The inn had the atmosphere of a house in mourning.
There was soup on every table, and in each bowl, a chicken had drowned to death.
That soup was something beyond the category of ‘taste,’ so it was more accurate to say the chicken had drowned in it than that it had been cooked.
Henrik looked around at the people with their heads bowed before their soup.
‘They’re all looking down at their soup and observing a moment of silence for the chicken.’
Having taken one spoonful and set the spoon down, Henrik rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, trying to erase the unidentifiable sensation lingering there.
Lucy, apparently having decided to fast as well, pushed away his food bowl and lay down on the floor.
“Ha ha…. How does it taste, Mr. Lloyd?”
Ben spoke to Lloyd, the only person here who appeared to be having something resembling a meal.
“Mister, are you asking because you don’t know?”
“…I apologize. I wondered whether there might be someone whose tastes it suited….”
Lloyd was eating with the sense that it was at least edible, but it seemed his opinion of the taste was no different.
“I never thought I’d miss Margaret.”
Lloyd grumbled as he chewed the chicken meat.
‘He still intends to eat as much as he can. He’s easy to train, since he even has a talent for eating well.’
As usual, Henrik silently waited for Lloyd to finish eating.
‘Let’s take stock. Lloyd has leveled up twice now. He’s visibly filled out, too.’
The arms and legs whose silhouette had been nothing but bone now showed the faintest definition of muscle.
Even his face, which had looked as though he might drop dead any day, had reached the point where it seemed he would not die immediately.
“By the way, Mr. Lloyd, you seem much healthier. I’m pleased!”
Ben happened to add to Henrik’s appraisal.
However, when Lloyd showed no reaction at all, Ben backed away in embarrassment and made his exit.
“Lloyd, you feel it too, don’t you?”
“That I’ve gotten healthier? I’m eating well and living well, so of course I should.”
“I’m trying to praise you. You’ve kept up with the training well.”
Henrik spoke gently, but Lloyd did not play along.
“You’ve poured money into me, and I’m getting Lucy’s help too. Anyone would grow in an environment like this.”
He was still as twisted inside as ever. This was a form of pride for him as well.
In any case, Lloyd was growing steadily. It was time to move on to real combat training.
Swordsmanship first, then archery.
‘And on Hess’s side….’
I would cultivate the useful people at the hideout around Saya.
I would turn Aike and the Three Idiots into elite fighters, while Da Vinci, who obeyed well, handled sensitive matters.
So that Hess’s power would remain firmly in place.
‘That is how I’ll prepare for the period corresponding to Part Two of the novel.’
Part Two began when Nightmare learned that Lloyd had survived in the family everyone had thought completely wiped out.
By then, I need to make him capable of preserving his own life no matter where I leave him.
“…I can’t eat anymore.”
“It’s amazing that you ate even this much.”
Henrik wondered whether, among Lloyd’s many talents, his talent for eating might be the greatest.
“…When I was young, Butler Rondal would scold me if I left food.”
“My father did? I can’t imagine him scolding you.”
“He would scold me gently. ‘You must not leave food,’ he would say.”
“…Have you never actually been scolded? This is why brats raised too gently are no good.”
Lloyd gathered the leftovers in one place and continued speaking as he neatly stacked the empty plates.
“I hated hearing that back then, so I sometimes forced food down.”
“There’s no one here to say that now, so you don’t need to force yourself. It’s nice to see you eat well, though.”
Lloyd finished tidying up by setting the final spoon atop the tower of plates.
“That’s why I don’t want to leave food whenever I can help it now.”
“Hm?”
“Because it makes me realize that there’s no longer anyone who will tell me, ‘You must not leave food.’”
***
Saya, the Three Idiots, and Aike were crossing the mountain in sleek black clothes that clung to them.
The sun had already set, and the mountain wilderness was pitch-black. Yet Saya, perfectly familiar with the terrain, raced ahead as though she could see the path clearly.
As Saya led the way, the Three Idiots and Aike followed close behind her.
“Here.”
They had arrived at the least-traveled spot along the target’s route.
“Everyone, positions.”
At Saya’s command, everyone scattered and hid in the brush.
The time spent lying in wait passed slowly for them all, but it passed especially slowly for Aike.
‘Hess must have sent even me out so that I can take part in battle, however little.’
Holding a dagger, the weapon that was at least easy to handle, he recalled Hess’s words.
― “You only need to fight as much as you can. Do not overdo it.” ―
‘Is that all Hess expects of me in terms of combat ability…? That I simply come along and observe?’
Meanwhile, the Three Idiots gripped their respective primary weapons and held their positions without so much as a twitch, like rocks.
Until just before their deployment, the three had been playing a card game. Just as a petty quarrel broke out, the order to deploy had come down.
As a result, the cards they had held in the final game still flickered before their eyes.
Saya knew about their circumstances, but Aike was still the one who worried her.
‘Aike isn’t ready yet.’
If Aike were injured, Hess might be disappointed in my leadership.
‘I think I understand Hess’s intent. He wants to see whether I can carry out an operation properly even with a subordinate whose abilities are lacking.’
After all, that was everyday life for Hess.
Hess led the organization with subordinates as insignificant as me, mere minnows beside him.
‘He wants to see whether I can do the same. Whether I’m qualified to become a true leader….’
At last, the target appeared.
There were four guards, one more than expected. With the target included, there were five opponents in the end.
Saya clicked her tongue as she looked at them.
‘Tch, they have five, and we have five too.’
If we had had one more person than them as expected, I had intended to keep Aike at my side.
‘What a shame.’
Using hand signals, Saya assigned each subordinate the opponent they were to take.
Aike was assigned the target, just as he had expected.
‘The target is mine.’
He was nothing more than a moneylender. Unlike the guards, he would have no combat ability.
‘If I can’t deal with someone like him alone, I won’t be worthy of the Dark Order….’
The joy he had felt when he led the negotiations with the client to success was also pushing Aike onward.
‘After being that useful, I can’t show a pathetic side of myself again now.’
While everyone held their breath, the unsuspecting target approached at his leisure, proudly boasting about the vile shit he had done.
‘Now!’
Soon, Saya gave the command to charge.
‘I can manage this much!’
Aike tightened his grip on the dagger.
***
Henrik, Lloyd, and Lucy were all seated against a tree beside the inn, taking in the night breeze.
They had decided to stay outside until the smell of Ben’s food filling the inn had completely cleared away.
RUMBLE―
Lucy’s stomach made a sound, but no one responded.
Ben had promised to bring them new food, so the three decided to wait for now.
“Henrik, you think it’ll be one of Mr. Ben’s creations again this time?”
“Probably. Since he told us to wait, it looks like he’s hurriedly making something else.”
Lloyd sighed, and Henrik found that strange.
“You did eat quite a bit earlier, though.”
“My stomach isn’t even half as full as usual. It’s nowhere near enough.”
“You disgusting freak.”
“You have waited a long time!”
Ben finally appeared. This time, he carried an utterly ordinary-looking round roll.
‘It’s ordinary enough that it would be harder for it to be inedible. What a relief.’
Ben approached with a brisk step, but everyone noticed that there was a sadness in his eyes.
Of course, no one had any intention of comforting him.
“I would at least like to hear that this is edible. Ha ha….”
Henrik picked up a roll.
“After seeing the food from earlier, I understand why Margaret handles all the cooking.”
“That’s right…. I will not deny it.”
Lloyd took two rolls and handed one to Lucy.
“…Watching Mr. Lloyd lately brings back old memories, you see.”
“Hm?”
Henrik glanced at Ben, whose voice had suddenly become serious.
“Seeing you meet a person like Henrik, someone who makes dreams come true, made me think that you had been blessed.”
At that, Lloyd turned his head so that Ben could not see him and gave a faint laugh. ‘A blessing, of all things.’
Henrik, meanwhile, looked down at the roll and recalled what Ben had said to him.
― “Henrik, you are a person who makes dreams come true.” ―
‘Was Ben’s dream to become a chef? Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have the talent….’
Henrik took a bite of the roll.
‘…Urk.’
The piece of bread forced its way through his throat.
“...Um, this is a little better.”
That was the best Henrik could bring himself to say.
“Ha ha, is that so? What a relief….”
Ben gave an awkward laugh and returned to the inn.
“…Do you honestly think this is a little better?”
“No.”
“Meow….”
For a while, the three merely stared at the rolls with one bite taken out of them.
‘There was a Dark Order makeshift cookbook in the hideout….’
Given the nature of makeshift cooking, surely anyone could do it. Should I bring Ben one for times like this, when Margaret can’t cook?
“To hell with it.”
Henrik was the first to chew another bite of the roll.
“Urgh… Still, none of us can go hungry. Lucy, force yourself to eat too.”
“…Meow, munch.”
Perhaps because he was hungry, Lucy forced himself to tear off a bite of the bread as well.
“I’m done. This really won’t do. I’ll be satisfied with what I ate earlier.”
Lloyd gave up in the end.
Henrik watched him, hesitated for a moment, then stuffed the entire roll into his mouth and rose to his feet.
Then he looked down at Lloyd, grinned broadly, and said,
“You must not leave food.”
“…!”
At the familiar tone, Lloyd looked up at Henrik without realizing it. For a fleeting instant, he saw Rondal, then the image vanished.
“…….”
Slowly, Lloyd lowered his gaze back to the bread.
“…Then I just have to eat it.”
Like Henrik, he shoved the bread into his mouth in a single bite.
Lucy, seeing that, also squeezed his eyes shut and put all the remaining bread into his mouth.
It was not because he was hungry. All he could think was, ‘Those humans are enduring this too.’
“Lloyd, you still have the basket I gave you earlier, right? Lucy can use it as a bed.”
After glancing at Lucy, Lloyd asked Henrik,
“Do cats really like things like that?”
“They can’t resist them. Isn’t that right, Lucy?”
As Henrik petted him relentlessly, Lucy recalled the basket he had seen earlier.
At first, he had thought, ‘What’s with a basket all of a sudden?!’ But when he saw the actual thing, he could not stop goosebumps from rising all over his body.
“Meow….”
Lucy’s weak cry meant, ‘I guess I’m a cat after all.’
“Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin swordsmanship training. Prepare yourself.”
In an instant, life returned to Lloyd’s eyes, which had been losing their vitality from the bread’s toxicity.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Henrik did not bother to answer, but he was looking forward to it too.
“But what kind of swordsmanship will you teach me?”
…It’s Dark Order swordsmanship.
“It’s a special kind of swordsmanship that one seldom sees.”
“I thought it would be. I didn’t think someone like you would use an ordinary style of swordsmanship.”
Come to think of it, in the novel, Lloyd went on to learn various styles of swordsmanship beyond the one he had learned from his master.
But he had never learned the Dark Order’s swordsmanship.
Sometimes, a hidden trait did awaken in the course of learning a particular style of swordsmanship, but….
“Just because the swordsmanship is special doesn’t mean you’re special. If you want to become stronger, work hard.”
What could possibly happen?