Chapter 196: Cliff Attends the Party

Chapter 196:
Cliff Attends the Party

 

THANKS TO Yuna, we had secured a chef for Gran’s party.

And not just any chef—no, she brought the head chef of the palace himself. I have no idea what that bear was thinking. If she had just brought any other palace chef, I would’ve understood, but here she was with the head chef—the most powerful culinary force in the nation. It was a violation of common sense.

She had left three days earlier in the middle of the night. I didn’t know how fast those summoned bears of hers were, but she would’ve needed to get an audience with the king immediately after arriving at the capital. Even if Ellelaura had put in a good word for her, I never considered that His Majesty would immediately give her permission to whisk the head chef away. Not under any normal circumstances, anyway.

She went to see His Majesty without even sending him correspondence beforehand. Then she’d asked him to lend her his head chef…and received permission to do so immediately. The palace provided the ingredients. Everything was accounted for. What in the world had she done to get His Majesty to approve of it all? It was beyond baffling.

Whenever she got to work on a problem, things generally changed for the better, but that bear generally brought trouble in her wake. Grateful as I was, I couldn’t quite rest easy when I knew that some kind of trouble, somewhere, would accompany her. And why hadn’t she consulted me before bringing on the head chef of the palace? Gran, the old man, was holding his head in his hands. It seemed he had the same sentiments. We’d likely need to go to the capital and present ourselves to His Majesty to thank him. I’d need to hear the full details from Ellelaura as well.

The thought of it gave me a headache, but she still truly brought the best chef she could to us. I couldn’t argue with that. At present, I needed to focus on how we could make this go as smoothly as possible with this new opportunity.

The challenge would be whether we could get the guests to the party.

Gran and Leonardo spoke with the merchants in advance, but things had not gone well. Unsurprisingly, given the state of the town, no one wanted to join the losing side. But there were many whom Gran had helped up until this point. We needed to show our strength with this party, even if it only earned us a few more allies. We had to bring as many neutral people to our side as possible.

 

We went to the venue early and waited for the attendees. Gran and the others were the center of attention, of course, and I would be devoting myself to assisting the Fahrengram household in the endeavor.

I moved to a spot where I could get a full view of the place. Once the party’s starting time arrived, the attendees steadily gathered. They ranged from neighboring aristocrats to merchants—the powers in the town. As I watched the entrance, a man with a toadish face came in. He was Gajurdo Salbard—the other feudal lord of the town and Gran’s political adversary.

Next to Gajurdo was his son, the one who tried to pick a fight with Yuna and the others. Just hearing it from the girls made me want to punch the lad. They came unaccompanied; I heard his wife had passed several years ago.

When Gajurdo came in, a small crowd approached him at once—likely the merchants who were taking his side. They even bowed their heads in their attempts to butter him up. I wasn’t frightened of those fools; knowing their allegiance made them far less dangerous than the false friends who might betray us. That treacherous lot could leak any of our information to Gajurdo, and we’d find ourselves just one ally weaker before we knew it. The very thought nearly had me jumping at shadows. I could only pray that no such viper was in our midst.

Naturally, many people greeted Gran as well…but they were only doing it out of courtesy because he had invited them to the party. The true battle would likely come after the party started. As Gran had a friendly chat with the guests, Gajurdo approached.

“My congratulations for reaching your fiftieth birthday.” A churlish smile broke out over Gajurdo’s face, a sloppy mask that hardly hid his schemer’s heart.

“Ah yes, I am glad you’ve come. We have prepared a feast, so please enjoy yourself.”

“I will indeed enjoy the fare. Especially that of the former associate head chef from that very famous restaurant in the capital, mm?”

As they shared pleasantries, I saw Gran’s hand balling into a fist. I understood how he felt, but I couldn’t let them begin to brawl here. We didn’t have any proof that one of Gajurdo’s henchmen had hurt Botts. We couldn’t find any witnesses either, because no one had been near the site of the attack. Even if the situation seemed suspect, we couldn’t lodge a complaint. All we could do was wait. It was surely vexing for old Gran.

When it was getting close to the official start time of the party, I saw Leonardo whisper into Gran’s ear.

“Did something happen?” I asked Gran.

“Several people are missing. People who seemed sympathetic to me.”

“They promised to come,” added Leonardo.

“You think it’s Gajurdo?”

“It’s unclear. We don’t have the time for this right now.”

They might have been threatened or harmed—that was another possibility. Still, the fact remained that people who had been sympathetic to Gran were absent. But we didn’t have time to worry about people who weren’t in attendance. It was time for the party to start.

Gran brought Leonardo along with him and welcomed his guests. “Thank you very much for attending my birthday party while you’ve all been so busy.” Simple, clear words of gratitude. “We have prepared some victuals, so please take your time enjoying yourselves.”

Once Gran and Leonardo finished their address, the food was brought in. Since everyone was standing for the party, they couldn’t serve people individually. Instead, the maids lined the table at the center of the gathering with food. Every dish looked and smelled delectable—well befitting the head chef of the palace.

One of the maids brought a drink to me, so I accepted the glass. With the food set out and the orchestra playing, the attendees began to enjoy themselves and start up conversations.

They greeted those they knew, along with Gran and the Salbards. Some also greeted me.

“Why, isn’t it Master Cliff? It has been some time.”

I nodded. “Since the king’s birthday festival, has it not?”

A local aristocrat had come to greet me. With our pleasantries exchanged, the noble went on to see the next person. He was neutral in the dispute, keeping his distance from both the Fahrengrams and the Salbards. They should’ve been trying to win him over, but it was likely difficult. The same held true for the Salbards. What we knew, then, was that the man couldn’t be bought…which made him a potential trustworthy ally.

When I looked over at Gran, he was with Leonardo greeting each noble and their wives, one by one. It looked like they were making a positive impression, but I couldn’t know for certain. Gran and Leonardo’s bargaining abilities were being tested. What I needed to do was show that the Fochrosé family was with the Fahrengrams. That might give Gran an advantage in negotiations. I didn’t know how much sway my name would have in a place like this, but it was better than nothing.

 

Once the pleasantries were over, I looked for my daughter and found her eating with Misana.

I told Noa to stick close by her friend, especially since Salbard’s thickheaded son might try approaching her. It was much better than allowing Misana to be on her own. As for Gajurdo’s son, he was with three other children and seemed to be enjoying a meal. I thought he might attempt some mischief, but that seemed to be a needless fear at the moment.

I really wanted Yuna to stay by Misana’s side, but she turned down an invitation to the party. I suppose that it was likely she’d invite trouble, with that bear outfit of hers. Did she ever take that thing off? The image of her as a bear was overtaking my image of her as a girl. I couldn’t visualize her as anything else.

 

Although the son was behaving, Gajurdo was causing quite the commotion with his never-ending short, polite, and meaningful pleasantries. It was even worse than I expected. The sheer number of allies he seemed to have might be enough to even turn neutral actors into allies of the Salbards.

That had always been a possibility, and I advised Gran not to let the Salbards come. Unfortunately, he’d already sent an invitation. I wish he’d consulted me sooner.

“Regardless of how I feel about him, he is still a feudal lord of the town. It’s not as though I can refuse to invite him,” Gran told me. But he could’ve made up an excuse to leave the Salbards out. Tell them that this was an intimate party, perhaps, to be attended only by close friends. There were plenty of excuses to be had.

“If I invite the local aristocrats and even you, Cliff, then I cannot create an excuse to not invite the Salbards.”

Although I understood where Gran was coming from, I couldn’t agree with it. A single blunder, and the power balance would solidify here. Those who were neutral would likely soon pick their most advantageous…and probably at this very party.

A party that had already begun. There was no point in complaining that Gran invited Salbard. The only thing we could do was show that there were more who favored the Fahrengrams.

 

We were midway through the party when new plates were being brought in.

“I can’t bear it anymore. What is this food?” I looked to see who had shouted—it was Gajurdo himself. “How dare the Fahrengrams serve such terrible fare at a party!”

The party went quiet. ‘Terrible fare?’ What a joke. He was enjoying his meal just a moment ago. Still, it wasn’t a good idea to let Gajurdo keep running his mouth.

“Is the food I prepared not to your taste?” Gran addressed him.

“I should say. I heard you hired the associate head chef from a famous restaurant in the capital. What a disappointment. Unless you had a different chef serve us?”

A vulgar smile broke out over his face. Yes, he knew. He knew that our chef was injured. We had no proof, but Gajurdo was behind the attack I was certain of it.

“We did indeed have a different chef cook for us. He rivals Botts in skill.”

“Oh, so you had a different chef? Is that why this food is so thoroughly revolting?” He ate a spoonful of soup, then grimaced. His toadies began to murmur, picking at the food.

“It really is quite lacking.”

“Yes, the seasoning is second rate. No, I’d say this must be a third-rate chef.”

I wanted to shout to them: “That didn’t stop you from scarfing it down!” But the anger died down. Things turned out like Yuna had anticipated, after all.

Yuna mentioned it before the party even started. She advised us about several possible patterns of behavior, telling us that he might put rubbish or bugs in the food or claim, that it was terrible. I never heard of anything so cowardly happening at an aristocrat’s party before.

However, it had gone precisely as Yuna had told us. Which meant we had a plan to address it.

I looked at the door—there stood Master Zelef.

According to Yuna, we couldn’t let him walk right in. He had to make a show of it. Master Zelef readily accepted the idea. (“That seems like quite the entertaining prospect!”) After that, Yuna had coached Master Zelef on how to act. I had no idea where the girl picked up these things. A mysterious bear indeed.

“It seems the Fahrengrams have truly fallen into decline if this was the best food you could serve for a party.”

Scattered laughter among the toadies. Those watching from afar had no idea what to do and simply watched. That was when Master Zelef, who had been on standby, entered.

Perhaps I was seeing things, but I swear I could see—below Master Zelef’s smile—a boiling rage.