Chapter 43: Scotch Egg

Chapter 43:
Scotch Egg

Emilio, a young apprentice priest who served the Lord of Red, stood nervously before the woman in the large stone chair.

“You are most welcome here. I’m truly happy that you’ve come,” Lucia said with an elegant smile.

Although she was older than Emilio’s mother, the skin of Lucia’s face was not marked by a single wrinkle. In fact, at her age, she was still an utterly infatuating woman, with her thin silk robes gracefully hugging the curves of her body. She was a priestess of the Lord of Red, but not just any priestess. There were few who worshipped the Lord of Red who did not know her: Lucia was the great priestess herself, the current leader of the religion.

Lucia was like a queen of sorts to this region’s followers of the Lord of Red. Though she was over fifty years of age, she still retained her great beauty—and thanks to the power of her belief, she was able to take the form of a dragon. In the many battles against the followers of the other Lords, Lucia had been an unstoppable force on the battlefield.

Not only was she herself incredibly accomplished, she came from a long line of distinguished ancestors. She was the descendant of a family bloodline that produced many illustrious priests and priestesses across the ages. Over a thousand years ago, when the non-believer long-eared barbarians invaded from the north, wielding magical weapons, it was Lucia’s ancestors who had transformed into dragons and soared through the skies, burning down the invaders in droves. Even the priests of the Holy Shell Shrine could not ignore their powers.

“Th-thank you very much. It’s an h-honor to be allowed to t-train here,” Emilio replied to the great priestess. He hoped he was conveying how hugely grateful he was for the opportunity.

Emilio was more than aware that as a follower of the Lord of Red, he was still woefully unskilled. He wasn’t a high-ranking priest. He certainly was not talented enough to be given the opportunity to train here by someone as incredible as the woman before him.

I knew it. I…

Emilio felt the dark thoughts creeping up on him. He may have been an untalented priest, yet there was one attribute he possessed that no other did.

A form like a beautiful young girl.

It was a gift that Emilio didn’t need, especially since all he wished for was to become more manly.

Emilio had been subjected to many romantic confessions—from both men who knew he was a man, and men who didn’t quite realize it. He had also been on the receiving end of much jealousy from women who coveted his beauty.

He had tried to shave his hair and wear more masculine clothing, but none of that had made a difference. People saw him as a pretty girl, and that was that.

So when Lucia saw his beauty and spoke to him, it gave Emilio pause.

But the great priestess laughed kindly. “Worry not,” she said. “I see the potential in you…”

Whether or not she could sense Emilio’s inner insecurities, Lucia flashed a beautiful smile, gently caressing the small, feminine boy. Not with her hands, but with her incredibly long tail.

***

Indeed, humans were not the only race that worshiped the gods with fervor. As long as one had the intelligence, culture, and desire to do so, any being could follow the path of belief.

Lucia herself was one of these nonhumans who worshiped the Lord of Red. She was a lamia. Far stronger than humans, the upper bodies of these beings resembled those of human women, yet their lower bodies were huge snake tails. Lamia were considered to be the race most closely related to the gods, the strongest living creatures in the world. They could take the form of dragons and were also extremely intelligent and magically talented.

Even the lamia who weren’t priestesses were stronger than your average human warrior. That the lamia were able to get along peaceably with humanity was the result of a unique quality inherent to the race.

All lamia were born as women.

As a race of only females, when lamia came of age, they sought out mates from another race in order to have children. Once they received the seed of, let’s say, a human, they would then give birth to an egg that would eventually hatch into a lamia girl.

And so, if the lamia cut themselves off from the human race, they would face annihilation.

One needed only look to the great northern continent for proof. According to travelers, the barbaric non-believer lamia who made their home there lived in a tiny village composed of mothers and daughters. There, they would kidnap humans against their will, give birth to their children, and dispose of their functionless partners. As a result, the lamia were viewed as dangerous creatures and were on the verge of extinction.

Lamia elsewhere were more than aware of this situation and so they sought friendly relations with their human counterparts. Occasionally, they would even take in people like Emilio as “trainees.” That said, there hadn’t been a single female trainee in over a thousand years.

***

Lucia took her place next to Emilio, bringing her lips close to his face, almost as if she were whispering sweet nothings into his ears.

“Now come… Today is a special day. I’ll lead you to the sacred land myself.”

“Th-the sacred land?” Emilio stuttered.

“Yes, that’s correct. It’s a special place to us. Hopefully it will become one to you as well. I welcome you from the bottom of my heart, Emilio. I want you to truly understand that I tell no lies when I speak to you.”

Lucia still smiled as she continued to talk to the somewhat confused Emilio. And then she began to move, and he followed, almost as though she were pulling him along.

Look, that’s the one Lady Lucia spoke of.

Wow, how wonderful! Lady Lucia certainly has an eye for quality.

Oh, my, are they going to…? Ah, that’s right! Today is the Day of Satur, is it not?

The pair made their way through the lamia settlement, which had been designed to hold many times the weight of the average human. Emilio could hear the voices of women talking about him; they were like birds chirping at one another.

E-everyone’s looking at me.

Feeling so many eyes tracking him was extremely unsettling. Nonetheless, Emilio continued to follow Lucia. Eventually, the great priestess came to a halt; they had arrived at their destination.

“We’re here. This is the sacred land… A place that guards something incredibly special.”

Lucia turned to Emilio and revealed what looked, at first glance, like a simple cavern.

The entrance was cracked reddish stone, opened up to the world outside. But there were no decorations or signs that it was maintained like a shrine might have been. It was just a natural cavern.

Emilio looked upon the entrance. “This is… No, I see. I can feel the strength of the fire coming from inside. Its power…”

Emilio was certain that Lucia’s words were true: this was sacred land. He sensed the divine powers of the Lord of Red.

Lucia looked at Emilio, her eyes happily narrowing “Right? Let me take you inside.” The great priestess began guiding him inside the cavern.

“Thank you very much,” Emilio said. He nodded his head and followed after her, unable to contain his curiosity.

***

They hadn’t gone far into the cavern when they came to an open space.

As they crossed, human and lamia, to its far side, Emilio was suddenly struck by the meaning of Lucia’s words.

The identity of the item the cavern contained.

Before them was a giant red scale sunken deep into the ground.

“I understand now. So the special thing you mentioned was…”

The Lord of Red must have shed the scale from her body when she did battle with the Lord of Chaos.

And he noticed something else, too. The space around the scale was occupied by dozens of lamia.

“Yes, this is the special thing I mentioned…and it is a place to protect my children,” Lucia quietly said, casting her gaze at her fellow lamia curled up all across the open area.

Emilio could see they were soon to be mothers; the lamia women were all coiled around white eggs, each about the size of a human baby.

“It’ll be about three seasons until these girls hatch,” Lucia said. “Until then, all of the mothers spend most of their days here in this place filled with the energies of our lord.”

Lucia made her way to one of the young women, who glanced up as she approached.

“Ah, Grandmother, what is it?” she asked the great priestess, all the while coiled around her egg.

“Rest easy, Lumia. Today I’ve brought a guest.”

“A guest? Oh, my. Welcome to our sacred land. My name is Lumia. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Priest.”

She gracefully bowed her head to Emilio.

“And so, Lumia, I’m fairly certain today is your day to go…” Lucia began.

“Don’t worry, Grandmother,” Lumia interrupted, catching on to what the great priestess was requesting of her. The young lamia smiled. “In exchange…”

“But of course,” Lucia smiled knowingly in turn.

“Um? What’s going on?”

Emilio sensed he was the only one present who couldn’t follow the conversation.

“Fear not. You will understand soon enough,” Lucia explained. She smiled still as she led him deeper into the cavern, only to stop again further down the way.

Emilio tilted his head in confusion. “Huh? Why is there a door here?”

Why in the blazes was there a door made of oak wood in the middle of a cavern?

This place had been left untouched by outside forces, perhaps because of its status as a divine space. Yet here was a well-kept door, clearly made by some talented craftsman.

Lucia laughed softly at the boy’s bewilderment. “Over ten years ago, our lord bestowed this door upon us. It connects us to the land of the gods.”

The great priestess gently placed her hand on the golden handle.

She turned it and opened the door. And then the sound of ringing bells filled the air.

“Whoa! Wh-what the?!”

As soon as the door opened, Emilio let out a cry of shock. He was engulfed in the power of the Lord of Red, but not just any power. The energies in the air far right now surpassed even those of the shell within the Holy Shell Shrine.

Emilio had never felt the presence of the Lord of Red as strongly as he did in this very moment.

“Prepare yourself,” Lucia warned Emilio, recalling the first time she had entered the door some ten years ago, when it first appeared out of nowhere.

“Beyond this door lies the true holy land, a place that offers its visitors the food of the gods.”

Lucia felt her mouth water. Normally, only expectant mothers were allowed the privilege of feasting here. She hadn’t had many chances to savor the holy land’s delicious goods.

***

The holy land was much busier than expected.

“There sure are a lot of strange folks here.” Emilio offered up his honest impression, surveying his surroundings with curious eyes.

Sitting inside of the holy land were people wearing unfamiliar uniforms. There were small faeries and even smaller people, a man with a lion head, and a person with cat ears. There were even humans with strangely long ears. It was a collection of truly odd individuals.

“Yes. You see, this is a different world. And like us, all of these people have crossed over from our world via a door,” Lucia explained. She was making her way to an open spot, beside a priest of the Lord of Gold who had recently started frequenting the holy land. She coiled up her tail and sat.

Lucia then directed her gaze at the black-uniformed waitress before turning back to Emilio.

“Come here.”

“Yes, of course…” Emilio made his way to his seat. “Excuse me, Sir Priest.”

“Mm.”

The imposing priest of the Lord of Gold was munching on some kind of confection made of kumaala.

“Welcome! Have you decided on your order yet?”

A beast girl with goat horns appeared before them like she had been waiting in the wings.

“Yes. As usual, we’d like an order of scotch eggs, please. Oh, and make half of them hard-boiled, the other half soft-boiled. As for our sides, we’ll have bread, thank you. And we’ll be ordering more to go. Could we get a pack of twenty made the same way as I just asked? Is that all right with you, Emilio?”

“Yes, I leave it in your hands,” Emilio said, turning bright red as Lucia flashed her beautiful smile his way once more.

“Thank you very much! Here’s your water!”

The waitress gracefully placed two glass cups filled with water before them on the table and disappeared into the back.

Lucia watched Emilio’s eyes dart around the room.

“Is it all that strange?” she asked.

“Well, yes…” Emilio said. “This is the Lord of Red’s holy land, correct? But it looks more like some sort of dining establishment.”

The decor of the room was as mysterious to him as the guests occupying it. Though this was the holy land of the Lord of Red, Emilio and Lucia seemed to be the only ones present who worshipped her.

Right beside them, for instance, was clearly a priest of the Lord of Gold, judging by his clothes. At another table were four women in strange garments, giving off the energies of the power of light. They were almost undoubtedly priestesses of the Lord of White.

He could even sense the presence of the Lord of Black. Was this really, then, the Lord of Red’s holy land?

“Yes, you’re correct,” Lucia said. “This is in fact the domain of the Lord of Red. As for why, well… The Lord of Red herself frequents this very establishment.”

Lucia thought back on that day ten years ago. It had been the very first time in her life that she was truly stunned beyond words. She thought of the moment with great fondness and nostalgia.

Meanwhile, this truth bomb sunk in for Emilio.

“What?! The Lord of Red herself?!”

Emilio managed to swallow back any words that might imply he didn’t believe Lucia. In front of him was the honorable great priestess of the Lord of Red. Someone of her prowess, never mind your average priest or priestess, would never lie when it came to matters concerning their lord.

“That’s right. And it’s all because the food here is positively delicious. Fortunately, she only visits late in the evening, so until then, why don’t we enjoy ourselves?”

“Y-yes, of course!”

Emilio, still panicked by Lucia’s explanation, nodded his head vigorously. Being able to meet the Lord of Red herself would be an unbelievable honor, but it was also too heavy a burden for him to bear. None of this felt real at all.

As they spoke, Lucia spotted a middle-aged man. It was the master of the restaurant, carrying over their food.

“Excellent. Shall we eat then?”

“Sorry for the wait, folks.” The master lightly placed the plates of food down on the table.

“Here are your scotch eggs!”

On top of the white plate was a host of lush green vegetables and red sauce accompanying some kind of meat dish. There was also a small container filled with more of the sauce’s red juice.

The scotch egg on one side of the plate was cut in half, revealing the thinly diced meats and the yellow and white insides. The egg on the other side maintained its round form, sizzling still.

Next to those eggs was a bowl of colorful soup and another brown dish that Emilio couldn’t identify. He only knew that the aroma coming off of it was positively delectable.

“This all looks incredible.”

Emilio was at a loss before this mouth-watering display.

“I’ll bring your takeout orders and tequila when you’re ready to go home. Enjoy!”

The master then vanished, leaving behind Emilio and Lucia surrounded by their plates of steaming food.

“Shall we dig in?” Lucia gazed down at the food. When she looked back up at the excited boy her smile deepened.

“O-of course.”

And so the feast began.

“Ah! This is amazing…”

The first thing Emilio reached for had a surface that was well baked and crispy, while the insides were fluffy and sweet. He’d never tasted anything like it before and couldn’t help but be impressed.

“That’s called ‘bread,’” Lucia explained. “It’s apparently made by taking a kind of plant called wheat, grinding it into powder, and baking it.”

“Wow, wheat, eh? Not corn?” Emilio directed his attention down at the bread in his hands.

Emilio’s people usually ate foods made from cornstarch, kneaded in water and then steamed. The fact that he was tasting something so different was enough to convince him of this place’s otherworldly nature.

“Now, now.” Lucia laughed. “I know the bread is delightful, but make sure you try the scotch eggs!”

“All right,” the boy said. “Don’t mind if I do…”

Taking Lucia’s advice, Emilio turned his attention to the scotch eggs. One of them had been cut in half, steam rising from its yellow and white insides. The cooked meat surrounding the egg was brown like the bread he had just eaten.

Emilio took a bite of one of the eggs, its insides resembling the growth ring in a cut tree.

Whoa…

After biting through the aromatic surface, he could immediately taste the meat below. It had been salted and seasoned perfectly, bringing out the savoriness of the fatty meat and the sweetness of the vegetables.

But that wasn’t all; Emilio could taste the boiled egg. It was ever so lightly salted, fusing tightly with the savory flavor of the meat to form a singular experience.

After watching Emilio slowly swallow down the scotch egg, Lucia deepened her smile and asked the boy for his impressions.

“Is it to your liking?”

“Yes, it’s spectacular! Incredibly so.” Emilio smiled.

“I knew you’d like it. But that’s not all there is to a scotch egg, you see. Next you should try it with that chili sauce… Er, the red juice right there.”

“Okay!”

Emilio once again did as Lucia suggested, pouring just a dab of sauce onto the egg before eating it. Immediately he covered his mouth with his hands.

What the?! It’s so hot!

Indeed, the red juice was in fact both hot and sour. It was clearly a fusion of marmett and chili pepel. By itself, one would be hard-pressed to call it delicious.

But like this, it’s…!

Emilio continued to drive his fork into the scotch egg, dabbing a bit more of the red juice on top of it before eating.

Delicious!

The red juice added a spicy sourness to the relatively simple flavor of the egg and meat. It elevated the scotch egg to a different tier of tastiness. Like the countless lamia who were entranced by its immaculate flavor, Emilio, too, fell under its spell.

“I’m so glad you like it,” Lucia smiled. She turned to eat her portion before they grew cold, relieved by Emilio’s reaction.

And so for a time, only the sounds of forks clanking could be heard coming from their table.

“Next up is the ‘soft-boiled’ scotch egg,” Lucia said to Emilio. They had already made their way through the hard-boiled scotch eggs that had been sliced in half.

“You mean these uncut ones?” Prompted by Lucia’s words, Emilio looked down at the remaining brown egg-shaped objects on the plate. Judging by the shape, it seemed like they must also have been scotch eggs.

“Why haven’t these been cut in two?”

“You’ll find out once you cut them for yourself,” Lucia answered softly. “Now go ahead, cut into it with that knife over there.”

“Okay.”

Emilio picked up the radiant silver knife, pressing it into one of the scotch eggs. It gave no resistance whatsoever, its yellow insides oozing out onto the plate.

“Huh? Wh-whoa! This is…”

After recovering from his surprise, Emilio realized what it was he was looking at.

“That’s right. The yellow yolk hasn’t hardened,” Lucia said.

So that was why they couldn’t come precut.

“Go ahead and eat up… Us lamia have struggled to determine which of the two types of scotch eggs is most delicious.” Lucia urged Emilio to dig in with a smile on her face.

Taking a bite of one of the soft-boiled scotch eggs, Emilio immediately understood why the lamia had so much trouble making that decision. While the yellow yolk of the egg hadn’t yet hardened, it was far from raw. The rich egg flavor coming from the yolk turned out to be the best possible seasoning for the meat.

“Right…I see. This really is hard to compare.”

The egg yolk could be enjoyed on its own or eaten together with the meat. Regardless of how one chose to enjoy it, it tasted incredible.

And so silence once again descended over their table as they dug into their (now soft-boiled) scotch eggs. Before long the dish was finished, and they were using bread to soak up the remaining bits of egg yolk and red juice.

Emilio sighed. “Phew, that was incredible.”

“Wasn’t it just? I’m so glad you enjoyed it all,” Lucia said to her dining companion. He was a thin boy, but he had a healthy appetite.

A little while later, the master appeared, a brown paper bag full of scotch eggs in hand.

“Sorry for the wait! Here’s your order of scotch eggs to go.”

Next to him was a young girl clad in an all-black uniform, holding a bottle of what looked to be some sort of liquor.

“Thank you oh so very much. As always, it was just delightful.”

Lucia expressed her gratitude to the master and took the bag filled with treats for those who could not come with her to the restaurant. With her long fingers, she passed him a handful of silver coins.

The lamia then glanced again at the black-clad girl, feeling a cold chill run down her spine. It made her fingers tremble. Nonetheless, she furrowed her beautiful brow and took the bottle from her.

The master took the silver coins from her and shoved them into his pocket after a quick count.

“Thank you very much! We’re looking forward to your next visit!”

“Indeed. I shall return. Now come, Sir Emilio.”

“Of course.”

The pair passed through the door, their stomachs and hearts full.

“Welcome home, Lady Lucia!” The lamia waiting beyond in the cavern, resting with their eggs, greeted their leader in unison. They gazed fiercely at the bag in Lucia’s hands.

“Hee hee.”

Emilio and Lucia’s eyes met, and they smiled at one another.

***

And so Emilio’s days of peaceful training were coming to an end. Little did the boy know on that fateful day Lucia had sensed his innate talents. Eventually she would help him to master his great potential and gain the ability to transform into a dragon. He would go on to sire ten “daughters” with Lucia’s grandchildren and become a famous priest in his own right.