I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain. In Retaliation, I Chose Amenity over Strength.

t comes to marriage, most of the folks prioritize laying the groundwork for a stable life over falling in love.

On the other hand, if you have a house then you can choose a wife to your heart’s content.
Lots of men choose to marry young brides, hence the gap in marriageable age.

Actually, women also have a wider range of choices if they have a job, and if they don’t mind getting married later in life then they can also buy a house first, then they’re free to choose whoever they want to marry.

It’s just that they have to give birth while they’re still strong enough.
They’re literally risking their lives, given that the medical system here isn’t reliable.

Being a girl is so hard~ is what I thought.
Ah, I just imagined something weird.
I’d hate it if they do something like「Aztec’s method for the relief of labor pains 」.

The water is boiling now so I put the pasta into the pot and add some salt.
While the pasta is cooking, I saute the garlic and chili in olive oil; wait until the aroma becomes stronger before adding the anchovies and smashing it while sauteing.
Add olive slices, bottled tomato sauce, dry oregano.
Toss the pasta, add salt to taste and it’s all done.

「Your dishes are still as tasty as ever.
What’s this sour taste? 」
「 Tomato, caper, and olive, I guess? 」

There’s no table so we can only eat while forgoing manners as we hold our plates.
I’m still standing.

「 Dunno what that tomato thing is, but it’s perfectly spicy and sour.
」

….
So they don’t have tomatoes here, huh.
I totally forgot about that.
And here I was, thinking of bluffing it with ‘it’s not fresh, I used the preserved ones!’.
That’s not even the problem, it’s more like an existential question.

「Retze, stop eating things you don’t know without even checking it.
」
「 You’re the one who made it, Jean, so there shouldn’t be any problem.
」
His lighthearted reply made me a bit happy.

「 Is there anything else bothering you, Jean? Aside from holding that door up.
」
He shot a glance at the door leaning on the wall — it’s for the back entrance — while asking me.

「Me? I’m thinking that those Gold ranks and their cronies are a nuisance.
That’s it, I guess? 」
「 If you don’t want to join a party, then it’ll be a pain in the neck if they find out you can see the spirits.
」

Hm?
Why do you know that I can see them?

「 All the folks that Chris doesn’t call by name can see them spirits, even though he himself doesn’t realize it, nor do the people around him, for that matter.
」
Retze shrugged his shoulders with a smile when I stared at him.

「Seriously…」
「Don’t be annoyed, just ask Chris to call you by name.
His appearance and behavior might be like that, but he’s a good guy, you know.
」
「 Yeah, I understand that he’s kinda nice, but… 」

I also know that he voluntarily gets involved with the nobles, and that’s because Dean doesn’t like those aristocrats, so Chris switches places with him.

He’s just a tad too noisy, so I tend to avoid him for a bit.

「I’ll watch out for the Gold bunch.
Well, rely on other people from time to time, okay.
Thanks for the meal.
」

After that, he helped me install the door and that’s the end of it.
He accepted the payment saying it’s because it’s the first time, but he told me that next time, he wouldn’t need any compensation if the work is just within the city.

The door I chose was a thick, sturdy one made of oak, with decorations like black, decorative, iron hinges and stuff.
I also planned to install iron grills, but I guess this is already enough.

Still, it just hit me that I’m just a kid compared to Retze.
There’s a lot of things that I don’t know, much less realize.

—–

T/N: Aztec women yanked the balls of their husbands hard every time they have a contraction during labor.
This is so they can share the childbirth experience.
Oof..
Want to learn more? Here you go: https://www.fatherly.com/health-science/what-sympathy-pregnancy-looks-like-in-other-cultures/