by Yuu Tanaka
“What?”
He didn’t know? Maybe the funds for the orphanage were too small for the Count to notice. Still, Fran explained the situation. She told him that the orphanage’s funding was cut off suddenly, and despite the caretaker’s best efforts, nothing was done about it. They inevitably had to borrow money, which was when a con man defrauded them. A con man who happened to be working for the YTA.
Fran implied that this chain of events made it look like the Count was behind the Ythra Trade Association.
“The timing between the cut-off funding and the appearance of the con man is way too convenient.”
“So you’re saying I was the one who sent this wretch?!”
“I didn’t say that. But I do wonder how the YTA found out about the papers you sent. Very fishy. They had your seal on them.”
“What? Impossible! I did not put my seal on any such document!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure! You think I can maintain my office through such crooked dealings?”
He sounded sure of himself. Marquis Christon was telling the truth. He knew nothing about the orphanage. Still, the fact remained that someone had used his name. Someone working with the YTA.
“But who could possibly use my seal without my knowledge…” the Count muttered.
He was beginning to suspect someone in his ranks.
“So you have nothing to do with the YTA?”
“Of course not!” Rhodus shouted with fury.
There wasn’t a trace of falsehood in his statement. He wasn’t behind the YTA after all. We’d better apologize before things got out of hand.
“Sorry…for suspecting you.”
“No, it’s all right. I apologize, as well. It seems that someone close to me might be dealing with the wrong people…”
The Count bowed his head. It was the last thing I expected him to do. He might be more upright than I initially suspected.
“Do accept our apology as well, Count Rhodus,” said Fult.
“We were beginning to think the worst of you,” Satya agreed.
“I do not blame you. I would’ve suspected myself if I heard of such rumors… I suppose you wish to place the members of the Ythra Trade Association under arrest?”
“Yeah. Go for it.”
I was going to have them testify against Marquis Christon if he was lying, but it turned out there was no need for that. Now that he was clear of all suspicion, we would love to place these two in his custody.
“All right. You can come in now.”
Rhodus called to someone behind the door. A young man of considerable stature walked in. He looked similar to Rhodus, with his blonde hair, blue eyes, and body covered with thick muscle. He had the presence of a soldier.
“This is my eldest, Phillip.”
“I am Phillip Christon. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
He was strong, too. His stats were close to Colbert’s.
“He is the captain of the Knight’s Brigade. He’s had his hands full with security for the Festival of the Moons lately. Today is his first day off in a while. He wished to greet Your Highnesses personally…”
The Count ordered Phillip to place the two men under arrest and interrogate them. He explained the circumstances, and his son gave an unexpected answer.
“As it happens, Father, we arrested some YTA cronies last night, too.”
YTA members were getting captured left and right lately.
“What are the charges?”
“They planned to end the festival’s ritual last night by kidnapping one of the dancers. I believe the Prince’s friend assisted in their capture.”
He turned to Fult and then to Fran.
“Our friend?”
“Yes. The adventurer Fran is a friend of yours, is she not?”
“Who, me?”
The kidnappers must be the ones Jet subdued in the alleyway. So the guards had succeeded in jailing them. I wished they’d kept quiet about Fran’s involvement, though.
“Are you Fran, by any chance?”
“Yeah.”
“I was wondering what kind of woman this adventurer would be. I never expected her to be a sweet little girl.”
Despite Phillip’s burly stature, he was still the son of a great aristocrat. He could be backhanded and condescending with the best of them. Still, there was no ill will behind his statement. He was just expressing himself honestly. I thought him too straightforward to be an effective socialite, but at least he didn’t seem like a bad guy.
“In any case, the thugs you apprehended were working for the Ythra Trade Association. They were ordered to kidnap a dancer called Charlotte before she could finish the ritual.”
“Why Charlotte?”
“We don’t know. However, they planned to interrupt the ceremony. Maybe they thought it better to kidnap rather than kill. She is quite beautiful, you know.”
Phillip shared the fruits of his interrogation. He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know, but it underscored how busy the YTA had been. Phillip took the two men away, and Rhodus left too, saying he needed to figure out the traitor in his midst. Unauthorized use of his seal was a grave crime.
We asked Phillip a few more questions before he left, and he answered us truthfully. He was an honest captain and ill-suited for the cunning plays of the court.
The Count and his eldest son were cleared of any and all suspicion. That was a big enough win for us.
“It seems that bad things are going to happen in this town soon…”
“Yes. We must be careful.”
“Hm. That’s a good idea,” Fran agreed.
“What will you do now, Fran?”
“Go back to the kitchen and get back to preparing.”
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t it be safer here?”
“I have Jet with me, don’t worry.”
We left the mansion despite the twins’ insistence. They only let us go because they knew how strong Fran and Jet were. Before we went, we left a load of curry bread for the mansion’s helpers. The Count might own the mansion, but they were the ones in charge of its daily operation. Treating them nicely wouldn’t hurt. We were going to be intruding for the next few nights, anyway.
Let’s give it one final push before tomorrow.
“Yeah!”
Morning came. We were at the Chefs’ Guild, listening to the final reading of the contest rules.
We’d expected another YTA raid last night, but none came. I didn’t think that was the end of it, so we couldn’t let our guard down. If they tried any funny business, we’d be ready.
“The contestants will leave the Chefs’ Guild at ten o’clock, and the contest will begin at twelve. You will have two hours to set up your stalls. You are allowed to operate in the harbor, marketplace, and the residential areas. Anywhere is fine as long as you have permission from the owner of the property. Note that you cannot start selling your wares before twelve o’clock. Failure to comply will result in a disqualification.”
The other semi-final contestants were all around us. Each shop owner was present, along with a single helper. No one else was allowed in.
Fran was with Colbert. The other three girls were outside, preparing our stall.
“Is your master not here today?”
“Hm. He’s watching over us, don’t worry.”
I had a great view of the action from Fran’s back, and I could see she was getting a lot of attention from the other contestants.
“Hey, is that—”
“The girl whose food Old Meckam said was delicious—”
“She’s still so young—”
They didn’t make light of her, despite her tender age.
It sounded like our judge had a name for himself. His complaints about my lack of Chef Pride aside, he said my dish was delicious. Talk spread, and the veterans were wary about the new beastgirl on the block. Even Colbert looked shocked.
“Fran, did your master get a personal endorseme
nt from Elder Meckam? Is that how you guys got through to semi-finals?”
“Who?”
“Old Meckam, the Gourmet! He’s one of the people running the Chefs’ Guild!”
The top executives of the guild had authority to send someone straight through to the semi-finals. Meckam was notorious for being impossible to please, and it was rare of him to execute his authority. It was no wonder that people were talking about the Black Tail. Meckam had made it sound like passing through the preliminaries was no great feat.
“We promised to knock his socks off.”
“Such determination…!”
“We are going to the finals.”
“Damn right, we will!” Colbert agreed. “We’ll work our hinds off!”
We left the Chefs’ Guild once the committee finished their clarifications. The stalls were laid out in front of the guild hall and ours was among them, of course. We’d ordered a stall with minimal cooking equipment. I expected a Japanese style stall, but they looked more Western with their colorful awnings. In Wonderland, these stalls would be selling multi-colored popcorn.
Ours stood out, especially with three beautiful girls surrounding it.
“We’ll work to earn our keep.”
“You can count on it.”
“Hee hee. What do you think? Don’t I look cute?”
Fran and our three helpers were dressed in gothic maid outfits. They looked chic and adorable. I don’t know where Colbert got his hands on them, but they looked great. Although the outfits had terrible defense values, they more than made up for it in cuteness. If I could, I’d give the man a pat on the back!
The other contestants had pretty girls hawking their wares, too. It would seem that no matter what world you were in, the basic marketing strategy of strippers and steak remained a constant. Of course, Fran was easily prettier and classier than all the others combined.
“The curry bread we had the other day was amazing!” said Colbert. “But I thought we needed to pull out all the stops to get through the semi-finals. These outfits will do just that. They’re our secret weapon!”
“Colbert and I spent all night thinking of this strategy. I hope you like dressing up, Fran,” Judith said, puffing up her chest with pride.
We’d fed her bread and curry rice yesterday, along with our other dishes. They seemed to have made an impact. She was eager to blast through the semi-finals and see what fine dining I could cook up.
“I’ll do my best to help.”
“Not to worry. I’ll bring the boys to the stall.”
Maya clenched her fists, while Lydia hiked up her skirt teasingly. It was nice to see our helpers get into it, although Lydia needed to stop that skirt action before we got slapped with a public indecency warning.
We did one last check on our food cart and moved to our location. Colbert was on cart-pulling duty. I initially wanted to let Jet do the job, but a giant direwolf would stick out like a sore thumb and could scare away our customers.
On the way to our designated spot, a small crowd started to follow us. I thought they were thugs sent by the competition, but it turned out they were customers. They’d already planned which stalls they would visit first, so they could be there the second the stall opened. Our crowd wanted to avoid the sales war, so they prioritized our lesser-known food stall.
The crowd grew until over fifty people were following us. This was as good as a new entrant could get. The more popular stores had crowds of over three hundred.
I might have underestimated this contest. It wasn’t certain that we’d get past the semi-finals.
“That’s a lot of people,” said Fran, sounding surprised.
“Ha ha. There’s a reason why the March Moons Festival is considered one of the Three Great Festivals in Granzell. The temple ritual, minstrel competition, and cooking contest are all very popular. You ain’t seen nothing yet, Fran.”
“What are the other Great Festivals?”
“There’s the King’s New Year Festival and the Ulmutt Dungeon Festival.”
“The New Year’s Festival is a lot like Bulbola’s Moons Festival.”
The last Festival of the Moons landed on the same day as the New Year, making for an immense spectacle. The New Year’s Festival was similar to the one in Bulbola. The royal temple held a ritual of purification, and open-air stalls lined the streets. The difference lay in the other ceremonies, which included an address by the ruling king.
But what of this Dungeon Festival? That sounded different.
“The Dungeon Festival is for hot-blooded, battle-hungry adventurers,” said Lydia.
Well, that sounded bloodthirsty.
“I suppose Lydia’s not entirely wrong. The festival is quite intense.”
“What do they do?”
“It’s called a festival, but the Dungeon Festival is really a fighting tournament.”
“A tournament held in Granzell’s adventurer capital.”
A fighting tournament. Interesting. It was worth checking out even if we didn’t participate.
“When is it?”
“Late April. About a month from now. It’s to celebrate the founding of Ulmutt’s dungeon.”
That was perfect timing. We were heading for Ulmutt after our stopover in Bulbola. I hoped we could make it in time.
Soon, we reached our destination.
“And we’re here.”
As interested as I was in the fighting tournament, right now we had a cooking contest to win. We stopped in the square outside the Adventurers’ Guild. We had a decent crowd, so I thought we’d get started on line management. The residents of Bulbola were much more experienced at this and arranged themselves into lines without complaint. None of them even asked for an early sample.
We decided to set up on the north side of the square, our backs facing the clock tower. Fran took out some curry bread from the Pocket Dimension and put it on display. We put up a sign reading, “One curry bread:10G,” and put a pot of oil on the stove.
“This is great. Did you come up with this yourself, Fran?”
“It was Teacher’s idea.”
“This teacher of yours really knows his stuff.”
“Merchants use this kind of thing, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one made solely for coins. Was it custom-made for this food cart?”
“Pretty much.”
“The Swordceress’ Teacher is a master of many trades.”
“I know. He’s the best.”
The girls were fawning over a wooden coin holder. I’d modeled it after the coin holders back on Earth, but apparently they weren’t widely used here. I’d marked the chambers for each coin type and had a gauge which indicated how much was left. Judith marveled at it, merchant’s daughter that she was.
The wooden coin holder was easy to use, so I figured it would speed up the payment process. I expected to face a slew of customers, so I had three cash registers open.
It was lunchtime when we finished setting up, and Fran and the others sat a little distance away from the food cart. Things were going to get hectic when the contest started, so this might be their only break. At least, I hoped it would.
“All right, time for lunch.”
On seeing the menu I’d prepared for them, Colbert and others cheered.
“Finally!”
“This is pretty much why we took this job.”
“If what we had for breakfast is anything to go by, then well…”
“Those egg sandwiches… Yum.”
The crew loved the egg sandwiches they had for breakfast, so I decided to give them more sandwiches for lunch. Egg was still an option, now accompanied with ham, sweet and sour chicken, and tuna cutlet.
“They’re so good!”
“Lydia, you can’t just take that! The same goes for you, Fran!”
“Heh.”
“Survival of the hungriest.”
“I’ll be taking this, then.”
“Maya!”
“This juice hits the spot! It’s
so fresh and flavorful!”
Lunch was a battlefield. The five of them cleaned out the fifty sandwiches I had prepared in an instant. Actually, it made me think I hadn’t prepared enough. They quarreled and stole each other’s sandwiches, pouting when they didn’t get to sample some of the flavors. I just hoped they would get along when we got to selling curry bread.
Our food cart was under the watchful eyes of the Chefs’ Guild supervisor. A single supervisor attended each food cart to make sure there was no foul play. Their main job was to calculate the total sales and report our profits back to the guild. Any attempts at bribery or fraudulence would result in an instant disqualification. We did offer our supervisor some sandwiches, but he politely declined. Oh, but his eyes were fixated on them! I felt sorry for him. It was the worst job to get stuck with in this contest.
“This sandwich is delicious! But it sure can’t beat our curry bread!”
“Oh, I wish we could buy Black Tail’s entire stock!”
Colbert and Lydia shouted. Onlookers unsure about the new entrant rushed to join the line. There was now over a hundred people waiting. Today might be busy.
And I was right.
“So that’s three plain and two hot.”
“Four orders of Ultra-hot, please.”
“That’ll be 40G.”
The clock tower showed a little past three in the afternoon, but our customers kept on coming in the hundreds. I had already fetched four additional lots of curry bread out of the Pocket Dimension, so we were doing great. We let the Crimson Maidens man the cash register, while Fran kept the pot going and made sure the aroma of freshly fried curry bread wafted through the air. Meanwhile, Colbert was in charge of line management.
“Hey there, little lady. I came just like I promised.”
“Hm.”
“And I told everyone I knew.”
The adventurers and farmer we’d saved at the bandit’s hideout came, and each brought their friends along with them.
“Curry bread only 10G a piece! We got Plain for the kiddies, Hot for the spice lovers, and Ultra-hot if you want to breathe fire!”
Colbert shilled our bread to anyone wondering what flavor to buy. Our shop was winning the speed contest. As Judith mentioned, over half our customers had already decided which carts to hit. That said, there were still a lot of people who didn’t know what they wanted. Their best option was to join Black Tail’s line, since ours was so short. It was a good strategy.