The Last Dryad's Amadeus Roche (2)
The coming-of-age ceremony finished earlier than the Winter-Ascend festivities.
That meant there was still a long while left until the evening banquet.
But it was a day of celebration in every way that mattered.
And with so many people already gathered…
That was probably why a banquet sprang up at once inside the grand hall.
While the dying campfires were snuffed out completely and the space cleaned, the banquet tables and chairs that had been cleared away for the ceremony were set back out. Right after them came trays and bowls of every size, jars and dishes laden with food and drink, all served with proper utensils.
Aromas rolled out as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.
Mouthwatering forms that seemed to demand, Eat me right now.
It was more than enough—overflowing, even—to torment the empty stomachs of people who had risen before dawn, skipped breakfast, and attended the ceremony.
Yet no one ate or drank.
Most of them had not even sat down.
To put it simply:
There was no escape.
"At least give us a clue what that offering to the Lady of Winter actually was!"
"Vanilla! Truly an astonishing discovery!"
"I'm glad you like it. Makes the find worth it."
"However did you get the idea to eat the Red Witch's Finger of all things—that poisonous herb?"
"Honestly, eating it… that wasn't something a sane man would do!"
Ugh… crowds. How I hate them.
Karem, the center of attention for countless strangers whose faces he did not know, was thoroughly uncomfortable.
He barely needed to answer any questions.
Whenever he tried to speak, someone standing nearby would cut in with their own thoughts and scatter everyone's focus.
"I knew he was popular, but this is something else."
"He's single-handedly overturned more than half of Iceland's food culture. Of course people are curious. He's going to have a rough time of it."
"What do you plan to do?"
"Nothing. We have no business interfering."
"Then what would you like to eat?"
The very people who had created this mess by burning the incoming letters watched the spectacle with perfect detachment, as if it had nothing to do with them.
Karem did not miss the two familiar voices drifting faintly through the crowd.
If you can see me, help me already!!!
But his desperate inner plea never reached the master and servant who had already started taking bets on when it would punch through the throng. It never even left his mouth.
"Is it true you made a spice out of beans? I got a letter from a distant relative serving in the north and couldn't quite believe it!"
"There's a rumor that vanilla comes from… that part of a monster. I refuse to believe it. Even so, how could anyone use such a thing from a monster…!"
"O chef who cares for the world more than anyone! I wanted to thank you because my wife's cooking—once an utter disaster—has improved a little thanks to you, but I simply could never reach you! I'm glad I finally get to see you."
Just the people he could see numbered in the dozens. That meant at least that many more were packed around him.
With every one of them blurting out whatever they pleased, there was no gap left for him to speak at all.
Yeah… I think I finally understand why celebrities get panic attacks.
For the first time, Karem felt a sliver of sympathy for entertainers.
And then a helping hand stretched out from outside the circle.
"Make way! Clear the path! King Frost is coming through!"
"Eisenwald beer! Berseingeto wine! And ice cream in every flavor you can imagine!"
"What's the matter with all of you standing around? Grab your glasses already!"
While every head in the crowd swiveled like meerkats, Karem managed to slip through the opening.
The ordinary seats nearest the high table.
At the far right-hand end of those seats, a familiar figure waved. Karem sprinted over and dropped into the chair beside Mary.
"You had a rough time of it."
"If you saw me, you could have helped."
"Get used to it. That's just the life of a celebrity. Get used to it."
Catherine chuckled, casually accepting a grape Mary offered, then frowned as she watched the crowd begin to move.
"Still… once everyone starts taking their seats, it might get even more bothersome."
"Contractor. Shall we return to the tower? I heard a ball is scheduled as well."
"We should. Just the little guy drawing a crowd is already annoying. If the freeloaders who want scraps off me join in, it'll be twice as bad."
"Not twice. More than that, I expect."
"I wasn't speaking literally."
Catherine shot Mary a sharp look for the pointless pedantry. Mary only shrugged.
"Can we please drop the comedy routine and just go back to the tower?"
Karem, who had nearly developed a panic disorder, did not care about their banter.
He wanted to get back to the cozy, safe tower as soon as possible.
"And hey—I already went through the coming-of-age ceremony. Can we finally drop the 'little guy' thing?"
"I was planning to. But—"
"But?"
"It rolls off the tongue so nicely that I hate to give it up."
"Oh, come on."
Catherine laughed softly, clearly delighted by Karem's disgust.
"Let's go. Before the crowd finishes being distracted by King Frost and turns their attention back."
"Contractor, shall I pour a glass of wine to bring along, like last time?"
"Berseingeto, is it? Luare?"
"From what I heard, it seems to be a different winery."
"Then never mind."
While King Frost tanked the crowd's attention, Karem followed Catherine and Mary out of the grand hall, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.
The corridors decorated for the ceremony stood in clear contrast to the rest. Lines of servants and maids carrying plates and trays of food streamed toward the hall.
"Whew. I'm exhausted. Completely wiped."
"Your stamina seems lacking."
"Would you like to try being surrounded by that many people while they all talk about whatever they please?"
"I'll pass. That's something Junior Karem should experience plenty of."
Mary firmly rejected the suggestion while walking at Catherine's side.
"Well, since it turned out this way, I suppose I'll have to prepare lunch once we return to the tower."
"Now that you mention it… ugh. What would you like?"
Physically he was not particularly tired.
It was the mind that was the problem. The mind.
Across both his previous life and this one, Karem had never been surrounded by that many people or received that much attention. The unfamiliar kind of fatigue left his whole body feeling leaden.
He stretched his weary limbs.
Still, he had to cook for Catherine.
"Mary, you're taking lunch today."
Words that made the sky fall came from beside him.
"Why on earth?!"
"…Normally I'd have a few words about that, but looking at your condition, I'll let it slide today."
Catherine's narrowed eyes twitched. She pulled a small hand mirror from her clothes and held it up for him to see.
The face reflected there was the one he had grown used to after the curse, yet the state of it was completely different.
Ten years would have been an exaggeration, but he looked roughly five years older and thoroughly exhausted, complete with dark circles under his eyes.
"Lady Atanitas, I can manage!"
"Looking at you only makes me more anxious. Mary, you're doing lunch today."
"Yay! I'm truly delighted. No—I'm saddened. To think my junior is so unwell. As the senior, I must set a proper example. Therefore, Junior Karem may rest well through lunch today."
Mary raised a fist skyward with a blank expression, then suddenly clasped both hands demurely in front of her stomach and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"Lady Atanitas."
"What is it."
"Is that brownie mocking me right now?"
"No different from usual. Let it go. Just let it go."
Hmph. Mary let out a tiny laugh of victory.
Deep irritation rose from the bottom of Karem's heart, but the moment they reached the tower Mary vanished as naturally as flowing water.
"Chief Magical Advisor. Has the coming-of-age ceremony concluded?"
"Yes. Get back to work."
Catherine gave Karem a light tap on the waist—her way of telling him to pull himself together—while he trembled with nowhere to direct his anger.
"More importantly, what exactly did you prepare that caused that whole uproar?"
Catherine asked without the slightest attempt to hide her curiosity.
"Amadeus? Yes, I do recall seeing that name in the old empire's records."
While Mary went to the kitchen to clean up, Catherine sat at the head of the dining table, finishing a slightly late lunch, and looked down at the lumpy, rock-like Roche arranged on her plate.
"It was supposed to be a drink made with milk and sugar."
"The fruit that a dryad who has created a spouse rarely causes to grow as a token of that love is called Amadeus."
"Who told you that? The dryad in the greenhouse only makes cute noises."
"Uh… Lady Skadi. I was invited and visited the divine realm of Issvid."
"…"
At those words Catherine narrowed her eyes.
Not that the goddess had simply come here—he had been invited?
"That Skadi? The Lady of Winter of the Three Gods Sect?"
"Yeah. Lord Tutatis even came to guide me. They were both more easygoing than I expected, and they live in a really pastoral place."
As Karem's account continued—vivid enough that it would have been impossible without an actual visit—Catherine waved her hand firmly, signaling him to stop.
Skadi, Tutatis, the divine realm of Issvid, the crow divine beast Reyna, the fallen Palatino Empire, dryads.
Ha. The more she listened and thought about it, the more her head hurt.
So she decided to drop it.
"And… hmm. I feel like I forgot something important."
"Anyway, enough of that. Let's see whether you heeded my warning properly."
"Yes. For the first bite, put the whole thing in your mouth."
"Isn't it a bit big for that?"
"There's a good reason."
Catherine tapped the table with a finger to hurry him along, then followed his instructions and popped the entire Roche into her mouth.
Oh.
The Roche was as uneven as it looked, yet the coating meant she felt none of that roughness against her tongue.
More than that, for all its solid appearance it was surprisingly light, and the texture was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Not candy, not caramel, not custard, not pastry.
Different from every other confection and pastry bread she knew.
If she had to find the closest comparison, it would be ice cream.
The texture resembled ice cream slowly melting at room temperature, only far denser and incomparably richer.
"This is… I don't even know how to describe it."
"You're not supposed to melt it. You chew it."
"Mm. No wonder I was starting to taste almond."
Catherine, savoring the flavor, added the small remark and immediately bit down on the Roche that had grown sticky and uneven inside her mouth.
Crunch—
The sensation that traveled through her teeth was exactly like crushing a crisp biscuit that offered resistance, just as its outer appearance promised.
The only difference was that it was far thinner and lighter.
Beneath the crisp confection packed with the fragrance of butter came a texture similar to what she had felt when first biting the Roche, yet far denser, stickier—almost pastelike.
Crunch! Crack!
The variations did not end there.
Her molars punched through the dense core; the fragrant hazelnut at the very center shattered together with the chopped almonds on the surface, and a rich, nutty aroma exploded.
In a confection this small, so many different layers?
A soft surface mixed with almonds.
The flavor of a biscuit made even crispier by its thinness.
An interior similar to the exterior yet far denser and more intense.
The savory hazelnut at the absolute center.
Each distinct texture, taste, and aroma constantly stimulated her mouth, tongue, and nose with every chew.
And above all, the taste and fragrance that seemed vaguely similar to Alrune's Tear yet proved completely different when savored deeply were addictively good.
"H-how in the world did you make something like this?"
"Uh, there was something similar in my previous life. Called chocolate. Common enough that even a kid walking by could buy it without a second thought."
And among them, this was a recreation of a high-end product from a company called FerreX—
But she had no room to pay attention to information she would normally have found interesting.
He had just said a dryad only rarely obtained it when she gained a beloved spouse… and now it was something you could casually buy?
Come to think of it…
Catherine suddenly recalled a story from his previous life that Karem had once mentioned offhand.
……
She decided to simply concentrate on the Amadeus Roche.