Chapter 23

They say the three major desires of humans are appetite, sleep need, and sexual desire.

Ah, of course, this is completely baseless nonsense. Upon investigation, it turned out to be a story without any academic or scientific basis.

Anyway, such misconceptions were born because the appetite is indeed an important element for humans.

Well, naturally, if you don’t eat, you starve to death, so it makes sense.

Anyway, eating is an essential act necessary for survival that must be carried out unyieldingly, and it’s a behavior that cannot be neglected by living beings.

What would happen if you gave delicious roasted meat to primitive persons who’ve only ever eaten raw meat and fruit?

“Squeak! Squeak!”

“Gyahh! Gyaahh!”

The answer to that question was unfolding among the group of humans.

Well, since they tasted cooked meat for the first time, they’d naturally gather around the fire and keep dancing like this.

I’m not sure if you can call it “dance,” but anyway, as an expression of joy, it’s probably the same.

While spinning around the campfire, their hands held hot, steaming meat skewered on branches.

Seeing them rejoice like this makes me think it was good to teach them how to make fire despite all the hardship—it seems like I did the right thing.

And therefore, today I have prepared another gift for you! Ta-da!

At first glance, it’s just a pure white rock! But this rock isn’t an ordinary one!

It’s…!

Cough, I got a little too excited there. Let me calm down for a moment.

While wandering around the world to look for traces of Erebus and understand the overall situation,

I found something interesting—a faintly pinkish-white rock in a barren land where plants couldn’t grow properly. This place used to be the sea but has now become land, which I thought was pretty amazing.

Thinking it might be some kind of gemstone, I investigated it further, and lo and behold, herbivorous animals passing by occasionally licked it. Turns out, it was rock salt.

Hmm, I wondered… and sure enough, it really existed, surprising me slightly since this area was definitely underwater hundreds of years ago.

Whether the land rose or the sea level dropped, I’m not quite sure…

Perhaps it could be due to the movement of earth spirits within the ground causing geographical changes. But hey, good things are good!

Thanks to that, I managed to get my hands on this gift. Though it could’ve been made with magic, I preferred to give something discovered naturally.

If I show them this rock salt, perhaps humans will eventually start searching for it themselves? I can’t keep giving gifts forever, after all.

I approached the group of humans, holding the white lump of rock salt in my hand.

“Are you all doing well?”

“Squeak? Squawk! Squeak!”

Excited upon seeing me, the primitive persons started jumping around. They still remembered when I taught them how to make fire and greeted me enthusiastically.

“Ugh! Uuuu! Kyaa! Koo!”

“I wish you guys would learn some language already.”

Who knows how long I’ll have to listen to these ‘uga-uga’ sounds? Hmm…

Surely, they wouldn’t create their own independent language that I don’t understand, right?

“Squeak! Cow! Squeee!”

“Ah, thank you.”

As I approached, one of the primitive people roasting meat on a stick handed it to me, proudly showing off how well they could use fire.

Hmm, quite impressive. Even though they don’t have much food to spare.

Such nice kids deserve a present.

I levitated the rock salt with magical power, tore off a small piece with my thumb and index finger, crushed it into powder with two fingers, and sprinkled it lightly over the meat.

Too much would make it salty, so just a tiny bit.

The white powder lightly sprinkled onto the meat quickly dissolved into the juices.

Hmm, good. That should do it.

Ideally, I should’ve sprinkled it before cooking, but there’s nothing I can do about that now!

After inspecting the salted meat, I returned it to the person who had given it to me.

“Squeak?”

“Try it.”

“Squee…”

Hmm, when will they learn to speak properly? I’d love to have a proper conversation with them.

Ah, wait. Can magic solve this? Like… a translation spell?

No, without an actual language, calling it a “translation” would be difficult. A magic method to directly convey one’s intentions might work better…

Hmm, worth researching further.

“Moooww…”

The primitive person who received the salted meat examined it from all sides, took a bite, and—

“SQUEAK?!”

His face showed shock.

Hmm, even with his fur-covered face, his expression is clear. Quite amazing.

“Ughhh! Kyaa! Ughh!”

Clutching the salted meat, the primitive person began jumping around wildly while tearing into it, starting to eat it. Watching him enjoy the meat like this, other primitives gathered around.

Other primitives stared at the wild antics of their companion as if he’d lost his senses. I’d react the same way if someone suddenly went crazy next to me.

Smiling at the other primitives, I thought:

Good. Looks like these primitives also like the salted meat. Time to add a touch of flair.

Using magical power, I lifted a nearby rock, transformed it into a large hunk of meat using a meat-making spell, then sliced it thinly with a blade of magic. Taking part of the rock salt I held, I crushed it into powder and evenly sprinkled it over all the meat.

To finish, a burst of magical flames. Huge flames erupted, cooking the meat instantly. The sight of delicious-smelling juices dripping from the perfectly cooked meat made even me, who doesn’t need food, feel hungry.

“Kyaa! Ughh!!”

“Squeak! Squeeeek!”

The cheers of the primitives, lacking proper language. Amidst those cheers, I distributed appropriately-sized pieces of meat to the surrounding primitives.

Here. This is what “delicious” means. Young humans.

Anyway, seeing them so happy makes me feel a little pleased too.

Like this, visiting groups of humans and giving them various gifts became part of my daily routine.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

What is the favorite color of humans?

Red, blue, green… Among the countless colors in this world, it is said that humans’ favorite color is silver.

Is it because the most commonly used currency in the empire is silver coinage?

Or is it because the empire’s symbol, the guardian dragon, has silver scales?

According to Dr. Irene M. Pleione, a scholar at the Imperial Academy, human preference for silver is an instinctive phenomenon.

Dr. Irene: Experimenting with hundreds of children, we painted identical toys gold and silver and gave them to young children. Most children picked up the silver toy first. Even though they haven’t yet fully socialized, this shows an instinctual preference for silver.

Reporter: Do only children react this way?

Dr. Irene: No, there are slight differences depending on age group and race, but on average, over 80% across all age groups prefer silver.

Reporter: Why does this result occur?

Dr. Irene: Academics define this as an instinctual preference phenomenon and are working hard to uncover its cause. Some argue that silver coins were used as representative currency even before the empire was established, but that doesn’t explain why unsocialized children also prefer silver.

Reporter: Could the phenomenon be caused by the imperial guardian dragon?

Dr. Irene: It’s possible, though unlikely considering how lazy… Excuse me, please edit this part.

Reporter: Understood.

Dr. Irene: Given that the guardian dragon rarely leaves its nest and shows no external activity, it’s improbable that it caused this phenomenon.

Reporter: Then what is the cause?

Dr. Irene: I propose a hypothesis: humans instinctively prefer silver because its existence provided great benefits to our ancestors.

Reporter: Are you referring to the guardian dragon?

Dr. Irene: Would that being bother with such trivial matters? Please edit this part too.

Reporter: Understood. If not the guardian dragon, then what?

Dr. Irene: I hypothesize it could be extraterrestrial beings from outside this world—silver-skinned aliens! The “Gray-type” aliens I named, who gifted humanity’s ancestors with various things…

This year’s trend color is silver! Want hair as shiny as silver coins? Try this product immediately!!!

(The advertisement for dye continues.)

– An article from the Empire’s entertainment magazine.

It seems a certain scholar at the Imperial Academy saw this article and became extremely angry.