“This tastes really bland…”
The biggest problem I noticed while living on the frontier: the food.
For one, the crops on the farmlands are wilting and there were only a few hunters available, causing their supply of meat and produce to be so little. But there was a bigger problem. The lack of saltiness. It’s overwhelmingly bland.
“Sorry for that, master. Salt is scarce in this area so I can only use the salt we brought from the capital conservatively when cooking.” Lara, who cooked for us, bowed her head in apology.
But I know she isn’t at fault.
There are no natural salt mines in the area and no salt peddlers dare venture here because of the possibility of a monster or demon attack.
This is a very serious matter.
When our salt reserves run out, we’re gonna be stuck with even blander food. Even though I was treated badly at home, I was still a duke’s daughter who lived a luxurious life. I grew up eating flavorful food from an early age. Our meals don’t have to be luxurious but I at least want my food to have some flavor.
“Village chief, is there a sea around here? Or a place where we can get salt?” I asked the village chief with high hopes, but he just shook his head silently.
Hmmm… If this situation continues, I will only be able to enjoy the plain taste of the ingredients. Without salt, I have no appetite; without an appetite, I have no energy. From a health perspective, the lack of salt is not good.
“This is quite the predicament, huh? They say it’s easy to find salt if there’s a sea nearby.” I still thought about the salt crisis as I soaked in the hot springs below the cliff.
When I asked Lara, she shared that the salt available in the nearby remote villages was very expensive. As the lord of this area, I can’t be too selfish.
This salt crisis is really difficult to deal with.
“It would be nice if salt just gushed out like a hot spring… Huh?” I just thought of something.
It was childish, but I licked the hot spring water.
“Master, behave yourself!” Lara berated me, but I have to follow my instinct.
And it was right!
The taste spread on my tongue.
… This is very salty!
The hot spring water was very salty. I’ve visited the sea south of the royal capital, and the spring water was almost as salty as the sea water there. I wonder why I wasn’t able to notice it even though I’ve been bathing in hot spring water this whole time.
“Lara, you should try it!“ (Yuo)
“… You were right, master. Perhaps the hot springs have salt in it?” Lara tried tasting the water and thought the same as me.
That means I have found a solution to the salt shortage!
“I wonder if we can make salt from hot spring water? You know, the same way you make salt from seawater!”
Since I was a child, I’ve always been interested in learning things about various countries. One of which was how to make salt. The idea was to heat a large pot of seawater and let the water evaporate rapidly, leaving only the salt. In other words, as long as you have water with a significant salt content, it shouldn’t be hard to make salt.
“That’s wonderful, master! And with your skills, it should be pretty easy! I’ll go get a pot!” Lara, as energetic as ever, returned to the mansion to pick up the pots and pans.
I also got out of the hot spring and quickly got dressed.
It’s always been my principle to follow my intuition and try out any idea I think of. And I have one right now.
Come to think of it, the spring water comes from the cliff. I went to where the spring water leaked from and noticed that there were different types of water gushing out from the source.
There was yellowish and oily water that smelled like rotten eggs;
Thick and cloudy water;
Clear and colorless water with a slight smell, and;
Reddish water that smelled like iron.
It seems all of these types of waters I observed came together to form the hot spring water we were enjoying. I can’t estimate the ratio of waters coming out though.
Okay, let’s see which of these types the salt comes from.
"Master! I brought the pots!” Lara came back just in time to start the work.
We separated and channeled the different times of water into the pots that Lara brought.
“Alright, let’s heat it up!” (Yuo)
I touched the pots and heated them up all at once. Steam rose and after a few seconds, only different kinds of grains were left at the bottom of the pots. I scraped the different grains and doubtfully tasted them.
“… This is salt! It’s salt!” The grain I had on my finger was absolutely salt.
I examined it. The clear, colorless water seems to have salt dissolved in it. As for the other types of water, they all tasted a bit too far from the taste of salt and didn’t seem usable for cooking.
“This solves our salt crisis! Tomorrow, the food we’re gonna eat is gonna be much more flavorful!” (Yuo)
"As expected of master! I’ll do my best to cook delicious food for you!” (Lara)
We were all jumping up and down at the foot of the cliff.
“I have another idea! What about extracting salt from spring water that you’ve bathed on, master? I bet it’s gonna sell well!” Lara looked at me with a delighted expression while saying something outrageous.
Of course, I reject the idea. Lara looked disappointed but I absolutely can’t let that happen.
A few minutes later, we decided to share the salt with the villagers. With the spring water and my skill, extracting salt is very easy. In fact, the pots I heated up constantly remained hot even after I let go so salt making is basically for free.
“S-salt! This is truly a flavor revolution!”
"Witch-sama! Thank you!”
“Our food will taste better with this!”
The villagers were jubilant, shedding tears of joy after learning that they’ve been freed from the tasteless food. Well, the villagers’ joy is also their feudal lord’s joy.
I’m very happy and proud, but you guys should stop calling the salt i made ‘witch salt’ or something like that.
Somehow, I feel like I’m cursed to be stuck with the monicker ‘Sorching Witch.’
Meanwhile, the villagers were saying:
"Witch-sama is starting to hand out salt!”
“Salt?! She’s handing out such an expensive thing?”
"Oh, I heard that Witch-sama’s hot springs produce an endless supply of salt.”
“Her hot springs can produce an infinite amount of salt? Witch-sama is truly extraordinary!”
“Everyone, let’s call it the witch salt!”
“Okay! I’m gonna put my skills to good use, I’m gonna make delicious food today!”
Because Yuo distributed salt to the villagers, they started to look forward to their meals. As a result, their loyalty toward Yuo strengthened, and their appreciation for her increased.
<<Scorching Witch’s Recent Gain>>
Witch salt
Salt obtained by evaporating spring water. It has a unique flavor, different from both rock salt and sea salt. It tastes good and goes well with both meat and vegetables, commonly referred to as ‘sweet salt.’
(T/N)
The translations are still subpar for this chapter, sorry. I’ve been really busy because it’s hell season at uni (projects+exams szn). I really appreciate the comments though :)) I’ll try to edit this at a later time, I promise.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and any corrections are greatly appreciated, just refer to the corrections panel on the navigation bar.
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