The Abandoned White Magician’s Tea Life - Chapter 40 : Mysterious Tea (1)
Translator: Sunnyshies
Editor: Ryuubii
Chapter 40 : Mysterious Tea (1)
Amalia decided to go around the village to thank everyone after she felt well.
But before Amalia could even thank them, they called out to her, “Are you okay?!” “Next time some strange people come, we’ll all be there to greet them!”
She looked up to the person beside her, and Leonardo, who had been accompanying her, looked down at Amalia and smiled softly. “I told you, didn’t I?”, as he said this, his gray eyes narrowed softly as he reminded her, making her a little uncomfortable.
In the meantime, Amalia went around to thank them for their help, but somehow, when she returned home after going around the village, Leonardo’s arms were filled with gifts.
“I’m sorry, Leonardo. I didn’t expect this to happen…”
“Don’t worry about it, it just looks big, but it’s pretty light. And it is a sign that you are loved by everyone, after all.”
“S-stop it!”
Leonardo was making fun of her, so she slapped him on the back weakly.
Leonardo stopped moving as if startled for a moment, and then turned away with a red face for some reason. She wondered what this was all about, blushing when she patted him on the back.
When they came home, they were greeted by Yugo. While they were away, Yugo was carefully polishing the toys that had been soiled by those three guys the other day. When she apologized, “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect the toys you love so much.” “I can buy new toys, but I can’t buy a new mother. So don’t apologize”, she was comforted by her child.
The living room was almost back to normal. The mud was scrubbed out, all the sofa covers and such were washed, and the broken furniture was fixed.
She really wanted to cry, but Eva laughed at her and said, “I’m glad that it was my cushion and not Amalia that was crushed by those people’s filthy asses”, and even offered to make a new one.
Now, all the foodstuffs that everyone in Polk gave away were vegetables and fruits, and half of them were materials that could be used for Amalia’s hobby of making tea.
They first spread them on the kitchen table, and checked them one by one. Leonardo didn’t seem to know much about plants and such, so under Amalia’s direction, he took them to the pantry and put them in jars.
“…it’s a lie, right? Isn’t this Roa Purine?!”
Amalia couldn’t help but let out a gasp when she saw the round fruit lying on the ground.
Leonardo, who had just returned from the pantry, and Yugo, who was playing with a toy, also came to see Amalia’s fruit.
“Roa… is an island country far south of Leandra, isn’t it? They have a mild climate all year round and an abundance of seafood.”
“It has a darker color than the Purine I know.”
“This type of purine is also grown in Leandra, and as the name suggests, the Kingdom of Roa is the main production area. However, from a botanical point of view, it is similar to purine, but tastes and looks completely different.”
The purines that Amalia often buys at the general store are large enough to fit in the palm of one hand, with a hard skin and a thick, refreshingly sweet interior. However, the Roa Purine, a specialty of Roa in the tropics, has a much darker orange skin and contents, and is larger and more oval than the usual Purine.
The flesh is also thicker, and in some cases, even sticky. The sweetness also has a unique flavor, which is said to vary from person to person. Amalia had only seen this rare fruit in the dictionary, she always wanted to try it in person someday.
She doesn’t remember who gave it to her anymore, but there were three large roa purine. Let’s taste one of them first, and if it tastes good, why not try it for tea?
Once the other ingredients were placed in their respective storage areas, Amalia immediately decided to taste the Roa Purine.
Wash the fruit and peel it with a knife. The skin is softer than that of the usual Purine, so it is easier to peel, so it is easier to peel, but the fruit is a little slimy, so be careful in case the knife slips.
First of all, she peeled the skin and removed the large seed from the roa purine, roughly divided it into eight equal pieces, and tried one.
‘…hmm… this is sweeter than I expected, it’s persistent and sticky.’
Leonardo and Yugo were waiting for her in the living room, so she asked them to taste it as well, and they commented that it might be a little too sweet for them and that it smelled pretty strong.
One slice seemed to be enough for Leonardo, who doesn’t like sweets that much, so she and Yugo ate the rest and tried to think of a use for this fruit.
‘I think it’s probably safest to blend it into the cake batter and bake it. If I were to use this as a tea accent, I’d probably want to use the main tea leaves instead of just extracting the flavor of the ingredients like other fruit teas.’
She quickly peeled the second roa purine and asked Yugo to light the stove for her. Then she put together the three cans of tea she bought at Bruno’s store.
‘Roa Purine has a rich and sweet flavor, so I should use a much lighter tea leaf.’
And so she chose the lightest and the least peculiar kind out of the three. While the water was boiling, she crushed and prepared the roa purine.
For the first cup, she put the tea leaves and Roa Purine together in a pot and steeped it. The tea she poured into the cup was a beautiful sunset cloud color, but when she drank it, it was rather light, and most of the thickness had disappeared after steeping it.
For the second cup, she added the Roa Purine fruit to the regular brewed tea. Since the fruit’s flesh is put in as it is, there are fragments floating around, but she could taste the flavor better than steeping it together. The only problem is that the fibers of the fruit are still intact, so they might get stuck in the gaps between the teeth.
‘The first cup is for Leonardo, and the second cup is for Yugo.’
Yugo used his magic to cool down the first cup to a good temperature, and then let both cups cool before taking them to the living room. It was just time for afternoon tea, so she also served some roasted nuts as a snack.
As Amalia had predicted, Leonardo, who didn’t like sweets, liked the first cup with its light taste, while Yugo, who loved sweets, liked the second cup, which has the rich and thick flavor of Roa Purine.
“…hmmm… I guess the commercial tea leaves are much less effective than the ones my mom made from scratch.”
Yugo muttered as he drank his second cup. Intrigued, Amalia sat down on an empty chair and peered into Yugo’s hand.
“Is it really different?… Well, I can still hear people saying that the tea I make has a magical effect, but I still don’t believe it.”
“Oh, by the way, the tea that Amalia-san gave me the other day was very effective!”
Leonardo also said as if he remembered, then folded the fingers on his right hand and started counting the days.
“I drank all the tea I had in my canteen that day, and for the next three days or so, I felt pretty good. I was guarding a merchant with some other mercenaries, and we were once taken by surprise by a small fire-breathing demon!”
“Fire… were you okay?”
Feeling slightly uneasy, Amalia quickly scanned Leonardo’s body.
Both humans and demons can handle magic depending on their aptitude, however, there also exists a defense against magic. Basically, those who have a talent for magic, whether it be black magic or white magic, are less susceptible to the effects of magic, while those who have no aptitude for magic can be seriously injured or rendered immobile by the slightest touch of magic.
‘As I recall, Leonardo has no aptitude for magic. A flame that would be just a little hot to me could be deadly to him―’
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Author’s note :
Botanical Dictionary (8)
Roa Purine (ロア・プリネ- /Roa purine/) – A fruit like a mango. Originated in the tropics of Roa. It has a rich, thick consistency and a unique smell.