Chapter 50:
Meat Tour
“HEY, FIA, DID YOU HEAR? The church plans to make an announcement about holding a new head saint selection.”
I was eating breakfast when Desmond burst into the dining hall with this news. It had been a while since he last showed up here.
I smiled, still holding a white bread roll (a favorite of mine). “No, I haven’t!”
Lloyd told me last night that they’d hold the selection soon, but the official announcement truly was news to me.
Desmond frowned for some reason, then sat before me like that was a perfectly normal thing for him to do.
“Uhh, Captain Desmond? This is the dining hall for ordinary knights. The captains’ dining hall is that way,” I said, pointing.
He ignored my polite rebuke and remained in his seat. Without so much as a word, he snatched the last roll from my tray.
“Hey, thief! Why are you stealing bread from a recruit?!”
He took my orange juice as well and, exhaustion weighing down his words, said, “Fia, I’ve hardly had a wink of sleep since yesterday because of that blasted church. Indulge me a little and let me have a snack.”
“Oh, you poor thing!” I said with genuine pity. Still, the bread and juice were all-you-could-eat, so he should have grabbed his own… Or maybe he was so exhausted he couldn’t even walk that short distance? After considering it, I offered him my meat as well, which, unlike the rest of the food, was limited. “Captain Desmond, eat some meat so you feel better!”
He pretended to wipe a tear from his dry eyes. “You’re real kind, Fia. If only you weren’t a woman, my heart would’ve skipped a beat just now. Not that I like men.”
He scarfed down a piece of meat. I figured if he could eat like that, he was probably all right. Before I knew it, nothing remained of my meat but the bones, and the bread and juice vanished entirely.
Satiated, Desmond leaned back in his chair and sized me up. “Anyway, I came by to tell you we need to postpone our plan to go eat meat in Dhital for a while.”
“Oh, that. Figures.” I had kind of forgotten, but not long ago, I promised to go do that with him. The reminder dredged up the memory of that time.
✦ ✦ ✦
About a week ago, while picking herbs within the castle grounds, Desmond stopped by.
“Out picking weeds again, Fia? Do we not pay you enough or something? Is that why you have to subsist off weeds near the end of every month?”
I planned to toss these herbs into the green healing potion spring, but he seemed to believe I planned to eat them. Thanks to the castle’s dining hall for knights, there was obviously no way I’d ever get hungry enough to resort to eating weeds.
There was wickedness in his grin, and I glared, realizing he was teasing me. There was no way he was up to anything good out here. I tensed, but to my surprise, he started talking about foreign food, of all things.
“Did you know the Holy Kingdom of Dhital has some crazy-good meat dishes?”
The reminder of food distracted me from my wariness. “Really?! Like what?”
“All kinds—grilled meat, fried meat, steamed meat! There’s a monster native to the country that apparently has incredibly delicious meat.”
“Oooh. I’d love to try that at least once!”
The Holy Kingdom of Dhital was a small country located between the Náv Kingdom and the Arteaga Empire. It didn’t exist three hundred years ago, so I never got to try their unique food in my past life. Their food had to be incredible if Desmond was going out of his way to mention it.
I thought about using my vacation time to visit some day, when out of nowhere Desmond seemed to read my mind and said, “Then why don’t we go try it together?”
“Huh?”
“I can use my authority as captain to take you to Dhital! I even got permission from Cyril already!”
For the first time in my life, I regarded Desmond with respect. Happy as could be, I replied, “Perfect! Let’s do it!”
✦ ✦ ✦
The reminder of that promise to visit Dhital and try their famous meat left me crestfallen now that it was postponed. But a trip like that, fully paid for by the knight brigade, was too good to be true anyway. I mean, why would they send a knight to another country just to eat meat?
Reading my expression, Desmond hurriedly said, “The trip is postponed, not canceled! Okay?!”
“Yeah, yeah. I know how this goes. The trip’s going to be postponed indefinitely, then canceled at a later date.”
“No!” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Look, this stays between us, but the whole reason I have to postpone is because the head saint selection thing is happening sooner than I expected! As soon as the selection’s over, I’ll be able to take you on our meat tour!”
“Huh?” I cocked my head. What could our meat tour have to do with the head saint selection?
With a frown, he explained. “So, basically, to the west of the royal capital is the royal family’s villa. Hyacinthe, the queen and current head saint, as well as Commander Saviz’s mother, lives there. She is to take part in the selection of the next head saint, so Clarissa, Quentin, and Zackary have been chosen to escort her here to the royal capital.”
“Oooh, that’s incredible!”
I heard about Hyacinthe from Fabian the other day. All around the world, they called her Náv’s great “Healing Flower.” The captains were truly lucky to get to escort someone so amazing!
Desmond shrugged and said, “I guess. But we can’t have five captains leave the royal capital at once, so we had to stagger the queen dowager’s escort and our meat tour. Of course, I also have to be in the royal capital for the duration of the selection process.”
That made sense. As the captain in charge of royal castle security, it’d be weird for him to leave at a time like this.
“They originally planned to hold the head saint selection a bit later, so I thought we had time to go on our meat tour and come back,” Desmond said. “But they moved the selection up, so the other three captains will be leaving for the royal villa first.”
“Fair enough. All we need for our meat tour is some hungry stomachs, so we can push it back as much as we need to! But isn’t it kind of disrespectful to treat the queen dowager’s escort and our meat tour as if they’re on the same level?” As I spoke, I realized a weird inconsistency in Desmond’s explanation. “Wait, you said you can’t have five captains leave the capital at once, but you plus the three headed for the villa would only equal four, right?”
“Ah, right, that’s… Okay, just between you and me? Enoch is way too scrawny. It’s been bothering him, so I promised to take him to Dhital to eat meat so he can pack on a few pounds. That’s why he’s coming along with us on our meat tour. In fact, a number of other meat-loving knights are too.”
It appeared we would be visiting Dhital as a small party. It was a personal trip, but with two captains and a slew of knights in tow, well…I could only hope no one would mistake it for official business!
Ignorant of my worries, Desmond slammed a hand on the table. “Anyway, our visit to Dhital is only postponed! Not canceled!”
“Yes, sir!” I said, matching Desmond’s positive energy.
This postponement actually worked out really well for my schedule. For the time being, business kept me near the royal castle. If Desmond had come by to say we were leaving for the Holy Kingdom of Dhital right now, I would have had to decline.
“What perfect timing! It must be fate for me to eat the Holy Kingdom’s meat one day!” As soon as I spoke, I spotted the source of my busyness standing at the entrance of the dining hall.
Desmond noticed me freeze up and turned to follow my gaze—making eye contact with Lloyd as he approached. Both men grimaced as though to say “Why are you here?”
Lloyd recovered first. With a mocking smile, he said, “Oh, Desmond. How strange to see you here. Doesn’t the captains’ dining hall serve more lavish food? Or did you want to eat breakfast with Fia that badly? Unfortunately, it seems your time with her is up, as I’ll be borrowing her now.”
“Huh? I mean, go ahead, but…” Desmond shot me a questioning look, clearly wondering why Lloyd, someone I’d hardly be expected to know, was here for me.
“Uhh, so, the other day, Duke Alcott and I—” I began, but Lloyd cut me off.
“Fia and I have become friends, Desmond. Fia, why do you feel the need to call me ‘Duke Alcott’ in front of Desmond? Are you not allowed to speak freely around him? Does he scare you?”
Silence cloaked our pocket of the dining hall as we all churned over our own thoughts. Quietly, I mumbled, “Captain Desmond isn’t scary…”