A Meal
Once the endless lecture finally wrapped up and we'd finished getting ready to head out, we packed our bags and left the room.
Coming downstairs to the dining hall for one last meal before leaving the village, we were greeted by Carter.
"Haha! Good morning, Mr. Mir. By the way... did you enjoy the night?"
Carter asked in a suggestive undertone, glancing around as he spoke with a hearty laugh.
At those words, Selena flinched and lowered her head, apparently remembering the morning fellatio.
Having decided on a small revenge against Selena for the tedious lecture she'd put me through first thing in the morning, I answered Carter in a sly voice.
"Heh heh. Of course I did. Not just the night—I was enjoying myself with her mouth covered right up until a little while ago."
"?!?!"
Selena's head shot up in shock at my words.
Seeing her ears turn bright red, Carter said with a sly grin,
"Oh. A man of refined tastes, I see. You know what's what. It'd be a shame to just let a vigorous morning slip by. Ah, you need to eat, of course. Right this way. You've been working hard from last night through this morning, so I'll specially ask Father to prepare something that'll give you energy."
Chattering away, Carter led the way, left us at the table, and headed into the kitchen.
Once he was out of earshot, Selena—who had been hanging her head to hide her flushed face—spoke up.
"How could you say that... He's going to get the wrong idea."
I glanced at Carter's retreating back, then looked around the empty dining hall—apparently deserted because we'd been a bit late after the morning fellatio and the lecture—and grinned at her words.
"When a young man and woman share a room, people are going to think that anyway without anyone saying a word, right?"
Well, they probably wouldn't go so far as to think we'd been at it with her mouth covered until morning.
"That's... true, but..."
Unable to argue, Selena mumbled quietly.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the sight of her trembling with embarrassment, I decided to end my small revenge.
"Still, well. Since you don't like it, I won't go out of my way to say things like that anymore."
Selena, who had been fidgeting with her hands on the table, jerked her head up at my words.
"Really?!"
I nodded at her delighted face.
"Yeah."
It hadn't been necessary conversation anyway.
"Thank you, Master!"
Seeing her expression brighten, I shrugged and pulled a map from my backpack.
"More importantly, Selena. Can you tell where the watermill we slept at yesterday is on this map?"
Examining the map at my words, Selena pointed to a spot.
"Around here, I think? There's no legend since it's an abandoned watermill, but based on the terrain we saw while walking?"
Confirming that the distance from the spot she indicated to this village was shorter than the distance from here to Tran Village, I said,
"Then half a day to Tran is out of the question?"
"Well, yeah? Still, if we walk diligently, we should be able to reach the village before sunset."
"Then we'd better prepare some food to eat along the way too."
As we were making plans over the map, Carter returned carrying two plates.
"A meal good for men, coming right up."
On the plate he set down—emphasizing how good it was for men—was a steak smothered in red sauce.
I'd expected something like eel since he'd stressed the man-boosting angle so hard, so I looked at Carter at the sight of such ordinary food.
Sensing the question in my gaze, he gazed wistfully at the sky and spoke.
"Lamb steak smothered in special black raspberry sauce. This is really good for men, but there's no way to put it into words. Can't exactly show you either."
Ah. So this red sauce was black raspberry sauce. Black raspberry, I can get behind.
Finally understanding the dish after his explanation, I nodded and said,
"Haha. Well, look at this. I'll be sure to put it to good use."
Very good use. Use it for spoiling Selena.
I knew the effect wouldn't be dramatic—that something like this wouldn't even register on my already S-grade stamina—but I exaggerated anyway and whispered suggestively,
"By any chance... could you pack some for me to eat while traveling?"
At my words, Carter carefully scanned the empty dining hall with wary eyes, then cautiously pulled a glass bottle from his pocket.
"Here. A highly concentrated extract I prepared for a special customer... packed nice and dense. If you just drink it straight, it might be too good for a man, so make sure to mix a small amount with other sauces or dressings."
Ohh! This is the real essence!
Impressed by the unnecessarily secretive explanation, I reached for the bottle filled with viscous dark-red liquid when Selena urgently spoke up.
"D-do we really need to?! Th-that... d-do you need to eat something good for men? I-I mean, already... th-that's... too..."
Carter, who had been putting on a smuggling-scene performance, burst out laughing at Selena—who had shouted loudly only for her voice to grow quieter and quieter until she trailed off.
"Hahaha. Mr. Mir must be something else. If she's that worried about you getting even stronger. No wonder she's been hanging her head this whole time—she must have been exhausted. Just how hard did you work her last night?"
"?!?!"
Realizing she'd walked right into it, Selena hung her head so low her face seemed like it might start steaming from how red it was.
Chuckling at her, I took the bottle of black raspberry extract and said to the still-laughing Carter,
"Haha. She's just trying to make me feel good. Ah, could you prepare some bread and jerky we can eat lightly on the road?"
"Understood. I'll bring them while you're eating."
Sending Carter off with another request, I smiled at the still-bowed Selena and said,
"What was that you were saying about me?"
"Ugh..."
Unable to answer, she just made a whimpering sound.
Chuckling once more at her, I picked up my fork and knife.
"Let's eat before it gets cold. He specially prepared it, so we should eat it while it's warm."
"Okay..."
Confirming that she at least gave a proper answer this time and slowly picked up her utensils, I cut a bite-sized piece of the steak topped with the man-boosting sauce and brought it to my mouth.
Mm... tender... a little sweet... savory... with a hint of tartness...
Savoring the flavors spreading through my mouth as I chewed and swallowed a few times, the steak on the rather large plate vanished in no time.
Mm... a bit of a shame.
I was full, but feeling a strange sense of incompleteness and smacking my lips, when Selena—who had eaten about half her steak—pushed her plate toward me.
"Hm?"
When I tilted my head at the plate now in the center of the table, she said in a small voice,
"I... get full with just this much... so you eat the rest, Master."
Having never once thought of taking a slave's meal, I shook my head to avoid becoming a master who didn't even feed his people properly.
"No. I'm full. We'll probably have to walk longer today than yesterday, so eat up and keep your strength."
Blinking a few times at my words, Selena cut off about a third of the remaining half of her steak, then placed the remaining two-thirds on my plate and said,
"I... don't think I can finish this much... so please eat it, Master. They made it so delicious, it'd be a shame to leave any..."
Speaking in a voice that trailed off, she brought her fork and knife to the small piece of meat left on her plate.
Watching her somehow try to give me her steak, I quietly smiled and said in a suggestive voice,
"You talk like I don't need to get any stronger, yet you keep trying to feed me food that's good for men... I wonder why...? Are you indirectly telling me you're not satisfied? That I should come back stronger?"
Hearing my muttering, Selena urgently said,
"N-no! It's not like that! It's absolutely not like that!"
Pretending not to hear her, I looked at the small piece of steak on my fork and said in a voice full of resolve,
"Right. I need to get a little stronger. Get a little stronger and become a man who can satisfy Selena."
"Urghhh..."
Having tried to be considerate of her master who seemed not to have enough food, Selena had suddenly become a slave unsatisfied with nighttime activities, and she made a strange sound.
Grinning at her, I brought the steak piece to my mouth and said,
"Just kidding, just kidding. I was a little short, so thanks for sharing. I'll enjoy it."
Selena shot me a dirty look, then moved her stopped hands to eat the little steak she had left.
When we finished eating, Carter approached as if he'd been watching.
"Here's the bread and jerky you asked for."
The bread is soft, but... the jerky... can you even chew this? Tree bark would be softer than this.
Packing the paper bag with several pieces of bread and the sack of surprisingly, extremely hard jerky into my backpack, I paid and left the inn.
"Come visit again sometime! Next time I'll prepare a room with no soundproofing so I can hear even if you cover her mouth! Let me hear just how amazing you are!"
Leaving Carter's ridiculous farewell behind us, we left Coen Village, where we'd spent the night, and headed for Tran Village.
"But the places connected from Tran won't just be small villages, right?"