Chapter 193: The Bear Comes Back with the Palace’s Head Chef

Chapter 193:
The Bear Comes Back with the Palace’s Head Chef

 

THE SUN CAME UP as I comfortably snuggled up in Kumayuru and Kumakyu’s embraces. Guess it was already morning. Early to bed, early to rise.

“Morning, you two,” I greeted my bears and stood up, stretching. Sure, my literal bear bed was fine, but nothing could beat an actual bed. I guess I must’ve woken Zelef, since he emerged from under his blanket.

“Master Yuna, good morning to you.”

“Morning. Well then, how about we get some breakfast, then head out?”

“Why, certainly.”

We headed out right after we finished a simple meal, just like we had for dinner. Travel went smoothly, without any monsters or thieves making an appearance.

“Zelef, are you okay? You’re not tired, are you?”

“I am right as rain. Riding the horses in the past caused all kinds of aches and pains in my hips, but Masters Kumayuru and Kumakyu are such comfortable mounts. I hardly feel tired.”

No problem with pressing on, then. We needed to hurry. Cliff was waiting for us, so I needed my bears to really go all out.

 

We spotted Sheelin’s outer wall a little after lunch. Hmm…I really wanted to just keep going, but it’d be such a pain to explain my summon beasts to the gate guards.

“Zelef, would you be fine with walking from here?”

“Huh? From here?”

“I don’t want to have to bother explaining my summon beasts to the guards, so I usually dismount when I get close to towns.”

“Ah, I see. Understood. I shall walk and consider this good exercise for myself.” Zelef rubbed his belly.

I kind of doubted he’d lose weight from a short stroll, and it wasn’t that far away. It’d probably be a pretty good walking distance if someone did it every day, but just doing it once was a drop in the bucket.

Then again, it wasn’t like I was one to talk when it came to exercise. I tried to take off my bear onesie for exercise a few times, but I had no stamina. I ended up dead tired and had to give up. It took persistence and exercise to build up any stamina or lose weight.

After I recalled my bears, Zelef and I headed to the town on foot.

“Aren’t you the bear from the other day?” the guard asked. It’d be a pain to answer his questions, so I just held my guild card up to the crystal panel and quickly headed into the town.

“Is this Sheelin?” Zelef asked, looking around.

“You haven’t been here before?”

“I was born in the capital. I was so preoccupied with studying the culinary arts that I hardly ever left.”

I suppose he wouldn’t have been the head chef of the royal family if he hadn’t studied that hard. As for me, I couldn’t just keep my focus on a single thing like that. I was the kind of person who got her hands into everything to the point that I didn’t have any time to spare. I could start projects, but finishing them through to the end? No way. I was the archetype of a layabout. Even if there were plenty of people in this world who dedicated themselves to accomplishing just one goal.

 

Then again, having too much of an interest in food was also a problem in and of itself. Zelef spotted a restaurant and was trying to head there.

“Zelef, please wait until after the party’s over.”

“Yes, but the possibilities...”

“Please, no ‘but’s. The party is tomorrow, so we have to hurry.”

“Oh...”

With Zelef in tow, I headed to Gran’s estate. I was a little worried that I might run into Randle again, but we got to Gran’s place without incident.

The guard seemed surprised when he saw me.

“Can we come inside?”

“Yes, Lord Gran informed us about you. He has asked us to let you and your guest through.”

Since they’d gotten the message, they didn’t question Zelef and let him into the estate.

“Mademoiselle Yuna!” Once we got inside, Meishun ran over to me.

“Heya, Meishun. Would we be able to see Gran and Cliff soon?”

“Yes, they told me to call you in the moment you came back.” Meishun led us just like she had earlier to the room where Cliff and Gran were. “Lord Gran, Mademoiselle Yuna has returned.”

“Yuna?!”

“You’re back?!”

Gran and Cliff were both shocked when I came in. There was also a stranger in the room with them. Hmm…

“We just got back. Um, and who is this?” I asked, since I didn’t know if we could talk about Zelef in front of the guy.

“This is my son, Leonardo. He may be faint of heart, but he’s my boy.”

“Faint of heart? Father, must you say that? I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I am Misana’s father, Leonardo. It seems that you helped my father and my daughter. Thank you. Um...Miss Bear?”

“It’s Yuna.”

“I see. Pardon me. Whenever I’ve spoken to my daughter and father, they always go on about bears. And there you are, in a bear outfit. My apologies.” So this was Misa’s dad, then. He was no Gran. He was on the slender side and really did seem fainthearted. Didn’t look like any noble I’d imagined.

“Yuna, where’s the chef?” Cliff asked gravely.

It wouldn’t be a problem for me to introduce Zelef right now if Leonardo was Gran’s son, right? “I’ve brought him.” On cue, Zelef came into the room.

“I have been asked by Master Yuna to cook for Lord Gran’s party. I humbly introduce myself. I am Zelef.” He bowed.

“Zelef…pardon me, but have we met somewhere?” asked Gran. “I feel as though I have seen you before, but I can’t quite place it.”

“Yuna...when you said you were bringing a chef, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” said Cliff.

Gran looked Zelef over, putting his hand to his chin in thought. Cliff looked over Zelef, too, and when he looked at me, he seemed at wit’s end. Leonardo’s mouth was gaping, and he was mouthing something, but words weren’t coming out.

“Do you know Master Zelef, Cliff?” asked Gran.

“Gran, old chap, it’s much too early for you to be going senile. You know him as well as I do. It looks that Leo’s already recognized him, at least.”

“We’ve met then?” asked Gran. “I do recognize him from somewhere, but I can’t quite recall where. Master Zelef, I’m very sorry if we have met before.”

Cliff and Leonardo, on the other hand, recognized him.

“No, please do not worry about it,” said Zelef. “I believe this is the first time we are meeting face to face.”

“Is it?”

“I am Zelef, head chef of the castle. Perhaps we have seen each other at one of His Majesty’s parties?”

“You’re the head chef of the castle?!” Gran’s eyes widened in shock. Cliff and Leonardo just looked like they had their suspicions confirmed.

“Yuna, when you said you knew someone,” said Cliff, “you meant Master Zelef?!”

“Yeah. He’s the only first-rate chef I know.”

“First rate?” Zelef repeated bashfully. “Why, Master Yuna, to hear such a thing from you is an honor.”

Gran was completely taken aback at Zelef’s identity. He offered us seats, and I took one. “Then you will really cook for us?”

“Master Yuna asked me to. And His Majesty has also asked me to help her.”

“His Majesty has...” Gran repeated. The room fell silent. Gran and his son were shocked.

Cliff looked exasperated. “How in the world did you get the palace’s head chef to come all the way here?”

“Hm? I just asked.”

“You just asked His Majesty? I’ve never heard of the head chef of a castle cooking for a noble’s party.”

“I guess I’ve just got a way with people.”

“Listen, you…” Cliff breathed, seeming completely done with everything.

“Indeed—I, too, was shocked when His Majesty asked me to do this. But that just shows how much faith Master Yuna has in me,” Zelef said.

“Oh, but officially you asked Ellelaura to ask him.” I told Cliff what the king had told me.

“I’ll need to go to His Majesty to thank him later,” said Cliff.

“Why?”

“If Master Zelef is here because of Ellelaura, then don’t I have to thank him?”

“That’s just the ‘official story.’ They needed an excuse to explain why Zelef came.”

“That’s exactly why I’ve got to go,” said Cliff.

“And before you go to seek an audience,” said Gran, sighing slightly, “we’ll need to write a letter.”

Sure seems like a lot of work being a noble, worrying about official stuff, all this ceremony, and all this subtler stuff. I muttered the thought aloud to myself, but Cliff apparently heard.

“You know what, Yuna? Normal people can’t just go to His Majesty and meet him right away. You need to send a letter days in advance just to see him. You’re the outlier here, not us.”

Okay, sure. But how was I supposed to know? Whenever I saw Lady Flora, the king would just barge right in. Plus, last time I asked Ellelaura to see him and she’d brought me in like it was fine.

Uh. Now that I thought about it, it did seem a little weird.

Cliff looked dead tired, Gran worried, and Leonardo was still flabbergasted, even now. Guess that was just how amazing Zelef was.

“So why are the three of you together?” I asked.

“We were talking about what to do if you didn’t make it in time.”

“And?”

“We hadn’t decided on anything. We don’t have any replacement chefs. Even if we did, they wouldn’t have the skill we need. We were about to give up.”

“And we couldn’t postpone the party, given it would inconvenience the guests. We were thinking of having a drinking party as a last resort.”

“But won’t there be kids?”

“The kids would get juice.”

It sounded like a real downer of a party. Maybe it was fine for a little event after a meal, but I don’t think a party that started and ended with drinks would really work out for this.

“But now that Master Zelef is here, that takes a large burden off our shoulders.”

“If you want to thank anyone,” said Zelef, “please thank Master Yuna. I’m indebted to her, so I was simply hoping to pay her back even in the slightest.”

“Miss,” said Gran, putting his hands on the table and bowing his head, “I’m grateful that you’ve brought Master Zelef with you. Now I’ve been saved by you twice.”

“Don’t worry about it. If you couldn’t have the party, you wouldn’t be able to celebrate Misa’s birthday, right? I did it for her. Plus, there are kids who would be even more disappointed than I’d be if Misa couldn’t celebrate her birthday.” I didn’t want to let down those three girls. That was my biggest reason for doing anything. “So, Master Zelef, the party is tomorrow. Do you think we’ll make it in time?”

“We stocked up on ingredients at the capital. If I begin preparations now, we should make it in time,” Zelef said confidently. He sure seemed dependable.

“Thank you. Then please, we really are relying on you.”

Oh, I almost forgot. “About the ingredients? I’ll send you the bill later, Gran. The king is going to charge me.”

“You’re being charged by His Majesty...”

“Yeah, so if you could cover that…”

Gran and Leonardo seemed speechless.

“In that case, we really must ask His Majesty to review it as soon as possible,” Gran said, which elicited a deep nod from Cliff.