episode_0015

“Hehehehehe!”

Each time a premium line product was sold, a considerable amount of money came into my pocket. A large sum of money was handed over to me that made me smile.

I thought that if I could earn money like this for a few months, I could build something like a swimming pool filled with coins. Swimming through money, it felt like a dream.

“You must try it.”

I don’t know if it will happen someday, but I decided to give it a try.

However, as time went by, even the blacksmith shop that was doing well enough to think that way began to see sales decline.

In some ways, iron products were consumables, but they were also not consumables. There were many products that could be used for several years once purchased, so it took several years or more for those who purchased them out of necessity to purchase them again.

As many people purchased the products, sales were bound to drop. It was a situation where a new market had to be developed or a new type of product had to be created.

“Hmm… … . You two, take a break.”

As a result, sales were low and inventory of ready-made products was piling up. In such a situation, continuing to make products could lead to losses, so we decided to reduce the production line.

As soon as I expanded it, this happened and I was very upset. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have expanded it this much.

Still, I thought that since it had already been expanded, I could somehow find a way. There was no problem making a living just by maintaining iron products.

Anyway, while I was spending time with production reduced a little, for some reason, my mother came to the blacksmith shop.

“Son~ Andrew~ Are you here?”

My mother did not often visit the blacksmith shop because of the hot heat, flying iron powder, and loud noises, so I was very surprised when she suddenly came.

“Mom?”

“My son. Why don’t you stop smoking?”

“Mom, this is not a cigarette… … . No, no.”

As my mother’s eyes became sharper, I had no choice but to roughly swipe the black magic replenishment tobacco. If I didn’t do that, my back might explode.

“But what’s going on here? Mom, you didn’t come to the blacksmith shop.”

“Your dad said, are there any skeletons you don’t use these days?”

“Uh, there are some things I don’t use.”

Because it required dark magic to make it move, there was a skeleton that had been reduced to the size of a finger and kept in storage.

“Is it okay for my mom to use a skeleton that I don’t use? If you have a separate place to write or if it’s a burden, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Mom? Is there a place for skeletons in the bakery?”

“I want to use it when kneading the dough, but why not?”

“Uh… … dough? Isn’t that what a father does?”

“Now is the time for your father to work a little more comfortably. No matter how much muscle you have and how strong you are, your mom doesn’t feel at ease because your dad does all the hard work every time.”

I nodded slowly at my mother’s words. As my uncle is getting older now, it is time to reduce the effort and relax.

“There is nothing that cannot be done. however… … Are you okay? A skeleton is just a bone.”

Memories of my past life came back to me very sparsely, but the parts about hygiene still remained a little clear. So, I wondered if it would be possible to use a skeleton to knead food to eat.

But when I thought about it, I remembered that even when I was at my grandmother’s house, the skeleton prepared meals for me. I thought it wouldn’t have any effect.

“No, it’s not impossible. Still, we don’t know, so let’s try an experiment.”

It would be a big deal if someone came forward and said that a skeleton got sick after eating snacks or bread made at a bakery.

So, for a while, I started kneading bread using a skeleton at a bakery. Of course, I decided to let my father take charge of the blacksmith shop for a while. To be honest, since my father had been running a blacksmith shop for a long time, he was better than me.

Anyway, when I went to work at the bakery instead of the blacksmith shop, I took out one of the skeletons that was resting and started thoroughly washing the hand bones. It was said that a warrior had spread the recipe for making hands very clean using soap. The slight soot from the blacksmith shop disappeared in an instant, and the bones in my hands became completely clean.

However, I felt that even that was not enough, so I bought some very neat, though expensive, cotton gloves and put them on the skeleton’s hands.

The skeleton, wearing white cotton gloves that fit perfectly on his hands, immediately began learning how to knead dough by his mother’s side. Mom would pour flour, water, milk, and eggs into a large bowl, and the skeleton would mix the dough using a long stick.

The dough was mixed on a long stick, and the shape of the dough was created in an instant. Of course, if the bread was baked like this, it would not be sticky at all, so the skeleton began kneading the dough with his hands wearing cotton gloves. The strong skeleton kneaded the bread dough at a very strong and fast speed.

“Oh my.”

When the dough, which was very springy and chewy, was completed by the skeleton’s hands, the mother looked quite surprised.

“Is it made properly?”

“Sure! If you make bread with this, it will be very chewy.”

As I heard my mother’s voice so reminiscent, I automatically imagined the texture of bread. I could not help but imagine the texture of the sticky bread, which would be chewy when broken by the teeth, but would eventually become very soft after chewing it a few times.

And, as I was imagining that, my mother immediately ordered the skeleton to divide the bread dough into small portions and put them into the oven. It was not an oven like the one in my previous life, but an oven where the temperature was controlled directly using firewood.

Naturally, the skeleton followed its mother’s instructions and baked bread, adjusting the heat. Perhaps it was because of his experience controlling fire at the blacksmith shop, but the skeleton boasted excellent fire control abilities. Even though I don’t know if it was because the firepower was significantly lower than that of a blacksmith, I was controlling the burning firewood by grabbing it with my hands. Of course, I took off the expensive cotton gloves.

Anyway, perhaps thanks to the skeleton baking the bread while controlling the fire in a way that humans cannot, the bread was baked very golden brown.

“Mom, wait a minute. There may be some dark magic buried there, so I’ll check first.”

I stopped my mother who was about to tear off the golden brown bread and bring it to her mouth, and began to check the bread carefully. Since he was a skeleton that always maintained his body with dark magic, there was no harm in being careful.

I started to look around while holding a large piece of bread to see if there was even the slightest bit of dark magic. But no matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t really feel the slightest hint of black magic.

Still, I could feel the dark magic when I ate it, so I took a big bite of the bread. Just as I first imagined, I first felt a very bouncy and chewy texture.

“How do you feel?”

“This is so delicious! It’s chewy and no joke! I can’t feel any dark magic at all! Mom, this is the best! Can I pack this up later? Eat it as a snack.”

“Mom will pack it for you, so take it.”

“… … I don’t need that much.”

Mom seemed to think I was starving at the blacksmith shop, so she packed a lot of bread. As I was taking out some of the bread that I couldn’t finish eating, my mom started to taste it too. You could take a big bite, or you could tear it open and eat only the outside or the soft inside to taste it.

My mother, who savored the taste of the bread as if she were an expert, quickly nodded.

“Son, is it okay for Mom to use this skeleton for a while? The bread tastes good, and the skeleton takes care of all the labor involved in making it… … .”

“Uh. are you okay. Write.”

I had no use for it anyway, so I just kept it, so it was nice to be able to use it like this.

And, the skeleton that was put into the bakery began to perform very well. The bread made by the skeleton was selling like hot cakes. It was a similar situation to when I first supplied iron products at low prices.

This was partly because the price was set low simply through reduced labor costs, but also because the taste was fundamentally very good. It was strange that it wasn’t sold because it had a chewy texture, excellent taste, and was cheap.

Some people were worried that it was made by a skeleton, as if they were worried about cleanliness or dark magic, but since I personally guaranteed that there was nothing wrong, sales did not drop.

Still, there were some people who were a little reluctant, and I was worried about how to get rid of their resistance. Bread was food, and the demand would never end until all humans died. Because it had such outstanding marketability, I wanted to be able to sell it to everyone.

However, while I was thinking about such things, a customer came to the village. That is, a priest from a church that follows Goddess Romina came to visit.

It was common for priests in this world to have roles such as doctors and social workers, but in our village, which was now starting to expand, there were no priests. So, as now, priests from surrounding cities tended to visit periodically.

“Son, shouldn’t you hide or avoid?”

“… … mom. I’m a certified warlock? It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t worry.”

“Still, what should I do if I’m worried?”

I don’t know if it was because parents were the ones who were worried about their children who were sitting still, but my mother was worried about me when she heard that a priest had come to visit. However, there is really no need to worry, because in order to become a certified warlock in the first place, one had to obtain permission from the Central Branch of the Romina Church in each country.

There, you had to swear an oath in front of officials dispatched by the government and priests of the church to become a certified warlock. Of course, since I also went through that process, there was no problem with meeting a priest.

The clergy did not consider certified warlocks any different from ordinary wizards. I tended to think of him as a slightly eccentric wizard, or a wizard who specialized in unusual areas. Of course, unauthorized and illegal warlocks are only seen as targets for extermination.

Anyway, for that reason, even if I met a priest, there wouldn’t be any problem. No, that’s what I thought until the priest came to the bakery where my mom and I were.

“Hello? My name is Thomas and I follow Goddess Romina. I came here because I heard that Mr. Andrew, a certified warlock, was here… … .”

“Son! Hide!”

“No, it’s okay?!”

When the priest came to visit, a problem arose. The problem was that my mother, who was so shocked, tried to hide it by covering me with the cotton cloth used to ferment the dough.

“Ack! Flour!”

With flour trying to get into my eyes, nose, and mouth, I struggled to take off the cotton cloth and began to calm my mother down.

Even the priest, who called himself Thomas, smiled awkwardly and helped calm my mother down, saying he wasn’t there to harm me. Perhaps thanks to this, my mother, who was quite shocked, was able to calm down.

After finally calming down my mother, I turned my attention to the priest who was looking at my mother with caution.

“You said Thomas, right?”

“Yes. It may be too much, but I was recently ordained and am now called a priest.”

Whether it was a priest or something, honestly, it didn’t really mean much to me as a warlock. On the outside, she seemed to be a couple of years older than me and I was surprised that she was already a bride, but that was it.

“So, what brought the priest here?”

“I came to you like this because I have something to ask you.”

“Please?”

I wondered what on earth the priest was trying to ask the warlock. But after listening to the story that followed, I thought it was quite possible.

“Our branch is currently trying to develop new agricultural land to relieve the poor. This is because it provides opportunities for the poor to work and is a way to relieve other poor people by using the food produced. However, although there are quite a few items needed, the money we can spend is limited. It may be possible to use wooden farming tools, but that would require a long time for us who have to start clearing land. While I was wondering what to do, I heard that Mr. Andrew was selling iron products made using black magic at a low price.”

It was a bit of a long-winded explanation, but to put it simply, he needed a lot of farming equipment and wanted to get it cheap, so he came all the way here.

It was a buyer who came from outside and wanted to make a business transaction.