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Side Story 21: A Butler’s Appreciation. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-11-12 01:56:29 +0000 UTCThe Kiesmay Family.
Once an unknown commoner family without a house name, now the competent retainers of House Helvas. Their lineage started with one Lazar Kiesmay, the grandfather of Barathan Kiesmay. Born as the eighth child of a laborer family in the slums of Firwood, Lazar was bought from his parents by the Head of House Helvas at the age of seven. The reason for this was because he was born with above average mana for a commoner human.
Nobles always strive to increase their numbers of capable servants and retainers, as this directly affects their power and influence. This was especially the case for commoners who have talents in magic. They could be trained as mages or magic knights to defend their noble masters, or, in the worst case, become another servant. Nobles often make a practice of collecting these magically inclined commoners.
It was a blessing for Lazar’s family that the Head of House Helvas was willing to pay for their youngest child; technically, any noble could take a commoner away without anybody’s consent if they do not already have a noble patron. Lazar’s parents, although slightly reluctant at first, decided it would be best to accept the nobleman’s decision. With the money they received, they would be able to help their other children while they could give their youngest child a better life. A noble who was gracious enough to buy their son, instead of taking him away, would undoubtedly treat their son well.
They were right, but not because of the noble’s compassion. As Firwood belonged to the Kingdom of Artorias, the act of possessing slaves was forbidden for commoners and nobles alike, unlike their neighbor the Kingdom of Atadoro. Lazar would be fed, educated, and once he reached twelve, he would be paid if he could become a proper attendant.
To the malnourished Lazar, who always had to fight for his food with his other siblings, this was a blessing. He didn’t have to gather food from the woods surrounding Firwood, he didn’t have to split his food with the other apprentice butlers and maids, and he could finally sleep inside a warm room. To the noble who gave him this chance to improve his life, he was grateful. To the Lazar who wanted to always sleep with a full stomach, he would dedicate his everything to become a part of House Helvas.
“You work, you eat,” is a common saying in the lower part of the town. A commoner learns this the moment they could move. He worked hard to learn the difficulty to handle magic and he adapted to his environment by getting rid of his origin as a slum dweller. In a flash, the thin and skinny Lazar transformed into a respectable senior attendant.
And then he got married. His son was born with the gift of high Mana, allowing him to become an even more capable magician than his father. His loyalty was eventually rewarded, and Lazar was made the seneschal of Carine village. As a result, the Count of House Helvas rewarded Lazar’s loyalty and diligence by giving his family a surname.
Similar to Earth’s medieval times, commoners could adopt bynames that describe what and who they were. Examples like “Harry the Baker” or “Mathilda the Barmaid.” However, the difference between a surname and a byname is the fact that the System doesn’t register the latter. Normally, people with bynames know it isn’t their actual family name so they do not accept the fact that they are “Harry the Baker,” instead, they were just “Harry.” As a result, people who have family names have accepted the dignity of having one, and the System adapts to their wishes.
So, when Lazar saw his name change from just “Lazar” to “Lazar Kiesmay” in his profile, he felt eternal loyalty for being able to receive this honor from his lord. By having a last name, his family could gain fame and the possibility to be remembered through generations. For a commoner who grew up in the slums who was destined to be forgotten after his grandchildren were born, Lazar felt hope that he would be remembered by his family and the house they serve.
At that point, Barathan was born.
“Come on, come on, come on! Feel the burn, Ellaine!”
“Haaa, haaa, haaa…Yes, Lady Hestia! The burn! I can feel the burn!”
Oh my…Our young Mistress…
Inside the training room located under House Helvas’s Firwood mansion, Barathan couldn’t help but sigh. It wasn’t made out of disapproval, but out of relief. To Barathan, who grew up with the values his grandfather and father instilled into him, he understood how much pressure a young child with high expectations would have.
Like his father, Barathan was born with a gift for magic. For a commoner, this was a blessing that could allow them to rise above their status and claim wealth and respect from even nobles. Mages were an important part of society as they could provide important services like monster subjugation, construction work, and priest services with the magic given to them by the gods. To Barathan who was educated to become a capable butler and combatant, it was easy to see how he rose through the hierarchy and became an indispensable attendant for Count Andre Helvas, the current Head of House Helvas.
In his youth, he managed to build a great friendship with both Andre Helvas and Marianne Talshia before she married and became Countess Helvas, back when the three of them journeyed together through the kingdom as adventurers. Unlike the heir to a Count family and the daughter of an Arcanuess, Barathan wasn’t as talented with the blade nor with magic. Nevertheless, he still reached the rank of a C rank adventurer.
It was through the expectation that he would serve as the sword and shield of his lord that drove him onwards. However, he knew exactly how stressful it was. He watched over the two children of his lord and lady when they grew up, and he knew the trials they went through.
Young Mistress, I will cheer for you. Rid yourself of your fears!
Like how Manuela was assigned as a teacher to Ellaine on the wish of her mistress Marianne, Barathan was Jonathan’s teacher due to Andre. In his opinion, Jonathan inherited the talent with the sword from his father and magic from his mother to the point that he could be considered a genius. In the future, Barathan had no doubts that Jonathan would grow into a fine man who could elevate House Helvas into an Arcanuess house.
So, what did he think about Ellaine? Pitiful, was all he could say. The second child of Andre Helvas was born with less magical talents than her brother and a more fragile body due to her gender. Her endurance was too low to fully learn her father’s keen swordsmanship, while her motivation always diminished whenever she witnessed how fast her brother could absorb the lessons of their mother. Aside from artificer and scholar work, her brother triumphed over everything she did. She developed an inferiority complex.
It was through the fear of losing against her brother again, that she willingly relinquished her right to become an heir. In Artorias, the line of succession doesn’t include the age of the person. Whether you were born as the first son or third daughter, every noble had the right to fight for the noble title. As nobles were the elite of the kingdom and acted to defend it, the competition between siblings was an important part of their culture. Even if you lost, participating in it would be considered a virtue.
However, the opposite was also true. Giving up before the fighting began would be devastating for a noble’s reputation. A lion without a mane. A beast without fangs and claws. Her retainers and attendant tried to stop her, but Ellaine chose the cowards way out. Subsequently, she lost the majority of her supporters, but she accepted it.
Barathan was aware of this girl’s weakness. She knew her only role now was to be a political tool. Even her loving father and mother had to close their hearts and separate private matters from work. For this reason, her father made Ellaine Hestia’s lady-in-waiting and subsequently forced her to miss her debut as an adult to a noble society.
However…
My Lord, your daughter has found her fire! Was this your plan all along?
A loyalist. That was Barathan. Ellaine was initially supposed to supervise and hopefully create a friendship with Hestia. To become the friend or retainer of a princess, even if she was from a foreign land, could help Ellaine’s and House Helvas’s reputation immensely. But the results were more than Barathan expected, no, it was more than even Andre expected.
“Drink it up! Hydration is the most important part of training! Fighting!”
“Guck, guck, guck…Waaaaaah! Yes, Lady Hestia, I’m ready! Fiehging!”
“No, no, it’s pronounced ‘fighting.’ There is a ‘t’ in the middle, don’t forget. It means ‘good luck’ or ‘let’s go’ in Korean.”
“Yes! Fighting, Lady Hestia!”
Hestia’s “Promise” touched Ellaine’s soul, causing her to reflect on the decisions she made in the past and how much of a defeatist she was. The reason for her failure was her own. She felt ashamed to always lose to her brother, so she gave up training hard, which caused the gap to widen even more. She finally understood when she saw the bright star Hestia tearing up at the end of the concert. In front of her, a person was able to make their dream come through by not giving up, despite all the hardships they experienced. Ellaine couldn’t help but cry.
Then, the moment she witnessed Hestia’s, Saori’s, and Tasianna’s profiles, she fainted. At that point, Ellaine thought Hestia was 15 years old like herself. Hestia has become so strong while she wallowed in her own self-made despair. Her eyes and soul burned with power for the first time since she was five as she asked Hestia to train her.
Self-esteem was important. No matter if you were born as the child of an impoverished commoner or were a god in heaven. Envy for others can lead to self-destruction. Without knowing your worth as a person, a human will slowly close themselves from everything and drown themselves in self-hatred. It happened with Hestia and Ellaine. It was just fortunate that they managed to escape it.
The sight of the sweaty Ellaine forcing her body to endure the spartan training Saori conjured up was a sight to be seen. She was out of breath, her hair was a mess, and the training clothes Saori made for her were far too revealing for Barathan’s taste. With Ellaine’s tank top clinging to her body from all that sweat, Barathan couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation also.
But he was proud. He was proud that the young girl he saw grow up was finally showing more ambition. Although, he wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“Two weeks. In these two weeks, I have seen Lady Ellaine look more exhausted than in the past five years. If only she had shown this much passion last year, then she wouldn’t have given up her birthright,” Manuela, the head maid of Firwood’s mansion and a noble, said with a wry smile. Her eyes were caring but also filled with regret. “I wonder why I couldn’t awaken her desire to become stronger? I have disappointed my Lady, Countess Helvas.”
“I would like to say that rivalry breeds strength, but our young mistress gave up because of her rivalry with our young lord. I am not completely sure but I believe Princess Hestia’s voice gave her strength,” Barathan answered with a quizzical look. “But…Let us not think too much about it. If she can persevere and keep her current attitude, then we can be sure that she will grow up to be a fine noblewoman.”
“I agree…but isn’t the training very demanding? A noblewoman shouldn’t train to the point of being drenched in sweat.”
Barathan’s brows frowned at Manuela’s words. Due to how he grew up, Barathan knew what others expected from nobles, so the sight of the sweaty Ellaine would be an embarrassment. “While I do agree you are right, Manuela, I think this is what our young mistress needs. Due to her gender, her father never pushed her to the limits during sword practice. Despite that, she still managed to gain [Sword Technique Lv. 1].”
It was true. Even though women are allowed to join the army and knight’s order in Artorias, compared to medieval Europe, people still have different expectations from the two genders. Noblemen are trained in both martial arts and magic equally, while noblewomen gave more focus on magic to compensate for their lower physical growth. The System made by the Origin Gods allowed a fragile-looking woman to overpower a muscular man, but that was not always the case.
Similar to how wind elves had more Mana and were naturally gifted with wind magic, a human male would be able to raise their Strength stat faster in most cases.
Unwilling to hurt his only daughter during training, Count Helvas never gave her as much attention as her brother. This was a bane in Ellaine’s growth as Hestia has proven that Ellaine would be able to keep up if only people had pushed her more. With the current training schedule, Ellaine’s Health, Strength, and Stamina were growing well despite having not leveled up.
“YOU BETTER LISTEN, ELLAINE. MAGIC CASTING IS ALL ABOUT CONCENTRATION. CONTINUE CHANTING AND GET THAT [Concentration] SKILL!”
“Eeek! I-I call upon the god’s-”
“We also need to train your resistances. Don’t worry, this will only be a small burn and I’ll heal you up. One white grace on the house!”
“-may the earth-YEOWCH! Lady Hestia, you interrupted me again! O-Oh, that feels better. My [Pain Resistance] even reached level three, wow!”
Of course, physical training wasn’t the only thing Hestia helped Ellaine with, magic was also a part. Mixing her self-taught days with the formal training she gained from the saurian Kushlek’zar, Hestia aimed to push Ellaine to her very limits.
Arcane corruption? Out of mana? Laughable in front of the Peolyncian sports drink, [Sacred Veil], and Saori’s carefully planned breaks. Stamina? Can you rest when you hear Hestia’s angel-like voice singing [The Will to Fight and Survive]? Damage to train resistances? Do you know Idol Hestia?
It was a boot camp. Plain and simple. Hestia was simultaneously breaking Ellaine’s body down through constant hardship while also healing everything up. This was the training method approved by Saori, a former teacher, and developed by Hestia, a former Belzac Forest dweller. If Hestia could cure mental fatigue and sleep deprivation, this hellish training would probably never stop.
With her incredible Mana capacity, couldn’t she do this for an entire army? A shiver went down Barathan’s spine as he watched his young mistress go through an almost torturous training regime. Deep in his heart, he was glad to not have to participate.
With Hestia as Ellaine’s training partner and the continuous production of the Peolyncian sports drink Hestia fondly called “Dragorade” along with the salt-free variant “Dragorade Lite,” nobody could stop Ellaine from her training as long as her spirit stood strong. On the other hand, Saori was silently weeping as she knew how much a noble would pay for these drinks and they were giving it out for free.
“Thankfully, nobody but us, her trusted attendants, are witnessing this. She will receive no shame. You have nothing to worry about, Manuela,” Barathan said in a friendly tone in support of Hestia’s training methods. “…I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while, but how are you handling your duty as the head attendant? Your initial duty was to train Lady Marianne’s daughter, our young Lady Ellaine.”
Five years ago, Manuela became an attendant for Marianne Helvas, the wife of the current Count of House Helvas. Similar to how commoners work for others for benefits, nobles of a lower rank serve those of a higher rank for numerous reasons like money, political support, loyalty, and so on.
Take for example Ellaine and Manuela. Ellaine is currently serving Hestia due to her father’s wish to supervise a potential threat to the kingdom while also wanting his daughter to befriend a potential political ally. It can also be assumed he wishes to gain Hestia’s and Saori’s knowledge from another world as well as Tasianna’s knowledge of elves and fairies. Manuela, on the other hand, was assigned to Marianne to increase her house’s reputation and to gain political support from Marianne’s family.
Of course, nowadays, their wish to serve their mistresses is more akin to respect and admiration.
“Do I hear a bit of pity in your voice? Heh, that is amusing coming from you, Barathan,” Manuela scoffed. “Don’t believe I haven’t forgotten the fact that you were one of the people who decided I wasn’t fit to be a maid in the first place. Yes, I am a noble, but I am only a viscount’s third daughter. Doing housework doesn’t hurt my pride when it’s for my mistress, besides, the head attendant’s duty is more about knowing how to use the servants to maximize efficiency.”
Manuela believes Barathan didn’t accept her as a maid due to her lack of qualifications. What was she? A noble daughter, that was what she was. Lazar, Barathan’s grandfather, died only two years ago and gave his role as the seneschal to his grandson. That meant, Manuela knew about the fastidious Barathan for three years, learning about his habit of being the perfect butler.
As a noble daughter trained to become a magician, she hadn’t done any housework for the majority of her life, until she became the head attendant after Ellaine gave up her birthright to become an heir. She thought the impeccable Barathan couldn’t accept her as the head attendant because of this fact. She understands his reason, but she still hated him for undermining her value.
However, what was the truth? Barathan didn’t believe she was incompetent, no, he learned from the two weeks he’s been staying in Firwood how good he was. He respects her. Nevertheless, the reason why he actually didn’t want Manuela to work as a maid is due to the belief his father and grandfather imprinted into him. For him, nobles were serene beings, too worthy of simple housework.
House Helvas is one of the few noble houses that barely have any retainers serving them as attendants. Most of them were knights, while Manuela was the only noble among the many butlers and maids. Barathan knew other noble houses had noble attendants but thought it was beneath a noble. A knight was acceptable as protecting their liege was honorable, but he believed housework was for commoners only.
He knew Hestia loves to bake and enjoys cooking, but he thought it was due to her life in another world. A cultural reason. Maybe nobles in her world cooked to innovate cuisine, like how the nobles of Artorias experimented with manatech and agricultural plans to further the technology of their kingdom.
For a man who has traveled around the kingdom, he was surprisingly narrow-minded. Nobody was perfect.
As neither Barathan and Manuela knew the truth, neither could diffuse the awkward atmosphere between each other. Barathan wanted Manuela to follow his ideal of a noble, while Manuela wanted Barathan to admit she was a capable attendant. To the 20-year-old Manuela, she wanted Barathan’s, who was in his early thirties, approval.
“L-Let us, haaa, haaa, stop here for the day, Lady Hestia. Josine, what time is it?” Breaking the weird mood between the two head attendants, Elainne ended her training for the day, as it was late in the afternoon. Dinner was about to be served.
Hestia and Ellaine both went to their respective rooms and were bathed and dressed in fine dresses. Normally, Ellaine didn’t expect Hestia to come in a dress to dinner, but today was different. To fully learn about noble customs, especially during dinner, Hestia wanted to practice as much as possible for the future. It also coincided with the day she wanted to serve Ellaine Earthen cuisine.
As the two young ladies met in the dinner room, they curtsied and greeted each other. As Hestia’s etiquette lessons on Earth gave her a good foundation on how to act during dinner, she only needed to learn the finer details.
Similar to how she greeted Count Helvas during their first meeting, Hestia gave another wonderful greeting.
“May this meeting be blessed by the Goddess of Light, Aurena, on this peaceful RestDay. I thank you from the depth of my heart for inviting me, Lady Ellaine.”
“House Helvas equally wishes you the bountiful blessing of the Goddess of Light, Aurena, Lady Hestia. As my benefactor for today’s dinner service, my gratitude cannot be described. Let us enjoy this night and strengthen our bond.” Both girls curtsied. After they were done, Ellaine spoke up, “Oh, one point of critique. ‘A noble doesn’t bow to those lesser than him’ is normally the rule; however, bowing and curtsying is polite and courteous, regardless of your rank. As the noble with a higher rank than I, you mustn’t curtsy deeper than me. Small movements in the acknowledgment are acceptable, however, please don’t do this to those equal or higher in rank than yours, as this will be considered rude. Luckily, you are a princess, Lady Hesta, so this will only happen if you meet the royal family.”
After they were seated, tea was served. During this time, Barathan and Manuela were coordinating with Saori, who was acting as the chef, to bring out the food.
The smell is mouthwatering, Barathan thought after leaving the kitchen with two servings of colorful salads and round golden-brown food.
“As the appetizer, I thought sharing some of my favorite salads would be best. Their names are ‘Sauerkraut’ and ‘kimchi.’ They are made from fermented orslagges. I believe the sauerkraut should fit your taste, but the kimchi is an acquired taste. I had some trouble eating it when I started,” Hestia described the different salads on the plate to Ellaine. “The round, golden-brown dish is called ‘hash browns.’ It is made from toffels and is one of my favorite breakfast foods.”
Orslagges are Peolyncian cabbages, while toffels are potatoes. Hestia and Saori have a desire to interpret Earthen food with Peolyncian ingredients.
“Hie hie, orslagges for loopabits, and toffels for skorrs. Most nobles wouldn’t accept eating the food of farm animals, but I know you’re making some of this for the common folk, yes? I can’t wait to try them.” With a single bite of each dish, Ellaine’s face brightened as a smile grew. “The sauerkraut is amazing. I can feel the tingling on my tongue, although the kimchi isn’t really to my taste. Compared to the sauerkraut, none of my taste buds are really excited by the kimchi. The hash browns are also delicious. It is well cooked and completely hides the texture of toffels. This isn’t common folk food, even nobles would eat them, I am sure of it.”
As a noble of the Greenveil duchy, Ellaine has been exposed to good food since her birth. Her tongue was trained to the point that she would consider herself a gourmet like most Greenveil nobles. To her, experiencing new food is an enjoyable hobby. Especially as she considered it a reward for enduring this week’s hellish training.
“There is actually a fermented vegetable dish made in the lower city of Firwood, if I remember correctly. Maybe it is due to the ingredients, but you Grace’s sauerkraut and kimchi are superior,” Barathan gave his opinion as he taste-tested a small sample of the salads and hash brown. He informed Hestia that if she could make them with less expensive ingredients, they would be popular in an eatery or tavern.
Meanwhile, as Ellaine, Barathan, Manuela, Svena, and Josine enjoyed the new taste, Hestia was attempting to control her eating. As a sunfang dragon, she couldn’t help but want to gorge everything. She was trying her best to act as a perfect noble.
During this time, the next dish was brought out. Made with tazlokwheat that was similar to buckwheat, the Japanese fried noodle dish yakisoba was recreated in Peolynca.
“Yakisoba are fried noodles with vegetables and meat. Usually, the correct way is to eat them with these two wooden sticks called ‘chopsticks.’ However, they require some practice and dexterity to use properly. I would advise you to try using these utensils, Lady Ellaine. If you cannot, then you can eat the noodles with a fork liiiiike this.”
“Oooh, chopsticks? Actually, I believe the dwarves in the north use them to eat, if I remember it correctly. Isn’t that right, Manuela?”
“Yes, Lady Ellaine. My family lives close to the border to the Groushia duchy, who are well acquainted with the dwarves of the Inkong Mountains. I believe a few Groushia nobles are acquainted with these wooden sticks.”
Hestia smiled as she learned of this fact. She had a feeling the dwarves of this world had aspects of Earthen culture due to the Revolution Queen, who was documented as an otherworlder, possibly from Earth. Her wish to meet the dwarves has become clearer.
“Mhmmm! This is wonderful.” Ellaine exclaimed as she ate the yakisoba with a fork, having given up on the chopsticks.
Aside from the tazlockwheat, everything can be made with relatively cheap ingredients. Amazing. A dish worthy for a noble can be made so easily? Princess Hestia, Miss Saori, Miss Tasianna, my admiration for you is increasing the more I learn about you.
Barathan admired elegant nobles and capable retainers and attendants. Although the girls didn’t have a too pleasant first impression of Barathan, he found them intriguing. Hestia’s knowledge of etiquette was great even if her conduct as a noble was lacking, although Barathan wasn’t too bothered about it as this can always be corrected. As the person who helped his young mistress regain her will to train, he admires and respects Hestia as a friend of House Helvas.
His impression of Saori grew at about the same rate. She was a diligent, hard-working person who always aimed for the best result when doing a task. When he first offered Saori and Tasianna the plan to spy on the church’s action to protect Hestia, he only looked at Saori’s worth as an arcane trickster and high [Dark Magic]. Barathan knew that rogues who were able to use dark magic could become the best assassins and spies as they can hide inside their shadows with the spell [Shadow Dash]. However, he was surprised when Saori offered her current idea to open up a business to increase their party’s reputation and influence.
Barathan initially wondered how this would benefit them. A business was hard to maintain as you needed to know the wants of your customers, but that changed when he learned about their origins. Otherworlders. If they could use their knowledge like the Revolution Queen, couldn’t they cause widespread cultural and technological advancements? When he finally realized this, he concluded that Saori understood her worth very well. He was honestly impressed. He determined he would learn as much as he could from her to better serve his lord.
However, the person Barathan was most impressed by was Tasianna. “An admirable attendant,” was his opinion on her. Since their first meeting, he admired her steadfast attitude to protect her Lady’s belongings and privacy, even when faced by multiple knights pressuring her. He also understood by watching her inspirational tea brewing skills that his skill was inadequate. Even though Tasianna showed her displeasure in working with humans, Barathan thought it was her right as a fairy. It didn’t disturb the mansion’s workflow, so he wasn’t annoyed.
The rest of the dinner went well. Due to hunger from all her training and the small dish sizes, Ellaine was able to eat an entire two additional entrees. Following the theme of yakisoba, the last two dishes were Japanese curry with rice and Tonkatsu, a breaded pork cutlet. That’s right, most of the dishes were Japanese. Including the kimono she was making for Hestia, Tasianna and herself, Saori clearly planned to open either a pure Japanese restaurant, or at least an Asian themed one.
Initially, Hestia wanted to also include Korean barbecue and other Korean dishes into it; she might be half-Japanese but she was still a Korean culture fan, a koreaboo. It was vetoed by both Barathan and Manuela as they realized how messy the barbecue could become, so Hestia had to give up on mixing Korean and Japanese cuisine for the dinner.
“I must say, dinner tonight was much fun. I thank you so much for introducing so many new dishes to me, Lady Hestia. Also, thank you so very much for more cake~” Ellaine praised as she ate another bite of today’s dessert.
“Oh, it was a pleasure. So, which dishes did you like the most?”
Pausing her fork movements, Ellaine pondered on the idea. “Hmm, I must say the curry was the best. I’ve heard much about the curry from the Caedhul, but I never was able to taste it. Yours was fulfilling and filled with many spices that stimulated my tongue. It was a fascinating experience, thank you so very much. In general, I found everything splendid. Except for the kimchi. Maybe I will get used to it one day.”
Hestia nodded with satisfaction before turning her head to the four attendants Barathan, Manuela, Svena, and Josine.
“I consider the tonkatsu the best. It was hearty and it urged me to continue eating with every bite. I am sure Count Helvas and many noblemen would love the dish. If you were to use the meat of a high-rank skorr monster, then it would be fit for a duke, I presume,” Barathan said. His feedback was aimed to help the girls get a feeling of ingredient choices and which demographic might like a dish more.
“The rice is a perfect partner for the curry, reducing the impact of the spices. The slight sweetness complements the spiciness, giving it a mild taste that fits my tongue well.” Manuela stated. Her explanation was less colorful but it was simple.
“Yakisoba is my favorite. I watched how Miss Saori and Miss Tasianna prepared it, so I know how easy it was to make. It is delicious and can be made quickly. It satisfies you and would be great to serve to the servants if the noodles were made out of wheat or rye,” Svena said. Her opinion was focused on helping the personnel of the house.
“I believe the sauerkraut was the best. It was simple yes, but did Lady Hestia not say it was a side dish? I believe if it was served with the main dish, it could elevate the taste even more. However, the sourness might be too overwhelming for some people so a dish which can neutralize most of it would be best,” Josine said. Similar to Barathan, she gave detailed feedback to help the girls improve their dishes.
As dinner was over, Hestia spoke up. “Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Lady Ellaine, the three of us will be leaving for maybe a whole week. We have acquired a very interesting Quest, and I also wish to move my legs for a bit.”
“Oh, is that so? Well, then please don’t let me hold you back. However, I ask you to come back safe, alright, Lady Hestia? It would pain me deeply if something were to happen to you. Also, I don’t believe I could continue my training to its fullest without you.”
With Hestia’s sports drink, [The Will to Fight and Survive], and healing spells, it would be hard for Ellaine to train as hard as she did until now. With Hestia’s help, she was able to rapidly level up her skills without the need for a Job change.
“Of course.” Hestia smiled. “A promise is a promise, and I always fulfill my promises. Anyway, I was planning to bring you out to hunt some monsters later, so I’ll take care of myself.”
As night came, Barathan prepared for sleep. As he laid on his bed, he couldn’t help but think about something.
Lady Hestia, thank you so very much for helping Lady Ellaine. Please, come back safely.
Shutting his eyes, everything went dark for Barathan. The day has ended and another day of work will await him tomorrow.
