Chocolate and the Forbidden Forest
“So. You’re the El that Anne’s been talking about so much.”
We had settled at an outdoor table—me, Anne, and Anne’s mother. A man who looked like a bodyguard stood behind Emma Klein.
Naturally, I kept my head bowed so low it nearly planted itself on the tabletop.
“Yes, ma’am. That’s right. I’m truly sorry.”
“No need. I’m used to this sort of thing. Back when I was younger, hearing something like that would’ve earned someone a thorough thrashing, but now that I’m a middle-aged auntie, I actually find it amusing.”
Emma said this, then lifted her fork, cut a small piece from the chocolate mud cake in front of her—the exact same menu item I had ordered—and popped it into her mouth. The cake on Emma’s plate was chocolate. The cake on my plate was chocolate. The cake on Anne’s plate was chocolate. And for the record, the drinks in front of each of us were identical double chocolate shakes. Chocolate here, chocolate there—I was going to lose my mind.
…Normally when several people order together at a café, they try to avoid getting the same thing, don’t they? But this was my own fault for ordering exactly what Anne recommended. Anne recommending something meant Anne liked it. And Anne was the type who didn’t care about any of that—she simply ordered what she wanted, bold as you please.
“Hmm? I really don’t mind, so just relax. You two must have plenty to talk about—go on and chat.”
“Ha… haha…”
Even if she said that, as the one who had just committed a grave rudeness toward my friend’s mother, I couldn’t help but watch her every reaction. Emma opened her mouth again, leaving me unsure whether she was needling me or not.
“Ah, is this little auntie sitting next to you making things awkward? My apologies. I’ll just get up and—”
“No! Not at all! Really!”
I stopped Emma as she actually started to rise from her seat, then clamped my lips around the straw of the chocolate shake in front of me. A long pull sent the thick chocolate shake flooding into my mouth. The intense chocolate flavor spread everywhere, yet somehow I couldn’t taste any sweetness at all…
Emma seemed to find my reaction entertaining; she gave a quiet snort of laughter and took a sip of her own chocolate shake just as I had. Watching her, I felt I finally understood how Anne’s personality had been shaped. If Anne grew a little older and a little more sly, she would probably look exactly like this.
I glanced sideways. Anne was completely absorbed in her cake and shake, her face wearing an expression of pure bliss. There was not a single sign that she cared about her friend being stuck in an awkward situation.
Annoyed by that, I lifted my fork, cut off a corner of the cake in front of Anne instead of my own, and put it in my mouth. Whether it tasted bitter because of my current predicament or because layering sweetness on top of sweetness had somehow turned it bitter, I couldn’t tell.
“Ahh! El!”
Anne’s face crumpled like someone who had just lost her country at the sight of her favorite cake being stolen right in front of her. That, at least, made me feel a little better.
“Hmph!”
But Anne recovered instantly. Just as I had done, she raised her fork, carved a massive chunk out of the cake in front of me, and shoved it into her mouth. It looked at least twice the size of what I had taken, but I had no intention of stopping her.
Seeing Anne’s happy expression return made me snort with laughter.
“Nice to see. Watching the two of you reminds me of an old friend of mine. These days she keeps complaining that her wrinkles are multiplying and won’t meet up with me.”
It was a story I couldn’t really relate to, but I could understand it well enough.
“I wanted to meet my daughter’s other friends too—what a shame. Ah, Dylan? Would you go order about four chocolate cakes to go?”
At Emma’s words the man standing behind her answered and headed into the shop. The fact that Anne caught him just as he was going in and asked him to add two more was a minor detail.
I wondered whether there were people at the mansion who would eat chocolate cake, or whether she was buying four just for herself, but I didn’t bother asking.
“Sugar intake after combat is important, you know.”
Apparently my curiosity had been written all over my face, because Emma answered the question I hadn’t even asked.
Moments like this really drove home that Emma and Anne were mother and daughter. Anne’s constant obsession with sweets must have come from Emma.
“So, Miss Elicia. I hear you know how to handle a sword?”
“…I’ve already apologized. Please stop tormenting me.”
How ridiculous must I have looked? My face was probably as red as Anne’s hair right now.
“No. I’m asking seriously. Of course I’ve already heard everything from Anne, but I wanted to ask you myself.”
“…It would be hard to demonstrate here, but I suppose I can handle top-tier monsters well enough on my own.”
I said it lightly, but top-tier monsters weren’t called top-tier for nothing. Even seasoned knights struggled with them, so it wasn’t something that should come out of an academy student’s mouth. But facts were facts. And there was even a bigger monster than me named Celian.
“That’s excellent. Which brings me to my next question, Miss Elicia. Would you be interested in joining tomorrow’s subjugation?”
“Mom?”
“Anne, today I had no choice but to take only Ian because Miss Elicia was coming, but you will of course be participating tomorrow.”
So that was why I hadn’t seen Ian at the mansion.
“It’s not as grand as the word ‘subjugation’ makes it sound. Every so often creatures crawl out of the Forbidden Forest and make it all the way near the city. We clear them out on a regular schedule, and it just happens to be that time again.”
Emma finished off the last of her shake with a loud slurp and continued.
“We’re not short on hands, of course, but I’ve been curious about the level of kids these days. And you’re Anne’s friend.”
“If Anne’s going, there’s no reason for me to stay alone at the mansion. Then I’ll take you up on that.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
As if on cue, Dylan returned to the table carrying the boxed cakes.
“Shall we get going?”
At some point every plate that had held cake and every cup that had held shake had been emptied. Just finishing the shake had felt like sugar overload to me, yet Emma and Anne had scraped their plates clean. And since I hadn’t touched my cake, the two of them had casually extended their forks to my plate and polished that off as well.
I had already given up any desire for cake the moment the shake-and-cake combination hit my mouth, so I didn’t mind. If anything, I was grateful they had solved the problem of what to do with the leftovers.
Dylan needed both hands free for the enormous greatsword he carried, so naturally Anne and I ended up holding the cake boxes.
On the way back to the mansion, Anne and Emma walked ahead, chatting about something. Following two or three steps behind, I found my eyes naturally drawn to the two of them side by side.
Like this, they looked less like mother and daughter and more like sisters. Both were short, but Emma was just a tiny bit taller, so Anne looked like the younger sister—which was probably the one saving grace.
I was right in the middle of that thought when Anne and Emma’s conversation stopped and both heads whipped around at once. Their gazes locked onto me simultaneously.
……
“Miss Elicia? You weren’t thinking anything rude just now, were you?”
Emma at least asked. Anne, already certain, was glaring at me with an interrogating look.
You two really didn’t need to resemble each other in this, of all things…
“Hey there.”
When we returned to the mansion, Ian was the one who greeted us this time. I took the hand he offered and gave it a light shake.
“It’s kind of strange seeing you outside. I’ve only ever run into you at the academy.”
“I’ll be imposing on you for a while.”
Meanwhile Alec had come out to welcome Emma and was already standing in front of her, exchanging various bits of conversation.
“Here—I packed these for you. Let’s eat them together later.”
“All right. You must be tired from the subjugation. Go rest. I’ll bring the cake out myself later.”
Emma took the cake from Anne’s hands and passed it to Alec. Alec, clearly used to this, handed the cake off to another servant while greeting his wife.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t noticed when I met Alec and Emma separately earlier, but seeing them stand side by side made the difference in their builds glaringly obvious.
……
“When dinner time comes I’ll send someone, so Miss Elicia, you and Anne should head upstairs and—”
Alec turned toward us to speak, met my eyes, and stopped mid-sentence. Whatever he had been about to say was already written all over my face; he gave a wry smile. Knowing it was rude, I quickly schooled my expression, but fortunately Alec didn’t take offense—he simply explained.
“I know what you’re thinking, Miss Elicia, and I know this will sound like an excuse, but it wasn’t me—it was my wife who… ugh!”
“Haha. Miss Elicia? We’ll head up first, then. Have fun, and we’ll see you at dinner.”
Emma dragged Alec into the mansion by the arm. The sight of her small hand hauling the massive frame of Alec along was so bizarre I had no words for it.
I thought I saw Emma’s foot stomp hard on Alec’s just a moment ago, but that must have been my imagination.
Yet their conversation as they disappeared inside carried all the way to where we stood.
“No, the fact that you attacked first is—”
“Has this man lost his mind? Saying things like that in front of the children…”
…Definitely my imagination.
“Father and Mother were childhood friends, you know. Father was a commoner, but Mother pushed so hard that there wasn’t really any fuss when he came in as a son-in-law.”
You really didn’t have to explain that, Ian.