The Wedding and the Lulu Fruit
Satou here. Whenever I had to go to a lot of weddings, all the wedding gifts were like a tornado sweeping through my bank account. But since it was a great way to meet women, I was willing to endure the frugal life until my next payday.
When I returned to the capital, I enjoyed a fun dinnertime with my friends that healed my exhaustion.
Then, that night…
“Nanashi the Hero?”
“Mm.”
I entered the duke’s private room in his castle, and he greeted me as a friend.
As I spoke, I kept in mind the simple sentences I’d used last time we met.
“A strange hero, to enter through the window like that.”
Sitting across from the duke was the king of Shiga—or rather, his body double.
His tone was like a grandfather scolding a naughty grandchild.
When I landed on the floor and came to the center of the room, the homely atmosphere changed slightly, and the expression of the king’s body double tightened.
“Mr. Nanashi the Hero, as the ruler of the Shiga Kingdom, I thank you for saving our land from destruction.”
The man bowed his head deeply.
Even in an unofficial setting like this, it seemed improper for a king to lower his head to anyone.
“Don’t bow.”
“I would like to reward you and grant you peerage in a public ceremony. Won’t you come with me to the royal capital in my private airship?”
When he looked up, the king said something even more troublesome.
If I accepted a high rank, I’d probably get dragged into all kinds of political struggles with other aristocrats.
“No need.”
“But on top of defeating a demon lord, you brought down a senior greater demon and even the seven giant monster fish it summoned. These are deeds comparable to the ancestral king! To let it go without a single repayment would be—”
I shook my head, interrupting the body double king’s words.
Better wrap up my business here quickly and make myself scarce.
“The prince forgot this.”
“The Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis…”
I held out the sword to the king, its blade wrapped in cloth.
However, the body double simply stared at it, making no attempt to accept it.
“Mr. Nanashi, I heard from my soldiers that you can produce the true form of this sword. Did I hear correctly?”
I nodded silently at the duke’s question.
Did they think this sword was a fake or something?
“Would you mind showing us?”
Drawing a sword in the duke’s private room seemed like asking to get arrested on the spot, but since he was requesting it himself, I didn’t have much of a choice.
I unraveled the cloth around Claidheamh Soluis’s blade, poured some magic power into it, and recited the scripture.
“<Dance.>”
Just like in the battle with the yellow demon, the sword broke into thirteen smaller blades and floated around my body.
“Incredible!! So the legends were true!”
“Beautiful… The tapestry doesn’t even come close to reproducing it!”
All right, calm down already.
The duke and even the king’s body double looked like they were about to start foaming at the mouth. I wished they’d rein in their fanboying a little.
It seemed to me that they’d seen enough, so I transitioned the sword back into its regular state.
“A number of people have been able to use the scripture to make the sword ‘dance,’ but not since the ancestral king has anyone managed to release its true form…!”
I recovered the MP I’d charged the sword with, wrapped the blade again, and held it out to the king.
However, he still wouldn’t accept it.
“…No, keep it. I wish to entrust it to the one who can bring out its true power.”
Hang on, Mr. Body Double… Should you really be making that decision?
“You sure?”
With those few words, I tried to feel out whether he needed the real king’s permission.
But neither the body double king nor the duke seemed willing to change their minds.
“Of course. Then you must bring the Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis to the Great Audience Ceremony on New Year’s Day…”
“Not sure I can make it.”
I was trying to indicate that I definitely didn’t want to go, but it didn’t seem to come across.
“…and there I shall declare you the hero of the Shiga Kingdom.”
So if I don’t go, the whole ceremony will be canceled?
Putting that aside for the moment, would the royal capital even be able to defend itself without Claidheamh Soluis?
It was a handy sword and all, but honestly, I could get by just fine without it.
“What about the capital?”
“Hmm. The capital has the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga and their Magic Swords.”
The body double king responded with confidence, but I’d met one of the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga. He was a bodyguard for the prince, and he had been virtually useless in the battle against the yellow-skinned demon.
If the other seven swordsmen were on the same level, could they defeat a greater demon without a Holy Sword?
“Besides, a Holy Sword chooses its wielder. As long as you are around, it likely won’t allow anyone else to use it. Unless the ancestral king Yamato were to be resurrected from the legendary Dreamcrystal Mausoleum, of course.”
I see… Well, I guess there’s no point returning it if they can’t use it.
Oh, I know. Maybe they can use the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn to defend the capital instead?
Unlike most of the other swords, which were said to be gifts from the gods, I thought this one was supposed to have been made by the ancestral king Yamato himself.
“Trade.”
“Wh-why, this is the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn!”
“The Holy Sword that was stolen by the evil lord seventeen years ago!”
Looking at the Holy Sword I held out, the body double king and the duke leaped to their feet in surprise.
“Ooh! Dear God! The sword forged by our great ancestral king Yamato has returned to the Shiga Kingdom at last!”
“Thank you, Nanashi the Hero, thank you!”
I wasn’t expecting them to get this excited.
Maybe I should have returned it sooner.
I thought the “evil lord” the double had mentioned was probably the Undead King Zen, who had given me this Holy Sword in the first place.
Unlike Holy Swords from gods, this one had no limits to who could use it, as evidenced by the fact that the undead Zen was able to do so.
Just in case, I kept my Healing Magic at the ready when I handed the sword over to the body double king, but nothing happened, just as I’d expected.
Incidentally, the third prince, who had rapidly aged in the battle against the yellow demon, had been sent back to the royal capital for rest and treatment.
With my business in the duke’s castle finished, I used the Return spell to teleport to the labyrinth ruins under the old capital.
My plan was to make dragon powder from the black dragon scales I’d acquired the day before.
“…Damn, that’s hard.”
The blue steel tool I got from the kobolds couldn’t even make a scratch.
If I pushed it much harder, the tool itself would probably get chipped instead.
“<For eternity.>”
I removed the Holy Sword Durandal from Storage and spoke the scripture Ringrande had told me about, and its chipped blade instantly restored itself.
It used up the magic power I’d charged it with in the process, but that was a small price to pay.
I didn’t know whether it would work if the blade was completely broken, but either way, that was a pretty handy power.
Guess I’ll start using the Holy Sword Durandal as my main weapon from now on.
“This thing always cuts so well.”
I chopped the scales into small pieces with the Holy Sword Durandal, then rubbed them together to make them into powder.
It started getting pretty tiresome partway through, so I used a small amount of powder as an agent for the Polish spell, which turned the rest of it into powder all at once.
“…Highest quality?”
The completed powder had the status Highest Quality.
Curious, I tried turning a small amount of it into blue and making a single Holy Arrow. To my surprise, it came out three times stronger than the ones I’d made previously.
If they were too strong, I would have fewer opportunities to use them, but I could probably manage that by adjusting the amount of blue.
While I was at it, I mass-produced a thousand bullets with the combination of Magic Mold and Forge. Then I hollowed out a few of those with a Holy Sword and made a bullet version of the Holy Arrows.
I planned to launch these with the Shooter spell.
Next, I carved screw-shaped holes in a few of them. If I screwed arrow shafts into these, I could use them as Holy Arrows, too. I figured shooting them with a Magic Bow might be more powerful than firing them with the Shooter spell.
While I was at it, I made some Magic Bullets with blue made out of normal monster cores, too.
Firing bullets with Shooter proved less accurate than I expected, so I decided to work on a better version of the spell.
I was hoping I could improve their accuracy by adding a lateral rotation vector to their trajectory when fired, like bullets in my old world.
The rest of my scrolls should be ready for pickup in five days or so, so I intended to finish the spell by then.
As for the dragon claw spearhead that I would use to upgrade Liza’s spear, I was concerned about whether I could connect it securely, so I decided to do a little more planning before I attempted anything.
The next day, I was summoned to the duke’s castle regarding the black dragon incident, where the hero and I both received the Ougoch Duchy Dragon Conquering Medal.
This seemed to be a rare medal in a different way from the Ougoch Duchy Sapphire Medal I’d previously received.
With this, I’d be treated almost as well as the head of an upper noble family anywhere in the duchy.
Not that this mattered much, since I already received excessive hospitality as it was.
We also received words of praise from the king’s body double, who was present at the time.
We were also told we could receive medals from the kingdom at the Great Audience Ceremony, where nobles gathered in the old capital to celebrate the New Year.
Then, when I parted ways with the hero, Princess Menea, and the others at the duke’s castle and returned to the mansion where we were staying, the butler informed me that a guest was waiting for me.
“I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Hey, Sir Satou! Nah, I’m the one who showed up without any prior warning.”
Tolma stood up from the sofa, greeting me casually.
He’d done a lot for me, from giving me information on other nobles to introducing me to the scroll workshop run by his family member Viscount Siemmen, so I wasn’t about to give him a hard time for a minor breach of etiquette.
The bigger problem was the unwell-looking man standing behind him.
I’d met him at the duke’s dinner party, but I couldn’t remember his name until I saw it in the AR display.
“I believe you’ve met, but this is Viscount Kirk Emerin, head of the Emerin family.”
“Yes, we were briefly introduced at the dinner party.”
Tolma was usually pretty oblivious, so it was a bit surprising that he actually introduced the man.
If I remembered right, this family managed an expansive orchard and had moved primarily into trade since he’d succeeded the title of viscount.
What did an upper-ranking noble like him want with me?
As far as I could tell from my memos, our only prior connection was that I shared a single dance with his second daughter at the duke’s ball.
“He says he wants your help with something.”
“My help?”
So I guess this wasn’t just an angry father coming to grump at me, then.
If anything, he looked more tired than angry.
“See, the trade fleet he organized with the help of various investors got wiped out near the Seadragon Islands, so—”
“Tolma, you didn’t have to tell him that part.”
Tolma’s cheerful explanation was cut short by a rather sullen Viscount Emerin.
Still, the Seadragon Islands sounded like a pretty exciting place. I quietly added them to my list of tourist destinations.
“What I want to ask you about, Sir Pendragon, is this fruit.”
Viscount Emerin called to a servant standing by the wall, who placed a pile of oddly colored, uneven fruit on the table.
According to my AR, it was called Lulu Fruit.
But the resemblance to my adorable party member Lulu ended there.
The fruit’s skin was the color of mulberry, with mottled gray patches. It had blackish discolored areas, too, like sugar spots on bananas.
It also emitted a nauseating stench like a bunch of thick perfumes all mixed together.
“That’s a very unique fruit you have there.”
My “Poker Face” skill helped me keep a businesslike smile as I made the most harmless remark I could muster.
“I’ve prepared tea, sir.”
“Thank you.”
For some reason, it was Lulu, not a maid, who came over with a tray.
I could see a few familiar young faces poking out beyond the doorway, like Arisa and Pochi, so she was probably sent in as a scout.
“With your cooking skills, would you be able to make some kind of confection that would help sell this fruit?”
That sounded pretty unlikely.
But maybe it actually tasted delicious despite the smell, like durian.
“Well, I can’t say for sure unless I know what it tastes like.”
“Have a taste, then.”
Viscount Emerin’s servant sliced up the fruit with a small knife and lined up a few small, sealed pots on the table.
The fruit was bright ultramarine in color, making me question whether it could even be eaten. The pots, meanwhile, contained the fruit pickled in various liquids.
I tried each one in turn.
Sour! It was a hundred times more acidic than a lemon. And after the sourness, it left a bitter aftertaste, too.
After trying the raw lulu fruit, I tasted it pickled in vinegar and miso, made into jam, dried, and so on, but every one of them was equally gross.
Its grossness rivaled the gabo fruit bread I ate back in Seiryuu City.
Not even sugar or honey would be enough to save this awful flavor.
I washed down the taste with the tea Lulu gave me.
“This is certainly a challenge.”
“I had hoped that a miracle chef like yourself might be able to find another use for this lulu fruit besides feed for livestock.”
“Feed for livestock…,” Lulu repeated gloomily under her breath.
It was enough to make me want to curse out Viscount Emerin, but this was my own fault for not getting Lulu out of the room in time, too.
“Wait a moment. This ‘lulu’ has a lot of potential.”
Though I was facing Viscount Emerin, I was really addressing Lulu.
She raised her downcast eyes to look at me.
“If you give me a few days, I promise you, I can awaken the true splendor of this fruit!”
My bold statement brightened Lulu’s expression ever so slightly.
Perhaps her inferiority complex was improving, little by little.
“A-are you quite certain?”
“Yes, just leave it to me.”
Viscount Emerin clasped my hand as if hanging on to his last hope for salvation.
For him, giving this fruit a higher commercial value was probably the only way to protect his family name.
When Viscount Emerin left with Tolma, the light of hope had returned to his eyes.
Now I just had to make good on my promise.
“That was rather unlike you, master.”
“Was it?”
I responded absently to Arisa’s words as I opened the memo pad from my networking menu and started working on a plan for Operation Lulu Fruit.
She was right, though. The truth was, I’d made the reckless agreement because I couldn’t stand to let this fruit with the same name as Lulu be so unfortunate.
“Do you have a plan?”
“Of course.”
The taste of the lulu fruit really was awful, but depending on how it was treated, its four main points of “sourness,” “bitterness,” “pungency,” and “stench” could be turned into strengths.
Certain forms, like the cooked jam and the dried fruit, even made it a little sweet.
Since Tama and Pochi had strong senses of taste, I recruited them to help with my testing. I wanted to surprise Lulu with the finished product, so I had her work on cooking sponge cakes with Liza.
Getting caught up in the experimental nature of the process, I tried boiling and steaming it at various temperatures, writing the results in my memo pad.
“Oopsie?”
“I-it’s very strong, sir. Makes me want some whale jerky to cleanse my palate, sir.”
At first, the two of them weren’t thrilled with the samples, but after a while…
“Pochiii?”
“Tama!”
…They were morosely whimpering each other’s names as they popped the samples into their mouths.
We’d gone through only half my ideas so far, but I didn’t want to traumatize them, so I let them off the hook for now and continued tasting on my own.
My “Self-Healing” skill managed to heal my paralyzed taste buds, so I could continue the tasting easily enough.
Thanks to that, I was able to come up with an ideal preparation method by the following morning.
“What do you think?”
“I-it’s delicious…”
Lulu, the first to taste the new samples, was speechless.
“Is this really the same fruit from yesterday? The color and smell are both completely different…”
The ultramarine color turned a vivid red in the process, so it was barely recognizable.
“Of course,” I said gently. “I told you, didn’t I? This ‘lulu’ has a lot of potential.”
Lulu looked like she was about to cry.
“…I’ll do my best, too.”
It looked like what I was really trying to say reached her. Lulu smiled through the tears in her eyes.
In Lulu’s case, she had more than just potential—she was already beautiful, but she’d be even more so if she gained some self-confidence.
Though if she got much more charming, the universe itself might be thrown out of balance.
“I told her ‘The Ugly Duckling’ as a bedtime story last night,” Arisa remarked helpfully behind me.
I couldn’t help but praise her for that, so I patted her head approvingly.
Once Lulu had calmed down a little, I offered samples to the rest of the group, who were already gathered around us.
“Go ahead—try it.”
“No thaaanks?”
“Pochi’s tummy is full, sir.”
After helping me yesterday, Tama and Pochi seemed leery of the fruit.
As soon as I held it out to them, their ears flattened and their tails hid between their legs.
I didn’t want to force them, so I offered it to the other kids instead.
“Mmmm! What is this? It’s so good I could scream!”
Arisa chewed on the sample with a look of happy surprise.
“Yum.”
“Master, it is sweet and delicious, I commend.”
“This iced version has a certain sweetness as well, with a wonderfully smooth texture.”
Mia, Nana, and Liza also gave it rave reviews.
Processing it in different ways seemed to have a major effect on its flavor and texture, so it would probably be worth investigating further.
“Yummyyy?”
“Is it really, sir?”
Drawn in by everyone else’s reactions, Pochi and Tama cautiously reached for the fruit as well.
“Mm-mm!”
Tama’s eyes sparkled as she chewed on the sample.
“It’s delicious, sir! You really are amazing, sir!”
Last but not least, Pochi wagged her tail and smiled brightly.
Lulu joined in with the rest of the group, sampling the different varieties.
Everyone always looked best with a smile.
I’d been up for three nights straight since the black dragon incident, so I needed a little rest before I put together a report on my lulu fruit findings.
After my nap, I received a response to the meeting request I’d sent to Viscount Emerin, so I had the butler prepare a carriage, and I set off.
“Huh? Why are you…?”
In the entrance hall of Viscount Emerin’s home, I ran into a noble young lady in her early teens.
I’d danced with her at the duke’s dinner party. If I remembered correctly, her name was…
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Lady Rina.”
“Mello, Hister—M-Mr. Knight.”
The viscount’s daughter, Lady Rina Emerin, turned bright red. She sort of reminded me of Miss Karina.
I managed to remember her name because she was also the first person I’d danced with at the ball.
“Sir Knight, the viscount awaits you.”
“I’m sorry; I’ll be right there. If you’ll excuse me, Lady Rina.”
Viscount Emerin’s butler led me into the drawing room.
For an upper-ranked noble’s manor, the decor seemed rather unimpressive. I was no art expert, but my “Estimation” skill did tell me the market price of each piece.
“Since you asked to meet so suddenly, can I assume you wish to discuss your payment? As you may have already heard, our financial state is precarious at present, and so I cannot repay you with money. However…”
As he offered me a seat, Viscount Emerin was already in the middle of a long speech.
“Your Excellency. A wagonload of the fruit in question would be more than enough payment for me.”
That might sound like a lot, but when I checked out the viscount’s orchard on my map, I discovered that it was an enormous place enclosed with barrier posts.
Given the climate in the duchy, they could probably harvest about twice a year, so my request was a small one in comparison.
“More importantly, please taste these samples first.”
I took out a container of processed lulu fruits. I’d chosen to bring three varieties this time.
“…Samples? You’ve already made samples in just one day?!”
“My lord, please wait a moment.”
The viscount reached toward the samples, but his butler stopped him, ordering the young maid who’d just brought in tea to test the samples for poison.
Apparently, no one in the mansion had any item-analyzing skills.
“Can I really?! Oh, hooray! I get to taste the legendary Sir Pendragon’s sweets!”
“…Salana.”
“I—I apologize… I got overexcited.”
The butler scowled at the maid, who looked ready to throw up her tray in excitement.
“Mm! It goes great with this fluffy white stuff! This one’s great, too, and this one… I’m so happy it’s almost scary!”
Seeing her intense joy at eating my food, I couldn’t help feeling a little pleased myself.
Once the maid cleared all suspicions of poison, the viscount and his family gathered to taste the samples as well.
“I-is this really the same fruit?”
“But why is the color so different?”
“It changes during the cooking process.”
The viscount and his wife were especially fond of the sourness-free sweet version.
“Mm, delicious! I’d like to bring these out at my next tea party.”
The viscount’s eldest daughter, who was around high school age, seemed to like the slightly sour one best.
And Miss Rina loved the lulu fruitcake so much that she stuffed her cheeks with it like a chipmunk.
I’d made it into a cake to help soften the sourness and bitterness with cream.
This third variety was the most difficult to make. Right now, I was the only one who could pull it off, because I could see the temperature in my AR display.
“Do you like them?”
“My goodness! We should have no trouble at all selling these. No wonder they call you a miracle chef!”
“If you would permit it, Your Highness, I would like to present this lulu fruitcake at Lord Tisrado’s wedding. Would that be all right?”
“What’s this?! The young lord’s wedding, you say?! Why, that is more than we could have ever hoped for. I’m the one who should be asking you!”
Great. With the viscount’s permission, I could make the lulu fruitcake as the wedding cake.
That would be a perfect way to popularize the lulu fruit.
I presented him with the recipes for the three products and the report on my research.
“I-incredible… All this research in just one night?”
I couldn’t help but grin at the viscount’s surprise. The secret was that I used thirty-two portable stove magic tools at once to get all this done, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“I am glad that I was able to fulfill your request satisfactorily, Your Excellency.”
“Please, Sir Satou, call me Kirk. But your earlier request is not nearly enough of a reward. Since you are unmarried, Sir Satou, allow me to give you the hand of one of our extended family’s daughters as your wife.”
“W-wife?!”
Miss Rina jumped to her feet, fork still in hand.
“What is it, Rina?”
“O-oh, no… It’s—it’s n-nothing.”
Miss Rina dropped back down to her seat like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Maybe it was my imagination, but she looked a little pale.
At any rate, her outburst was enough to derail the conversation, so I managed to get out of the topic of the marriage proposal.
“Prettyyyy?”
“Sir!”
We could see the wedding parade proceeding through the streets from the roof of the duke’s mansion.
Today was the wedding of Tisrado, Ringrande’s younger brother, who was also the duke’s grandson and eventual successor, and the granddaughter of Marquis Eluette, whose territory was on the western edge of the Shiga Kingdom.
Miss Karina was attending the wedding with her younger brother, Orion, so she wasn’t with us.
Even at their young age, Tama and Pochi were very enthralled with the wedding dress.
Tama climbed up onto my head, and Pochi tugged on my clothes, waving her other hand excitedly.
Mia attempted to follow Tama’s example, but I decided it was safer to catch her on the way up and hold her under one arm.
“White dress.”
“How lovely,” Arisa cooed. “Kimonos are great, but it’s really not a wedding without a wedding dress!”
“Master, I would like a flower bouquet like the bride, I entreat.”
Along with the younger group, Nana was also hanging on to me today.
“It’s certainly a splendid procession.”
Liza was composed as always, but the way her gaze was fixed on the bride hinted that she was excited as well.
“Oh, she looks so happy. I’d love to be a bride like that someday, too…” Lulu sighed.
“I’m sure you will, Lulu.”
I patted her head lightly.
A pure-white dress would look wonderful with Lulu’s black hair. If she got married someday, I’d make a handmade dress for her as a present.
“Master…”
Lulu pressed close to my shoulder.
“Guilty?”
“Hmm. I’m not sure.”
Mia and Arisa squinted at us suspiciously.
“Sir Knight, a messenger has arrived from Viscount Siemmen.”
“All right, I’ll see them now.”
One of the housemaids led me to the visitor. Since I checked my map on the way, I already knew it was Natalina from the scroll workshop. She probably had a delivery, though it was earlier than I’d expected.
“Here’s your order, misterrr. Look good?”
“Yes, that’s everything.”
The scrolls I ordered were all finished ahead of schedule.
As usual, formality was not Natalina’s strong suit.
“Do you think the firework scrolls will be ready on time?”
“Yeah! We’ve all been working day and night to make sure we’re done in time for the end of the reception!”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
I’d ordered some new scrolls, too. Shooter Version II and Multitool, plus a few more I’d been working on for a long time: Picture Recorder, Sound Recorder, Air-Conditioning, and UV Reduction. This last one was a request from Arisa.
Multitool was a spell that could make a tool of any size and shape. I reused a lot of code from Magic Mold, so it was pretty easy.
It would probably be possible to make swords and such with this spell. In my case, though, it would be faster to put Spellblade on my finger than to select Multitool from the magic menu, so I didn’t see that coming into play.
That evening, I worked as the chef at Tisrado’s wedding reception, with Lulu and Arisa as my assistants.
“Sir Satou, your tempura is truly divine.”
“Indeed! I believe that the pickled ginger tempura is its ultimate form, but I would never turn down any other kind.”
“I agree, Count Hohen. My opinion that shrimp is the ultimate tempura remains unchanged as well, but any tempura is a blessing to my palate.”
For some reason, the heavyweight gourmands of the old capital, Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen, had set up their seats next to my cooking booth.
According to Tolma, they got along like cats and dogs, but at the moment they were clearly the closest of friends.
“Sa… Sir Pendragon!”
Miss Karina appeared nearby.
In her impeccable makeup and dress, she was an impressive beauty even among all the attractive nobles at the reception. Naturally, I still thought Lulu looked even better, but it would be cruel to make that kind of comparison.
Behind her was her brother and the next Baron Muno, Orion, as well as two young girls.
“Sir Pendragon, allow me to introduce you. This is my fiancée, Muse, the daughter of Baron Lagoch.”
Orion gestured to the plainer of the two girls.
She looked around middle school age, with light-blond hair and a timid expression. Her features reminded me a bit of Sara of the Tenion Temple.
According to my AR, she was part of the extended family of Duke Ougoch.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Muse. I am Satou Pendragon, a hereditary knight.”
“Th-the pleasure’s all mine… I’ve heard much about you from Lord Orion and Lady Karina.”
In spite of my friendly greeting, Miss Muse seemed nervous or even suspicious of me.
Had she heard some strange rumor about me or something?
“Sir Satou, do you know how amazing Mistress Karina is? She received invitations to dance from dozens of nobles before we even arrived.”
This was not Miss Muse but the girl behind her, the pink-haired Princess Menea herself.
She was dressed in a way that accented her beauty well; sandwiched between her and Miss Karina, I’m afraid Miss Muse was all but invisible. This seemed a shame, since she was fairly cute herself.
“B-but I refused them all, of course.”
Karina was quick to deflect Menea’s flattery.
“But you were quite popular yourself, weren’t you, Miss Menea?”
Orion’s cheeks were red as he complimented Princess Menea.
The stiff smile on Muse’s face behind them was painful to witness.
“Thank you, Lord Orion. However, my heart is already set on someone else.”
Alarmingly, Princess Menea’s gaze was fixed on my face as she spoke these words.
“But Mistress Karina is ahead of me in line,” she continued with a giggle, “so perhaps I shall aim to be a viceroy’s second wife.”
I had no idea what she was getting at.
“Why, you little minx… If my master marries Karina to become a viceroy, you better believe his second wife will be yours truly.” Behind the cooking booth, Arisa muttered darkly, adding to the drama.
A bottom-tier noble like me would never become a viceroy, so this all seemed like a moot point.
“Sir Satou, it would be a shame to spend such a lovely reception cooking. Why not leave such silly work to your servants and share a dance with me, if you please?”
Menea took my hand eagerly.
Her attitude toward me certainly changed after the whole black dragon encounter.
I didn’t remember doing anything to curry her favor, so I had no idea what she was thinking.
“Silly work, you say?”
“Princess though you may be, I cannot abide such words.”
The two men who responded to Princess Menea’s words were Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen.
“Huh? I—I beg your pardon?”
“Satou’s cooking is like unto an art!”
“If you do not understand such an art…you are unworthy of the Lumork royal family’s rose-colored hair, which the ancestral king Yamato once called an untold treasure!”
These two were way too serious about cooking.
“Marquis Lloyd, Count Hohen, please. There is no need to be so harsh on my behalf.”
“Harrumph. If you say so, Sir Satou.”
“Yes, very well. We would hate to trouble our favorite chef.”
Princess Menea seemed unnerved, so I gently put a stop to their raging, giving her a chance to make amends.
“My apologies. I chose my words unwisely in my eagerness to invite Sir Satou to dance.”
When Princess Menea gave a sincere apology, Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen nodded and returned to their discussion about food.
“Allow me to repeat my request. Sir Satou, please dance with me.”
Princess Menea took my hand again and batted her eyes.
For some reason, Miss Karina seemed to be glaring at her almost as furiously as Arisa.
Just then, a new intruder entered the fray.
“Satou! What’re you doing cooking here?”
The hero noticed me from a distance and came over.
Behind him was the rest of his party, all dressed up for the occasion.
They were every one of them beautiful with great figures to boot, so it was definitely a sight to behold.
“S-Sir Hayato Masaki the Hero?”
“Sister, is Sir Pendragon a friend of Sir Hero?”
Baron Muno must have brought up his children to be hero fans as well.
“Wow, is that tempura? Can I get some?”
“Good evening, Sir Hayato. Would you like some freshly cooked white rice as well?”
“For real? That would be awesome! Load me up, please!”
The women behind him also gave me friendly greetings.
Returning their greetings, I complimented each woman in turn. It was nice not to have to stand on ceremony.
You’re not getting too friendly, are you? Arisa mouthed at me, so I simply mouthed back, Of course not.
Before I started cooking, I decided to introduce Miss Karina and company to the hero.
“H-hang on. The hero of the Saga Empire came over to greet Sir Pendragon?”
“And Sir Pendragon called him by his first name, too…”
“Haven’t you heard? Sir Pendragon accompanied the hero to deal with a dragon.”
“I-is that true? We must get him to marry into our family, then…”
As I was chatting with the hero, I overheard some nobles gossiping about us.
That last line was a bit of an issue, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I just ignored it and prepared a tempura set for the hero’s party.
Arisa was the one to bring the food over to them.
“Thank you for waiting, Sir Hero.”
“P-Princess Arisa?! Why are you doing the work of a servant?”
The hero’s loud shouting sent a ripple of chatter through the nearby nobles and servants.
“I am a former princess, remember. And I could hardly go messing about while Lord Satou is hard at work. At any rate, isn’t this maid outfit wonderful?”
Arisa did a little twirl.
“Of course! It looks amazing on you!”
Princess Meriest and Miss Ringrande frowned at the fawning hero, each tugging one of his arms in protest. It was a pretty cute gesture of jealousy.
“Would you like some of this as well?”
Trying to distract them from the hero’s folly, I offered them some food.
“Oh, you brought this, too?”
“It looks like water, but it certainly smells remarkable.”
This was my consommé soup, a secret menu item of sorts.
Mia didn’t like mass-producing it, so I made a single pot to give to special requesters only.
The portion I gave the hero and company came out of what little hadn’t already been reserved.
“…Delicious… Truly, this is a miracle dish worthy of the gods’ dining table.”
Princess Meriest reacted with exaggerated excitement when she tasted the soup.
Her bright smile made it clear that she wasn’t just being polite.
“Did you hear that?”
“Wow, consommé soup really is amazing…”
“So even Her Highness of the Saga Empire is enchanted by the miracle chef?”
More gossip from the nobles.
I hope all these weird rumors don’t follow me on my travels.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Your attention, please! The bride and groom are about to enter.”
After I chatted with the hero’s party, Karina, and the others for a while, a voice rang out from the back of the reception hall.
The lighting in the room dimmed, and Light Magic shone a gentle spotlight on the bride and groom.
The two of them proceeded toward an enormous eight-layer wedding cake hidden under a cloth shroud.
The cake alone wouldn’t be able to support the full weight, so all but the top three layers were strengthened with a firm bread core on the inside.
“Today we will participate in the famous cake-cutting ceremony outlined in the tales of the ancestral king. The legends say that this ceremony will ensure a healthy heir for the new bride and groom.”
A gentleman who seemed to be the moderator used the Wind Magic spell Amplification to announce the proceedings.
Cutting the cake was evidently a storied ritual in this world.
When the wedding cake was uncovered, gasps of admiration arose from a group of noble young ladies in the audience.
If I remembered right, I’d made a strawberry shortcake for that group at a tea party.
I held up Arisa so she could see the cake cutting over the crowd.
“How lovely! I’d love to cut a cake with you like that someday, master.”
“I would like to wear a lovely dress like that, myself.”
“Sure, why not?”
“Really?!”
“You mean it?”
“Sure. I’ll make a dress for you, Lulu, and a cake-cutter for Arisa.”
I made a joking response as the two pressed closer.
Of course, I really did intend to make a dress for Lulu someday.
“Don’t play with a maiden’s heart!”
Flustered, Arisa bopped me repeatedly on the head. As I attempted to calm her, a bright light from outside the window suddenly lit up her profile.
“Whoa! Are those fireworks?”
Forgetting her attack on me, Arisa looked up at the fireworks appearing in the night sky through the window.
The overtime from the workers at Viscount Siemmen’s scroll workshop really paid off.
“How beautiful…,” Lulu murmured as she gazed at the colorful fireworks.
Personally, I thought she was a hundred times more beautiful, but it would be unkind to interrupt her first-ever fireworks display with such a statement.
Glancing around, I saw that everyone seemed to be enraptured by the fireworks, regardless of their age or gender.
Throughout the room, lovestruck young nobles cuddled up together as they watched the show. Just for tonight, I decided not to inwardly curse their happiness.
As I looked around, I caught sight of the hero in the crowd.
I pretended not to notice the tears of homesickness rolling down his cheeks.
When the fireworks display was over, single young nobles crawled out of the woodwork to invite any free young ladies to dance.
Still in high spirits from the cake cutting and the fireworks, the girls seemed quite willing to indulge them.
On the edges of the lively dance hall, maids began to push around small wagons.
They were bringing slices of the wedding cake to all the visitors.
“Delicious!”
“Yes, it really is. What is this fruit?”
“This is the lulu fruit, which is cultivated in Viscount Emerin’s orchard.”
The ladies’ eyes sparkled as they ate the sweets.
Just as I’d hoped, many people seemed to be interested in the fruit, and the maids provided the information I’d given them in advance.
As thanks for the free advertisement, I’d made a cake for the maids and waitstaff as well.
“Here you are, Sir Satou.”
A maid handed me a plate of cake, which I gave to Arisa.
Because Arisa and Lulu were attending as my staff rather than as wedding guests, they had not been accounted for when the cake was cut, so I shared my piece with them.
“Sir Pendragon! So this is where you’ve been hiding.”
“Hello, Sir Kirk.”
Viscount Kirk Emerin, the owner of the lulu fruit orchard, approached with his daughter Rina.
“We’re receiving all kinds of requests for the lulu fruit, thanks to you.”
“I’m very glad to hear that.”
Some of the sharper nobles had already started business negotiations with Viscount Emerin.
“…E-erm, Sir Satou? If you wouldn’t mind, I…”
At the gentle prompting of one of her attendants, Miss Rina set down her cake and approached me.
“Mistress Karina, Sir Satou’s going to be stolen away if you don’t act fast.”
“Wh-what?”
Just then, Princess Menea cut in, bringing Miss Karina along by the hand.
“I’m sorry, but Sir Satou has already promised to dance with us first.”
Um, I don’t remember saying that…
Besides, there was no shortage of dancing time, so it seemed silly to me to argue over turns…
Before I could stop Princess Menea’s rampage, another contender entered the fray. I was in high demand this evening.
“Hello, Satou.”
“It’s been a long time, Lady Sara.”
It was Priestess Sara of the Tenion Temple. She’d been hiding out in the Tenion Temple sanctuary to escape from the third prince’s marriage proposal, but now that he’d been sent back to the royal capital, it was probably safe for her to venture out again.
Behind her were two more priestesses, from Parion Temple and Garleon Temple respectively.
As Nanashi the Hero, I’d rescued these two and Sara from being sacrificed for a demon lord’s resurrection. I hadn’t seen them since, so I was glad they looked happy and healthy.
“This must be Sir Satou.”
“Lady Sara thinks quite highly of him.”
The two priestesses murmured behind her.
According to the AR label, they were relatives of Sara. One was blond and one was redheaded, but their features bore a strong resemblance to Sara’s.
The important-looking figures behind them were some of the head priests and priestesses of the same temples. Unfortunately, it looked like the head priestess of Tenion Temple couldn’t come due to her poor health.
“Would you like to dance, Satou?”
Sara gazed at me steadily.
Princess Menea was practically crawling on top of a table to protest.
But she was interrupted before she could speak up.
“Sara!”
“…Sister Rin.”
Overprotective as ever, Miss Ringrande leaped to Sara’s defense.
“You’re pretty popular, eh, Satou?”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
I shrugged sheepishly at the hero’s sly remark.
Yes, a lot of young women were clamoring over me, but they were all in their teens.
Unfortunately for them, my tastes ran at least five or ten years older than that.
In the end, with Princess Meriest’s mediation, I agreed to dance with each of them in turn.
Sara, Miss Karina, and Princess Menea were one thing, but how did I end up dancing with the other priestesses, Miss Ringrande, and Princess Meriest, too?
Well, I got to dance with a lot of pretty girls and lovely ladies, so I guess all’s well that ends well.
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