kscans

Chapter 5 - The Royal Knights' Little Person

"Now then. Why don’t you tell me everything?"

Romel, his wide smile shadowed by a dark cloud, questioned Drago cheerfully. The knights standing in a line behind him also stared at Drago with intimidating, fixed gazes.

Today I went to the forest with Romel.

Well, after a lot of things happened, the kitchen staff found us on our way back and apparently informed Drago.

"Isn’t that them?"

"It is, the Little Person’s on the horse! Get the head chef!"

The cooks were in a flurry of panic.

Watching them from a distance, Romel looked at Chihiro with a puzzled expression.

"Little Person?"

"...It’s my nickname."

"Hmm. Well, I suppose it fits. It’s cute."

Uwah... I feel a chill coming from behind me.

And just as they arrived, Drago, who must have sprinted from the kitchens, came running towards them, his eyes half-filled with tears.

"Chihiirooo!!"

He snatched her up in a hug and glared at Romel, growling with a face that would make an oni proud.

"Your Highness the King’s brother... what is the meaning of this, taking her without a word?"

"I promised Chihiro yesterday that I would come and get her."

"Is that true?"

"Yeah. But I didn’t think he was serious."

"How cruel. Is that how you see me?"

While they were bickering back and forth, Romel muttered something in a low voice only Drago could hear.

"I have something to discuss regarding what’s under your daughter’s hood."

At the smirk twisting Romel's lips, Drago and Chihiro froze as if caught in an arctic blizzard.

And that brings us to the present.

"Why is a child of the royal family here? Who are the parents?"

"I do not know. I found her in a corner of the royal palace. She is my foster child."

"You found her?"

Drago nodded emphatically and explained the circumstances.

"...And that is why I believe she may be the unacknowledged child of someone of high birth."

As Romel listened to the explanation, he couldn’t deny the possibility. She possessed the royal luminescence so clearly. There was no doubt she was the child of someone in the direct line. But if that was the case, it had to be someone living secluded within the palace. Otherwise, it would be impossible to abandon her in a corner of the castle.

Raised in secret, abandoned in secret.

Everything must have taken place within the royal palace. Even the birth.

Was such a thing possible?

And then, recalling a time when such a thing might have been possible, he held his head in his hands. Judging by Chihiro’s age, he was probably right.

"Ah... ah, that’s it. It’s not impossible."

"Your Highness?"

"It was when the Eighth Princess and the Second Prince were born. Things were chaotic back then, and the Inner Palace was filled with the cries of babies. If Chihiro had been mixed in, we might not have noticed."

Chihiro’s face involuntarily tensed.

...But I was abandoned.

Reacting to the thought, Chihiro’s face twisted in disgust. Her expression was unfitting for a child, exuding a sharp, cruel aura. The knights who saw it widened their eyes slightly. Drago, noticing their reaction, followed their gaze to Chihiro, and Romel, drawn by Drago’s glance, was also struck speechless by the grim atmosphere.

"Chihiro?"

Drago called out to her tentatively. Seeing him, the little girl broke into a soft smile.

"What is it, Papa?"

"Pa... Chihiro, what happened to ‘Papa-sama’?"

"Forget it!"

"Papa-sama? What are you talking about, Chihiro?"

"Nothing!"

Ah, that’s the usual Chihiro. What was that murderous look from before? For a child to make a face like that, what in the world happened?

Romel let out a small sigh of relief, understanding that the situation was not impossible.

"Well, assuming that’s the case, why didn’t you inform the royal family? With such a splendid luminescence, she would have been immediately protected and cherished."

At Romel’s words, Chihiro unconsciously grabbed Drago’s sleeve. Drago patted the small, tightly clenched hand and looked straight at Romel.

"Chihiro was nearly killed. She was locked in a filthy room and left for days without food or water."

Romel’s eyes widened in shock. Ignoring him, Drago continued.

"Fortunately, one of my apprentices found her and she escaped harm. But when she was first found, Chihiro was a filthy child, emaciated, with hollow eyes. She was so dirty you couldn’t even tell she had blonde hair."

"Who... who did that?"

"I don’t know. All Chihiro remembers is being locked up by a woman in a maid’s uniform. If by some chance she hadn’t been able to escape from that room, Chihiro would have died of hunger and thirst. In fact, it seems she was locked in for that very purpose."

That meant... Romel swallowed hard. Drago, standing before him, gave a small nod.

"There is someone in the royal family who wishes for Chihiro’s death."

That’s why he didn’t inform the palace. What a dreadful situation... This must be reported to His Majesty the King in strict confidence, and quickly.

Romel pressed a hand to his mouth with a grave expression, while Drago’s eyes narrowed menacingly. The knights looked at the little girl with pitying gazes.

It was settled that this information would be kept a strict secret among those present, and Romel would consult with the King to decide Chihiro’s fate.

"However, she is my daughter now. I’ll thank you not to interfere."

Chihiro looked up at Drago, who puffed out his chest as if the conversation was over, and jumped down from the sofa. Then, she ran te-te-ke-te towards the kitchen.

"Chihiro? What are you doing?"

The little girl turned back with a broad, innocent smile and pointed at the kitchen while stomping her feet.

"I got honey from Merda! I want to make sweets, help me, Papa!"

"Honey?? That’s quite a valuable item. Who is this Merda? I must thank them."

Drago stood up in surprise. Romel gestured for him to sit back down and looked up at him with half-lidded, steady eyes.

"Queen Merda. The Forest Master."

"The Forest Master..."

"Haaaaahhh??"

The knights nodded as if it were only natural at Drago’s cry of shock.

But there was no stopping the Little Person’s rampage.

"Is this right?"

"Yup, now into the pot."

Chihiro had Drago make a meringue by whipping egg whites and honey until stiff peaks formed. Then, she used a spoon to drop scoops of the meringue into boiling water. After a while, they floated to the top, and she scooped them out with a mesh ladle, placed them in a bowl of cold water to cool, and then set them on a sieve to drain. She had made some apple jam earlier, which she thinned with apple juice to make a sauce. She poured it over the poached meringue, and it was done.

"It’s ready!"

"Hoh. What an interesting cooking method. It looks delicious."

"Hmm. May I have some as well?"

The two men were fascinated by the dish they had never seen before.

"Sure, everyone, have some! It’s honey we all got together."

With that, she lined up plates, portioned out the meringue, and poured the sauce over it. The knights, though a little apprehensive about the unfamiliar dish, took a bite as soon as Romel nodded. The pure white, wobbly meringue with the yellow sauce. The tartness of the apple tickled their nostrils, and the indescribable flavor left them all wide-eyed and speechless. Above all, it was sweet. The meringue that melted like snow and the tart sauce were both sweet and mellow, with a superb texture.

"It’s delicious! Sweet things really are special, aren’t they!"

Everyone present smiled at the kyakkya-ing little girl, but also looked at her with a strange curiosity. It was certainly delicious. A masterpiece. But this was a flavor that could only be achieved with a large amount of honey. Chihiro had made it as if she knew this, as if it were a matter of course. Where had she learned this? Not even royalty could eat such a luxurious dish.

Numerous questions popped into their heads.

But before them, the Little Person was busily making something else. She mixed softened butter and honey, then added the leftover egg yolks from the meringue. She had Drago take over when it was time to mix in the flour. She rolled the kneaded dough into a log, cut it into equal pieces, flattened each piece with the bottom of a cup, creating round discs with an indentation in the middle. She made many of these on a baking sheet, filled the indentations with jam, and had Drago bake them in the oven.

After a short while, a fragrant, sweet aroma wafted through the air, once again tickling their nostrils.

"Jam cookies are ready♪"

What came out was a baked good similar to the one Romel had given her. After letting them cool a bit, the Little Person once again served them to everyone. Romel bit into one with a soft kashu sound and froze, his eyes round.

...So this is what she was comparing it to. I can understand her disappointment now.

It was softer and fluffier than the sweet Romel had given her, with a crisp texture, and above all, it was sweet. The jam in the center was tart and incredibly moreish.

This pretty much confirms it.

This little girl knows what she’s doing. She must have eaten it and made it before. This isn't an unknown dish to her, but a perfectly normal one.

Just standing there, she was no different from the Eighth Princess. But her contents were off the charts.

And she was the golden queen, acknowledged by the Forest Master.

Inside this small body lies a vast amount of knowledge.

The Little Person’s rampage planted a seed of suspicion in Romel’s heart. He might one day arrive at the correct answer, but that is a story for another time.

"Harold-san."

"Well now, if it isn’t the young lady Baroness."

Lately, Chihiro had started venturing into the knights’ quarters. While it was fun to observe the knights, her real purpose was different.

"Ah, it’s the Little Person."

"Eh? The Little Person? She’s finally here!"

"Seriously? This is the first time I’ve seen her!"

Knights began to gather from all over, warawara. Their goal was the sweets Chihiro brought with her. Apparently, the knights who got a taste last time had asked for more, and she had been secretly supplying them. The secret got out, and they were pressed to reveal the source. As a result, at the request of Commander Harold, Chihiro was now delivering sweets to the knight order. Of course, it wasn’t for free. A pack of three large cookies, a slice of pound cake, or a small, rolled-up crepe. Each cost five copper coins. That price included the cost of ingredients and labor.

"Alright everyone, the Kobito-san brand sweets are here!"

Kobito-san brand sweets. That was the latest craze among the knights.

"What’s on the menu today?"

"This is the only thing I look forward to."

The knights lined up with smiles on their faces.

"The cookies are jam and nut. The cakes are plain and dried fruit, and the crepes are apple and custard cream."

"Ooh, that sounds delicious!"

"Wait, wait, wait, only three items per person!"

"A crepe, please. Two with custard cream."

"I want one of all of them! Ugh."

The knights’ secret shop was doing a booming business again today.

"That was quite something again today, my lady."

Naya and Sasha were the ones who had helped carry the sweets.

These two were loyal to Drago and had kept everything about Chihiro a secret. They had known from the beginning that Chihiro was a blonde-haired royal, yet they hadn’t panicked at all. Since Drago said she was his daughter, then she was the young lady of the house. She was nothing else. They had apparently accepted it with refreshing clarity. Today, too, they had followed her to sell to the knights, carrying a mountain of sweets. The knights had offered to come and pick them up, but they had staunchly refused, their hackles raised at the thought of them coming to their house in such a conspicuous manner.

"My lady, you really don’t need to be doing things like this. For the knights to be so impudent."

"It can’t be helped. The young lady’s sweets are wonderfully dreamlike."

"Well, that is... she is the master’s daughter, after all."

Naya sounded a little proud. As long as Drago acknowledged her, it seemed blood ties didn’t matter. The two of them treated her completely as his daughter. Chihiro felt a little embarrassed and skipped to hide her shyness.

Apparently, in this world, honey could only be obtained by taking it from monster bees. Not the Forest Master, but ordinary monsters. These monster bees, a threat due to their sheer numbers, were troublesome creatures that could attack nearby villages if provoked, and were designated as disaster-class monsters.

But that was in the past.

Monsters could no longer live in the surrounding countries that had lost their magic and magical power, and many had moved to the uninhabited frontiers. In exchange for a slight technological advancement, the other countries had lost the blessings of magic and monsters, everything. In fact, civilization had regressed with the loss of magic. Everything that had depended on daily life magic now had to be done physically. In such a situation, if other countries wanted to obtain honey, they had to rely on adventurers to fetch it from the frontier, making the honey available in Frontier extremely valuable. In Frontier, when the Forest Master built a new nest, they would give the old one to the humans. They would press it and obtain a decent amount of honey.

Because this happened once a year, Frontier had honey, albeit a precious commodity.

A delicacy that other countries drooled over.

The Forest Master was an intelligent creature, so if anyone tried to poach from them, that person’s country would be attacked. That was why other countries couldn’t interfere.

And Chihiro could use this precious honey as if it were water. If this became known, it would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar.

Therefore, the knights maintained an ironclad guard.

There was always a knight somewhere Chihiro couldn’t see or notice. The same went for the area around Drago’s mansion. Chihiro was a child of the royal family. These were natural precautions. Furthermore, she was the golden queen and controlled the Forest Master’s honey.

In the royal palace, she had become a figure of greater importance than even the King.

She herself was the only one who didn’t know. However, even an ironclad defense is not without its flaws, and cracks can appear anywhere.

"Are you the Little Person?"

As Chihiro was helping in the kitchen as usual, she suddenly heard a high-pitched voice. Turning around, she saw a boy of about seven. He was dressed in fine clothes and had an attendant behind him.

Ah, I have a really bad feeling about this.

"I asked if it was you. Answer me."

Seeing the silent little girl, the boy strode over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, please don’t be rough!"

Adoris hurriedly stepped between them. The man who seemed to be an attendant then shouted at Adoris.

"Insolent fool! This is Lord Rallphred, the heir of Earl Main! Show some respect!"

"The Earl’s??"

The kitchen staff gasped.

Ignoring them, Rallphred looked at Chihiro.

"I hear the sweets you make are delicious. I shall take you on as my personal cook. You’re just a kitchen helper, aren’t you?"

Who’s the idiot that let this leak!!

She didn’t know who had told him, but Chihiro inwardly cursed the unknown fool and sighed to herself.

What should I do? In worlds like this, the tyranny of nobles is an unreasonable reality, right? Ah, I think I’m screwed.

As the silent little girl pondered, the impatient Rallphred tried to grab her shoulder again, but a large hand stopped him.

"That is enough, son of Earl Main."

The one who stopped him was a familiar knight. Dolphen, was that his name? She only remembered his goofy smile when he was eating her sweets, but with a serious face, he was a rather handsome knight.

"You’re just a knight, what do you think you’re doing to the young master...?"

"You fool, that’s the second son of the Marquis Kigris house!"

"Eh?"

While the attendants were fussing behind Rallphred, Dolphen lifted him up and ushered him out of the kitchen.

"Everyone in the castle kitchens, down to the lowest helper, is the property of His Majesty the King. Furthermore, this young lady is a cook favored by His Highness the King’s brother. To lay a hand on them would be an act of disrespect. Are you prepared for that?"

Not just His Majesty the King, but His Highness the King’s brother??

Moreover, the knight standing guard at the kitchen entrance was the son of a marquis. There was no way he could compete. The attendants soothed the reluctant Rallphred and fled as if their lives depended on it.

As Chihiro stared blankly at Dolphen after the trouble had passed like a gust of wind, he winked his pale blue eyes at her.

...He’s quite handsome.

Starting with this incident, Chihiro’s titles kept increasing. She went from being the kitchen’s Little Person to His Majesty the King’s property, His Highness the King’s brother’s favorite, the Royal Knights’ Little Person, and so on.

A knight was now permanently stationed at the kitchen entrance, much to the relief of the cooks.

But behind the scenes, the knights who had carelessly talked about the Kobito-san brand sweets during their guard duty for Rallphred received a stern warning from their commander for their lack of discretion.

The knight order may have been a bit lax, but the Little Person, immensely grateful for Dolphen’s help, continues to deliver sweets with a smile every day.

All sorts of things happen, but the Little Person is energetic every day.