I Was Reincarnated as the Villainous Knight Commander Who Betrays Everyone at the End, So I Plan to Leave the Fake Hero’s Party with the Exiled Girl Who’s Actually the True Hero! ~While Watching Over the Protagonist Up Close, I Somehow Ended Up Destroying the Whole Scenario~ - 8

Chapter 8: The Villainous Knight Commander Angers(?) the True Hero

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The night the potions sold out.

Ciel, Mofumaru, and I went to a tavern famous even in the city of Handel. It wasn’t exactly a celebration party, but since the potions had sold well, we decided we might as well enjoy some good food. I also wanted to reward Mofumaru for his performance by giving him some meat.

“Welcome! Is it a party of two?”

“Um, two people and one animal. You allow familiar beasts here, right?”

“Of course!! This way, please!!”

“Mofumaru, they said you can come in!!”

“Woof!!”

“H-holy—he’s huge!?”

The cheerful waitress’s eyes widened when she saw Mofumaru. Well, no one would expect someone to be using a Greater Wolf as a familiar.

“Mofumaru, will the giga-sized steak be good for you?”

“Woof!!”

“Okay. Um, then I’ll have salad, bread, and soup with meat… What about you, Lars-san?”

“So many options, I can’t decide.”

I pored over the menu, trying to figure out what to order. In the end, unable to choose for myself, I decided to just order the same things as Ciel. While we waited for the food to arrive, Ciel and I discussed our plans for tomorrow.

“Lars-san, I was thinking of trying to sell about fifty potions tomorrow…”

“I think that’s a good idea. Judging by how well they sold today, we probably won’t have any leftovers. But… Can you really prepare that much overnight?”

“Yes!! If I pull an all-nighter, I should be able to manage—”

“Then I’m against it.”

“Huh?”

I didn’t agree with Ciel’s proposal.

“Staying up all night will affect you the next day. If you push yourself too hard and collapse, it’ll be a big problem.”

“B-but if I don’t sell a lot, I won’t earn enough!!”

Ciel leaned over the table as she spoke, sounding desperate, as if something was driving her.

Her next words told me why.

“Besides, I have to pay back the money I borrowed from you, Lars-san, and pay your salary as my bodyguard…”

“Ah, so that’s why.”

It seemed Ciel was making unreasonable suggestions because of me. I understood her desire to pay off her debt quickly. But if she collapsed because of that, it would delay her paying my salary anyway. That would defeat the purpose entirely. 

I continued, trying to reason with Ciel in a way she could accept.

“Ciel, there’s no need to rush paying back what you borrowed. It’s okay to wait until you have more financial leeway. I won’t complain if you take your time.”

“B-but…”

“More importantly, what worries me is you overexerting yourself. I’ve heard that pulling all-nighters is bad for your skin.”

Lack of sleep is the enemy of beauty—or so someone once said.

I think it was my older sister from my previous life, who’d put me in a cobra twist whenever she was annoyed.

“I-it’s not like it matters if I care about that. I’m not cute or anything anyway.”

“What are you saying? Ciel, you’re cute.”

“Eh?”

Ciel’s appearance was incredibly cute. That was thanks to the amazing artist who illustrated my work back then. Even with the vaguest ideas of what I wanted, they always drew characters exactly the way I imagined.

If it hadn’t been for that artist, my trashy light novel never would have sold enough to get an anime adaptation. That illustrator even called Ciel’s design their “masterpiece.”

Right now, she was still a bit unpolished, but even like this, her charm outshone most beautiful women. Once Ciel started paying attention to her looks, there’d probably be people fainting from how cute she was.

Actually, they would. They did. In the original story. So when it came to Ciel’s appearance, I could say this with absolute confidence.

“Ciel, you’re a very cute girl.”

“….”

I gently patted Ciel’s head as she remained leaning over the table. Doing this reminded me of my niece from my previous life. She was a sweet, honest girl, nothing like my rough, violent big sister. Then I realized Ciel wasn’t responding.

“…Ciel? Ah, sorry.”

I’d ended up patting her head like I would my niece, but even with a close female friend, it wasn’t polite to touch them without asking. I wondered if I’d upset her.

“Eh? A-ah, no, it’s okay, really… Don’t worry about it…”

“…I see. Still, I’m really sorry.”

“N-no, it’s really okay!!”

Her face was bright red. She was probably actually upset but was trying to be considerate toward me. I wasn’t childish enough to point it out.

“T-then, I’ll make about thirty potions for tomorrow. That way, I shouldn’t need to stay up all night.”

“I see. Then I’ll help. I can at least grind some herbs.”

“T-thank you, Lars-san.”

Just as our conversation wound down—

“Thanks for waiting!! Here’s your order!!”

“Wah!!”

“O-oh, it looks delicious.”

The waitress brought over our meals. Two sets each of salad, bread, and meat soup, plus a ridiculous mountain of meat.

“Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

“Y-yes!! Let’s dig in!!”

“Woof!! Nom nom nom!!”

Mofumaru immediately dove into the mountain of steak with gusto. Seeing him, Ciel and I also started on our meals.

Let me cut to the chase: it was insanely delicious. The salad was made with fresh vegetables, bursting with juiciness. The soup was richly salted with chunks of meat, hearty and filling. But what surprised me most was the bread.

“Whoa, this bread…”

“Yeah, it’s amazing.”

I should explain—this world had the stereotypical medieval European fantasy setting common in web novels. Thanks to magic, this world was more advanced than medieval Earth in many ways, but magic couldn’t help much in the food section. The development of food in this world was more or less the same as the stereotypical medieval European era.

So bread here was usually hard, with none of the fluffy, chewy bread I took for granted in my past life. Or at least, that’s how it should’ve been…

“It’s so soft and tasty!!”

“Springy, too.”

I’d never had bread this good, and I was sure I hadn’t written anything in the setting to allow for it. It must’ve been some kind of supplementary detail filled in beyond what I wrote… I wondered if this was a recurring thing in this world’s setting? I was a bit curious about it.

“Woof!!”

“Huh? Mofumaru, you already finished?”

“Woof!! Whine whine.”

“Fufu, you did great today, so you can have seconds.”

“Woof!! Pant pant pant.”

Mofumaru ordered another giga-sized steak, and Ciel and I continued our meal. That night, Ciel and I made potions to sell the next day, then went to sleep.

Over the next few days…

Ciel’s potions kept selling out, and she started to become well-known among some adventurers.

Rumor had it, “The potions bought from that potion-selling girl are delicious and amazingly effective!!” But then, a problem arose.

“Lars, we want you to come back to the Hero’s Party.”

The Hero’s Party, who were supposed to be done with me, had come back to Handel to try to drag me back. 

Tch. What a pain.

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