Chapter 72: Fruit Jelly

Chapter 72:
Fruit Jelly

The water was massive, and the breeze smelled mysterious.

Facing a sight she could never have imagined, the elf named Alice—born to two half-elf parents—raised her voice in shock.

“Wooow…!”

“It’s been a while since I last saw the sea,” said Fardania, Alice’s guardian. “But, geez, it really is huge.”

Fardania smiled, recalling the first time she’d seen the ocean. It had been about fifty years since she came face-to-face with the sea while traveling with her parents.

“So, we’re finally here, eh?”

Over a year had passed since Fardania left her village.

In that brief time, she’d visited the elf capital, the forest where she’d found Alice, and all sorts of human towns and villages. She’d also fought monsters, nearly been fooled by ill-intentioned humans, and stayed at an inn run by a half-elf for days to figure out the secret of its elf bean soup. For a time, she’d even joined up with adventurers and done various odd jobs as well.

These were all precious experiences to Fardania. She hadn’t had them fifty years ago, when her mother was still alive and her whole family had spent a year traveling by the sea.

***

And then there was Alice, the elven child Fardania had picked up. To make Alice look like an adventurer of sorts, Fardania had her wear a human mage’s robes, complete with a cloak.

Ironically, there were humans who mistook Alice for Fardania’s older sister. As far as Fardania was concerned, however, Alice had a thirty-year-old elven child’s face. She simply didn’t look like she could withstand the harsh realities of a long journey.

Of course, Fardania had an objective for this journey. She didn’t plan on wasting her time in one place for too long. If her memories were correct, however, this port town was rather desolate, since it was near a battlefield from the old war with the demons. It was the perfect place for some peace and quiet.

Huh. So that’s why they brought me here.

Realizing her mother and father’s intentions, Fardania chuckled. Alice knew nothing of how the world operated, so this quiet town was the perfect environment for her to learn the ways of the world.

Fardania’s parents had likely felt that way as well when they chose to bring eighty-year-old Fardania here.

“Let’s be on our way,” said Fardania.

“Okay!”

Alice flashed Fardania the childlike smile she’d only recently started showing.

For Alice—who’d lost her beloved mother and father and then gotten lost in the woods—Fardania was both her guardian and her new big sister, whom she loved dearly. Fardania had saved the young girl when she was in danger. Furthermore, she was the most trustworthy person Alice knew, having lived a hundred years longer than Alice. Anything the older elf said was the truth as far as Alice was concerned.

The two elves entered the town, and Fardania found her expectations completely off the mark. The supposedly quiet little seaside community was positively bustling.

“Come one, come all! We got rare cafa, brought from all the way across the ocean! They say even the Empire’s great emperor adores this particular product!”

“Any high-quality white sugar? We’re getting orders from the Shrine of Light lately, and we wanna stock up.”

“What the hell’s this price? I get that this whiskey’s gourmet and all, but you could buy five bottles of the Ocean Nation’s amazing plum wine for this much!”

“Ain’t ya heard? This is the dwarves’ new whiskey. Word has it that even the eccentric Aingard was willing to smith a sword after receiving a gift of this stuff!”

“Whoa! It’s sure busy here in the one port the Empire took in battle.”

“Yup. Boats from the Ocean Nation and the Sand Nation have been sailing in and out recently.”

“Hey, young man! If this is your first time in a port town, how ’bout you try one of these fresh fish skewers?!”

“Ayyyooo! Croquettes, fresh off the pan! I change the oil every ten days, so I can guarantee its taste!”

“How about some margo juice? Freshly squeezed!”

People filled the streets—merchants, business owners, suspicious-looking adventurers, travelers, and bag carriers.

And all kinds of stalls.

Everyone was doing their best to sell their goods—the sound of people speaking mixed with the sound of the ocean waves and reverberated through the air.

There was such a large difference between the town in Fardania’s childhood memory and what faced her now that she clutched her head with her hands.

“Can human towns really change this much in fifty years?!”

She’d pictured a quiet, cozy little town and had planned to use this opportunity to look into the “sea herbs” that the other world utilized for flavoring.

However, Fardania looked down at Alice—who was mesmerized by the crowded streets and unfamiliar vista before her—and rethought things. Unlike when she used to travel alone, Fardania now had a child in tow.

I can’t push Alice too hard. This is frustrating, but I have no choice.

With the town this loud and crowded, she wanted to get out immediately.

“Shall we get going, Alice? Alice…?!”

The girl was no longer next to her, where she was supposed to be.

While Fardania had been lost in thought, Alice’s childish sense of curiosity seemingly drove her to wander off on her own.

“Arrgggh, kids! I swear!”

Fardania began to panic. Cursing to herself, she began searching for the girl—not recalling the time when, fifty years ago, she too had gotten lost, and her parents had desperately searched for her all over the place.

***

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to track Alice down. She was staring at a particular item at one of the many booths.

“Wooow…”

Alice was looking at some kind of translucent object atop a sparkly red copper dish. It was filled with sliced fruit, which shone beautifully in the light.

The clear substance was like nothing Alice had ever seen before. It looked like water at first glance, but it jiggled wildly when poked with a spoon.

“There you are! Alice, how many times do I have to tell you not to go wandering off on your own?!”

After scolding Alice, Fardania followed the young girl’s gaze to the object she was so fixated on in the stall.

“What is that?” Fardania asked the vendor. “Some kind of food?”

Fardania was unfamiliar with the strange slime filled with colorful fruit.

“Yup,” the vendor replied in the most precise, carefree manner possible. Their answer was remarkably elf-like, in that sense. “It’s a dessert called ‘fruit jelly,’” they added. “You should give it a try. I sold some to an elf like you not too long ago. They thought it was quite good.”

The Witch of the Cape had told the vendor that, although the fruit jelly was tough and imperfect, it was tasty nonetheless. With that in mind, the vendor felt confident recommending the confection to the two potential customers in front of the stall.

Fardania and Alice exchanged glances. “Huh.” After considering the fruit jelly for a moment, Fardania placed her order. “Can we get two servings, then?”

“Much obliged.”

Politely handing the girls two wooden bowls of fruit jelly, the vendor laughed internally.

Heh heh! They’re gonna be crazy surprised.

The vendor made this special dessert from magic dust they’d learned about from the ageless Witch of the Cape. Their father had told them that the witch already lived on the cape when he was a lad.

Although the fruit jelly looked like a low-level monster’s slime, the two elves in front of the vendor agreed that it was delicious.

The moment the elves tasted a spoonful of the jelly, their cheeks puffed out with glee.

“Wow, this isn’t half-bad!”

“Yeah! It’s super-duper tasty.”

The fruit slices had been boiled in sugar water, mixed with fruit juice, and then hardened with magic dust. Those were the fruit jelly’s ingredients.

The way the cool, sweet, and sour fruit juice melted away in the mouth made the jelly a real gem of a product. Other vendors sold it, too.

I wonder where the witch got this recipe, though, the vendor thought as they prepared seconds for the two elves.

All they knew about the witch was that she was tremendously beautiful and that she had lived in this land for many years.

A few years ago, the witch had decided on a whim to teach the vendor how to make fruit jelly.

Since no one knew where the witch was from, it wasn’t particularly strange that she knew how to make fruit jelly. What was confusing was why she’d chosen to teach the vendor to make the dish.

If I remember correctly, she said something like, “There’s more of them around these days.” Eh, who am I to try and figure out how a witch thinks?

There wasn’t much point in thinking about something they’d never figure out, so the vendor returned to their work. Regardless of who the witch was, she’d definitely saved their butt. That was all that really mattered.

***

On the port town’s outskirts, a cape faced the ocean. Connected to the basement of a small house built on that cape was a cave where the ocean’s water ran deep.

Over sixty years had passed since Camilla moved in.

She often traveled into the depths of the sea, searching for various foods and medicinal ingredients. Today, she once again returned with a bounty in hand.

“I got quite a bit.”

This time, Camilla had surfaced with all kinds of seaweed, shellfish, and even the fang of a shark that had the gall to try and attack her. She looked her goods over and smiled to herself.

In this land, far removed from her friends, days like these helped heal the mermaid’s loneliness.

Goods in hand, Camilla quickly offered up a prayer to the Lord of Blue.

“Oh Lord of Blue, ruler of the water, please give me your blessing. Grant me legs to walk upon the earth.”

The prayer transformed Camilla’s mermaid fin into human legs. Her beautiful tail, blessed with the blue of the ocean, morphed—not into clawed, weapon-like dragon legs with metallic blue scales, but rather into smooth human legs.

Those legs were too weak to be considered weapons, but they were perfect for pretending to be a human on land.

***

Camilla was a mermaid from the blue sea’s eternal Great Empire. She had vowed everlasting loyalty to the Lord of Blue and was also a high priestess who’d received a special blessing directly from the emperor—the Lord of Blue himself.

Normally, high priestesses represented the Great Empire’s entire population. In other words, their job was to guide their comrades.

However, Camilla’s situation was a bit different. Seventy years ago, as the blue sea’s most skilled and talented priestess, she’d received a special order directly from the Lord of Blue to travel to the continent in the north. The Lord of Blue told her to monitor the Million Colors of Chaos. Its followers—known on the continent as “demons”—were attempting to revive their lord.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Ancient Six destroyed the Million Colors of Chaos after it devoured and absorbed countless lives and powerful creatures. Then, becoming the world’s rulers, the Ancient Six forged three pacts.

The first was that they must never wage war among themselves.

The second was that they must never become directly involved in battles between followers who received their blessings.

The third and last was that, should the Million Colors of Chaos be reborn, the Ancient Six must come together and defeat the foul being, no matter the cost.

***

Even after all these years, the Ancient Six never forgot about the beast of chaos they’d barely felled after combining their powers.

Therefore, when the Million Colors of Chaos had once again appeared in the world seventy years ago, the Lord of Blue granted his most powerful servant, Camilla, the blessing of immortality by sharing his blood with her. Then he sent Camilla to investigate what had transpired, and ordered her to monitor the continent to ensure the Chaos wouldn’t return.

This felt like a demotion for Camilla, a high priestess of the Lord of Blue, meant to lead the tens of thousands of mermaids living deep within the ocean. She was her tribe’s beloved child, and it saddened them tremendously that she would have to live a life of isolation, although it was the Lord of Blue’s direct order.

That said, Camilla didn’t hate her new life. It allowed her to watch all sorts of things move and change over the years.

Most of her work had actually been completed. The Million Colors of Chaos’s followers—known as “demons” on this continent—had successfully summoned their lord back into the world. However, together with three comrades, a hero with the divine blessings of the powerful Lord of Black had managed to fell the beast once more.

Since the Million Colors of Chaos had been revived, only to be destroyed again, its many followers lost the ability to receive their deity’s powerful blessings. They’d declined in number, and now the humans ruled the northern lands.

That was the conclusion Camilla had come to after ten years traveling the land with her human legs as a “mage.” (She had no desire to pretend to follow the so-called Water God that the humans worshiped.)

After she informed the Lord of Blue of these events, he ordered Camilla to continue monitoring the land to ensure that demons didn’t try to revive the Million Colors of Chaos again.

Camilla moved to a small town near the ocean, building a house connected to the sea below. She took on the role of a friendly witch who occasionally sold sea medicine to the townsfolk that visited.

By doing so, Camilla was following the Lord of Blue’s direct orders, but there was another reason she’d moved to the cape. She’d grown tired of the peaceful, unchanging world of the Lord of Blue’s followers in the ocean’s depths.

***

Things had changed quite a bit during the sixty years Camilla had lived in the small port town. The influence of the demons and followers of the Million Colors of Chaos had dwindled so much that large ships now crossed between the two continents, and commerce boomed. The port overflowed with goods and people, slowly growing larger and larger. More people moved to the area, and the once-quiet port town became a bustling little city.

Then the Empire, which had grown massive, invaded the land. The lord pledged allegiance immediately, and the town became the territory of that enormous country. It was the Empire’s only port, so the government poured money into its growth, further raising its population by sending in imperial citizens.

Camilla simply watched the fast-moving events unfold from afar, without getting involved.

But five years ago, things had begun to change for the mermaid priestess.

***

“Now, then. I suppose I should get going.”

Pulling herself from the water and getting changed, Camilla gazed at a corner of the underground room, which had been bathed in the power of water throughout the many years she had lived on the cape.

Looking at an oakwood door that had suddenly appeared, she placed her hand on the knob and turned it.

The door opened with the sound of ringing bells.

“Welcome!”

Camilla was greeted by a blonde-haired follower of Chaos. She glanced at the other maid, who was doing her job silently in the corner.

“Greetings,” Camilla murmured to the blonde woman. “Could you take me to my seat?”

“Of course! Right this way.”

The female follower of Chaos quickly guided Camilla to an open chair.

On the way to the table, Camilla thought she spotted the Lord of Black. However, nobody had seen that deity—or her worshipers—for tens of thousands of years. Camilla couldn’t be certain that it was her.

Camilla sat down and then ordered the amazing confection she’d learned about here at Nekoya.

“Thank you. I’d like cold fruit jelly, please.”

“Absolutely. That’ll be just a moment.”

The follower of Chaos left for the kitchen, giving Camilla an opportunity to gaze around the restaurant.

At first glance, Camilla appeared to be a human mage. However, she was a high priestess of the Lord of Blue. As someone who’d received a powerful blessing, and possessed years of experience, she was more than capable of spotting the Ancient Six’s followers.

There really are a lot of priests and priestesses here.

A high priestess of the Lord of Light, with powers that matched Camilla’s own, sat at a far table. Nearby sat a lamia, who was clearly a high priestess of the Lord of Red. There was also another priestess of the Lord of Blue who’d left home, as Camilla had. Lately, that priestess visited the restaurant with a man—likely from the Western Continent—in tow. Last but not least was a priestess of the Lord of Earth, who’d also started bringing a man to the restaurant.

Camilla didn’t see him at Nekoya that day, but a priest of the Lord of Gold also dropped by the restaurant between fall and winter, when kumaala were in season.

As she looked at the various priests and priestesses from the southern lands, Camilla couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic for home.

Few worshipers of the other deities could live in the waters the Lord of Blue ruled. Similarly, few followers of the Lord of Blue could live in the waterless lands ruled by other deities.

Thus, most of the Lord of Blue’s followers held no ill feelings or resentment toward other believers and didn’t fight with them. If anything, they often felt pity and kindness toward them since other believers couldn’t live in the ocean.

While living in the Lord of Blue’s domain, Camilla virtually never ran into other believers, since her home was especially deep within the water. Still, she could identify priests and priestesses by their attire, which reminded her of home.

Well, it’s not like I can go back now.

Camilla’s human legs, northern attire, and years of experience as a priestess granted her the ability to hide her own powers. None of the other believers in Nekoya knew her true identity.

After a while, the follower of Chaos returned with Camilla’s order in hand. “Sorry for the wait! Here’s your fruit jelly.”

Camilla didn’t mind the time she’d spent observing the priests and priestesses.

“You have my gratitude.”

Where Camilla came from, followers of Chaos were enemies to be defeated. However, this was another world entirely. She took the fruit jelly from the young girl without a second thought.

“Take your time and enjoy!”

Camilla watched the waitress retreat and then picked up her spoon and looked down at the slime-like substance filling the translucent glass. The jelly was full of colorful fruit, cut into easy-to-eat pieces that floated beneath the jelly’s surface.

It’s so beautiful.

Nekoya had all kinds of confections, and they were all delicious. In terms of pure aesthetic beauty, however, Camilla considered jelly the pinnacle. There was nothing quite like the dessert’s transparent color.

As always, Camilla drove her spoon into the jelly, scooping some fruit out along with the see-through substance.

The jelly jiggled on her spoon. Camilla put it in her mouth.

The jelly was so soft that it felt as though it could melt at any moment. It was as smooth as the surface of a wet stone as it slid across her tongue, down her throat, and into her stomach.

Its only aftertaste was a cold, refreshing, sour flavor altogether different from ice cream. It was the perfect dish for the mermaid priestess, who struggled with summers on land.

Enjoying the jelly’s smooth sweetness, Camilla got to thinking.

Hm. I wonder if there’s a way to reproduce this soft texture?

The first time she’d eaten fruit jelly, Camilla had used her many years of experience to analyze how it was made.

The fruit in the jelly was boiled in sugar water, making it sweeter and softer than normal fruit.

Camilla had discovered a harvestable ocean plant that could solidify water after she washed, boiled, and strained it. She used that plant to make something similar to Nekoya’s fruit jelly.

In the restaurant’s world, ordering food required currency. So, to raise enough money to purchase fruit jelly, Camilla began teaching humans to make her version of the treat. It was good enough to become a somewhat famous dessert but was still rather rubbery. Its texture was nowhere close to the soft smoothness of Nekoya’s jelly.

Camilla was still researching how to replicate that.

And then there’s the other problem… This world’s fruit.

Camilla enjoyed the fruit preserved within the jelly—mildly sour mikun, sweet margos, emerald grapes that looked like little jewels, white peaches cut into comb-like shapes, and some kind of extremely sour yellow fruit cut into rings. Last but not least was a red fruit with a completely different mouthfeel from crunchy berries.

Some of the fruit in the jelly was raw and some had been boiled in sugar water. Each of the fruits had its own unique taste and passed smoothly through Camilla’s mouth with no problem.

Camilla knew that there were similar fruits in her world—even fruits that were exactly the same.

The problem was that the fruits on Nekoya’s side were significantly sweeter and more delicious than anything in Camilla’s world. This had nothing to do with boiling the fruit in sugar water. It was simply a matter of quality.

If I could get these fruits on our side, I’m sure my jelly would improve tenfold. But maybe part of what makes this jelly so special is that I can only get it here.

Camilla continued thinking things over as she tore through her jelly. Eventually, she finished the dish and put her spoon down.

“Phew…”

The high priestess let out a huge sigh of contentment. This was the moment she most looked forward to every week.

Camilla called the restaurant’s master over.

“Now then… Excuse me! Check, please.”

“Aye.”

Once she’d paid him, she returned to her basement, thinking about her plans for that afternoon as she walked back upstairs.

“Let’s see, what’s left for today?”

Camilla had no way of knowing that after she returned from Nekoya, two long-eared elves—descendants of the invaders from long ago—would visit her town. That fateful meeting would prove to be the elves’ first encounter with a brand-new taste.