Book 1: Chapter 18-1: Calm Before the Storm
I cant wait to try that alcohol! That mead we drank together last time was delicious
Lucy said in good humor once we returned home.
Up til now she had only been collecting maple leaves and cranberries because I said so, but now that she knew what the end goal was she was much more enthusiastic.
All the elves liked good alcohol. Before we fell under the control of the Empire we had sold excess food to purchase alcohol.
Since mead and wine were too expensive we bought ale made with wheat and drank it during the harvest festival.
The alcohol Im making will be even better than mead.
The cranberry alcohol? I wonder if itll taste sweet and sour
Cranberries are only one of the ingredientsthe main will be something else. Look forward to winter when youll find out.
Looking forward to winter huh? Its the first time Ive felt like that.
Lucy said with a happy smile. Just seeing that made my feelings brighten up.
Truly Lucy was perfect with a smile on her face.
But..Cyril if we have the spare time to be making alcohol and stuff like that, we should be getting more things that can feed us during the winter since the village is low on supplies.
Lucys cheerful face calmed down as she seriously spoke to me.
Lucy must have realized some things after seeing what I was working on and what was going on in the village. These were her serious considerations.
Lucys ideas have some merit, but thats no good.
I told Lucy with a gentle smile.
What do you mean?
Just like you said, people need to gather food to survive. But, if its only that then people will lose the will to work harder.
Is that so?
It is. They will tire of working only for the sake of survival. They can survive the tough times if they know theres a better tomorrow with hope on the horizon. In my mind the Village Chiefs job is divided into two large responsibilities.
These were the thoughts of Cyril who watched his father lead the village with admiration and my current thoughts after receiving great amounts of experience.
First is to protect the livelihoods of the villagers. It is to use my power and everyone elses power properly so we can live our lives to the fullest.
This is why I had dealt with the immediate food concerns and improved everyones current circumstances.
The second is to allow everyone in the village to dream. Let them believe that tomorrow will be better than today. Once I have accomplished that I can stick out my chest with pride and say I am the Chief.
I needed to properly face the villagers.
That is what I believe constitutes a truly good Chief.
Everyone smiled in my fathers time as Chief. They worked hard while believing in their futures. Thats the kind of village I wish to have.
My words may have been naive, but Lucys eyes glittered.
It made me really happy yet embarrassed.
Cyril just nowwas pretty cool. I see, youre right. Just surviving is boring. Once it turns winter, the fighting will end, the food will be plenty, and well relax and sleep together then drink some alcohol in front of a roaring fireplace.can I dream of such a beautiful future?
Un, of course you can. I want to spend my time with Lucy just like that.Well if I had one thing to add Id like to add some mouth-to-mouth activities too
.youre so bad.
Lucy said as she blushed and turned away shyly.
I truly believe if I seriously ask her when the time comesshell let me.
As we continued to chat happily lunch time arrived.
We still had work to do in the evening so we needed to eat properly.
Maybe we should bake some bread today
How rareusually you say that we should have some suiton soup or noodlesyou dont make bread often.
Its because I was missing an important ingredient.
I said and took a container down from the shelf. Inside the container were cranberries soaking in water.
There was white foam floating on the top of the water.
Uwaa Cyril theres some gross bubbly stuff in here. Dont use these throw them out.
Dont even think of throwing this out! It took me a week to produce this stuff.
I had taken the time to soak the cranberries to produce liquid yeast. It was quite useful for various things.
Look Lucy you put in the ingredients for bread, mix them together, and put in the cranberry liquid.
I said as I kneaded the wheat and turned it into dough one size larger than my fist.
Ahh our precious wheatcan we really eat this?
Just believe me. Right, now we cover it with a cloth and let it sit.
I listened as the fermentation began and the sound of air escaping let me approximate the correct timing.
Good, this should be enough for the first firmentation.
Okay, it should be fine now. Take a look.
Its much bigger than it was before. Almost three times larger!
This is the effect of the yeast fluid from those cranberries. The gas released by sweeteners degrading makes the bread rise. Then you do this!
I cried out grabbing the inflated dough and dropping it on the cutting board. I started to slap it onto the board several times.
Cyril you shouldnt be playing with our food.
No nothis is food preparation. This is to remove the old gas inside and replace it with new air. Once I do that the yeast will reactivate and make the dough smoother. Now I can let it begin the second fermentation.
Sorry Cyrilbut I have no idea what youre talking about with yeast and fermenting.
Putting it simply it makes the bread really fluffy and makes the nutrients from wheat easier to absorbplus it makes it taste better.
Amazing. Just this little bit of wheat can become such a large piece of dough.
I had recently began cooking for us, but before Lucy had always been the one in the kitchen. She must have tried to use as little wheat as possible back then.
Some day Id make it so she wouldnt have to worry about things like that.
Its too early to be surprised. Itll get even bigger after baking.
I cut the dough into smaller pieces and placed them on an iron pan before placing them inside the oven.
All that was left was to wait for it to be done.
Yay Im looking forward to it. If you could cook like this I wish you wouldve started doing so earlier and you should do it more.
Well I cant promise that. Ill be on cooking duty for a little while longer.
I feel complex about thatI do like cooking for you Cyrillittle by little Ill learn how to cook the things youre makingI might lose to you right now but Ill catch up.
I thought you might insist on making it anyways.
I cant mess around and feed you bad food. I know you have plenty of things you want to cook, but once you run out of them let me try.
Dont say your food is bad. I love your cooking Lucy. Id like to eat them every day if I can.
Thank you, but I want to learn the delicious foods that you can make Cyril. Then Ill arrange it with things I know how to cook and give you something truly delicious.
Im looking forward to it.
The fact that Lucy would be making it specially for me would be the greatest seasoning. I cant help but look forward to it.
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