My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 019: Poison Is a Seasoning That Enhances Ingredients

“What the hell is that fluorescent paint-looking obviously dangerous mushroom!?”

“What do you mean… It’s a Tropical Fly Agaric. It’s highly poisonous♪”

“‘It’s highly poisonous♪’ isn’t an answer! For humans, one bite would be instant death!”

“Eh, but that’s for humans. It’s got nothing to do with us.”

“It’s got everything to do with it! I’m—”

—Half human.

Kishō swallowed the words that had reached his throat.

Half-dragon.

That was a defective existence born with greatly impaired dragonkin abilities. Naturally, Ōka knew this. He’d kept silent because he didn’t want the Princess to know.

“Eh, but it’s not like you can’t eat it at all. It’ll just tingle a little. You can’t be picky, Shō-kun.”

Ōka said something motherly.

In truth, dragonkin poison resistance was nearly invincible. Killing dragonkin with poison was virtually impossible, and even inflicting damage with poison was difficult. Therefore, even though he was half-blooded, Kishō’s poison resistance—with dragonkin blood flowing through his veins—was quite high. So eating highly poisonous food posed no life-threatening danger. It just caused an unpleasant tingling sensation in his mouth, and occasionally upset his stomach.

“It’s not just about being picky. It upsets my stomach!”

“But it’s delicious.”

“Well, I can’t deny that.”

Dragonkin had a taste for poison. The stronger the poison, the richer and mellower it felt. Even Kishō acknowledged that. The Princess, who’d been sorting ingredients, tilted her head.

“Is that so? I’ve never found poison particularly delicious. It always seems too bland to me.”

Finding highly poisonous substances bland meant her poison resistance was that much higher. Dragonkin poison resistance was already near maximum at birth, so reaching that cap didn’t mean much. The Princess was unnecessarily high-spec.

Kishō couldn’t understand that sensation with his lower poison resistance, but—

“If you think about losing one sense of taste, that’s pretty rough, isn’t it?”

When he lived in Algant, he’d never eaten poisoned dishes. His first time was after entering the academy. Since dragonkin used poison as a seasoning substitute, the cafeteria meals and boxed lunches sold at the shop all had toxins mixed in as a matter of course. The first time he’d eaten it, he’d trembled with emotion. Not being able to experience that taste sensation seemed unfortunate in its own way.

The Princess’s expression-sparse face clouded, and she nodded regretfully.

“Indeed. I’m troubled that I cannot fully savor the poison’s delicate flavor.”

She seemed troubled in the opposite sense from Kishō with his low poison resistance. He couldn’t agree, but he could empathize. Even blessed talents had pitfalls like this, Kishō thought to himself with understanding, when—

“Heh, so having too high a poison resistance is a problem too. That means I’m in the middle and can enjoy it the most!”

While saying this, Ōka dumped the Tropical Fly Agaric into the pot with gusto. Boldly and vigorously.

“Hey, don’t use the chaos to throw everything in!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Being able to use any mushrooms as food without worrying about poison is a dragonkin privilege. Let’s be grateful!”

“Even so, you didn’t have to put all of it in…”

Looking at the rainbow-colored pot, Kishō felt queasy. This amount—he’d definitely get an upset stomach. More importantly, before that, the appearance was too tropical and killed his appetite.

“Cooking is bold and hearty! If you dynamically throw in whatever ingredients are around, it’ll usually work out somehow. That’s a tip!”

“I see. Very educational.”

“What are you teaching!? And Kuroyō, you too—don’t go ‘I see,’ and stop taking notes!”

“Listen? Shō-kun’s contrary, so he pretends to dislike even things he loves. You know the saying, right? ‘No means yes.'”

“Is that so? I’ll take that as reference.”

“Hey! Don’t casually teach lies. Plus the meaning’s slightly different!”

“See? He’s pretending to dislike it.”

“Indeed. The evidence is his tension’s slightly elevated.”

“Guh… These two…”

Kishō abandoned the conversation.

He closed his eyes and threw in the towel as if to say “do whatever you want.”

“So next, mountain vegetables—kapow!”

“Oh, it’s gotten closer to pastel colors.”

Is this a painting? Kishō envisioned avant-garde art.

“Then we add the Black Lion dried meat! It’s good, jet-black meat!”

“Oh, the color changed like spilled ink. It smells good. Looks delicious, Ōka.”

Calligraphy, perhaps? “Looks delicious” only sounded sarcastic.

“Right!? Right!? And finally, salt-pickled wakame seaweed—bam!”

“Oh, it’s multiplying inside the pot. Like swamp vegetation.”

A murky swamp spewing poison gas floated into his mind.

By no stretch of imagination were these comments about food.

He desperately suppressed the urge to peek with half-opened eyes.

“Ah, I forgot to remove the salt. Oh well.”

“That’s not ‘oh well’!!!”

Unable to resist the comment-filled conversation, he interjected, and Ōka turned a smirking face toward him as if to say “oh my, weren’t you ignoring us?”

“Forgetting the salt removal was a lie! Ha, gotcha gotcha!”

She even spouted childish nonsense.

Unable to endure it, Kishō decided to interject.

“Hey, Kuroyō. I don’t think you should use Ōka’s cooking as reference.”

“Why not?”

“Her cooking’s haphazard. You’d be better off learning from someone proper.”

“That’s not true. Ōka said she was good at cooking.”

“That’s right! Here, try tasting it. Say ahh.”

“Mm, very delicious! Ōka is a cooking genius.”

“Seriously… so it’s actually good?”

“Besides, deciding things without even tasting my home cooking is nonsense. Come on, Shō-kun, you try it too.”

Thick liquid served in a bowl. Faced with that sludge-like substance, Kishō held his head. He even thought the rainbow version would’ve been better. When handed a spoon with a look that said “hurry up and eat,” he had no choice but to steel himself.

“Ah, fine. I just have to eat it, right?”

To hell with it! He plunged the spoon into the sludge. An unpleasant squelching sound reached his ears, momentarily sapping his fighting spirit and nearly breaking his will, but he gritted his teeth and brought the spoon to his mouth.

“Hm? It’s good.”

Kishō’s eyes widened at the unexpected result.

The broth from the Black Lion dried meat and mushrooms was well-extracted. The thick soup had condensed umami components, resulting in an unbelievably rich finish. And the crisp texture of mountain vegetables and wakame seaweed that had fully absorbed that broth was wonderfully pleasant. With each bite, broth oozed out, letting him enjoy the rich flavor for a long time.

“See! You judgemental food-avoider. Reflect on yourself!”

Ōka proudly puffed out her small chest.

“Hot pot is something that takes shape if you just throw in delicious ingredients!”

There was no room left for rebuttal. Complete surrender.

“Got it. I was wrong. Ōka’s good at cooking. Sorry.”

“Ehehe, glad you understand. Glad you understand!”

“Ōka. May I call you teacher?”

“Okay! Come on, come on, there’s still plenty for seconds!”

At the unexpected result, Kishō’s eating progressed. Perhaps because it was so delicious, even the Princess’s usually expression-sparse face softened. Ōka noisily slurped soup while making a racket as always. The pot emptied in less than thirty minutes.

However, afterward, Kishō got an upset stomach.

The cause, needless to say, was the large amount of highly poisonous seasoning hidden as a secret ingredient.