by Hiro Ainana
Later on, I attempted to release the masterless slaves, send them to the tenement houses, and return the ones with masters to their owners, but that plan ended up backfiring.
The owners didn’t want to pay the finder’s fee for their return. In the end, they ended up surrendering ownership of the girls to me instead.
Most of them then wanted to stay as Kuro’s slaves, but I had no desire for slaves to be used as tools.
I agreed to this out of respect for their wishes so that I could keep them safe for the time being, but eventually, when they left the tenement houses, I would free all of them from slavery.
For now, I just watched contentedly as the former captives went about their new lives happily under a clear blue sky.
Rookie Explorers’ Class
Satou here. They say training is the first obstacle a new employee faces. Just as the newcomer learns, the person teaching them also refreshes their knowledge of old information, so it can be surprisingly helpful for both parties.
“I’m gonna get yooou?”
“Waaah!”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha!”
“You’re so fast, Miss Tama.”
Changing back into Satou and returning to the house, I found the younger group playing with some of the orphanage kids in the open field next door.
“Ah! It’s master, sir!”
The sharp-eyed Pochi spotted me at once and dashed over with her tail wagging.
Arisa and Mia were also in the field, gathered on the other side with a group of girls.
They seemed to be weaving something out of the grass from the field.
“Aw, you got me. Ooone, twooo, threeee…”
Tama was deliberately slowing her pace, but she still caught up to one of the fleeing children and tapped him easily.
The boy who had been caught started counting and looking around, so they were probably playing tag.
“Welcome baaack?”
Tama waved at me excitedly, and I waved back.
Her smile was even more sparkling than usual. I guess she was enjoying playing with other kids her age.
As I patted Pochi’s head, I felt grateful to the orphanage kids for drawing out new sides of Tama and Pochi.
Food would probably be the best way to thank them.
“…niiine, tennnn! Wait up!”
The kid who’d been counting broke into a run, and the others shrieked and started dashing around again.
It was always good to see kids feeling happy and energetic.
“Pochi has to run, too, sir!”
“Okay, go have fun. Just make sure no one gets hurt.”
“Yes, sir.”
Pochi nodded and dashed back over to the children.
It would probably be wise for me to design some kind of strength-suppressing item so that Pochi and Tama didn’t hurt the other kids by accident as they played together.
I could heal any wounds with potions easily enough, but I’d hate for either of them to get traumatized by hurting someone.
“Lulu, have you started dinner already?”
“I’m sorry—I haven’t yet.”
Lulu’s lovely face clouded, as if she thought she might be in trouble.
“No need to apologize. I was thinking that I could make hamburg steaks for everyone today.”
“It has been a while. I’m sure Tama and Pochi will be thrilled.”
Once she understood why I was asking, Lulu gave a relieved, gentle smile.
“Shall we use Celivera dullcattle beef today?”
“I don’t think we have enough. I was thinking hydra and rocket-wolf meat.”
“Really? But we have enough beef for twenty or thirty people, don’t we?”
At that, I realized that Lulu had misunderstood.
“Oh, I don’t mean just for us. I want to make hamburg steaks for the maids and the orphanage kids, too.”
Lulu looked a little distressed by this.
She was probably wondering whether to point out that this went against Arisa and the orphanage director’s policy of not giving the kids anything too extravagant for their meals.
Before clarifying my intentions, I took a moment to enjoy her cute expression.
“Don’t worry—it’s only for today. I want to reward the maids for helping gather the kids and to celebrate the opening of the orphanage, you know?”
At that, Lulu’s expression cleared up.
It was fine to give them simple meals most of the time, but I was sure they’d like to enjoy something a little more exciting for special occasions.
“…Still, it’ll be a little difficult to make hamburg steaks for more than a hundred people here, I suppose.”
“Oh yes. Since we normally make simpler meals, we built some stoves in the empty lot to cook outside.”
I see… I’ve been running around so much lately, I didn’t know they were having trouble here, too.
After the children’s bedrooms, I would have the construction workers focus on the galley next.
“Let’s do that today, too, then.”
“Yes, master!”
I used the Space Magic spell Telephone to call Liza and Nana, asking them to carry some ingredients and a meat grinder into the empty lot.
“Meeeat?”
“So much of Mr. Meat, sir!”
Tama and Pochi hovered around excitedly.
For some reason, the other kids watched them with reserved expressions.
They probably weren’t accustomed to the older girls like Nana and Liza yet.
“Sergeant Tama. Sergeant Pochi.”
“Aye!”
“Yes, sir!”
Tama and Pochi straightened up with serious expressions.
“It is time to commence Operation: Hamburg!” I kept an equally straight face and important tone.
At this, their eyes sparkled ambitiously, like two battle-hardened veterans about to take part in a difficult mission.
“You sergeants have an important role: Take the meat that Lieutenant Liza is cutting into blocks and use this machine to turn it into minced meat.”
The pair nodded seriously.
“It would be no exaggeration to say that the entire hamburg-making operation rests in your hands.”
It actually would be, but I was trying to go with the flow here.
“Do your best out there, soldiers.”
“Aye-aye, sirrr!”
“You can count on Pochi, sir!”
Tama and Pochi bustled over to the meat grinder, froze in confusion when they realized there was only one handle, then started turning it together for some reason.
Guys, why don’t you just take turns?
“Ooooh! You’re making handribag today!”
“Mrrr? Handri…?”
Arisa came over with Mia, announcing a new nickname for the hamburg steaks.
“Come on. The kids are going to remember the name wrong.”
Already, some of the nearby children were whispering “handribag” to one another, so I informed them that it was a dish called “hamburg.”
“So that’s…ham-burg?”
“Wow, it uses so much meat.”
“The house kids are so lucky…”
“I wish we could try it just once, too.”
The kids hovering around nearby gazed at the meat enviously.
“Ha! I’ll just buy it myself someday.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna be an explorer when I grow up.”
“Me too!”
“As soon as I’m old enough, I’m gonna work lots and lots.”
Ooh, how optimistic.
The kids in Labyrinth City seemed to be a pretty positive bunch.
“Don’t be silly. You really think we could eat all of that by ourselves? There’ll be enough for everyone—right, master?”
Arisa looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded.
“That’s right. We’re celebrating the establishment of Pendragon Orphanage.”
“Estabbiment?”
“What�
��s that? Is it yummy?”
“I bet it’s delicious.”
The children seemed to be hungry, so I tried to speed the cooking along.
“The teeears…”
“They won’t stoppp…”
The young maid girls’ eyes were overflowing with tears as they sliced onions for the hamburg steaks.
I could’ve guarded against this with Enchant: Physical Protection, but onions making you cry is really part of the whole experience.
“That’s because you’re crushing the fibers. If you cut it smoothly like this, it won’t make you cry.”
Lulu kindly showed them how to cut the onions properly.
The maids all murmured in admiration at Lulu’s knife skills, which were on par with any master chef at this point.
“Master, the kneading operation is going well, I report.”
Nana was in the process of kneading the hamburg meat, her sleeves rolled up past her elbows.
This was the most difficult part, so I had Miss Miteruna and the new maids, Rosie and Annie, helping her out.
As they rolled out balls of meat, I tossed each one between my hands a few times, then lined them up on the cooking plate with some space in between.
“Is the young master playing a game?”
“You’re not supposed to play with food, you know.”
“No, no. That’s a secret magic trick to make the hamburg extra yummy.”
Arisa corrected the kids’ misunderstanding.
“Magic?”
“Oh yes. That’s why they call master the Miracle Chef!”
Looking doubtful, the kids turned questioningly toward Mia.
“Mm. Truth.”
“Wow, so it’s true!”
“The young master’s amazing.”
“H-hey! What’s that all about?! You’re cheesing me off a little!”
Arisa expressed her indignation with some old-fashioned slang.
“Waaah, Miss Arisa’s angryyy!”
“Run for it! She’s scary when she’s maaad!”
The children shrieked delightedly and ran away, so Arisa chased after them, feigning anger.
I was glad I had her to help me communicate with the kids.
“Mister, the iron plate’s ready… I mean, the iron plate is ready, young master!”
The young maid girl who’d been keeping an eye on the iron plate on top of the stove called me over.
They still had trouble with polite language, but they were getting better by the day.
“Thank you. This looks good.”
When I held my hand above the iron plate, my “Cooking” skill determined that it was nearly at the appropriate temperature.
I waited for the perfect time and started lining up the hamburg steaks on the hot plate.
Sizzle! The delicious sound immediately drew the attention of the beastfolk girls.
Before long, the scent of the cooking meat filled the air, making the other kids look over and their stomachs start to growl.
“Everyone! Let’s help make dinner extra tasty.”
Arisa called out to the kids.
Mia started playing some music to back up Arisa’s speech, which they had probably planned in advance.
“How d’we do that?”
“We’re going to cheer them on!”
Arisa made a dramatic gesture.
“Cheer?”
“Like, ‘you can do iiit!’”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Arisa said out loud, shaking her head. Then she pointed at her lips. “With a song!”
Like a galactic songstress using music to stop a war, Arisa spread her arms out to the children.
“We’ll put all our encouragement into a song and make the hamburg into extra, extra, extraaa tasty ‘super hamburgs’!”
“Wooow!”
“Sounds fun.”
Arisa seemed to be about as good at coming up with names as I was, but I admired how she was making a whole event out of watching me cook hamburg steaks.
“What kinda song?”
“A song from the heart! Just follow my leeead!”
Arisa started singing a vaguely familiar-sounding anime opening song, though she changed the lyrics into a parody that listed the steps of cooking hamburg steaks.
As Arisa sang her heart out, the kids started joining in one after another.
Hearing familiar voices among them, I turned to see Tama and Pochi, who had finished the meat grinding and were flanking Arisa on either side.
“Master, I’ll help with the cooking.”
“Thank you, Lulu.”
The corners of Lulu’s lips were upturned from the children’s singing.
Not a bad way to prepare dinner, if you ask me.
“Mmmm!”
“Yummy!”
“So gooood?”
“Mr. Hamburg is still the yummiest and bestest ever, sir.”
“Yeah, the bestest.”
“Mmph. The yummiest!”
I watched as the kids devoted themselves to tasting the hamburg steaks.
There were too many of them to make any fancy sides, so hopefully they’d forgive me for settling on mushrooms sautéed in butter and potato fries.
“Obviously my song must have worked!”
“C’mon, you mean our song.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on the kids’ conversation.
The purehearted kids seemed to have a hard time recognizing when Arisa was joking.
“This is delicious.”
“No wonder Pochi and Tama were so proud of it.”
Having handed out the kids’ meals, the maids were sitting down to their own hamburg steaks.
“Call them Mistress Pochi and Mistress Tama, remember,” Miss Miteruna scolded as she returned from the house.
She had taken plates of food to the samurai pair in charge of the house’s security.
“Your hamburg steaks continue to astound, master.”
Liza closed her eyes, chewing thoughtfully.
Her tail was swishing back and forth, a telltale sign that she was enjoying herself.
“Ahhh… I still can’t measure up to master’s level.”
“Lulu, your ambition is admirable, I praise.”
“Mm. Hang in there.”
Lulu looked pleased, if slightly bitter, as Nana and Mia encouraged her.
Mia had a half serving of hamburg steak, along with a mountain of sautéed mushrooms.
Surprisingly, the other half of Mia’s steak wasn’t on the beastfolk girls’ plates but on Arisa’s.
“Heeey, don’t look at me like that.”
Sensing my gaze, Arisa protested immediately. She probably didn’t want me to think she was being a glutton.
“Playing with those kids burns a lot of calories, you know!”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s fine.”
My girlfriend in college once made me join her on a diet, so I knew how stressful it could be.
Waving Arisa off, I noticed a blue dot on my radar, indicating that an acquaintance of mine was approaching.
“Oh-ho, quite a rustic outdoor feast thou hast out here, no?”
It was Princess Meetia of the Nolork Kingdom, her short drill-shaped pigtails bouncing along.
Next to her was her stoic bodyguard, the lady knight Ravna.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Princess Meetia.”
“I am glad to see thee in good health, Sir Satou.”
The princess looked around at our outdoor banquet and nodded seriously.
She appeared no older than Arisa, so seeing her childish features attempt to form a mature expression was always charming.
Though I couldn’t say that to her, lest I hurt her feelings, of course.
“Is there some urgent business afoot?”
It wasn’t quite sunset yet, but it was still late for a princess to be wandering around on a walk.
“Hmm, I heard from Lady Reythel that thou were in some trouble, no?”
Reythel was the name of the
viceroy’s wife, who’d given me advice on how to help the children.
“I came to see if I might be of some help, but…”
Princess Meetia seemed to have gathered from the peaceful dinner scene that the problem had already been solved.
“I appreciate that very much.”
Instead of apologizing for the wasted trip, I simply thanked her for worrying about us.
“If you don’t mind having the same meal as the children, would you like to join us? You’d be more than welcome.”
“Hmm, art thou certain? I do not wish to take someone else’s meal, no?”
What a thoughtful young lady she is.
“Yes, it’s quite all right. I made plenty of extra in case anyone wanted seconds. Lady Ravna, I do hope you’ll join us as well.”
“Then I shall take thee up on thy offer.”
“Thank you very much.”
I had a table and chairs brought over for them and prepared some nice tableware.
I couldn’t very well give a princess the same throwaway plates we used for the soup kitchen.
“Oh-ho, this meat is remarkably soft, no?!”
Princess Meetia’s eyes widened as she took a bite of the hamburg steak.
Lady Ravna simply ate in devout silence. Her plate was empty in a matter of moments.
“Please help yourself to seconds.”
“M-much appreciated.”
I offered her another plate, which she gratefully accepted.
The hamburg steaks were made in child-size portions, so that likely wasn’t enough for a well-built knight like Ravna.
She demolished her second plate in no time but declined any more when she saw how the children were scrabbling for seconds.
The mad grab for more food that Tama and Pochi had started soon reached its end in the form of countless stuffed-looking children.
Maybe I shouldn’t have started making hydra steaks when we ran out of hamburg partway through.
“That was truly delicious, no? Even I, a royal, hath scarcely eaten any meal quite as remarkable.”
Judging by Princess Meetia’s tone, her praise was clearly genuine.
“Wow, even the princess liked it!”
“Well, yeah. It was so yummy!”
“Hee-hee, we really got something special.”
The kids seemed surprised and pleased to learn that the food had been exceptional even to a royal.
“I wonder if we’ll ever get to eat like that again?”