Chapter of Bottled Love: Whole-Roasted Boar

Honestly, nothing exactly changed after the king, Will, made his little speech. He disappeared right after in the back again and the celebration continued as before.

Okay, I lied a little. There was a difference. The food had come. Yes, the most important part of the evening had finally arrived!

“Yumi, don’t start drooling.”

“Sis, even I have that much self-control, okay?”

“… I sure hope so.”

Karen knit her eyebrows. I didn’t say anything wrong, did I? I had some self-control. Surely I did. Right?

“Woah! Look, Sis!”

“Yumi…”

I had the feeling I didn’t want to see Karen’s expression right now, so, instead, I watched the servants carrying in myriads of food in all kinds of variety. Vegetables, meat, fish, fruits and so on. There was so much I had never even seen before.

“He sure went all out on this.”

“Of course he did. You know how they are, all show.”

“Well, appearances are important. Not that someone exalted as a hero would understand.”

“Ha! I can tell you that ain’t even half as glorious as it sounds!”

And behind us, the two old men continued their own little talk. But for now, the food was more important than them.

“Sis, let’s go take a look.”

“Yes, yes. Let’s go.”

Thankfully, we weren’t the only ones interested in the food, as several other people had already come to take a look. Us joining in wouldn’t be too noticeable… probably.

“Yumi, they’re staring at us…”

“So much to that…”

“Huh?”

“Nothing… Ignore them, Sis, ignore them. Imagine they are potatoes.”

“... What are potatoes?”

Huh? What did she mean what are… Oh, right… They didn’t exist here. But there was something similar, wasn’t there? What was their name again…

“Earth Cucus, imagine they are Earth Cucus.”

“... I don’t think I can imagine people to be a vegetable.”

Well… I tried.

Nonsense aside, they really were staring at us… It was a little hard to look at the food if we were under such scrutiny.

“What to do…”

“Get used to it. That’s what you should do.”

“Captain.”

Even though we thoroughly left them behind, Ruben and Korwen had come up to us from behind to join in.

“Attention will follow you and so will the gazes of the people. Take this as a little bit of training for the future.”

Training for the future… Well, as long as they were just curious gazes like the ones aimed at us right now. Although, the moment Korwen and Ruben joined us, they had become the centre of those gazes instead. I could even hear some whispers about ‘that mercenary’ and ‘Sir Ruben’ and such. Yet, neither of them even seemed to be bothered the least bit.

“Your best bet is really just getting used to it. Weather through it and you learn to live with it. It’s not like you can prohibit them from being curious.”

“Well, I can’t... “

As long as they were just curious… Which seemed to be the case for most of them…

“Guess we can’t change it… Sis, let’s take a look at the food.”

“... Okay.”

Not very energetic. I couldn’t force her to just ignore the gazes. Hopefully, she could distract her mind from it. With food, for example.

“Well, let’s take a look at what Will got us… Oh, they got Apram fruits. He sure knows what I like.”

Korwen, taking the lead, went up to the table where the servants were still lining up the food. A few of the servants bowed to Korwen even, before continuing with their work.

“You never change, do you? To think you still love Aprams so much…”

“Why should it change? Let me have that bit of luxury in my life.”

“It’s less about the luxury and more about the taste… I don’t think many can stomach those fruits. Or the undiluted juice.”

Wait, so it wasn’t normal that he could chug that extremely bitter stuff down like it was nothing?

“That’s because your taste buds are broken, Ruben. You should train them more.”

“Taste buds aren’t something you train, usually. Well, I admit they’re healthy and we do have them as rations in the army, too. In addition, they’re easy to store. But that doesn’t make them very popular among the soldiers.”

Enough about those unlikeable fruits, what else was there? Although, I didn’t even know what I was looking at. Fruits of a variety of colours. Weird vegetables I had never seen before. Unknown meat. Unknown fish. Honestly, there was nothing I recognised. Except for those Apram fruits.

“Sis, look at that vegetable. It’s a star. They cut it into a star.”

“You’re right. I wonder why…”

“Probably for appearances? What even is that vegetable anyway?”

“I don’t know…”

Well, in that case, the man behind us…

“That’s a Water Cucus.”

“... What?”

“A Water Cucus.”

“... Are they in any way related to Earth Cucus?”

“Despite the name, no.”

Then why were they named so similar?

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t know why they’re named like that, either.”

Great.

“By the way, there is also Wind Cucus and Fire Cucus. They’re over there and there.”

“What in the blazes…”

He pointed at two other bowls filled with vegetables. They, too, were cut into shapes. One in cubes and the other in long sticks.

“Is there any point in those shapes, Mr Captain?”

“They’re just for looks.”

“What a waste of food…”

Well, there probably was quite a lot of leftovers from that, yes… But that didn’t mean they threw the remainder away. Maybe the cooks made something else with it.

Well, vegetables are fine and all but what is this meat? It looks… like meat… Wait, why the heck is that meat green? It is meat, right?

On one plate was a big chunk of green meat sliced into thin pieces.

“Captain, what’s that green… meat?”

“Which one? That?”

“Nn.”

“That looks like… some kind of monster meat. Ruben, do you know what that is?”

“That’s from a Warulk, I think?”

I see. A Warulk.

“What is a Warulk?”

“It’s a floating monster. Looks like a ball. They’re as big as a person, too.”

“...”

A floating, ball-like monster…

“Sis, were those the monsters we saw in the Academy…”

“I don’t know… They were a lot smaller, though.”

That professor was keeping weird monsters, including floating balls. Which, by the way, were carnivorous. Like most monsters, probably. Watching them devour the meat we fed them was a very… unique experience. And now, something akin to them was on our dinner plate?

“If they were smaller, those were likely Warulka. They’re similar, though. Really, just a size difference.”

Their names are especially similar...

But a floating ball… That was one kind of meat I was already a little apprehensive about. But I was also just a little bit curious. Well, I was already planning to eat a little bit of anything that seemed interesting.

“Oh, he got quite a variety of fish for us as well. Anything intere—”

“Fresh from the local river.”

“Guess not.”

Korwen sighed as if disappointed.

“Fish is hard to come by. You know that yourself.”

“Yet you got some obscure monster meat.”

“Well… Yes…”

At that moment, the large door to the front opened up again. I thought for a moment some had come a little too late but, alas, how wrong I had been...

“Wow, they sure are making a show of it.”

Even Korwen sounded impressed as a huge metal vehicle was shoved through the door. Although I called it a vehicle, it was just an oversized table. And on this table was a boar. A whole, roasted boar.

Now, a whole roasted boar wouldn’t usually sound so impressive. If it wasn’t for the fact that this world’s boars were several meters in height alone, to say nothing of its length and width. And the whole thing was roasted in one piece.

“This is crazy.”

That was the only thing I could say at this point. A giant behemoth of a boar on a table, fully roasted and ready for consumption. If this wasn’t crazy, then what was?

“Whole-roasted boar. That Will really didn’t spare any effort, did he?”

“At least it’s a local boar.”

“I’d be surprised if you start importing your boars.”

Even the people around us were sounding quite impressed by the appearance of the boar. Or they just got hungry from the smell of roasted meat.

I admit a roasted boar was not what I expected to see today.

But I had to wonder how we were even going to eat this thing. And especially, who…

“Captain.”

“Yes?”

“Who is going to eat all of that?”

“We will, of course.”

“...”

This was… way too much… Even with all of the people combined, we’d need someone with a black hole for a stomach to fit in all of this. Especially that boar.

“Well, someone will surely eat the leftovers. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“Haaa…”

“If not, I’m sure we can bring it back for the others.”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t treat my castle as a pub or restaurant where you can take the food back home.”

A sudden voice echoed from behind.

“Well now. Not making another grand entrance, Will?”

“Not even surprised, huh... Once is enough. And I’d also appreciate it if you could go with the proper address at this occasion, Sir Korwen.”

“Yes, yes, your majesty the king.”

“How insincere… Well, it wouldn’t be you if not.”

Right behind us, having sneaked up on us, stood Will, the king, grimacing a little at his failed attempt on surprising Korwen. Although, he sure surprised me.

“Will. Aren’t you supposed to make another grand entrance when you enter?”

“Spare me that, please. This is a small celebration, no need to make a big thing out of everything today.”

And now the person drawing the most attention in the entire hall appeared at our side…

“But back to the topic. You shan’t worry about the food. Enjoy it to your heart’s content. And whatever is left over, won’t be wasted. I am sure the servants are already all licking their lips in anticipation.”

Ah, they’d get whatever we wouldn’t eat? How envious. Would they always get the leftover food from such occasions?

“Hm. How generous of you.”

“For I am a magnanimous king. Their magnanimous king.”

“Well, since you’re so magnanimous you won’t mind me eating now, will you?”

“... Are you making fun of me?”

“Payback for trying to sneak up on me.”

“Haaa… I suppose I can let this pass for once.”

When did Korwen even have time to shovel food on his plate already?

“Sis, let’s get something too.”

“Okay.”

Following our captain’s example—much to Will’s chagrin—we took a plate and a fork and selected whatever food seemed interesting. Conveniently, all the food was cut into sizes just right for the fork, allowing us to eat while standing. And it was still warm as well. On the other hand, I had no idea what half of this food even was but… Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“Oh, this is tasty.”

“This too.”

As expected of a king’s party, the food was delicious. Seriously.

“Sis, what’s that you have there?”

“I don’t know… Some kind of meat. Want to try a bite?”

“Nn.”

“Here you go.”

Karen put a piece of the meat on her fork and held it out to me.

“Ahh.”

“Here you go.”

“Mm.”

Oh, this really was delicious. Extra delicious because Karen fed me.

“Nn, it’s good.”

Yes, this was the reason I was here. So much food. And so much variance in it.

“Yumi, can I try a piece of that?”

“Sure. Here.”

Just as she did to me, I fed Karen a piece of meat from my plate. Ahh, this was bliss.

“Good, right?”

“It is.”

Great, Karen was enjoying the food.

“Hey, Korwen, are they always like that? Don’t they have some sense of shame?”

“They do but it takes a break at times like this.”

We can hear you, you know?

They probably meant for us to hear it, though. And here I just managed to divert Karen’s attention from all the gazes gathered at… not us?

A quick glance at my surroundings and I found what caught the crowd’s attention this time. The Elder and the High Priest. Who were, similar to us, currently enjoying the food. They weren’t overly intimate but they did make for a nice view together.

“So, Will… The matter we talked about before…”

“Ahh… We have come to a decision regarding that. Would you like to hear it now?”

“Might as well.”

Before I could continue enjoying the view of the Elder and the High Priest, the conversation next to me drew my attention. What did he say? The matter from before? That could only mean the fort, right?

“Mhm. Well, I will keep it simple then: We accept the offer.”

Korwen’s lips drew a smile the moment the words left Will’s mouth.

“However, there are two conditions.”

“Conditions? Let’s hear them.”

“First: Should Lafria wage war, you shall not fight on our opponent’s side. Second: You will be taxed. That is all.”

“... That’s all?”

“That is all.”

Now it was Will’s turn to smile.

“While the initial payment is questionable, in the long-term we profit from it. Let’s call it an investment.”

“An investment, huh. Into mercenaries? Quite bold of a king.”

“If you are even just half the man your father was, then it will be an investment worth the wait.”

“...”

What exactly did Korwen’s father even achieve? I only heard he fought in that Triside War? Probably.

“Furthermore, I did hear a little through the grapevine… Things I believe might be worth investing in. In addition, the elves have taken a liking to you. A feat even we couldn’t do over many decades and centuries, despite being their neighbours.”

“... At the cost of their home.”

“Ahh… A tragedy. One we failed to prevent. On this Lafrian ground.”

“There was a whole lot of stuff coming up at the same time.”

“That it did. But it lessens not the fact that we failed at preventing it. They are people of my country and it should have been my task to protect them.”

Will cast his gaze over to the Elder, who was very clearly enjoying her time with the High Priest.

“Anyway, matter being, the elves are with you and should they settle in the Sleeping Forest, even better. The elves evidently have interesting magic we would be very much interested in.”

“...”

“I know, I know, I won’t pry. I just hope that you would be willing to share some of the benefits it brings, at least.”

“... We’ll think about it.”

“That’s something, at least.”

Will didn’t pursue the matter anymore, instead directing his attention to the food now, joining us in eating.

“Korwen, a fair warning.”

“Mh?”

“Things are happening in Aldreigh and Krohmea as well.”

“...”

“Putting it nicely, they both had similar incidents to the one here. An unknown group causing havoc among minor settlements and villages.”

Will paused for a few seconds before continuing.

“We got plenty of refugees from Aldreigh and Krohmea already. It might be even worse over there than it was here. But…”

“But?”

“Did you know we also have refugees from beyond the Wooden Sea?”

“Refugees from beyond the Wooden Sea? But that’s…”

“Quite a distance for someone fleeing.”

Didn’t you need to travel for a really long time with a dedicated guide or something? Was that really a path you were willing to take if you wanted to flee? Or did that mean…

“Things are that bad?”

“Who knows? We know too little of the places beyond the Wooden sea. Even less so compared to the Beyond. The latter is at least easily reachable by ship.”

“Doesn’t make the place itself more hospitable.”

“Well, that’s true I suppose.”

One end was easy to reach—by comparison—but the place itself was dangerous, while the other one was probably not as… wild but even getting there was a challenge.

“Well, that is enough of that matter for this evening. I am not here to discuss work with you all. As for the transaction… Let’s do that tomorrow. You know where you can meet me. We can discuss the remainder then and there as well.”

“Very well. Tomorrow it is.”

“Yes, yes. Incidentally, assuming everything goes smoothly and the matter will be dealt with tomorrow, when do you plan to leave the capital?”

“We’ve been staying for quite a while already… The day after tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Not wasting any time, are you?”

Wait, we might leave the day after tomorrow already?

“Things rarely go smoothly, though, so I doubt we’ll manage that quickly. Probably a day or two later.”

“That’s still quite quick.”

“We have clearly overstayed our welcome here, already. And there’s not much to do for us now. The Academy is pretty much on break and whoever else would hire us already ran away long ago. I am honestly surprised you managed to gather that many people here.”

“We Lafrians won’t fear the Akkians. Not everyone is fleeing at the slightest hint of danger.”

“Hmm…”

At least, these people were still here.

“By the way, where did Ruben disappear to?”

“Ruben? He’s busy with the ladies over there.”

“...”

Will stared at the military man, disbelief in his eyes. Admittedly, I was surprised too, seeing the boulder of a man surrounded by young girls who were all over him. And some of them were clearly out for more than just his signature.

“The popularity of a hero. I wonder if this is what he meant with it not being all that glorious.”

“Captain, wouldn’t most men be pretty happy in such a situation?”

“Maybe the young boys would be. At our age, it’s honestly a little uncomfortable.”

Was it like that?

“Yumi, would you enjoy it?” asked Karen.

“Nn? I don’t know…”

If it was Karen and the other girls, I probably would. But the situation Ruben was in?  I had no idea. Probably not. After all, I already had Karen.

Ah, is that what Korwen meant? He’s married and Ruben is… probably as well? Yeah, that had to be a little uncomfortable.

Somehow, I wasn’t quite sure that it really was how Korwen meant it, though… Whatever.

“Well, with Ruben gone, I suppose I will greet the other people now. Then, I wish you a good evening. Korwen. Yumi. Karen.”

Will nodded once at each of us and then turned around, greeting the next person. But, he sure caught me by surprise this time. While we did introduce ourselves to him before, I didn’t expect him to actually remember our names. After all, he mostly spoke with Korwen. And this was probably the first time he called us by them.

“There he goes. Well, with this out of the way and the good news received, how about we go and destroy that boar. My treat! Hahaha!”

“Mr Captain, it’s technically the king’s treat.”

“Don’t mind the details, Karen. Come, let’s go.”

As if shooing us away with his hands, he led us to the large boar. Several servants were at the ready next to it, preparing to cut whatever the people wanted.

“Looking at it from close up, it really is massive, isn’t it?”

How did they even manage to roast this behemoth whole?

“My ladies, Sir, which parts would you like?”

“Mm. From there.”

“Understood. One moment, please.”

While I was still in awe of the boar, Korwen had already directed the servant on where to cut.  Standing so close to it, I could feel the heat radiating off from it now.

“Ohh, look, Yumi.”

The servant thrust the knife in the boar and skillfully cut out a chunk of meat. Then he proceeded to slice it into thin pieces of meat. The whole thing was over so fast I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

Korwen presented his plate and received parts of the meat. After he gestured with his eyes for us to do the same, we gratefully received the meat that had still steam coming off from it.

“Wah! It’s hot!”

Piping hot, in fact.

“What did you expect when there’s still steam coming off from it?”

“Exactly that.”

“...”

I blew on the meat a little to cool it down before trying again.

“Nn! It’s good.”

Ahh, the food really was the best part of this evening.

“You’re really easy to please, aren’t you?”

“As long as I have Sis and something delicious to eat, I’m happy.”

Yes, I was just that simple.

“Guess you’ll be especially happy today, then.”

“I am. So much good food. Even though, I have absolutely no idea what most of it even is.”

Except for the boar. And the Apram fruits. And the newly discovered Water Cucus.

“Sure doesn’t seem to stop you.”

And why would it? As long as it wasn’t poisoned.

“Mr Captain.”

“Yes?”

“So… What the king just said… The mercenaries are going to own a fort now?”

“That’s right. Auria fort will be ours as soon as tomorrow. Surprised?”

“... He didn’t seem all that enthusiastic to me, last time.”

“He wasn’t but he carefully thought it over. And he was smart in executing it too. Seriously.”

Korwen sighed before stuffing his mouth again and chewing vigorously.

“The two conditions he imposed on us are pretty much nothing to us. But they’re good enough for him in the long-term. If he had been a little more restrictive, I would have used the favour he owes us. Well, that’s assuming those really are the only restrictions he put on us.”

“Then, why didn’t you now?”

“It’s not worth it for us. There are many things we can use such a wish for. Things we can make more use of.”

Then, Will intentionally chose lax conditions that benefited him instead of using restrictive ones and then having Korwen call in the favour?

“But wouldn’t we save money if we weren’t taxed?”

“We would. But the tax money is, hopefully, used to better the lives of people. And if Auria benefits from us paying tax, even better. Plus, rather than removing the tax, we can just use the wish on something else that simply allows us to make more money, you see?”

“Ahhh… Yes.”

So it was investing rather than saving.

“Then, do you have any ideas on what to use the wish on, Captain?”

“Of course I do. There are plenty of things we could do. But, let’s not talk about that in public too much. You won’t know who listens in on us.”

“... Weren’t you the one who was discussing it with Will earlier?”

“All for show. We are more or less the guests of honour. He has to show that he is doing good business with us.”

“Always these show-offs…”

“Ha! That’s a good one. Yes, we’re all show-offs here.”

Korwen broke out in laughter for some reason.

“But you know, that would certainly include you two as well. Well, we are showing you off to the world.”

“Uhh…”

He was right… Not that I really liked it.

“But don’t worry. At least you won’t have to deal with more greetings anymore.”

“Praise be!”

“You really didn’t like that, did you?”

“Not really. Well, most of them were okay but a few were…”

Those flirts, for example. Those were bad.

“You’ll have to get used to it.”

“It seems I have to get used to a lot.”

“Well, of course, you do. That’s what it means taking up a new path in life.”

“A new path in life, huh…”

Certainly, it was very different from what I had been doing before. Back in my previous world. Not that I remembered much but it certainly wasn’t anything violent. No weapons, no travelling. But also no love.

“Yumi?”

“Nn. I’m glad I’m here.”

“Is that so? The food that good?”

“Well, the food too. Nn! Sis! Let’s get some more food!”

“Ah, Yumi, don’t pull me!”

“Hey, you two, don’t make a mess!”

Ignoring our captain behind us, Karen and I once more dove into the unknown mountain of food, experiencing whatever flavour we could, feeding each other and generally enjoying a good time.