As they spoke, Ludie’s family, Ludie, and Claris bowed at us.
Inwardly screaming in fright at this show of reverence, I politely asked everyone to lift their heads, but they didn’t budge.
“Of course, I heard that you have saved Ludie countless times after that, as well. And the Hanamura family has taken good care of her. Actually, it would be more accurate to say they are taking good care of her.”
The emperor shouldn’t be bowing to anyone, right? Was this really okay? Even if it was, I was still downright terrified, so I really wanted him to lift up his head already.
“If you hadn’t been at Ludie’s side, who knows what could have befallen her… I cannot thank you enough.”
“I just happened to be at the hotel back then, really, and your daughter has also saved my skin many times at this point. Not to mention, Claris and the other maids have shown us so much hospitality, and, uh…”
As I basically just blurted out whatever thoughts came to mind, everyone finally lifted their heads.
“So, I’m just as thankful for all that Ludie’s done for me, too.”
As we thanked each other back and forth, Claris offered a tactful recommendation.
“Master Kousuke seems to be at a bit of loss, so would Your Majesty like to start the meal?”
From there, we began our lunch.
Now, I was fine with Sophia taking charge to decide on the seating, and I got why she had done so.
I could also understand putting our group across from Ludie’s family, since it allowed us to see each other while we conversed.
However, I did think it was a mistake to place Emperor Marc right across from me, where I was completely unprotected from his glares of contempt. Having Ludie sitting directly to his left was a small salvation, though.
“…H-haha, wow, this is delicious.”
His majesty nodded to my comment.
This was so awkward. It almost felt like I was being kept under watch. The emperor must have also been behind the abrupt surge of mana I’d felt when Ludie had wiped a bit of dust from my clothes.
It was Ludie’s mother, Sophia, who actually responded to my comment.
“Hee-hee, I’m glad you like it. At first, I planned on treating you all to Tréfle cuisine, but our country has some rather unique dishes…so I thought it would be better if our lunch today was mainly the Wakoku food you’re all accustomed to.”
The consideration was very welcome.
“That said though, this food is seasoned to the tastes of our people, so give it a chance.”
“Thank you, I’ll do just that.”
The Tréfle Empire was an elven country. As general nerd knowledge would suggest, elves liked vegetable-focused food. Similarly, their seasoning emphasized an ingredient’s natural flavors.
That was why I considered the elf sitting diagonally across from me—who could slurp up thick pork broth packed with garlic and oil—a rare breed.
“Kousuke? Is something the matter?”
“Crunchy stiff nood— Uh, it’s nothing.”
“Stiff, hee-hee, are you saying you’re nervous? Father, can you stop glaring at Kousuke like that?”
Hearing Ludie say this, His Majesty sighed as though offended.
“I was not glaring at all. This is how I always look.”
Ludie’s mother Sophia pushed back on his assertion.
“Oh, don’t be silly. I swear you always get like this, dear. You’re so much softer and doting when you’re talking to Lilou, and you know it.”
I had been bothered by the look he was giving me, so I appreciated her saying this. Though, actually, I would have been even more uncomfortable if Ludie’s father started doting on me.
Uh-oh, now the emperor was glaring at Sophia. I decided to follow up a bit to smooth things over.
“Well, both Lilou and Ludie are very pretty, I can understand why His Majesty might feel that way.”
However, my comment might have backfired a bit.
“You can’t have Ludie or Lilou.”
Ludie’s father whipped his head toward me with tremendous force, his voice taking on a deeper, threatening quality. Okay, he won, I was scared stiff.
“Sheesh, you’re being ridiculous. Kousuke was just being polite, so stop getting your feathers ruffled by every little thing.”
“Ah-hah-hah.” All I could do was laugh. Though, truth be told, I hadn’t just said that to be polite. Incidentally, Sophia was also drop-dead gorgeous herself, yes siree.
“Sorry about him, Kousuke.”
“Um… Mother? Is it all right if I talk with Mister Kousuke, too?” Lilou had been chatting with Yukine and Yuika, but expressed an interest in joining our conversation. “Would it be all right if, um, I touched your stole?”
“My stole? Sure, go ahead.”
She got out of her seat with a huge smile on her face.
“Lilou, where are your manners? Wait until after lunch is over.”
After Sophia’s chiding, Lilou apologized and sat down again, looking very disappointed.
This wasn’t good. A lovely little girl’s…uh, rather, Lilou’s glum expression would leave a terrible mark on the world.
I had an idea and filled my stole with mana. I then used it to grab a bottle of sauce near me and bring it over to Lilou.
“Lilou, would you like any extra sauce?”
“Yay! Oh…”
Lilou peeked over at her mother.
“Haaah, Kousuke, you’re incorrigible. Sorry about this. Go ahead, Lilou.”
“Eh-heh-heh! Thank you!” she said before lightly tapping my stole. “Whooooa, it’s amazing! It’s super hard, just like Big Sis said.”
“I can make it softer, too,” I said, changing the nature of my mana to give my stole a bit more elasticity.
“Wow, that’s so cool! Now it’s all floppy!” Lilou said, enjoying the fabric to the fullest. When I went to bring my stole back to my side, though…
“Kousuke. Could you pass me the sauce as well?” Sophia asked. Apparently, she wanted to touch it, too. Hearing this, Lilou pouted.
“You wanted to touch it just as much as I did, Mother!”
“Of course I did! I was just holding back from asking. Lilou, from now on, you need to wait until after the meal to ask about stuff like this, okay?”
Lilou stared at her with a look of displeasure.
“If you do that sort of thing, the wickedness will come and steal your soul, okay?”
After Sophia told her this, Lilou reluctantly answered.
“…Okaaay.”
I extended my stole toward Sophia, stretching out enough so that His Majesty could also touch it if he so desired. He must have been interested as well, as he touched it several times.
“This sure is something. I’ve heard that you can enchant it with elements, too?”
“I do it like this. In my daily life, for example, I can adjust the temperature with my stole even when it’s hot out.”
I enchanted it with ice, prompting Sophia to touch the chilled fabric and remark, “Incredible. Both the quality and amount of mana. It’s even better than I was told.”
Apparently, she already knew about my massive mana pool. Maybe Claris or Marino had told her?
“Mother, that’s not fair!”
Little Lilou was looking quite indignant. I immediately stretched my stole toward her, too, and she gleefully began touching it.
“Wowee ♪! It’s nice and cool!” Welp, now she was wrapping it around her neck.
At that moment, I felt something cold run down my spine. It wasn’t the cold from my enchanted stole, either. It was a psychological chill, either from a change in atmosphere or someone’s intense resentment toward me.
“Takioto, thank you.”
I turned to his Majesty upon hearing his voice.
It then occurred to me that it was the emperor’s icy gaze that had chilled me. Despite his statement of appreciation, was it just me, or were his eyes filled with hostility? This was terrifying; I needed to change the subject. Um, I needed something, anything else to talk about… Right!
“P-please, don’t mention it… E-er that reminds me, Empress Sophia, you just said something to Lilou about souls being taken. right? What did you mean by that?”
I desperately tried to change the topic. This prompted a giggle from Ludie.
“It’s a folk tale we use in the Tréfle Empire to admonish misbehaving children. It goes something like this: A long time ago, there was a terrible child who used to bully elves. The child kept doing such horrible things that eventually, the Arch Elf couldn’t let it go on any longer. And so, they ripped the child’s soul from their body and turned it into a puppet. The Arch Elf is said to be one of the superior types of elf.”
“That’s pretty scary…”
It was one of those stories you told to kids to shock them into behaving, basically. Japanese folklore around the namahage was kinda like that, wasn’t it?
“Eventually, however, the Arch Elf is overcome by his powers and goes crazy. Then he uses all the puppets he made from the souls of children to go on a rampage, but another superior kind of elf, the High Elf, refuses to let him go on any longer and seals him away.”
“Oh yeah, is that so?”
Yuika chimed in at Ludie’s explanation.
“But we tell kids that if they don’t behave, the Arch Elf will be revived, and they’ll have their souls taken away and turned into puppets.”
“I’ve heard this story many times already! There’s picture books of it and stuff, so there’s no elf who doesn’t know it.”