‘Something feels off.’
Henrik gave Lloyd his own Wooden Sword, took back the one Lloyd had been using, and examined it closely.
Even while he did so, Lloyd continued practicing the basic swordsmanship movements without rest in the distance.
‘The Wooden Sword itself cannot possibly have a special function….’
While Henrik examined it, the Wooden Sword, which had turned faintly black, returned to its original color.
“Lucy, have you ever seen anything like this before?”
“No. That is why I thought you knew some interesting swordsmanship.”
It was a phenomenon that had never appeared in the novel either. If so, just as Lucy said, that was the only thing that came to mind.
‘Is it the influence of the swordsmanship?’
This was an unexpected development. Perhaps Lloyd had a trait that reacted to Dark Order swordsmanship.
Should I stop teaching him this swordsmanship and eliminate the variable?
‘…No. If it is a variable that can make Lloyd stronger, I have no need to reject it. I need to confirm it.’
As Lloyd adapted rapidly to the basic movements, the new Wooden Sword Henrik had exchanged for him underwent the same change without fail.
It became obvious enough for Lloyd, who was preoccupied with the new training, to notice as well.
“…Henrik, doesn’t this seem to be changing color? Are high-end Wooden Swords normally like this?”
I need to go to the Hideout and research this first.
“Don’t worry about it. For now, focus on mastering the basic movements.”
“…It’s extremely concerning.”
“More importantly, how does it feel to swing the sword?”
“Do not treat me as if this is the first time I have ever held a sword. I have never learned properly, but it is not my first time holding one.”
Lloyd grumbled as he resumed the movements.
‘He must be happy to be holding a sword now, yet he cannot be honest about it.’
In truth, that was not the only thing Lloyd could not be honest about.
As the Wooden Sword turned blacker, the urge to unleash an unknown ‘power’ welled up within him. Lloyd forced himself to endure it without showing it.
As sweat repeatedly formed on his brow and streamed down, lunchtime drew near.
Hoping that Ben had finally made ‘food’ this time, Henrik entered the inn first.
“Ha ha ha! You have arrived? Shall I start preparing lunch?”
Ben’s energy was far higher than usual.
“Ben, did you make the cookbook’s recipes well… Urk.”
Oh. So the smell was exactly the same, even to this extent.
“What is the matter? Is there some problem?”
“Ah, well….”
It was the smell he smelled every day at the Hideout. The cooks at our Hideout had been making meals according to the makeshift cookbook every day as well.
Perhaps every other Hideout was using the same recipes too.
…At this rate, someone might notice something strange just by smelling it.
“I forgot something important.”
“What is that?”
“Making it exactly as it appears in the cookbook is, well…. I suppose you could call it a lack of experimental spirit…yes, a lack of adventurous spirit!”
“I-is that so?”
“Rather than making it exactly the same, how about always changing at least one ingredient?”
“Oh ho…change one ingredient…!”
Henrik’s guidance had already earned Ben lavish praise from a guest once.
To him, Henrik’s words were now no different from the law.
“Understood! I will prepare lunch that way!”
It was fortunate that Ben was so innocent.
“…The smell seems edible now.”
Lloyd, who came in afterward, sniffed the air. Lucy smiled pleasantly beside him as an added bonus.
Full of Ben’s adventurous spirit, the makeshift meal was prepared quickly, as befitted makeshift cooking.
The one changed ingredient made the taste and scent slightly ambiguous, but compared with what Ben used to make, this was still ‘cooking.’
“This is a dish I could make thanks to Henrik! I hope it suits Mr. Lloyd’s taste too!”
“Hmm…. At least the smell is not bad.”
Lloyd slowly brought a spoonful of stew to his mouth.
“…Oh.”
“How is it?”
“It is not bad.”
“Ha ha, is that so?”
Ben looked at Henrik with a kindly smile.
“Henrik, you truly are someone who makes dreams come true.”
“This is only the beginning. Should you not make food that Margaret will acknowledge as well?”
“Ha ha! That truly is a dreamlike prospect, but….”
Ben looked back and forth between Lloyd and Lucy as they ate.
“…There is no rule saying it cannot happen, is there?”
Ben retreated to the kitchen and began preparing to receive customers.
‘Makeshift cooking suits Ben well.’
This means we can continue handling our meals at the inn.
If need be, we could have found another restaurant, but….
‘It is better to remain in one place if I want to avoid creating unexpected variables.’
With that thought, Henrik prayed for the souls of the two masters who had left the world early because of an ‘unexpected variable.’
PATTER, PATTER, PATTER.
“…Lucy?”
Lucy suddenly ran up to the inn’s second floor, and Lloyd stared intently at the bowl Lucy had been eating from.
“…Did this not suit Lucy’s tastes either?”
“He is a surprisingly picky cat.”
Henrik agreed as though it were no great matter, but he did not feel that way inside.
‘That carefree demon vanished as if he were hiding. He must have sensed something.’
The reason soon became clear.
“Here it is. Come in.”
Henrik recognized who it was just by the footsteps entering the inn.
With the voice as well, he was certain.
‘Why is Saya here?’
Henrik merely twisted at the waist from his seat and glanced behind him.
“It has been a long time since I came to a place like this!”
“Wow…. This inn is quite large.”
“The smell of the food seems familiar, yet not familiar.”
The Three Idiots came in behind Saya.
‘…What is going on?’
And then there was one last person.
“That is right. It feels like a familiar smell, yet it is subtly different.”
Aike was with them as well.
‘They all came together?’
Henrik quickly faced forward again and turned his back on them.
“Why is Lucy acting like that?”
Lloyd had no way of knowing the situation.
‘He smelled Saya. It is fortunate that the demon is so quick on the uptake.’
Once again, Henrik answered as though it were nothing and picked up his spoon.
“Who knows? Maybe he needs to use the bathroom.”
“I did set up a litter box in the room….”
“Then that must be it.”
“Lucy is smart, too.”
Reassured, Lloyd resumed his meal.
‘It was fortunate that I told Ben to change an ingredient at just the right time. I nearly created an irritating variable.’
Henrik scooped up a heaping spoonful of stew, but spilled more than half of it back before he could bring it to his mouth.
He barely ate as he concentrated all his attention on those seated behind him.
“This is a gathering to celebrate the success of everyone’s first operation together.”
The content of her words was gentle, but Saya’s uniquely sharp voice remained the same.
“And to celebrate Aike’s full recovery from his injury!”
“Aike, you worked hard!”
“Hah…. To go through something like that your first time. It must be because you are going places.”
“Thank you!”
Aike was today’s guest of honor.
“I have heard that this is the place with the best food in the area, so today, do not think about money and eat to your heart’s content.”
“Yes! Understood. Aike, what do you want to eat?”
“Hmm…. Ordinary stew is enough for me.”
“No! Ordinarily, that would be sensible, but on a day like this, you do not choose a menu item that is too cheap.”
“Ah-ha, is that so? But…for a famous establishment, there are not many customers.”
Perhaps it was fortunate that they had come while Margaret was away.
If they thought it was less impressive than expected, they would not come back again.
“Then I will order like this.”
“Yes! I will serve you shortly.”
Saya ordered mainly the most expensive items on the menu.
Yet none of the dishes were signature menu items the inn boasted of.
That was only natural. Ben had thrown together the menu after looking through the foods listed in the makeshift cookbook.
‘I do not think Saya was the sort of person who cared for her subordinates this much. She arranged a team dinner….’
Lately, it felt as though she had developed something like a ‘leader complex.’
In any case, they knew nothing at all about Henrik and Lloyd.
‘There will be no problem if I simply stay quiet.’
After Saya offered several stiff words of encouragement, Aike raised a new topic.
“By the way, the table next to ours….”
But his voice gradually grew quieter until it could no longer be heard.
MURMUR, MURMUR.
‘What about our table!’
No, calm down. There was a way to amplify the sound. I just needed to concentrate mana.
‘If I do this….’
Then Aike’s voice, which had been as faint as the sound of Lucy’s belly being scratched, rang loudly enough to shake Henrik’s ears.
“…That is right, isn’t it? The blond man is certainly refined and handsome.”
The short Three Idiot chimed in.
“Hah, if only I had a face like that! What do you think, Saya?”
“I have no interest.”
It seemed Henrik’s face was not Saya’s type.
Henrik snorted again and took a spoonful of stew into his mouth.
“By the way….”
Aike brought up a new subject. Then—
“Henrik, what is so serious?”
“Aagh!”
Because he had amplified every sound from every direction, Lloyd’s voice from directly in front of him drilled into his ears.
“What is wrong? Did a bug get into your ear? That is really creepy.”
“Oh, ah, no. Eat, eat.”
Ugh, I thought my ear canals were going to connect. This was the greatest damage I had taken since coming to this world.
‘Focus. I only need to amplify the sounds coming from behind me.’
Henrik caught Aike’s voice again.
“…is in this village.”
In doing so, he missed the preceding words by a hair’s breadth.
When Aike finished speaking, Saya and the Three Idiots all tucked their heads deep toward the center of the table and lowered their voices.
“Have you formulated a plan?”
“The intelligence gathering is not finished yet. We have scattered members throughout the area.”
Saya and Aike continued their conversation very quietly while being mindful of their surroundings. Lloyd could not hear it at all, though he had no interest in it to begin with.
Of course, Henrik could hear their conversation as vividly as if he were sprawled across their table.
“How many heads are there?”
“One.”
“And the stones?”
“Fifteen.”
Even while speaking quietly, they used code words to hide the details of the conversation as much as possible. Naturally, it was useless against Henrik.
‘One head means one target, and the commission is an Assassination Commission. Fifteen stones means fifteen Gold Coins as the reward.’
Fifteen Gold Coins was not a particularly large sum for an Assassination Commission. It meant that even if the target were removed, the target’s death would not cause much fallout.
‘The target is in this village. I do not remember this commission. It seems to have come in after I left the Hideout.’
When Ben came out carrying food, they relaxed their posture again.
“Your food is ready!”
Ben, thoroughly excited, set down the food and coolly turned away, as though he no longer worried about his guests’ reactions.
CHOMP, CHOMP.
“Hmm….”
As Saya chewed her steak with a serious expression, Henrik calmed the worry he had secretly held.
‘They will not notice because the taste is subtly different.’
Aike then stuffed a mouthful of steak into his mouth as well.
“…Hm?”
Tilting his head as he chewed and swallowed the meat, Aike next brought a generous bite of vegetables to his mouth.
“…This food.”
Henrik’s spoon stopped in midair.
‘Don’t tell me that Aike has analytical ability when it comes to taste as well.’
As Henrik froze, Aike identified the sensation filling his mouth.
“This food… I know this taste.”
“What is?”
The fat Three Idiot, who had been cutting his steak with an indifferent expression, looked at Aike.
“This….”
Henrik closed his eyes.
“This tastes exactly like what my father sometimes made for me.”
Henrik gave a soft snort and scooped up a large spoonful of stew.
“…I cannot bring myself to say anything when you put it that way about your father.”
“It is fine. Its ambiguous taste is exactly the same as what I ate when I was young.”
Everyone nodded at the description ‘ambiguous.’
Then Saya delivered the final blow.
“We may need to uncover the source of the rumor that this is a good restaurant and pass judgment.”
While Saya’s calm anger continued, Henrik had begun an unusual deduction of his own.
‘Had Aike’s father read the makeshift cookbook too…?’
As Henrik was lost in that thought, Saya’s table was swept up in sharp criticism of the food for a while.
Then, when Saya’s voice lowered again, Henrik immediately released mana without a moment’s delay.
“…By the way, Aike, I heard there is a condition attached to the commission.”
“Yes. We have been asked to complete it before midnight tonight. If we cannot handle it in time, they asked us to treat it as though it never existed.”
“The time is tight.”
“Once the intelligence gathering is finished, we will formulate a plan.”
“Do not overextend yourself. If you cannot carry it out perfectly, it is better to cancel. The client wants that as well.”
“Understood. Ah, and there is an item we must bring back from that bastard as proof of success. That item is….”
At that moment, Lloyd swallowed his final bite.
“Henrik, what is going on with you?”
“Hm?”
“You always eat little, set down your spoon, and make a habit of watching me eat. What is going on? You are still eating.”
“Ah, well, Ben’s food is, how should I put it…. It makes you savor it.”
“…You have unusual tastes.”
Just then, the inn door opened again. Henrik turned without thinking and saw another familiar face.
“Oh, is that not Henrik?”
It was Hope, the neatly dressed second-in-command of the Beggars’ Den, unlike usual.
“Hope?”
At Henrik’s words, Saya and her subordinates all stopped cutting their food at once.
Aike signaled Saya with his eyes and quietly opened his mouth.
“…It is the head.”
“We are lucky.”
None of them looked at Hope, but all their senses were trained on him.
It lasted only a few seconds. Yet it was enough time for Henrik to grasp the situation.
‘…Hope was the target of the commission.’
One more guest had arrived.
Yet the inn had only grown quieter.
‘A storm is bearing down right before me.’