H-How Does It Taste? (2)
"She declared she would not accept an engagement unless he could defeat her—her own contractor—in a duel."
Marie suddenly recalled the exchange Leon and Charlotte had shared before their match.
—This will be nothing like our duel three years ago.
—Then come at me first.
Ch-Charlotte crushed Leon's pride all over again...!
She was beginning to realize just how absurdly tough Leon's mental fortitude must be.
"Ch-Charlotte won, then..."
Ch-Charlotte never liked weak people...! She wanted someone stronger than herself...!
Marie nodded solemnly at the conclusion she had reached all on her own.
"I simply could not hand my contractor over to that greenhorn."
Sylphy looked oddly proud as it said so.
"D-Did you fight alongside her three years ago too, Lady Sylphy...?"
"Of course I did. A contractor and their spirit are one body. Joining a duel is only proper. Back then, Salamander and I combined our power and unleashed a storm of fire upon the boy—"
Sylphy launched into a lengthy war story. The short version was that Leon had been beaten even more spectacularly three years ago than he had been today. He had never even managed to get close to Charlotte.
S-Such a doting parent...
Watching Sylphy flap its wings and reenact the old duel, Marie couldn't help thinking the spirit looked rather undignified.
"—and we finished it off with Gnome burying the fellow in the earth."
"W-Wow... th-that's amazing..."
"Haha! It was nothing special. Only what one ought to do as a contractor's spirit."
Poor Charlotte...
Marie completely abandoned the notion that Charlotte had invited her into her room with designs on her body. If anything, she resolved to treat Charlotte even better—the girl seemed doomed to a lifetime of spinsterhood thanks to her overprotective spirits.
"Good heavens! Look how late it has grown! Come, let us go buy the ingredients at once!"
"I-I'll go right away!"
Just as Marie grabbed a shopping basket and made for the door, Sylphy tagged along.
"Y-You're coming with me...?"
"Someone must tell thee which foods and ingredients Charlotte favors, must they not?"
"W-Well..."
Marie looked Sylphy up and down. A giant eagle the size of a person. Walking around outside together would draw every stare in the street.
I-I might die under all those eyes...!
She scrambled for any excuse that would leave Sylphy behind.
"Ah. Is it my size that troubles thee?"
"Y-Yes... you're too big. I don't think they'd let you into a grocery store..."
As she said it, Marie pictured the many shops with "No Pets Allowed" signs hanging on their doors.
"Hmm... thou need not worry on that account."
With that, Sylphy grew fainter and fainter until it vanished from Marie's sight entirely.
A s-stealth eagle...!
Reassured, she stepped out the door.
Marie walked through the shopping district with her hat pulled low and a terminal pressed to one ear.
"Ch-Charlotte likes any kind of meat, you said...?"
"Indeed. She is especially fond of beef grilled medium-rare, so keep that in mind."
"Th-Then dinner will be steak..."
"I say, why dost thou keep that magic tool glued to thine ear?"
Sylphy pointed at Marie's terminal with a wingtip.
"I-If I don't hold onto something, people will think I'm a lunatic!"
"Haha! Carry thyself with a bit more pride! Conversing with a spirit is a rare opportunity in a lifetime! Three hundred years ago it would have been commonplace—a pity, truly."
"P-People muttering alone at empty air on the street aren't exactly a common sight either..."
"..."
"..."
After that, no further criticism of Marie's pretend phone-call walking came her way.
H-Has it never used a terminal before...?
Marie was slowly realizing that Sylphy, much like Charlotte, was something of an old fogey.
Having settled on steak, potato-and-cheese gratin, and various other dishes, Marie successfully filled her basket with every ingredient she needed.
D-Do spirits even eat...?
Judging by how freely it turned invisible, Sylphy did not appear to possess a digestive system. It probably didn't need food—but just in case, she asked.
"L-Lady Sylphy, is there anything you'd like to eat...?"
"Me? Spirits are mana-born creatures. We have no need of separate nourishment."
"I-I see... so you never eat at all?"
"Well... our sense of taste is rather dull, but we can perceive flavor to some degree. On occasion I do partake of something as a snack."
A brilliant idea flashed through Marie's mind.
I-If it can turn invisible, it could sneak into my room whenever it wants... but if there's something in its stomach, I'd notice if it snuck in, wouldn't I?
To protect her privacy, Marie decided she would cook for Sylphy as well.
"I-I'll make something for you!"
"Hmm. In that case, I should like to sample the Cloud Candy said to be all the rage in the capital of late."
C-Cloud Candy...?
Marie rummaged through her knowledge of snacks. There was a gap between the kingdom's terminology and her own, but the description was distinctive enough that she placed it at once.
C-Cotton candy...!
True to form for a spirit, Sylphy was demanding an expensive treat.
Until now, whenever Marie had craved something sweet she had made do with fruit, or—on the rare occasions a factory job left her a little extra—a bit of honey. For commoners, sugar, the very ingredient of cotton candy, was a luxury they might never taste in a lifetime.
"I-It's too expensive..."
"Hmm? Whatever dost thou mean? With the contractor's purse, one could purchase it easily enough..."
Marie hid the coin pouch as if a crow were eyeing her loose change.
"I-It's Charlotte's money! Just because there's a lot doesn't mean we can spend it freely!"
"I say, Marie. Did the contractor not tell thee, before she left, to spare no expense for delicious food?"
"I-I think she phrased it a little differently..."
She edged away from the spirit that was attempting to rewrite history.
D-Dangerous! It's after Charlotte's money...!
Even under Marie's suspicion, Sylphy did not back down.
"Charlotte would not regret a single coin if thou spent every last one of these, so long as thou ate well. This purse is but a fraction of the gold she holds."
"I-Is that so...?"
"It is so. Indeed, even if thou spent a little more than planned from this pouch, so long as thou prepared a snack currently sweeping the capital, the contractor would be far happier than if thou had pinched a few coins."
"Th-That does make sense...!"
Marie's tiny brain was no match for the silver tongue of a spirit that had lived for tens of thousands of years.
W-Wow, there's still so much left...
Even after buying an entire tub of sugar from the grocer, Charlotte's purse showed no sign of thinning. Marie's trust in Sylphy rose another notch.
By the time shopping was done, the basket was packed full with ingredients.
"I-It's so heavy..."
"Here, give it to me."
Seeing Marie struggle and grunt under the weight, Sylphy snatched the basket up in its talons.
"Th-Thank you..."
"Think nothing of it. One can hardly put a contractor's dear friend to hard labor."
Sylphy, true to its size, could fly while carrying the basket with ease.
I-If anyone else sees this, won't it just look like the basket is floating through the air...?
Marie furtively reached a hand toward the basket.
"Hmm? What is it?"
"L-Let's carry it together..."
"Haha! What a fine heart. The contractor has chosen her friends well."
"Hehe..."
She buried deep in her chest the truth that she had only done it out of embarrassment.
Thanks to Sylphy, Marie returned to the A-dong Dormitory with light hands and went looking for the dining hall. There, someone was diligently tidying up—the same maid she had seen that morning.
"U-Um..."
"Yes? How may I help you?"
When Marie spoke, the maid stopped her work and inquired politely.
"C-Could I borrow the kitchen for a little while...?"
"Hmm..."
The maid considered for a moment, then nodded.
"The chef is resting in his room at present, so it should be fine. I shall obtain his permission separately."
"Th-Thank you..."
A short while later the maid returned with word that the chef had readily agreed. Thanks to the kind maid, Marie and Sylphy were soon inside the kitchen.
Steak, potato-and-cheese gratin, blueberry tart, pudding, cheese bread, cotton candy...
Her enthusiasm had gotten the better of her. The endless string of dishes made her head spin for a moment.
O-One at a time, slowly...
She was about to start with the pudding, which would keep even if it cooled, when—
"I shall help as well."
"H-Huh? You know how to cook...?"
"Live long enough and one picks these things up naturally... Shall we begin with the steak and the cheese gratin?"
"Y-Yes..."
For a second Marie wondered how an eagle was supposed to cook—then the spectacle unfolding before her eyes snuffed the question out at once.
Th-That's cheating...!
Sylphy had no need of hands. It performed something even more miraculous than cooking with two hands at once.
Sizzle—
Whoosh—
Clack— clack—
It was finishing multiple dishes at once with wind alone. No royal court chef could ever have matched the feat. Marie, determined not to fall behind, kept her own hands flying without rest.
Thanks to Sylphy, the cooking was finished in no time. Once the food was done, Marie began melting sugar in a pot.
"W-Would you like to try some...?"
She held out a freshly finished Cloud Candy to Sylphy, who had been watching from the side.
"Hmm..."
Sylphy took a bite—and made a rather ambiguous face.
I-Is it bad...?
Curious, Marie took a bite herself.
Wh-Whoa, it's so sweet...!
An intense sweetness she had not tasted in ages filled her mouth. She looked at Sylphy's odd expression with growing puzzlement.
"Hmm. We spirits have dull palates. A flavor of this degree is rather bland to us..."
"I-I see..."
She tried handing over a Cloud Candy with extra sugar, but the reaction did not change.
W-What do I do...! It even carried the groceries for me—I can't just leave it like this...!
Marie wrung every drop of thought from her brain.
Why couldn't Sylphy, a spirit, taste properly? Because it was a being made of mana.
It either lacked the taste cells that let humans perceive flavor, or possessed only a vanishingly small number of them.
No matter how excellent a Cloud Candy Marie made, to Sylphy it was nothing more than an edible wad of fluff.
Then a brilliant idea struck her.
I-If it can't taste, what if I make it feel a sensation instead...?
Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami were tastes. But spiciness was different—it was the tongue's pain receptors being stimulated, which the brain interpreted as heat and pain.
L-Lady Sylphy definitely felt pain before...
She recalled the eagle shrieking while stuck in a birdcage, and her conviction solidified.
"L-Lady Sylphy... do spirits feel pain as faintly as they feel taste...?"
Sylphy answered with a slightly uneasy look.
"Hmm... more keenly than taste, to be sure... What art thou planning? Even with reverse-summoning available to a spirit, pain is felt in full so as to protect the mana core. I would have thee understand that..."
"Th-Thank you! That helps a lot!"
"Wh-What on earth art thou about to do?!"
Sylphy squawked and protested, but Marie—already deep in concentration—heard none of it.
Compared to a human, even pain will register much more weakly.
She bolted straight to her room and began rummaging through the belongings she had brought from her one-room flat.