“This is little old me you’re talking to here! This isn’t going to be bad for you, I promise. If you’re heading out anyway, just swing by and take a look. No hassle for you at all,” Holn taunted provocatively. Natalia gave a sigh.
“If you insist. Just because I’m going out anyway. Tell me, what is this fresh madness?” Natalia asked, still with some trepidation.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out! Which means Mamoru, Naofumi, Filolia, and the Heavenly Emperors need to join us in heading right back to Siltran,” Holn stated.
“I might need to do some cooking first,” I commented. Natalia frowned over at me—and then noticed the villagers and the expectation in their eyes.
“I’m not one to tear people away from their plates! My inventions aren’t going anywhere either—and maybe the food will lure out my descendant, letting me drag her along too!” Holn said. It was therefore decided that I’d make some food right away, and we’d set out after eating. Natalia seemed to enjoy eating together with everyone in the village.
“Hmmm, this is so delicious I’m not sure I could go back to Q’ten Lo cooking,” Natalia told me.
“If we catch some fish, I could prepare some seafood dishes. I spent quite a while in your country. It was just in the future,” I told her.
“That sounds like an excellent plan. Don’t you think so?” the Water Dragon said and was chowing down pretty impressively. I wondered why all the dragons around me seemed so similar. They all loved to eat so much. The same went for the filolials—and everyone else in the village.
“How close do you think you could get?” Natalia asked, sounding interested in my idea. If she had been away for a long time, maybe she wanted a taste of the flavors of home.
“Q’ten Lo dishes made by the Shield Hero? We had some effwah recently. It was pretty much the best I’ve ever tasted, just sublime,” Ruft cut in, jumping at the chance to bring up the names of food from home. This one was like a fluffy dish made from eggs, which dated back to the Edo period in Japan. When prepared at home, it could end up being a little bland. You needed to be careful of various aspects when preparing it, such as the stock and the state of the eggs, but it was essentially a pretty easy dish to make, involving simply warming the stock in a pan, whipping the eggs a little, and then pouring them in and hardening them up. Altering the stock that was used allowed for various different flavors to be enjoyed. Of course, if I mixed in some life force when preparing it—a little culinary doping—I could create something on a completely different level. “His sashimi was delicious too. It dances on your tongue. It’s so flavorful.” Ruft was giving Natalia a rundown of my entire repertoire. Natalia did not reply.
“Natalia?” Raphtalia asked, making the Heavenly Emperor’s ears prick up.
“Yes, sorry?” Natalia replied.
“I’m glad you seem to be enjoying Mr. Naofumi’s cooking,” Raphtalia commented.
“That’s not really my point . . . I think I’m just missing Q’ten Lo flavors,” Natalia said.
“I think I prefer the food that the Shield Hero makes for me. It’s nicer than the food I was served when I was Heavenly Emperor,” Ruft continued.
“You don’t sugarcoat things, do you, Ruft?” Raphtalia commented. “I feel sorry for the people in the castle who made your meals.”
“Maybe . . . but Shildina told me the people in the castle all learned from the Shield Hero anyway,” Ruft replied.
“We do get a lot of cooks coming to poach Mr. Naofumi’s cooking techniques,” Raphtalia admitted. “He even spent some time as a cooking-specialist Mirror Hero in another world, where he stuffed enemies and allies alike.” That sounded bad, but I was only doing it to enhance my allies.
“The more I see, the more dangerous that sounds,” Natalia admitted.
“Another talent of the Shield Hero, surely,” the Water Dragon said, trying to quell Natalia’s unrest. “Sharing meals together is one way to earn the trust of allies.” Everything seemed suspicious if you started looking for trouble.
“Mamoru! The food on my plate vanished in front of my eyes! What happened to it?” Filolia suddenly squawked.
“You just scoffed it down!” Mamoru replied. “Don’t you even remember?”
“What? I don’t remember a thing! It was delicious!” Filolia replied, instantly contradicting herself. She must have eaten it without thinking.
“You got so carried away you don’t even remember! Your appetite is definitely intact,” Holn commented. The three of them almost looked like a happy, smiling family. Over to the side of them I spotted Fohl and Cian eating more quietly.
“You’re pretty lucky, Fohl, getting to eat like this every day,” Cian commented.
“I guess so. No one can really beat Brother’s skills in the kitchen. He re-created a dish my dear mother used to make, just from me describing it,” Fohl said.
“Food from your homeland, Fohl? I’d love to try it. Will you make it for me?” Cian asked.
“Ah, no . . . you should ask Brother to do that,” he replied.
“I could do that, but would you be okay with it?” Cian queried.
“Let me think about it,” Fohl finally managed.
The lively village banter continued until we were all done eating. Keel and her cronies got up to their usual antics, of course. I was getting pretty sick of them by now.
“I can’t believe how incredible that food was! I almost want to start research into how you can make it taste so good,” Holn commented. We had finished our meal and returned to Siltran castle.
“Mamoru,” Filolia groaned, “I think I might throw up I’m so full!”
“Just don’t do it here,” Mamoru warned her. I thought maybe S’yne, R’yne, and Filolia ate the most. Maybe that was some characteristic of their race—like these people called skywings from a different world were unable to control the pace at which they ate. It was like starting to see the roots of where the filolials got their appetites from.
“Was this invitation just to pick up some cooking tips?” Rat asked, a little pointedly. She seemed to have trouble dealing with Holn. She still hadn’t forgiven everything Holn had done to her precious Mikey.
“Do the monsters like the food?” Holn asked. So we were still on that topic.
“Lots of them want to eat the Duke’s food, that’s true,” Rat admitted.
“I don’t feed it to them all that often,” I added. Those monsters that could turn into a humanoid form, such as the pesky filolials, sometimes launched a raid on the refectory, but I rarely went out of my way to cook for the other monsters. They mainly ate things like bioplant vegetables. But I was inclined to give the Raph species some treats on the side. Rat’s precious Mikey had even tried some recently, perhaps after hearing all the talk about my culinary skills. I’m sure he was just trying to express how much he loved it by using his body. But I had mixed feelings about him choosing to melt. I didn’t need to see the Raph species melting before my eyes; it wasn’t good for me.
“We’re here to show the pacifier my latest inventions. I want you to get your opinion on them too, descendant, that’s all,” Holn said innocently.
“Okay then. I guess I can help with that,” Rat replied cordially.
“Where exactly are you taking me?” Natalia piped up.
“Right here,” Holn said. With that, she led Holn down into Mamoru’s underground laboratory. After all the effort taken to hide it, she let her in pretty easily. If they just called it “Holn’s lab,” then Natalia probably wouldn’t get suspicious. Holn was a cunning one. They’d been keeping their dangerous research completely hidden for days now. The path Holn was leading us down was different from the one into Mamoru’s lab. Raphtalia had a worried expression on her face. But it was nothing serious enough to tip Natalia off.