The three most commonly eaten vegetables by civilians in Avenella are potatoes, lettuce and carrots.
The abundant water vapor and fertile soil in the center of the Ecasta Plain make these crops always grow well, so their prices are not too expensive. Ordinary farmers can afford it at an average price of one to two Danos. .
People living on both sides of the Galil River can often catch some fish, shrimps and crabs as meat, and together with the livestock they raise, it can be said that for the hundreds of thousands of residents of Ashenil in the Land of Eternal Spring, their lives are It is very generous.
But the superiority of the materials could not save the poor cooking skills of the farmers of Avenella. Henry de Teodoro, Baron of Avenella and gourmet, used it with humor to describe the most common food of ordinary Avenera people. We can see it in the words of a dish:
"Obviously the whole point of making soup is to throw all the ingredients in and cook them for two hours until they're all reduced to a gooey mush."
The thick soup that is a common dish in ordinary households has an extremely unappetizing texture and taste, but it is the best that farmers who lack seasonings can do.
Two flowers bloomed, and the sage and Luoan Loli, who lived in the residence provided by His Royal Highness himself in the Wawasika Fortress, naturally had a supply of ingredients that matched this kind of treatment.
Henry refused the servant's help, but when it came to food he appeared to be quite tolerant - or greedy?
What our Luo An lolita doesn't want to admit is that the black-haired sage actually has good cooking skills.
Wawasica is a fortress rather than a commercial city. The inconvenience of transportation means that its daily diet consists of shelf-stable foods, dry cheese, bacon, and many other foods that have been fermented, smoked, or pickled. The daily diet of city residents, and only the nobles could enjoy rare fresh food.
The two people who enjoy royal treatment naturally belong to the latter. Fresh eggs, potatoes, carrots and even some bell peppers, mint and garlic. The fragrant soft bread is the dream of many people, and once Henry takes it, These ingredients are all full of charm.
The remaining bacon and sausages from yesterday were sliced and put into the earthenware stew pot together with the potatoes. He only added a little water, which was completely different from the ordinary farmer's soup.
The bell peppers were put in for seasoning. Henry did not add salt. He just stirred from time to time to let the salt in the bacon penetrate into the potatoes.
Another dish is an ordinary omelette. A small bottle of olive oil that emits a charming fragrance as soon as the cork is opened is a special supply of the royal family. Even some knights cannot afford it. It is a quarterly transaction of the United Caravan. Delicious food brought from far away that is worth its weight in gold.
If you are an ordinary person, you may never be able to eat this delicious food in your life.
The sliced bread was more fragrant and softer than what the caravan joint provided before, and with lettuce leaves that were simply blanched with boiling water, Henry mixed the boiled tea and milk together.
The delicious days made the Luoan girl want to live like this forever, but when she couldn't help but ask how much it would cost if she purchased all the ingredients herself, the wooden spoon in her hand stopped again. down.
"Five Ella silver coins?!" Mira's stunned look looked quite funny. Henry swallowed the food in his mouth silently, and then continued.
"Potatoes, carrots, bacon and the like are not expensive. I think you should know this." He said. The girl took a sip of milk tea to calm down her shock, and then nodded-she was still a few weeks ago. Mira, the maid in the hotel, naturally knows about this kind of shopping.
"The most expensive ones are the seasonings and olive oil. These are special supplies from the Wang family, and they alone account for most of the expenses." Henry shrugged, while Mira let out a long sigh.
"It's great to have money." She sighed. "Squeak--" The door was pushed open, and the blond prince walked over and picked up the plate without thinking of himself as an outsider.
"Addicted?" Henry half-smiled, and Edward shrugged as he often did: "The chefs in the palace all pursue Sivalier-style cuisine, but to be honest, I don't like those bloody ones. Eat it raw.”
He used a wooden bowl to scoop out potato stew from the pot, and then used a wooden vegetable tong to pick up a large plate of lettuce.
"But Avenella's food for ordinary people... I tried it two days ago, so forget it." Edward shook his head heavily, with a trace of shadow appearing on his face.
"Those city defense archers prepared a 'big meal' for me to celebrate the prince dining with them, but things like salted fish pies are really terrible." Edward took a bite of potatoes cut into appropriate shapes. , the potatoes with some sweetness, saltiness and fragrance melt in the mouth, making all the taste buds come alive in an instant.
"I'm serious, sir, I think you must write down your cooking methods so that I can go back and teach them to the palace chef." He said this, and Henry nodded and immediately took out a book from the side. A much thinner book than yesterday.
"I've already written it. It's in Sivaliya. It's no problem." The sage put it on the table and slid it to Edward's side with a gentle push. The prince was stunned for a moment and looked through the room to the left at noon. The sunlight streaming in from the side window makes the entire book's lambskin protective cover exude a charming texture.
"Thank you..." the prince said with a subtle twitch in his expression. The lunch ended quickly. Without any more words, Edward hurried back to the city lord's palace with the book and a dozen royal infantrymen. .
The battle had just ended, and there were all kinds of troublesome things that he needed to deal with, including cleaning the battlefield and arranging new city defense personnel. The reason why he rushed here to dine despite his busy schedule was that besides Henry's cooking skills that he could never forget, it might also mean relaxing.
The air around the sage seems to always be calm, and the tranquility and tranquility of everything under control can always calm people's minds. The burden on Edward's shoulders is quite heavy now, so he chose to come here to take a good breath and take a leisurely break for just ten minutes.
The days suddenly became peaceful, as if the thrilling escape in the wilderness was just a dream.
"Pa—!" Mira opened her hand and slapped her little face hard, warning herself with clear pain that her current leisure was just an illusion - she had already vowed to gain strength and be able to control her own life. So if you are satisfied with the status quo and rely on Henry like this, what is the difference from the past?
The petite big loli was minding her own business and regained her energy on the spot, while Henry looked at her with a smile and handed over the wooden dagger.
Sweat was pouring down, and the short and peaceful days passed like this. At noon on the fifth day when Mira officially started to learn swordsmanship, after the same lunch, this time Henry handed her an iron long sword.
"?" There were clear doubts in the girl's eyes. She had indeed made some progress these days, but just by wielding the sword repeatedly every day, she didn't feel that she could start using a real sword now.
"Pah." Confused, Mira still took the iron sword obediently.
Different from before, this time she clearly felt the difference with the wooden sword as soon as she took the sword.
"It feels like..." The girl hesitated for a while, as if she couldn't find the right adjective. "More compact, although heavier, it doesn't feel so difficult to grasp, right?" Henry smiled at her, and Mira opened her bright blue eyes and nodded seriously.
"The sweat you put in will always be rewarded." Henry leaned the wooden sword on the other side, then picked up the second iron sword, and at the same time brought up a bundle of tightly tied wheat straw.
"You already know some basics. Although it's not much, it's still a beginning." The sage threaded the straw onto the wooden pole, and then continued: "First of all, I want to ask you, what do you think of an excellent swordsman? , what is the most important physical quality?”
Mira was stunned by the sudden inquiry. She hesitated for a while, and then said in an uncertain tone: "A strong arm, an arm that can split a person in half at once?"
"Wrong." Henry shook his head: "That should be the characteristic of an ax warrior, my little Mira."
"Then?" Mira looked at him, and the sage asked without answering: "How do you think we should judge whether a sword is excellent?"
He said that Luo An was deep in thought again, and she understood that the sage was letting her take the initiative to think about these issues.
People are always like this. They forget questions that they can easily answer from others in a blink of an eye. Only when you think about it deeply can you truly remember these things deeply.
"Is the blade sharp?" Mira's answer was no surprise. People who knew little about swordsmanship and fighting would generally answer this. Henry nodded, and then shook his head.
"That's not wrong, but it's more than that."
He said this, then flipped his wrist and raised the one-handed sword and began to explain: "Simple sharpness is not enough. A useful long sword, whether it is a one-handed sword, a one-handed and a half sword, or a two-handed sword, must also have good The focus is matched.”
"Take the sword you and I have made by the blacksmith Fei Xi as an example. His workmanship is obviously of the highest quality. Therefore, although the materials of these two swords are average, there is no distortion at all, and the center of gravity is just right." Henry pointed to the round weighted ball at the end of the one-handed sword's handle: "Do you know what this is for?"
He asked. Mira picked up the long sword in her hand and looked at it for a while, then turned it over a few times with a gesture that was much more skillful than the first.
"It's for balance!" She raised her little face with a hint of enlightenment, her eyes sparkling. Henry nodded with satisfaction, then reached out and touched the girl's little head, and then said: "Correct, this thing is called a weight ball, and it is not just a decoration on the tail of the sword."
"The blacksmiths carefully measure the approximate weight based on their experience, and then revise it repeatedly."
"It, as well as designs such as lengthening the hilt, are to balance the weight of the entire sword and bring the center of gravity of the sword closer to the grip." Henry placed his fingers about ten centimeters away from the guard. Then he said: "The ideal center of gravity should be here. If it goes further back, it will be inconvenient to chop, and if it goes further forward, it will be difficult to control."
"..." Mira nodded seriously to remember it, then lowered her head and took a closer look at the long sword in her hand.
"In addition to being sharp, an excellent long sword must also have a good shape and center of gravity. If it is only sharp and lacks the other two qualities, then it will be laborious to swing and difficult to hit the target."
"No matter how sharp it is, if it can't hit the target, it won't be able to be used, right?" Henry said, and Mira nodded solemnly.
"And this leads us back to the original question, what is the most important physical quality of an excellent swordsman."
"Because the long sword is well-weighted, it does not require a lot of effort to swing. Therefore, in comparison-" the sage raised a finger: "endurance is particularly important."
"What is needed to wield a weapon for a long time is not the explosive power of lifting and falling like a blacksmith, but long-lasting endurance and the ability to control the weapon in your hand."
He said, and Mira finally nodded suddenly: "Ah..." Luo An looked at her hands with a lot of blisters due to many days of practice.
"Yes, that's why you have been doing the same action all this time." Henry's lips curled up slightly, then stood aside and gave way to the target.
"Come on, give it a try."
Mira pursed her lips, and then, as she had been doing these days, she raised the long sword high, then put her entire weight in front, and then pressed her body forward at the same time - fast and hard He held the sword with both hands and struck it down.
"Crack - crack -" Only the ends of the chopped wheat straws were still connected a little bit, and the scattered wheat straws flew far away. Mira's eyes were bright and the corners of her mouth were smiling, and she couldn't stop looking back. To Henry.
"Well done, although there is still room for improvement." The sage reached out and touched her little head.
The fulfilling afternoon passed slowly in sweat.
When dinner came, Edward came again uninvited as expected, only this time he brought Charles with him.
The goatee-bearded commander of the city defense army was pulled over by the prince with a dumbfounded look on his face, and Henry just smiled slightly and brought out the ample dinner that had been prepared long ago.
The candlelight swayed, and time passed calmly in the harmonious and warm atmosphere.
