CH 338

When Lars and the others went out for their second walk, Basleigh was having an early lunch in the dining room. She deliberately took a seat near the kitchen, put a hamburger in her mouth, and muttered.

“Hmmm, it’s still far from Lars-kun’s hamburgers. ……”

“Shut up, Minister Basleigh! If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it, though? I’m just saying it’s still far from him yet.”

“Stop your smirking!”

Basleigh turned away from the cook and started on the hamburger again. He is not as good as Lars, but he is satisfied with what she can eat and puts the meat in her mouth with a big smile on her face. Anna, her colleague, approached her with a fried chicken set meal.

“Good work, Basleigh. Can I join you?”

“Yes, of course! Anna has the fried chicken, that’s delicious too, isn’t it?”

“It’s chicken meat, so I like it better …… Nevertheless, Lars-kun is an amazing kid, isn’t he? He even thinks of cooking.”

“Ha-ha-ha, I’m glad to hear you say that as his housemate. He’ll be a big deal in the future! He’s already the second son of a lord, though.”

“Yes, he is. I’m jealous of all the delicious food he serves.”

“Yes, yes. Pudding, steamed egg custard …… and today, since his brother and his friends are here, he’s going to make a new dish. I was looking forward to it so much that I could only eat three hamburgers.”

When she saw Basleigh happily eating the hamburger, Anna said a cruel word as she put the fried chicken in her mouth.

“Mmm, it’s delicious …… the fried chicken Lars-kun made is even better, isn’t it? I can see why you eat so much, and no wonder Basleigh gained weight.”

Immediately afterwards, a dry clanking sound came from Basleigh, who was sitting opposite to her.

“Hmm? What’s the matter, Bas …… leigh ……!”

Anna looked up and saw Basleigh with a look on her face that looks like it was saying it was the end of the world.

“What …… did you say ……? I’ve gained weight ……?”

“Don’t come at me with that face, it’s scaring me!? Don’t you realize? Your face is a little round now. Well, Basleigh was always too skinny for me.”

Anna follows up by saying that she thinks it’s good to be healthy, but it’s not reaching Basleigh’s ears, and she puts her hand over her mouth and shakes, breaking out in a cold sweat.

(No way …… for me to gain weight ……. No, since I learned about hamburger, I’ve been eating mostly meat …… I do eat vegetables, but I always start with three hamburgers ……)

“Are you listening? Oh, hey, Basleigh!”

At any rate, I flatten the hamburger in front of me and wobble out of the cafeteria. Just when I was thinking about calmly looking in the mirror, Prince Orden called out to me.

“Oh, there you are. Minister Basleigh, it seems that father wants to talk to you about the robbery at the theater.”

“Oh, Prince …… how kind of you to speak to an ugly person like me ……”

“…… Did you eat something bad? Well, anyway, go see my father. Oh, and by the way, is Lars at home? The owner says they are the ones who captured him, and I would like them to be present.”

“Haa ……. I’m sure he’s not at home today because he’s out with his family …… I don’t know where he is either ……”

Seeing Basleigh’s shoulders slump, he scratches his head, and lowers one eyebrow and makes a frown with his mouth. Well, I guess I’ll just have to drag Basleigh for now,  Orden said, opening his mouth. 

“Well, at least Minister Basleigh–“

“Hey, did you hear what I just said?”

“Yeah. I heard there was a group of people walking around town with a deadly bear and a Viking wolf ……”

“That’s the second son of the Irving family, the one that even the king has his eye on. He’s the one who was reported the got the recent tamer certification, right? Apparently, he’s also responsible for the new menu at the dining room.”

“That’s amazing. Well, I can understand why you’d want to report it if you saw a deadly bear. So, are you okay?”

“I convinced him to leave. He was headed for the tamer facility, so maybe it was a monster adjustment.”

As Orden was about to speak, the soldiers passed each other talking, and Basleigh’s ears twitched and her mind began to clatter with calculations.

(Lars-kun and the others are in the Tamer facility …… and there must have been an open space there ……)

And the result was “Open space -> exercise -> lose weight”. Basleigh straightened up, saluted, and shouted cheerfully.

“I think Lars-kun is at the Tamer facility, so I’ll go get him. Well then!”

“Ah, hey! It’s not like the minister has to go, we can just send someone! Eh, she’s fast!?”

Before Orden could stop her, Basleigh was running down the hallway …… no, kicking the dust around.

“Guah!?”

“What’s that!? An enemy attack!?”

“Haa …… It’s a problem in itself now that she’s okay …… However, criminals from other countries, huh …… Lars often gets into trouble, doesn’t he? Now I have to figure out what to say to father.”

Orden pouted, then shook his head, muttered to no one in particular, and walked down the hallway. Shortly after, he arrived at his father Albert’s room, knocked, and entered.

“Father, Minister Basleigh has gone to find Lars.”

“‘Orden. Shouldn’t you have sent out someone instead?”

“You are right. But she ran off before I could get to her.”

Albert, who has a general idea of what’s going on, smiles and asks him to sit down. 

“Well, I don’t care if it was just an excuse to see Lars and the others. The real problem will come in the future.”

“You mean?”

“You are aware that the two men are from another country, right? We need to ask their home country how they will judge the criminals in their home country agreements. Most of the time, we’re talking about punishment in that country. A lot of them are like wild thieves, they tend to die in fights before they can be captured. “

“Well, sometimes they die because they resist. Isn’t it possible that they’ll get rid of them this time, too? I’ve heard that some countries are secretly erasing them …….”

This case is unusual because few criminals survive. Albert nodded and crossed his arms as he continued.

“…… You know that the succession to the throne of Sandiola took place recently, right? The young king smells like a peculiar person. I hope nothing happens to him.”

“It’s not as troublesome as Berias, is it? We have knights and ministers that we can rely on, and if they tries to make things difficult for us, we can put restrictions on trade.”

“You’re right. But that’s a last resort. We both have things that we don’t have in our own countries, so we may end up strangling ourselves. Remember that.”

“Yes, Father.”

After a bit of idle chatter, Orden goes back after finishing the conversation, saying they would talk to Lars and the others later.

Albert hoped he was imagining things, as he looked at the door through which Orden had left.

This was a bit of a quiet story, but Basleigh-sensei is needed, so it makes sense.

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“So, next time is the Exciting Animal Land?”

Stop using dangerous words!?