Forced Training (6)
Forced Training (6)
"Good morning. ... Though I'm not sure if it's still a proper time to call it morning."
Jake raised his hand slightly toward us in greeting. Then he yawned loudly without covering his mouth. Alice's eyes narrowed slightly at the sight, but she didn't bother to comment on it.
"Good morning."
Alice answered that way and sat down next to Charlotte. I sat beside Alice. Claire, who was seated beside Leo, wore a slightly disappointed expression, but I didn't let on that I'd noticed.
It wasn't really intentional, but because of that, Jake and Mia Crowfield ended up sitting a bit apart from us. That didn't mean the two of them were sitting together. The table was wider than the one in the dining hall, so the squeezed-together seats were spread a little more comfortably apart.
I, Alice, Charlotte, Leo, and Claire were sitting fairly close together, while Mia Crowfield and Jake sat somewhat apart. And of course, Mia Crowfield's seat and Jake's seat were also spread a little apart from each other.
Fortunately, no one seemed to mind that gap. Jake wasn't the type of character to care about such things in the first place, and Mia Crowfield was still fast asleep with her face planted on the table.
Seeing her shoulders rise and fall gently with her soft breathing, I didn't feel like waking her. Apparently everyone at the table felt the same way, so Mia Crowfield would probably enjoy a few more minutes of deep sleep.
"...... There's something I want to ask. Does breakfast even get served at this hour?"
Alice, who'd been sitting with her eyes closed and composing herself, finally opened her eyes and asked.
Sure enough, we were the only ones in the dining hall. It was so early that even Alice and Charlotte, both practically icons of diligence in my eyes, had yet to fully come to their senses, so of course no other students would be out here already.
"You don't need to worry about that. When I came down earlier, I spoke with the people working here. Apparently meals at Winterfield Castle are available at any hour."
"...... Is that so?"
Alice tilted her head at Leo's words.
The place we were in was Winterfield Castle. In other words, it was the residence of the lord of Winterfield.
Of course, the lord of Winterfield, Lord Abraham Fitzgerald Winterfield, was away in the imperial capital serving as headmaster of the Imperial Rondarium Academy, and his only child, Jennifer Winterfield, had also been in the capital until recently.
It wasn't that Lord Winterfield had no other grandchildren. However, all of them had advanced into politics and were energetically pursuing their careers, so the position of castellan of Winterfield Castle had practically been left vacant.
Not that the castle had passed into anyone else's hands, thanks to the loyal retainers. And there were several people of Winterfield blood stationed near the border as well.
"One of Winterfield's local specialties is reindeer hide. And the beasts are so savage that it's almost impossible to raise them in captivity."
Not that the specialty was produced in large quantities, of course.
In the game, it appeared as one of the materials for crafting armor, but it wasn't exactly hard to obtain. Unless you were grinding for levels or money, the game didn't require the kind of heavy material grinding that some other games did. But the item description did say it was precious, so in this world it was likely treated as a very rare find.
Well, now that I thought about it, even on Earth, products made of genuine leather were fairly expensive, even in a modern society where cattle are raised on such a massive scale.
So reindeer hide, which could only be acquired through hunting, had to be far more valuable. Especially if someone wanted to obtain it without damage, the difficulty would rise even higher.
"He said they always keep meals ready, because the hunters never know what time they'll come in to eat."
"...... That's good to hear. But if we're dispatched to a different region, things could change, so be careful. We don't know how people there might view us."
Claire added a remark to Leo's explanation, and Alice answered.
"Mmhm......."
Hearing Alice's words, Claire's cheeks colored slightly, as if she were a little embarrassed.
"......."
And as she watched the two of them, Charlotte wore a slightly worried expression. It seemed the haggis we'd eaten upon arriving yesterday had left a deeply unpleasant impression on her. Well, Charlotte had left almost her entire meal uneaten.
Were animal innards really that hard to eat? Honestly, I could eat raw liver without batting an eye.
...... Though, of course, that was only because I lived in a modern society with exceptionally advanced meat processing and distribution—I could trust it. I had no intention of eating uncooked innards in this world. I was just speaking generally.
Then again, in this era there were people who considered sushi and raw fish barbaric cuisine, so a dish made by mixing organs with oats and stuffing them tightly back into a stomach to cook might have been extremely difficult for Charlotte to stomach. To be honest, it did smell a bit, too.
"There's no need to worry too much. This is Winterfield Castle, after all."
"Pardon?"
When I spoke to Charlotte, she flinched slightly and asked again.
"What I mean is, because this is a noble's castle, the meals are prepared as they would be for nobles. Haggis is haggis, but this region is also quite famous for its ham and sausages."
Winterfield was a place where cool temperatures were maintained year-round, and when it got truly cold, it was so bitterly freezing that going outside was difficult. Naturally, they stockpiled a great deal of preserved food for winter, and among those, ham and sausages were the most famous.
Actually, in this era, both haggis and sausages were made by stuffing meat into animal casings, so it was a little strange that sausages were considered delicious while haggis was treated as bizarre food, but in any case, the general impression of sausages was very good.
At my words, Charlotte's face reddened slightly.
The concept of national character was gradually taking shape, and people did sometimes insult each other's food, but separately from that, it was common sense that refusing food as a guest after being served was shameful. At least the haggis had been something we paid for, but the food served here was entirely provided by Winterfield.
If she left any uneaten, it wouldn't just be a matter of being in a different region. As a princess of another country, it would be an utter disgrace.
Leaving food because you're full was something a host could take pride in, but taking only one or two bites and leaving the rest would naturally offend the people who'd hosted you.
Furthermore, the granddaughter of Winterfield's lord, who owned this region, was Jennifer Winterfield, who was now leading us. If rumors spread that a princess had refused a meal in the presence of an academy instructor, it would be disastrous.
"......I—I wasn't worried about that."
When Alice, who was seated between Charlotte and me, beamed brightly at her, Charlotte hurriedly answered that way.
She didn't need to guard her pride quite that stubbornly.
...... Though, then again, I was someone who would even turn back time to defend my own pride, so I wasn't really one to talk.
While we were having that conversation, the sound of footsteps reached us.
Turning my head, I saw the dining hall door open, and immaculately dressed servants came in, carrying one plate in each hand.
Just as I'd expected, the meal they were carrying was the kind of hearty spread that would immediately come to mind if you thought of a 'European-style breakfast.'
It was the sort of thing called an English breakfast. Though here, should I call it an Aetherna breakfast?
"Let's eat first, then talk. And Mia needs to wake up too."
While the dishes were being placed on the table one after another, Claire looked at Mia, who was still sleeping as if dead, and said with a wry smile.
I glanced up at the faces of the servants who were bringing the food to the table.
Every one of them looked perfectly serene. Not a single person wore a sleepy expression.
...... Inwardly, I offered them my honest respect, and I picked up a knife and fork in both hands.
*
Still, once I'd stubbornly shoveled the meal into my stomach, my head was clearer than it had been right after waking up.
"......."
Mia Crowfield had also managed to reach a state where she could more or less sit up. She had still been so sleepy that she couldn't finish half her meal, but considering her small build, she probably couldn't have eaten much anyway.
"Hoo."
Claire let out a soft breath, as if satisfied.
Charlotte also wore a reasonably satisfied expression. She'd left one black pudding uneaten, but she'd still finished almost all of the other food.
To be fair, last night a lavish dinner had been served, partly as a welcoming feast. Things like whole roasted reindeer meat and steak made from well-aged beef. But those were special dishes to begin with, weren't they? I could understand her worry that everyday meals might include things like haggis.
"Right, then... Let's think about which requests to tackle first."
As Claire said that, she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.
It looked like she'd roughly jotted down the requests that had been posted on the board.
...... It was slightly terrifying that she wasn't worrying about which requests to handle, but rather which requests to handle first.