Volume 5 - CH 2.14

Granted, this is definitely nothing that could rival the best pasta-based dishes in the world by any chance, but as long as it turned out edible and the people whom I am serving it to are satisfied by it, then I guess there is no reason at all for me to not to feel satisfied as well. This just goes to show that as long as you keep in mind for whom you are cooking and why you want to cook it for them in the best way possible, then these feelings of yours are sure to reach the recipients of the dish that is going to be so good that they will not even be complaining or paying attention to the missing ingredients (not to mention that in order to complain about the things that are missing and the taste of the dish they just eaten, it means that they would have to be aware of what the original Japanese yakisoba tasted like).

When we finished eating breakfast, Sherry and Roxanne sat down at the chair in front of the mirror and resumed the long and arduous process of combing their hair for one another, and even though they were sitting in front of the large mirror on the wall, neither of them was looking at it too much, focusing instead on the hair of the other person that they were combing in order not to hurt them by accident. Personally, I do not look into the mirror all that much, but I thought that it will be looking nice when mounted on the wall and that the girls are going to make a much better use of this than I ever would. If it was not for them, I would have probably not bought that mirror at all, thinking that it would be nothing more but a waste of money.

It has already been around a month since I have arrived in this world. Or perhaps I should say that only a month has passed, even though it feels like a much, much longer period.

Recently, my hair has grown a little longer than I intended to grow them out, to the point where it is seriously starting to annoy the living hell out of me. It is probably not going to be all that long before I will go and ask Roxanne cut them all a bit shorter for me, and when that happens, my gut feeling is telling me that I should better have a mirror on me when such a day comes so that I could avoid a possible hair-cutting disaster that might occur when Roxanne or Sherry get a little bit too enthusiastic about doing this for me. And so, I asked both Sherry and Roxanne while I continued to chew down on my portion of yaki macaroni:

「Do you think that having such a mirror installed here at home was a handy idea after all?」

「It is a good thing to have it around in case we ever needed to cut our hair when they get too long, but other than that, I would not really say that it is something absolutely necessary or vital for our day-to-day lives.」

「What Miss Roxanne said, plus the fact that it does not look all that good.」

Sherry made a point that I definitely could not argue with, because while I called the thing that is on the wall 「mirror」it is actually a far cry from the mirrors that I am familiar with from my old world. In this world, the thing that are called 「mirrors」 are nothing more than polished surfaces of thick metal, so as you can probably imagine, it is not something that grants very good visibility when you gaze into it. I ended up buying it on impulse when I saw it one time in the general store, but now, after some time has passed since then, I think I might actually be suffering from buyer’s remorse, because now I see that its quality does not match up its relatively high price.

「Yeah, I definitely have to agree that the quality of this mirror is not very good. Is there something we can do to make it look better, even if only for a little bit?」

「No, there is not much that we can do about it, or at least not here, because anywhere where you would try to look, the mirrors are going to essentially look exactly the same. But if you want a mirror of better quality, then why not try one of the mirrors that are being sold in Palmasque?」

「Palmasque?」

「It is a city located between The Empire and Kassim. When I talked with Miss Roxanne about a lot of things, she told me that her birthplace is located some distance away from Kassim.」

Yeah, I remember that there was this one time when I had a conversation with Roxanne about this particular subject. Now, since it was some time ago I do not remember exactly what she said, but it must have been something similar to what Sherry said just now. And since she is from a place near Kassim, then it would stand to reason that she would know about Palmasque, that is apparently situated between The Empire and Kassim.

「So, master? A question, if I may. From what Miss Roxanne told me, you said that you are from a place located even further to the east than Kassim, right? But if that is the case, then how come that you do not know about Palmasque?」

Oh crap, I did say something like that, did I not?! Now quickly, find some good words to defuse the situation!

「Y-Yeah, I did live in a place farther to the east than Kassim, but even then, I for the most of my life I was living in a very remote region where very little information was reaching, and I was being brought up with very limited knowledge of the outside world, thanks to which I did not even know about Kassim until recently.」

There, is that going to be enough to deceive them? I sure hope it is going to be enough. I really have to stop saying such random things all the time, because if I keep on adding more lies to the pile, then eventually the mountain of them is going to grow up so big that one of these days I am just going to run myself into a corner out of which I will not be able to weasel my way out.

「Is that so? Well then, I guess some explanations are in order, right? Palmasque is a city famous for its glassworks and a huge variety of products they are able to create because of it. The mirrors that they are making by using glass all look very good, and they are said to reflect the exact image of whatever is being placed in front of them without distorting it in any way. It is one of their most valued luxury items, and the one that is often exchanged as gifts among nobles and particularly rich people.」

So it would seem that there are mirrors made from glass in this world after all, as well as some pretty advanced techniques of manufacturing items. Looks like I underestimated the technological capabilities of this world, which just goes to show: you cannot judge a book, or in this case, a world, by its cover. I wonder if I could find one of these Palmasque-made mirrors if I went looking for them in the Imperial City?

「Since they are such a luxury item, then they are probably bound to be really expensive. Nevertheless, I think it might be worth it to try and look for one of them one of these days.」

「Normally that would have been the case, since the prices of glass mirrors have to be appropriately raised since Palmasque is located quite far away from the Empire, but if you were to go and buy such a mirror directly in Palmasque, then the prices would surely not be all that high, and it would certainly not be as expensive as having it imported here.」

「Master, with your abilities, would it not be possible for you to travel to Palmasque and back in an instant?」

Roxanne pointed that out to me. Certainly, if I could just go there by using 「Warp」, I could buy it directly from one of the shops that would be offering it there, and if I would buy a glass mirror in such a way, then it would definitely be way cheaper than having it imported from such a far-away place, because I am pretty sure that the payment just for that would have been enough to knock me and my wallet off my feet.