"What are you doing, Master...?"
Ramiris and the others had only looked away for a moment, and Veldora had already broken their agreement and gone off doing his own thing. So it was only natural that her voice carried an edge.
However, Veldora didn't seem to care in the slightest. He spread batter after batter across the iron griddle, piled on the shredded cabbage, and added other ingredients that seemed to appear from nowhere, folding them into the batter with practiced hands.
Then he spoke.
"Quaaaaaa—ahahahaha! Ramiris, do you want to eat too?"
"I do want to eat, but that's not the point!!"
Ramiris had nearly nodded along to Veldora's carefree words but caught herself just in time.
I will NOT be won over with food! Steeling herself with this iron will, she showered Veldora with accusations.
"Just now we discussed it and agreed to be careful, didn't we?!"
But Veldora just snorted dismissively at Ramiris.
"Come now, Ramiris. Calm yourself. If you're going to keep complaining, then perhaps I should simply claim this loot all for myself, no?"
"Eh?"
"Look at this. When you assemble it like this—"
While waiting for the batter to cook on the griddle, Veldora quickly assembled a robot.
A cylindrical torso sitting atop a tank-like lower body. Arms attached on either side—a simple machine.
But its left arm was shaped like a distinctive drill.
"Huh, so that kind of combination is possible too."
"Somehow... it looks cool."
"Maybe I should try copying it..."
The older children observed with fascination, showering it with praise.
This only made Veldora more smug.
"Kukuku, well, naturally. When it comes to me, it's inevitable that such a cool and powerful partner would be born!"
Veldora nodded with satisfaction.
Then, glancing at Ramiris, he continued.
"How about it, Ramiris? Even now, are you still going to say you're not interested?"
He puffed out his chest with the confidence of a man certain of his victory, radiating pride.
Veldora's words contained a temptation more than sufficient to sway Ramiris.
"Eh? Eh!?"
Ramiris's eyes spun in circles as she began to agonize.
Right in front of the conflicted Ramiris, a freshly cooked okonomiyaki was gently presented.
A supreme piece loaded with shrimp and pork. Savory sauce topped with aonori and bonito flakes—the aroma alone was enough to make her mouth water.
Ramiris swallowed hard.
"This is your portion. Go ahead and eat."
"Oh, ah... sure. Then, I'll have some..."
The strong resolve not to be deceived had already nearly vanished from Ramiris's heart.
Veldora thought he had won, but it was not that simple.
"My Lady Ramiris, you must not be deceived."
"Wh-what?"
Ramiris wavered, her gaze drifting back and forth between Veldora, Beretta, and the okonomiyaki. Her indecision was plain for all to see.
In her heart, Ramiris wanted to agree with Veldora, but her reason was screaming that this was a trap.
As Ramiris hesitated, Veldora grinned and suddenly shouted, "Rocket Paaaaaaunch!"
The robot they had just assembled sprang to life right before Ramiris's eyes.
BOOM! The impact resounded.
On Veldora's command, the machine fired its right forearm, launching it from the elbow.
The fist embedded itself in the wall.
Veldora shouted again.
"Finishing move—Drill Break!!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the robot surged into action.
The tracks groaned as it moved, pulled along by the right fist connected by a cable. And the moment the right arm retracted, the fiercely spinning drill on the left arm thrust toward the wall.
A deafening roar.
And then, collapse.
"THAT'S SO COOL!!"
The children were in a frenzy.
And Ramiris was no different.
She leaped to her feet, gripping her chopsticks tightly, and cried out in excitement.
"That's amazing! That's incredible, Master!!"
"Quahahahaha! Quaaaaa—ahahahaha! Naturally!"
Delicious okonomiyaki.
Children to play with.
A cool robot.
A brand-new form of entertainment.
Everything was there.
Needless to say, Ramiris had completely fallen.
◇◇◇ As Ramiris began eating her okonomiyaki with a blissful expression, Beretta let out an exasperated sigh.
But Beretta had not given up.
Ramiris was simple by nature, so it was entirely within expectations that she would be manipulated by Veldora so easily. What mattered was how to ensure Ramiris wouldn't get scolded when the blame was later assigned—which was not a matter of if, but when.
Beretta believed that Ramiris's failures equated to reprimands directed at herself.
*—You were there, so why couldn't you stop the two of them?—* That was the look Beretta could easily imagine Rimuru directing at her.
*I'd really rather you not say something that unreasonable*, she thought, but she could never voice it out loud.
Beretta was earnest like that.
And so Beretta considered what was missing.
Ideally, she thought, the relationship between Milim and
Even that selfish, headstrong Milim inexplicably obeyed Frey without resistance.
Veldora likewise could not defy his two older sisters.
Had it been an order from
In this world, there truly exist beings that can be called natural enemies.
A hierarchy built not on the strength of one's combat ability, but on a special dynamic of power...
*(If only I were more trusted by Lady Ramiris...)* Beretta lamented. If she were more trusted, Ramiris would surely listen to her more, Beretta thought.
But Beretta was mistaken.
When it came to Milim, Frey struggled with her every single day just the same.
The same applied to Veldora's two older sisters.
If Veldora had been obediently compliant from the start, they would not have had nearly so much trouble.
Veldora might not cause such grave mischief now, but in the past he had carried out just about every kind of exploit imaginable.
Trust and confidence are not built overnight—but over these past dozen years, Beretta had more than earned Ramiris's trust.
This time, she had simply been swept along by Veldora's whims.
If it had been only Beretta and Ramiris, Beretta's difficulties would have been far more manageable.
The problem this time was that Veldora was also present.
That, more than anything, was the source of Beretta's greatest misfortune.
Watching Ramiris happily stuffing her cheeks with okonomiyaki, Beretta sighed once more.
Then, composing herself, she addressed Ramiris.
"Lady Ramiris. Please, calm down and listen carefully. At this rate, you'll be made an accomplice to Lord Veldora's misdeeds."
"Eh?"
Ramiris froze in shock.
Beretta was about to deliver further counsel to her, but— "Kukuku. Fear not, Ramiris. You are already an accomplice!"
"Huh!?"
"The moment you ate that okonomiyaki, there was no possibility of talking your way out of it. Let us walk together down this blood-stained path of carnage!!"
With that, Veldora let out a booming laugh.
"Lord Veldora, this is no time for laughter. Please stop dragging Lady Ramiris into this."
"Quaaaaa—ahahahaha. Rest easy, Beretta. I am no fool. I have given this plenty of thought."
*I really wish you wouldn't think any harder*, Beretta thought.
She could already tell that whatever he was scheming would amount to no good.
Despite Beretta's admonitions, Veldora paid no heed. Laughing away with his signature "Quaaaaahahaha," he kept grilling okonomiyaki and trading them for parts the children had brought along.
"Just what do you think you're doing!!"
At that moment, Shalma caught up to Ramiris and Beretta, saw Veldora, and shouted with her eyes narrowing into slits of fury.
Beside her, Rindou stood slack-jawed, staring fixedly at the iron griddle.
Zaza let out a heavy sigh.
Understanding how they felt all too well, Beretta herself was at a loss for what to do.
But Veldora, utterly unconcerned— "Oh! You lot want to eat too? I plan to be your guest here for a while, so don't be shy!"
He flashed a blinding smile as he declared.
"Wait, wait just a moment! What are you giving to children!? What—"
"Th-this is outrageous. If it were just us, perhaps, but forcing children who know nothing to endure such things—?!"
Shalma and the others were incensed.
Yet just as with his response to Beretta earlier, Veldora laughed heartily and showed not a trace of remorse.
"There's no issue, is there? From what I heard earlier, this 'city' has natural ingredients, correct?"
"Well, that's..."
"That is merely a rumor. We ourselves don't know the details of what goes on inside the city. We only have a childhood fascination we've heard about since we were young..."
"Still, unlike the food production plants on the outskirts, the city's perimeter is heavily guarded. It wouldn't be strange for 'real' ingredients to exist, even alongside scientific food."
"Mmm," Veldora nodded.
He had received a detailed explanation during the earlier meeting about the mechanized empire Armbestain, which the resistance was fighting against.
Veldora did not concern himself with difficult questions like which side was the righteous one.
He had simply heard that they were fighting and accepted it as is.
If they were enemies, he could just crush them—but to Veldora, that didn't necessarily make the empire his enemy.
Though that didn't mean they were allies either.
If ingredients existed there, he figured they could just share them with the resistance. It was a fleeting thought made without any consideration for the other party's circumstances whatsoever.
After all, expecting Veldora to be considerate of anyone else's situation was a fool's errand.
"That's right, isn't it? Then why not simply seize them?!"
"Don't be ridiculous!?"
"Impossible!"
Zaza and Shalma shouted in unison.
Naturally.
Even an attack on a food production plant with light defenses like this one sometimes resulted in casualties on the resistance side.
An outright assault on the heavily fortified "city" itself would be nothing short of suicide.
"Quaaaaahahaha! How absurd. With that attitude, you'll never be able to give the children hope, will you?"
Veldora gazed around at those confronting him with his clear, unclouded eyes.
Then his expression turned serious, and he continued.
"I have been thinking. I want to tell the children that there are wonderful things in this world. This food that changes flavor has its own appeal, I'm sure, but it alone cannot fill the heart. To know what is lofty and to seek it—that is what is truly noble, I believe!"
He stood tall and delivered those words with sharp conviction.
"Well, but..."
"That would surely provoke the empire's wrath. They're already tolerating us in part. Any further open actions could push them to take us seriously."
"Indeed. We call ourselves the resistance, but in reality, we possess no fighting force capable of bringing down the empire. Even if we consolidated all our strength across every region, we would still fall short of a single 'city'..."
Shalma and the others were unanimously opposed to Veldora's proposal.
And in truth, their assessment was correct.
Even with the resistance's full might, if the city's defense force sortied, they would be wiped out in one fell swoop.
They had been striving every day precisely to prevent that, so it was only natural they could not agree with Veldora's words.
But.
"You're soft!! Far too soft, the lot of you. You once lived in prosperous times, did you not? Then don't you wish to reclaim that? Do you intend to make your children walk the same path of despair you've been walking!?"
With that seemingly earnest argument, the group fell silent.
Pleased with himself for what he believed was a fine speech, Veldora looked smug, scanning everyone around him with a proud expression.
It was then that Ramiris timidly spoke up.
"B-but, Master. Sure, this okonomiyaki is delicious, and the kids are happy. But what if there's no food like this in the 'city'? You could really end up disappointing them, you know? Beretta makes a fair point, and, look, I got dragged into this too and don't want to get scolded along with you..."
Ramiris didn't know what to do, so she rattled on with her eyes spinning in circles.
She spoke out of fear that letting Veldora do whatever he pleased would only make things more complicated.
Beretta had warned her, and she had realized she'd been pulled in.
Besides, while Ramiris was usually carefree, even she thought this had gone a bit too far.
Only then did Veldora finally grin.
"Rest assured, Ramiris. I have given this considerable thought, and I have arrived at a conclusion."
"...A conclusion?"
Arming herself once more with a fierce resolve not to be deceived, Ramiris waited for Veldora's answer.
Veldora nodded gravely and declared.
"If, by some chance, things go wrong, we can simply leave it all to Rimuru and be done with it!!"
"I see!!"
"That is NOT 'I see,' Lady Ramiris!!"
Beretta screamed, but her voice did not reach the two of them.
Both Veldora and Ramiris were already wearing smiles, as if the problem had been completely solved.
"If it's Rimuru, a little problem like this should be easy enough. All we have to do is wait for him."
"Right, right! It'd be a piece of cake for Rimuru!!"
There was, in a word, nothing to it.
When things got tough, just dump it all on Rimuru—that was what Veldora had said.
And Ramiris agreed.
Any trace of worry had already vanished from her face, and she cheerfully bit into her okonomiyaki.
◇◇◇ *These people are hopeless*, Beretta lamented.
The moment you decided to dump it on Rimuru, getting scolded was a certainty.
The two of them had completely turned a blind eye to that.
Originally, the plan had been to return to their own world before Rimuru came back and destroy all evidence.
Had they completely forgotten that? Veldora and Ramiris were smiling at each other as though every problem was resolved.
*(They truly are beyond help. Lady Ramiris has been completely dragged into this, and she doesn't even seem to realize it...)* Only Beretta, alone, accurately grasped the current situation.
In truth, Veldora had merely been sulking—he wanted to be popular with the children, and he had dragged Ramiris and Beretta along for the ride.
As a convenient afterthought, he had also pulled in Shalma and the others, and on top of that, he intended to pick a fight with the empire as well.
It was, in every sense, doing whatever he pleased.
Unfortunately for Beretta, even though she had seen through Veldora's intentions, there was nothing she could do to stop him.
Sighing inwardly, Beretta steeled herself to endure the inevitable reprimand from Rimuru at worst.
"So, what do we do? Since it's come to this, I'm willing to cooperate fully, you know?"
Veldora's voice rang out.
*Since it's come to this? You're the one who caused this*, Beretta thought, but held her tongue.
Helplessly, she resolved to simply watch how things unfolded.
Shalma, however, was composed.
Without being swept along by Veldora's momentum, she decided to first table his proposal.
Had this been Shalma from just a day ago, she would have thought attacking the empire's "city" was unthinkable.
She would have dismissed it as the ravings of a madman and ignored him with a laugh.
But now, having witnessed the extraordinary technology that Ramiris and Beretta possessed, she believed that power could be put to use.
Setting aside whether or not to attack the empire, she judged that she did not want to lose their cooperation.
*—To know what is lofty and to seek it—* Those words warmed her chest.
*(He makes it sound so simple. He has no idea how much that aspiration has tormented us... But perhaps it's the same for him as well? Perhaps he, too, has known times of hardship?)* Shalma was aware that the words of this stranger from who-knows-where had moved her heart.
But she would remain careful.
"An assault on the empire—such a momentous decision cannot be made lightly. We must contact Dawnlight's headquarters and consult on the proper course of action."
Naturally, she avoided giving an immediate answer, deferring her reply.
Even so, Shalma had already begun considering it in a positive light.
Rindou thought.
*—To make your children walk the same path of despair—* That was something he could never allow.
A reality he had refused to look at, because he didn't want to accept it.
He had been so consumed with simply surviving that he couldn't even say what he was living for.
And yet, this man named Veldora, whom he had only met today, had in no time won the children's affection and was having fun playing alongside them.
Rindou felt envious.
*(You're right... What have I been looking at all this time? It was only us adults who had fallen into despair—the children are this happy... Perhaps true happiness is not something given or taken, but something found through one's own strength. If possible, I would like to talk with the people of the empire at least once.)* That was what he thought.
Perhaps something could change if he did.
Looking at Veldora, brimming with confidence, Rindou felt as though he himself could do anything.
"I agree with Lady Shalma's assessment. However, speaking personally, I am glad to hear that offer."
Rindou narrowed his eyes slightly and let a small smile peek through, revealing a glimpse of his true feelings.
Zaza shared a similar outlook to Shalma.
The only difference was that Zaza knew about Beretta's extraordinary combat ability.
He couldn't help but wonder if there was a chance.
He had caught a sliver of hope in Beretta's unfathomable strength.
*(But man, it ain't that simple. The empire is powerful. Doing that would be like stepping on a tiger's tail. Still...)* Years of experience as a combat operative had seared into Zaza's very bones just how formidable the empire truly was.
That was precisely why he couldn't so easily give his approval.
And there was more to it than that...
*(Could it be—)* Zaza saw a new hope in Veldora and his companions.
In the eyes of Zaza, who had been desperately living through these suffocating days, the free-spirited Veldora and his group shone brightly.
After a moment of contemplation, Zaza nodded with a resolution forming in his heart.
Perhaps, he thought, this situation could serve as a catalyst.
The first step toward building a new relationship between the empire and the resistance.
However, one wrong move, and it could bring about tremendous misfortune.
To ensure that didn't happen, Zaza steeled himself and looked at Veldora.
A confident man, grinning fearlessly.
*(Heh. What a strange guy. He doesn't move a muscle himself and just leaves all the fighting to Beretta, so why does he carry himself with such authority? But...)* He didn't dislike him, Zaza decided.
Either way, things had been grinding to a halt for a while now.
At some point, a decision had to be made. Otherwise, their fate would run out.
Even this hideout—there was no telling how much longer the power plant would keep running.
"If you're really going through with this, I'll reach out to some contacts too. Try to get in touch with surviving mercenary units and concentrate forces in this area. If we're doing it, we go all out."
Shalma had deferred her decision, but eventually a choice would have to be made.
It was only a matter of sooner or later.
And if that was the case, then now—when they had a reliable ally—felt like the right time to make that call.
And so, each person responded in their own way to Veldora's words.
The majority were favorable.
Everyone except Beretta.
*(—Oh, my. It seems everyone has been completely taken in. Lord Veldora isn't thinking about anything complicated at all. He merely made an excuse for giving okonomiyaki to the children...)* —Why.
How had things escalated this far after only a brief lapse of attention?
Beretta couldn't understand.
Before she knew it, it felt as though they were on the verge of being dragged into a great war of this world.
Lamenting the sheer absurdity of it all, Beretta continued to puzzle over what she could do to minimize the damage, thinking through it alone.