Say Aah

"Well then, I'll leave it to you. I know results won't come overnight, but I'd like you to start as soon as possible."

"Understood. I'll get on it right away. You can never have too many olives or rapeseed. They're a food source, and the pressed residue makes fertilizer."

"Is that so? Rapeseed, that's the plant with the yellow flowers, right?"

Rapeseed could be found just about anywhere in the kingdom.

The climate must have been well-suited for it.

A whole field of rapeseed blossoms made for a spectacular view.

The oil it produced wasn't just for cooking; it could even serve as fuel.

For a kingdom that relied on burning stone for its energy needs, increasing rapeseed production was nothing but upside, since every part of the plant had a use.

So why hadn't they done it sooner? Because extracting oil from the seeds required specialized equipment, and that meant investment capital.

That made it hard for newcomers to break in.

Rapeseed that couldn't be pressed for oil didn't fetch much of a price, so it wasn't a popular crop.

As things stood, production was handled by families who'd been rapeseed farmers for generations.

So she wanted them to prepare for increased production with an eye to the future.

There were other food oil producers in the Royal Capital besides Luido, but they were all a fair distance away.

Ramping up production in some remote village without a portal and then hauling it all the way back was hardly practical.

The trading companies handling distribution were already transporting other goods alongside oil, so they'd almost certainly balk at increasing oil shipments alone.

I could relate. My own people wouldn't want the job either unless they were paid well for it.

Liquor, on the other hand, had high margins and moved quickly, so they'd haul as much as you liked…

Oil came in different varieties, when you got down to it.

Industrial oils used for armor maintenance and ironwork stayed liquid even when cooled, while cooking oils were pressed from plants that were safe to consume.

What Queen Tianis had requested this time was plant-based oil for food use.

Even for wartime applications, this type was far cheaper and easier to scale up.

Industrial oil required mining, and unlike burning stone, it had limited uses and low demand.

So trying to ramp up production would require an absurd amount of capital for equipment.

Far more than what was needed for rapeseed processing.

It might bankrupt our trading company in one go.

Industrial oil was more flammable than plant-based oil and had to be kept strictly away from open flames.

All the more so if you were using it to burn corpses so they couldn't reanimate.

There was always the risk of accidentally setting a soldier on fire during the process.

That was probably why they hadn't gone with industrial oil.

If some new application emerged that demanded mass consumption, that would be a different story…

But even then, it would pollute the land worse than mining, so Evalin might not allow it.

"Good work today, Yohane-san."

While I'd been lost in thought about oil, Chancellor Anatia took the seat beside me.

Queen Tianis had slipped away at some point.

She must have left once our conversation was finished.

"Hello, Anatia-san. Thank you for having me at the meal today."

"Oh, not at all. You've been such a help to us, so please let me do at least this much. I actually wanted to serve you something I cooked myself, but the head chef wouldn't allow it."

"That's a shame. I would have loved to try it."

"Really? You're not just being polite?"

"Of course not."

No man would turn down a home-cooked meal from a beautiful girl.

… Though, being a duke's daughter, I had to wonder how much cooking experience she actually had.

"The concert was wonderful too. I think it was a great success."

"I couldn't have done it alone. It was only possible thanks to the help of you and your people. You're the one who brought the elf Evalin-san along, after all. I really can't thank you enough."

She laughed softly.

All I'd done was bring Evalin along; it was Evalin herself who'd done the actual performing. The praise felt a bit excessive.

"For now, please make do with this. I brought my favorite cheesecake for dessert."

She set a plate down in front of me with a gentle clink.

A single slice of cake sat upon it.

Anatia had an identical plate in front of her, so her claim of it being her favorite seemed genuine.

As I reached to eat, Anatia cut a piece from her own cake with a fork, speared it on the tines, and held it out toward me.

She held her other hand beneath it to catch any falling pieces.

"Um?"

"Here you go."

"That's… a bit embarrassing, really."

"Consider it a reward for your hard work. Would you rather not?"

Asking "would you rather not" was playing dirty.

No man alive would say no to that.

Since Anatia showed no sign of backing down, I steeled myself and ate it.

The tang and sweetness of the cheese spread across my mouth, then melted away.

This was unmistakably a premium cake.

I'd never tasted anything this good.

"Did you like it? Please, have as much as you want."

I felt like I was being hand-fed, but this cake was impossible to resist.

In the end, she fed me both slices.

"That was delicious. Thank you for the treat."

"I had a wonderful time too. This is the sort of thing you can only do with someone you're comfortable around. It's a demanding job, but I'm counting on you again this time."

Anatia rose from her seat, looking reluctant to leave.

It seemed she'd wanted to talk over breakfast.

"You're grinning. That face has no composure whatsoever."

The one leaning against my back was Finn.

She'd apparently witnessed the whole scene.

That was embarrassing.

"Was the 'say aah' from the duke's daughter-slash-chancellor tasty? Well? Well?"

"Shut it. Why don't you go get some yourself? You can't get cake that good even from a shop."

"Was it really that amazing? And not just because someone fed it to you?"

"Yeah. It might be the best thing I've ever eaten. Look, Princess Yupe and Elza keep piling more onto their plates, and it's almost gone."

"Whoa, you're right. Tch. If you're going to talk it up that much, I guess that takes priority over teasing you."

Finn darted over to the cake station in an instant and loaded up a plate with what remained.

She was remarkably deft about it.

Once she started eating, her expression softened.

It had met with her approval.

Good, I'd managed to divert her attention. Whenever she had material to tease me with, she went at it with relish…

They emptied nearly every platter that had been prepared, and the breakfast gathering came to a close.

Azu and the others had apparently been holding back during normal meals.

"It's not that we hold back exactly, but… how should I put it? Stocking up? Ever since our magical power increased, we digest everything so quickly."

"I was wondering how you could eat that much without your stomachs bulging."

"Where are you looking? Obviously we don't eat until our stomachs stick out."

My staring at her midsection earned me an exasperated look from Alexia.

They'd eaten enough to make both the chefs and Queen Tianis recoil a little, though…

How did that even work?

Killing monsters makes you stronger, huh.

"Does it make you less fuel-efficient?"

"Magical power recovery slows down a bit, but it's fine. Skipping a meal won't make us waste away to nothing, so don't worry."

"I see."

The pleasant time was over. Now it was time for work.

"I'm bored. Mind if I tag along?"

"You, Princess Yupe? It won't be very interesting."

"I've got nothing planned today. I took the day off because yesterday was tiring, but eating all that food gave me my energy back. Need to walk it off."

Meanwhile, I was working on my day off.

Well, whatever. It wasn't like I was taking her into combat, and she'd follow me regardless of whether I said no.

"Please behave yourself. Promise me."

"I know, I know."

"I mean it. You're in a precarious position if anything happens, Princess Yupe."