“I sure haven’t seen it before...”
“It smells so good... Damn, it’s making me hungry.”
The two Long-Ears could hardly contain their excitement.
“Shoy sauce and butter supremacy.”
“Shoy sauce! Shoy sauce!”
The only humans who’d be excited about corn with butter and soy sauce these days were probably preschoolers and elementary school kids. But considering this was the first time it was introduced to this world, I couldn’t blame the two girls. They seemed to have completely forgotten about the Divers who’d tried to get a rise out of them earlier.
I laid out a mat on the table, placed the frying pan on it, then handed each of them a spoon.
“Can we start eating?” asked Scrae, and the emissary stared expectantly.
“The plate is very hot, so please be careful. And make sure to mix well before eating,” I warned as if I were a server at a restaurant.
They nodded vigorously, then shoved their spoons into the food. They mixed it around for a while and started digging in.
“Mmm, mmm!”
“Om nom.”
Scrae chewed her mouthful of food, then her ears twitched.
“It’s sweet and yummy!”
“So good... It’s so good...”
They went back to munching away immediately after giving their opinions. The emissary was in a trance and didn’t seem like she could even think straight. It was as if her hand was automatically moving her spoon. I felt like I was watching a zombie shoveling food into her mouth without any conscious thought whatsoever.
I figured they were gonna need a lot more, so I brought out another frying pan and started working on another batch.
“Here’s some black pepper,” I said as I handed Scrae some.
She added it to the corn, then scooped a spoonful into her mouth.
She looked at the Divers who’d been mocking her earlier and sneered at them. “Amazing,” she said triumphantly.
The two Divers rose from their seats.
“You little shit!” said one of them.
“You pickin’ a fight?!” said the other.
They’d exploded with anger even though they were the ones who’d antagonized the girls first. Pretty unreasonable if you ask me. Not to mention, their anger was directed at me for some reason.
“Huh? Why me? This doesn’t make any sense,” I said.
“Like hell it doesn’t!” said one.
“Yeah! This is all your fault!” said the other.
“Seriously?”
Maybe they were blaming me because I was the one making the dish, which was pretty ridiculous. They didn’t realize I’d actually protected them from danger. I wanted to charge them a hundred million yen for the trouble, but they wanted to repay me with a knuckle sandwich instead.
The two Divers cracked their knuckles as they approached me, and Scrae and the emissary perked up at the sound of their footsteps. The girls had wanted to brawl in the first place, so they were quick to react.
I sighed, disappointed that it’d come to this anyway.
“Hey, you lot,” said a voice out of nowhere.
“Huh?” said one of the duo.
Behind the two Divers, another group of Divers had appeared. They were very well-equipped with high-quality gear too—as well-equipped as Miguel’s team or even better. It was clear at a glance that they were a high-ranking team.
“Who the hell are you guys?! You trying to get in the way—”
“Yes, we are,” said the newcomer, cutting off the troublemaker.
The proud-looking young man standing at the head of the group unleashed a wave of malice that rivaled even Scrae’s and the emissary’s. It was so powerful that it was starting to make me feel dizzy even though I was standing far away. Of course, the two troublemakers standing right in front of him bore the full brunt of it and immediately fell unconscious. It made me wonder why I’d put all that effort into making corn with butter and soy sauce, but at least no one had gotten beaten bloody.
I tried to thank the newcomers for the help, but the young man walked right up to me and said, “Hey, you.”
“Yes?” I asked.
I had to look up at him because he was much taller than me. He was kind of scary too—not his face but his overall presence, I guess. He had that distinct high-level aura about him.
I began hearing people around us whispering things like “He’s from Order of the Black Dawn...” and “It’s Crimson Lance.”
Sure enough, he was carrying a big red lance on his back as his moniker suggested. And if I recalled correctly, he was a superfamous officer of Order of the Black Dawn, one of Freida’s three major teams.
“Are you Kudo Akira?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, I am. I’m sorry,” I said.
“Why did you apologize?”
“Uh, I just felt like I should, so I kind of apologized out of reflex,” I explained.
Apologizing was like a self-defense mechanism for us Japanese. I couldn’t help but apologize whenever an incident like this occurred. It was pretty much ingrained in my people.
Crimson Lance suddenly grasped my hand and said, “I don’t know how to thank you enough for inventing honey potions.”
“Whaaat? Huh? Oh...”
It was all so sudden that I couldn’t process what he’d meant at first, but then I figured he must be an Adorner. They were the only ones who had reason to thank me for making the honey potions.
Looking closer, I noticed he was wearing a cool monster hide wrap around his waist. It was pretty rare too and befitting of an officer of a major guild.
“I didn’t know you’re an Adorner,” I said.
“Yes, and I’m one of the many who are less worried about injuries thanks to you,” he said, then took a bag that one of his teammates had been carrying and placed it on the table. “This is from my country’s chief. It contains a letter of appreciation and gifts for you as thanks.”
“Huh?”
Crimson Spear pulled things out of the bag one after another, each of them looking quite expensive. There was a letter as he’d mentioned, some sort of medal, and a bunch of other stuff. Maybe it was because I was a plebian, but receiving all of these things made me feel apologetic.
“I dunno what to say. Thank you,” I said.
“No, we’re the ones who should be thanking you,” he said, then sincerely thanked me again.
I’d been getting words of appreciation like this from Adorners a lot lately, including Reverie from Miguel’s team and the guy from that laid-back Diver team.
As an aside, I felt like Adorners would eventually get in trouble for drinking honey potions even when they weren’t injured, claiming that they didn’t have any other sweets left. I could definitely see that happening. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d unleashed something quite sinful into this world.
The emissary looked up, her mouth full of corn and her eyes sparkling with wonder. “Wow, Adorners are showing him so much appreciation,” she said.
“Yes, Akira is amazing,” affirmed Scrae.
The emissary stared at me with awe and respect as she muttered, “Kudo Akira is a god after all.”
I wondered if that was disrespectful to the real gods, but Scrae was nodding proudly for some reason.
As I finished receiving the letter and gifts, I noticed Crimson Lance was glancing at the corn with butter and soy sauce. It must’ve stirred his Adorner appetite.
“Would you like some?” I offered.
“Ah! Are you sure?!” he said, looking kind of excited.
“Of course. We still have plenty,” I said.
“Th-Then, yes, I’d love to join you if you don’t mind,” he said.
He looked a bit embarrassed that I noticed him glancing at the food, but those thoughts seemed to have gone out the window when he smelled the food. He dug into the food with vigor along with Scrae and the emissary.
I ended up treating the other members of Order of the Black Dawn to some corn with butter and soy sauce too, and my 1,850 grams of corn was depleted just like that. Their appetite really was something else.
What had happened to the two rowdy Divers, you asked? They’d been somewhere on the ground earlier, but they’d disappeared before I knew it. I didn’t care enough to find out.