“Got it! I’ll be looking forward to working with you in the future, Clive-san!” (Lewin)

Parting with Clive at the entrance to his house, the three of us descended the stairs and returned to the shopping area. After I bought the necessary ingredients to try making the curry I just learned about, we left the store. Lyra and Nina had really introduced me to a great shop.