Circumstances

While I was busy experimenting with various things, Ran-san and her group returned.

“Welcome back.”

“Woody-sama, we’ve just returned!”

Her face was beaming with a broad smile, and even the guards of White Silver Wings behind her were grinning from ear to ear.

Just from their expressions, I could already guess how the business had gone.

It looked like they’d made quite a profit.

Though, every time I saw it, I wondered—why was Ran-san always walking out in front of her guards?

What was the point of having escorts, really…?

“As expected, the water sold out! The dried fruits were also incredibly popular—several people even asked to make reservations! For the first time, I actually made a profit in trade around here!”

Hearing Ran-san’s gleeful, buoyant report, I nearly burst into tears myself.

S-so until now, she had always been running at a loss…

What a saintly person she was.

From now on, I had to make sure she earned plenty…

Her utter disregard for profit, without a shred of greed, was almost refreshing.

As a merchant she would definitely get failing marks, but thanks to kind people like her, logistics could barely function in this harsh environment.

In that case, I had to help ensure people like her could run things in the black.

“…(speechless)”

Nadja, faced with Ran-san’s lack of mercantile spirit, was completely lost for words.

Then, as if realizing how silly it was to even suspect Ran-san, she suddenly burst out laughing.

N-Nadja broke down…

“…(munch munch)”

Meanwhile, Aira carried on at her own pace, eating roasted chestnuts.

She was so focused on peeling the outer shells that she didn’t speak a word, silently repeating peel and eat, peel and eat.

Beside her, a mountain of empty shells piled up.

Her intensity was almost like that of a competitive eater.

Just where was she heading…?

“Well, in any case, what we urgently need now is mass production of dried fruits. The reception has been excellent, so we can sell across a wider range. They’ll definitely sell.”

“Frankly, everyone already has water sources secured, so it won’t fetch a high price. At most, they’ll buy it as a precaution, just in case.”

Val-san added that explanation.

Hearing it, Ran-san murmured, “Ah, that’s right,” as if she had forgotten.

R-Ran-san…?

Are you really okay…?

I had thought it would be best to spread water widely first, but apparently there weren’t that many places struggling with it.

Humans couldn’t live without water, after all.

It seemed no villages were actually suffering from water shortages.

—All right, in that case, this should sell well too.

“Ran-san, could you try selling this next?”

“What is this? It looks a bit finer than dried fruits…”

“This is… Fruit Tea Substitute.”

“Fruit Tea… substitute?”

Fruit tea, simply put, was black tea with dried fruits added.

But this fruit tea didn’t use tea leaves at all.

I had made something similar using only fruits, so I called it a fruit tea substitute.

For now, I had prepared two kinds: grape tea substitute and apple tea substitute.

Since tasting was the only way to understand, I asked Aira to brew the grape tea substitute.

“How exactly do you make this?”

“Basically, you chop up fruit, roast it, and evaporate the moisture. Since there’s no need to wait for natural drying, it’s actually easier to make than dried fruits.”

Normally, they had to use flint to start fires each time, which was a bit of a hassle (or so I was told—I had never done it myself).

But recently, circumstances had changed.

After all, in our Tree Village, we now had—Fiona-chan, who possessed the aptitude of Fire Magic.