by Funa
Wah…
In the end, Pauline was, after all, still Pauline.
“Come in. Please wait here a few moments.”
After leading them into the parlor and serving them tea and sweets, Bundine vanished from the room. Naturally, he needed to explain the situation to his master and persuade the man to come and see them.
“This is so good…” Reina mumbled through a hurried mouthful of sweets, slurping down tea.
“These are really good…” Pauline agreed.
For Mavis, who had grown up the beloved daughter of an affluent count, and Mile, who had eaten many delicious things in both her previous life and in this one before her mother had died, such treats were standard fare. However, for Reina, a peddler’s daughter, and Pauline, whose merchant father had detested luxury in spite of his financial success, the cuisine before them was the height of class.
“They gave us all this food—it’d be rude to waste any.”
Reina’s words were highly reasonable, but it was clear that she was attempting to take more than a quarter of what was on the table for herself.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
Mile leapt to protect her own portion. No matter how much delicious food she had eaten in the past, she had become somewhat estranged from tasty treats these past few years. Plus, Mile had a very quick metabolism and had already started to grow hungry. Though she was typically kind and giving to all people, this was the one area where she would not yield what was hers, particularly not to Reina.
“Hang on, now. I was about to…”
“What are you talking about? This one is mine…”
“You’ve already eaten more than a quarter of it, Reina!”
“Grrrrrrrrrngh…”
With Pauline jumping into the fray, the atmosphere now grew dangerous.
“Um, pardon me, but I can bring some more in, if you desire…”
“Huh?”
Mile and Reina turned to see a maid standing in the room, a troubled look upon her face. Naturally, no veteran butler would leave his honored guests unattended for so long. He had directed a maid to remain with them.
“Please forgive us. I-If you would…” Pauline, who had thought that her portion was going to end up wholly depleted, requested bashfully. Reina’s cheeks began to redden as well.
“Please, you guys,” said Mavis, “Try not to embarrass us. I’m begging you…”
Apparently, as the daughter of a noble, she could not bear to witness such shameful behavior.
Yet Mile, another noble’s daughter—or rather, at this point, a titled noble herself—appeared to have no such qualms.
“I’m so sorry to keep you. Baron Aura wishes most sincerely to meet with you young ladies and extend his gratitude…”
Once the Crimson Vow had finished up their second round of sweets, Bundine finally reappeared to lead them to a separate room.
“Kindest regards and thank you for making the journey. I am Harval von Aura, head of the House of Aura. I must thank you most profoundly for your assistance. With your help, we were able to secure the medicine that my daughter, Leatoria, most desperately needs, and you saved our household from having shame brought upon it by the likes of a merchant. Instead, I should say, besting a greedy merchant has in fact brought honor upon the Aura family name. Please, I would like you all to join us for a luncheon as my thanks.”
“Gladly!!!” replied the members of the Crimson Vow—all save for Mavis, who was grimacing.
For Reina and Pauline, getting to eat the same food as nobles was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the sort of thing that one normally only dreamed of… Well, there had been the time after the so-called “bandits incident,” when they had eaten at the lord’s manor, but that was not the food of nobles so much as it was a banquet prepared for commoners, so it didn’t count.
As for Mile, though she had enjoyed plenty of truly upscale cuisine, those delicacies were now just memories left over from her time as Adele. She had yet to taste such a thing in her current life as Misato—er, Mile.
And so, for all of them except Mavis, who had had plenty of years to grow weary of such food—and who, furthermore, as a knight, found virtue in a more abstemious life—this was an experience not to be passed up.
“Oh, yes, of course. Please don’t think that we intend to reward you with nothing more than a meal for all that you’ve done. Such appalling behavior would be a shame on the Aura name. Please rest assured that you will receive a more proper reward as well,” the baron said.
This time, the reaction from the Vow was a dull one.
Seeing how his guests were relatively unmoved by the promise of rewards, despite being so eager to enjoy the family’s delicious food, the baron’s smile deepened.
“In that case, could we ask you to call this a personal request, post-completion?” Mavis asked the baron in place of the other three, whose heads were too filled with thoughts of lunch to react in a timely manner.
“Ah, certainly! If you desire…”
“Then please, that is what we would like.”
A direct, personal request from a noble. Even if it were labeled as such only retroactively, that would give them a great number of points toward their promotion. Processing it through the guild meant that they would have to pay a commission, but to the Crimson Vow, who were not hurting for living expenses and who valued reputation more than wealth, this was no issue. (That is, save for Pauline, who most certainly valued wealth over reputation.)
The baron knew all about the Hunters’ Guild. Thus, all it took was Mavis’s request for the baron to grasp that despite being a party of young, female hunters, the Crimson Vow were not wanting for money and would be aiming for a promotion soon.
“Well then, let us discuss it at lunch. My family will be joining us as well. If they found out that I had kept the chance to hear of the exploits of a group of young lady hunters all to myself, I would never hear the end of it! Now then, Bundine, I’m counting on you to tend to them until then.”
With that, Baron Aura left the room.
“He was incredibly polite toward us common folk, wasn’t he?” said Mile.
“Yeah,” Mavis agreed with a nod, “He seems like a good person.”
Reina and Pauline felt the same way.
From then until lunch, they passed the time with Bundine, hearing tales of the House of Aura.
***
Because the Vow had left the inn fairly late to begin with, it was not long until the lunch hour was upon them. When the maid came to give word that the dining room had been prepared, Bundine, who had been keeping the Vow company, led them to the table. Though they had gobbled down not one but two helpings of sweets, the girls were all famished.
Upon entering the dining room, they found the baron, his wife, a young man and woman of around seventeen or eighteen, and a girl of around fifteen already seated. All of the baron’s family, or at the very least, their three children, all looked incredibly healthy. There was no sign of a sick young maiden anywhere.
“Thank you most kindly for having us here today.”
As they entered the room, Mavis gave a noble’s greeting. As she was in breeches currently, she gave not a curtsy but a nobleman’s bow. She was not yet a knight, so she could not greet them as a knight would.
Mile, however, did give a curtsy. In truth, the motion was originally nothing more than an incidental one, intended to protect one’s dress from touching the ground while executing the true intention: to lower one’s body. As Mile was not wearing a full-length skirt, the action was unnecessary. However, as was habit from her time as Adele, she plucked at her skirt as she bowed… Anyway, it was cute enough that surely no one minded—so long as she didn’t show too much leg.
Reina and Pauline, meanwhile, only bowed their heads normally, as commoners might.
Seeing this, the family looked rather shocked.
A commoner should not be greeting a noble as nobles did. Such behavior was, in fact, highly offensive. Gr
eeting the family in the manner normal to commoners, as Reina and Pauline had done, was what was expected. Yet, here were two who had greeted them in the manner of nobles, in natural, practiced form no less.
What could possibly be the meaning of this?
Of course, there was no shortage of former nobles among the hunters or even current nobles who were enjoying a bit of freedom until they had to succeed their parents. There were still others who joined a party for self-improvement. Plus, it was not unheard of for second sons and other younger brothers, who had no chance of succession and didn’t have the constitution for a difficult job like municipal clerk or knight, to take up life as a hunter… However, this was somewhat more unusual for girls.
Still, though they were shocked and a little concerned, the baron knew better than to press into a hunter’s personal history, so the family’s questions went unasked.
The baron concealed his shock and bade them to sit. “Y-yes, welcome. I thank you most humbly for your efforts in aiding my daughter, Leatoria, and for saving the House of Aura from the disgrace of being belittled by a lowly merchant. Please, take your seats and enjoy the meal.”
In another surprise, though they remained seated, the baron’s wife and children all bowed their heads to the girls as they took their seats.
Even if their family was a lower ranking one, and even if they were rather fond of someone who did not happen to be in their employ, it would normally be unthinkable for such a family to bow their heads to commoners. Perhaps this was because the girl called Leatoria was so greatly adored by her family?
Of course, it was equally likely that this was because the family was now certain that Mavis and Mile were nobles as well…
The food was top-notch.
Even if they were nobles, a baron’s household could not possibly have enough food to feast like this every day. They weren’t royals or even highly ranked nobles, after all. Plus, if they were to eat such rich food in such quantities on a daily basis, they would grow plump and unable to serve as soldiers in a time of war, and they would not live very long.
Today, however, though they had not had the time to shop for new foodstuffs, the chef had clearly pulled freely from the ingredients in their stores. A great deal of food had been laid out before them. Reina and Pauline, even while trying to be hyper-aware of themselves and their manners, gobbled it down. Mile, minding the manners instilled in her previous life, as well as those she had learned from her mother in this life before she passed away, ate her meal silently—albeit with abnormal speed.
“Ha ha…”
Mavis alone ate her meal at a normal pace and with normal, noble manners, while sharing conversation with the Aura family.
“Oh! So you have three elder brothers, Lady Mavis, but no sisters?”
“Ah, yes. That’s correct.”
While the other three continued to eat in a trance-like state, the baron gathered what information he could from Mavis, the easiest target. Of course, Mile was paying attention even while she inhaled her food, but she kept out of the conversation. There was really no reason to conceal this sort of information, and as long as they did not reveal their names or their countries of origin, it didn’t really matter who knew that she and Mavis came from noble households. Naturally, they would not let such information slip around lowlifes—or even other hunters—but other nobles, especially those who were indebted to them already, would be very unlikely to try any funny business with nobles from another country. If they didn’t want their rank and status to be known, Mavis and Mile wouldn’t have greeted the family as nobles in the first place.
In fact, there was a particular reason why Mavis and Mile had not attempted to hide their noble status. They had come to examine the condition of young Leatoria, who was taken with illness; depending on what they found, Mile might like to intervene, and for that she needed the baron to trust her.
What head of a noble household would entrust his precious daughter to the hands of a commoner whom he had only just met that morning, after all?
After eating their fill, the other three, finally feeling more personable, joined in the conversation with the baron.
Mavis had already told the family the gist of what they had experienced since arriving in this country, so after dramatizing a few episodes from their lives as young hunters, with jokes that would tickle a young noblewoman, Mile told the baron about the recent trends regarding the elder dragons as thanks for their meal. Word would be spreading soon from the guild and the palace, after all. Naturally, she played it off as but a rumor, not divulging that they had been party to the incident themselves.
At a lull in the conversation, the baron began to press Mile on her background, getting her to reveal that she was an only child.
Then, finally, they came to the matter at hand.
“So, about your daughter, the one who needs that medicine…” Mile began.
“Ah, Leatoria takes her meals in bed, back in her room. We would hate to make her eat all alone, so our meals come at a slightly different time from hers, and we join her to dine on tea and sweets while she eats. Leatoria eats different meals from us, and she eats little, so it wouldn’t do for us to have a full meal there when we get together, of course…”
The baron’s gaze drifted downward and his demeanor shifted, his face clouded with a father’s anguish.
Seeming almost thoughtless, Mile asked, “Might we join you for that, perhaps?”
“What?”
The whole family was stunned. Bundine, who had been standing quietly by the whole time, cleared his throat. Bundine was a veteran butler and not the sort of man to do such a thing without reason. As the baron glanced Bundine’s way, the butler gave a big nod.
This was Bundine’s way of saying, Honor her request. The baron, having understood this, decided to have faith in his butler.
“Very well. Perhaps if someone from a foreign land sees Leatoria’s condition, they might be able to spot something that we haven’t. Please, do accompany us.”
An hour later, nine people—the Crimson Vow and the whole Aura family—were assembled in the room of Leatoria, the youngest daughter of the Aura household.
Sitting up in the bed, only her top half visible, was Leatoria, a slight, ephemeral beauty of thirteen or fourteen.
Because it was common for nobles to wish to make partners of only the most beautiful people—by marrying attractive commoners and making them the adopted daughters of noble households, and even bringing the children of mistresses into their line of inheritance—naturally there were many beautiful people among noble households. Indeed, they were an elite breed.
A meager spread was set out before the bedridden girl. Even that small amount was more that Leatoria could possibly eat. Plus, she had already consumed a cupful of the prepared medicine that day, so much of the food was fated to remain on the plate. Placed before the others were baked goods and a teapot with cups of black tea.
Bundine had already told Leatoria about the Crimson Vow ahead of time.
“Thank you for all that you have done for me,” she said to the girls.
Pauline shook her head and hand, indicating that it was no big deal, and told her the amusing tale of the exchange with the merchant. As she never left the residence, Leatoria never spoke to anyone other than her family and servants, and she was often bored. Hearing her laugh for the first time in ages, her family smiled in relief.
I’m so glad I listened to Bundine… the baron thought, but this was perhaps premature.
“Baron,” said Mile, “I have a request. Might we break rank for a moment?”
“Break rank? Why, whatever do you mean?” The baron tilted his head in confusion.
Breaking rank. The phrase itself implied something broken, such as trust or respect, but naturally that was not what it actually meant.
Breaking rank referred to what happened after gatherings where people were bound by etiquette, indebted to certain rules and manners by the standing of those in attendan
ce. Breaking rank was when people said, “Let’s put aside our differences in status for a while and all just let our hair down.” In other words, it did not mean, “We no longer respect one another,” but rather, “Let’s just have fun without worrying about rank and rules.”
Of course, at times in modern day Japan, you would have, say, some new employee who overdid this a bit and got into a fight with their boss or decided to dab the division manager’s bald head—but in such cases, one reaped what one sowed.
As this was not a party, perhaps “breaking rank” was not the correct phrase, but Mile could think of no other term for it. Of course, the baron—and the rest of the people of this world—had never heard such a term, so even that had no meaning, here or otherwise…
Finally, Mile awkwardly explained herself as simply as she could. “I mean, please forgive us if we do anything rude.” It was not the same as the Japanese meaning at all, but the baron cheerfully agreed.
And then, Mile sprang into action.
“May I taste that food there?” asked Mile, pointing to the plate set before Leatoria, which, due to her slow eating, was mostly still full.
“Huh…? Oh, u-um, sure, go right ahead!” The girl was perplexed for a moment but swiftly agreed.
“M-Mile! I know that you’re greedy, but this is too far even for you! What are you thinking, snatching food from a sick person?!”
“I-I-I-It’s not like thaaat!!!” Mile roared in response in Reina’s absurd accusation, her face turning red. “It’s important to confirm what’s in someone’s food when investigating an illness! That’s the very first step!”
“Huh? I-Is that true?”
Judging by Mile’s rage, Reina determined that she must be telling the truth and backed down.
“Jeez, honestly… Anyway, please let me taste a bit of that,” Mile said as she stood from her seat, approaching Leatoria’s bed. “Um, now this is beef, right? Just plain meat, boiled, not grilled, the juices discarded, and… Here’s an egg, and here’s some mushroom. There’s vegetables cooked in, too… And, what you’re drinking with this meal is watered down wine, and milk afterward? Hm…”