Chapter 34 - Charge! Dinner on the Road 2 <2>
Inspector Kenny Fort’s Menu of Terror
Inspector Kenny Fort and his adjutant were frozen in the back of a wagon loaded with food supplies, silent as stone.
“What should we do?”
Kenny turned to his adjutant, who had asked the question timidly, without a word. He was aware that his own expression was stiff, but his adjutant’s complexion was also frighteningly pale.
All day long, as he led the way on horseback, Kenny had been in utter agony. As a result, their progress for the day had been severely delayed.
The one thing that troubled the squad leader of the inspectors—the most elite unit in the Yuresla Kingdom Army—the most… was having to cook a meal.
Kenny was feeling a pressure he had never experienced before. Becoming an inspector required clearing rigorous training and examinations, leaving no time to learn things like cooking.
In other words, including him, none of the inspectors in the squad dispatched for this mission knew how to cook. On top of this being their first time cooking, they had to prepare a meal for a large group. And it wasn’t just for the inspectors and drivers—the king, his minister, and their companions were there as well.
This situation was more difficult than the most dangerous of undercover investigations. If someone offered to switch places, he would rather infiltrate an enemy stronghold than cook this meal.
“Captain, wouldn’t it be better to be honest and tell His Majesty, ‘None of us can cook’?”
At his adjutant’s all-too-honest words, Kenny gave a small shake of his head. At this late hour, they could hardly say they couldn’t cook.
He had tried, several times, to find an opportunity to confess his inability to cook. He had tried, but Anna’s overwhelming enthusiasm had caused him to completely miss his chance to tell Ritz or Edward.
Outside the wagon, preparations for the day’s camp and the stove were already underway. The lively voices from outside reached the inside of the oddly silent wagon, but Kenny’s heart was ice-cold. Or rather, his heart was already a blizzard.
Eventually, Kenny himself broke the heavy silence and spoke.
“What do you think we should make?”
His adjutant, who had also been asked, had zero cooking experience. It wasn’t as if something would easily come to mind.
“…I haven’t the faintest idea, sir.”
In the end, after a moment of thought, that was all he could say. The answer was exactly what Kenny had expected, so he wasn’t particularly disappointed. All the inspectors were like this.
“I see…”
Silence fell between them once more. At this rate, they would get nowhere. But they had no particular solution. It was Ritz, popping up in the wagon, who broke their silence.
“Hey, the stove’s ready.”
“…Ritz-san…”
Seeing their utter bewilderment, and even exhaustion, Ritz took a startled step back.
“What’s with the long faces? You look like you’re at a funeral.”
As Kenny remained silent, unable to find the words, his adjutant spoke up.
“Your Excellency, we inspectors… cannot cook.”
“Huh? You can’t?”
The two exhausted men gave a small nod to a dumbfounded Ritz. Ritz’s expression slowly changed from exasperation to confusion.
“What do you mean you can’t? What’re you gonna do for dinner tonight?”
His piercing gaze felt like it was stabbing him, and Kenny looked down. Even if asked what to do, he had no idea what he should do. Eventually, with a look of resolve, Ritz let out a deep sigh before offering them some bright encouragement.
“It’ll be fine.”
“But we don’t even know what to make.”
Ritz, sympathizing with their anguish, also put on a troubled expression.
“Something easy to make that can feed a lot of people would be good, right?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see… Something with rice or noodles. If you fudge it with that, you should be able to manage, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like risotto, or pilaf, or paella, or spaghetti with meat sauce?”
As they listened, their chests swelling with the hope that he might help, Ritz seemed to notice their expressions and his face changed as if he’d just realized something.
“Just think along those lines, okay? I’ve gotta go.”
Apparently, he’d only intended to offer suggestions and had no intention of helping whatsoever. As Ritz beat a hasty retreat, Kenny and his adjutant sighed.
“I feel like we at least have a direction now…”
Kenny nodded at his adjutant’s words and pulled a sack of rice from the food stores. The situation had certainly improved from moments ago when they didn’t even know what direction to think in. Most importantly, they now had an idea of what they should make.
“We have no choice but to try.”
With a heavy heart, Kenny met the grim gaze of his adjutant and nodded. If one were to describe their mood, it would be precisely ‘the state of mind of one heading to their death’.
When the two finally emerged from the wagon, they were met by the other inspectors. They, too, had no cooking experience.
“Captain, what can we do to help?”
“Anyone who has ever made a rice dish, step forward.”
At Kenny’s abrupt command, the inspectors fell silent. Among them, the youngest, the only married man who had recently become an inspector, timidly spoke up.
“I’ve never made it myself, but I’ve seen my wife make it. Her specialty is paella.”
All eyes gathered on that inspector. Kenny, with resolve, announced to everyone.
“Alright, let’s try making paella for dinner tonight.”
“Understood.”
However, not a single person, including the participants themselves, had any way of knowing that the choice of paella would lead to a nightmare.
“So, how do you prepare the rice?”
Kenny asked the married inspector. They were now standing by the stove. The others were merely watching them from a distance. The atmosphere was filled with such a strange tension that no one but the inspectors could approach.
“Well, I think she put it in a frying pan and sautéed it with olive oil.”
“I see. Let’s try that, then.”
Kenny poured the rice from the sack into a giant frying pan. He didn’t know that rice doubles in volume when cooked, so he had no idea about the quantity. He poured olive oil over it and placed it on the stove.
“Isn’t there too little oil for sautéing?”
“You’re right. Let’s add a bit more.”
Olive oil was poured into the frying pan with glugging sounds. Rather than sautéing, what was happening would normally be called deep-frying. As time passed, the rice began to pop and burst.
“It’s starting to pop! It’s going to overflow!”
“Captain, let’s move it to a pot!”
Working together, Kenny and his adjutant emptied the popping, rapidly expanding rice into a pot. At this point, it was less like rice and more like popcorn.
“Now what should we do?”
“Umm, I think she added soup.”
“Soup? Is water okay?”
“Probably…”
Normally, soup would mean broth, but the inspectors had no way of knowing that. They simply poured water into the pot of popcorn-like rice.
“I think there were shrimp and clams in it too…”
“We don’t have anything like that.”
“We don’t… How about meat and vegetables?”
Following the married inspector’s suggestion, all the inspectors pitched in to chop up meat and vegetables and toss them into the pot. The shapes were all over the place, some peeled, some not; the inside of the pot was a complete mystery stew. But they were beyond recognizing that fact.
“Then we have to add salt and pepper!”
“Salt and pepper, right? How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Alright, let’s just put in a random amount.”
With no idea of portion sizes, they dumped in a heaping amount of salt and pepper. The idea of taste-testing never once crossed their minds. A strange concoction with its surface covered in a layer of green oil bubbled away in the pot… whether this could be called paella was highly questionable…
“That’s right, Captain! Paella is yellow!”
“Yellow? How are we supposed to make this yellow?”
“Something long and thin and red… that’s right, saffron! You put in saffron! We grow it at my house, so I’m sure of it!”
“Alright, find the saffron in the wagon!”
The inspectors ran to the supply wagon and found the saffron in a bag of herbs. Finding hidden things was a task they excelled at.
“Captain, we found it!”
“Good, put it in!”
A heaping handful of saffron, far more than what was needed for coloring, was tossed into the pot. The contents of the pot instantly turned a bright yellow.
“…Is this right?”
“…Who knows…”
Following the married man’s advice that paella didn’t have much liquid, they decided to simply leave what they believed to be paella on the fire and wait for all the water to evaporate.
Day Two: The Inspectors’ Menu
A gooey, yellow, liquid-like substance.
Containing disintegrated vegetables and separated olive oil.
Everyone hesitated for a moment before bringing the dish served on their plates to their mouths. The liquid-like substance, colored an unnaturally vibrant yellow, had vegetables and their peels floating in it like some kind of wreckage. To put its appearance in one word, it was truly a yellow vision of hell…
“Uh, Kenny, what is this?”
Edward, sitting next to Anna, asked while holding the plate he had received from an inspector, hesitant to take a bite. They had been so serious that even Anna thought it would be rude to ask, but anyone, not just Anna, couldn’t help but ask what this mysterious object (for there was no other word for it) on the plate was.
“It was… supposed to be paella…”
Even Kenny, the one who made it, couldn’t help but stammer at its strangeness. Everyone understood that it was a mysterious dish far removed from paella.
Anna, the one who had suggested taking turns cooking, belatedly realized her mistake, but it was too late for regrets. On her journey with just Ritz and Franz, all three of them could cook, so she had completely forgotten that not everyone could. But since she was the one who suggested it, she had no choice but to be the first to take a bite.
“…Thank you for the food.”
Steeling herself, Anna brought the spoonful of yellow liquid to her mouth. Everyone watched the scene with bated breath. Feeling their gazes on her entire body, she placed the contents of the spoon on her tongue in one go.
“!”
In that moment, Anna’s mind went completely blank.
“Are you okay?”
Edward’s concerned voice didn’t even register in her ears; she was that confused. An incredible taste she had never experienced before was rampaging in her mouth. This flavor, which she had never encountered in her thirty years of life, didn’t feel like food, in Anna’s opinion.
First, the saltiness. It was just… incredible. Attacking at the same time was the spiciness of the pepper. Just how much pepper had they put in? And next to hit her nose was the strong taste of saffron… incredibly medicinal. So much so that everything was dyed in the scent of saffron.
After finally swallowing that flavor, what remained in her mouth was the gritty and gooey texture of undissolved rice and vegetables…
“Anna, are you crying?”
Franz asked timidly. Tears welled in Anna’s eyes from the sheer awfulness. She signaled with her hand for him to wait a moment. On the verge of throwing up, but having been taught never to waste food, Anna desperately swallowed the yellow liquid and opened her mouth.
“It’s salty and spicy… but the base is medicinal…”
When she opened her mouth, the aroma rose to her nose, and holding back the nausea brought tears to her eyes. She wordlessly urged Franz and Edward to try it quickly. She couldn’t describe this indescribably complex and unprecedentedly intense flavor herself.
As she stared at the two still-hesitant men, Franz and Edward resigned themselves and brought the yellow liquid to their mouths.
“Ugh…”
“Oh…”
The two of them let out the most tormented groans imaginable at the same time. It really is an incredible flavor, isn’t it, Anna thought to herself in agreement. Edward desperately swallowed it down, then chugged wine straight from the bottle next to him, while Franz, seeking water, ran to the water container by the stove.
Seeing this extraordinary scene, the drivers grew curious about just how terrible it was, and foolishly took a mouthful of the yellow liquid.
In the next moment, the clearing became a storm of shrieks and chaos. Some crawling for water, some collapsing face-first, some on all fours trying to spit it out… a true vision of hell.
People groaning as they collapsed one after another, a line forming for water… This was not the scene of a meal.
Once the commotion had subsided, the people sitting around in a daze suddenly realized someone was missing. Ritz.
Ritz, who loved food so much, had never once been absent at mealtime. It was then that a wonderful aroma drifted to their half-dazed noses. It was coming from the direction of the Traveler's Highway they had just come from.
The group, hungry but faced with an inedible meal, began to walk in a line, as if drawn toward the source of the scent. A section of the Traveler's Highway, which should have been pitch black, was strangely bright.
As they drew closer, they could see the back of a tall man sitting comfortably in front of a stove he had built, cooking something. There was no doubt; it was Ritz, the one who had been missing from the camp.
“Ritz, what are you doing?”
When Anna called out, Ritz turned around, laughing.
“Whoops. You found me.”
Inside the rather large stove in front of him, Sara was dozing comfortably. Sara’s belly was full. That meant Ritz had been here by himself for quite some time.
“Hey! No fair!”
Hanging over Ritz’s stove was a large pot full of meat sauce.
“Well, the inspectors said they’d never cooked before, so I figured I’d at least make my own dinner.”
That was it. When Ritz had encountered Kenny in the supply wagon, he had calculated that the chances of them making something delicious were less than one in ten thousand, and so had secured his own food by cooking it himself.
The meat sauce, made with leftover lamb from yesterday, tomatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, olive oil, and basil, fiercely stimulated the stomachs of the hungry party.
“Ritz, we’re friends, right? Right?”
“What’s with you, Ed? That’s creepy.”
Despite Ritz’s disgusted look, Edward eagerly sat down next to him.
“We’re companions, aren’t we, Ritz?”
Anna said as she, too, sat down next to Ritz. Franz silently sat down as well. The rest of the group watched them, clutching their rumbling stomachs.
Eventually, Ritz let out a snort of laughter. Gradually, his laughter grew louder. Soon, he was clutching his stomach and roaring with laughter.
“What’s so funny, Ritz?”
Franz muttered irritably. Unable to stop laughing, Ritz pointed at the pot.
“You should’ve realized just by looking at this amount. How many servings do you think I made?”
Come to think of it, the large pot on the stove was far too much for Ritz to eat alone.
“This is for everyone.”
Ritz had thought it would be bad if the inspectors found out he was cooking this, so he had prepared it in a separate location. If, by some miracle, the inspectors’ food had been delicious, he could have just saved this for the next day’s dinner. And if it was inedible, he would bring this over. That had been his reasoning.
“Sorry about that, Kenny.”
When Ritz, finally done laughing, apologized to Kenny, Kenny replied with an obviously annoyed expression.
“Then you should have just cooked for us from the start. If you couldn’t trust us, then please say so from the beginning, Your Excellency, the Minister!”
A murmur went through the drivers. It was the first they had heard of Ritz being a minister. Ritz purposefully did not deny it. Pouring oil on an angry Kenny was not a wise move.
He had done his best, in his own way. It was Ritz’s fault for not trusting him, if one were to assign blame. Kenny and the inspectors were probably displeased.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered that, but for Ritz, who truly loses all motivation when he's hungry, it had been an unavoidable choice.
“My bad. Please, eat this as my apology. Okay?”
Kenny remained standing like a statue, his expression unchanged, as Ritz put his hands together and apologized. The other inspectors, however, visibly relaxed their shoulders in relief. They could finally have dinner.
“Kenny, won’t you forgive me?”
It wasn’t Kenny who answered the still-apologizing Ritz, but the rumbling of Kenny’s own stomach. At the loud noise, Kenny’s shoulders slumped.
There was no point in being angry. He felt betrayed, but thinking about it calmly, Ritz had anticipated the worst-case scenario (the yellow gooey liquid) and presented them with a solution (the meat sauce). There was no point in being angry. As Ritz said, they should eat first and think later.
“Understood. For now, let’s eat.”
Day Two: Ritz’s Menu: Lamb Bolognese
After the meal was cleaned up, two inspectors—squad leader Kenny Fort and his adjutant—stood watch while the others slept.
The meat sauce had certainly been delicious. Ritz, who loved to eat, was skilled at simple, unpretentious home cooking. Conversely, he said he didn’t know much about fancy dishes.
The more delicious Ritz’s cooking was, the more miserable Kenny felt. It seemed that in life, work alone wasn’t always enough to get by.
Afterward, Ritz had soothed the intimidated drivers, saying things like, ‘I’m not a minister, so let’s just get along,’ and managed to get them to treat him as they always had. In this area, too, Kenny was no match for Ritz.
He was in a different league… Kenny couldn’t help but feel it. He was indeed a man befitting a minister. Above all, he was skilled at earning people’s trust.
Even if he couldn’t match Ritz, he resolved to catch up to him in at least one thing.
“I’ve made my decision.”
Kenny muttered under his breath.
“What is it, Captain?”
“When I return to the Royal Capital, I will learn to cook…”
“…Is that so.”
His adjutant, who had no way of knowing the depth of Kenny’s resolve, nodded with a complicated expression.
Ritz’s Party + The King’s Menu
Tonight, it was the three of them—Ritz, Anna, and Franz—who were on cooking duty.
Uncharacteristically, Ritz dismounted from the carriage that day, borrowed a horse from one of the inspectors, and rode at the head of the convoy. Apparently, he wanted to search for something to use in tonight’s dinner. Anna and Franz had no idea, but perhaps he had a good idea.
Besides, those two had a lot to think about and were having a hard time themselves.
This morning, as they were leaving the campsite, Ritz had given them this challenge.
“How about the three of us try to put together a simple full-course meal?”
“A course?”
When Franz asked back, full of suspicion, Ritz paid his feelings no mind and continued cheerfully.
“Yeah, a course. A simple one, so a main, a side dish, and a soup should be fine, don’t you think?”
It was gradually becoming clear. Ritz was apparently trying to have the three of them each make one dish to complete a course meal.
“That sounds fun! I’m in, I’m in!”
Contrary to Anna, who was immediately enthusiastic, Franz saw no appeal in it. He was finally able to relax, but this was no different from their journey so far.
“What’s wrong, Franz? You don’t want to?”
“…Not really.”
It was pointless to object. Once Ritz and Anna had decided to do something, Franz had no way to resist. As Franz sighed and looked up at Ritz, Anna spoke to him cheerfully.
“What should I make? This is exciting, isn’t it, Franz!”
“…So who’s in charge of what?”
Pretending not to hear Anna, Franz moved the conversation forward. It would be easier later if he decided on a dish as soon as possible.
“If you have any requests, let me know.”
Apparently, Ritz hadn’t decided on anything beyond that, as he asked the two of them in return. Even if asked so suddenly, Franz couldn’t think of anything. But Anna, it seemed, had.
“Yes! I’ll make a salad!”
Ritz and Franz couldn’t help but stare at Anna, who had answered without a moment’s hesitation.
A salad was uncharacteristic of Anna so far. The Anna they knew was the type to spend a lot of time making something incredible.
“A salad?”
As expected, Ritz was surprised and asked again.
“Yep! You see, Lira’s father taught me just the dressing for the flower salad.”
That was right. She had learned how to make the flower salad from Lira’s father, Net. Come to think of it, he recalled her saying that since the flowers wouldn’t be available until next year, she had only learned the dressing.
So, Anna making a salad meant she wanted to test out the dressing.
“That means Anna’s on side dishes. What’s left is the soup and the main…”
“I want the soup.”
Franz cut in as Ritz was speaking. Soup was definitely easier than the main dish. Perhaps finding it too much trouble to deal with a sulky Franz who wasn’t keen on the idea to begin with, Ritz declared with a bold smile.
“Alright, then I’ll take the main.”
Watching the three of them with a somewhat envious expression was Edward.
On the first day, the driver cooked; on the second, the inspectors; on the third, them… At this rate, he might just be eating forever. He was getting a little tired of always waiting silently for the meal preparations to be finished.
The creature called boredom was beginning to rear its head within him.
Edward hadn’t grown up in the royal palace. His adoptive mother’s family wasn’t that wealthy, and as a child, he and his foster brother, Shasta, were often made to help out with various chores. As a result, despite being a king, he was capable of doing a certain amount of housework, even if he couldn’t say he was good at it.
Furthermore, the man who had taught him swordsmanship, Gerald, loved survival-type activities and would often take Ritz out on camping trips where they would procure their ingredients locally. For a man like him to just sit around chewing on his boredom without joining in the cooking was, upon reflection, unbearable.
“Won’t you let me join you?”
“Huh?”
The three of them were at a loss for words at Edward’s sudden suggestion.
“We can’t have the king preparing meals, can we?”
Though he said it with an exasperated face, Edward pressed on.
“Why not? Are you saying a king can’t prepare a meal because he’s the king?”
“Why, you ask…”
“There is no such law.”
As Ritz stood speechless with a strained expression, Anna and Franz were also bewildered.
In reality, there was no law stating that a king could not prepare a meal. That was because, it was simply assumed a king would have no need to do such a thing. If there was a need, there was absolutely no problem with him cooking.
As Ritz scratched his head, struggling to come up with an answer, Edward met his gaze and smiled softly.
“Ritz… come to think of it, you used to frequent Marie’s shop a lot back in the day, didn’t you…”
At Edward’s sudden words, Ritz flinched for an instant. It seemed Ritz still didn’t want Anna and Franz to know about his past womanizing ways.
“…What about it?”
Ritz looked at Edward with his guard fully up. But Edward simply met his gaze with a smile.
“Shall I talk about Cynthia from that shop, right here?”
Ritz shot a panicked glance at Anna and Franz, then forced an unnaturally wide smile at Edward.
“Alright, let’s make dinner together, shall we?”
Unable to keep up with Ritz’s sudden change of heart as he cheerfully clapped Edward on the shoulder, Anna looked back and forth between the two.
“Huh? What’s going on? Who’s Cynthia?”
“Ah, she was a, uh… a pet parrot at the shop.”
As he made his flimsy excuse, Ritz plastered on the best fake smile he could manage.
“Did you do something to Cynthia-chan?”
As Ritz flinched and took a step back, Edward noticed and couldn’t help but let a mischievous smile appear. Ritz shot a light glare in his direction. This was just too funny. He had done something, of course, but there was no way he could say such a thing in front of his wards.
“It’s nothing, really. Yeah. Right, Ed?”
“…Pretty much.”
As Ritz tried to smooth things over, Edward replied with a light, suggestive laugh. Conveniently for Ritz, the order to move out was given. With a look of relief, Ritz urged Anna to return to the carriage.
“Come on, we’re leaving, leaving. We’ll be left behind.”
“Okay~”
Watching Anna casually return to her carriage, Ritz let out a huge sigh and turned back.
“You just wait.”
Casually brushing off Ritz’s resentful words, Edward coolly changed the subject on his own.
“Don’t you feel like eating Gerald’s cooking after all this time?”
“Hey, don’t change the subject!”
“Don’t you think it’s a good idea? It’s for a large group, it’s hearty, and it doesn’t take much effort.”
Ritz sighed, then scratched his head vigorously again. It was a habit of Ritz’s from long ago, when he gave up, realizing there was no other choice.
“The old man’s cooking, huh? Might be good.”
“See?”
Ritz nodded and silently walked over to the inspectors. It seemed he intended to borrow a horse. Edward, satisfied that he could join in the cooking, was about to walk away when he finally noticed that Franz was still standing behind him.
“Aren’t you getting in the carriage?”
But there was no reply. Instead, a question came back.
“Marie’s shop… what kind of shop is it?”
“…”
Edward smiled, looking troubled. It wouldn’t be fair to talk about Ritz when he wasn’t here.
“A tavern.”
In truth, it was a famous, long-standing brothel that had been in the capital for over forty years. Cynthia was a high-class prostitute at the time Ritz was in the capital, and she had been Ritz’s favorite back then. But Marie’s shop had another face. During the civil war, it was a hideout for the revolutionary army. Ritz had lived there for several months.
It wasn’t just because Ritz wasn’t there; Edward somehow felt hesitant to say that to this serious-looking companion of Ritz’s. And so, the situation had led to this.
Upon arriving at that day’s campsite, the convoy began the familiar work of the past two days: building stoves and setting up their accommodations for the night.
“Alright, time to make the dressing!”
Anna energetically began preparations for the day’s salad. Franz silently started peeling potatoes. For him, potatoes were the perfect ingredient—they were filling and easy to handle.
Among them, there were two people acting unusually. Of course, it was Ritz and Edward.
“Is about a meter deep enough?”
Ritz, holding a large shovel, asked Edward.
“Should be fine.”
The two of them were digging a hole in the middle of the clearing. When they started digging, the inspectors rushed over in a flurry, saying things like, ‘For such manual labor, the King and Minister shouldn’t dirty their own hands; we will…’, causing a bit of a stir, but Edward forcefully continued digging the hole. Ritz did the same.
Was this what they called the privilege of power? But on second thought, they really should have used their privilege to make the inspectors and drivers dig the hole, but that would be no fun. Edward was originally from a farming family, and Ritz had helped out with that for several years, so this was nothing to them.
Once the hole was dug, Ritz unloaded the baggage tied to his horse. Inside were a large number of mushrooms and some big, sturdy-looking leaves.
While peeling potatoes and listening closely, their cheerful conversation reached his ears.
“You found some good mushrooms, didn’t you?”
Ignoring Edward, who was picking them up and examining them, Ritz took out a jar of butter and some smoked salmon he had brought from the food stores.
“You help out too.”
“Yeah, I’ll help.”
Then the two of them sat down and silently began some kind of detailed work.
Meanwhile, Franz was carefully mashing the boiled potatoes. He added butter and cheese and kneaded it well. For seasoning, a little salt, pepper, and herbs. To the well-mixed concoction, he added hot water to thin it out.
He would have liked to add a soup made with beef and vegetables, but if he did that, the sun would rise. Instead, he chopped dried meat with a knife until it was powdered and tossed it into the pot. As the pot warmed and steam began to rise, the faint aroma of cheese drifted through the air. He was trying to make a warm vichyssoise.
“Franz, how’s it going?”
Anna, apparently with time on her hands, came over. It seemed she had already finished preparing the dressing.
“I’m boooored.”
According to Anna, who was talking next to him, the secret to that dressing was letting it sit for several hours to become delicious. So, having finished her preparations, she had nothing to do. Since it was getting cold, she had decided on a warm vegetable salad for the day. If she boiled them too early, they would get cold, so she wanted to time it with everyone else’s progress.
“I’m almost done.”
Anna nodded at Franz’s words and looked over at Ritz and Edward. This time, they were throwing a large number of stones they had heated in the stove into the hole they had dug earlier. Franz had no idea what they were making.
“I wonder what Ritz and the others are making~”
Anna, also unable to guess, sat down, rested her chin on her hand, and murmured that. Franz also turned his eyes in that direction.
Having finished throwing in the stones, the two of them were now tossing in something wrapped in leaves, and finally, they threw in some fresh leaves that were apparently nearby and covered it all with dirt.
“…I wonder what it is.”
There was no way Franz could guess what kind of dish was made like this.
“Alright, now we just have to wait twenty minutes.”
At Ritz’s voice, Anna and Franz looked at each other. Apparently, that was it.
“I wonder what it’ll be. I’m so excited~”
Anna, in high spirits, left Franz’s side with a light step to go boil the vegetables.
Franz, who was left behind, stirred the pot to prevent it from burning while trying to imagine the unimaginable dish Ritz and Edward were making.
Day Three: Ritz’s Party + The King’s Menu
Warm Vegetable Special Salad (Anna)
Vichyssoise (Franz)
Mushroom and Salmon Steamed in Butter (Ritz & Ed)
After the dishes made by Anna and Franz were distributed to everyone, Ritz and Edward began to dig up the still-steaming ground.
As everyone watched with bated breath, they dug up a large number of leaves from the dirt, followed by fist-sized bundles wrapped in leaves, one for each person. They were still hot.
“Hold it with the knot facing up and open it slowly.”
Ritz warned them as he handed them out. Depending on how you opened it, you could get burned.
Ritz and Edward also took their seats, and the meal began. As usual, Anna, who was intensely curious about food, was the first to open her leaf bundle. Ritz, sitting next to her, watched her reaction closely.
Along with the steam, the indescribably wonderful aroma of butter rose up, along with the fragrant scent of salmon. The plentiful mushrooms also gave off a soft fragrance. The sweet scent of onion was there as well. It had been a while since he’d made it, but it seemed to be a great success.
“Wow… it looks delicious…”
As if drawn by Anna’s voice of admiration, the bundles were opened one after another. An indescribably wonderful aroma filled the clearing.
The things Ritz had been searching for when he borrowed the horse… were leaves large enough to wrap this dish and autumn mushrooms, which were in season.
The perfect saltiness of the smoked salmon brought out the sweetness of the mushrooms beautifully. No seasonings other than butter were used at all.
“Why is it steamed when you put it in the ground?”
As Ritz was about to open his own portion, Anna asked him, a mushroom still on her fork.
“We put the heated stones in first, right? On top of that, we put fresh leaves, then put these bundles inside, covered them with more leaves, and then covered it with dirt. That way, the moisture from the leaves comes out just right, and these bundles in between get steamed.”
After explaining, Ritz took a bite of Anna’s warm vegetables. The broccoli, turnips, carrots, and roughly chopped potatoes matched well with the tart dressing; it was delicious.
However, he felt that this dressing was a little different from the one he had at the Green Forest Inn.
“Anna, is this the one you learned from Net?”
“Yep. He told me about three different kinds, and this is one of them.”
Somehow, while Ritz and Franz were wandering around town and picking up a child, Anna had managed to memorize that many dressing recipes.
“Two more, huh? I’d like to try those next time too.”
“I’ll make them next time!”
Beside the two of them chatting warmly, Franz was busily bringing salmon to his mouth. When he went back to traveling with just the three of them, Franz fully intended to try this simple method.
After all, it required little effort. Dig a hole, put in stones, put in leaves. He felt that even an exhausted Franz could manage that much. The fact that such a simple cooking method existed was a revelation.
You could add butter and potatoes, and meat would be good too. Bacon would probably be delicious as well.
As Franz was thinking about how to cut corners on cooking during their future travels, he was brought back to his senses by a question from Anna, who had almost finished her meal.
“Your soup is delicious, Franz. Is it potato potage?”
“It’s called vichyssoise.”
When Anna asked for the recipe, Franz carefully explained it to her. Another new recipe would probably be added to Anna’s collection. Her inquisitiveness when it came to food was extraordinary. She might accumulate enough recipes to open her own shop someday.
Watching the two of them out of the corner of his eye, Ritz spoke to Edward.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had the old man’s cooking, huh?”
In fact, this was a recipe from the general who had been the former commander-in-chief of the Royal Army and had taught both Ritz and Edward swordsmanship from scratch. They had learned it during a camping trip he had spent with them.
“It really brings back memories, you know, of the old days.”
In response to Ritz’s sentimental words, Edward replied as if to himself.
“We’re bound to run into things that make us remember, whether we like it or not…”
“Huh? What’d you say?”
When Ritz asked again, Edward smiled, a look close to a grimace.
“Just talking to myself.”
“What’s with you, you weirdo?”
In any case, their meal was a huge hit with everyone and drew to a close.
Epilogue
After the dinners of these past few days, which were filled with joy, visions of hell, and surprise, the cooking duties would once again return to the old driver. From then on, all meal preparations were entrusted to the old man.
Anna had abolished the cooking rotation system. It seemed she had learned her lesson quite well.
This time for real, Franz was relieved to be freed from cooking duty.
But what was a little different from the first day was that Anna had become the old driver’s cooking partner, and the sight of Kenny, an eager student, jotting down the old driver’s recipes in a notebook and asking questions whenever he had a spare moment, could now be seen.
It seemed Kenny’s resolve to learn to cook was genuine. He had said he would start after returning to the Royal Capital, but he couldn’t wait and had become the old driver’s assistant.
And so, the old driver’s cooking, now with two assistants, became increasingly elaborate and delicious, greatly satisfying everyone’s stomachs and sense of well-being.
From these three days—or rather, from the inspectors’ menu on the second day—there was one thing Anna had learned.
It was this: ‘People have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s better to confirm whether they can actually do something before asking them.’
Volume 4 continues. Volume 4 is a slightly more serious story related to the past civil war. But the three of them are the same as always (^^)
Next time, I plan to upload parts 1 and 2 at the same time. Although 1 is just the prologue, so it's short (^^;)
Well then, look forward to the next time~ (^^)/