Tasting Party

"Well, well, it's something like this, isn't it?"

"I don't think I'm that bad."

"Delicious enough"

　For lunch, the canned food and instant food that we brought were arranged and cooked. Driada, who has a discerning tongue, evaluates him as a pear-oriented ant, and for me, he is an ant-oriented ant, and Aira evaluates him as an ant.

"Fumu, is it delicious in terms of whether it's delicious or not?"

"It's not the level of food served in the royal court."

"But if you have a fire and a pot, you can eat this anywhere, right? Isn't that groundbreaking?"

"It seems that it can be stored on a yearly basis."

"Depending on the cost, it might be good to stockpile food, but I don't know how it compares to storing the grain as it is."

"It seems to be good for maintaining the morale of the soldiers on the front line who carry out harsh missions. It seems to be able to withstand transportation."

　Similarly, the reactions of the envoys from each country who were eating the canned food and instant food we brought also varied. It's not as delicious as it's praised, but it seems that it's amazing that it can be stored for years and is durable enough to withstand long-distance transportation. He seems to be more highly regarded by military personnel who remember being on the front lines than so-called aristocrats.

"This is good as a snack"

"Not bad. No, it's good."

　In the daytime, we also observed people drinking cold beer and wine while munching on moderately crushed instant noodles. By the way, according to the drinkers, cold beer is the best match. White wine seems to be the next best. I see?

"This Kanzume isn't bad either."

"Cooked food has a strong flavor overall, so it's good as a snack with sake."

"Certainly, it might be good for evening drinks.

"The advantage is that it can be stored for a long time and can be eaten just by opening it without cooking.

"However, it is strong to save the trouble of cooking. Ultimately, I think it's wonderful that you don't need to secure cooking utensils or fuel, and you can eat a reasonable amount of food without using fire."

"That's right. Isn't it useful for scouts who shouldn't be found by the enemy, or for adventurers who venture deep into monster territory?"

　It seems that the drinkers aren't just serving sake, they're also having serious discussions. By the way, Grande is sleeping in her room saying, "A dinner party is boring." I knew that Grande's favorite dish would not be served, mainly canned food and instant noodles this time.

"However, this may be considered rare and interesting, but what does it mean to enhance national prestige?"

"Certainly, it may be subtle in that sense."

"It only has the impact of a rare foreign food."

"That's right. After all, isn't it useless if you don't do something like how to make it public and provide technical support?"

"I think it's too early to go that far. In the first place, isn't the production capacity still insufficient in Merinard Kingdom?"

"In the sense of boosting national prestige, a magic airship is enough."

　Driada and Aira each objected to my statement. Hmmm, it's true if you say so. Neither canned goods nor instant noodles have been produced in sufficient quantities to be distributed domestically. Or rather, it can be said that even at this stage it has not gone beyond the prototype stage. The production volume is gradually increasing, but it feels like a pre-production model for military use.

　The menu is limited to O'Neill and smoked meat soup, cream chowder, canned salty meat, canned minced meat and tomel stewed beans, and canned fish boiled in water. I want to make canned fruit pickled in syrup, but the sugar is expensive. That's why I want crops to get sugar.

"Let's say that we are thinking in the direction of exporting or publishing the technology after refining the technology itself and accumulating know-how."

"I think it's good."

"Nn, I agree. It's still a short time since the technology was established. Some problems may arise."

"That's right."

　Theoretically, it should be possible to save it for years, but the possibility of it being corrupted by some kind of influence or of some other kind of harm being confirmed is not zero. For example, the fact that the soup is thoroughly pasteurized once is also to detoxify the toxins in the unlikely event that it is damaged. Basically, toxins and pathogens should have been eliminated by the effect of purification magic, but that's not a certainty either. I have no way of confirming it.

　I don't mean to use soldiers as test subjects, but I agree with the opinion that it's too early to supply them widely to the general public and other countries.

　After eating to a certain extent, the members of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom and the Small Nations Alliance, who enjoyed the preserved food we brought in, asked various questions, but for the time being, we explained the direction we had just discussed on this occasion and left the place. I ended up surpassing it.

　It is a new technology that has just been developed recently. Right now, we have just started pre-production for military use, and the manufacturing process is still in the process of trial and error, so there is room for refinement. Ultimately, if we can accumulate enough know-how, we plan to start mass production in Japan, and after that we will be able to sell a certain amount to overseas. And depending on the situation, we are also considering exporting and publishing technology.

"High-performance preserved food has a high military value, but if it is used by civilians, it can be used as a stockpile of food in the event of a disaster, and it can also create new jobs in the food processing field. If it becomes possible to store unsuitable crops for a long period of time, the food situation in the country as a whole will improve, and it can also become a new means of earning foreign currency."

"If you release such technology in the future? What is your country going to gain?"

　I don't know from which country, but a grumpy-looking winged man asked me that, so I shrugged my shoulders and answered.

"It's hard for anyone to get hungry, right? If everyone doesn't have to go hungry, there won't be a lot of conflicts. It will be easier for the country of

"...Really"

　He who asked me said so and smiled wryly. I don't know if he was seen as a naive idealist, or if he smiled wryly at his blatant remarks in the second half, but I was able to put a wry smile on his grumpy face, so it's all right. It's an atmosphere that doesn't seem to have given a bad impression.

"Either way, this is a future story. As I said before, if you are interested, I think you can send an official envoy to some extent. The current Merinard Kingdom is the old Merinard. The kingdom is changing into a new Melinard Kingdom that is different from the Melinard Kingdom under the control of the Holy Kingdom, so I think there are many things to see."

　Of course, it's not like I'm releasing everything without limit. The R&D department is basically off-limits to outsiders, and the musketeers and magic guns are the core forces responsible for national defense. Crossbows are becoming more popular among civilians, and they are standard equipment for our military, so it might be okay to show them to some extent.

　With that kind of feeling, the luncheon, which had the nature of a new type of preserved food tasting party, ended with moderate popularity.

　I don't have any particular plans from here until the dinner party. Well, what should we do? As for me, I'd like to see the normal life and townscape of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom.