CH 20

My parents had been married for love instead of an arranged marriage.

Not only was it common amongst most noble couples to tie the knot due to political motivations, but if one were to understand our fief’s condition, you’d just have to think that Mom really loves Dad a lot for her to still choose to marry him.

As a noble, you’d have to have something to your name.

But, really, considering our estate, our garrison, our old mansion and our failing guild, our household was really at the lowest of the pyramid.

That might be why Brother was deliberately avoiding any marriage talks between him and a prospective bride.

It’s possible that he’s thinking there’s no family out there who’d want to be in-laws with our family, and if this becomes apparent, our parents might become upset.

I’m just guessing, but Brother seemed to be considering our parents’ circumstances a lot, that’s why he’s been refusing it until now.

After all, Brother loves our family the most in the world.

Even back when we were kids, I had a hard time trying to change the way he thought about my fire accident.

He kept blaming himself for it, that he didn’t take care of me enough, and that’s why I had been caught in that fire.

Picking out some practice arrows and some combat arrows to go along with the bow, I soon headed out of the smithy with Dad.

Perhaps because it’s been a long time since just the two of us went on an outing like this, but Dad was very excited right now, and he thought it was a shame for us to go home right away.

So, we went into a café and ordered some dessert and tea for the two of us. People-watching for a while, I furtively hinted at a certain topic.

“Dad, did you hear about it?”

“Hm? Hear about what?”

Since the saintess had made her appearance, it might be the right time to make and introduce Korean food to them.

The prophetic writings included only a scant introduction of the food and culture of the saintess’ home country, so the temple should not know about the details of it.

That’s why I was planning to ask Dad if there’s someone who could ship in red pepper powder, garlic and rice from an overseas country.

Actually, through the books I had read before, I already researched which foreign countries could grow and distribute these ingredients.

“The Yuria Kingdom isn’t far from our fief, right? There’s a spice called red pepper powder, and it’s very spicy.”

“Ohh, is that so? How did my dear daughter find out such a thing?”

Dad only looked at me in admiration.

I feel a bit apologetic, but… I’ll be taking advantage of Dad’s doting, thank you very much. He’s more than willing to fulfill each and every one of my wishes.

Truthfully, I was really hoping that our guild would be able to win those ingredients’ distribution rights and bring them to the Stern Empire.

“I happened to read about it in a book, and I got curious. There’s a certain dish made with spicy red pepper powder, garlic and chicken. Ah, and it’s a type of food that you can eat on top of rice that’s milled from rice crops.”

Well, of course, that’s not how the people of the Yurian Kingdom used those ingredients.

I added just a few little white lies and continued.

“After reading about it in that book, I’ve gotten curious about what it would taste like, and I just can’t get it out of my mind. Dad, have you tried it?”

As I finished speaking, I intentionally made a very expectant look—to the point that it must feel burdensome to be on the receiving end.

Dad stared at my expression for a moment, then he looked away, opening and closing his lips.

He seemed to be thinking about what he should answer. I could only hope that Dad would start bragging and talking big like he did earlier in front of old Benjamin.

This is for our family’s sake though. I hope you’ll forgive me for lying to you like this.

“Hohoho! Of course! This Dad of yours has done everything before! Irene, before I met your Mom, often went to the Yuria Kingdom to subjugate monsters, and there’s one famous restaurant in that place. Their signature dish is very similar to what you described just now. Mmh, alright. Should I get some of those ingredients so that you and your Mom can try it out this time? And now that you mentioned it, even though it’s so close, we’ve never traded with the Yuria Kingdom.”

The Yuria Kingdom was a place with completely different customs from the empire.

Even if it was a small country, I heard that it had a long, extensive history and a firm tradition as their roots, so the kingdom itself didn’t tend to trade with other countries.

Still, our fief was at the very edge of the empire, so we’re not interested in what’s in vogue over at the capital.

“Then, Dad, please get the distribution rights.”

“Distribution rights?”

“Yes, because you said that it’s very delicious, right? Then I think it’ll surely be really, really delicious. And if we want to keep eating…”

“Still though, would there be a need for us to get the distribution rights?”

“You know, there’s this saying, Dad. When it comes to food, there are people who have never tried it, but there’s no one who has only tried it once. It’s only natural that I haven’t tried it once, but I think it’s the kind of food that I’ll really like.”

“…Hm, if my beloved daughter wants to eat it that much, then…”

“Then please make sure to get it. Red pepper powder and rice. And since we’re talking about the Yuria Kingdom, they’ll certainly have garlic, too.”

“…Alright, I got it.”

“Ah, and if maybe there’s something like peas—but not really peas—called white beans, please bring some of that, too.”

“White beans?”

“Yes, it’s thiiis big. Either white or black beans is good.”

I’m not sure whether the Yuria Kingdom grew white beans or black beans, but nevertheless, I’m placing my hopes on either since it’s a place where rice is eaten.

In the future, it’s going to be necessary to secure as many ingredients as possible for the saintess according to her cooking.

After all, Korean food’s going to be famous all throughout the empire just because it was made by the saintess.

So, it would be like icing on the cake if our family could get the distribution rights.