Chapter 237 - Red Devil

Red Devil

We left the arena and walked through the streets. The imperial capital had the same festive mood as the previous day. And so once again, we enjoyed some target practice and street food.

Once the sun had set, we dropped Lemon off at her inn and we went our own way to have dinner.

“Now, we should go there again today.”

Daniela said, matter-of-factly. She rarely diverged from choosing meat… And so I would have to choose a place today.

“Let’s eat here.”

“I prefer the last place.”

“Don’t be like that.”

In front of us was a sign that read, ‘Lambrusen Cuisine.’ Lambrusen was the first country I came to in this world. Though, there hadn’t been anything that seemed like local traditional food… Maris’s inn had only served normal food.

“Well, Fhiraldo is in a far corner of Lambrusen. It is different when you are close to the capital. Traditional cuisine is more popular on the other side, to the north.”

“I see… Lambrusen is quite big then.”

Fhiraldo was my first town. It was east of the misty hills. There were forests on both the north and south sides of it. The Alexia mountains stretch to the southeast from there, and the Empire of Flugelnia lay beyond them. We had traveled east from Fhiraldo, and gone to the city of the plains, Spiris. Then it was down south to Alessa and off to the Empire.

We had gone far south, really. If it was famous north of Lambrusen, then it was no wonder we hadn’t encountered much of it.

In any case, we were going in!

“Excuse me. Are there any tables available?”

“Yes! Please come in!”

The young woman who guided us in was wearing something I’d never seen before. Bold yet beautiful colors made intricate patterns in what I assumed was a traditional dress. She had long hair and wore a red bandana as well. Over the bandana, a hair ornament kept her braids tied together. It looked cool…

“Yes, this way please.”

“Thank you. Your dress is very beautiful.”

“Hehe. Thank you, sir. It is an old traditional Lambrusen dress.”

She turned around for us. Her long skirt rose lightly in the air. It was beautiful.

“Yes, just wonderful. Gorgeous.”“You’re very good at flattery. I’ll have to offer extra good service tonight.”

She said quietly with a smile. Then she disappeared into the kitchen.

Daniela and I sat down and scanned the menu. However, it was hard to know what we were looking at.

“Did you really find her that pretty?”

“Hmm? Her dress was really nice. I don’t know much about clothes, but I’ve always appreciated traditional clothing like that. There were plenty of them back in my world.”

I remember especially liking traditional European clothing. They would look good on Daniela. Hell, Daniela would look good in Asian clothes as well…

“So, that is your preference…”

“I guess so. Though, your clothes are nice too. At least for dates.”

“Hmm…I see.”

She said with flushed cheeks. I brushed my hand against them and everything was resolved. But she did look cute when she was jealous.

After that, Daniela gave me recommendations for Lambrusen cuisine and we made our order.

The same young women came to our table.

“Are you ready to order?”

“Yes. Uh, this…thing. Pavelyani…? Please.”

“What? Pavelyani…?”

She looked at me with an expression of undisguised distaste. Eh, what? But Daniela recommended it?!

“He has never eaten Lambrusen before.”

“Ahh…I see. Very well.”

The woman nodded. Then she smirked as if a hunter who has seen her prey get caught in a trap.

“And I will have some Ellefirasse with a baguette.”

“Uh, I think I’ll have that too…”

“Thank you. So, that will be one Pavelyani and Ellefirasse with a baguette. I’ll bring it as soon as it is ready.”

“Um, could I change…”

Perhaps she couldn’t hear me, because she quickly withdrew. Hmm. This atmosphere. It was like when people tried to feed wasabi to foreigners. I had a bad feeling about it all.

“Now, Asagi. Settle down. You will disturb the other customers.”

“Are you my mother! Damn it, you tricked me. I know you did!”

Daniela just grinned with delight. From the corner of my eye, I saw the young waitress poke her head out and smile as well before disappearing again. Yes, I was about to step on a land mine.

I sighed about ten times before a large red plate came out and was placed in front of me.

A red plate? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Was it food? No.

“This must be some torture device. My nose hurts already.”

“It’s your Pavelyani.”

I’d be better off eating some chili peppers. I mean, this was clearly like the ‘compressed file’ version of chili peppers. It went straight to your nose. My tongue was already tingling. It was the kind of stuff that would make you go blind if it went anywhere near your eyes.

“Now, Asagi. This is a famous Lambrusen dish.”

“Liar. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Just try it. You will not regret it.”

“I have nothing but regrets! Damn it!”

But I was tired of sighing. There was nothing else to do… My hand shook as I picked up the spoon. Saliva pooled in my mouth like a defense mechanism. I gulped and then dipped the spoon into the red liquid from hell. The first thing I noticed was that it was like soup. Before that, I hadn’t registered anything but the color and smell.

“Uh…”

“Hurry.”

“Don’t rush me. I’m not ready…”

“Let me help you.”

“Agh!”

The kindly waitress pushed my hand so that the spoon and its contents went straight into my mouth.

And that was when I blacked out.

□　　　□　　　□　　　□

The next morning. I awoke in the military lodging facility. That was weird… I had no memory of coming back here. Yesterday… Some handsome bastard confronted us and then we watched that spear-wielder in the arena… Then we enjoyed the festival and split up with Lemon…huh!?

“My mouth hurts!!”

“Mmm…”

The tingling sensation suddenly hit me. Daniela groaned with annoyance and pulled the blankets over her head.

I slipped out of bed and headed for the washing room. There, I used water magic to rinse my mouth, but it only offered momentary relief. The sensation returned soon after.

“Are you kidding me? It really was a torture device.”

Pavelyani, was it? I would never eat it again.

Still, I was able to get up quite early, thanks to it… It was still dim outside. In that case, I could secure us some seats without having to rely on Lemon.

And so I got out of my pajamas and into my outdoor clothes. Then I ate some of the street food we had stocked up on, but I couldn’t taste any of it. There was no mistaking it now. I had been tortured. I thought as I stuffed the tasteless noodles in my mouth.

“Daniela. Get up. Let’s try to look impressive in front of Lemon at least once.”

“Hmm… What time is it…?”

“It is past five. Come on. We’ll get seats for all three of us.”

“Yes… I will get up now…”

It was rather unusual for her to comply like this. She probably felt bad that we had been leaving things to Lemon.

Daniela dragged herself out of bed and scratched her shaggy hair as she made her way to the washing room. She would wash her face, hair, and body and then finally feel awake.

I looked out of the window, bored. The sun was slowly rising as it shone over the city.

“Oh, right.”

This was a good time to practice using ‘Eyes of the God Wolf.’ And so I looked at the city with my silver eyes.

My senses were shared with Jack of all Trades, Master of None, and I adjusted the focus while moving my gaze from right to left. There weren’t many people out this early in the morning, but I could see some that were headed towards the arena. It was the A-Rankers fighting today, after all.

“Ah.”

Among them, I saw the executioner lady from the restaurant yesterday. She was wearing ordinary clothes now…not so surprising.

“Hmm.”

I was getting used to it, but it was also tiring. Kind of like staring at a computer screen for too long. I hadn’t expected to feel eye strain in this world.

Now that I was tired, I looked at things that were closer. It was clear then, that it affected your eyes differently.

All the nearby buildings were military, of course. And people still worked at these hours. I could see soldiers walking in various directions. They seemed very serious about their work.

“Asagi. My clothes.”

“Surely you can do that yourself…”

I began to mutter as I turned around. I hadn’t deactivated the zoom, and so my vision was filled with something that was pink. I hadn’t even thought to do it, but Jack of all Trades, Master of None automatically adjusted the focus for me.

“Asagi, what are you staring at?”

“Not sure. But I find it quite beautiful.”

“Perhaps I will tell Rachel.”

“My mistake, sorry.”

I turned the skill off and took out Daniela’s clothes from the bag and handed them to her.

Now, it was off to see Group D.