Smoked fish

The evening light spilled over the Red Tide Fief.

Inside the smoking shed near the hot springs, several smoked fish hung from wooden racks, their golden skins slightly wrinkled and giving off a rich, smoky aroma.

Louis stood nearby, inspecting the fish that had been smoked for several hours.

He then pressed a finger lightly against the surface. Satisfied by its dry, springy feel, he nodded.

"M-my lord..." Sally stood beside him and spoke cautiously, her hands unconsciously twisting together.

Her eyes were anxious, afraid her smoked fish would not be good enough.

Louis looked up at her words and praised her. "Nicely smoked. The texture and color are both very good."

Sally let out a sudden sigh of relief, a nervous smile appearing on her face. "W-we just followed the method you taught us. W-without your guidance, we could never have done this."

"You have skillful hands." Louis casually tore off a piece of fish and tossed it into his mouth.

Though the flesh was dry and firm, its rich, smoky flavor slowly spread through his mouth as he chewed. It tasted quite good.

Standing nearby with his arms folded, Silco gave an exhausted yawn. The dark circles under his eyes were practically drooping to the ground.

It was not that Louis was deliberately working him to the bone, but what could he do when they were the only two people in the entire fief who could read?

He had no choice but to put Silco on a nine-to-nine, six-days-a-week schedule.

Today, he had brought him along for some fish to make it up to him.

"Here, try some." Louis handed him a smoked fish.

A flicker of interest crossed Silco's weary eyes, and he took a bite. "Better than I expected."

"This is the fruit of Sally's hard work," Louis said in praise.

Hearing her name, Sally immediately grew flustered and waved her hands. "No, no, no. We only managed to smoke these fish by doing what you told us. I don't know anything about this..."

Louis quietly listened to Sally, but his gaze rested on the smoked fish.

The Red Tide Fief lay in the cold northern lands, where food resources were limited.

Though fishing was an important source of provisions, the rivers froze almost completely every winter and early spring, leaving them with virtually no catch.

To avoid famine, he had to find an effective means of preservation that would keep their food through the long, bitter winter.

And so Louis had thought of an innovative method-using geothermal heat to smoke fish.

"Smoking fish with hot springs? Will that really work?" When Silco first heard the plan, his eyes had been full of disbelief.

"It removes more moisture than simply air-drying them, which means they'll keep longer," Louis had explained.

Whatever the outcome, the method was worth a try.

He had therefore chosen the careful, skillful Sally to lead the women in their initial attempts.

The first step was preparing the fish.

First, they slit open the bellies and removed the innards, but the skin had to remain intact.

The skin would not only stop the flesh from falling apart during smoking, but also lock in the flavor and improve the finished fish's texture.

Next, they cured the fish in coarse salt for anywhere from several hours to a day, depending on the weather and humidity.

This removed the fishy odor and brought out the flavor while also drawing out some moisture in preparation for smoking.

The second step was building the smoking racks.

In the hot spring area, they wove branches, bamboo strips, and vines into a row of smoking racks.

They also added simple windbreaks and insulation on both sides of the racks, allowing the steam from the springs to penetrate the fish as thoroughly as possible while preventing heat loss.

The third step was the smoking process.

The geothermal heat was not stable, so smoking took place in several rounds spread over two to three days.

At a low temperature of around twenty degrees, some moisture could be removed to help the fish keep longer. But if the heat became too high, it would be more like roasting them, leaving too much moisture for them to keep well.

Every batch of smoked fish therefore required careful adjustments to both time and temperature.

It all seemed cumbersome, but after Sally's repeated experiments over this period, they had already achieved success on a small scale.

The fish hanging from the smoking racks had become one of the Red Tide Fief's hopes for surviving the winter.

Louis nodded slightly. "We can start expanding production now."

A flash of delighted surprise appeared in Sally's eyes. She and the women under her had worked hard on this for several days.

In this world ruled by force, women had never held much status.

If they could take charge of the important task of smoking fish, their standing in the Red Tide Fief would improve considerably.

She pressed her lips together and asked cautiously, "My lord, do you mean you'll put us in charge of smoking the fish?"

"You've already done very well, haven't you?" Louis gave her a calm glance, then swept his gaze over the smoking racks. "If we expand production, the people with experience should naturally be in charge."

Sally's heart beat faster, and she could not help clutching her apron, feeling a sense of security unlike anything she had ever known.

"Thank you, my lord!" She bowed almost instinctively, her voice trembling slightly.

Louis smiled. "I'm the one who should be thanking you."

Just then, a knight approached and quietly reported in Louis's ear, "Lord Lambert has returned."

Louis's eyes lit up. Two pieces of good news at once.

He immediately strode toward the residential area to greet the three men who had just entered it.

Lambert dropped to one knee and said quietly, "We have fulfilled our mission."

Louis nodded slightly, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

The dependable Lambert always put people at ease.

"Thank you for your hard work," he said solemnly, then looked over the other two elite knights behind him.

Though they appeared somewhat more tired than Lambert, neither complained about the hardships of the journey.

"We'll leave the detailed report until tomorrow." Louis gave them a warm smile. "Get some proper rest tonight. At tomorrow's commendation ceremony, all of you will receive the rewards you deserve."

The three saluted together and replied respectfully, "Yes, my lord!"

"Leave the seeds here, then go and rest."

Without hesitation, the three knights handed their bundles to the attendant and departed, worn out from their journey.

Traveling long distances using battle aura left even elite knights exhausted in both body and mind.

Louis watched them leave. Only after all three had disappeared from view did he turn toward his office, the attendant following closely with bundles of seeds large and small.

The packets of seeds were stacked neatly on his desk, all purchased on this trip.

Louis waved a hand, dismissing the attendant.

Only after the door had softly closed did he approach the desk and locate the seeds he wanted, following the Intelligence System's prompt.

He gently picked one up between his fingers and placed it on his palm to examine it.

The seed was reddish brown with a smooth surface, looking no different from an ordinary cranberry seed at first glance.

Without the Intelligence System, he would probably have mistaken it for an ordinary seed as well.

But it was anything but ordinary.

This was the Frostblood Redberry, a special fruit transformed by magic in the bitterly cold reaches of the north.

Eating it could not only strengthen the body, but also work wonders in refining a knight's battle aura.

That meant, once successfully cultivated, it could become more than just a specialty exclusive to the Red Tide Fief.

It could also become a strategic resource that the great noble houses would vie to obtain.

As Louis gazed at the seed, he could almost see mountains of gold and silver beckoning to him.