Let’s Go See The Patients

“Are most of the patients men?”

Lady Shitoen tilted her head slightly.

“Yes… comparatively, more of them are men.”

Lord Marder answered carefully.

“Do men often eat dried fish? Do women not eat it?”

As Lady Shitoen lightly held her chin and thought, she asked Lord Marder.

“Rather than men, it is the exiles who eat it often.”

Vandel answered and glanced at me. I nodded as well.

“In the Mira Empire, they dry sea fish and eat it… But we do not eat it that way, right? Meunière or sauté and the like. We do not dry it.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right.”

Lady Shitoen blinked in surprise.

Ahh, even this side of her was cute.

“Then, does ‘men’ here mean the exiles?”

When she asked again, the three of us men all groaned, “Hmm.”

“Well, there are families who flee into exile while married, but… generally, when you say exile, it is often a man alone.”

Vandel looked at Lord Marder. Lord Marder nodded.

“That is correct. And then many of them marry village girls and start households.”

That might well be true of him too. There was a ring on his left ring finger.

“Then even after marriage, is it possible that only the men keep eating the food of their homeland?”

Pressed further by Lady Shitoen, Lord Marder timidly nodded.

“Yes… I believe so. Especially karis, they probably eat it more than bread.”

“‘Karis’?”

Lady Shitoen and I spoke at the same time.

“It’s a grain. You boil it in water and eat it. It is the staple food of the Mira Empire.”

Vandel explained, then shrugged.

“With salt and karis, the people of that country could go on living.”

“That way of saying it—”

I hurriedly rebuked him. Wasn’t this Lord Marder, after all, from that very country?

“That is true. Karis is also a matter of pride for us.”

But Lord Marder instead puffed out his chest proudly, which really drove home how amazing food could be.

“Can karis be bought normally in this territory?”

At Lady Shitoen’s words, both Lord Marder and Vandel nodded together.

“If anything, there are many people in the territory who produce karis.”

Partway through Vandel’s explanation, Lady Shitoen no longer seemed to be listening. She just kept repeating, “I see.”

Seeing Lady Shitoen like that, Vandel bowed his head.

“Please, just as you improved my anemia, might you lend us your wisdom?”

“Of course. If I can be of help, then I would be glad to help.”

Lady Shitoen agreed so readily that I panicked.

“You may refuse, you know. Aren’t you afraid?”

Yes. That was it.

Was she really not afraid?

What if she became infected…?

There would be diarrhea, they would become unable to move, their body would turn bluish-black, and they would die.

“If there are people my knowledge can save, then I ought to offer that knowledge.”

Lady Shitoen nodded to me.

“Could you prepare some strong distilled liquor and several scarves? Once those are ready, let us go to the patients.”

Vandel and Lord Marder looked at each other and laughed, then thrust out their hands toward Lady Shitoen as though competing with each other. It seemed they were asking for a handshake.

After hesitating a little, Lady Shitoen shook Vandel’s hand with her right hand.

And Lord Marder’s with her left.