Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 6

by Funa

  Mile tasted each part a bit at a time and then thought.

  “Miss Leatoria, do you have any food preferences?”

  The baron, from behind Mile, was the one to answer.

  “Preferences aside, this is generally what we serve her. Leatoria can’t eat very much, so if she filled herself on bread and such, then she wouldn’t be able to eat other things. We figured it’s best to put aside other staples like grains and serve her meat, eggs, vegetables, mushrooms, and milk, so that she gets a balanced meal. Also, the water quality around here isn’t very good, so we serve her wine diluted with water to accompany the meal. Wine is good for blood circulation, after all. And of course, we have her drink milk as well. Is there anything wrong with that?”

  “Hm…” After thinking for a while, Mile finally said, “Well, at least we can be sure there’s no poison in it.”

  “Well, obviously!!!” the whole Aura family roared.

  They seemed a bit hurt that anyone should have any doubt in their management of their servants and the affairs of their estate.

  “This is why I warned you I would be breaking rank…” Mile muttered, but at least now that that preliminary investigation was complete, she could return to her original duty.

  This duty was, of course, to entertain Leatoria with tales of fascinating things that had happened during their lives as hunters while the girl slowly finished her food. No one had asked Mile to do so, but there were few people who understood the loneliness of being shut away, with no one to talk to except your own family, better than she did.

  When Mile got caught up in the moment—seeing how Leatoria, so starved for entertainment, was eating up her stories—and broke into her Japanese Folktales, the food that was in Leatoria’s mouth went flying in a splendid display, but that could not be helped.

  When Leatoria finally finished eating and everyone stood to leave the room, Mile said, “I would like to examine Miss Leatoria a bit more, so I’m going to stay behind. Oh, I’m sure that sounds worrisome, so if your wife or one of your daughters would like to stay with us…”

  In for a penny, in for a pound, the Earth saying went. There were similar idioms in the language of this land.

  “I’ll leave you to it then. Wilomia, if you would…?”

  Leatoria’s older sister, Wilomia, a girl of fifteen or sixteen, nodded and retook her seat. The other three members of the Crimson Vow departed as well, leaving only Mile, Wilomia, and Leatoria alone in the room.

  “Now then, please strip.”

  “Whaaaaaat?!?!”

  The two sisters screamed, shocked at the sudden request.

  “What’s going on?!” the baron shouted, flinging the door back open at the commotion.

  “Nothing’s going on, sir! And also, please consider that conducting a medical examination might mean that Leatoria could need to open her nightgown. Even if she’s your daughter, rushing into her room without knocking is incredibly rude!” Mile raged.

  “Oh, s-sorry…”

  The baron apologized sheepishly and retreated from the room.

  “Now, anyway, I didn’t mean anything weird! So, if you would…”

  “Forgive us.” The sisters sincerely apologized for their shocked reactions.

  “Now then, let’s continue. I need to check your body for any swelling or discoloration. Please don’t think I have any strange intentions…” said Mile.

  Leatoria unbuttoned her gown, and Mile examined her closely.

  Mile, of course, did not have the same level of knowledge as a medical professional. She knew only as much as the average high school student—or perhaps a little more because of her fondness for reading. Despite all that, she was still practically a layman. However, with at least as much knowledge as the average Japanese person, she still might be able to determine something. There was nothing to lose here by trying. And so, Mile asked Leatoria a number of questions as she carried on her mock exam.

  “What kinds of symptoms do you have now as compared to when you were in good health?”

  “O-oh, um, well…” Leatoria meekly replied. “I’ve always been thin, but when I got sick I lost my appetite, and now I can barely eat anything. I feel drowsy all the time; I have palpitations and shortness of breath. My legs feel numb, and I barely have any strength in my limbs…”

  Unfortunately, loss of appetite, drowsiness, fatigue, and weakness were common symptoms of most illnesses. These alone told Mile almost nothing.

  “Now then, please remain seated on the bed and lower your legs down over here.”

  Leatoria complied, dangling her legs off the side of the bed, while Mile scrutinized her lower half.

  “Oh? They’re a bit swollen, aren’t they?”

  “Ah, yes, I suppose they are…”

  Mile drew a bit closer to get a better look.

  Thunk!

  “Eek!”

  Mile smacked Leatoria’s knee with the hilt of the sword strapped to her waist, and the resulting thwack resounded throughout the room.

  “Th-that hurt…”

  “Oh no! I-I’m so sorry!!”

  Mile quickly pulled back, apologizing.

  “Hm…”

  However, something felt off.

  “Oh? There’s something…”

  Actually, Mile suddenly got the impression that there was not enough of something that should have been there…

  “Aha!”

  With a shout, Mile drew the sword from her waist—still within its scabbard, naturally. She gripped the sword by the scabbard, and once again struck Leatoria’s knee with the hilt.

  Thwack!

  “Aah!”

  Leatoria gave another—almost too adorable—cry.

  “You’re just messing around now!” Wilomia protested, but Mile was too preoccupied to notice.

  Thwack!

  “Ngh!”

  Thwack!

  “Eep!”

  Finally, Wilomia seized Mile by the shoulders. “Stop it!”

  “Aha, sorry! I got a little carried away there…”

  “So you really were just messing around?!?!” the sisters roared in unison.

  “N-no, I think I’ve found it! The name of your illness and the cause of it!”

  “Whaaaaaaat?!?!”

  Indeed, in a most blessed turn of events, this illness was one that even a normal high school girl, with almost no practical experience in examining patients, would be able to easily name and diagnose.

  It was an illness that had made so many casualties of Japanese people in the distant past that it was called a “national disease.”

  And, for some reason, it was a disease to which affluent people very commonly fell victim.

  Indeed, that disease was beriberi.

  That said, Mile was not able to summon up the name just from observing the symptoms. However, most people knew that you could diagnose beriberi by checking the reflexes of the knees, which was something that almost everyone did just for fun as children. Even Misato and her sister had done so in their youth.

  Mile gave Leatoria the okay to return her clothing to normal and exited the room, leaving her to Wilomia.

  “Sir Baron, I have another request!”

  Hearing her call, the baron, Bundine, and the Crimson Vow, who had been waiting in another room, reappeared.

  “I would like to meet with your chef. I would like to know the process by which he prepares Leatoria’s food.”

  “Huh…? Well, sure, that’s fine. Come right this way.”

  Soon, they arrived at the kitchen.

  The kitchen staff stood nervously as they faced the whole Aura family (minus two) and the Crimson Vow in a row.

  It would have been one thing had they been called to an audience with their employer, but it was unthinkable that the baron himself would come bursting into the kitchen unannounced, his whole family and his guests in tow, unless it was to issue a complaint. Moreover, the way that they were arranged, the one who had come to complain could be none other than one of
said guests.

  A noble might bring terrible shame upon himself as a result of the food he served to his invited guests. There was no way that the kitchen staff could not have known how grave a circumstance this was.

  “Er, u-um…” The chef could not even form words.

  Mile bowed her head. “Pardon me. I was hoping that you could tell me how it is that you prepare Miss Leatoria’s food.”

  “What?” the kitchen staff all asked as one.

  “There’s no need for you to actually remake the food now. I was just hoping that you could talk me through the process, step by step. If you could just outline it for me, like, ‘Then I cut this part into cubes,’ or, ‘Then I peel the skin off of this…’”

  “Ah, y-yes, most certainly!”

  That much was simple. Until mere seconds ago, the chef had been quaking with fear that they had come to condemn him, so this was a task that he would gladly undertake.

  “…then, I boil the vegetables until they’re soft, drain them, and then soak them in the prepared broth…”

  “Mm-hmm…”

  “Then I wash the thinly sliced beef with water…”

  “What? You wash it?”

  “Ah, yes. Lady Leatoria has a weak constitution, so we wash it clean and make sure that it isn’t overly seared…”

  “………”

  “I thought that the food we ate had pork in it, so why is Leatoria eating beef?”

  “Ah, well, to tell you the truth, when the family moved from our home territory to the capital, she happened to witness pigs being slaughtered at one of the villages where we stopped along the way. Since then, she’s been unable to eat pork.”

  “I see. Are there any other foods that Lady Leatoria dislikes? Or rather, that you avoid serving to her?”

  “Well, yes, since we’re so far inland, we don’t serve seafood to anyone. Other than that, the lady mustn’t have bread, corn, or anything with strong flavors or smells, such as garlic, chives, scallions, or onions. What she can eat is small amounts of beef, vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, and milk…”

  “Mm-hmm, yes, I see. Thank you very much!”

  And so Mile left the kitchen, with the others in tow.

  “What in the world was all that about?” The kitchen staff breathed a collective sigh of relief. They had no idea what was going on, but at least they knew that they were not being rebuked for some mistake on their part.

  This relief was short-lived, as soon after, the silver-haired girl from before poked her head back through the door once again.

  “Um, I’d like you all to come with us, too.”

  “Huhhhh?!?!”

  The whole group squeezed into Leatoria’s room: the entire Aura family, including Leatoria, Bundine the butler, the Crimson Vow, and the three members of the kitchen staff. Bundine and the kitchen staff were on their feet.

  Mile, who had been sitting, stood and regarded the whole assembly.

  “Now then, it looks like we’re down to the last ten minutes of the show. Time to solve this mystery!”

  Outside of the Crimson Vow, who had heard her use the term many times before, no one in the room had any idea what she meant by a “show,” but no one there was dense enough as to bother questioning her at this point.

  “I know exactly what is ailing Lady Leatoria.”

  “Whaaaaaat?!?!?!”

  Everyone shouted in surprise, their eyes open wide.

  “M-Mile, you’ve studied medicine, too?” Reina asked.

  “W-well, to a fair degree, at least…”

  Clearly, Mile could not answer her question with, “I’m just an amateur,” or “I just happen to know a few things,” so she did her best to play it off.

  “I-Is that true?! And c-can it be cured?!” the baron cut in, his eyes bloodshot.

  “That depends. Now, please allow me to explain,” Mile pacified. “First off, I believe this illness is one that, back in my country, is called beriberi.”

  “Beriberi?”

  “Yes. It is an illness caused primarily by what we eat.”

  “Wh-what?!” the baron shouted.

  “Uh…”

  The kitchen staff went pale again.

  “J-just what have you all been feeding my darling Leatoria?!”

  As the baron raged at them, his face like a devil’s, the kitchen staff collapsed to the floor.

  “Say it! What are you scheming?! What did you make her eat?! Who’s paying you to do this?!?!”

  Mile put out a hand to halt the baron, who appeared ready to throttle the staff.

  “Please wait. I did not mean that those fine people fed anything strange to your daughter.”

  Realizing that the silver-haired girl who they had thought was going to condemn them was in fact on their side, the kitchen staff looked to Mile with pleading eyes.

  “On the contrary, you could say that they haven’t been feeding her the things that she should be eating…”

  “Huhhh?!?!”

  Was she blaming them or defending them? They couldn’t tell. Confusion spread throughout the room, as neither the baron nor the staff could be certain of what was going on.

  “Now, allow me to explain things in order,” said Mile.

  “Why didn’t you do that from the start?!” Reina exclaimed, but Mile ignored her and began her explanation.

  “First of all, for a person to live a healthy life, one needs to eat a balanced, varied diet. I’m sure you all know this, correct?”

  While this world was still lacking in things like nutritional science, they had determined at least that much from experience. And so, everyone present nodded.

  “The reason that you need to eat a lot of different things is that, even among vegetables and meats, each one has different proportions of the components that the body needs.”

  “Hm? Then that means—don’t tell me…”

  That was the head of a noble household for you. This was all that the baron needed to hear, and already he had come to the appropriate conclusion.

  “Indeed. Leatoria’s diet has insufficient variety. Plus, the already scanty nutrients in her food, which break down easily in water and are finicky and weak to heat, barely remain once they’ve been meticulously washed, thoroughly heated, and separated from the water in which they’ve been boiled. Besides, she dislikes onions and other alliums, which help you to absorb those components…

  “If she changes her eating habits, then her symptoms should start to improve. There’s nothing wrong with what the rest of the family is eating, so after you have her on a special diet for a little while, and she recovers from her illness, then all of you can eat the same food together again.”

  “Ohh! Oh goodness! Is that so? Please tell me it’s so!”

  “Yes, well, I can’t say with absolute certainty, but I’m fairly confident about this…”

  Tears flooded down the baron’s cheeks. Moisture was welling up in the corners of his wife’s and children’s eyes as well. And on the bed, Leatoria, who was certain that she was doomed to steadily deteriorate until she perished, was dumbfounded to hear that her own preferences had been the cause of all this.

  “Th-that can’t… Th-this slow, creeping death that was paralyzing my body and sapping all my strength was all because of my preferences in food? All because of what I liked to eat…”

  “Please, Miss Mile! What should we do?!”

  The baron pressed Mile forcefully for a solution.

  “Umm, well, first, for her menu: you can’t have fish, so she needs pork, beans, corn, and two slices of bread or so, and then onions, chives, scallions, and garlic as well. Don’t wash the meat, and increase the amount of raw vegetables she gets, such as in salads. Oh, and please reuse the cooking broth—don’t throw it away. Also, stop putting wine in her water. It’s not effective at sterilizing it, and alcohol’s no good when you’re already sick.”

  “Of course! You got it! Please do as she says!” the baron shouted to the kitchen staff.

  “On it, si
r!”

  Reinvigorated, the staff rushed immediately back to their posts.

  “Whaaaaaaaat?!” Hearing the menu that Mile had listed, Leatoria let out a cry of despair.

  “You don’t get to complain!!” her parents and siblings exclaimed.

  Opposed by her entire family, Leatoria crawling under her blanket, sulking.

  Leaving Leatoria, now a lump in the blankets, behind, the group relocated to the parlor.

  “I don’t know how to thank you enough… You rescued Bundine from his quandary, saved our family from having our name dragged through the mud, and secured Leatoria’s medicine. And now, somehow, you’ve even given us a cure to her illness itself!”

  Bowing one’s head to a commoner was something that a noble simply did not do. And yet, here the baron was, bowing his head to Mile. Even if Mile and Mavis could be assumed to be nobles, officially they were all commoners, professing themselves to be naught but humble C-rank hunters.

  “Well, I would say it’s still a bit early to be thanking me. Though I think what I’ve told you is probably correct, in truth it’s nothing more than the opinion of a novice. You might wish to withhold your gratitude until she’s safely recovered…”

  The baron was momentarily startled, but seeing that the look on Mile’s face clearly said, ‘I’m saying this just in case, but in truth I’m confident that she should be fine,’ he regained his calm.

  “Well then, how about this: I’ll place a direct request with the guild for you all to provide us with the cure to Leatoria’s illness?”

  “What?! Are you sure?”

  Mile was shocked, but the baron shrugged off her surprise.

  “It’s only natural. There’s no way that I could let such a great—such an enormous deed go unrewarded. If anyone else found out about it, the name of the House of Aura—nay, even if no one ever found out about—my own pride would be sullied!”

  The baron really was a good person after all.

  “It will, of course, be best to treat this as a post-completion request, as the matter is already settled, but there’s no point in running back and forth to the guild to do the processing, and I’m sure we would all feel better if there were some results to confirm. So once Leatoria’s condition has improved, I will do the deed and arrange for a direct request to be filed with the guild. What do you think?”