Fairy Tale Chronicles

So, where’s her hideout?」

Ignoring Mark’s loud protest, Avin got back on track. Seeing this, Mark had decided that he would only be teased more no matter what he said. So, little Mark-O sat quietly.

「I was thinkin’ the workshop. It’s pretty hard to break into right now.」

「A workshop that’s safer than here? That’s some irony.」

「We don’t got pests walking around over there.」

In a little less than a month of the Japanese party renting the workshop, it’s defenses had surpassed the average fortress. Anyone that wasn’t on the “whitelist” or had been invited in properly would be welcomed by all sorts of creative traps, courtesy of Mio blending her high-level skills as a craftswomen and trap-artist. In fact, there were ridiculously powerful barriers set around the parameters to begin with.

The rushed defense systems that they scrambled to improve when they had to protect the two VIPs, Elena and Aearis. Funny how the defense system (which they thought were useless now with the princesses at their residence) would come in handy after the fact.

「I could set it up for Lord Layotte and Princess Elena… And Elle’s room too, if ya like?」

「Not a good idea for Layotte and Elena, but Aearis might need it.」

「How ’bout y’all just make up an excuse so Elle stays the night at Haruna-san’s room?」

「I see. From their point of view, it’s the perfect opportunity where two of their targets converge. They may suspect a trap, but they’re running out of time I doubt they’ll have any other option but to bite. What’s better for them, the perfect scapegoats are right here.」

And so, the party cemented their plans.

「Then we’ll have Doul and Rayna-san go back there too. I’ll stay in Haruna-san room here as a decoy.」

「W-Wait a minute! You’re going to be alone where assassins could strike tonight!? Don’t you think that’s too dangerous!?」

「I think it might be better with just me. Can’t expect ’em knights to be too quiet.」

「Still, that isn’t something you should do, Hiroshi-sama!」

After listening through to the conversation where no one seemed to know who was who’s bait, the Head Priest left to take care of things. Mark had given up on interjecting with logic, and started discussing logistics with Avin. Watching them, each member of the party returned to fulfil their role. Things were just getting heated up.

Elena’s head servant, Oria, wasn’t sure what to make of her emotions.

(How am I struggling this much to control my emotions…?)

Without being told by Elena, she was aware that her attitude towards Hiroshi (and the rest of the Japanese party) was unacceptable for her position. Every time an examination is coming up, she would consciously prepare herself to act in a way that would not embarrass her mistress, the princess. But when the time came, all she could do was hang onto her sanity by a thread, as her gushing hatred attempted to overwhelm her.

Sure, Oria had some reservations about Elena leaving without her to be treated. But that all dissipated once she saw Elena return healthy, albeit skinnier than before.

She felt a change within her when she was introduced to Hiroshi as Elena’s physician, the day after the ball. It wasn’t that she was repulsed by him, and he didn’t have a stuck-up attitude. If anything, her impression of Hiroshi should have been a pleasant one. The moment Oria saw him, however, she nearly clocked him the face, instinctively.

Shocked by her own urge to do so, she bottled it in throughout the examination. However, she couldn’t conceal all of her unexplained hatred. After the examination, she was about to ask Elena to keep her off duty until she could cool her head. When she opened her mouth, the rage that she thought had been resolved erupted again, spewing unreasonable complaints instead of her intended proposal.

(It’s like my heart doesn’t belong to me anymore…)

When she didn’t cross paths with the visitors, she could perform her duties without issue or rush of emotion. But as soon as she saw one of the guests (Hiroshi and Haruna, especially) inexplicable anger and hatred consumed her, flooding her mind with urges to do things that should be unthinkable. All of her self-control was spent keeping her from enacting those things, leaving her unable to bottle in her emotions on top of that.

Perhaps she had been afflicted without her knowledge. Judging by the pieces of tales she had heard, an afflicted person usually had no knowledge of it. While Oria would be the exception, since she was aware of her changes. With this possibility in mind, Oria had herself purified in the temple, but she felt no changes. She also had herself checked for any curses, and there were none.

After Elena’s second examination here, Elena had apparently sensed the situation and gave Oria some time off. The problem was, Oria had no other ideas to go on. She couldn’t return to serve Elena without solving this issue. Her only options were to quit or be fired. However, she wasn’t confident that she could even go through with quitting.

(Something irreversible is going to happen. I have to do something, quick.)

Stewing in her conundrum, Oria looked around her room. Almost hoping that some strange object in her room was controlling her mind.

What she didn’t realize was that an unfamiliar, black vase was sitting on her desk. An unassuming, unfamiliar, black vase.

(That conniving little…)

The Marquis Roano was gritting his teeth through his plastered-on smile. His scheme to tank the reputation of the Japanese party stood no chance against the elaborate desserts like pudding a la modes, roll cakes, and Mixy Twirlies, along with some quality-of-life inventions like the massage chair, all distributed by the Japanese party to earn favors.

These treats, while they may seem trivial, proved to be quite effective. Coupled with the fact that the party went door to door delivering these themselves, and even taught them how to make the treats while providing gossip from quarters that these people could rarely access. Who wouldn’t welcome these visitors with open arms? The Japanese party had boosted reputation in the castle, corner-to-corner. That couldn’t be brought down so easily. Recently, they had gifted the office worker with a painstakingly detailed pen and calculator, along with massage chairs in every break room. Their fan base was rapidly growing, thanks to the boost in the people’s quality of life these gifts brought on.

The royal guards always judged character by combat prowess. They would have never looked down on anyone who could take down a Wyvern to begin with. All in all, no one would dislike people who prepared plenty of potions and equipment that each department was dreaming of (albeit by using the materials in the castle).

Things would have been different if the Japanese party was simply trying to buy their reputation, but Hiroshi and Mio had used their engineering to solve problems that people around the castle were complaining about while chatting over some Japanese snacks in their break time. In addition, they had provided ways to craft and maintain the items (if it was simple enough) so the people wouldn’t miss the Japanese party for a while when it came to these items.

The only ones left to take the Roano family’s negative rumors at face value were the nobles already on their side, or those that wouldn’t bother to and wouldn’t have the chance to go see the Japanese party on their own to verify those rumors. In fact, spreading any rumors often resulted in being mocked or disrespected in return. Roano had never before felt such utter defeat against material goods.

「In any case, you’ve been making quite a name for yourself.」

「I only wish that I could do more to repay our debts, here.」

Haruna answered with sublime humility to Roano’s flattery. Even as she ate, she demonstrated impeccable table etiquette while never making it look like she didn’t enjoy the food. She would speak to the servers and cooks from time to time to ask about the food or cooking method, and discussing alternative ingredients or methods. Despite being on enemy grounds, Haruna seemed only to be having a nice dinner. Just to tick her off, Roano had instructed the cooks to include some dishes that required specific techniques to eat, but Haruna didn’t even hesitate as she ate them all naturally. Roano couldn’t make so much as a snide comment.

「Speaking of, Haruna. How many times have you had an official course meal in Farlane?」

Said Avin, who had been cheerfully expressing his appetite for Haruna’s idea of one of the dishes as she was explaining it to a cook.

「Let me see… This is my fifth, actually. I have only been here for two months, and we always experimented at home to try and combine the best parts of the food and dishes in Farlane with those from my home, rather than eating out at all.」

Several glares were shot at Haruna. As if to say, Just a peasant adventurer, after all. Flawlessly ignoring those stares, Haruna and Avin continued:

「Come to think of it, Elena and Aearis always tell me that everything you make is delightful. In fact, the dishes of yours I have tasted were comparable to a traditional full-course meal.」

「I’m very happy to hear that, My Lord. But a traditional, high-class meal like this looks and taste much better than my meagre imitations. With what we have right now, I could never…」

「Don’t be so humble. To be honest, I would love to have, at least, one of your dishes served at Prisea and my wedding.」

Avin said, honestly, and Haruna responded with an ambivalent “If you wouldn’t mind an adventurer in the kitchen.”

「Do you mean it? You’ll cook at my wedding, if your schedule allows?」

「As an adventurer with an unstable future, I can’t make any promises, but…」

「I’m already looking forward to what exotic foods you’ll be cooking, then.」

「As am I. I think we’ve overdone Wyvern by now, so we’ll have something else ready. I’ve heard rumors about Garbarensia and its flavors. Would that be something well-suited for the occasion?」

Haruna made this outlandish proposal, nonchalantly. With equaled nonchalance, Avin answered “that sounds lovely.” Garbarensia, by the way, is a field boss like Piaranork, and is more powerful than a Wyvern. It’s appearance resembles a giant lion (of over 15 meters) with seven tails, each equipped with a special ability. The difficulty to both hunt and cook the Garbarensia is far beyond that of the Wyvern, but Haruna had heard several accounts in-game that the taste of Garbarensia was superior even to the best cut of the best Wagyu beef in the country.

Truth be told, it wasn’t a creature she could take on solo. Still, it was just a field boss. With their current party (and their equipment) they could easily go for an insta-kill without the element of surprise. At Haruna’s skill level in the kitchen, cooking it was no different from any other ingredient.

Of course, the room couldn’t help but murmur upon hearing this girl mention Garbarensia as if it was any old food from the market.

「Overdone, you say? No more Wyvern meat, then?」

「Not even close. There’s not enough of us to finish off a creature 10 meters long. I just feel like we’ve just about tried every dish we could think of.」

「I see. So you still have the Wyvern bone broth left?」

「We still have the bones, so we can make many more batches.」

The rest of the room fell speechless. Wyvern bone broth? Any chef that they knew of with the prowess to cook a Wyvern had all become hermits out in the countryside. A common factor among them, per say, were the reasons given for their decisions. They were all… well, reasons like “I’m tired of the glitz and glamor” or “I’m tired of cooking monsters.”

At the end of the day, the adventurer party were simply eating better food than royalty in this country did on a daily basis.