Published at 19th of January 2020 1:28 am

Volume 7, Chapter 1: Sequel: The Platinum-haired Maiden and the Delicious Breakfast

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

After a lot happened (later historians would sigh if they heard the events summed up in that manner), Dale and Latina returned to their everyday lives in Kreuz.

On the day of their return, the pair had an early dinner before the bar entered into its main sales period at night. As Latina served as the “adorable waitress” of the Dancing Ocelot, and Dale often didn’t return till nighttime because of his work, they often ate dinner during the break periods when there were lulls in the amount of business. However, there would surely be a lot of customers packed into the bar on that night. There may not even be a short moment to take a break. It was incredibly easy to imagine.

Even if the owners said “don’t come,” a statement which should never be uttered by people in the service business, it would surely have no effect. In fact, even now a portion of the regulars had entrenched themselves in part of the customer seating and were waiting, even though there wasn’t anything going on at the moment.

Thinking in the back of his mind that the amount of preparations needing to be done would definitely increase and planning accordingly, the owner Kenneth thought that, though it was wrong to have her do so this soon after her return, he’d need to have Latina give her all to help out. But in order to do so, he’d need to provide her with fuel first. For that “fuel,” Kenneth whipped up dinner as quickly as always, and then laid it out on the table in the corner of the kitchen.

“Woooooow!” The voice that Latina let out in that moment was more out of sheer joy than admiration. After checking the contents of the plate, she bounded over to grab some bread. She placed a large round loaf atop the cutting board, and then inserted her knife into it with a somewhat serious expression on her face.

Kenneth stocked several varieties of bread from a bakery he was familiar with in the kitchen, to match with different dishes. Seeing what the meal would be, Latina chose a plain white bread to pair with it.

Latina placed the basket with a heap of bread in it on the table and took her seat, seemingly unable to contain her excitement. It felt likely she would even break into her usual slightly off-key humming.

“It’s nothing all that special...” Kenneth said, looking a little perplexed by how Latina was so overjoyed as he laid out the rest of the meal he had made. Latina looked up at Kenneth with a look that said she clearly wasn’t overreacting at all.

“It’s my first time having your cooking in a long time!” “Well, I suppose that’s true, but still...”

“Why can’t you understand just how amazing this is...?” Latina asked, her eyes tearing up just a bit.

Perplexed by Latina’s excessive response, Kenneth looked over at Dale who was seated at her side, but he didn’t seem to find it strange at all, and just gave a strained smile instead.

“It was... a little rough over there...”

“I feel bad for Chrysos, but I really just couldn’t live in Vassilios...”

Latina usually had fantastic manners, but now she unusually picked up a slice of bread and bit right in to it. She then chewed it thoroughly, awash with emotion.

“Dale, it’s so delicious...!” “I’m glad to hear it.”

Dale was reverting back to his old doting idiot self, stroking the head of that girl, who had recovered a bit from the awful state she had been in back in Vassilios, like one would do to a small child. Even so, the air about Latina now was such that anyone, not just a doting idiot like Dale, would want to do likewise.

“...What happened?”

Kenneth was starting to think something serious had occurred without them knowing, only for Dale to face him with a strained smile.

“How should I put it...? The food in Vassilios was extraordinarily bad.” “...huh?”

“It was so unappetizing that it was shocking.” “...I see.”

It was decidedly not a serious matter. However, that most definitely wasn’t the case for those who had faced it. “The food... it’s good... so good...”

The tears of joy Latina shed when she started eating clearly told part of the story.

She had successfully completed her mission of spreading the jam that Kenneth had carefully prepared atop the bread, as if striving to push the bread to the limit of its surface tension. Then, she stuffed it in her mouth, and the tears really started flowing.

When she took a bite of the grilled chicken that had been marinated with herbs and spices, the overflowing juices filled her mouth and she trembled with emotion.

Latina had always enjoyed trying new things, like pondering how it would be alternating very sweet and salty foods. She also liked to give each food its own time, in order to sample the flavor thoroughly. It was extremely rare to see her shovel food into her mouth without stopping like she was currently doing.

“Weren’t you in Vassilios’s palace?” “This food is so delicious...”

“I suppose it was something like a royal castle, and it wasn’t as if we were treated poorly.”

The place they had stayed was a temple of Banafsaj, but at the same time it was also the “palace” of the ruler of the nation, the First Demon Lord. It differed greatly in style from those of Laband, but there was no issue in thinking of it as a “castle.”

And Dale had sensed that because Chrysos doted on her sister Latina, they were treated as if they were nobles while they were there.

“That was why that awful taste was so surprising.”

“If you’re willing to say all that, then you’ve actually roused my interest...”

Seeing Kenneth thinking with a serious look on his face, Latina gulped down the contents of her mouth and then flatly replied, “Eating food from Vassilios makes you really appreciate the feeling of happiness eating a good meal gives you.”

“That sure is an assertion...”

“Chrysos is working real hard, so I think there should be a cultural exchange with Laband. Especially food culture... please... let the food culture improve...”

Latina heaped jam upon the next piece of bread, too.

“This food... is so delicious...” “You just keep saying that...”

“When I was little, that was the norm... When I came to Kreuz, I came to understand that the circumstances I lived in weren’t quite normal, and I figured that may have been the same for the food,” Latina said with a distant gaze, with a sort of enlightenment about her.

“I see...”

Latina hadn’t questioned the circumstances under which she was born and raised when she was young. She had spent every day living a quiet life with her kind parents and twin sister, attended by adults who were a bit formal. She was young and that was the only “normal” she had known, so she hadn’t questioned it.

When she came to Kreuz, where every day was so lively and busy, she also saw the lives of her friends and realized that the circumstances she was born and raised under were unique. She was also properly aware that those circumstances differed from those of princesses from within picture books, because her mother was a high-ranking priestess and they had lived in a temple of Banafsaj.

As a strict yet fair man, her late father Smaragdi had firmly taught his young daughters that the authority their mother held as grand priestess was not their own, as they were separate people despite being family. One of the things that Smaragdi especially hated were people who threw around the authority of others and acted arrogantly.

When it was determined via prophecy that one of his daughters would become the ruler of the nation, that meant at the same time that the other girl would not be chosen. The way that their parents had raised their daughters strictly, so that they could walk their own differing paths, was an expression of their deep love.

And since Latina had grown up to have truly flexible thinking, having taken in the differing values of a foreign country along the way, she was able to conjecture on the circumstances she had lived in when she was young.

From the threat of the Second Demon Lord mentioned by her parents and the fact that the previous First Demon Lord had been killed, she had been able to guess that they had been raised in the depths of the temple because neither she nor her twin sister Chrysos would have become the next First Demon Lord.

The food culture in Laband and her motherland might have differed greatly, but it was possible that the food she had experienced while being raised in secret in the depths of the temple had been unique in and of itself. Sooner or later, that was what Latina had come to think.

But in this latest stay there, Latina became painfully aware that that wasn’t the case, and that the quality of the food culture of her homeland was truly disappointing.

“My position in Vassilios is complicated, so I’m scared of getting involved in politics... and I’m even more afraid that Chrysos will be influenced by my words.”

That fear was a big reason behind why Latina had been so insistent on returning to Kreuz. Chrysos would deny it, and Latina didn’t think as seriously on the matter as she had before, but her past as a “criminal” who had been exiled couldn’t be overturned. There were surely many people in that nation who wouldn’t view that fact favorably.

Just as some humans had a deep-seated aversion to other races, it wasn’t easy to get rid of the distaste for those whose horns, the revered symbols of the devil race, had been injured. In that nation, the readily visible punishment of having one’s horn broken held great significance.

As someone whose very existence was such a delicate matter, it was impossible to deny that if she stayed too close by the side of Chrysos, the king, then it may lead to her sister facing more distrust than she normally would. As a smart, kind girl by nature, that fact wasn’t something that Latina could turn a blind eye towards.

“It’s not as if we can never meet... and the situation will surely change once Chrysos’s rule stabilizes, but... for now, Kreuz is still the only place for me to say ‘I’m home.’”

Latina smiled, then ate a spoonful of the soup stuffed full of plenty of vegetables that was a staple of the Ocelot. Of course, Kenneth wasn’t her mother, but to Latina, this taste was something like “mom’s home cooking.”

“And... it was really rough, since the food in Vassilios was so bad.” “So you came on back.”

“Sure enough, I could never tell Chrysos... that I couldn’t stay in Vassilios because the food tasted so awful...”

Latina had grown up in the Dancing Ocelot, which took pride in its cooking even amongst the restaurants of Kreuz, so the quality of meals was incredibly important to her. Ever since the shock of that first bite of

Kenneth’s cooking, rather than aimlessly enjoying food, she had continued to strive to learn to cook on her own, diligently devoting herself to the task.

That was all for the sake of deliciousness.

“It would have been preferable if they would have just let me handle things, but that wasn’t a possibility...”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine they ever would have let you.”

Everyone associated with the Ocelot was already aware of the fact that Latina’s sister was the Golden King, the ruler of Vassilios. Working in the kitchen was generally considered a job meant for subordinates. Kenneth took pride in his work, but his way of thinking didn’t match up with that of the world at large.

“Still, Latina, you did go into the kitchen from time to time, right?” Dale interjected. Latina averted her gaze, seemingly feeling awkward.

†

After becoming an extraordinary being as the retainer of the Eighth Demon Lord, Dale became able to keep on acting with hardly any sustenance or sleep. Thanks in part to that, he at first paid no attention at all to the state of food in Vassilios. He didn’t have time to be worrying about taste, and was only concerned with whether or not he got that bare minimum amount of nutrition needed. Washing down the portable rations he had on hand with water had been plenty. All of his time and thoughts had been devoted to watching over Latina, in what felt like one long day spent in a dream. Or rather, it should be said that just looking at Latina had been enough to fulfill Dale at that point. He had prioritized that special medicine for his Latina deficiency over the three great necessities of food, sex, and sleep.

Before long Latina had started to recover and became able to move around, which is when the two of them paid attention to the matter of food.

When she first chewed the food, more than a face that said it was disgusting, Latina wore an expression of great sadness. It was a truly disappointed reaction.

Propped up by the pillow provided atop the bed, Latina looked at the food on the plate carried in by a lady-in-waiting, and her expression shifted to a depressed one. Dale wasn’t used to seeing her like that.

“...Latina?”

“The food... isn’t good...” Latina let slip as she muttered to herself in a tearful voice, as she brought the spoon slowly closer to her mouth. Dale’s initial reaction upon hearing that was to think that she still wasn’t back to her usual self.

Dale had watched over Latina ever since she was little, and when she ate, it brought joy even to the onlookers seeing her eat. And so, he thought that she must not have recovered enough yet to properly enjoy a meal.

Dale came to properly understand her statement when she had recovered further and became able to sit at the dining table alongside him. They had been in the habit of eating together for many years now. His own need to eat a secondary concern in the matter, Dale naturally decided to eat alongside her.

And after taking a bite of the meal provided, Dale unthinkingly yelled out,

“That’s awful!”

It was then that Dale had a sudden realization.

Latina apparently wasn’t fond of saying something tasted bad. She respected cooking, and was deeply fond of food.

“Wow... it’s shockingly bad...”

Dale bluntly voiced his true feelings because the only ones currently in the villa serving as Latina’s private room were the girl herself and the devil ladies-in-waiting. Unlike Chrysos, they were unable to understand the language of humans, Western Continental, which Dale generally used.

The food laid out atop the table looked different even from a simple glance. As a result, Dale had been completely unable to guess at how it would taste. However, he had never expected it would taste this bad.

“Latina... what is this?”

“It’s called ***. It’s... supposed to be made by cooking ****** together

with ***.”

“Well then what about this...?”

“I believe... it’s *****. It’s made by pickling ****** meat in *** and **** and then cooking it.”

The majority of the key information was in devil language, making it utterly incomprehensible to him.

The dish Dale had first indicated seemed to be a gruel made out of some sort of grain. He couldn’t quite identify the paste-like substance with bits of grain floating here and there throughout. It hardly had any flavor to it. It was hard to swallow, though, and had a texture about it that was incredibly difficult to describe. The gritty bits of grain left half-done in the dish were also incomprehensible.

The next thing Dale pointed out he could at least identify as a sort of meat dish.

Having come from a clan of hunters, he first realized that the meat had been poorly handled. They apparently hadn’t even prepared it properly. The stench of it was terribly strong; furthermore, the juices had been extracted, leaving it all dry, and it was overly spiced with herbs, giving it the bitter taste and scent of medicine.

Put bluntly, it was awful.

Dale wasn’t left thinking that opinion was solely because he was a human, since he saw Latina squirming with a sad look on her face as she chewed the hard meat.

“In Vassilios... the most delicious food is the ******* fruit.” “You just eat it as is?”

“Yeah...”

That couldn’t be called cooking.

In that way, Dale had come to learn how awful the food culture in Vassilios was.

“Back when I was a kid... this was how our meals were... so this was normal for me. So when I first ate Kenneth’s cooking, I was really surprised. There were so many different flavors.”

Dale found it a hard thing to comment on, leaving him making a face like he was having trouble figuring out what to say. And so, Latina had spoken with an awkward, powerless smile on her face.

Dale thought back on when Latina had first eaten in Kreuz. It was true that her eyes had gleamed when she saw the dessert that Kenneth had made. The adorableness of little Latina looking up at him with sparkling eyes as if to report how happy she was had tightly grabbed hold of his heart. He had just happened to pick her up, but after seeing such a wide, innocent smile pointed at him, it was no surprise that he couldn’t ever consider letting her go. Yeah, there was no helping it. That was the absolute truth.

“You really were cute back then... Right, so... what about sweets...?” “I can’t remember there being anything but fruit...”

“I see...”

At the time, Dale had thought Latina’s reaction was excessive, but he’d figured it was because she had been in the harsh environment of that forest, where she had been unable to have a proper meal. But for her, the culture shock had been an even greater part of that experience.

“Apparently... not many crops can be grown in Vassilios. But for devils, even adult males don’t need as much food as humans, so... things work out somehow, I think,” Latina said, looking like she was remembering back on her past. Latina hadn’t studied such matters in detail, but by matching up what she had heard from her father and observed from her surroundings with what she had seen and heard after going to Laband, she figured her thoughts on the matter couldn’t have been off by much.

“Right, it is surrounded by arid land...” Dale replied, remembering the vast desert he had seen from atop Hagel’s back. With divine protection from Quirmizi, one could expect a sufficient harvest even from a land like this, but that wasn’t a method that could be counted on forever.

The amount of crops that could be harvested in a harsh land like Vassilios were limited. And as a country that refused all exchange with foreign nations, they weren’t able to import food. As a result, and since what they could obtain was limited, they didn’t see meals as something to enjoy, but rather a means of taking in the minimal amount of necessary nutrition.

The young Latina wasn’t aware of this, but the previous First Demon Lord was a ruler with a rather conservative way of thinking. The fundamental stances of that previous government were maintained untouched until Chrysos was enthroned as the new demon lord, which affected the country’s political situation.

Meanwhile, Kreuz was an especially prosperous town even for a country like Laband. It served as a relay point between the port and the capital, and as a crucial place in terms of distribution, it was rich in goods.

On top of that, Latina’s mentor was Kenneth, a man who dedicated himself to gathering and experimenting with foods and recipes from all sorts of regions. His first-rate skills as an adventurer and a heavy warrior had been nothing more than means towards that goal. In fact, shortly after encountering his greatest objective in terms of rare ingredients (a type of dragon that lived in the ocean), he readily married into running the Dancing Ocelot and retired as an adventurer. There were many who voiced their disappointment, as he was still young to be retiring from that job and had shown great skill as a party leader, but he paid them no heed. He had decided to live the rest of his life as a chef.

The place where Kenneth displayed his skills was the Dancing Ocelot. It was a shop with a menu with all sorts of recipes and dishes that you would normally never be able to see in a bar in the rougher part of town.

That was the sort of place that Latina had grown up in.

Latina was no longer able to return to the food culture of her old home in Vassilios.

“Oh yeah... How is Rose handling meals...?” Dale muttered, and Latina’s gaze wandered. After making a terribly conflicted face, Latina soon looked down powerlessly. Her feelings really did show clearly on her face.

“I feel like... it would be a problem... if I didn’t eat the food Chrysos provided...”

“Well, considering your current position... Chrysos may not care too much herself, but there’s no guarantee that everyone else would see it that way.”

Whether or not someone would eat the food provided indicated the lack or presence of trust. No matter the reason, if Latina refused food offered by Chrysos, it would be like declaring to others that she didn’t trust her sister, the king. Latina realized it was precisely because she had the backing of her sister that she was able to act freely, so she also understood that issue.

However, as she and her group had periodic exchanges with Laband, it wouldn’t be strange at all for Rose to have foodstuffs from there. Even rations and preserved foods would still be far more edible compared to food from Vassilios.

That line of thinking caused Latina to grow further conflicted.

She ended up rather easily yielding to her desires. It wasn’t as if she was some purely noble saint, as she was more of a commoner awash in the desires of everyday life.

“Hmm♪ Hmm♪ Hmmm♪” Latina happily hummed to herself, almost skipping down the hall.

She had visited her friend Sylvia just before. Because she had a commoner’s way of thinking to her, no matter how close to Rose she may have been, she couldn’t bring herself to go up to a noble lady of Laband, who acted as an envoy for the nation, and say “please give me food.”

However, it was a whole different story when it came to her friend.

Ever since she was a child, Latina never stopped feeling that she needed to be a good girl. Everything about her had been denied, and she was exiled from the place where she had been born, so she understood just how precious everything that Dale and the other adults at the Ocelot had given her was. If she was a “bad girl,” then she might lose all of that happiness. She feared losing everything once again more than anything else.

As a result, she had trouble bringing herself to complain to adults, but she had grumbled plenty of issues and idle complaints suitable to her age to her friends. And she was also especially earnest with Sylvia, openly voicing her complaints.

Looking completely and utterly downhearted, Latina told her friend, “The food isn’t good...”

Hearing that, Sylvia burst out in a hearty laugh.

Just a little while ago, Latina had complained to her how it was a hassle having ladies-in-waiting involved in every little thing she did, from changing clothes to just taking a short walk. She had thought so at that time too, but it was just too ridiculous of a statement to hear from the sister of Vassilios’s ruler.

“It’s bad enough that I can’t help but laugh at the matter... But hey, so you’re saying it’s bad even with a devil’s sense of taste?”

Sylvia had still wondered if it could be a difference in the tastes preferred by humans and devils, but Latina gave a powerless shake of her head with a depressed look on her face.

“It’s not a good taste... Um, I can understand that because I have other things to compare it to, so I know what tastes good and what doesn’t. But here, that’s just the way food is...”

“It’s not as if it’s so awful I can’t get it down, but it really is impressively unpleasant.”

In theory, it was carrying out its role as food. Actually, it gave the impression that it was doing precisely the bare minimum required.

“Hmm... Latina.” “What is it?”

“I do have some candy.” “Waaaaah!”

Seeing her friend in such low spirits had caused Sylvia to recall what she had on hand. She pulled out a small candy-filled bottle that was buried amongst the books and documents cluttering her desk. As it provided a quick source of energy, it was a necessity for priestesses of Akhdar. She pulled out one and offered it, causing Latina’s eyes to sparkle as she opened her mouth, looking like a young child.

“Is it tasty?” “Yeah!”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

It felt akin to giving food to a small animal.

Apparently, Latina got a great deal of happiness from this first bit of flavor in a while, having had the joy of a proper meal stolen away from her. She seemed to have reverted to a bit more of a childlike state, rolling the candy about inside her mouth with a happy look on her face.

“Now that I think of it...” Sylvia muttered and stood up, then rummaged through her own luggage, which she had tossed into the corner of the room. Before long, she pulled out a plain looking tin.

“Hmm?”

While Latina looked on with confusion, Sylvia opened it and a particular scent wafted through the air.

“Alright... it’s still good. This is all I’ve got right now, but do you want it?”

Latina understood what it was that was in the tin, so her friend’s words caused her to become overcome with emotion. She held her hands together in prayer and she looked at Sylvia with teary eyes.

“Sylvia... you’re like a goddess...”

That sort of comment most certainly wasn’t the sort of thing that should be said by a demon lord, a lower-ranking god.

As a result of all of that, Latina ended up walking down the hall while humming along. Her skipping had a rather unique feel to it, thanks to her peculiar sense of rhythm.

“I’m so, so happy, it’s butter♪ It’s real salty, so just a little♪”

While improvising those unique lyrics, Latina pressed on into the kitchen.

As a result of her daily walks throughout the temple, she had confirmed its location.

When she discovered the kitchen she stared in, gloomily lost in thought, and eventually ended up polishing pots, though she didn’t regret that. After all, from Latina’s point of view, that was incredibly enjoyable to do. The more effort she put in, the more they sparkled, visibly showing the fruits of her effort. The start of things was Latina finding a burned pot in the corner of the kitchen, and she then ended up polishing every pot she laid eyes on thoroughly.

This place was a temple, so there was hardly anything around meant for amusement. And even though Latina could speak the devil language, she didn’t know how to read or write, so books were out too. She was exiled when she was young, so she didn’t have a chance to learn the written language. No matter how smart she may have been, there was nothing she could do about that.

As a result, Latina had far too much free time on her hands. She just didn’t have anything to do.

Chrysos still didn’t understand that to get a workaholic like Latina to take it easy, giving her a moderate amount of work was the most effective method.

As an aside, when Dale saw Chrysos throwing herself so hard at her work as ruler to get through it so she could make time to spend with Latina, he thought that the two sisters really were quite similar.

Latina had found something to do for the first time in a while. She had crumbled before the twin desires of food and a way to kill time.

The lady-in-waiting accompanying her was at a loss as to how to deal with Latina’s actions and was left nervously following along after her, but in her current state, Latina didn’t even notice the woman. From the lady-in- waiting’s point of view, Latina’s actions were a “sudden eccentricity of the Platinum Princess.”

With light footsteps, she entered into an area that was part of the temple but was a place that the elite would never visit, where servants carried out miscellaneous affairs. The mysterious tune she hummed to herself was one that the woman had never before heard in devil culture. Perhaps it came from human culture. For just what purpose had the humans created such a melody, though?

It was no surprise that the lady-in-waiting would be left confused. Latina’s actions defied her understanding, after all. And confusing matters further was the fact that the Golden King, who was soft on her sister, ordered the woman to abide by Latina’s will to the best of her ability. But with that said, from Chrysos’s point of view, it was only natural to be waited on, and she would never consider doing any work of the sort meant for servants. And so, neither Chrysos nor the ladies-in-waiting had ever considered that Latina would enjoy such work and wish to do so.

The differences in the way they were raised showed in that.

As a result, the lady-in-waiting was left unable to comprehend Latina’s intentions, much less stop her. It made for quite a worrying situation for the woman.

Latina was in such high spirits because in one hand she held the tin with the butter, while in the other she had a small bottle.

“Sylvia really is kind, to even give me honey♪” Even her monologue then was a part of her tune.

Latina had been so happy that Sylvia couldn’t help but offer her treasured bottle of honey. Latina had been just too excited over a single partially -used tin of butter, causing Sylvia to feel almost guilty somehow. And she also couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy for Latina, seeing how she’d been forced into such a corner.

With the tin of butter in one hand and the bottle of honey in the other, Latina set aside her usual hesitation that she would have about intruding on the workplace of others. In other words, she charged right into the kitchen.

The first thing Latina did after entering the kitchen was put up her hair.

That was a teaching from her master, and she saw it as one of her responsibilities. In truth, she also wanted to put on an apron, but she wasn’t able to prepare such a thing.

Next, she placed a bit of the butter in her mouth to check it. It was far saltier than the butter that was normally used in Kreuz. Kenneth had taught her that that was how items in tins were, though, to make them last longer, so she wasn’t surprised.

“Sure enough, the flavor has dropped compared to fresh butter...”

Even so, that first bit of flavor in some time caused her heart to dance.

“With just this, it would probably be hard to make a pastry... and this is all the honey I have, too,” she muttered to herself, starting to rummage around the kitchen as she did so.

Latina had made up her mind not to misuse Chrysos’s authority as ruler, but during this time alone, she was ready to use whatever she needed to. And so, she ended up pilfering foodstuffs from the kitchen, an incredibly petty bit of embezzlement. It was so light an amount that it would be awkward to try to lay blame on her for doing so.

“This grain... it doesn’t have much taste, so... maybe I should try baking it?”

Latina had taken the grain powder used to make the staple gruel-like dish and added an appropriate amount of water and tried mixing it. She had really wanted to use something like milk, but she couldn’t find anything

The dough had a stickier texture than it would have had it been made with wheat flour, and it was obvious at just a glance that it hadn’t been milled uniformly.

“It might work out a bit better with some sifting...”

Her thoughts hastened on the matter of how she could prepare and cook it.

She dropped a bit of her precious butter onto the heated metal pan, and it soon melted, letting off a pleasant aroma. Smelling that scent for the first time in a while caused her to feel exhilarated. She carefully added the dough to the pan, and it made a high-pitched sizzle. Normally, she would temporarily remove the pan from the flame so that the heat could drop, but just as predicted, the highly sticky dough was running on the thick side. It would surely be fine, even with this level of heat.

What Latina had created was a sort of pseudo-crepe made from flour and water.

No matter how much Latina may have polished her cooking skills, there was a limit to what she could make while improvising without any preparation. She hardly even had anything to serve as proper ingredients to start with.

Even so, when she lightly spread butter atop and drizzled on some honey, a scent wafted off the dish that aroused her appetite. It had been a depressingly long time since a smell had such an effect on her.

It was bad manners to dig into food while standing, but she did it to taste it rather than to steal a bite before sitting down to eat it properly. Especially when it came to something she was making for the first time, it was only natural for a professional to check her work.

Latina shed a few tears.

The dough had been lacking in taste, so the saltiness of the butter actually worked to her advantage. The honey gradually permeated the taste buds of Latina, who had been starved for sweetness.

“It’s edible...” she muttered, a truly depressing statement. Latina ate all of it and then fried up another batch with the remaining batter and went running to Dale.

“Dale!”

“Y-yeah...?”

Latina was supposed to have gone off to have an open conversation with her friend Sylvia, but she had returned carrying a plate, leaving Dale perplexed.

With that said, when she offered him the plate with a wide grin on her face, he had no option but to smile back.

“Dale... I made this. Will you give it a try?”

“I could never say that I didn’t want your home cooking, but... you made it...?”

It was a virtue of hers that she was always earnest and couldn’t tell a lie, but Dale’s smile was an unusually lukewarm one, having sensed what was going on.

“So you... went into the kitchen...?” “Just for a bit. It wasn’t for long!”

It was awkward for Latina as well, so she tried to desperately stress the extenuating circumstances as she gave her explanation.

“Um, it probably won’t be so good when it gets cold, so please eat it while it’s hot.”

“Right.”

That was the reason that Latina had hurried back to the room from the kitchen. The lady-in-waiting, who was completely at her mercy, was left out of the loop.

She had folded the batter in half over itself and made them a smallish size to make it easier to eat, and just touching it had been enough to convey its stickiness. A portion of her skill as a chef could be seen in the way that they were all nearly identical sizes.

As Dale brought one of the offered crepes to his mouth, a sweet scent wafted through the air. As he chewed, the saltiness of the butter and a gentle sweetness filled his mouth.

“I want to say anything and everything you make is delicious, but...”

“Yeah,” Latina said with a nod, holding the same food as Dale in both hands and stuffing her cheeks.

“It’s not exactly mindblowingly tasty, is it?” “Right. It’s not all that great.”

Latina was aware that the ingredients she had on hand had been limited, so she wasn’t hurt by Dale’s words. She was able to accurately assess the dishes that she made.

“Still... it’s been a while since I’ve been able to have proper food...”

Despite any flaws, it was still freshly baked, and compared to the food offered by Vassilios, it was far more akin to actual food.

“Yeah...” Latina said with a nod, her eyes tearing up a bit. “Meals really are precious...” said the ruler of the nation’s beloved sister earnestly while continuing to nod.

Dale couldn’t help but feel that something about that was extremely misplaced, but he didn’t point that out.

Sure enough, Latina wasn’t able to take the task of cleaning up the plate away from the lady-in-waiting. Even so, she didn’t get discouraged, instead starting to work away in a corner of the villa. Looking at her, Dale saw she was lining up several containers she had likely pilfered from the kitchen. Finding that strange, Dale peeked inside and spotted some manner of fruit immersed in water.

“What’s that...?”

“I’m trying a bit of an experiment. Don’t touch it or move it, alright?” “Y-yeah...”

It was rare for Latina to be so blunt and speak so firmly. Dale pulled back the hand he’d been reaching out and gave a single nod.

“***, ********” Latina ordered in a somewhat forceful tone, having faced the lady-in-waiting near the entrance to the room. Dale guessed that the woman was receiving the same instructions that he had been given, not to touch the containers.

“**” “**********”

Latina’s gaze remained fixed on the woman, and her tone was clearly threatening. She was kind by nature, so it was rare to hear her address someone that way.

Dale thought for a moment, before giving a satisfied nod.

It’s because it’s food-related...

The conclusion he had come to seemed ridiculous.

Latina firmly sealed the containers, then devoted herself to observation.

She frequently used magic to adjust their temperature, seemingly very meticulous about the process.

From Dale’s perspective, it was bizarre seeing those containers lined up in a corner of the elegant villa.

For the devil ladies-in-waiting, these actions were even more incomprehensible. For better or worse, Dale had grown used to Latina’s occasional astounding actions. The glances the ladies-in-waiting shared with him, though, showed they were at a total loss for how to deal with the matter.

Latina paid utterly no heed to their glances as she continued to happily check on the containers each day.

And as long as Latina was enjoying herself, then Dale had nothing to say about the matter.

“***, **********...”

“**...”

However, while he didn’t let it show on his face, Dale broke out in a bit of a sweat when he heard the words the ladies-in-waiting secretly exchanged.

”Is that a human custom?”

Seems like some strange misunderstandings have started to spread...

Dale was only able to pick up intermittent bits of devil language, but he knew the ladies-in-waiting had such doubts, so he understood the gist of what they were saying. However, he couldn’t speak well enough to refute the claim.

I... should learn the devil language, too...

In the hopes of defusing the awkwardness of the situation, Dale set a future goal for himself.

Latina’s “experiment” proceeded day by day, drawing no shortage of attention.

The containers changed from making the occasional squish sound to being bound airtight with cords wrapped around the lids.

Has it gone rotten...?

Dale couldn’t help but find it strange and unnerving. He couldn’t imagine this having anything to do with food.

Latina took one of the containers in hand while Dale watched. With a look of excitement, she carefully and gently opened the lid.

“Gah!”

“Wah!”

It had gone bad.

Latina hurriedly put the lid back on, then fluttered the hem of her clothing to try and chase the offensive odor from the room.

Well, that’s no surprise.

Dale had been prepared for that to a degree, so he paid it no mind and instead lent Latina a hand.

“Was the temperature too high...?” Latina thought out loud, tilting her head. “I kept the others at somewhat lower temperatures, so things should still be fine,” she muttered, her mood recovering as she moved to open the second container. After a short while, though, her shoulders drooped in disappointment.

“Mold...” she muttered. Apparently, it had grown moldy.

Even so, she didn’t grow discouraged as she reached for the next container. After opening the lid she carefully observed the contents, giving it a sniff to check the smell. She moved away for a second to think, and then sniffed once more.

“I did it!” Latina soon cried out joyfully. “I did it, Dale! I did it!”

“R-right...” “Yay!”

Dale had no idea whatsoever what had Latina so overjoyed. Latina checked the remaining containers, giving a little “hooray!” each time. And then Latina, in unusually high spirits, caught hold of a lady-in-waiting who had been drawing away from her.

“*******”

Latina had a look on her face that said she was giving an order by way of Chrysos’s authority. At times like this, she seemed to show a bit of natural- born leadership, Dale thought.

The lady-in-waiting repeatedly nodded her head, showing her intention to abide by the order. Latina’s forcefulness was causing the poor woman to visibly flinch, and Dale couldn’t help feeling a bit of sympathy for her.

Latina had the lady-in-waiting take the extra containers that she couldn’t hold so she could run at full speed to the kitchen.

After seeing her off, Dale gave a sigh. However, he found this an encouraging sign that Latina was back to her old self.

As she ran to the kitchen, Latina thought of her friend back in Kreuz and teared up.

“Thank you, Marcel... thank you...!”

She had thoroughly evened out the texture of her chosen flour in advance. She didn’t even have a sieve, so she had to first search for something that could serve as a substitute, but she had plenty of time.

“First, I have to mix this with the flour... then I have to make the leaven... but if it goes well...”

Latina was truly grateful that she had been able to receive thorough guidance from a professional in the field, even if it had just been for a short time. That careful direction had allowed her to make her own bread.

“I can eat bread...!”

This whole chain of bizarre events really was just linked to her appetite, as Dale had expected.

While it was only for a short period of time, Latina had once worked in the bakery that was her childhood friend’s home. Rather than payment, she had asked to learn how to make bread. That didn’t include just the more eye- catching processes of shaping and baking, but also how to create the bread dough, starting from the yeast, which was the foundation for bread. Her master Kenneth had made sure to impress upon her how absolutely crucial the initial preparations were to the process.

It was relatively easy to create yeast from fruit and water. As a result, her friend’s father, the bakery owner, had given Latina a chance to make some herself. Latina hadn’t been able to make bread since then, so she didn’t have much confidence. However her firsthand experience was of significant help, allowing her to follow the process from memory and create something suitable.

Above all else, she would manage to recreate that staple food. That was

Latina’s dearest wish at the moment.

She combined the fruit yeast with the flour, and then waited for it to ferment further.

This could take a number of days depending on how things went, but she couldn’t risk ruining things by rushing the process. “I hope it goes well...”

Since Latina excelled at delicate mana control, using magic to carefully maintain the temperature wasn’t difficult for her. Even so, she remained rather tense and was completely absorbed in the process.

She had dedicated herself completely to the process, feeling pressured to deal with the food situation. And also, there was just too little to do each and every day, which she found tiresome.

When she saw how the leaven had expanded after several days, Latina danced a dance of joy. As always, she still had no sense of rhythm.

She sensed that its ability to ferment seemed weaker than that of the yeast she had made in Kreuz. In Vassilios, it was impossible to so much as lay an eye on the sorts of fruits that you could easily get a hold of in Kreuz. It also wasn’t possible to get your hands on wheat flour in the country of devils. Having to substitute ingredients greatly lowered the success rate of cooking.

“Still, it properly expanded... It’s fermenting, so this should work out,” she muttered to herself while mixing the flour and leaven. In order to strengthen the weak fermentation she added honey, and then some salt as she recalled the recipe.

“Hmm, hmm♪ Hmmm♪” she hummed while mixing.

Latina found the sensation of the sticky ingredients settling together as she mixed enjoyable, so she had started to hum without even thinking about it.

She kneaded the mixed dough smoothly into a round shape in order to prevent the gas from the fermentation process from escaping. While carefully following the instructions she had once received, she placed a damp cloth atop the dough so that it wouldn’t dry out. The temperature was naturally high in Vassilios, and that applied to room temperatures as well, so Latina decided to keep an eye on it.

In the meantime, she pulled out a thick pot she had set her eyes on in order to polish it. From the faces they were making, the servants working in the kitchen didn’t know how to deal with Latina’s actions, but the girl carried on, acting as if she hadn’t even noticed.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be possible to make an oven first...”

Latina talked to herself rather frequently, because the ladies-in-waiting and servants treated her like a princess, never talking to her in an informal manner. Her old friends Sylvia and Rose were busy, so she couldn’t hang out with them around the clock in order to stave off her boredom. The number of conversation partners Latina had at present was rather limited.

If an oven really were necessary, then it might not have been impossible to construct one if she asked Dale, since he also didn’t have any proper work at the moment. But unfortunately, Latina didn’t know the details of an

As a result, she took the dough that had grown splendidly — thanks to fermentation — and split it into several equal parts without any complex molding, instead simply rounding out each one. She then placed them in a pot, spaced equally.

“I put on the lid... and then I have to let it bake carefully...” Latina muttered to herself, her brows wrinkling as she did so.

The kitchens of Vassilios differed quite a bit from the Labandese ones Latina was familiar with. It didn’t just lack the magical devices which were common in Laband, but it also didn’t even have a proper stove.

As far as food preparation in Vassilios went, those with Fire affinity would heat things up to cook them, while those with Water affinity would fill jugs up to the brim, with labor being divided based on magical affinities. Which is to say, people weren’t primarily assigned here to the kitchen because of their cooking skill, but rather because they possessed Fire affinity.

The townsfolk of Vassilios didn’t cook in their own homes, with the custom being to instead eat foodstuffs that were produced in advance. That was also influenced by the environment of the land. There weren’t any nearby forests or woodlands, so they were lacking in the sort of firewood that the human race employed. The simplest, most stable source of fuel in Vassilios was mana.

Lacking Fire affinity, Latina was unable to start cooking with heat.

“Hmm...” Latina thought to herself. The other day when she made the pseudo-crepes, she had grabbed a servant, leaving them no room to argue. But this time, she wanted to simmer it carefully over a low heat. It would be a bit much to tie up a stranger for such a long period of time.

“In that case... yeah.”

However, Latina wouldn’t give up so easily today.

With her footsteps pitter-pattering, she left the kitchen, looking for that faithful pup. As a race, the mythical beasts known as soaring wolves possessed the three affinities of Holy, Wind, and Fire magic.

Back in the Dancing Ocelot, Latina had firmly held the stance that Vint wasn’t allowed to play in the kitchen, but she was no longer concerned with keeping up appearances.

“Vint, can you do it?” Latina asked the faithful pup in the kitchen.

“Hmm...” Vint replied, lacking his usual confidence.

“My child is not especially skilled at manipulating Fire magic,” Hagel interjected, offering a lifeboat to the unusually hesitant pup.

“Is that so?”

“If Wind magic, would be fine.”

“He has no such issues when it comes to Wind magic, but he has difficulty with fine control when it comes to Fire magic.” “Can make go boom.”

“That would be bad...” Latina said with a troubled look on her face.

“Shall I undertake the task?” Hagel nonchalantly offered. The tails of both father and son wagged along all the while.

“Thank you.”

Seeing Latina’s smile they expected that they’d get plenty of petting, causing the wagging to grow even more pronounced. No matter how you looked at Hagel, he looked like a dog waiting to be praised. He displayed none of the dignity one would expect of a being with the rare power required to stand up to legendary dragons.

And so, though it was highly unusual, a mythical beast ended up baking

Latina’s carefully prepared bread.

Opening the lid, Latina saw the well-cooked bread and gave a sigh of relief. Just a moment later, the warm steam and fragrant aroma reached her. She was feeling impatient, but she moved her face back just a little.

Because she hadn’t used wheat, the aroma was different than she had expected. But even so, it seemed to have gone even better than planned.

“Well, for now I need to do a taste test...”

She pulled out the piping hot bread, taking care not to get burned. It was a little too hard to pull apart by hand, so she cut off a single slice with a knife and then brought it to her mouth.

“Hmm...”

She chewed.

It was an even more doughy and heavy bread than she had expected. She also couldn’t smell the scent of yeast about it, which felt a little strange.

Next up, she smeared the butter she received from Sylvia on it, going a little on the heavy side. It melted in an instant atop the hot bread, and then was absorbed.

Biting into it again, she found that the light sweetness of the bread had been improved by the flavor and saltiness of the butter. Considering she had improvised the recipe with what was on hand, she gave her own work passing marks.

“It’s... bread...!”

The tears started to flow. She keenly felt the importance of staple foods.

“But the flour I used was different... so it may be that if it cools off, it’ll grow hard and become inedible.”

Once she had that thought, Latina was no longer able to simply sit still. Holding the freshly baked bread, she ran off to Dale. At the same time, she dispatched the faithful pup to her friend, to call for her.

That chain of actions from Latina couldn’t have been called anything but eccentric from the point of view of the servants.

This is a digression, but afterwards, a trend of humming a strange melody became common amongst the devil servants, who referred to it as “human culture.” The source of it was obvious. But when Dale heard the tune, his first thought was, So there’s no issue with Latina... devils just have a strange sense of rhythm...? It was an incredibly rude misunderstanding, and he had already completely forgotten about the devil musician they had once met in a port town.

The bread filling the pot disappeared even quicker than expected.

They all became lost in feeling that nostalgic sensation, as the every day occurrence of chewing upon that staple food had stopped being a given.

“This is amazing, Latina... you really made it...” “Bread is so delicious...”

“It really has been a while, hasn’t it, eating something like this...?”

“How about making sandwiches?” “There isn’t anything... to put in them...”

“I get the feeling that it would’ve been easier for me to just hunt something so we could have something decent to eat...”

With just butter and honey, it made for more than a proper enough meal.

It was no exaggeration to say that it made her remember her everyday meals.

Because she was in such a daze, Latina didn’t realize at the moment the big mistake that she had made. Once her belly was full, though, her attention at last turned to that matter.

“I used up all the yeast!”

The leaven was similarly all gone.

In order to make bread again, she would need to repeat the same process from the start. Even if it had gone well once, there was no guarantee that it would go the same way when she restarted.

Sure enough, that was enough to get even Latina visibly down. Even at best, it would be several days before she could eat bread again.

“...let’s return to Kreuz...”

That was the instant that Latina first seriously voiced her desire to go home.

†

Kenneth looked at Latina with an awkward expression, having heard that story.

She was once more engrossed in spreading jam atop the bread. Seeing her so fixated on the jam brought to mind more heartrending pity than mere sympathy at the fact that a sweet tooth like Latina had been forcefully cut off from sweetness. The reason that Latina had gained such a sweet tooth in the first place was because Kenneth had tried to keep coming up with creative and original desserts every day, seeing how much they had delighted the young girl.

Kenneth was soft on the girl in terms of everything but work, so he temporarily turned his back to the two of them, whipped up a dish in a hurry, and then placed it before Latina.

“Wooooow!” Latina cried out even more joyfully than he had expected.

Such omelets, made with fresh eggs, milk, and plenty of butter to make them nice and fluffy, were a favorite of hers.

“It’s good... eggs are just so tasty...” “I’m glad.”

Dale had a look of great satisfaction on his face while watching Latina happily stuff her cheeks with the omelet. It was a truly heartwarming, tranquil sight.

But in reality, these two were the sister of a foreign country’s ruler (though that may not have been widely known yet) and a world-renowned hero.

The food on the table those two joyfully ate was incredibly ordinary.

There weren’t any rare delicacies from the mountains or the sea, as it was just food from a bar on the outskirts of town.

Kenneth was so moved by seeing food he had created bring such joy to others that he felt tears come to his eyes.

As a bit of consideration from Kenneth, from that day on, there was sure to be a favorite of Latina and Dale’s laid out on the dinner table in the Ocelot.

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