"Amour, don't push too far forward — draw the enemies in! Jeanne and Aura, suppress the left and right flanks with your slingshots while keeping watch on our surroundings! If any enemy breaks past Amour, switch to your spears and intercept!"
Today, for the first time in a while, I was joining Jeanne and the others for their special training. The location was a forest not too far from the Royal Capital. Apparently, goblin sightings had been increasing recently, so this served as a chance to build up Jeanne and Aura's credentials, as well as to observe how well the group would coordinate if Primera joined them. In this particular engagement, Amour had scattered all the goblins on her own, so Jeanne and Aura never got the chance to swing their spears.
"Primera, there's no way I'd slip up against goblins!"
"This is training for contingencies. I don't for a second think Amour would struggle against goblins, but it's entirely possible another group could attack from a different direction. To prepare for that, you need to build the habit of being ready to move at a moment's notice."
The one currently giving orders was Primera, and the three of them were moving according to her directions. Amour probably didn't feel like she was being underestimated either — she'd likely made her usual wisecrack, and Primera had responded in all seriousness.
After that, command rotated through Amour, Jeanne, and Aura in order, but it became clear that Jeanne and Aura weren't ready for the responsibility yet. For reference, Amour was able to give proper orders, but her tendency to brute-force things was noticeable. Against weak enemies like goblins, she could probably finish them faster than Primera had, but it felt like if her momentum were stopped, she'd be in for a painful counterattack. Primera, on the other hand, was clearly accustomed to commanding a unit — as expected of someone who regularly led troops. She was perhaps overly cautious, but she remained steady throughout, so I could watch with peace of mind.
"As I figured, the difference in experience and temperament shows. Amour isn't bad, but there's a certain unsteadiness that comes from inexperience. Then again, most adventurers are probably like that."
Whether it was me or Grandpa, adventurers who had mostly operated solo weren't used to either giving or receiving orders. If they were adventurers like those in the Dawn Sword who formed parties and adventured together for long periods, that was one thing — but in a party like Orasion, where the leader wasn't accustomed to giving orders, brute force inevitably became the go-to approach.
"In Orasion's case, there are three people who can turn the tide of battle on their own. So in that sense, brute force is probably the best strategy... but if they get too used to it, Jeanne and Aura are the ones who'd end up paying the price if something goes wrong."
Primera said she wanted to reform the minds of those three who loved brute force, in order to reduce that risk. As one of those three, I had to admit it stung to hear.
"The goblins seem to have thinned out — shall we take a break and eat something?"
After a few rounds of command training, the goblin presences in our surroundings had disappeared. According to today's schedule, after the goblin subjugation request — which doubled as training — we planned to do some foraging in the forest, so this seemed like a good time for a break and a late lunch.
"What would you like to do for the foraging afterward? I think it'd be fine if everyone split off and did their own thing, but grouping up in small teams to go after bigger game could work too."
When I asked how they wanted to move, Amour and Aura said they wanted to go after bigger prey, while Jeanne said she wanted to find something usable for dinner. Grandpa and Primera said either was fine and left the decision up to me. However,
"I've got a personal request to handle, so I'm going to prioritize that."
That was why I wanted to go off on my own.
"A personal request, you say? From whom?"
"From Duke Sanga. He asked me to find some truffles. He said his wives want to eat them, so even small ones are fine — he just wants a good quantity."
Most of the people who could issue personal requests to me happened to be acquaintances of Grandpa's, and the Duke hadn't asked me to keep it a secret, so I went ahead and revealed who had commissioned me.
When they heard who the client was, Primera and the others seemed to accept it with a "Well, they must get along well as a couple" sort of understanding, but Grandpa alone—
"Hmm, I see… Truffles are said to have 'aphrodisiac effects' and 'strengthening effects,' after all."
…nodded along, though for an entirely different reason.
"Father…"
The one who reacted most strongly to Grandpa's muttering was, predictably, Primera, who covered her face with her hands as if the embarrassment were too much to bear.
"Primera, you're red all the way to your ears—hey!"
Amour teased Primera for hiding her face, but Jeanne promptly smacked her on the head for it.
"Primera, what Grandpa said — there's just a theory that it
m
i
g
h
t
be
true.' That's all."
The story goes that when searching for truffles, a female pig is used because the truffle's scent supposedly resembles the pheromones of a male pig. However, in this world, the exact reason hasn't been definitively established. Still, since female pigs happen to be useful in finding truffles, and the pigs become excited during the search, there's a widespread belief that truffles have an arousing effect.
"Well, as for the strengthening effects, that claim probably just stems from the idea that truffles help fortify the body."
So I explained to Primera that while what Grandpa said wasn't untrue, it didn't apply to the Duke, who was requesting truffles as food ingredients. Of course, even if there was a deeper meaning lurking behind the phrase "as food ingredients," that was mere speculation — and there was no need to bring it up.
"Come to think of it, I've never actually eaten truffles."
"That's true. Tenma has brought some back several times, it seems… but they've never made it to the dining table."
Aura agreed with Amur's words. However,
"No, the two of you have eaten them before, haven't you?"
"Wh-what?!"
When I told them they had already experienced it, not just Amur and Aura, but Jeanne also had a surprised look on her face.
"Well, I didn't use them in their original form. I mixed them into butter, so maybe you didn't realize."
I had made what is known as truffle butter, and used it for toast and pasta dishes.
"Now that you mention it, there was a time we had a really simple but delicious pasta, wasn't there?"
"I don't remember!"
"Neither do I! ...More to the point, why didn't you just make something easier to recognize?"
Jeanne seemed to have some recollection, but Amur and Aura had absolutely no memory. As for Aura's question,
"Simply put, it's because I don't know any other cooking methods. Truffle butter is easy and convenient, so I tried making it... Also, I figured it might be better to buy other tasty things with the money from selling them rather than bothering to try other recipes."
Everyone was convinced by that explanation, but the truth was, while I had tried cooking with truffles, my amateur attempts didn't turn out very delicious, so I gave up and sold them. It was a strange point of pride that had won out — perhaps I should have asked Albert, Cain, or Aina beforehand, but I thought they might not suit commoner tastes.
"If we find more than what we give to Duke Sanga, maybe I should ask someone for recipes and give it a try."
So I said, raising everyone's hopes before going to look for truffles, but...
"I didn't find many..."
Perhaps because the goblins had been there, I managed to secure the amount for the Duke, but it wasn't enough for us to eat.
"They're all so small, should I mix them into butter?"
Since they were all small, making truffle butter might just stretch to enough pasta for everyone. I asked if I should serve it for dinner soon,
"I think, Tenma, you should give the truffles to Father before you cook. Otherwise, your brothers might just drop by to eat."
was Primera's advice. So, after returning today, I decided to make the butter, and then cook the pasta tomorrow for lunch. The truffles would be delivered to Duke Sanga *after* the pasta had been eaten.
That was how things were settled, and I was about to head back to the mansion to make the truffle butter when—
"Tenma, are you hiding something tasty?"
It was Chris, having dropped by for a visit. I thought I'd hide the truffles without being noticed and maybe cook the pasta after he left, but Amour and Aura's suspicious behavior immediately gave away the truffle's existence.
And then, at lunch the next day—
"Mmm, this is delicious!"
"It smells wonderful!"
When I served the pasta made with the long-awaited truffle butter, Amour and Aura were full of praise. However—
"The scent is rather faint."
"Well, there's bacon and other mushrooms in it, so it's inevitable that it feels weaker."
"True, the aroma might be a bit less intense than when I had it before?"
The evaluations from Chris and Primera were harsh. Jeanne also seemed to feel it was just so-so compared to last time.
"Maybe the amount of truffle mixed into the butter was small, and they were all small pieces, so the aroma is underdeveloped."
"Whatever the case, as long as it tastes good, that's all that matters."
The overall rating being low made Amour and Aura, who had been effusive in their praise, start to look a bit awkward, but they perked up with a single word from Grandpa and demanded seconds. Well, I couldn't prepare seconds because I had used up the truffle butter... Instead, I served pasta made the same way but with regular butter, and they reacted just as enthusiastically as they had to the truffle butter pasta.
"Oh! You brought back more than planned, didn't you? Thanks!"
In the afternoon, along with Primera, I delivered the truffles that Duke Sanga had requested. None of them quite reached fifty grams in size, but in total, they came to two hundred grams, which should be enough for Mother and the others to fully enjoy... I wasn't sure how much they'd use per meal, but at least we could avoid running out.
"Tenma, about the reward... but before that, could I have a word?"
Duke Sanga, clearly bothered by Primera standing beside me, beckoned me over and dragged me a short distance away.
"Primera's gaze towards me seems a bit cold lately... Do you have any idea why?"
The Duke asked, "You don't know?" but he was looking at me with eyes that definitely knew the answer.
"Actually, when I went to retrieve the truffle..."
As I recounted what had happened in the forest, the Duke looked embarrassed. Which meant...
"You
really
were
go
ing after that kind of effect?"
It was a reaction that left no other interpretation.
"Well, I mean... you can't blame a man for having a little hope, right? Besides, it's not a lie that I do like truffles."
"Understood. I'll make up some excuse for Primera later."
The fact that the couple got along so well was good enough for me, so I agreed to brush it off with Primera. After all, if I told her the truth and things got awkward, I wouldn't know how to react either.
"Well then, here's your payment. I'll be counting on you again."
Duke Sanga saw us off as Primera and I left the estate, but Primera's mood wasn't great.
"Primera, since we're alone for once, why don't we stop somewhere for tea?"
First, I'd smooth over Primera's mood, and at the same time—fulfilling the promise I'd made to the Duke—I'd casually brush the whole thing off. So we decided to duck into a nice, relaxing shop somewhere.
"So anyway, it seems Duke Sanga didn't commission the truffle for that kind of purpose. If it actually had effects like that, children wouldn't be able to eat it, right? And serving it at a restaurant where all sorts of people dine at the same time, or at a party with unmarried nobles, would be pretty problematic too."
If it truly had aphrodisiac properties, there would surely be some kind of regulation on it, so I doubted it would be distributed at places where ordinary people could buy it.
"Well, as far as strengthening effects go, truffles are said to help fortify the body, so in terms of making you healthier, I guess you could say they do have an effect."
Even if the result of becoming healthier happened to be increased vitality, that would be a secondary effect and couldn't be called a direct property of the truffle itself. Well, that explanation would be unnecessary, so I didn't bring it up with Primera.
"Is that so... It seems I was mistaken after all... How embarrassing..."
It wasn't a complete misunderstanding, but it was simpler to let it slide like that, so as much as I felt bad for Primera, I didn't bother correcting her.
"Well, Grandpa was the one who said something that made Primera misunderstand, so I can't really blame her for getting the wrong idea at that moment. More importantly, we're heading back to Gunjou City the day after tomorrow, right?"
"Yes. I'll be staying for about ten days to handle the handover with the liaison team and share information. If things drag on, it could stretch to around twenty days."
Having successfully steered the conversation away, Primera quickly lifted her head and answered my question.
"Then how about we swing by Kelly's place after this to have the knight-type Golem's armor looked at? It's a bit of a walk, but we've been using it a lot in the forests and grasslands lately, and I don't want anything going wrong during a mission, so let's have an expert check it for any issues before we head to Gunjou City."
It would be nearly an hour's walk from the shop we were currently at, but that was about the same distance I'd cover for commissions and jobs, so it didn't really bother me. Well, it was kind of like a casual date… The moment I framed it that way in my mind, I became a bit self-conscious, but… we'd be married in a few months, so maybe it was embarrassing to still get flustered over something like this.
Some of that must have shown on my face, because Primera's cheeks had turned a little red. Though I was probably the same.
"Hmm, I see… So you came here to this neighborhood where there are way too many guys around because it's 'sort of a date,' huh? Showing off, aren't you~… Don't come crying to me later if you get stabbed in the back by one of those guys."
Kelly said that while radiating an aura of "I'm totally different, though!"… but behind him, the female dwarf employees were all silently laughing and pointing at him in unison.
"I'll just have to make sure I never turn my back on Kelly. More importantly, check the armor on the 'Percival' units."
This conversation was getting dangerous the longer it went on, so I cut it short and steered things toward business. Primera must have been thinking the same thing, because she promptly produced three knight-type Golems from her Dimension Bag.
"Hmm… The surface scratches aren't anything noticeable, and they're all small, so there's nothing to worry about there. As for the inside… I'll need to have them disarmed and stripped down to know for sure."
And so, we set about removing and inspecting the armor piece by piece. For this, it was safer to have the other knight-type Golems handle it rather than having the strong dwarves help, so we had the two units not being examined assist with the process.
"Yep… Nothing particularly out of the ordinary. With damage this minor, the usual maintenance will take care of it. Still, these guys have really gotten smoother with their fine movements lately. I'd love to have an assistant like one of these."
She probably meant she wanted a Golem that could move like this, but it was something she brought up fairly regularly, so I ignored it and pretended I hadn't heard. Incidentally, this exchange had played out several times before, and on one occasion, Aura had muttered,
"If you want an assistant that badly, why not just get a boyfriend…"
When she let that slip… Aura was taken to the back of the workshop by a Kelly whose face resembled the mask of a Hannya demon, and she didn't return until the next morning.
After Kelly finished looking over all the knight-type Golem armor and weapons, we decided to take a leisurely walk back to the mansion. We could have flagged down a carriage or summoned Leiden to make it easy, but there was still plenty of time before dinner, and Primera had suggested we walk.
"Come to think of it, I haven't been taking slow strolls around the Royal Capital much lately."
"For me, it's actually increased. I've been going shopping with Jeanne and Amour a lot more recently."
Primera told me she's been doing more window shopping with Jeanne and the others lately, which meant she ended up walking around the city a lot more as a result. In my case, I'd been busy conquering dungeons and whatnot until just recently, so even when I did go shopping, I usually headed straight to the store I had in mind. Plus, whenever I went to the Royal Castle or the Duke Sanga estate, I'd basically ride Leiden or take a carriage. So these past few months, today might be the most time I've spent actually walking around the city.
Because that rare combination of a leisurely stroll on foot and a date-like outing coincided, we kept making detours to places that caught our eye along the way, and as a result—
"Tenma, Primera, you're slow!"
We ended up being very late for dinner, and Amour, who had been waiting for us to come back, was furious.
"Ohh... so as compensation, are you going on a date with Amour today?"
"No! I'm going to the Guild to register for the martial arts tournament! Primera apparently has some business with the Duke's estate, so she told me to head there with Amour first and join up with her later!"
"Indeed, it is not a date! Not a date, but something incredibly close to one! And for the record, I already have Primera's permission!"
Tomorrow was the day Primera was set to depart for Gunjou City, so today we had all planned to tour the Royal Capital together... but right before we were about to head out, Primera suddenly said she had to go pick something up from the Duke's estate, and Jeanne and Aura said they still hadn't hung the laundry, so I was told to go ahead with just Amour to the Adventurers' Guild, one of our destinations.
It was probably something prearranged among Primera and the others beforehand... but since it was Jan-san, he understood the general situation and just teased me about it as a joke. However, someone who knew absolutely nothing about the circumstances and only knew that I was engaged to Primera would see me as a no-good cheat who was already stepping out on his fiancée before even getting married. I really wished they'd thought about that part.
"So then, Jan-san... you're in civilian clothes, but are you out shopping with your wives?"
Being on a mission in civilian clothes was entirely possible, but from the look of it, that didn't seem to be the case, so I figured it was the usual family outing and asked.
"Nah, it's just... I was asked to pick up some shopping, you know?"
That was incredibly suspicious.
"Tenma... Jan definitely cheated on his wife and got kicked out. He must be wandering the streets with nowhere to go. We should offer him a corner of Juubee's cottage."
"You mean a room in the house! And he didn't cheat, and he didn't get kicked... out!"
"So you really were kicked out."
"Maybe we really should lend him a corner of the cottage after all..."
"No, just drop it already..."
I invited the exhausted-looking Jan-san to a nearby café to hear the full story. As a result—
"Royal Guard Jan Jack Bauer. I'd like to register for the Individual Battle in the martial arts tournament."
Jan also decided to participate in the Individual Battle of the tournament. By the way, the reason Jan had been kicked out of his house was this: he hadn't been able to attend his daughter's school observation day yesterday because work came in suddenly. His wife had told him it couldn't be helped since it was an urgent job, but his daughter's mood didn't improve, and before she could start crying, his wife decided to kick him out. He had been wandering around when he ran into me and Amour. So the reason Jan decided to take part in the Individual Battle was—
"I'll absolutely crush Tenma and make her say, 'Dad, you're so cool!'"
That was the result of Amour talking him into it. The logic that showing off his cool side would make his daughter see him in a better light made sense to me, but...
"Jan, the tournament is almost two months away. What are you going to do until then?"
I thought showing off at the tournament would be effective, but before that, he needed to somehow fix his daughter's mood and get back into the house first.
"...Tenma, what do you think I should do?"
"Well, even if you ask me..."
"You're Tenma, so you must know how to handle it when Luna or Chris gets upset, right?"
Even if they brought up those two as examples... I thought, but I decided to teach him the method I always use. That is,
"With those two, giving them sweets and food usually settles things, and if that doesn't work, Maria or Aina will help out."
"That's not exactly helpful..."
There were other options too—completely ignoring them or kicking them out when they got too bothersome (in Luna's case, she'd behave once she sensed she was about to be thrown out), so as Jan said, it might not be very useful. However,
"Even so, bringing sweets and apologizing should still work!"
I figured that buying something his daughter liked, going home, and apologizing sincerely would at least earn some forgiveness... but honestly, I couldn't say for sure how it would turn out. Still, if he did nothing and just waited for the tournament two months away, things would almost certainly head in a bad direction. When I told him that, Jan firmly vowed to go home with sweets and make his apology.
After that, Primera and the others arrived, and we got their ideas as well... and the result was—
"Then I'm counting on you, Tenma!"
I ended up helping Jan with his sweet-making. My role was instructor.
"An apron doesn't suit Jan at all~! This is the funniest thing I've seen in ages!"
And as taste-testers, besides Primera and the others who were already there, we had Chris, who showed up after catching what could only be an interesting smell.
Jan was either fully focused on making sweets, or he was completely ignoring Chris while learning from Jeanne and preparing—but occasionally his gaze sharpened, so he was probably planning to unleash all his anger after the sweets were finished.
"Well... it's average."
"For a first try, that's pretty impressive!"
The sweets
Jan had made
turned out to be thoroughly mediocre—neither good nor bad. As Jan regarded the result with a somewhat dissatisfied expression, Jeanne, who had helped him, tried her best to cheer him up.
"Jan, if you put this on them, they'll taste much better!"
Since there wasn't time to remake the cookies, the method she thought of to make them taste better was to serve them with jam.
"This one's strawberry, this one's apple, and this is tangerine jam. You can take them all home."
"Thanks, Tenma. I'll gratefully accept."
Tenma brought over three small jars of jam, and Jan accepted them with a courteous bow. When Chris saw Jan like that,
"Hey! That's totally unfair, Jan! Tenma, give me some too!"
she said, hurrying over. And then—
"Huh? Jan, this is kind of uncomfortable..."
Before she knew it, Jan—who had removed his apron at some point—had grabbed her by the back of the collar, lifting her off the ground.
"Chris... if you're here, that means you finished the paperwork, right? Please tell me you didn't just abandon it halfway and come here to mess around."
The reason Jan couldn't attend his daughter's school observation day was all Chris's fault. The story went that Chris, who was in charge, had completely forgotten about documents that were due at the Finance Bureau by noon yesterday, which forced Jan to be called in at the last minute. On top of that, several other documents nearing their deadlines were also discovered, and Jan was made to help with those as well, throwing off his scheduled day off. The documents he helped with yesterday ended up missing the noon deadline and were submitted in the evening instead, and Jan was scolded by Zain on the grounds that, as Chris's superior, the responsibility fell on him.
"The remaining documents... I told you to bring them to me when you were done so I could check them. Where are they?"
"Well, um... I stopped by your house before coming here. But you weren't there, so I left them with your wife."
Chris, still dangling by her collar, wore an expression that might as well have said, "I really should have just forgotten about them..." In response to her look, Jan said—
"No matter that you're my own family—what were you thinking, handing classified royal guard information to an outsider?!"
I was livid... no, being livid was only natural.
"Chris, you're fired!"
Amour clasped his hands together as he regarded Chris, but what she'd done was an information leak through and through, so I had to admit her chances were looking pretty grim.
"Amour's right! You idiot! We're heading back right now!"
Jan was about to storm out of the dining hall with Chris in tow, but since our carriage would definitely get us there faster, I offered to drive the two of them to Jan's house.
On the ride back, Chris was in tears from the lashing Jan had given her. It turned out that Jan's wife had immediately locked away the documents Chris brought in a safe the moment she realized they were royal guard papers, making sure nobody could touch them. Thanks to that, the worst-case scenario was apparently avoided. After securing the documents, Jan dragged Chris onto my carriage and headed straight for the royal castle to report to Din. Chris was then lectured by Din and Maria together until late into the night. Apparently, Maria was in a foul mood the next day from lack of sleep, which meant the King, Lyle, and Luna all spent the day walking on eggshells. Incidentally, Chris's punishment was the loss of one month's leave and a three-month pay cut.
Jan's holiday had been thoroughly ruined thanks to Chris, but seeing her father's suffering seemed to ease his daughter's anger, and the sweets Chris had brought along put her in an even better mood. That, at least, was a saving grace.
However, as she was eating Jan's cookies spread with the jam I'd given her—
"These are better without the cookies."
That offhand remark was apparently overheard by Jan. Whether out of stubborn pride or sheer spite, from that day on, he was occasionally spotted baking cookies in the kitchen of the royal guard dormitory.