Three days since moving from the temple to the palace.
The room I was given was a luxurious one for guests, and it’s more comfortable than living in the temple.
The spacious room, which seems to be more than twelve tatami mats, has a bedroom at the back and a living area in the front.
There’s a four-seat sofa set, and a writing desk near the window. The sofa is made of leather, and according to the appraisal, it’s a high-quality item made from the skin of the magical beast, Black Bull.
“Black Bull, that’s the beef I ate in the steak last time. The meat was delicious, and the skin is high-quality. A really useful magical beast with almost no waste.”
I liked the cool feel of the leather. The seat portion was covered with fur from another magical beast, making it very soft.
“Oh, this feels nice. Is this the fur of the Forest Wolf? I wonder if I could hunt one if I got a bit stronger?”
“Apparently, it’s a low-ranking magical beast, so even we should be able to hunt it without much trouble.”
Akimi, sitting on the sofa, calmly said this while making tea. The mugs for everyone were a gift from Brother Tohma . They’re simple, plain mugs, but the colors are nice—Natsuki ‘s is blue, Akimi’s is purple, and mine is green.
The tea snacks were provided by me. The chips were served at the party, and the cookies were placed on a plate.
Once the tea was ready, we all cast the purification magic “Clean.” It’s quicker than washing our hands, so we all find this [life magic] quite useful.
By the way, the water Akimi used for tea was also generated using [life magic]. It’s convenient since we don’t have to boil water every time, and I use it a lot. It’s especially helpful when I get hungry at night and need instant noodles.
“The palace uses a lot of furniture and goods made from magical beasts, huh? It’s more comfortable than the temple because of that.”
Natsuki muttered while nibbling on a cookie. I had the same question.
I chewed on the consommé-flavored chips and tilted my head.
“I wonder why they don’t use them in the temple. The sofa, for example, would be more comfortable if they lined the bed with fur too.”
“In the temple, magical beasts are treated as impure. That’s why magical beast meat wasn’t served at the table either.”
Akimi, drinking tea with a calm expression, explained.
“Seriously… so that’s why the food was vegetarian in the temple?”
“If there’s no harm to the body, they should just eat it or make good use of it. Is the temple full of fools?”
Natsuki was quite sharp-tongued. Apparently, she had been harassed by the priests in the temple while being called “Saint,” so her irritation was understandable.
“True, they certainly lack flexibility. But to defeat the Evil Dragon, even if we don’t like it, we need the temple’s power.”
“…I know. I’ll stay quiet until I can properly use the skills and magic I got from the dandelion.”
“Yeah, once you get a handle on weapons and magic to a certain degree, we’re apparently going to start training with magical beasts in the nearby forest. Let’s go there and blow off some steam.”
I said this with a cheerful laugh, but Natsuki and Akimi looked at me with complicated expressions.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well… where did you hear that information, Haruto ?”
“Oh, I heard it from Denka, someone I got friendly with at the training grounds. Oh, did I say it was a secret? Haha!”
“Denka? The prince? Wait, the crown prince?”
“I don’t know him well, but that sounds right. We just clicked and hung out a lot.”
The blonde, blue-eyed boy was close to my age, so we quickly became friends. He was sometimes interested in the snacks or cup noodles I was eating, and I secretly shared with him.
“Denka really likes cup yakisoba, so I gave him a few for just one silver coin.”
“Seriously, Haruto , you’re so natural…”
“You’re a different type of charmer than Tohma ,” Akimi added.
My sister and cousin exchanged looks and sighed. What’s going on?
“Well, it’s just as well. If I charm the king and queen, Natsuki charms the princess, and Haruto charms the crown prince, we can get some backing and feel a little more secure.”
“That’s true. Even though the temple’s power is strong, we can’t directly challenge the country’s leadership.”
Akimi and Natsuki both placed small pouches from their [item boxes] on the table. When they turned the pouches over, gold and silver coins spilled out, forming a mountain.
“What’s this about?”
“Haruto , you got silver coins, right? We made money the same way.”
“…From cup noodles?”
“Not at all. I became friends with the princess, and now I’m selling beauty products to her.”
“I’m selling tea, sugar, and spices to the king and queen. Made quite a bit of profit.”
“Seriously? What are you guys doing?”
“Well, we need to have some money from this world, just in case.”
That was true. Right now, we only had a few silver coins as our “allowance.”
I felt a little down when I remembered that I had been buying food from Brother Tohma without thinking much about it.
“Well, thanks to your natural charm, if we can win over the crown prince, who’s known as the black-hearted prince, then I’d say it’s worth it. Let’s keep stringing him along and get information and money from him.”
Akimi said this with a low, dark laugh.
Uh, that’s scary, Akimi! Why is Natsuki nodding along?
“Yeah, cup yakisoba… Junk food from our world is addictive, so Haruto , you could make a lot of money. People are weak to oil and carbs. Let’s lure them into the cup noodles and chips trap.”
My sister is terrifying, Tohma Brother.
What is Akimi writing down? A list of addictive foods and drinks? Thanks!
Aren’t you taking this a bit too seriously???
“Don’t give them soda right away. It’ll make them suspicious. Start with sugary juice, and alternating spicy and sweet items should hook them. Just make sure you never run out of stock, Haruto .”
“Uh… okay…”
I nodded in agreement.
Well, I decided that it wasn’t too bad to share sweets and juice with my friends.
If they ask me to sell them something, I’ll think about it then. I also want to save money from this world and send weapons to Tohma .
Thanks to my reliable cousin, life in the royal palace had become comfortable.
Thanks to the cushions and sheets, the bed was nice and soft. Because I passed on spices and sauces to the kitchen and shared recipes, the food situation improved dramatically.
The maid chief even thanked me, saying that the prince and princess, who usually disliked vegetables, had started eating salads thanks to the dressing.
“Tohma seems to have leveled up. I just got a message. It looks like the price limit is gone.”
“So that means the 1,000 yen items are unlocked! Yes! Now I can buy some loungewear!”
Since the two of them were so happy, I checked my [Item Box].
In addition to the shopping list I requested, it seemed like Tohma had sent me a variety of things as a treat.
“Oh, a lot of camping supplies! The benefits of leveling up are amazing, huh? A sunshade and a tent, looks like great sun protection. A compact chair, too, and even a hammock!”
Seeing me so happy with the items in the [Item Box], Natsuki and Akimi quickly checked their own lists.
“A squishy stuffed animal cushion…? It’s so cute…”
Immediately, Natsuki took out a large dolphin stuffed animal from the storage and hugged it tightly.
She’s cool, but she’s always liked cute things since we were kids. I won’t point it out, though, or else I’ll get kicked.
“A mat, a mattress pad, even a sleeping bag from a 100-yen shop? Amazing… Anyway, I’m really grateful. I should be able to sleep well now.”
Even though Akimi had already made the bed soft with cushions and fur, it seemed like it still wasn’t enough.
There were even instructions on how to use the mess tins and food pots, which was very thoughtful.
“Food pots are amazing. You throw in ingredients, pour in boiling water, and leave it alone, and by lunchtime, you’ve got soup, right?”
“Yeah, the soup jar. A friend of mine used to bring it as a lunch substitute. I tasted it, and it was delicious.”
It seemed like you could easily make stews like pot-au-feu or curry soup. Next time, I’ll bring one to the kitchen and have them make it as a bento.
“This time, the amount of the gift has gone up, and I feel bad for Tohma … Maybe we should send him something in return.”
“That’s a good idea for you, Haruto .”
“Right? What should we send him?”
“You guys… hmm… How about some ingredients that are hard to find in the forest, like vegetables and eggs?”
“Good thinking, Haruto ! That’s a great idea, let’s head to the kitchen right now!”
With Natsuki leading the charge, we three headed to the kitchen.
We left the negotiations to the smooth-talking Akimi and traded ingredients.
What we gave them were things like mayonnaise, sauces, and dressings. There were women in the kitchen, so we also casually showed them jams and honey.
They were thrilled and happily provided us with the ingredients.
It seemed they had been curious for a long time, having seen the royal family and us eating delicious food.
“Mostly root vegetables, leafy greens, and then milk and eggs. Yeah, this looks good. They’ve been complaining that they’re running low on eggs and milk, so they’ll be happy.”
“Let’s send them regularly.”
“Right. This amount won’t hurt our wallets.”
Tohma was really happy with the gift and sent us a large amount of goods as thanks.
We also asked for any requests from their side and planned to send more things their way.
