Helping Out

From there, events proceeded at a hectic pace.

First, the chancellor and ministers rushed in to say their farewells to the king, and then the bodies of the king and prince were quickly moved to coffins.

The other member of the royal family, the First Princess, had survived but was bedridden with severe aftereffects and couldn't come.

We offered to provide treatment, but apparently she had suffered facial injuries and was in a state of panic, refusing to see anyone except her trusted subordinates.

She even turned away Lady Anatia and Princess Tianis. We were told it might be partly because they hadn't gotten along.

Determining there was nothing we could do, we decided to let her focus on her treatment.

In terms of succession, she was next in line for the throne, but in her condition, she couldn't possibly handle official duties.

Real authority had shifted to Princess Tianis.

There was nothing to be done about that.

Normally, the royal bodies would be cremated immediately in a state funeral using fire magic, but the current situation didn't allow for such things.

So the bodies were moved to the king's chambers and encased in an ice barrier to preserve them from decay.

"Brother, Father. Please bear with it a little longer. I will definitely send you to the heavens."

"I will also lend what little assistance I can."

The two spoke to the coffins.

Somehow, Princess Tianis's expression seemed more mature.

Perhaps the sudden death of the king, and the succession order moving up to make her the head of the Deianclure Kingdom, was affecting her. When you can no longer rely on others, you have no choice but to grow.

Having lost his parents and inherited the shop at a young age, Yohane understood that feeling.

The chaos was minimized, partly because Lady Anatia was temporarily serving as Princess Tianis's guardian as Duke Baroba's representative.

The queen had died in a past epidemic, and perhaps because of his children and his deep love for her, the king had never remarried.

It also helped that the Chancellor had been cooperative from the start.

The Secretary of Military Affairs said nothing openly.

There were several noble factions within the kingdom, but Lady Anatia informed me that as long as Duke Baroba and these two were cooperative, things could be kept under control.

"Though who knows what they're really thinking. Still, no one gains from arguing right now."

"That's true. Their interests align."

Princess Tianis… or Queen, if the coronation goes through.

That day might not be far off.

Princess Tianis's first task upon taking the throne was to quell the chaos in the Royal Capital caused by the large-scale magic attack.

The fires and building collapses from the meteor-like fireballs.

The resulting injuries. Secondary disasters from panic.

The longer these went unaddressed, the worse the damage would become.

… Due to a lack of manpower, Yohane and company ended up being put to work.

Running messages, paperwork.

And cooking.

The capable Orleans was immediately claimed by Lady Anatia and taken away.

All I could do was make her promise not to push Orleans too hard.

Alexia was recruited for her magical abilities to help strengthen the Royal Capital's great barrier.

Essentially, she was a mana battery.

She looked unhappy about it, but said "This is work too, so it can't be helped" and accepted.

We had Elza provide treatment at the infirmary as a priest.

Apparently another priest had collapsed from overwork.

As long as she wasn't from the Church of the Sun God, they didn't ask too many questions.

Yohane, along with Finn and Azu, was assigned to help with the soup kitchen, and despite growing sleepy from exhaustion, worked alongside others.

We kept dumping potatoes into a special massive pot in the royal castle that Azu could fit inside.

Then poured water in until the potatoes were submerged.

Water wasn't a problem with Azu around. With the Fire Elemental's power too, the water boiled in no time.

After that, we just had to wait for them to cook through.

In another large pot, Finn was rapidly chopping bacon and various vegetables, cooking them with milk and butter. This would become soup.

Both dishes just needed to simmer after prep.

There was also flatbread being made, flour mixed with water, salt, and oil, kneaded thin and baked, but other cooks were handling that.

"What exactly are we doing?"

"I don't know either. At least the chaos kept anyone from suspecting us."

"That's true. Though we got roped into helping."

"Acting all friendly, but Anatia's still a noble. She's used to putting people to work."

"Don't say that. I've made sure she'll pay us back for this later."

"Knowing you, you're soft enough to let it slide. At least make sure we're not used for free. I'm expensive, you know."

Finn had firmly driven that point home.

But she was right.

Once things settled down, I'd need to have her send some work our way before we returned to the shop.

Given Lady Anatia's current position, some profitable opportunities should come our way.

The Royal Capital's merchants might not stay quiet about it, but they'd taken damage from this incident too and shouldn't be able to move for a while.

Still, this was quite a quantity. How many portions would all this feed?

With many of the Royal Capital's residents temporarily sheltering at the castle, the priority was simply preparing enough food.

I was impressed by the necessity of maintaining stockpiles for times like these.

We'd sold the wheat that was supposed to be stockpiled to the Empire, but having brought in long-lasting potatoes from Luido to compensate turned out to be the right call.

The fact that supplies were properly managed meant Princess Tianis, who had been in charge, was getting good marks.

After all, as long as food, clothing, and shelter were taken care of, the people wouldn't harbor much resentment toward their rulers.

Taking turns, the three of us stirred the soup to keep it from burning.

Once the potatoes were cooked, we drained the water and lined them up on large platters after peeling them.

"Hot!"

"Finn-san, they get harder to peel as they cool, so it's a race against time."

"I know, shut up!"

"You really are dexterous."

"Obviously."

Finn yelped as she worked, but in no time she had a mountain of peeled potatoes ready.

Her hands were bright red, but she seemed to be enjoying herself more than her complaints suggested.