21st Century Archmage

‘It sure is jam-packed.

For the first time in a while, I had time to walk around the covert. It has been so crazy lately that I havent had the luxury of looking around my little neighborhood.

Kwaaaaa!

Kiuuuuuuuuuu!

“Hurry up and prepare for patrols!”

“You there, I said to put on the 2-seater saddle today!”

Weyn Covert had transformed into an open-air market. Just one year ago, this place was a deserted plot of land without a single proper wyvern, but now, it was bustling with squawking wyverns, crewmates, soldiers, and temporary buildings scattered everywhere.

‘I should hurry along with the moving preparations.

There were a lot of important branches and goods that had to be kept hidden from the public eye, however, the covert was too small. Once spring arrived, Id have to accelerate construction of the castle that would become the center of the territory.

“All hail!”

As I walked around the hangars, I reached a place where several soldiers were standing guard.

‘Whatre they standing guard for in the covert?

“Thank you for your efforts. What are you guarding here?”

“I do not know, sir. Orders came from the top and we have been keeping guard all day long.”

Even the soldiers on guard didnt know what they were guarding.

‘It cant be magic crystals… is something going on?

I combed my memory, but the important stuff was kept in the HQ building, where the guard was the strongest.

“Open the door.”

“As you command!”

In Nerman, I had the authority to go anywhere I wanted, no matter where it was. The soldiers heeded my command at once, opening the side door of the hangar.

‘Whats this smell?

A familiar smell drifted my way from the open door.

I walked into the hangar.

“Light!”

The inside was dark, so I cast the 1st Circle spell, Light.

Driven by my mana, the Light spell instantly illuminated the hangar with a flash.

“Arent these… spices?”

In our first trade with the Kesmire pirates, we received spices as a bonus. They were valuable ingredients produced in the eastern continent.

“But this smell is…”

We had received these goods several months ago, but I had never opened them up. Fate did not allow me to luxuriously use spices in my food. Plus, spices were such valuable ingredients that you could compare them to gold. Because the pirates of the Kesmire Archipelago had taken control of the sea, they could not be easily acquired, coupled with the fact that the eastern continent was also an isolated place, so I heard that there wasnt much trade with them in the first place. Thats why only very rich nobles used spices in their food.

‘That smells like black pepper, and my god? Is that hot pepper?”

My nose wasnt as sensitive as a dogs, but I had pretty keen senses. I could parse out the smells of black pepper and hot pepper from the various smells in the air.

‘Kimchi… wow!!!

As soon as I thought of hot pepper, the winter kimchi my mom always made came to mind. If I was at home, the kimchi-making-season would be done around now, and fresh, spicy kimchi would adorn our joyful meals every day.

With a rustle, I removed the enspelled fabric.

I knew that there would be no fresh vegetables until spring came, so all the fruits and vegetables from the autumn harvest were being stored somewhere in the covert, with a 3rd Circle preservation spell—something any 3rd circle mage could cast—on them.

This magic fabric, which could maintain mana, had 3rd Circle magic on it, too. If ordinary chili pepper was stored like this in Korea, youd be called a nutcase, but it was only a natural course of action here, where they were treated as valuable spices that had crossed an ocean.

“Ohhhh!”

Under the fabric were red, dried hot peppers. They looked a bit smaller than the ones on Earth, but their spicy aroma was the real deal.

“Huhuhu… Thank you, Mom!”

Whenever we made kimchi, my mother always used me as manual labor. Shed set me to peeling onions and garlic, as well as slathering the seasoning paste, which took time and energy. Because it was a repeated tradition, I was a master when it came to making kimchi. I was forced to follow her instructions because my mom had a ridiculous claim that a man should know how to make kimchi before getting married, but right now, I could only send my heartfelt thanks for her teachings and opinion.

“Theres garlic here, onion, and napa cabbage. Uhuhu! Its kimchi time! Kimchi!”

This continent wasnt all that different from Earth. Napa cabbage and daikon radish had different names here, but they looked and tasted similar. The only difference was that the ones we had here were about twice as large.

“Oh! Isnt this ginger?!”

Back when I first got these, I wondered why Chrisia bothered to give me spices like these, so I even gave some as a present to Count Yaix when he was going back to the empire. The thought that I might be able to eat kimchi completely dashed away my indifference, and I opened all the spices, sniffing them intently. I was able to find black pepper and dried ginger, necessary spices for making kimchi.

“Oh! Mom!”

Mom burst from my lips yet again.

“Weve got the napa cabbage, and plenty of other veggies stored up. So all I have to do is figure out the salted seafood. I can make kimchi.”

While listing off all the seasonings and vegetables necessary for kimchi, I remembered the salted seafood, but it wasnt a big concern. My mom usually used salted shrimp, so all I had to do was use the shrimp commonly found in the sea in front of Denfors.