Chapter 127

The scene of reconciliation took an unexpected turn, plunging into chaos once again.

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but panic for a moment.

The reason was my slow reaction, as I wasn’t accustomed to magic.

The fruit basket, already coated in honey and now covered in dirt, was completely ruined, and the atmosphere in the square was like that of a funeral.

“Mari, Karina, Serena! Go find Vivian!”

“What about you, Kurt?”

“I need to handle this situation! Tell Vivian everything will be fine!”

“Take care of the fairies in the square!”

I asked Mari, Karina, and Serena, who were equally pale, to follow Vivian, and they, with worried eyes, looked at the fairies gathered in the square before heading straight to the royal palace.

Only after they left to comfort Vivian did I turn my head to look at the fairies gathered in the square.

Despite Vivian, whom they had so hated, leaving, the fairies didn’t look happy at all. They were staring blankly at the fruit basket spilled on the dirt ground.

“Ah, no… This isn’t what we wanted…!”

“What have we been so angry about all this time…?”

Judging by their expressions, they too seemed deeply shocked by the situation, standing there like soulless dolls.

I approached them and said, “Let’s pick up the fruits first.”

“Huh?”

“The parts covered in honey can’t be helped, but if we wash them in water, they should still be edible. Not all the fruits have spilled.”

Actually, it would be easier to wash the honey off and make jam, but of course, that would require sugar. Considering the sugar shortage was the cause of this mess, that was impossible.

Originally, those fruits were all carefully cut by Vivian into sizes easy for the fairies to eat, so I wasn’t sure how much could be salvaged.

At my words, the fairies, as if coming to their senses, slowly started moving and began picking up the dirtied fruits.

“Sniff… Sniff…”

“Don’t cry!”

“You’re crying too!”

“But it’s so sad…!”

“Waaah!”

Not minding their sticky hands, the fairies picking up the fruits soon began to feel guilty for what they had done, and one by one, they started crying, turning the square into a sea of tears.

…

“Have you calmed down now?”

“Yes…”

The fairies and I had moved our conversation to the guard post at the entrance of Arciel.

It was a bit difficult to continue talking right in front of the royal palace.

The fairies, all with red, swollen eyes, were eating the honey-coated fruits Vivian had prepared.

Although some parts were still dirty, the honey coating had peeled off, and washing them in water had significantly reduced the sweetness, none of the fairies complained.

They just silently ate their share of the fruits, filled with remorse for Vivian.

There was no trace of the aggression they had shown towards Vivian earlier.

“Thinking about it, we shouldn’t have gotten so angry. We could have resolved it calmly through conversation…”

“It’s strange. The Queen and we used to get along so well…”

“The Queen had a point. Half of the Queen’s tea party is funded by her own money…”

“We want to apologize to the Queen…”

Fortunately, judging by the fairies’ attitudes, it didn’t seem necessary to persuade them to reconcile.

Usually, in such situations, when people act in the heat of the moment, they only see others’ faults. But once the excitement cools down, they start to see their own mistakes.

And now was that time.

“Do you want to reconcile?”

“…Yes. We’ve only been thinking about ourselves all this time.”

“But now it’s different! We want to reconcile with the Queen and be friends again!”

“We want to have tea parties with the Queen again!”

“…But can we? We already ruined the Queen’s attempt at reconciliation…”

The fairies seemed to want to reconcile, but they had no idea how to do so because of their mistakes.

Seeing them like this, I felt that Vivian and the citizens were quite similar.

“I’ll help.”

“How will you help?”

In response to the fairy’s question, I smiled and said, “There’s always a way.”

In the end, though it got twisted, what needed to be done was the same.

A problem caused by food should be solved with food.

“First, are there any fairies here who can cook?”

Hopefully, they’re better than Vivian.

…

After observing Arciel’s environment over the past few days, I noticed something.

Walking through Arciel’s streets, certain crops stood out more compared to other nations.

Those were beans and red beans.

Both beans and red beans are legumes, resistant to pests and easy to grow, not depleting the soil’s fertility.

They are also rich in nutrients, earning them the nickname “beef from the fields,” making them highly beneficial plants.

However, their yield per area is lower compared to wheat, making them unsuitable as staple foods.

But this disadvantage doesn’t apply much to fairies, whose small bodies can survive on little food.

Thus, in the Kingdom of Arciel, while wheat is consumed in large quantities, beans and red beans, being easy to grow and nutritious, are also consumed in significant amounts.

Another plant commonly seen in Arciel is agar.

This plant, which doesn’t exist in my previous life, is unique to this world.

When this plant is altered by mana and becomes a monster, it turns into bulrush, which actively absorbs surrounding water.

As evident from the bulrush’s properties, the agar plant has a high water content and requires a lot of water.

In the Fairy Kingdom, it’s planted throughout the city to absorb water during the rainy season when sudden heavy rains flood the land.

For ordinary people, 5 cm of water flooding the land isn’t a big deal, but for the small fairies, it’s a completely different issue.

5 cm of water flooding is a significant obstacle to their daily lives, so the agar plant is planted in preparation for the rainy season.

In that sense, agar wasn’t planted for culinary purposes…

But I planned to use it as an ingredient.

Its name includes “agar,” so it was only natural.

Agar, also known as seaweed, is a tasteless plant, but its texture, mostly composed of water and dietary fiber, is impressively chewy.

And the agar plant shares similar properties.

Like seaweed growing on land, the agar plant was an essential ingredient for the dish I was about to make.

In my previous life, its main uses were in jelly, agar jelly, and yokan.

That’s right.

The dish I was about to make was red bean yokan.

Looking at the fairies filled with the desire to restore their relationship with the Queen, I gave cooking instructions.

Of course, making the yokan myself would be faster, but this was about the process of making a gift for reconciliation.

The fairies insisted that making it themselves held greater meaning than receiving something made by others.

Right. The fairies I happily made tarts for were originally like this.

Now free from greed and hatred, the fairies’ eyes were filled with the determination to set things right.

Thus began the process of making red bean yokan.

Since agar can’t be eaten as is, it’s processed into powder form, commonly used in cooking.

First, to remove impurities and pigments, the seaweed is boiled and dried repeatedly.

Originally, this process would take a while, but the fairies, being excellent mages, were quite helpful in cooking.

Using magic to blow hot air, they saved time on the agar’s drying process.

This results in a semi-transparent, grayish product resembling corn silk, which is then ground into powder, completing the agar preparation.

Simultaneously, the red beans are prepared.

Regularly stored red beans are too hard for immediate use, having had all moisture removed for long-term storage.

While processing the agar, the red beans are soaked in water for half a day.

After soaking for about 8 hours, the water used for soaking, now infused with the red beans’ astringent taste, is discarded, and fresh water is used to boil them until tender.

The boiled red beans are then thoroughly mashed into a paste.

Returning to the agar powder, it’s mixed with water and stirred until fully dissolved, waiting for 10 to 20 minutes.

Over time, the agar powder completely dissolves, turning into a thick, cloudy gray liquid.

The red bean paste and agar liquid are then mixed well, honey and sugar are added, and it’s simmered over low heat.

Stirring continuously to ensure the ingredients blend well, it eventually becomes one, almost complete.

The finished liquid is poured into molds and left to set in a cool place overnight.

Care must be taken to prevent ants from getting to it.

Though it took a while, for something I didn’t make myself, it seemed to have turned out quite well.

…

And so, a night passed…

The fairies and I checked the red bean yokan made the previous night.

And the result was…

“Wow… It smells sweet.”

“Using red beans and agar to make such a delicious-looking dish…”

Gulp

“Just a little taste…”

Slap

“Hey! This is for the Queen to eat first! Don’t touch it!”

“Ouch!”

Judging by the fairies’ reactions, the result was clear.

The red bean yokan made by the fairies shone with a beautiful reddish-brown color.

It was complete.

The long-awaited return of the tea party menu.

Red bean yokan filled with the spirit of reconciliation.