Gourmet Luncheon
Satou here. You see a lot of food-themed travel and variety shows on TV. Watching a reporter enjoy a meal makes you want to start looking the place up and planning a trip, even though you have no time to go there, don’t you think?
“Thank you for gathering at this private luncheon today, everyone.”
The prime minister jovially greeted everyone from the seat of honor.
I was one of twelve or so people gathered in a dining hall of the royal castle.
My seat was close to the prime minister’s. Maybe it was based on peerage titles; aside from the prime minister himself, most of the people here didn’t seem to have very high ranks.
“Today, I’ve selected primarily dishes from the southwest, especially Blybrogha Kingdom. By enjoying their cuisine, I hope that we can deepen our friendship with their delegation.”
Checking the materials I had in Storage, I learned that Blybrogha Kingdom was a small nation governed by leprechauns in the southwest part of the continent. The line we saw when we arrived at the royal capital was a delegation from that kingdom.
“For the appetizer, we have Ukeu shrimp salad with leprechaun sauce.”
The butler serving the meal explained its contents as he placed it before us.
Our first dish was a salad topped with boiled shrimp.
I was cautious going in, since the gourmet-loving duo of Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen had warned me that the prime minister’s dinner parties usually consisted of bizarre dishes that were “gourmet” in name only, but evidently I had nothing to worry about.
But just as I took my first bite of what I assumed was a perfectly normal salad, I was bowled over by the oddity of the dressing.
What I thought was an ordinary salad dressing was in fact a clear honey-based sauce…
It actually worked strangely well with the shrimp and ended up tasting quite good. Still, because it had looked so deceptively ordinary, it was a bit of a shock to the system.
“Mmmgh!”
“What the—?!”
Most of the other attendees seemed similarly taken aback.
“Mm-hmm. Delicious.”
Even though the prime minister was eating with a straight face, I knew him well enough from the time I’d spent with him as Nanashi to recognize that he was definitely enjoying our startled reactions.
“The second dish is a leprechaun bean-based cold soup.”
Next up was a silky-smooth white soup.
It smelled like corn soup, but I knew better than to let my guard down.
Learning my lesson from the first dish, I tasted only a tiny drop— Gah! That’s sour!
While the aftertaste wasn’t bad, it would be a tough sell for anyone who disliked sour tastes.
Sure enough, one of the officials seated farther down the table in my row ran out of the room, hands clutched to his mouth.
“One dropout already, eh…?”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on a murmur from the prime minister as he delicately sipped his soup.
Apparently, it was commonplace at these dinner parties for people to drop out if the food didn’t suit their tastes.
“Are you enjoying this foreign cuisine?” the prime minister asked me when our eyes met.
“Yes, it’s quite shockingly delicious.”
I meant this sincerely, not just as lip service.
Hopefully, after the luncheon, I could meet up with the cook and ask how some of these dishes were prepared.
“Indeed. Well, there is plenty more yet to come. Please enjoy to your heart’s content.”
The mischievous prime minister’s surprise-laden menu produced a few more dropouts as it continued.
Though all the dishes had appearances that belied their taste, they were still delicious, so I wasn’t complaining.
I kept up inoffensive responses to the prime minister’s topics of conversation as I enjoyed the culinary tour de force.
And soon…
“Here is today’s main dish, whole-roasted Blybrogha giant hornworm monster.”
The main dish was a roasted caterpillar the size of a piglet.
Its appearance alone drove two of the brave remaining warriors to drop out on the spot.
Five remained, including myself and the prime minister. Two of them were so pale that they looked like they might faint at any moment.
“What a delicious scent.”
Really, it smelled like teriyaki pork.
I said it in an attempt to keep the peace in the room, yet the two pale-looking diners gaped at me in disbelief.
Meanwhile, the servers went about their business completely unruffled, evidently accustomed to this atmosphere.
They sliced up the hornworm’s hide and arranged the pieces appealingly on the plate, topping it with the thick goo from the insides like a sauce. The bizarre, unnatural hue of the sauce made for a rather vivid picture.
“I—I can’t take anymooooore!”
With a loud clatter, one of the pale attendees fled the dining hall.
The other had simply fainted in his chair. I guess the sight and colors of the innards being used as topping was too much to bear.
Wouldn’t it have been better to plate the food before serving it? I suppose that was part of the prime minister’s mischief.
Still, when I’d first arrived in this world, I was reluctant to try even spit-roasted frog meat. I’d come a long way, if I did say so myself. After all the monster-based dishes I’d eaten on our travels and in labyrinths, this sort of thing hardly fazed me at all.
Besides, I’m sure this will be delicious, too.
I’m putting my trust in your taste buds, Prime Minister.
Steeling myself, I followed the waitstaff’s demonstration to cut a bite-size piece of hide and mix it with the sauce before putting it in my mouth.
…Wow, that’s good.
The crispy outer skin and the juicy interior made for an enjoyable texture.
Its sweet-and-sour sauce was delicious, too. If you could just do something about its appearance, this dish had the potential to be the next big craze in the royal capital.
“…You pass.”
The prime minister said something rather ominous.
His gaze was fixed right on me.
“He does seem more than qualified.”
“Indeed. Unlike the nobles who eat things in silence whether they’re delicious or awful, he genuinely seems to enjoy each bite. Magnificent.”
According to my AR display, the surly-faced man sitting across from me was the minister of foreign affairs.
“Viscount Pendragon, you are aware that a delegation from Blybrogha Kingdom is visiting at present, correct?”
“Yes, I have heard,” I responded.
“This evening, we are hosting a banquet for the delegation. We would like you to attend.”
“Apologies. Blybrogha Kingdom cuisine can be quite unusual, as you have seen. There are few here who can eat it with the appearance of enjoyment, even within our ministry of foreign affairs.”
Ahhh, so the gourmet luncheon had also been a test.
While I didn’t mind mingling with bigwigs, trying to avoid any missteps in a diplomatic setting sounded difficult.
I feel bad for the prime minister and all, but I’ll have to decline…
“I’m told that the head chef of the Blybrogha Kingdom royal court is with the delegation and will be preparing a special meal for the occasion.”
“That certainly sounds exciting.”
I changed my tune in a heartbeat.
Even if I visited Blybrogha Kingdom someday, the odds were low that I’d get to taste a special dish prepared by the head chef of the royal court.
I decided to let my appetite win out.
“Yes, I’d be delighted to attend.”
“Excellent. I thought you might say as much.”
The prime minister nodded in satisfaction at my answer.
That’s all well and good, but when is the dessert course coming out?
“Looks like the plan is going smoothly.”
After we ate dessert, I decided to visit the Echigoya Company before the evening’s banquet.
Incidentally, the afternoon’s dessert course was a deep-red frozen dessert with an addictive crunchy texture, made from the blood of a Blybrogha fox-dove. Herbs were used to dispel the tang of the blood, making it taste relatively normal.
“Yes, it is! It’s all thanks to the products you prepared for us, Lord Kuro.”
I listened to the manager’s latest report.
The plan in question was our strategy to get wealthy nobles and merchants to drain their reserves of cash so we could win the Prayer Ring at the auction.
“We don’t know the precise amount of Duke Ougoch’s wealth, but he’s bought even more Magic Swords and tools than we expected. Duke Vistall has yet to react strongly to any of the products we’ve brought in; it’s possible he needs those funds to deal with the rebellion. But the wealthy merchants of the royal capital, especially the Ghookuts Company, are binge-shopping like mad!”
I was guessing it was Arisa who had taught her a phrase like binge-shopping.
She added that the Earth Magic–made magic gems were proving especially popular with the viceroy’s wife of the trade city.
“The biggest threats left to worry about are the royal family, the viceroy of Labyrinth City—Marquis Ashinen—and perhaps Viscount Pendragon.”
Oh, hey, that’s me.
“Why the Pendragon boy?”
“He is the owner of the Dragonpen Trading Company run by Marquis Ashinen’s second son, although they aren’t very public about that. We must be cautious of the vast fortune he’s said to have acquired on the sugar route, to say nothing of the wealth he’s amassed from the labyrinth.”
“Vast fortune?”
I didn’t think I’d disclosed the treasures I salvaged from shipwrecks to the public…
“Yes, he has given several sailing vessels of various sizes to the Dragonpen Trading Company. He must have an enormous fortune to provide such things.”
No, no, those were just ships I’d found adrift or confiscated from pirates that had been sitting in my Storage.
“I see. Well, he owes me a few favors. I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you, Lord Kuro. If you’ll forgive my insolence, Viscount Pendragon and his vassal Lady Tachibana have done a great deal of service to the Echigoya Company…”
“I know. I’ll make the arrangements delicately.”
The manager bowed her head gratefully.
As stupid as it felt to be making arrangements with myself, that was an annoying necessity of living a double life.
Manager Eluterina and Tifaleeza were trustworthy enough; maybe I could tell them sometime soon that Kuro and Satou were the same person.
“And Marquis Ashinen?”
“Yes, it is difficult to gauge his wealth, as he is the viceroy of Labyrinth City. What’s more, he didn’t even react to the Magic Swords he once sought so desperately. I believe his goal is—”
“Not the Prayer Ring. Marquis Ashinen wants an elixir. From what I’ve heard, he needs it to heal his subordinate, the former Count Poputema.”
“You’re incredible, Lord Kuro!”
I’d found this out from the viceroy directly as Satou.
“Pardon me… Ah, Lord Kuro?”
As she entered the room, a faint smile played across Tifaleeza’s lips when she saw me.
“We’ve just received a letter from His Excellency the prime minister.”
I accepted the letter and skimmed it.
“We’ve gotten permission to develop those farming villages and mines.”
I definitely wasn’t expecting the latter to fly so easily. Even if we did get permission, I thought it would take a little longer.
“But both of them are only tax-exempt for five years…”
“Is that a problem?”
“Yes, at least for the mines, five years doesn’t seem like enough time.”
She explained that when developing a mine in the middle of monster-infested mountains, it was standard to be tax-exempt for ten years at least.
“It’s fine. As long as we have enough people, we can get it up and running within a month’s time.”
With my magic, I could prepare a mine in a matter of days. At worst, getting the drainage and elevator systems in place would be a bit of a pain.
“A—a month?”
The manager’s eyes widened.
“Lord Kuro can do anything,” Tifaleeza murmured, then moved on to the topic of work. “I’ll begin recruiting workers for the farming villages and mines at once, then.”
“Good. Use the same qualifications we discussed before, please.”
“Understood.”
Tifaleeza walked briskly out of the room.
It was great how fast she worked, even if she didn’t need to flatter me so much in the process.
“…I’d almost forgotten.”
Tifaleeza rushed back into the room, cheeks slightly pink.
“The boy who made that fire-starting tool, Aoi Haruka, is here.”
“Oh? You managed to hire him?”
“Yes, that part was no problem.”
Tifaleeza nodded, her silver bob-cut hair swaying.
“That part? There’s some other problem, then?”
“He requested to meet you personally, Lord Kuro.”
Huh, I wonder what he wants.
“All right. I’ll meet with him.”
Most of my business at the Echigoya Company was done for the day, and I still had time before the banquet.
It couldn’t hurt to spend a little of it on this Aoi kid.
“Lord Kuro, that’s it over there.”
Aoi pointed at a dilapidated building.
Once I met with him, he said he wanted to introduce me to someone and brought me to a small workshop district in the working-class part of town. It was only a few blocks away from the slums.
“It’s gotten a lot better around here, you know.”
Aoi spoke up defensively, as if sensing what I was thinking.
“Has it?”
“Yes, there aren’t people collapsing in the street anymore thanks to the increase in free food offerings from the Echigoya Company. Plus, they’re willing to hire people from around here for sewing and side jobs and stuff, so the professor says there aren’t as many girls selling their bodies on the streets anymore.”
“Glad to hear it.”
It’s not as if I started these practices with such lofty goals, but I was happy to hear they were helping to improve people’s lives.
“I’m gonna be Phantom Pippin!”
“Awww, but Pippin’s a master of disguise. I’d be a way better fit!”
“Too bad. You’re too slow to play someone who’s famous for bein’ light on his feet!”
“I’ll be Shadow Thief Sharururuun!”
A group of kids ran around playing nearby.
“You think you’ve got the looks to be a pretty shadow thief?”
“Don’t be mean! Besides, it’s not like you look like a shivvy-lus phantom, either.”
“Looks don’t got nothin’ to do with that.”
From the sound of things, they were pretending to be famous phantom thieves.
“Shivvy-lus… Chivalrous, is it?”
“Yes, supposedly Pippin the Phantom steals from evil merchants and nobles and gives the money to the poor.”
Aoi explained to me in a low voice.
“It doesn’t sound like you think he’s chivalrous.”
“No, I don’t. It’s wrong to give people money that you got by committing crimes. If you want to help people, you should earn money honestly or create jobs for them.”
It’s good to be honest, but this kid’s so honest, he might have a hard time in life.
“Right. Anyway, is this really the workshop?”
“Ah-ha-ha, I know. It looks abandoned, right?”
The building before us appeared as though it might fall apart at any minute.
“Professor! You here, Professor?”
Aoi banged on the door and shouted, but there was no response.
We were here so I could meet this professor of his.
“Maybe he’s sleeping?”
There was a light on my radar indicating a person inside.
Using my Practical Magic spell See Through, I found that it was only a latch keeping the door in place, so I slipped it open with Magic Hand.
“It’s open.”
“Huh? Oh, hey, you’re right… Professor! It’s Aoi. I’m coming in.”
Aoi carefully avoided the rubbish and papers scattered all over the floor as he headed farther inside.
As I followed him, one of the papers on the floor caught my eye. It was a plan for coaxial skypower engines like the ones I’d built, albeit with different circuits and theories.
“Lord Kuro! This is Professor Jahado.”
“It’s good to meet you, Professor. I’ve admired your work for quite some time.”
“Hmph, don’t try to butter me up.”
The old man who emerged wore comically thick glasses and had white hair still rumpled from sleep. Aside from being short-statured, there wasn’t much to distinguish him from the average human being.
I’d first learned of him in materials I found in Sedum City, then read his writings in the old capital. Rumored to be a rotation-obsessed old mage, he was someone I’d always wanted to meet.
In order to prove that I wasn’t just flattering him, I produced some of his writings and a magic top, known as a rolling disc, from my Item Box.
“Huh. Guess you weren’t lying.”
Professor Jahado harrumphed.
Although he acted unimpressed, his attitude changed from that point on.
“Well, have a seat, then.”
I sipped on some herbal tea that Aoi had poured for us as I listened to Professor Jahado’s tale.
He had once worked at the royal academy and royal research institute, but a researcher from a pedigreed noble family used his connections to steal both seats from him.
These days, he had no patrons to his name and eked out a living in the poorer part of town repairing magic tools.
My invitation for him to become a researcher at the Echigoya Company failed to impress him, though.
“Hmph, I don’t care about the money. If you want to hire me, let’s see one of those skypower engines from the new airships! I’d sell my soul to a demon lord if I could see the marvel of that coaxial design up close.”
“You swear?”
“I swear.”
I used Magic Hand to clear space in a corner of the workshop, then produced a small airship’s coaxial skypower engine from my Storage. It would’ve been too big to take out of the Item Box.
“I-it can’t be!”
I smiled as Professor Jahado’s eyes practically popped out of his head.
“If you’ll become a researcher at the Echigoya Company, you can do whatever you’d like with this.”
“E-even take it apart?”
I nodded and handed him a toolbox.
He was so excited that he fumbled the tools a few times, but that didn’t stop him from nimbly and expertly beginning to dismantle the engine.
“Then we have a deal?”
“Looks like it.” Aoi nodded.
I contacted the site of the Echigoya Company shipyard to prepare an area for a research institute.
Later, I planned to use Stone Object and Create House to set up a lab for him.
“Hrrrgh, this is heavy. Help me out, Aoi!”
“Yes, Professor!”
Aoi scrambled to assist the old man with dismantling the engine.
“Wah-ha-ha, so that’s how this mechanism works! But if you added the structure I designed a while back, it’d work thirty percent better. And this bearing is too old-fashioned. Grrr, to think they’d come up with such a contraption! Fascinating! This is fascinating!”
Professor Jahado took out the coaxial disc and began examining it from various angles.
“I look forward to what you come up with, Professor.”
With that, I left his workshop behind.
I had no doubt that his help would bring the skypower engine to an even higher level of performance.
“<The treasure of our homeland is missing, lass!>”
Just as I came back to the royal castle for the evening banquet, I heard something alarming in the hallway.
Taking a peek, I saw a leprechaun boy accusing a maid of theft.
He had bronze skin, wore a gaudy white outfit, and was draped in over-the-top accessories to match. This must be one of the members of the Blybrogha Kingdom delegation the prime minister had mentioned—and an important one, too, judging by his outfit.
According to my AR display, the boy was in fact from the Blybrogha Kingdom royal family. He was actually 365 years old, fitting of a long-lived fairy race; it would probably be best not to treat him like a kid.
“E-erm, I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t understand your language…”
“<Ach! I’m getting nowhere with ye! Where’s my interpreter, Ryga?!>”
Evidently, their interpreter was missing, and he and his convoy spoke only fairy language.
Their language was an upward-compatible version of the Elvish language, essentially a common language among all fairy races, which meant I could understand it without a problem. It was basically a simpler version of the elegant words spoken by the elves.
Checking my log, I saw that I’d acquired the “Fairy Language” skill. There was probably no need to activate that when I could already understand it using the “Elvish Language” skill, though.
“<Is there a problem?>”
“<Oh-ho! Ye speak Elvish, do ye? Well, our Dragon’s Eye has been stolen from my room!>”
The boy switched from “Fairy Language” to “Elvish Language” to speak to me.
“<Is it a gemstone of some kind?>”
“<Ach, no! The Dragon’s Eye is a magical orb that’s been handed down in the royal family for generations. It gives the holder an all-seeing eye of judgment that can pierce through anything under the sun.>”
That sounded pretty useful.
Collecting myself, I relayed his words to the maid.
“A theft in the royal castle?!”
The maid rushed off in a panic to call for the guards.
I told the boy that the search was soon to be underway, then took it upon myself to search the map for the Dragon’s Eye.
Aha.
It was closer than I expected.
“<Aah, I cannae go home to Mother if I’ve lost the family treasure…>”
“<Please don’t worry. I promise we’ll get it back for you.>”
I already found it, after all.
“<Oh-ho, do ye mean it?!>”
“<Yes, just leave it to me.>”
With that, I opened the hallway window and hopped outside.
“Eeeek!”
“Wh-who are you?!”
“I-I’ll call the imperial knights!”
When I pushed my way through the hedges into the courtyard, three maids saw me and shrieked.
I used a little “Blink” to get up close to the first one who screamed.
Because she was the culprit who’d stolen the Dragon’s Eye.
“Wh-what the—?”
The maid jumped back to avoid my light chop with the side of my hand.
This way, she wouldn’t take the other maids hostage.
“How did you find out that I’m Shadow Thief Sharururuun?”
“Shadow Thief?”
“Nyuna is Sharururuun?”
The real maids gasped as they heard the thief identify herself.
“Well, you won’t catch me.”
With a flash of the thief’s arm, fabric filled my vision.
I pushed aside the fabric—a royal maid’s uniform—and saw that the area was covered in smoke. She must’ve used a smoke bomb.
The thief was already on the run. She wore a plain, tight-fitting outfit of shirt and trousers, probably hidden under the maid uniform all along.
“Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! Catch me if you caaan!”
Her voice cackled in the distance.
Leaving the coughing maids in the smoke, I used “Blink” to chase the girl along the side of the building.
“Grrr, are you a high-level knight?!”
She gave up on escaping on the ground, instead launching back and forth between a nearby tree and the wall to flee upward.
I maintained my running speed to sprint straight up the wall like something out of a manga.
> Skill Acquired: “Wallrunning”
> Title Acquired: Defier of Gravity
Even though I’d run up walls plenty of times before, for some reason I acquired a skill this time.
I caught up to the female thief despite my distraction and tackled her before she could get away.
But it would probably be painful to fall from around a three-story height, so I used “Skyrunning” to produce a platform in midair and jumped off that into a nearby window instead.
“Let go—!”
Since the thief was struggling to escape, I knocked her out with a light jab to the solar plexus.
The Dragon’s Eye in question was hidden in her ample bosom, so I used Magic Hand to take it out.
It wouldn’t be right to go feeling around an unconscious girl’s chest, criminal or not.
“<Well done, knight of the Shiga Kingdom!>”
The leprechaun boy came running over.
There was a large crowd of people behind him, including the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs.
“<This is it, right?>”
“<Aye! That’s our national treasure, the Dragon’s Eye!>”
The boy carefully held up the rainbow-colored gem.
“<Now I can still face Mother!>”
The Dragon’s Eye looked like a crystal ball around the size of a five-hundred-yen coin.
“Sir Pendragon, is that woman the thief?”
“I recognize that face. She’s a maid who works at this guesthouse.”
The prime minister and the military minister peered at the thief.
“No, she’s not.”
With that, I peeled away the mask that covered her face.
Unlike the magical disguise masks I used to become Nanashi or Kuro, it was some kind of one-use-only mask made using a specially alchemized cream.
“A woman, a master of disguise… This must be Shadow Thief Sharururuun.”
“So it would seem.”
She’d said as much herself, and my AR display confirmed it.
“I don’t know how she infiltrated the royal castle, but her luck ran out when she came into contact with you, Sir Pendragon.”
For some reason, the prime minister seemed smug.
I handed Shadow Thief Sharururuun over to the imperial knights who’d arrived with the prime minister. This was after tying her up thoroughly so she wouldn’t escape on the way, of course.
“<I cannae thank ye enough, lad. As Eighth Prince Smartith of the Blybrogha Kingdom, I grant ye the position of Merrymaker and the honor of calling yeself a Blybrogha free knight!>”
“<Oh-ho, Sir Smartith, generous with the rewards as always.>”
Even though I didn’t want any new positions or titles, the prime minister moved things right along.
He explained to me later that Merrymaker was a sort of honorary noble rank given to a foreigner who did a good deed, while a free knight was like a peace officer with relatively free rein within the Blybrogha Kingdom.
“<A Merrymaker is even granted the right to one prank per day. ’Tis a wonderful honor.>”
“<That’s amazing…I think?>”
“<Indeed it is.>”
The boy—or rather, Prince Smartith—flared his nostrils with pride.
Well, it didn’t seem to give me any rights or duties unless I entered Blybrogha Kingdom, so it was probably nothing to worry about. It was probably less important than the Liquor Marquis title I got in the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi.
“<Now then, to the banquet! I shall grant ye the privilege of sitting at my side.>”
“<You do me too great an honor.>”
The jovial prince latched on to my arm and led me toward the dining hall.
“He’s already getting along with that hard-to-please prince.”
“I confess I’d hoped he would improve the prince’s mood at the banquet, but I never dreamed it would be before the banquet even started.”
“It’s no wonder he was able to smooth things over between Lloyd and Hohen.”
I heard the minister of foreign affairs and the prime minister murmuring behind us.
Although I kind of felt like I was being used for their diplomatic purposes, I didn’t mind, since it wouldn’t do me any harm.
The banquet dishes were similar to the ones at the gourmet luncheon earlier that day. They were even more delicious, though, making for a wonderful meal.
Maybe they tasted extra good to me because I’d been going to all kinds of tea parties and banquets since the New Year began and was getting a little sick of the local cuisine.
After a few more semi-eventful days like this one, the auction was only a few days away.
“Fuh-fuh-field triiip…?”
“Tra-la-laaa, sir.”
Tama and Pochi beat out a rhythm as they spread the contents of their rucksacks on the carpet.
The preschool spring-term class was going on a one-night field trip the following day.
“And you’re going with the knights’ school?”
“Yes, Arisa.”
“Sherin and her class are going along for field training, too.”
They were traveling by carriage to a cabin, which they would use as a base to hike the nearby mountain.
Nana and Lulu had gotten information about the trip from Gouen’s daughter Sherin, since they were helping her with her stamina training.
“Huh. If it’s a bunch of rich kids going hiking, I take it they’ve already cleared the mountain of monsters?”
“Yeah, looks like it.”
Checking the map, I didn’t see a single monster from the fort at the peak down to the vicinity of the cabin.
There was a deep valley on one side of the fort, the other side of which appeared to be monster territory.
From what I could tell from the map, the kingdom army stationed at the mountain fort regularly patrolled the border to ensure that monsters didn’t get in from the other side.
“Field training? So they’re going on the field trip, too?”
“Sherin is on larvae-guarding duty, I report.”
“There are two groups: one to guard the students from the preschool spring class and one to transport supplies to the fort.”
Nana and Lulu responded to Arisa’s question.
They said that Sherin was even tenser than usual about the trip, as the students’ performance would determine whether they got a recommendation for the knights’ school.
“But even if there are no monsters, there are still animals, right?”
“Arisa’s concerns are correct, I agree.”
“It’s all right,” Lulu said reassuringly. “Each team will be accompanied by teachers and upperclassmen from the knights’ school.”
She’d heard this from Mr. Heim when he came to pick up Sherin.
“Emergency jerkyyy—?”
“We need hard biscuits, too, sir!”
“You really need emergency rations for a field trip?”
From the amount of food they were bringing, you’d think the trip was about two weeks long.
“Cyna said to bring lots of supplies just in case and to suspect the unsuspected, sir.”
“That’s the military minister’s granddaughter, right?”
“Oui oooui?”
Tama nodded.
“Worrywart.”
“That’s not true, sir. Cyna is really, really smart, so I’m sure we’ll need these supplies, sir!”
“You and Cyna seem very close.”
“We’re besties, sir!”
“Tama toooo?”
It sounded like they were getting along well at the preschool.
Maybe I should have them invite Cyna over for a nice feast sometime.
“That’s all well and good…but everything isn’t going to fit in your bag.”
“Omigoood?”
“We just gotta push it all in, sir!”
Pochi attempted to shove all the supplies into her rucksack, which was already full to bursting with less than half inside.
“P-Pochi, your bag’s going to rip…”
“Just put the emergency rations in your Fairy Pack. As long as it’s just a normal field trip, you’re not going to need those anyway.”
As Lulu hurried to stop them, Arisa offered a sensible solution.
“But the teacher said we gotta fit all our stuff into one rucksack, sir.”
“Why not put your Fairy Pack inside the rucksack, then?”
“Très bieeen?”
“You’re so smart, Arisa, sir! Pochi never even thought of that, sir!”
Arisa winced a little as Tama and Pochi praised her.
Well, that solves one problem anyway.
“Did you make you-know-what for them, master?”
“Yeah, they’re right here.”
I pulled out two canteens with shoulder straps. The kind with the lid that worked as a cup, of course.
“Perfect! You can’t go on a field trip without one of these babies!”
“Tama’s lid is piiink…?”
“Pochi’s lid is yellow, sir!”
Arisa handed the bottles to each of them.
There was a water stone inside each one, allowing them to produce infinite water if supplied with magic power.
They probably wouldn’t need these, since it was a short enough trip that even the children could make it in one day. Still, better safe than sorry.
“Now you just need snacks.”
“Pochi wants meat, sir!”
“Tama toooo?”
“Nah, there’ll be meat in your box lunches. A snack is something like candy or crackers.”
“Pochi knows about this, sir! A banana doesn’t count as a snack, sir!”
“You’re getting too powerful, Pochi.” Beaten to the punch on her own setup, Arisa gnawed on a strand of hair and muttered to herself.
Pochi clearly remembered the Japanese joke Arisa had taught her way back when we were hunting a floormaster in the labyrinth.
“Tama, Pochi, what kind of snacks would you like?” Lulu asked instead.
“Tama wants potato chiiips?”
“Pochi wants cake, sir!”
As delicious as that sounds, neither of those is suited for a field trip.
“I’ll bring out what we have for you to choose from, okay?”
“Yaaay!”
“Amazingly amazing, sir!”
I took out some field trip–appropriate snacks from Storage by way of the Item Box and lined them up on the table.
Tama’s eyes sparkled, while Pochi’s tail wagged so hard, it looked like it might fly right off.
“Just a second, you two! You can only bring three hundred yen’s worth of snacks!”
“Three hundred yeeen…?”
“How many copper coins is a yen, sir?”
Arisa’s attempt at a joke fell flat due to the currency difference.
“Can’t they bring as much as they want? It’s not like the school set a limit on it.”
If they had extras, they could always share with friends.
“No, that won’t do! Narrowing down your snack selection is part of the fun of a field trip!”
“Gotcha…”
I could sort of see her point. A lot of my classmates used to stress about whether to go for quantity or quality in the snack department.
“Then, instead of a price, how about we limit it to whatever snacks will fit in these bags?”
I pulled out some of the pouches I used for donating gold coins.
“I guess it’s fine. The fancy fabric’s a little excessive, but at least it won’t break.”
Once the bags passed Arisa’s inspection, I handed them to Pochi and Tama.
“Weeeh, this is such a hard choice, sir!”
“Tama wants this and this and thiiis…?”
While Pochi dithered in distress, Tama picked out snacks on instinct and put them in her pouch.
“Dooone?”
“Ooh, you’re so confident, sir…”
Pochi gazed enviously at Tama’s completed snack pack, then began experimenting with which combination would work best.
“Pochi, if you pack it that tightly, aren’t the cookies going to break?”
“It’ll be okay, sir! Pochi believes in Mr. Cookies, sir.”
Sure enough, the cookies crumbled.
“If you keep packing it in like that, the contents will get crushed, I advise.”
“I-it’s fine, sir. Chaos adds to the flavor, sir!”
Even Nana’s warning couldn’t stop the force of chaos.
“Pochi, I get that you’re packing it with tough stuff like hard crackers and candy, but isn’t that a bit too stuffed?”
“Not at all, sir. If I try hard enough, I can fit one more, sir!”
“Mrrr, reckless.”
Just as Arisa and Mia feared, Pochi’s bag tore open.
“Pochi, you mustn’t waste food or perfectly good pouches! If you keep it up, you’re going on that field trip with no snacks at all.”
Finally, Liza snapped and scolded Pochi.
With her tail between her legs, Pochi apologized and finally packed a new bag with a random assortment of snacks.
“As for the broken cookies, crushed dried fruits, and dropped hard candies, the staff ate them up later, and we all lived happily ever after.”
Arisa yawned as she went off on some absurd narration. Clearly it was time for bed.
“We should get to sleep. The field trip departs bright and early tomorrow.”
Everyone headed toward the bedroom.
“Pochi’s not sleepy yet, sir.”
“Tama eitherrr?”
They were both showing the classic reaction of a child the night before a field trip.
“If you don’t hurry up and sleep, you’ll miss the wake-up time tomorrow, and they’ll leave without you.”
“Nyuuu!”
“That would be terrible, sir!”
Liza’s gentle rebuke sent Tama and Pochi diving into bed.
They kept wriggling and whispering for quite a while, but by midnight, they were both sound asleep.
As fun as it would be to chaperone their field trip, the auction was coming up soon. I decided it was best to take care of the rest of my business in the royal capital as soon as possible.
I tucked Pochi and Tama under the covers before going to sleep myself.
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