Volume 3, Chapter 4.4

Volume 3, Chapter 4.4

Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

「……Impressive, Sensei. Casually doing things just for the memes that we would never dare to do……」

「……I don’t feel any awe or admiration, though……」

「Can we also mention how he’s referencing that urban legend? I never thought I’d hear that again over here.」

But despite saying all of that, they got right back to chewing on the hamburgers. It sounded strange, but if they didn’t bear with earthworm meat then they would have no food.

「……Sis, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to eat rock worm.」

「……Don’t tell me that you once again cooked this by yourself……」

「Somethin’ wrong with that?」

「Not wrong per say, but rock worms are the highest of quality of meats in Darl. So at first I thought you intended to sell it for money……」

「We don’t really sell food much, mate. Plus we got like ten troll birds remainin’ in storage, if ya want an idea.」

The sisters did realize it would be rather crazy to go wholesale with meat traders. Troll birds were the kind of size apiece that could feed ten meals to five people, and then some. Ten troll birds was not something that could easily be eaten.

「Yup. Now that we’re talkin’ ‘bout troll birds, how ‘bout we make some meat/vegetable stew with it for tonight’s meal?」

「I’m cool with that. Now, moving on to something else…」

「Mm?」

「You aren’t going to make us eat anything weird this time, right?」

Tatsuya asked Hiroshi in a rather serious face, who looked a bit put-off by the question. Upon further glance, Makoto, Mio, and even Haruna seemed to be on the opposing side this time as well. As one would expect, they seemed to have been rather traumatized by the unexpected earthworm burgers. Needless to say, for Haruna and Mio, the issue this time was not the fact they were fed a sneak attack of earthworms, but that Hiroshi had gone out of his way to put an ingredient into a hamburger that was from an urban legend instead of just giving them the nostalgic beef they had gone without for more than a year.

「……Unfortunately, there ain’t enough machinery to eat golems.」

「Wait, you were going to eat a golem!?」

「Can you even eat those, Hiroshi-kun?」

「Sure ya can. Iron, mud, mythril scattered about in golems can be cooked with special equipment, makin’ the golem edible. But if ya don’t make a golem with those, then it don’t matter what their properties are, ya can’t eat ‘em.」

「Wait, people have already eaten them……」

「One of my fellow craftsmen didn’t know what to do one day and the fool stewed a golem as a half joke. Of course no one includin’ him thought such a thing was even possible at first.」

Everyone listened in silence, unable to even vocalize what they thought about Hiroshi’s ludicrous statement. Seriously, there were many unexpected things in this world, but really? Trying to eat iron or mythril? There had to be a limit somewhere.

「Well there’s a secret to this. Basically ya can cook it because it’s a magical creature.」

「No, I think there’s a point where you stop.」

「Eh, let’s just leave it that since it’s already been done before. So when we eatin’, y’all?」

Seeing as the conversation would only get dreary if they continued it, Hiroshi cut it off and checked about dinner. Once they understood (but didn’t want to accept) the gist of what he was talking about, Tatsuya hopped straight onto the next train of thought.

「Yeah. We just ate right now, so I think we’ll be good in two hours?」

「Alright. Then I’ll come back after I deal with the smeltin’ forge.」

「Then I’ll go ahead and stock up for tomorrow…wait, we already made a ton of curry bread.」

「Well yeah, ya gave me a lotta time to make stuff.」

「Then I guess I’ll be in charge of stocking up on white bean paste and takoyaki. It’s about time we go with troll bird for tomorrow, too.」

Everyone just decided to push along their own agendas for the next two hours, since that wasn’t a whole lot of time. Cleaning the entire building (including the bathroom) was left to the sisters, since they were freeloaders, so no one raised their hands this time around.

「While we’re at it, how ‘bout I make some more earthworm burgers?」

「Ah, that could be interesting. A high-priced local burger?」

「I’m usin’ high-quality ingredients, so yeah.」

Just like that, they decided what to bring out tomorrow. After seeing Hiroshi disappear in the direction of the workshop, Tatsuya sighed and then got to working on their stock. The next day, despite opening shop from an early hour, their stock was depleted by noon and people off from work petitioned Haruna to do another recital, which became even longer that time around.

「Where were you skulking around until now……」

「I made sure to cool down the stand is all. Problem with that, mate?」

「I sure as heck do……」

「But all the work we need to do today was finished in the morning, was it not?」

「How could one such as the queen tell them to not open the marketplace for such a long period of time without notice and for such a trivial, selfish reason?」

Sergio muttered complaints that were painfully true, but the queen looked off into the far distance, clearly not interested in listening to him. If this sanction or whatever were to be delayed, it would be problematic, but unfortunately, whenever an affair was brought before the queen that needed immediate attention, she was generally always in the palace (unless you counted foreign trips), so these complaints seemed to have little effect.

「That so-called trivial, selfish errand just so happens to be going to see the visitors from Farlane who have come to participate in the marketplace. Still sound trivial to you?」

「No, I do not believe that is a job that Your Majesty needs to undertake. Do you not agree?」

「As if I can trust the temperament of other people’s hearsay.」

Sergio was forced to be silent, unable to think of a response to the queen’s piercing statement. A troublesome filter occasionally blocked information of this sort. As a queen who constantly tried to isolate herself from any troublesome tasks, it was still very important that she confirm the identity of visitors, not merely relying on hearsay.

「Well, thanks to that, we’ve managed to collect nearly all the evidence for the transmission from the Farlane royal family. Unfortunately, of the two important personages, the man was absent.」

「And the verdict?」

「More likely than not, King Regnas seems to be telling the truth. Therefore, it would be scary if we did anything unnecessary to make them our enemies.」

「Unnecessary?」

「For the time being at present, I wish to halt Dentlis from doing anything stupid. Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of being worm bait.」

In this country, there was a saying that went like this: “Those earnestly in love and those illicitly in love both have no qualms with becoming worm bait”. You might think of this as Darl’s version of “Kicked by a horse”.

「Is Count Dentlis acting up again……」

「Aye. Well, even if the lady Haruna is a target, she seems to dislike that type of sleezy man.」

Haruna’s appearance was fairly showy and her body was definitely something men would like. From what the queen could tell, her personality was quite plain, in addition to being very chaste. To add even further, now that it seemed this girl was in fairly serious love with someone (she wasn’t sure who), she wouldn’t just be impregnable to this man; he wouldn’t stand a chance. That type of person wouldn’t fall in love just by first sight or by the bridge effect, instead taking the time to slowly realize all of their good qualities and then fall in love. Unless the person she loved treated her coldly, Haruna would never give up that easily.

The queen couldn’t help but feel pity for both the man who Haruna had fallen in love with and Dentlis. Although these were two different kinds of pity.

「At any rate, I wish to avoid any sort of international dispute.」

「Indeed. Plus, this time around, it could mean some serious trouble for us. We still only have information from behind the scenes, but there are many things that we should both celebrate as a country and be cautious around, lest they spark a fire. If there are any other women to allot him, I would like to send his lower body over there to avoid any trouble.」

「Right you are. I shall look into it for you.」

「Depending on what happens, we may have to have the kittens from Farlane work for us a bit.」

The queen said something casually that was actually quite major. Sergio’s eyebrows twitched. The queen noticed this, grimacing.

「I’m not necessarily saying they’re spies. If they really were, then Prince Layotte wouldn’t have revealed their existence to us.」

「Then what is it?」

「Well, what this means is that they are likely his protege thieves. The information we’ve gathered suggests that rather than for the benefit of Farlane, their objective seems to be in accordance with a strange influence. Other than Alvan, I have yet to see any information that would be detrimental to us over here.」

「So what you mean to say is that we can use those thieves to spread information to Farlane and have them assist in driving out those fools?」

「Indeed. Because it seems that even Farlane is having a hard time of it. With something in it for both of us, it’s only reasonable that we join forces.」

The queen said in a dark yet almost erotic tone with a dangerous smile on her face.

「Still, to think that they would collude…Such fools.」

「With Barold’s long-distance group teleportation appearing frequently afar, I thought they would be able to evade any issues in the Vast Southern Forest or Faialand regions, but then again, if they thought such a feeble rebellion would succeed, they have truly sunk in intelligence.」

「Even if they had succeeded, with Alfemina Temple gone, their country’s wealth would all be lost within but a few years. How could they not understand that……」

Farlane’s half-baked rebellion. The reason why neither Darl nor Forre had taken advantage of this was summed up by what both the queen and Sergio were saying. There was no way that a rebellion that was set-up by its opponents would ever succeed, nor would anything come of it had they succeeded. Either way, Forre’s Spirit Spire Mountain and Vast Northern Forest, Darl’s Vast Southern Forest and Spirit Spire Mountain, and Faialand’s coastal region would all get in the way of any interventions. There was never any leisure to intervene in a rebellion of such rapid development to begin with.

Furthermore, when you took into account how assisting the royal family in their endeavors would hardly lift the debt owed and how nothing would be gained from joining the rebels in battle, it was ridiculous to even think of meddling in such affairs. The current royal family were moderates, so there was no issue with that, but Farlane used to be far more overpowering in relation to the other countries. If Darl had done anything that they took offense to, Farlane would have halted its export of food and Darl would have been the one to suffer for it.

In this sense, these affairs were the same for all the countries surrounding Farlane, and no one was brazen enough to take advantage of a rebellion just to take some of Farlane’s land for themselves. After all, the increased revenue from the stolen land could not even be compared to the shortage of food they would face once all trade was called off. That was just how ill-natured the monsters surrounding the border were.

There was also the time when the king before the last one had revolted and created havoc with the import of food, forcing many to starve to death. This was already a great reason to not stir up anything with the current regime, now that this royal family was actually fairly decent in how they ran their country. Sure, there was no country that wanted its neighbor to become strong, but none of the countries were regions suited for invasions in the first place. If it was possible to get on amicable terms with the top in that country, there was nothing better than being able to support each other in cooperation.

「Now then, the problem for the time being is……」

「How you, the queen, will begin to interact with them, correct?」

「Indeed. Seems like while that unnatural death incident was going on and the temple was all stiff, they got wrapped up in the affairs of the temple because of Dentlis and his secondary residence. Of course, I don’t know whether this is fortunate or unfortunate for them, but the two girls that were forced on them are the Nortons.」

「Then how about I make those adjustments for contacting them.」

「Yes please.」

And so the queen had decided on a course of action for the time being, but little did she know that Hiroshi’s rampage would cause all of her plans to malfunction in strange ways.