Chapter 123
Business Trip [Part 2]
"Meow~!"
"Meow, meo meow!"
"Meow!"
"Meow~ meow!"
The moment Emma mentioned katsuobushi, the cats that had been dozing off quietly started meowing.
"Katsuobushi! It definitely exists! I wanna eat it! I want to eat katsuobushi! ......was what they said."
Emma interpreted it for them, but the family members each thought, 'I kinda got what the cats were saying just now......'
"Chou-chan wants to eat katsuobushi?"
"Meow~!"
"Kan-chan wants to eat katsuobushi?"
"Meow!"
"Ryuu-chan wants to eat katsuobushi?"
"Meow!"
"Koumei-san wants-..."
"Meow~ meow!"
The cats started acting spoiled with sparkling eyes.
They even let the family pet their stomach obediently which they usually never allowed... Katsuobushi... are amazing.
"Um... but, can they transport katsuobushi properly? Just the rice already makes me worry..."
The exchange condition for the food aid was rice.
The ship leaving tomorrow would carry the urgent food aid from the Stuart family, which was not related to the diplomatic relations with the Kingdom. The one who would be going to Imperial Japan was an excellent merchant from the Rothschild Company, who had already been told the characteristics of rice and asked to bring it back, even if only a little.
"According to the ninjas, their country has a small supply of rice in reserve, and if it's impossible, I think we can get the seedlings or seeds to grow them, but... that merchant in charge won't be able to communicate it, I guess?"
Joshua had chosen the most competent person in the company for them, but the language barrier was too high.
"Meow~!"
Koumei-san, who suddenly left the room just when Emma thought she wanted to act affectionately, came back with a ninja in his mouth.
"??????"
The ninja looked like he didn't know what was going on, but no one could go against Koumei-san.
"Huh? Isn't this Momochi-san?"
Koumei brought the ninja, who had gone back immediately to Stuart's house for his turn to take a break after somehow managing to explain the situation to the Imperial Prince.
"William-dono...... What exactly is going on?"
The ninja, Momochi, who was holding bread in his right hand and a potato salad bowl in his left, desperately protecting them even as he was abducted by Koumei-san, asked William an explanation.
"Meow~!"
"Meow meow!"
"Meow~?"
"Meow meow?"
The cats gathered around Momochi.
Ninja Momochi trembled at the sight of the huge cats.
"W-Wh-What is it? Eh? Eh? Eh?"
The ninja slowly shrunk away from the cats and hit the wall.
He had nowhere to go. On his back was a wall. On his front, left, and right were cats. There's no escape.
This is not a kabe-don. This is a kabe-meow.
[T/N 1: 壁ドン kabe-don and 壁にゃん kabe-meow]
"They are asking you, 'Are there bonito flakes in Imperial Japan?'"
Emma squeezed through the gaps of the kabe-meow and interpreted when she reached Momochi.
"Katsuobushi!? .........? Eh? Bonito flakes!? .........eh??"
" " " "Meow~ meow!" " " "
If you took it at face value, they were just cats who were begging cutely to eat katsuobushi. But from Momochi's point of view, it felt threatening because of the cats' size.
"I-If it's katsuobushi, there should still be more in stock than rice! The cause of our food shortage is that the crops... d-didn't grow, so......"
In that instant, Momochi made an 'Oh shoot!' expression.
They had heard that the food shortages were because of the bad weather, but it seems there were other reasons.
"Well then, I have to contact the Rothschild Company to bring some katsuobushi back too..."
William called a mansion servant and requested a messenger to go to Joshua.
♠♠♠
"Eh? Kachuomushi?"
"It's katsuobushi."
"Karuomushi?"
"Katsuobushi......"
"Kuruoshii?"
This doesn't work at all...
Rice is the staple food of Imperial Japan, but katsuobushi is hard to explain.
"......won't it be faster if one of us goes to Imperial Japan instead?"
Even if they handed an order form in Imperial Japanese to the Rothschilds, they would never know if the real thing was correct if they were not a Tanaka.
Katsuobushi doesn't look like food at first glance, after all...