"All that's left is to dry this, but it looks like it'll take a bit of time to fully dry."

"In that case, please leave it to me. Everyone, please step back a little."

At Miss Berna's instruction, everyone stepped away from the bowl containing the thick liquid extracted from the Belmarcon.

"I will use fire magic to control the heat and dry it properly. It should be finished shortly."

"Oh, I didn’t think of that!"

Miss Berna, an A-rank adventurer, is a fire magic user. It seems she can skillfully adjust her fire magic to dry it quickly in a short time.

"...It’s done. It turned into a hard lump, though."

"Yeah, apparently if we shave this down into powder, it’s complete."

"Hmm, leave the shaving to me."

Saying that, Lilia began finely shaving the hardened mass Berna had solidified with a kitchen knife. Yeah, she’s way faster at this than I am.

"...Yeah, it’s a bit of a unique sweetness, but this is definitely sweet enough."

"Yes, it’s just about as sweet as the sugar sold in stores."

"It’s sweet and delicious!"

Just as Angel and Fia said, this could very well serve as a substitute for the sugar sold in town. Since Belmarcon sells for just three copper coins in the market, the raw material costs are negligible. Isn’t this a pretty big discovery?

...And since it’s such a major discovery, the hard part is how to handle it. For now, I need to investigate how the sugar market and its rights are handled, and also find out where Belmarcon grows.

There’s also the option to monopolize the process, build a factory, and turn it into a business, but that would definitely bring complications. I don’t want to be a big merchant—I just want to live a peaceful slow life.

So it’s probably best to sell the manufacturing method and receive a portion of the profits. I also want to consult Dolph, who helped discover this, about it.

"No way, I can’t accept any reward for this! I mean, it’s all thanks to your plant encyclopedia, Mr. Tetsuya. If it had been just me, I’d never have realized sugar could be made from it."

"Even so, I wouldn’t have figured it out on my own either… At least take a bonus or something, otherwise I’ll feel guilty..."

Now that we’ve figured out sugar can be refined from Belmarcon, we’re casually strolling through the town of Eibra.

...As usual, we’re quite a conspicuous group, so we’re speaking quietly as townspeople glance our way.

"You’ve already helped me so much, Mr. Tetsuya. You covered the cost of traveling to the royal capital both this time and last time, including our stay. That’s more than enough. You can use all the Belmarcon information however you like."

"Got it. I’ll gratefully put it to use."

If Dolph, who noticed this in the first place, says that, then I’ll gratefully accept. As a token of appreciation, maybe I’ll sneak a little bonus into everyone’s wages.

That said, it’s only after confirming we can produce this sugar in large quantities. I also have to decide who to share this method with.

"...Hold on a second. Mr. Tetsuya, I have a favor to ask regarding this Belmarcon."

"Oh? Should I arrange to share part of the profits with you?"

"No, I’m fine on money. In fact, with the salary I get, it’s more than enough for living in Al-Flare. What I want is… could we name the sugar made from Belmarcon after Angel? Like, call it ‘Angel Sugar’… ouch!?"

"Wh-what are you saying, brother! Mr. Tetsuya, please forget what you just heard! I don’t need any reward!"

Mid-sentence, Angel swung the bag she was holding and smacked Dolph squarely on the head.

It’s rare for calm and composed Angel to lose her cool like this and turn completely red.

"...Um, well, I think something like that should be possible, but what do you want to do?"

There are dishes and ingredients named after chefs or discoverers, so as part of the condition for selling the method, we could probably specify the product name.

"Mr. Tetsuya, if that’s the case, I’d like to… ouch!"

"Brother, please be quiet! Mr. Tetsuya, please don’t do it!"

"O-okay. If the person herself doesn’t want it, I’ll drop the idea. Don’t worry..."

Angel hit Dolph on the head again, firmly rejecting the idea. She hit him pretty hard too, wow...

"I think it’d be nice if it had big sister Angel’s name though..."

"Fia, just imagine—every time someone cooks, they’d say ‘Pass me the Angel Sugar’... It’s just too embarrassing. How about we call it Fia Sugar instead?"

"Hawawa… Fia would be embarrassed too!"

"Exactly…"

Now that it’s mentioned, I might not want a seasoning named after me either. It feels a bit too close and personal.

If I were going to use my name, maybe it’d be better for something rare like a star or comet. Tetsuya’s Comet or something—that might actually sound kinda cool.