I Secretly Healed the Illness of the Twin Princesses While Wearing a Mask, and Now the Entire Kingdom Is in an Uproar ~Please Stop Trying to Expose the Street Healer~ - Chapter 43

Eating is important.

No matter what kind of creature we are, we can’t use our full strength or stay healthy if we don’t eat.

That’s why I make sure to eat properly every day.

Breakfast is especially important. It gives me the energy I need to get through the day, so even if I oversleep, I always eat.

After all, we only get so many meals in a lifetime. I couldn’t eat much in my previous life, so now I try to eat a lot.

Even after coming to the Empire, I planned to stick to that.

“The people here eat this every day? I kind of respect that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Asuku-kun. The food at ‘Large Tree Pavilion’ is… um, it’s top-class in the Empire, in its own unique way.”

“Hm!! This tastes awful!!”

“Hey, Ruu-chan!! You’re shouting!!”

The day after we arrived in the border city.

Last night we didn’t eat because it was late, so I hadn’t noticed before, but the food in the Empire really wasn’t good.

No, I’ll say it clearly.

I feel sorry for whoever made this and the ingredients, but it’s terrible.

Seriously. It’s unbelievably bad.

“I didn’t know food could taste worse than an IV drip. The world is full of surprises.”

“IV drip?”

The dishes themselves were pretty normal.

Toast, some leftover vegetable soup, scrambled eggs, salad, and crispy bacon.

Sounds okay, right?

But the bread was so hard I didn’t even know how they sliced it. The soup was way too salty.

There were eggshells in the scrambled eggs, and the salad wasn’t fresh at all.

The bacon was burnt.

To put it simply, it was bad. I don’t think these cooks should even call themselves chefs.

“And this jam on the bread is like iron…”

“…Yeah. The Empire’s traditional dish is the fish jam. It was probably a blood fish. I don’t know why this is considered traditional either.”

The fish jam smelled horribly fishy.

The taste… Well, it was awful.

It wasn’t just bad or unappetizing; it made anyone eating it feel sick.

Now I kind of understand why the guard said I shouldn’t try it.

This wasn’t something to eat out of curiosity. Really.

“Oh? Ruu, you’ve got some jam on your mouth. Stay still, I’ll wipe it off.”

“Mm!!”

Ridiel took out a handkerchief and gently wiped Ruu’s mouth.

“And Ruu, you need to eat more neatly.”

“Hmm, why?”

“Huh? If you have bad manners, it also makes Franc-san look bad.”

Ruu’s unexpected question made Ridiel pause for a moment, but she gave a perfect answer.

Still, Ruu tilted her head even more.

“Look bad? What does that mean?”

“Well, it means a lot of people will say bad things about you.”

“Then I’ll just defeat them, and it will be solved!!”

“You can’t defeat them!! Hey, Asuku-kun!! What kind of training is your older sister giving the maid!?”

I wondered about that too, but that’s not something I can answer. Ask my sister.

“By the way, Ridiel-san, you really take good care of people.”

“Huh? Do I?”

“Yes. Ruu really likes you, too.”

“Mm!! Ruu likes Ridiel!!”

“N-now, both of you stop teasing each other. Also, Asuku-kun, you’ve got jam on your mouth.”

Ridiel wiped my mouth with the handkerchief.

And then, at that moment.

“Is Ridiel Leendiel-dono here at this inn!?”

A guard burst in through the doors of ‘Large Tree Pavilion’ while looking panicked and calling Ridiel’s name.

Huh? What? What’s going on?

While I was confused, Ridiel calmly raised her hand in response.

“Yes, I am Ridiel.”

“You have an urgent order from the Imperial Capital!! You need to see it immediately!!”

The guard handed her a piece of paper.

When Ridiel read it, her hand started shaking.

“…This is bad.”

“Ridiel-san, what’s wrong?”

“It seems the Kaime Fortress has been hit by a demon attack and suffered devastating damage.”

Demons.

If humans evolved from monkeys, demons probably evolved from monsters.

Unlike ordinary monsters, they are smart, can speak, and look almost like humans. They just have horns or tails.

But humans can’t get along with them.

Because demons eat humans, just like they eat monsters.

Demons are humanity’s natural enemy. They can’t be friends with their natural enemy.

“What is Kaime Fortress?”

“It’s a fortress in the northern Empire. It’s built to defend against monsters invading from the neighboring demon lands. About a hundred heroes and five thousand apprentices are stationed there. It’s one of the strongest defensive positions in the Empire.”

“Wow.”

And now, that fortress has been hit hard…

That must mean a lot of people were injured.

“The Empire plans to abandon Kaime Fortress for now and gather its forces at Hange Fortress in the back. Then they’ll try to take Kaime Fortress back.”

“Got it.”

“All heroes in the Empire have to join the battle, including candidates like me. I have to head to Hange Fortress immediately. So I’ll have to leave you here—”

“Ah, I’ll go too.”

“Huh?”

Ridiel looked stunned.

“W-What!? That’s dangerous!”

“Don’t worry. I’m strong enough to protect myself.”

“-t not the point!! I can’t involve a person from the Kingdom in an Empire battle—”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“You can’t!!”

“Yes, I can.”

Even though I wanted to follow her, Ridiel refused completely. She was stubborn.

I decided to try another way to convince her.

“By the way, Hange Fortress is pretty far, right? Do you have money for travel, Ridiel-san?”

“U-Um, no, I don’t, but I could just run there…”

“Running will make you tired, right? And if you’re too tired to fight properly, won’t that defeat the purpose?”

“T-that’s, that’s true…”

Exactly. Ridiel had no money because of this sudden emergency.

She had even refused to take half of the money I earned selling figures yesterday. She’s strict about money.

I decided to use that to my advantage.

“Ugh, a-alright. But you must not leave my side!! And don’t do anything dangerous!!”

“Got it. Oh, I’ll write a letter to my older sister. Ruu, can you deliver it for me?”

“Mm!! Got it!!”

“…And don’t burn it, okay?”

“Mm!! Ruu is smart. I won’t make the same mistake again!!”

I felt a little uneasy.

The next day, even with that vague worry and carrying our second-class citizen certificates, Ridiel and I left the border city.

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom…

◇　◇　◇

Afterword

One-Point Story

Author: “When I was little, I ate some jam that was so bad it traumatized me. I still don’t know what kind of jam it was.”

A: “Whoa.”

If you thought, “Simple cooking is hard…,” “Ruu might burn letters, and that’s scary,” “Asuku doesn’t seem interested at all,” please leave your thoughts, bookmarks, ★ ratings, or reviews.