Chapter 2: A Childish Tyrant

1

“Well then, excuse me...” Chiffon Chel stated as she exited the kitchen, leaving just me and Roy.

“Good grief. If you’d just leave too, that’d spare me a lot of trouble,” Roy grumbled.

However, I was focused on taking in the state of the kitchen at the moment. If it weren’t for the circumstances, I would have been positively overjoyed to find myself in a place like this. Whoever owned this manor, it had to be either a noble or one of their followers. And so, this kitchen was far better equipped than any I had seen at the forest’s edge or the post town.

To start with, each wall had to be around 6-7 meters wide. It was a large enough size that you could definitely fit two ten-square-meter rooms inside. Both the walls and floors were lined with bricks, and there were numerous open windows high up to provide both light and ventilation, which seemed to be doing a solid job.

On the right hand wall, there was all sorts of cookware dangling in a row. Naturally that included a variety of knives, but also ladles and wooden spatulas both big and small, a metallic grater, something like a strainer for sifting and draining, and so on. It looked every bit as well equipped as a kitchen from back home.

Farther in sat a large shelf, and that had all shapes and sizes of pots and bowls. I saw a flat one with a handle that looked like a frying pan, and even something akin to a mortar.

Opposite from that were the stoves. Four of them in total, of various sizes, all precisely constructed out of stone. Beside them was a box stuffed with firewood, and some pitch black little shapes... Charcoal. I ended up face to face with the stuff before I got the chance to ask Mikel more about it.

Continuing down the line, I found a huge metal box. It was half-embedded in the wall, and there was a square door on the front. Could it be...? I thought as I went ahead and pulled it open, to find two flat racks of metal wire spanning the inside. Sure enough, it was an oven.

Then there was the spacious work table installed in the center of the room. Plus, there were plenty of jugs filled with water, too. The other separate large jar must have been a wastebasket. It had been washed clean, but it had just a bit of a rotten meat smell lingering about it.

It was all so perfect. Taking into account that there was no gas or electricity here in this world, it was about as well equipped of a kitchen as I could imagine. Even though things felt so antiquated in this world, it was still possible to make all this.

I had very mixed feelings, both admiration at the setup, but also concern at the gap between how nobles and commoners lived.

“I was told to have you make a single main dish,” Roy said with a faint grin, so I turned to face his way. “And you should use kimyuus meat and karon milk. The pantry’s over here,” he added, gesturing toward the door on the far side of the room, where he had been till we arrived.

And there, I found yet another dazzling paradise awaiting me. There were countless evenly-spaced shelves, all positively packed with vegetables, both familiar and otherwise.

There were dried fruits and herbs on the walls, and the farthest shelf in was full of earthenware and glass jars. The massive one at my feet had a lid covering it, so that naturally must have been where the meat was buried, pickling in salt.

Immediately beside that sat a woven basket with two varieties of eggs, large and small. The smaller ones likely came from the chicken-like kimyuus, while the big ones were probably from totos, which was more like a giant moa from my old world. Eggs didn’t show up too commonly in the stalls, and you generally had to go to a kimyuus or totos dealer directly in order to purchase them, so that made for a pretty rare sight for me, too.

“This sure is something... Everything is on a whole different scale when you’re talking about a noble’s manor, huh?”

“Hmph. Just to clarify, this is only the kitchen meant for the servants, you know.”

“Servants?”

“It’s a small kitchen meant for preparing food for the folks who work here. Fitting for a kid like you, right?”

That certainly was true. If I was granted even more, it would be far too much for someone like me. And so, I really didn’t feel all that angry even when Roy shot me that scornful look.

“Anyway, hurry up and get started. The bell for the third hour has already rung, so if you take your sweet time you won’t finish before dinner.”

“The third hour... I was kidnapped just a bit after the sun hit its peak, so around how much time do I have left?”

“Dinner is when the sun sets, at the sixth hour.”

“Got it. So is it the zero hour when the sun hits its peak? Or the first?”

“That’s just the sun hitting its peak. And when the bell chimes six times after that, it’s sunset.”

Roy looked astounded, like he was thinking, You don’t even know that much?

So if they split the time between the sun hitting its peak and when it sets into six parts, that’d put us right in the middle of the afternoon, huh?

In other words, it was around when our stalls wrapped up business for the day back in the post town.

What was everyone doing now that I had been snatched away? Such thoughts were pressing in on me even now.

Did Ludo Ruu and the other hunters get hurt?

Was Nail released like they said?

Did Reina Ruu and the other women keep running the stalls all the way till the end of the day?

I guess I ended up completely failing to show up for my business with the inns, too. What did Nail, Naudis, and Milano Mas think when they heard how I was abducted?

And Ai Fa... Had Ai Fa already been told what had happened?

I’m definitely coming home, safe and sound.

With that, I resolutely turned and faced Roy.

“Which one is the karon milk?”

Roy silently walked over toward the innermost shelf. Then, he grabbed an earthenware jar around the size of a container of fruit wine.

“These blue jars are all karon milk. There are five left for today.”

I popped off the cork-like lid and gave the contents a whiff. A thick, milky aroma came flooding into my nose.

“What a wonderful scent. Can I just drink it as is?”

“Of course. If there’s any left over for tomorrow, it’ll just get made into milk fat or dried milk.”

“Milk fat?”

I was just as unfamiliar with the term as I had been “dried milk.”

However, a certain premonition came to mind.

“I take it that just means it’s made from the fats in the milk? In that case, could it be...”

I started, only for Roy to cut me off with an annoyed shake of his hand. He picked up a small jar from the shelf, and underneath its lid awaited a gleaming, cream-colored, fragrant substance... Yes, this was undoubtedly some sort of butter.

“Ooh, this is amazing! What’s in these other jars and containers?”

“This one has reten oil, and this is karon fat. That next shelf down has mamaria fruit wine, sparkling wine from Jagar, gyama dried milk from Sym, and vinegar made from mamaria.”

“Vinegar! There’s vinegar, too?!” I shouted without thinking, only for Roy to furrow his brow in annoyance.

“Mamaria vinegar isn’t especially rare, is it? It’s nothing to go being so ridiculously loud over, at least.”

“I’ve never seen vinegar in the post town before. As for that reten oil, is it derived from a vegetable?”

Roy’s face said, “Of course it is.”

I only knew of the state of the post town, while he seemed to solely be aware of how things were in the castle town. And so, he obviously couldn’t understand my surprise at this milk fat, vegetable oil, and vinegar. Between my unease at being wrenched away from my comrades at the forest’s edge and excitement at encountering these new ingredients, I was practically in a drunken frenzy of sorts.

“This row here is ingredients from Jagar. Tau oil, sugar, and panam honey.”

The Jagar-produced sugar was a light brown color and looked just a bit coarse.

As for the panam honey, it was a slick golden liquid that reminded me of maple syrup.

There was also the familiar rock salt, as well as various herbs and spices like pico and lilo. And there were plenty of crisp, dried red chitt seeds stored there too.

As for dried milk, there were two varieties: gyama and karon. Based on my experience, the gyama dried milk was rich like Camembert cheese, while the karon stuff was milkier and had a soft, springy texture. When adding in the pure white color like snow, it seemed to be something akin to high-grade mozzarella cheese.

The last ingredient to make an appearance was a light yellow mysterious powder.

“That powder’s a stock made from kimyuus bone, karon shoulder meat, and a variety of vegetables all boiled together.”

With Roy’s permission, I took a pinch and gave it a lick.

Instantly, a delicious saltiness exploded forth atop my tongue. It was a condensed flavor that reminded me of bouillon.

“Wow. How do you solidify the boiled stock like this?”

I had thought this sort of trick wasn’t possible without freeze drying, but Roy plainly responded, “Once the stock is separated, we add coarsely ground fuwano powder and salt, then dry it out.”

In that case, this was powdered fuwano that had absorbed the stock, huh?

From what I knew, fuwano was an ingredient like wheat flour that was also eaten in the post town. But since the people of the forest’s edge ate poitan as a staple instead, I had only had a chance to taste it a handful of times.

“Those are the seasonings we’ve got here in this kitchen. Do you find that somehow unsatisfactory, Mr. Post Town Chef?”

“Of course not.”

Milk and milk fat, vegetable oil, animal oil, vinegar, sugar, honey, bouillon... It was an absolute cavalcade of the seasonings I had been so craving. So much so that it was upending how I looked at everything I’ve struggled with all this time.

However, this wasn’t my normal work. No, my true task was to see how many dishes I could conjure up with the limited ingredients and seasonings available in the post town. As my bewilderment abated, I felt myself getting more and more angry in turn.

Is there seriously such a gap between how things are inside and outside of the stone walls? The people of the forest’s edge protect the fields from giba, the plantation owners grow crops in their fields, and the folks from the post town do business with travelers... But what exactly do the people in the castle town do to earn such luxury?

To start with, I had been born in the nation of Japan. I didn’t know anything more about feudal societies ruled by nobles and royals than what I had learned in school. From my perspective, having such a massive gap between how nobles and commoners lived wasn’t something I could just shrug off and accept.

“So, you said to use karon milk and kimyuus meat, right? What sort of dish would you normally make with those?” I asked Roy, suppressing the irritation I was feeling inside.

“Generally you would use karon milk in a boiled dish or stew, or pair it with grilled meat. At any rate, you need to combine it with other seasonings to make it into a proper meal.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Hmm... Guess I should go with cream stew here...”

“Cream stew?”

“It’s a dish from my home country. Hopefully it’ll meet your noble employer’s tastes.”

Whether it did or not, though, I had no choice but to pull from the repertoire of dishes that I knew.

And so, I started by giving the karon milk and milk fat a taste test.

“Hey, if you’re checking out the taste of the milk, give the container a shake.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

“If you don’t, the water and oil won’t mix.”

Ah, right. When raw, unprocessed milk was left to sit, the liquid and fat would end up separating.

And so, I followed Roy’s advice and gave the container a good shake before giving the karon milk a taste. It was more viscous than the milk I knew, and had a real rich flavor to it.

It didn’t have a questionable odor about it like I had been expecting, either. Did that mean that it had been pasteurized? At any rate, with that richness it definitely must have had a higher fat content than cow’s milk.

And extracting all that was how they got what they called milk fat. They didn’t seem to have fermented it or anything like that, and the sweetness and flavor was pretty close to the butter I knew.

However, they had added rock salt, presumably to preserve it. I could detect that pretty easily, and thanks to the high air temperature, it was in a half-melted state. In all likelihood, it wouldn’t have all that long of a shelf life.

Still, if these ingredients could act as substitutes for milk and butter, it wouldn’t be hard at all to make a sort of cream stew. And so, though I had a lot of different emotions swirling around inside me about all this, I went ahead and picked out my vegetables as calmly as I could manage.

“By the way, how many people should I prepare for?”

“Four... No wait, three.”

Three, huh?

And just who would those people be, exactly?

Now that I thought about it, Diel and her father were supposed to be staying at one of Cyclaeus’s manors, but was this the place? I found it hard to imagine you would bring guests to the same place as someone you kidnapped, but I couldn’t claim to understand how nobles thought.

“If we’re talking a single plate for three people, that’s not all that much. I don’t think I should need any help from you for the actual cooking in that case.”

“Yeah, yeah, just do as you please,” Roy replied, actually grinning rather than looking annoyed. Maybe his “help” was just an excuse, and his actual task was to keep an eye on me.

Well, at any rate, there were already two armed guards outside the door. And so, as I headed over to the vegetable shelf, I figured that if they wanted to observe me they could do so, as much as they pleased.

I found the aria and chatchi right away. And I also secured one more vegetable sold in the post town, nenon.

Nenon was an orange, turnip-shaped vegetable. It had a mild sweetness to it, and got very soft when you boiled it. It was the source of the vegetable paste used in the kimyuus manju I had eaten as my first ever snack in the post town.

By boiling it to a suitable degree, I could get a texture akin to carrots. They didn’t have quite as much presence as those more familiar vegetables, but I had been occasionally using them to add a touch of color to our giba soup at the Fa house.

It would be perfect if I could find something like broccoli too, but there’s not exactly time to test out unfamiliar vegetables right now.

And so, I ended up choosing tino to provide some green in the dish. It was a lot like cabbage, and had a rather strong color to it. I figured in a cream stew it wouldn’t be half bad.

That was plenty in terms of vegetables.

However, I was still missing a crucial ingredient: the poitan to give the stew its thickness.

When I asked, I got back a sneer of, “Of course there isn’t any. Do you really think you can make a proper dish with poitan of all things? Seriously, do you want to be whipped that badly?”

Right. Kamyua Yoshu had said that poitan was ultimately just seen as portable rations for travelers and soldiers, and didn’t even make it to dinner tables in the post town.

As I loaded a variety of vegetables into a basket, I was left at something of a loss. A stew that wasn’t thick really wasn’t a stew at all.

“Umm... Then there’s something I wanted to ask. You mentioned fuwano flour before, right? Fuwano’s eaten as a staple food here in the castle town too, right?”

“Of course it is.”

“Well then, what process do you use to get it like that, exactly?”

“Huh? You finely grind the fuwano, then knead it with water, naturally. You call yourself a chef, but you’ve never even baked fuwano?”

“Yes, because I haven’t needed to before now. Then there should be some of that finely ground fuwano here, right?”

Rather than bothering with opening his mouth again, Roy just pointed to the corner of the pantry.

In the shadow of the vegetable shelf sat a large, but unassuming bag. And sure enough, when I opened it up I found it was packed with a white flour.

While poitan had a slightly creamy color, this stuff was pure white, like snow. Its grain was super fine, and when I gave a pinch of it a lick, I found it had a fluffy, wheaty flavor to it, like the flour I was more familiar with from my old world.

Yeah, this seems like it’ll work... In fact, it may be even closer to wheat flour than poitan.

In that case, when added alongside my milk and butter substitutes, it should be easy to make up a white sauce like normal. So of course, I had to start by confirming that.

“Alright, I’ll be borrowing a stove, then.”

With that, I carried all my necessary ingredients into the kitchen and stood before the stove.

I lit a flame, placed a small pot above it, threw in some milk fat, and watched as it melted in no time at all. The aroma it gave off was a lot like butter, and it was seriously stirring up my appetite.

Then I added in the fuwano flour bit by bit, stirring it carefully so that it didn’t lump up.

With poitan, it would quickly burn when I tried this. And I had been using giba fat rather than milk fat back then, too. Because of that, when I made a stew back during the Rutim banquet, I had to add raw poitan in order to force it to take the appropriate thickness for the dish.

As I had expected, the fuwano flour and karon milk fat really did harmonize well.

Once it had become a viscous, half-liquid roux, I added some karon milk and gave it a taste. Both the flavor and the texture were pleasantly mild. While it was a richer flavor than a sauce made with milk and butter, it also didn’t have as strong of an aftertaste to it.

And when I added rock salt, pico leaves, and some of that pseudo-bouillon to adjust the flavor, it ended up as a nice white sauce I’d have no qualms about serving anywhere.

“Those are some pretty unusual preparations, there,” Roy sneered, but since he wasn’t directly asking for a taste I just went ahead and ignored him.

Alright, next up is the meat and veggies.

Aria, chatchi, tino, nenon... They would be acting as onions, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots in my dish. For the chatchi and tino, I went with bite-sized morsels, while I cut the aria into wedges and the nenon into half-moon slices. And since we were just talking enough for three people, I didn’t need to make all that much.

For the kimyuus, I went ahead and settled on breast meat. And since it was apparently an entree I was preparing, I made it a pretty good helping. This manor fortunately had kimyuus meat with the skin still attached. I had heard it was significantly more expensive that way, but apparently that was no concern at all for a noble.

Cutting with their meat and vegetable knives felt fantastic, too. It really was ironic how blessed this environment felt.

“Um, is it alright if I use milk fat when frying meat and vegetables, too?”

“Huh? Just do as you please. You don’t have to go asking me about every little thing.”

“But it’s a valuable ingredient, isn’t it? You need a lot of milk to make just a little of it, right?”

I had heard that when making butter from milk, you only got 20 grams from each liter.

But Roy just gave back a sneer of, “Hmph. That may be true, but this manor buys so much milk we could never drink it all, and the extra’s made into milk fat. No matter how crude a dish you make with it, it’s at least better than letting it go bad, right?”

“You’re talking about extra and having it go bad... You’re not saying you throw the stuff out, are you?”

“What else would we do with it? Rub it on our skins like the high-ranking ladies in the capital do? Anyway, it’s customary for nobles to just buy too much rather than risk having too little.”

That custom was a crock of shit. Karon milk, milk fat, and dried milk were all ingredients you couldn’t even get a hold of in the post town. It would be one thing if they were just too costly to produce... But when the nobles were recklessly overbuying the stuff, that just unnecessarily drove up the prices.

Now that I think about it, you’re only supposed to be able to buy karon torso meat in the castle town, too.

This was seriously pissing me off.

No matter how fantastic of a cream stew I might make, it felt completely hollow when I thought of how it would only ever get eaten by nobles.

Couldn’t I at least get a hold of karon milk in the post town somehow? If we could make our own milk fat and dried milk from it, that would seriously increase the breadth of my cooking.

If you had the connections, it was at least possible to get gyama dried milk and tau oil through merchants. By looking into the distribution channels and having the funds, maybe it would be possible to purchase stuff like this karon milk, reten oil, and Jagar-made sugar in the post town, too. Or at least, I couldn’t help but hope that was the case.

“Hey, if you keep dawdling like that, you really won’t make it in time,” Roy called out in a teasing tone, and I turned to face him.

He really was a perfectly ordinary-looking young westerner. He had a mouth on him, but I didn’t think he was all that much of a villain. However, he also didn’t seem to realize in the least just how blessed he was working in an environment like this.

“Let me use the stove again...”

Anyway, for now I just needed to hurry up and finish this job, even if I hadn’t taken it of my own volition. Thinking about the forest’s edge and the post town would have to wait. Still, I definitely felt I needed to at least bring back some helpful information after being forced through this insanity.

Holding on to that thought, I went ahead and fried up the chunks of kimyuus breast meat in milk fat. It had been pickled in salt to start with, and so I only used pico leaves for seasoning.

Once the surface of the meat turned a golden brown, I went ahead and threw in the vegetables, too. Then once those were nice and cooked, I added water and let it boil over a low flame.

30 minutes or so after, around when I heard a solemn distant bell ring out four times, even the chatchi (which cooked slowest) was plenty soft.

It wasn’t like I was using giba meat, plus I had a bouillon substitute at hand, so I didn’t need to boil it quite so thoroughly. And so, I went ahead and poured the milky white sauce I had made earlier into the pot.

After that, I carefully stirred it over a low flame, and once it was properly heated I gave it a taste.

It seemed a little lacking in salt, so I added a pinch, as well as some tau oil as a secret ingredient.

What a truly nostalgic cream stew flavor. It was a dish I had honestly never thought I would be able to make here in this world.

Just how overjoyed would I be feeling right now if I was feeding it to Ai Fa, the people of the forest’s edge, and the folks from the post town instead? At any rate, I desperately held back those feelings as I told Roy, “It’s done.”

“Hmph. That was surprisingly quick... Hey, the food’s done!” Roy yelled, at which point Chiffon Chel entered through the previously shut door.

“Good work, Sir Asuta, Sir Roy... Ah, what a wonderful karon milk aroma...” she stated as her eyes narrowed with excitement.

“Stop prattling on and do your job already,” Roy retorted, snatching the plate for the sample of my dish out of my hands.

He ladled out some of the finished cream stew and thrust it toward Chiffon Chel. The woman then gave me a bow, and then accepted the wooden plate.

“Well then, I will now taste this dish for poison...”

So she even had to handle stuff like that?

I felt a deep gloom as I watched Chiffon Chel bring a spoonful of my stew to her mouth.

And then, with a, “My...” her eyes opened wide. And soon enough, she broke out in a faint smile full of both surprise and admiration. “What a truly delicious dish... This may well be the tastiest thing I have ever eaten in my entire life...”

Instantly, Roy’s eyebrows shot up.

“Hey, don’t go overboard with your flattery like that, slave girl. Or have you forgotten who exactly makes the food you test for poison each day?”

“I most certainly do not intend to look down on the cooking made by everyone else... I simply felt this dish was truly outstanding...”

“It looks like you don’t get it. The most distinguished chefs in all of Genos are gathered here in this manor. So I’m warning you, if you run your mouth and make light of them like that, you’re gonna get whipped.”

“Yes... But I was born in the nation of Mahyudra. As such, my tastes surely differ from those of westerners, so I do not believe I am making light of anyone...” Chiffon Chel replied with a smile.

It was at that point that Roy’s expression finally turned full-on hostile.

“So you’re saying you have no intention of taking back that drivel you spouted...?”

Chiffon Chel gave a troubled tilt of her head, then replied, “That is correct...” with a small nod.

In the next moment, Roy picked up the ladle left sitting beside the pot and threw it at her with all his might.

The projectile hit its mark right on her temple, and Chiffon Chel let out a feeble, “Ah...”

“You wretched slave woman!”

Roy then reached out and snatched up the karon milk container I left on the workstation. Right before he could throw it, though, I grabbed hold of his wrist.

“Cut it out! You’re flying off the handle over something like that?!”

Roy’s bloodshot eyes glared my way.

“Let me go. You’re just some fake chef from the post town. Who do you think I am?”

“I’ve got no damn clue. You’re the ones hiding your identities.” Roy was squirming, so I firmed up my grasp. “Still, you’re a chef too, right? In that case, you shouldn’t be handling cooking utensils and ingredients like they’re weapons.”

Roy’s face twisted in pain as the blue container fell back down on the workstation with a clunk.

“Oww! L-Let go! You’re going to break my arm!”

“That’s an exaggeration,” I stated in astonishment, but I was taken aback when I saw how his eyes were tearing up. He might have been seriously hurting, here.

“Sir Asuta... Please, let go...” Chiffon Chel stated, clinging to my feet from where she had collapsed down on the floor. And when I turned to look at her, I gulped.

Over her head, I saw the soldiers grabbing the handles of their swords from beyond the door.

With that, I immediately let go, at which point Roy sunk to the brick floor and clasped his wrist up against his chest.

“Thank you... However, there is nothing for you to gain from covering for someone like myself, Sir Asuta...” Chiffon Chel stated.

I gave a big, deep sigh.

All that had been in my mind even while cooking up that dish had been, I want to return to Ai Fa as soon as possible.

2

The time between then and when night fell was nothing but suffering for me.

I was told I had to stay here in this manor until its owner finished eating dinner, and so I was once more jailed in the room from before.

Cooking had taken me a bit over an hour to complete. And so, there were still around two hours left until sunset, when dinner would start. Plus, since I was in a position of having been captured by the enemy, I didn’t exactly have any means available to me to alleviate my boredom. Ultimately, the only thing I could do was wait and worry while lying atop the fluffy bed.

“Sir Asuta... Shall I bring you something to drink, perhaps...?” Chiffon Chel quietly asked, leaning in from beyond the partitioning screen.

“No, I’m fine.”

“I see... However, there is still quite some time left until dinner, so please do not hesitate to make any requests. After all, it is the duty given to me to fulfill them...” she said as she gracefully approached.

“My only wish is to be returned back home as soon as possible.”

“And yet, that is the one request I cannot fulfill...”

The bed suddenly sunk ever so slightly.

Looking up, I found that Chiffon Chel was now lightly sitting at its foot. She placed just one arm down on the bedding, then twisted her body to face me. With those mysterious purple eyes staring straight at me, I unwittingly froze.

“W-Well then, how about we discuss something to stave off boredom?” I stuttered. “It can just be small talk, instead of anything about this manor or the nobles who live here.”

“My...” Chiffon Chel said with a smile, bringing her hand to her lips. “But I know nothing of the world outside this manor. After all, I am not permitted to leave...”

“You were brought here against your will too at some point, right? I can’t say I really know anything about the relationship between the west and the north, though...”

I went ahead and shifted myself to sit cross-legged in the middle of the bed.

It was hard to call it a topic that got me overly excited, but it certainly seemed preferable to letting my mind wander wildly.

“On top of that, I don’t really know much about how slavery works in this country. You seem like you’re able to act fairly freely, but... you’re still a slave, right?”

“Yes... I was captured by soldiers of Selva at a young age and brought here to Genos. However, I was able to learn the language of the west unusually quickly, which is how I ended up being permitted to live here within the manor walls...”

“That’s awful. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like...”

“No, but Genos is a peaceful place... I am certain that is because it is so far removed from Mahyudra. At the border between the nations, both sides view one another as hated enemies... And so, I am not treated so terribly here...”

I was about to bring up the point that she’d had a ladle thrown at her even so, but it seemed that didn’t fall under the classification of “terrible treatment.” This topic really might have been a bit too heavy for someone like me, born and raised in a peaceful nation like Japan.

“There’s fighting on the border between the southern and eastern nations too, right? But their peoples coexist here in Genos without fighting, even if they’re not exactly friendly with each other. So do westerners and northerners do the same in eastern lands too, for example?”

“I cannot say... My former home was far from Sym, so I do not know the answer...”

I had sensed as much right from the start, but it seemed Chiffon Chel really didn’t lament her circumstances at all.

Naturally, I had no way of knowing whether she just wasn’t letting it show, or if she had such feelings crushed out of her. The one thing I did know for sure, though, was that she was the one I could talk most frankly with in this awful, disgusting place.

“You are a truly mysterious person, Sir Asuta...” Chiffon Chel said with a relaxed smile. “You created that wondrous meal despite being from the post town... Though you are a westerner, you defended someone like me... And though you have such a gentle face, you also possess such strength...”

“Actually, it’s not easy finding someone as weak as me at the forest’s edge.”

However, that Roy guy was notably weaker than I was. Maybe I had actually built up some muscle while living at the forest’s edge.

“Yes, you are a truly, truly mysterious person. So much so that I cannot help but regret that we must part in but a few hours... This is the first time I have had such feelings since leaving my home nation...”

“I don’t hate you either, Chiffon Chel.”

If Cyclaeus fell, would it be possible for people like her to gain their freedom, too?

Considering the relationship between the west and north, it didn’t seem especially likely, but still... For now, I’d at least have to eventually tell Kamyua Yoshu about how I met her here in this manor. Since he had mixed blood from the north and west, maybe he could come up with some sort of solid plan.

“It shall be getting dark soon...” Chiffon Chel stated, gently rising to her feet.

Then, she disappeared beyond the partitioning screen, only to return holding a lit candlestick. Actually, maybe it’d be more accurate to call it a lantern? After all, it was dangling from a metal handle, and the flame inside was protected by a glass cover.

It was true that there was a lot less light coming in through the small window now. It seemed that dinnertime was finally fast approaching.

Would my cooking be to the nobles’ liking? And was there a chance I really would be released like I was promised if so? If not... then I may just have to consider escaping by force.

Ai Fa... You must have already returned home by now and heard what happened from Ludo Ruu and the others...

Just how angry was she at me for not fulfilling my promise to return home safely? And how sad, too?

There was a crushing pain in my chest, and my head felt heavy. The dark clouds inside me had shifted into a pitch black murky stream swirling about in my guts. If it weren’t for the fact that I knew Ai Fa must be suffering even more than I was since she didn’t even know what was going on, I probably would have wailed out as loud as I could, with no shame in the least.

It felt like torture as I sat there silently in the dim light, time slowly ticking by. Just when I was about at my limit and stepped down from the bed, though, the door to the room suddenly swung open from the outside.

“Asuta of the Fa clan, our employer is permitting you an audience.”

It was one of the guards who had been keeping watch.

I glared right back at him, wondering how the hell they justified using a word like “permitting” under these circumstances.

“Come this way. Woman, you’re to remain in this room.”

This time, I was finally going to get to meet the culprit behind all this face to face.

For now, I needed to focus on dealing with them calmly and carefully. After asking Chiffon Chel to just prepare my clothes to change into, I once more stepped out into the hallway.

Is it going to be Cyclaeus himself, or one of his underlings...? At the very least, everything will be cleared up after this, I thought to myself as I walked through the eerie, dimly-lit hallway, which had countless lanterns hanging along its walls.

Our route this time ended up a good bit longer than when we went to the bathhouse or the kitchen.

This place really was like a labyrinth. No matter where we went, it was all just brick walls and rugs stretching out along the floor, so I really couldn’t tell anything apart. Even if I managed to somehow give the soldiers the slip, I got the feeling I would not only fail to find my way out, but I probably wouldn’t even be able to make it back to the room from before.

We went down the spiral staircase, walked for what felt like an eternity, and then ended up going up yet another set of stairs. A few more minutes of walking after that, we finally stood in front of a set of doors.

They were big, and clearly built differently than the ones we had passed along the way. The edges were reinforced with steel sheets, and the engraved decorations were truly splendid. They really had an antique, exaggerated look about them... and to me, it was like they were the gates of hell.

“We have brought Asuta of the Fa clan!” one of the soldiers shouted. The doors were so thick that he needed to raise his voice that much just for it to reach, I figured.

From the other side, a man’s muffled voice replied, “Enter.”

With that, the soldiers grabbed onto the heavy looking doors and pulled them open.

Instantly, a dazzling light came spilling out into the hallway.

That was definitely some lavish lighting there. In fact, I had to half-shut my eyes so I wouldn’t be blinded as I stepped inside.

“Stop there,” a low male voice commanded.

The doors slowly closed, and the soldiers moved to either side of me.

This is the mastermind...? I thought with a gulp.

I had more or less heard what Cyclaeus looked like from Gazraan Rutim... and this wasn’t him. There was no way it could be.

“My lord... This person is Asuta of the Fa clan,” the low voice announced. The man who had been speaking so far was nothing but an officer serving under the lord in question.

He was clad in even more magnificent armor than the soldiers on either side of me, and certainly looked like he had to hold quite a high rank. His appearance, however, didn’t quite seem to match that attire. He had an oddly short and stout build, and a face like a particularly dim-witted bull.

However, none of that mattered.

No, the real issue was the owner of this room, who was glaring at me while lounging atop a fluffy couch... The culprit behind this whole ridiculous plot.

“Hmph. What a truly dull-looking man. Why, he’s still nothing but a child,” a high-pitched voice stated. It sounded somewhat childish, and had a lisp to it. Actually... It belonged to a young little girl. “I find it hard to believe such a child could have created a dish like that. This is truly Asuta of the Fa clan?”

“Yes. There is no doubt of that,” the short and stout officer gloomily replied.

“Hmph...” the girl muttered, looking me up and down with a seriously cheeky glare.

It was the haughty gaze of someone who was well accustomed to looking down at people.

And yet, she was definitely still just a kid.

She must have only been around ten or so. From the way she was lying down, it was hard to properly gauge her height, but she definitely seemed to be small and slender. However, that thin body of hers was wrapped up in a pure white dress that seemed like it was practically made entirely of frills and ribbons.

The upper portion seemed perfectly fitted to her form, while the waist downwards bloomed out wide into a layered skirt. It was a truly gorgeous, showy outfit that reminded me of a wedding dress.

The ivory-white skin of her shoulders and arms was almost fully exposed, except for her numerous accessories made of metal and jewels. Her chestnut-colored hair dangled down to around her chest, and she even wore a silver tiara atop her head.

It was in such attire that the girl was lying languidly atop the couch. And with that posture she was crushing the bottom half of the poofy skirt, which was a real waste.

She really did have a fitting appearance for a spoiled rich noble girl.

Her pale reddish-brown eyes were large and stood out distinctly, and her arched eyebrows, small nose, and budding cherry blossom-like lips were all exceptionally well proportioned. Her face was so small I could easily cover it with the palm of one hand, and her pure white skin wasn’t tanned in the least and didn’t have so much as a single blemish.

However, the girl’s graceful face was wearing a rather displeased expression. And unlike when it was Ai Fa or Lala Ruu making such a look, hers was clearly overflowing with antipathy.

I could hear a warning signal ringing out in my head, telling me that she was going to be trouble.

“What is the meaning of that impudent staring...?” the girl questioned, her voice dripping with irritation. “Are you perhaps getting the wrong idea just because you happen to have a bit of cooking skill? Normally, someone as lowly as you would not even be allowed to stand in my presence, you know.”

A number of retorts I’d love to use instantly sprung to mind. However, if I spoke out carelessly I could end up getting whipped for it. The girl’s voice just had such a nasty tone to it that I couldn’t help but feel that way.

“Are you the one who had me brought here...?”

I had no clue how I should deal with this little tyrant, and so I used the gentlest tone I could manage, though I didn’t bother trying to use overly polite language.

She didn’t seem to have any issues with how I was speaking to her, though, as she just thrust out her lower lip and seemed to be looking down at me.

“What, you’re asking such a thing at this point? Hey, who are you really...? What country was it exactly where you learned such cooking techniques? You most certainly were not born in Genos, correct?”

“Before asking about my identity, won’t you tell me yours first? Who in the world are you, exactly?”

“I am Lefreya.” Apparently she thought that was enough of an answer, as she immediately started pressing further. “I have never tasted such cooking before. From what I am told, you did not use any unusual ingredients, so what exactly did you do? What land does that dish hail from? From what I can tell, you look to have mixed blood, but from which nations? Sym? Jagar? Not Mahyudra, surely.”

“I come from an island nation outside of this continent, by the name of Japan,” I went ahead and earnestly responded, seeing no other option.

“From overseas?!” Lefreya questioned, her eyes opening wide. “I see... In that case, I can understand how you could make food of the sort I have never seen before! But what is someone from overseas doing right in the middle of the continent? Do your people not restrict themselves to visiting only Mahyudra and Sym briefly for business, and then promptly return overseas?”

“No, that’s...”

“To start with, kimyuus and karon only exist in Selva and Jagar, do they not? So how were you able to create such a dish even so? You are but a child, so how could you possibly do such a thing? Really, just who exactly are you?”

Ultimately, we ended up circling back to her initial question.

I took a moment to reassess, trying to figure out just what to do here. And as I did so, I went ahead and took in the room a bit, too.

It was a truly luxurious chamber, fitting for a noble’s dwelling. Though the room wasn’t all that wide, there was not only a thick rug on the floor, but also tapestries with geometric patterns along the walls that almost entirely hid the bricks from view.

The couch the girl was lying on reminded me of a sofa bed, and could probably fit four grown adults sitting normally.

And between me and the room’s owner, there was a grand table with a wine-colored cloth, atop which sat a woven basket filled with a variety of colorful flowers.

On top of that, there were some strange stone statues in the four corners of the room. While they were definitely decorative, were they also meant as some sort of charm to ward off evils? At any rate, they had the appearance of some sort of bizarre satyr creature with the face of a lion, torso of a man, and limbs of a horse or deer or something. And they were made of smooth, gleaming white, marble-like stone, and were each holding a sword or a spear and facing the center of the room. Between the bared fangs of their lion faces, the shoulder muscles tensing as they brandished their weapons, and their huge raised hooves, all wildly chiseled into shape, they almost felt like they would start moving at any moment.

What warranted even more attention, though, was the room’s lighting fixture. There was a massive chandelier-like object dangling from the high ceiling, filling the room with bright white light like the midday sun. It had a diameter of around a meter, and was shaped like a jeweled crown. That degree of luxury wouldn’t be all that unusual back in my old land, but considering the level of development here in this world, it certainly was a surprise. I didn’t know whether they were glass or crystal, but the dozens of lit candles were reflecting light off of countless bits of decoration.

And what were those candles made of, for that matter? There was a faintly sweet, gentle smell filling the room. Plus there wasn’t much smoke, either. They were definitely rarer and more high-quality than the animal fat candles used at the forest’s edge.

“Answer my questions. What exactly are you staring idly for?” Lefreya urged in a tone that made it sound like her anger was about to explode at any moment.

“I don’t really think I could come up with a reply that would satisfy your curiosity... I just suddenly found myself here in this land, after all,” I answered, carefully choosing my words. “But at any rate, I don’t come from this continent, and back in my home nation, there were plenty of chefs my age. It may seem a bit curious to you, but that’s all there is to it.”

“Hmph...”

“Now then, will you answer my questions now? Who exactly are you, and why did you have me brought here to this manor? And at knife point, at that.”

At that, the girl’s mouth tightly shut and she shot me a displeased glare.

“And this man here...” I said, glancing at the officer positioned next to the couch. “You’re one of the men who abducted me, aren’t you? As someone serving at a noble’s manor, how do you end up being such a criminal?”

Honestly, that was something of a leading question on my part.

However, his particular build and muffled voice were familiar to me.

His dark brown hair swirled in an unkempt manner, and it was clear just from looking at him that he was a westerner. And he had a puffy, unhealthy-looking face that made it hard to gauge exactly how old he was. Still, if nothing else, he definitely looked strong. From underneath his swollen eyelids, his small brown eyes shot me back a sharp glare.

“I have some idea as to who exactly owns this manor. However, the person I’m thinking of should currently be participating in important meetings at the Genos castle. Is he aware of what you all have done? After all, I’d imagine he wouldn’t want to spark off needless trouble with the people of the forest’s edge.”

I got no response.

“You said your name was Lefreya, right? What exactly are you to Count Cyclaeus Turan?”

With that, the girl suddenly sat up. Her frilly clumped-up skirt stretched back out, and started sparkling in the light of the chandelier.

And then, she started stamping her feet in frustration out of nowhere.

“What does Father have to do with anything?! When he is not around, I am in charge of this manor!”

“‘Father’...? So you’re Cyclaeus’s daughter, Lefreya?”

Well, that was probably the most innocuous answer.

The fact that there was a northerner serving here as a slave had already pretty much confirmed this place was Cyclaeus’s manor, but he was currently supposed to be in the castle. And so, this revelation cleared up that contradiction. Plus, as Cyclaeus’s daughter, she would have had a chance to hear of my place’s reputation through Diel.

That was enough to clear up most of the doubts whirling about inside of me.

In all likelihood, Cyclaeus had nothing to do with this incident. After all, I couldn’t imagine him approving of such actions, especially when he wasn’t even around.

“Right, I think I more or less get what’s going on. So... what do you intend to do with me, exactly? The story they told me was that if you judged I held back with my cooking, you would forbid me from doing business in the post town.”

Still no answer.

“Like I explained, I’m a chef who was born in another nation entirely. I certainly tried to give my all when making that dish, but I don’t know how well it fits the tastes of people from this land. Still, I definitely didn’t hold back.”

I was still feeling more than a little dumbfounded, but I did my best to keep to a fairly calm tone.

While I certainly wasn’t about to forgive them for taking Nail hostage, since it seemed like this plot was nothing more than the result of a pampered noble girl’s curiosity or mischievousness, it should have still been possible to bring everything to a peaceful close.

“I don’t need any sort of reward, so just let me go home. And of course, I’d like to keep doing business as I have up till now... That’s all that I ask for. Can you find it in yourself to grant those requests?”

Lefreya just kept on silently biting her lip.

I didn’t think this small girl had really been granted authority to do as she pleased with my business, but I couldn’t say that for certain.

Still, I wouldn’t mind if that matter was just put off at least. After all, there would be one heck of a commotion in the post town if my stalls were shut down over something this ridiculous. And at any rate, we should have a chance to freshly renegotiate once Cyclaeus and Melfried returned from the castle in five days.

Thanks to all that, just getting to return home would be plenty. That was my one desire here.

“You are a truly irritating man...” Lefreya finally stated, her neatly-shaped eyebrows sternly furrowing.

With that, I straightened up my posture, worrying I may have spoken a bit too hastily.

However, rather than letting her anger burst forth, she instead silently stretched out her slender fingers over the table. Atop her palm sat what looked like a small jewelry case, and from it she pulled out a little silver object.

Then she tossed it so that it made a short arc and landed at my feet. It was the type of shining silver coin I had several of back at the Fa house.

Each one was worth 100 white coins or 1000 red, and you pretty much only ever saw them at a money changer in the post town.

“So you’re offering this as a reward...? But this is far too much money, no matter how you look at it.”

I generally earned one silver coin’s worth of profit in four days or so, as my current daily take came out to about 250 red coins. If I were to earnestly accept this, I’d honestly probably end up giving it to Nail for the trouble.

As that thought ran through my head, Lefreya responded with the same hostile look on her face, “What are you saying? That is your payment for the work that you did.”

“Payment?” I questioned, picking up the coin at my feet and tilting my head.

What exactly was the difference between a reward and payment?

“I still have not fully acknowledged your skills. And so, you are to do work equal to that payment.”

“Huh? I don’t understand what you’re—”

“First will be tomorrow’s midday snack. If you satisfy me with that, I will grant you another silver coin,” Lefreya stated, suddenly cutting me off and then turning her back to me. “Well then, I will rest now. And you are to prepare for tomorrow.”

“H-Hold on a moment! What do you mean, tomorrow’s snack? Weren’t you supposed to return me home, regardless of what impression you got?!”

Lefreya stopped, then shot me a harsh glare out of the corner of her eye.

“Be quiet. I am the owner of this manor. Everyone within its walls must obey my words.”

“That’s insane! There are some things even nobles can’t get away with, right?!” I shouted, stepping forward without thinking.

However, the guards on either side of me swiftly grabbed hold of my arms. Even so, I couldn’t just remain silent.

“Then let me just say, doing something like this is going to put your father at a real disadvantage! He holds all sorts of discussions with the people of the forest’s edge as representative for Genos, right? As his daughter, these actions of yours will put him in a real bad position!”

“Did you not hear me tell you to be quiet...?”

“You’re the one who needs to listen to what I have to say! If you don’t want this whole thing to blow up, then let me go now! It’s still not too late to just laugh this off! But if you add to your crimes further—”

“You say my father will be put in a bad position?” Lefreya repeated, interrupting me again as her well proportioned little face broke out in a devilish grin. “That sounds interesting in its own way. Just what sort of face will that man make when he returns five days from now in a rage? Yes, that is certain to prove amusing.”

“Hey, wait—!”

“Well then, the time limit shall be five days. My father is to return in the morning five days from now, so create a dish that truly satisfies me down to the depths of my heart before then. Do so, and I shall grant you another silver coin, and may even allow you to return home before those five days are up.” At that point, Lefreya stopped for a moment and broke out in a mischievous smile. “However, make a truly dull dish and I shall make sure you can never do business in the post town again, no matter what Father has to say on the matter. If you do not like the thought of that, then strive away as hard as you can.”

“Hold on!” I shouted to no avail at the girl’s small back.

With that, the young tyrant disappeared behind the inner doors opened by her short and stout attendant... leaving me to stand there with the soldiers still gripping my arms, holding the shining silver coin in my hand and trembling with pure rage.

3

This is no joke! I can’t keep playing along with this farce any longer!

That was pretty much all that was whirling about in my head, even after being returned to the room.

It was good news that Cyclaeus apparently had nothing to do with this plot. However, that didn’t change the fact that I couldn’t possibly endure five whole days imprisoned here in this manor.

Just what was that Lefreya girl thinking? Had she heard of my skill from Diel and decided to go ahead with this ridiculous plan? No matter how much I might have to give in to them, and even if I was willing to overlook how they hurt people to make this happen, I absolutely couldn’t accept the way she went back on her word and was continuing to hold me against my will.

It seemed like maybe she didn’t get along well with her father, Cyclaeus, but I couldn’t care less. They could go settle their family squabbles however they pleased, as long as they did it far from me.

At any rate, I was good and pissed off. And the one to timidly call out to me as I smoldered with rage was Chiffon Chel, who was assigned to watch over me.

“Sir Asuta, are you alright...? Shall I bring you something to drink before you fall asleep...?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Well then, how about something to eat...? Now that you are to be staying here at this manor, it would be better to eat something before sleeping...”

I felt like shouting, “I’ve got no intention of staying overnight!” but it wasn’t like she had done anything wrong, so I stopped myself.

“Um, could I ask you a question, Chiffon Chel?”

“Yes? What is it...?”

“Are there any eastern-looking guys among the soldiers or servants working at this manor?”

“An easterner, is it...?” Chiffon Chel repeated with a troubled tilt of her head.

Is that something she can’t answer either? I thought, but it seemed it was more that she was searching her memories to come up with a proper reply.

“I am uncertain... At the very least, I do not believe there should be anyone like that living at the manor...”

“So there could be one among the employees who commute here?”

“No... As a general rule, both soldiers and servants who work here are to live within the grounds... The cooking assistants and the like who have other work reside elsewhere, but even when I have visited the kitchen to taste for poison, I have never seen anyone with such dark skin...” Chiffon Chel replied, but then she tilted her head the other way. “However... It is not uncommon for guests from Sym to visit to discuss business with the master. They generally return when the sun is still high in the sky, though, so I have never had the chance to entertain them...”

“I see. Thank you.”

In that case, even if Sanjura had ties to this manor, he wasn’t close enough to them to be offered a place to stay here.

His involvement was the one thing I still had doubts about.

It seemed Sanjura’s “employer” he had mentioned was Lefreya rather than Cyclaeus. But then, what was he doing serving that childish tyrant, exactly?

Had he been under some sort of orders when he first approached my stalls? And were his smile and gentle demeanor all just an act to get me to let my guard down? Such thoughts were just stirring up even more anger and frustration in me at the thought that I had been betrayed by someone I trusted.

Still, this is no time to be worrying about stuff like that, I thought with a big shake of my head, clearing those concerns from my mind.

“Chiffon Chel, I’d like to put my trust in you and ask one more question...”

“Yes? What is it...?”

“I’m planning on trying to escape from this manor shortly. Is that something you could overlook for me?”

I was well aware that it was absurd to ask such a thing. If she betrayed my expectations and was actually loyal to her employer, my plot would be ruined on the spot.

But if I was going to escape I had to do something about this girl who was sharing a room with me. And I wasn’t confident in the least that I could restrain her without those soldiers on the other side of the door noticing.

“That is... Even without my interference, I do not believe such a thing is possible. There are a great number of soldiers keeping watch about this manor...” Chiffon Chel replied, not looking overly surprised.

“I figured I wasn’t likely to succeed, either. And would they kill me if I failed, too?”

“No... They would not be able to do something so distasteful as to take your life. After all, Lady Lefreya is still but ten years old...”

“But like I’ve said again and again, I was threatened with knives and taken here against my will. And that little lady of yours is the one who ordered that.”

“Even if that is indeed the case, I believe Lady Lefreya would only have ordered that you were to be invited here to this manor. I am unaware of how that would have resulted in such crude methods being employed, though...”

I thought back to that officer with the stupid-cow face who served under the girl in question. Was it his decision to interpret his employer’s orders in that way?

“In that case, if I screwed up I’d just be whipped? I think I can scrounge up enough courage to risk it.”

“Sir Asuta, the risk is far greater than you realize...” Chiffon Chel replied, getting down from the bed and grabbing my arm. Rather than looking shaken, though, she seemed more like she was trying to calm an unreasonable child or something. “Being whipped is not so light of a punishment... Fortunately, I have only faced it a handful of times myself, but it was painful enough to make one want to give up on living...”

“Is that so...?”

“Would you like to view my back...?”

“No, I’ll pass,” I replied, backing away from Chiffon Chel as all sorts of emotions simmered in my heart. “Even so, I can’t bring myself to just quietly accept my fate. I won’t push you to cooperate, but could I at least ask you not to say anything?”

“Why do you feel the need to place yourself in such danger...? Once five days have passed, you will be able to return home without needing to do such a thing, will you not...?”

“Because I don’t exactly trust that promise. Once your true employer returns from the castle and learns of his daughter’s careless actions, there’s no guarantee he won’t decide the best thing to do would be to erase me entirely.”

Those words were ultimately met with a sad, silent smile. It seemed she couldn’t quite bring herself to say Cyclaeus wouldn’t do such a thing, either.

Apparently the image I had of the man wasn’t far off the mark. How very reassuring.

“In that case, even if it’s reckless I feel I need to put my life on the line and give it my all to avoid that fate. So, will you look the other way?”

“Yes... However, the door is locked from the outside, and is watched by guards day and night...”

“Right. And that’s why I was thinking of escaping through the window instead.”

I confirmed just a little while ago that there were large windows on the other side of the partitioning screen. And they even had some sort of fabric curtains dangling from them, too. Though this room was on the second floor, as long as I was willing to take the chance, using those curtains to climb down the wall was definitely possible.

“I’m sorry, but if you’re willing to keep quiet about my actions, I was thinking I would tie your wrists together to make it look like I forcefully escaped. But is there a risk you’ll still get whipped even so?”

“My... You are thinking of such matters even when preparing to put your own safety at risk...?” Chiffon Chel questioned with an amused grin. “If I am whipped even so, then that is simply how it shall be. That is nothing for you to worry yourself about...”

“In that case... How about you run away with me?” I proposed, leaning back in toward Chiffon Chel. “I know that maybe I shouldn’t be asking this... But if you’re going to be whipped either way, then why not bet on that slight chance?”

“No... Unlike you, Sir Asuta, if I were to attempt to escape and fail, I would surely be beheaded... Not by Lady Lefreya, but by my master who shall be returning five days hence...”

“I see...”

Apparently I had really underestimated how badly they treated slaves. And I’m sure Chiffon Chel thought I was a huge idiot about now.

“If you have firmed up your resolve that far, then I can no longer stop you. Please, follow your own path as you feel is proper... I shall remain here and pray for your success...”

“But you may end up getting whipped as a result, right?”

“Please, do not worry yourself about that... However, I must admit that I was a bit excited when I heard that you would be staying here in this manor for five days. That is my one regret...” Chiffon Chel said before shooting me another smile.

It was a fairy-like smile, and I found it difficult to read just what exactly was behind it.

“You truly are a mysterious man, Sir Asuta... There are southerners and westerners who would sympathize with my circumstances, but no one has ever been as kind as you...”

“I’m sure that’s because I come from a country where slavery doesn’t exist... and because I’m a person of the forest’s edge. They’re a persecuted people because they changed gods. While I don’t understand a single thing about the conflict between the north and west, I just can’t accept the idea of discriminating against someone because of their birthplace.”

The same look still fixed on her face, Chiffon Chel whispered, “I see...” I had no way of knowing whether she was feeling resignation, or just keeping her gaze fixed on the distant future.

“Well then, sorry about this, but I’m going to go ahead with my crazy escape plan. If it seems like it really is impossible, I’ll try to make it back before the lookouts spot me... and then you won’t have to be whipped.”

“I will be praying a path opens for you to succeed, Sir Asuta...” Chiffon Chel stated.

Since I was escaping on my own while leaving her behind, I definitely felt more than a little guilty. Even more so since I had essentially no chance of succeeding.

Still, I didn’t feel like just obediently pulling up the blankets and going to sleep. Lefreya’s behavior was much too self-centered, and besides, there was no guarantee that everything would truly be settled in five days. And so, I had to struggle as best I could.

“Are you truly alright, dressing without my assistance...?”

“Yes! Please don’t peek, alright?”

First off was changing into my original clothing, which I had Chiffon Chel bring here to this room. I put on the white t-shirt and boat shoes I had brought with me to this world and the additional clothing I had received from Ai Fa, then wrapped my seriously wrinkled towel around my head to complete the outfit. As for the shining silver coin I had been forced to bring back to this room, I placed it atop the clothes I had just finished taking off.

Next up came the preparations for my escape.

To start with, I circled around to the rear of the partitioning screen and removed the curtains from the windows. Through some serious effort with my teeth and hands I managed to tear them vertically, then tied them together while testing their strength. By removing three curtains from the two windows, I was able to prepare a sufficient length of makeshift rope.

With the leftover cloth, I went ahead and bound Chiffon Chel’s arms. And once again, I felt incredibly guilty as I did so.

If she gave a single shout for help to the guards outside the door at this point, she would surely be able to avoid getting whipped, but she refused to do so.

“I ask that you please gag my mouth as well... Then I shall act as if I had lost consciousness, which should surely aid in lightening my punishment...”

After doing as she asked, I went ahead and laid Chiffon Chel atop her personal bed on the other side of the partitioning screen. With that, I gave her one last nod, then extinguished the lantern and opened one of the windows wide.

The world outside was awash in shadow. Though the moon and stars were shining faintly, everything was still completely dark. But at least the darkness made it easy to tell there were no lantern-carrying guards in the area.

It would have been better had I checked while it was light out, but there seemed to be a vast courtyard stretching out below. And if I kept heading straight through there, I would eventually hit the stone walls surrounding the grounds. Though the castle town itself was already walled in, this manor had an additional layer of protection around it.

Even assuming I managed to somehow make it all the way there without being spotted, it was possible there was no way at all for me to make it over that wall. And even if I did, what lay on the other side was the castle town, which remained a complete mystery to me.

Could I make it back to the post town without a pass? I was attempting this escape without even knowing that crucial fact. Honestly, my hopes of success might well have been nonexistent. And if I failed, even if I was lucky I would face a whipping as punishment. Before thoughts of just how downright stupid I was being could spoil my drive to move forward, I went ahead and tied my handmade rope to the foot of the bed.

Even when I went ahead and leaned out to look to the left and right, I found that the windows to all the other rooms were shut tight. And so, with that confirmed, I tossed the end of the rope out the window.

Alright, here goes.

It was time for a bit of unsanctioned rock climbing.

It was around four meters to the ground, so it wasn’t like I would die even if I fell. But since it was stone paving down below me, I could definitely end up breaking something. At any rate, I moved outside the window, trusting in the strength I had built up through the harsh lifestyle of the forest’s edge.

As I put my full body weight on it, the rope went taut and made a tightening sound. And with that, I went ahead and placed my feet on the wall and began slowly, steadily descending.

It didn’t take long at all for both my arms to start trembling. And in spite of the pleasant night breeze, my whole body was coated in sweat. I couldn’t help but feel that I really should have replenished some calories before trying something like this after all.

Still, I ultimately completed my rock climbing journey and made it to the hard ground below without anyone finding me, having my hands slip, or running out of strength midway down.

The first thing I did out there in the darkness was fall to my knees and catch my breath.

The world around me was wrapped in a bluish darkness. But as my eyes adjusted, my surroundings vaguely started coming into view. The stone pavement only circled around the building itself, and five meters or so out there was what looked to be a sprawling lawn that was kept cut short.

I really don’t see any light anywhere. Just how far does this courtyard stretch, exactly...?

At any rate, no light meant there shouldn’t be any guards keeping an eye out. Perhaps any guards about were focusing their watch outside the walls rather than inside.

With that thought, I prepared to finally step forwards... only for a window about a meter away from me to creak open.

I rushed to press myself against the wall. Though I had just managed to calm my heart, it was now pounding away like a jackhammer.

Was this just a coincidence, or had I made a sound without realizing it and given myself away...? At any rate, all I could do was desperately pray that whoever opened that window didn’t peek out.

Those hopes turned out to be in vain, though, as a girl’s pale face soon appeared from inside.

It wasn’t Lefreya, though. No, it was an older girl, though she was definitely still young.

And when I saw how pretty her profile was, I was shocked again.

Her face was stunningly beautiful. Her nose was slender and perfectly shaped, and the lines of her profile from her chin up through her cheeks were so smooth.

On top of that, her skin was pure white. Though Lefreya had also been pale, this girl’s skin was practically transparent. With the pale blue moonlight shining down on her, she almost looked like a glass sculpture.

And her dark brown bangs gently hung down over a beautifully white forehead. The left side of her face was the one facing me, and from what I could see, she had a stylish silver accessory shining away in her hair.

She had her hands on the window frame, and was actually leaning quite far forwards. So much so that I could see the thin, pale nightgown she had on.

And since her hair was short, the white of the back of her neck was even visible.

Yes, this girl had a truly angelic appearance.

However, her eyes were filled with a great sorrow as she stared off into the dark.

Those perfectly-crafted lips of hers let loose a sigh... and then in the process of pulling back into her room, she casually glanced my way.

Instantly, her large eyes adorned with fine eyelashes shot wide open in shock.

“Asuta...?! What are you doing in a place like this?!”

I was completely taken aback too.

Until a moment ago, that face had an angelic calm about it that looked almost sculpted, but now it had taken on a more down-to-earth expression and shifted into a very familiar girl’s visage.

“D-Diel...? It was you...?”

As I stood there frozen in shock, Diel glanced about the darkness in a panic.

Then, with a look of irritation she said, “Ugh, whatever! Just hurry inside already! If you stand around in a place like that, this manor’s guard dogs will maul you to death!”

“G-Guard dogs?”

“Yeah! We were told to never go outside since they let guard dogs loose in the courtyard at night. What, do you not know what a dog is? They’re pretty common down south, but... Agh, never mind! Just get in here!”

I was even more flustered than Diel, so I ended up stepping over toward her practically without even thinking. With that, she grabbed me by the nape of the neck and pulled me into the dimly lit room.

“Ugh, that was a shock... Don’t go scaring me like that! Seriously, what are you even doing in a place like this?!” Diel wailed, and then she suddenly clamped both hands over her mouth. In the next moment, there was a knock from outside the door opposite the hallway.

“Did you say something, Master Diel?”

It was Labis’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in a while either.

“It’s nothing! I was just talking to myself! We’ve got work tomorrow morning, so we should hurry to sleep, right?”

“I wish you good dreams, Master Diel...” Labis responded in a blunt tone that made it hard to tell what he was thinking, and then he went silent.

Apparently this room was adjoined to another one through that door, and that other room had been assigned to Labis.

“Diel... So you were in this manor after all, huh?”

“What do you mean ‘after all’? And besides, what are you even doing in the castle town, Asuta?” Diel whispered back as she gently closed the window.

And then, she went, “Ah!” with another look of surprise. “Um, could it be... that you’re the one who made the meal we just ate?”

“Ah, yeah, you mean the one made with karon milk and kimyuus meat? If so, then yeah, I made that.”

“I knew it. That was seriously delicious,” Diel said with a truly satisfied grin. It honestly made her look like an angel again, but in a different way entirely compared to before. “I mean, that meal was so delicious that I thought of you somehow when I ate it. In fact, I was wondering how you were doing and if you were asleep yet, when I opened the window and then suddenly there you were! Seriously, I was so shocked I almost keeled over!”

Then Diel was thinking of me when she had that sad look in her eyes before? That felt kinda embarrassing, somehow.

On top of that, thanks to the lantern’s flame lighting the room, I could now see Diel clearly. Her unusual speckled hair and her beautiful sparkling eyes like jade were fully visible... as was that outfit that was utterly different from what she usually wore.

It was a thin bit of nightwear, sure enough. Aside from the frills adorning the collar and cuffs, it was a very simply designed gown.

And it only came up to a bit above her knees, so her surprisingly pale legs were plainly visible. Then there was the silver hair clip holding back her bangs, revealing a bit of her forehead. But that was enough to make her like an entirely different, totally adorable person.

No wait, if we were just talking cuteness, she already had that in spades to start with. So that wasn’t it. No, it was more that she looked more girlish and charming than ever before. Seriously, what was wrong with my eyes that I mistook her for a boy when we first met?

“So...? What are you doing making food here in this manor? Didn’t you say the people of the forest’s edge and folks from the castle town didn’t exactly get along?”

I knew it was dangerous to just hang out with her, but this chance encounter was one heck of a relief. Still, I went ahead and covered just the key points, as quickly as I could manage.

“Eh?” “Really?” “Whoa!” Diel exclaimed as she listened, her expressions shifting like a kaleidoscope all the while. “So... In other words, I was the cause of all this when I bragged to Lefreya about your cooking?” Diel sadly asked once I finished. “I’m so sorry... I really do bring you nothing but disaster, huh...?”

“That’s not true at all. The real root of this trouble is that spoiled little brown-haired brat. If she had a normal sense of morals, she’d never do something like this.”

I found it even harder than normal tonight to see Diel looking like a dejected puppy.

“Still, I figure Lefreya got all worked up because your cooking was way tastier than she had been expecting.”

“‘Worked up’? What do you mean?”

“Right, well, actually, she had two dishes made with karon milk and kimyuus meat brought out. And then Lefreya said we should eat them both and compare which one was better,” Diel said, her expression growing more and more apologetic. “So the other dish must have been prepared by the chefs working in this manor. That boiled kimyuus meat with karon dried milk was pretty good too, but the soup with all the vegetables in it was way better. That was the one you made, right, Asuta?”

“Yeah.”

“I knew it! It was such a mysterious dish! Anyway, my old man and I didn’t know any of that and were going on and on like, ‘That soup dish is so delicious! That’s a manor that prides itself on its cooking for you!’ So I’m sure Lefreya was none too pleased with that.”

Apparently the three dishes worth of stew I made went into the stomachs of Lefreya, Diel, and Diel’s father. I had heard her dad was a metalworker visiting from Jagar, and that Cyclaeus was an important business partner for him.

But putting that aside, I still wasn’t fully satisfied with that explanation.

“So she didn’t like the fact that the chef she abducted by force had the better dish? I don’t get it at all.”

“No, Lefreya probably never expected you to put out a dish that good. After all, she was always insisting that stuff made by chefs in the post town didn’t even qualify as proper food.”

I could recall Diel having said something like that before. In fact, she had said she wanted to bring my cooking back to the castle town in order to prove her point.

“Thinking back on it now, Lefreya looked seriously displeased after having us try the dishes. She must have been expecting us to heap praise on the other meal, then call me to your room later to show me up.”

“Whoa, that’s an awfully sneaky game she’s playing there!”

“I’d say it’s more that she just hates to lose... Well, I do too, but to think that she’d go and do something this crazy...”

“There’s nothing for you to worry yourself over, Diel. Still... just why exactly did she decide to keep me confined longer, then? Does she want me to keep on cooking till my dish loses her competition?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s more that she just plain took a liking to your cooking? I mean, she really chowed down on your dish too. Though, her eyebrows had this really steep angry slant the whole time.”

Like father, like daughter, I guess. Couldn’t she show her appreciation for my skills in a more normal way?

“So her father really doesn’t know about any of this, right? Or maybe I should say she went ahead with this ridiculous plan now because he wasn’t around to interfere?”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s the case. Whenever I talked about your cooking, that old man just gave a disinterested smirk. There’s no way he would’ve let Lefreya do something so stupid,” Diel replied, and then she leaned her face in close. “So, you were planning to escape on your own because you weren’t satisfied with Lefreya’s words?”

“Yeah, though I know it’s reckless.”

“It sure is! Like I said before, they let guard dogs loose in the courtyard, and the stone walls around the place are huge. And it’s not just the dogs, since there are definitely guards patrolling those walls too. I mean, this is the manor of possibly the most powerful noble in all of Genos, other than the duke.”

“Right...”

“And let’s say you do make it out by some fluke. Even then, you still wouldn’t be able to leave the castle town. They raise the drawbridge at night, and during the day you need a pass to get through. And if you try to force your way through, you’ll definitely be treated as a criminal.”

Apparently it was completely hopeless.

I gave a disappointed shrug of my shoulders, while Diel reacted with a worried furrowing of her brows.

“I’m sorry, Asuta. This is all my fault... Still, your cooking skills really did beat a chef from the castle town after all! What about working here in this manor for real? Then you could earn enough coins that you’d be set for life, right?”

“I could never do that. There’s no way I could serve someone who’d do something like this, and I’ve got no intention of abandoning the forest’s edge, either.”

“I see... It still feels like a waste for someone with your skill to just be doing business in the post town, though...” Diel replied, looking earnestly disappointed. I guess for a merchant, doing business near the seat of government really was an honor.

I had no intention of arguing against her way of thinking, but I was raised in an eatery aimed at the general public. And so, I wanted to cook food for the townsfolk rather than nobles. No matter how much power they might possess, I really had no interest at all in being a personal chef to someone like that.

“Hey Diel, would it be possible to have you try to convince Lefreya? I really would like to return back home to the forest’s edge as soon as possible.”

“There’s no way she would listen to what I had to say... In fact, she’d probably just get even more worked up if I went and got involved.”

“Then could I maybe have you tell someone in the post town what happened? If you let one of my business partners there know, they should be able to get in contact with the people of the forest’s edge.”

“Hmm, I’m going to be busy for a while, and it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to make it out of the castle town. My dad’s running around like mad trying to expand his business as much as possible while the count isn’t around. Apparently he’s been getting the feeling that it’s dangerous to be relying on that old man alone.”

“I’d definitely say that’s the right call. Still, even just getting a short message out to anyone in the post town would be plenty. I’d really like to put my family and friends who know nothing about what’s going on at ease.”

“By family, do you mean that nasty blonde woman?” Diel asked, puffing up her cheeks. But they quickly deflated and she took an apologetic expression again. “I get that, but it really does seem like it’ll be difficult... Even if I try talking about it with my dad, he’d just say there’s no way we could ever go throwing our lot in with the people of the forest’s edge and making an enemy out of a noble... And he took away my pass, too.”

“I see...”

But then I recalled Diel’s attendant, Labis. No matter how close I got with the girl herself, though, his unfriendly attitude had remained unshakable.

Generally, southerners viewed the people of the forest’s edge as nothing but traitors who abandoned their god. There were those who I met through my business in the post town and got close to, but otherwise they generally avoided or even discriminated against the people of the forest’s edge.

“Still, there’s no need to go all the way to the post town personally, right? Tomorrow or whenever, I can slip away from my dad and let the guards in the castle town know about all this! Even when we’re talking about nobles, kidnapping is still a clear-cut crime!”

“Ah, but don’t the guards around here ultimately fall under the militia? It’s not the ducal guard, right?”

“Hmm? I don’t really know the west all that well, but the ducal guard are the soldiers who protect the castle itself, aren’t they? But the guards are the ones in charge of both the castle town and post town.”

In that case, that was no good. After all, Cyclaeus’s younger brother was the captain of the militia. If word of Lefreya’s wrongdoing reached his ears, he would probably do everything in his power to cover it up.

“The people of the forest’s edge and the militia don’t exactly have a great relationship. Sorry, but could you avoid spreading information about this to just anyone in the castle town?”

“Huh? But I really don’t want you getting gnawed to death by guard dogs...” Diel said, a serious look on her face as she tightly grabbed my hand. Her grasp was strong, and also warm.

“I’ve got no intention of dying a pointless death, either. But I guess that means I’ve got no moves left to make, huh?”

There had to be a pretty significant commotion in the post town by now. However, there wouldn’t be any proof to be found there that it was someone related to Cyclaeus who had abducted me. And so, I figured neither the people of the forest’s edge nor Zasshuma could make a move with how things stood.

“Isn’t there anything at all I can do to help...? If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be in this whole mess...” Diel said, her eyes brimming with emotion as they teared up.

Mustering up all my willpower, I shot her back a smile.

“I’d be incredibly grateful if you could try to get in contact with my allies from the forest’s edge if you happen to get time between your work. You’re the only one here in the castle town I can ask that of, Diel.”

“Got it. If I can manage to get any time at all, I swear I’ll do so!”

Apparently Diel’s voice had gotten too loud there again, as there was a reserved knock on the door.

“Master Diel, what exactly is going on...?”

“I was just talking in my sleep!”

“Is that so...?”

This clandestine meeting of ours may well have reached its limit.

And besides, the rope I had used to escape was still dangling from the window. If anyone realized, Chiffon Chel could easily end up getting whipped for nothing.

“Well then, I’ll head back to my room. Thanks for telling me all that.”

“Ah, hold on! Let me just say one last thing. Um, about Lefreya...” Diel cast her eyes down, looking like she was having trouble bringing herself to speak up. But before long, she resolutely stated, “I really, seriously hate nobles. If it weren’t necessary for business, I’d never want anything to do with them. But I can’t bring myself to completely hate that girl.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah. It feels to me like she’s never been glad that she’s a noble, somehow. Her father’s always focused on work and gourmet food and never pays her any mind, and her days are filled with nothing but studies and practice, with no time to play... In a totally different way than her old man, that girl’s one bit of enjoyment each day comes from delicious food.”

Apparently there was a significant reason behind her growing up to be such an ill-tempered little tyrant.

“Does she not have any family other than her father? Isn’t the house of Count Turan one of the foremost noble families in Genos?”

“Well, she should have plenty of relatives, but Lefreya and the old man are the only ones living here in this manor. And all the servants and soldiers, of course. I figure outside of when guests like me and my dad are around, that girl doesn’t have anyone she can just have a carefree chat with.”

“I see...”

“That’s why she doesn’t care at all about making her father mad by doing something like this. She might even be thinking she’d be glad to just get his attention a bit.”

“Is that so? Well... if it weren’t for the circumstances, I could see myself feeling some sympathy for her.”

Still, I guess that didn’t really leave me a target to aim my anger at.

I really was just someone who got mixed up in a father-daughter squabble, huh?

“And I certainly can’t forgive doing something like this to you, but that girl probably can’t even imagine you’re feeling unhappy with the circumstances. After all, apparently it’s a great honor for a chef to be invited to this manor. So she’s probably thinking, ‘Why isn’t he more grateful for what I’ve done?!’”

“Hm. Well, we definitely have different perspectives, there.”

“Also, the one who decided to take you by force rather than making a proper request... was probably Mussel rather than Lefreya.”

“Mussel?”

“If you met Lefreya, then you definitely saw him too. That dark brown haired officer who’s stout like a karon.”

“Ah, him? Yeah, he was one of the men who abducted me.”

“I knew it! Apparently he’s been in charge of guarding Lefreya and constantly attending to her ever since she was born. It sounds nice and all if you just call him loyal, but he’s got a scary side to him, like he’d do anything if it was for her. In fact, he almost hit me when I was arguing with Lefreya. Labis stopped him, of course.”

“I see... So a spoiled rich girl and the blindly obedient officer serving her, huh?”

It definitely wasn’t an appealing combination.

I still didn’t get how Sanjura fit into the picture there, though.

However, one thing was clear: The key to all this was that man, Mussel.

Nail had in all likelihood seen Mussel’s face when he came into The Sledgehammer, pretending to be a customer. Maybe he was underestimating the matter and figuring he would never be identified as long as he just remained in the castle town, but if I could just inform Zasshuma, then it should certainly be possible to have Melfried make a move.

“Then Diel, if you happen to get a chance to make it to the post town, could I have you tell them about that Mussel guy too? If so, my allies may be able to get him indicted as a criminal.”

“Got it. I promise. But what about Lefreya...? The next time I see her, I may end up shouting my head off.”

“Ah, that would be dangerous. I think it would definitely be for the best if she never learns that we met like this.”

“Hmm, but I think she’ll probably start bragging about you before long. Like saying how she got a hold of the chef that I’m so fond of.”

“Huh? Wouldn’t doing that be like admitting to the kidnapping?”

“But she could hide that part and just say she was paying you or whatever, right? At the very least, I don’t see her just staying quiet, considering her personality.”

So, she was reckless enough to cause her own downfall, huh?

Whether that would create the gap in their armor we needed was up in the air, but at least for now, she certainly seemed to be making bad moves.

“I guess it would help if our stories matched up in that case... but what’s most important is definitely getting a message to the post town. So for that reason, it would be best to remain as cautious as possible.”

“Ugh, got it. I’ll try to bear it as much as I can. After all, I’m the whole reason things ended up this way. I really am sorry, Asuta...” Diel said, once more looking dejected.

I was no longer able to wring out a smile at this point, but I at least gave her a firm pat on the shoulder.

“Stop apologizing over and over like that. And now that I know you’ll be eating it too, from now on, my cooking won’t feel quite so futile and empty.”

“Yeah... I’m glad I get to eat your cooking too, Asuta,” Diel replied with a bashful smile and a nod.

I grabbed hold of the window, then after checking to make sure there weren’t any guard dogs or sentries prowling about, I repeated my rock climbing adventure in reverse. Once I pulled my sweat-drenched body back into the room, I found Chiffon Chel in the same position atop the bed, looking at me with a gentle gaze.

“It seems we meet again, Sir Asuta...” she said with a smile after I freed her mouth and arms. “I hope my saying so does not make you feel badly, but I am glad to see you return...”

There were all sorts of people here in this manor, too. And perhaps only a few of them were rotten to the core.

But even so, my heart was full of sadness, suffering, and a sense of powerlessness.

Two and a half months had passed since I had come here to this world... and I was finally spending a night apart from Ai Fa.

Just what was she thinking as this night passed?

As I stared out at the pale moon through the window, I desperately tried to hold back the crushing pain in my chest.