In Duchess Alba’s dining room, a water magician sipped his coffee like a soldier enjoying his battlefield victory. However, he couldn’t get the question about the ramen out of his head. The dish wasn’t usually re-created in many isekai stories because of the difficulty of making the noodles. Ramen noodles are made by mixing wheat flour with kansui, an alkaline mineral water, giving them a distinct taste and texture from udon or soba noodles. Kansui, however, is a synthetic compound, making it extremely difficult to obtain in a fantasy world...
While curry often appeared in isekai stories, ramen did not—at least as far as Ryo knew. Maybe it would’ve been better to say it was rare...
Yet, nevertheless, Ryo had encountered it here in this story out of nowhere. It was truly a mystery.
“Master Ryo, is something wrong?” Agnes asked beside him, pulling Ryo from his meandering thoughts.
“Oh, no.” Ryo decided to simply be honest. “I was just wondering who made that ramen...”
“Tee hee.” Agnes was obviously delighted by his question. “Curious, are we? I’ll tell you. The recipe was personally created by Lord Shinso.”
“Well, this Lord Shinso is a genius!”
“I knew you’d agree! You can recognize his greatness from a single dish.”
Agnes looked genuinely pleased to hear him praise this mysterious innovator. Even an oaf like Ryo could tell she liked the man. And seeing a beautiful woman in love and enjoying her life was usually heartwarming—even if you weren’t the object of her affection. But sometimes, it could sting a little...
Later, while Agnes and Ryo chatted, the butler came to deliver a small piece of paper to Agnes. She read it and her expression clouded for a second, but she quickly schooled her features and tossed the paper into the fireplace.
“Master Ryo,” she said, “I actually have a favor to ask of you.”
“How can I help?”
After being treated to such delicious ramen, he naturally wanted to fulfill her wish as best he could.
“Please stay here for a while longer.”
Ryo tilted his head, confused. “I’m sorry? What do you mean?”
He’d asked out of pure curiosity, but the second the words left his mouth, Ryo’s brain automatically analyzed all the bits of data he had consciously and unconsciously acquired. He remembered that Phelps had said the political situation in Twilightland was growing more unsavory with each day, and that a civil war was looming. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he, Abel, and the other members of the delegation were separated today.
“I’m guessing a civil war has broken out,” Ryo said. “Or should I say a coup d’état...”
Coup d’état is a French phrase, so Agnes likely didn’t understand what Ryo meant. However, she understood that Ryo suspected something.
“I can guarantee your safety if you stay,” she replied, her expression growing despondent, “and I swear to release you once this is over, but if you are truly intent on leaving...”
“Then what?”
“Then you give me no choice.”
Agnes snapped her fingers, and a smothering sense of unease fell over Ryo. He’d experienced the same sensation, first with the one-eyed assassin hawk, then with BeheBehe, then again at the Sect’s village...
“No...” he muttered. “Don’t tell me... Magical nullification?”
Agnes couldn’t conceal her surprise. “How do you know?”
“I’m the one who’s supposed to be shocked. Hm, so this must be alchemy...”
I can’t believe someone other than Hassan can create a magic-nullifying field using alchemy.
“Let’s just say that I’m passionate about the discipline. Present circumstances notwithstanding, I’d love to see the magic formula...” Ryo said.
“Unfortunately, that is impossible. It is a special one that Lord Shinso made just for me.”
“The man really is a genius...”
First ramen and now a magic-nullifying field? What a talent.
“Do you see now? There’s no denying you’re a rare, exceptional magician, Master Ryo. For the last century, Central Province magicians have been under the impression that they needed to use incantations to activate their spells. But not you, and yet here you are all the same, powerless within this nullified space...”
“Lady Agnes, when did you ever see me use magic?”
“I won’t lie to you.” She sighed deeply and lifted her head. “It was when you fought the Sect’s assassins.”
“I see...”
At the time, he hadn’t noticed anyone else in the five-hundred-meter radius around him, so she and her comrades must’ve been watching outside that range or used something to conceal their presence.
Suddenly, Ryo recalled something Agnes had said earlier: “For the last century, Central Province magicians have been under the impression that they needed to use incantations to activate their spells...”
Hold on... Haven’t I heard something like this before...?
Trawling through his memory, Ryo found his answer.
“Kalinikos, Earl Haskill.”
Agnes flinched in response, which was the final piece of the puzzle.
“Lady Agnes... This is the nation of vampires, isn’t it?”
Judging by the shock on her face, Agnes hadn’t expected him to say that.
“How—”
“A comprehensive analysis of the information,” Ryo answered. “Your beauty was also a factor.”
At over ninety years old, someone this beautiful was probably not human...probably. Sure, that was just Ryo’s opinion, but...
“Just to be clear,” the water magician continued, “Earl Haskill didn’t sell out his compatriots.”
“Then...I take it you were there when he disappeared, Master Ryo.”
There was no reproach or blame in her words. She was merely seeking confirmation.
“I was. In the end, a Western Church clergyman took matters into his own hands...”
“Archbishop Graham,” she murmured, voice quivering ever so slightly. “No matter. While I didn’t expect you to discover this country’s secret, there’s nothing I can do about it now. But that makes it all the more difficult if you decide to leave.”
“And what if I must?”
“Then you’ll have to die,” Agnes answered, with genuine sadness on her face. “I’m loath to do so, but I have a duty to fulfill.”
“As long as I’m here, the rest of the delegation is in danger, right? They could be executed along with the archduke.”
“If I’m being honest, that’s precisely what will happen.”