What Kind of Place is the Eastern Continent? (2)
As the saying goes, lying on your back against the warm underfloor heating makes your whole body feel refreshed, and even a cold you’ve been nursing flies away in an instant.
“……So, the floor gets warm?”
“Not just warm, it’s piping hot, I tell you.”
Despite Patrick’s proud declaration with his chest puffed out, some villagers whispered quietly among themselves.
“Why on earth would they heat the floor?”
“From what I heard, that underfloor thing can even burn the floor.”
“Oh my! Then isn’t that basically torture?”
“……Could all of this be black magic? The pig’s head was a distraction, and the real thing is trapping people in that building and……!”
“Can you all hear me?”
At Patrick’s sharp glance that shut down their wild speculations, the villagers scattered with startled “Eek!” expressions.
“This is great for muscle aches, neuralgia, fatigue…… Anyway, you have to try it. Open the windows, have a cold drink on the side, and sweat it out—it feels so refreshing! Ah, have you been living deceived all this time? Come on, quickly!”
As people hesitated, Patrick grabbed the easiest target.
“What are you doing? Get in here.”
“……Yes?”
It was Josh, who had only come to watch and ended up getting grabbed by the scruff of his neck.
“Come in, hurry.”
It was clearly bullying. Standing with one hand on his hip, beckoning with his finger, he looked utterly smug.
“But Master Wizard! I, I naturally run hot…… And, you know, I don’t really like hot places……!”
“There’s a saying in the east: fight fire with fire. Heat for heat. Don’t you know?”
“I don’t!”
“You’ll learn as we go. Hmph! When have I ever made you do something bad?”
Josh wanted to shout, “When have you ever thought of me that way, Master Wizard!” but Patrick quickly whispered in a voice only he could hear, “Cooperate properly, and I’ll give you three portrait sketches.”
It was an irresistible temptation. The sketches were nearly complete now. It was like a countdown to leaving the island.
— I’ll just take a few portraits, okay?
— No.
— Please, Master Wizard! Even if we’re apart, looking at the portraits might spark some creative desire!
— Still no!
— It’s not like that!
— It’s the same to me.
— Oren’s merchant group let you draw portraits!
— They paid modeling fees.
— I’ll pay too!
— Your intentions are impure, so no.
— Master Wizard!
Patrick had shuddered at the thought of Josh taking several portraits to draw inspiration from even after returning to the mainland. He’d even considered borrowing a boat from Oren’s group every time they visited.
“Really?”
“Depends on how you do. If I like it, five.”
Josh suddenly clutched his waist.
“My back and knees have been aching lately, probably from all this rain! And my fingers are tingling from all the sewing!”
Recalling Patrick’s words about it being good for muscle and nerve pain, Josh began exaggerating his complaints.
“Aigoo! I can’t even straighten my fingers. What are you doing, Master Wizard? You should lead the way!”
“Huh? Oh, right! This way, this way. There, that’s the underfloor spot.”
“Hohoho, is that so? Egu gu. Then this old lady will give it a try too.”
Halmae grinned and patted Patrick’s back before entering the sauna. It was clearly a gesture of support.
‘She’s such a tsundere.’
She always grumbled, but she was the one who had come with the village chief to check on him when he first arrived on the island.
‘I hope it really works.’
According to Halmae’s youngest son, who led the morning exercises, she suffered from aching bones every winter. It was because she hadn’t properly treated an old injury from her youth. While a sauna couldn’t be a fundamental solution, Patrick hoped it would at least ease the old woman’s bone pain temporarily as he headed to the kitchen to prepare.
“Ow, it’s boiling hot! Young man, you should wipe off that sweat. It’s pouring down.”
“Ah, haha! Still, I wish it were a bit hotter, Elder!”
When Patrick returned and peered through the window of the ondol room, Josh, Halmae, and a few elders were lying on the prepared spots, sweating profusely but showing no signs of getting up, chatting away.
“Have some water. Hydration is important.”
“That? ……Egu gu, but this is too cold.”
“I brought cold water on purpose. Is it too cold?”
At Patrick’s words, an elder who had drunk from the cup beside the table frowned and pulled away.
He had even used ice magic to create a thin layer of ice, but apparently not.
“Us old folks get toothaches from cold things, Master Wizard.”
“Ah……! I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that. Then how about trying this?”
“What’s that?”
“After sweating it all out in the heat, a bowl of this soup is the best for recovery.”
With his characteristic good-natured smile, Patrick handed over several bowls through the large window he had deliberately made.
“The Master Wizard’s made something strange again. Everyone, get up and look at this.”
A black soup in the bowl.
“That’s it! Seaweed soup!”
Josh, who had peeked at the bowl out of curiosity, guessed correctly in an instant.
“Seaweed soup?”
“Why, isn’t that what they say helps mothers recover quickly after giving birth!”
“Ah! Seaweed?”
“Hehe, well now. As expected of someone from the capital, you recognize something we’ve only heard rumors about.”
Josh and the elders’ reactions were somewhat embarrassing for Patrick.
‘They know about seaweed? Why?’
Seaweed soup had been Patrick’s trump card. If you had to name the traditional powerhouses of a jjimjilbang, it would undoubtedly be roasted eggs, sikhye, and seaweed soup. However, since even in his previous life not many countries ate seaweed, he had assumed it would be an unusual ingredient in this world too.
— There’s a saying: there are people who’ve never tried it, but no one who’s tried it only once. Huh? If this works, I could make a fortune.
He had woken up early to boil the soup from dawn, lost in happy fantasies, but judging by their reactions, it had all been a vain delusion.
‘Well, I was going to pass it off as Eastern Continent cuisine, but from their reaction, no need. Maybe this is for the best?’
He hadn’t expected to hear that it was known to help mothers recover after childbirth.
‘Do people here also see whales giving birth and eating seaweed? Tch. No wonder the employee at Oren’s recognized it immediately when I asked for seaweed.’
When he had ordered pig’s head and mentioned the black, slippery seaweed, the employee had immediately asked, “Ah, seaweed? How much would you like?”
“It’s slippery.”
“Eating something hot in a hot place is new too. Hohoho.”
Since soup should be piping hot with steam rising, Patrick had boiled it with the maximum heat his kitchen could muster. It was only natural when serving elders.
“Have some eggs too. After sweating, you need proper nutrition.”
The elders and Josh ate well despite the unfamiliar combination. Especially Josh, who had initially overacted to play his role as a decoy by gulping down the soup, now seemed to genuinely like it, glancing around to see if anyone was leaving any behind.
“How is it?”
“It’s good? Seriously.”
“Would you pay to eat it?”
“Pay? Hmm, if it’s not too expensive? Being here makes me thirsty and hungry faster, you know. I already ate quite a bit of barbecue earlier. Maybe because I sweated so much?”
At Josh’s answer, Patrick clenched his fist.
‘Got it!’
He had heard that jjimjilbang business wasn’t about entrance fees but food sales. Not only snacks, but larger places even had food courts, and some even sold beer. Although he had built the ondol room for surviving winter, since he was building it anyway, he had planned to earn some pocket money too—and it seemed possible.
“Mother, I heard you sweated a lot. Are you feeling alright?”
That evening.
Halmae’s eldest son, who had missed the completion ceremony due to fishing, asked his mother with a worried face at the dinner table.
“It’s true your stamina has declined compared to before, but you shouldn’t overdo it. Oh dear, why did the teacher make something like that…… The weather’s still hot during the day.”
“What are you saying, dear? Even so, the teacher was looking out for our mother, so he wanted to show it to her first. Right?”
“That’s right, sister-in-law. Even if the teacher pretends otherwise, he really likes Mother. Haha!”
“Who doesn’t know that? I’m just worried, that’s all. What if Mother collapsed from the heat?”
“Eh, from what I saw, there were plenty of cool drinks and fruits inside. The windows were open for good ventilation too. Only the floor was hot.”
“I’m fine.”
At her children’s concern, Halmae spoke up.
“No need to worry. On the contrary, my body feels better. Somehow, my knees seem less achy.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but the fatigue seems gone too. Hohoho. I think I should go again tomorrow. Even if the Master Wizard exaggerates a bit, he’s not one to speak without substance, so it might really help with muscle and nerve pain.”
Halmae was sincere. Her body, which had endured field work and sea winds since her youth, was starting to break down one by one with age. When the cold began, her joints ached; even a strong wind would stiffen them, making her body creak. Her muscles cramped at the slightest overexertion, and even though her grandchildren massaged her with their small fern-like hands every night, the relief was temporary.
“Though lying on the floor with just a thin mat was a first, they say everyone does that across the sea in the Eastern Continent, so there must be a reason. Don’t you think?”
“……I suppose so?”
The eldest son thought.
‘What kind of people are the Eastern Continent folks to come up with something like this?’
And why was the Master Wizard so obsessed with Eastern Continent culture?
‘He must have his reasons since he’s so knowledgeable……’
He decided he should find time soon to visit the teacher’s newly built ondol room, or was it called a sauna?
‘Going empty-handed would be awkward…… Ah! I could bring that coral I found last time!’
The teacher, who wasn’t a crow but couldn’t resist anything shiny, would surely like it.