I'll Keep You Fed for 10 Months
I'll Keep You Fed for 10 Months
No money? Then you pay with your body. Simple as that.
That was common sense, whether you were in 21st-century Korea or here in the Empire.
You eat a meal and you can't pay?
So you work it off right there. What else?
"P-pay with my body?"
"I'll cover the shortfall. I can't just ignore someone in trouble because they're broke, can I?"
"......."
"In exchange, you'll work off every coin I just put down."
The elf bit her lip, glaring at me, arms still crossed tight over her chest.
Shimmering gold hair, blue eyes, and the kind of face you'd expect from an elf.
The muscle tone was solid, too — the sort of build that could grind through a long shift without folding.
Looks and stamina for front-of-house work? Check.
Attitude, though — that was the question.
Eh, even that foul-mouthed granny back in Seoul had her regulars.
If any issues popped up, I could just drill her on service etiquette myself.
Staff training was the owner's job, wasn't it?
A pretty face on the floor meant customers would show up just to look — foot traffic was basically guaranteed.
She flinched when our eyes met, a little jolt running through her.
"Don't even think about eating and running. The property damage you caused is substantial."
"E-even so, you want me to s-sell my body?"
"Hold on — what exactly are you saying right now?"
"You vile human. I'd sooner endure..."
Okay, she was clearly working herself into a very specific and very insulting misunderstanding.
This perverted elf.
"I can see exactly what you're imagining, so let's stop right there."
"What?"
"I have zero intention of making you do that."
"What do you mean? Among humans, 'pay with your body' means th-that, th-that..."
Her face went bright red.
As red as the kimchi-jeyuk she'd just wolfed down.
"Not that. I happen to be short-staffed, so I'm hiring you."
"Hiring...?"
"Yes. You said you have no money. And you can't pull coins out of thin air, so you'll have to work here. Simple."
No way was I passing up a chance to hire a knight-class elf for pocket change.
"W-wait, so 'pay with your body' meant..."
"Yeah. I want you as an employee."
The timing was perfect, honestly. The customer surge had been getting out of hand.
Handling this many people solo was heavier than I'd expected.
It wasn't like running the knight-order kitchen, where I'd cranked out meals for the whole unit alone.
Prep and cooking I could manage, somehow.
But once the doors opened and the crowd hit, serving and cooking at the same time was way harder than I'd planned for.
One body wasn't enough to run the kitchen and the floor.
Especially after Camilla's visit — adding doenjang-jjigae and dubu-kimchi to the menu had cranked up the workload even more.
During rush hours, I'd been scrambling to take orders while the pans were still hot.
I'd lost count of how many times I'd thought, If I just had one extra pair of hands...
And I couldn't exactly ask the customers — knights and soldiers — to hop behind the counter. Then this elf showed up.
"Why should I work here? If you just trust me and give me a little leeway, I'll head into the city and—"
"No."
"What?"
"Trust you based on what, exactly?"
"Elves are a people of integrity—"
"You said it yourself. That elves are vegetarian is a stereotype. How do I know the integrity thing isn't one too? You tell me — how am I supposed to just let you walk?"
Her mouth clamped shut.
Her own words had boxed her in, and she couldn't argue back.
"B-but..."
I knew she wouldn't fold that easily.
Good thing I was already holding my trump card.
She'd been that desperate to learn the Tuu hunting method — desperate enough to bet on it.
"Work off the debt here, and once it's settled, I'll teach you that Tuu hunting technique you were so curious about."
"...Truly?"
"Yeah."
"...Then how long must I work?"
"How much coin do you have left?"
"100 gold."
"So that's 200 gold, 45 silver..."
Factor in meals and a room, and... ten months ought to do it.
Twenty gold per month after deducting food and lodging.
"Ten months."
"...Isn't that a little stingy?"
"I'm covering your meals, your room, and incidentals. I'm barely breaking even here. If you don't like it, conjure up the cash right now."
"...A remarkably rational calculation. Ten months will pass quickly."
She took it more calmly than I'd expected.
Right. Elf.
Should've squeezed her for a bit more.
Eh, whatever.
Getting an elf on staff for twenty gold a month was already an insanely generous deal — for me.
"We'll do the formal contract after the shift's done."
"Understood."
"I'll keep you well-fed for ten months, so don't sweat that part."
Her ears perked up, and she extended a hand.
"I apologize for the misunderstanding. I've encountered too many hostile humans... I'm Andrea. I look forward to working with you."
"Right. Lucas. I'm your boss now, so let's start with respecting the boss."
"Respecting?"
"Yeah. For the next ten months, I'm your employer, so you'll address me properly. That means formal speech. Always."
"F-formal speech? To you...? I'm far older than—"
"Respect!"
"Fine."
Andrea's ears drooped.
Looked like the reality of her position was finally sinking in.
"Use formal speech."
"...Sir."
"So, when do I start... sir?"
"This evening. So take a break for now."
I needed to give her basic training before throwing her onto the floor.
And maybe a few pointers on proper boss-deference while I was at it.
I was the owner now. I had to maintain control.
"In that case... sir."
Andrea hesitated, then pointed at the empty bibimbap bowl.
"Would another bowl be possible... sir?"
"Of course. Deducted from your wages."
"Ack! Th-that's..."
She hadn't even started her shift, and her debt was already growing.
***
Andrea, having eaten her fill for the first time in ages, patted her stomach.
"I'm full."
How long had it been since she'd had a proper meal?
She'd spent nearly a month chasing that Tuu, surviving on jerky and meat broth.
A month of gnawing on jerky tougher than a boot sole.
She'd denied herself anything else, sustained by the vow that she'd have a true knight's meal once the beast was brought down. Sitting here now felt like recompense for all those grueling days.
The Tuu she'd caught hadn't been cooked by her hands — but she'd eaten Tuu. That counted. Didn't it?
She'd definitely overeaten compared to her usual.
"Phew."
Her upper belly was slightly distended.
Self-conscious for no good reason, she glanced at Lucas, who was finishing up the dishes.
Her employer now.
A man she suspected was far stronger than her.
When Lucas had first made it sound like he wanted her body, she'd braced herself for the worst.
If a swordsman stronger than her pressed the matter by force, the only card she had left was to fight to the death.
She'd been ready to lay down her life to guard her chastity.
No matter how formidable a knight he was.
The mortification she'd felt upon realizing it was all a misunderstanding...
He doesn't think I'm some loose woman... does he?
It was embarrassing.
She might have left the Elf Forest behind, but she was still an elf.
What did it mean to be an elf?
A lifespan far outstripping other races, and the dignity that came with it — wasn't that the defining image?
And right now, she felt as though that image had completely crumbled.
Still, the day hadn't been entirely miserable.
A sudden 200-gold debt had materialized. Absurd misunderstandings. Mortifying moments. And a first encounter with doenjang-jjigae that had looked — and initially smelled — like it was brewed from dung.
But every dish she'd tasted had been delicious.
She'd eaten a meat dish that genuinely pleased her for the first time in ages.
Yes, vegetables had been mixed in everywhere — a jumbled hybrid meal — but it had tasted good, so who cared?
It was nothing like the cooking other humans had offered her.
The flavor was one thing, but this man's food carried something else — a subtle, pure mana woven through it.
From an elf's perspective, most human cooking was just stomach-filler.
Humans didn't use mana in their food. They'd never needed to.
Since humans weren't restricted to plants the way elves were, they'd likely never felt the necessity.
The idea of infusing food with mana might sound strange, but elves did it often.
A vegetarian diet left nutritional gaps, and many elves compensated by suffusing their meals with mana.
Most elves claimed it was possible because they were a higher-order race.
A kind of spiritual cultivation.
The kind that left you feeling good after eating.
That was why the Elf Forest used precious mana-laden ingredients or washed vegetables in the dew of the World Tree.
It's not as though this restaurant has World Tree dew lying around.
Yet Lucas's cooking carried a taste of the home she'd been trying not to miss.
Coming from meat, of all things.
That was what had stolen her heart.
The food in this place made you smile the moment you tasted it.
I get to eat food like this for ten whole months.
Working under a human stung her pride, but the fact that he was a knight stronger than her — and that she'd be fed well — was some consolation.
To a long-lived elf, ten months was an eyeblink.
Work a little while, then leave. Simple.
He'd promised to teach her the Tuu hunting method once it was all over, and he seemed like someone who kept his word.
At the very least, he looked like a man who'd honor his promises.
"Phew, all done. Sorry for the wait."
Lucas sat down across from her, the dishes finished.
"It's fine... sir. I didn't wait long... sir."
"Here."
"What is this... sir?"
"Employment contract. Debt might've kicked this off, but we're doing this properly."
A cascade of unfamiliar script sprawled across the page.
"Is there no version in Elvish... sir?"
"Ah, right. Hold on. The elf-language contract should be around here somewhere..."
An elf-language contract.
"Had you anticipated a situation like this... sir?"
"Oh, not specifically. I just prepare for everything. Had no choice but to keep one on hand."
She didn't know the truth.
That Lucas kept an elf-language contract stashed away because, in the very slim chance his Knight Restaurant in Britten territory failed, he'd planned to open a temple-food eatery in the Elf Forest.
He'd also toyed with the idea of running a mess hall in the Dwarf mines.
Nothing beat coating a dust-caked throat and gullet with something rich and greasy.
Not that I need those backup plans now.
She signed a contract pledging ten months of diligent labor at 200 gold.
Lunch and dinner provided by the restaurant. Lodging arranged at a residence in Britten territory. Stamp.
"I press my thumbprint here... sir?"
"That's it."
Lucas confirmed the seal, rolled up the papers, and handed Andrea the Elvish copy while keeping the Imperial-script version for himself.
"Now then — before the evening shift begins, a brief training session on the art of the smile."
Lucas's eyes gleamed.
Meeting his gaze, Andrea felt a nameless unease creep up her spine.
An elf's intuition whispering that the work ahead wouldn't exactly be easy.
==============
★★★★★
The finest meal I've tasted since dedicating myself solely to the way of meat.
The exquisite harmony of vegetables, meat, and grain serves as a guidepost for what we elves most need: balance.
The red sauce called gochujang stimulates the palate so that one keeps eating and eating.
It pleases me.
I want to eat it again.
Recommended dish: Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap.
-Knight Restaurant Employee Andrea-
==============
***
"Ughhh, another day done."
Johansson, a farmer in Britten territory, trudged back into the lord's town after another grueling workday.
He was a plain farmer in his mid-twenties, living in a timber house on the outskirts of Castle Britten.
"Johansson, any prospects yet? You're not getting any younger, son."
"Mother, enough. What prospects? I'm too busy weeding the fields as it is."
"I hear the girl Jessica in the next village is a fine young woman. You've met her a few times, haven't you? She's even come by the castle before."
By Imperial standards, he'd now hit marriageable age, and he'd fled to the fields again today to escape his parents' relentless prodding.
Every morning he rose early and went straight to work the land, leaving him with no mental energy for anything else.
Marriage? Please.
"I'm single by choice, thank you."
More important than a wife was making sure this newly cultivated plot thrived next year.
The viscount had promised usage rights to anyone who worked idle land and grew crops on it, so he meant to put in the effort.
He couldn't tend his parents' fields forever.
Imagining the happy future ahead, he strode into the castle grounds with a spring in his step.
He had exactly one reason for heading into the castle proper instead of going home tonight.
"Think I'll treat myself to a drink for a change."
"Now you're talking!"
He was meeting Johnson, the friend he worked the fields with, at the Knight Restaurant.
The place had only opened a few weeks ago, but its food already beat most inns in the area.
That harsh liquor called soju was strange but drinkable, too — interesting stuff.
Johansson personally preferred beer, but Johnson loved soju so much that the Knight Restaurant had become their default haunt lately.
"They've got a new menu item — something made with a thing called dubu. The guys who tried it at lunch were going on about it."
Johnson grinned, shooting a thumbs-up.
"The food there is good, I'll give you that. Are we seriously only drinking soju, though?"
"Augh, nothing I can do about it. It's not like the Knight Restaurant even sells beer."
"Tch."
Shame.
He'd really been craving a beer tonight.
He wanted a mug of that bubbling, frothy stuff — one big gulp, ahhh.
The problem was that good beer didn't come cheap, and the really fine stuff was sold only to nobles and wealthy merchants.
That rare mug you only got during a bumper harvest — he knew exactly how good it could be.
"Hurry up. Seats are gonna fill."
The two reached the bustling Knight Restaurant, and what greeted them was—
"W-welcome... sir. A party of two... sir?"
—Andrea, her mouth corners forcibly cranked upward.
Lips frozen in an awkward, stiff smile, she greeted the pair in formal speech she clearly hadn't gotten used to yet.
"Huh? A-an elf?"
"She's an... elf?"
To the two men, however, that clumsy smile registered as achingly beautiful.
"What, never seen an elf before? Don't just stand there gawking — this... I mean, th-this way... sir. Ha. Ha. Ha."
Johansson followed Andrea with a dazed expression, unable to tear his eyes from her face the entire time she took their order.
An angel.
In that moment, smitten purely by an elf's outward appearance, Andrea Fan #1 was born.