By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 5

Chapter 10, Episode 5: Celebrating with Old and New Friends

After my meeting with the Jamils, I greeted the others who’d been waiting for me. After retelling my journey in and out of the Sea of Trees, I took out my souvenirs from the forest... Most of them were food and drink, so it was only natural that a tasting-slash-party broke out.

“Let’s celebrate Ryoma’s accomplishment and safe return.” Reinhart raised his glass. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Everyone else raised their glasses full of heatwood ale I’d bought at a base in the Sea of Trees. After the first sip, people began knocking their drinks back pretty quickly.

“Ryoma! This stuff is great!”

“The aroma is strong but refreshing. It goes down easy.”

“Is this what the Sea of Trees smells like?”

“I guess this ale doesn’t really leave the adventurers’ base camps in the forest.”

“A lot of materials that can be found in the forest fetch a higher price than the ale, so those are probably given priority.”

Around me stood Hughes and the other guards, Eleonora, and the Jamils, who stood a little farther off since we’d already caught up. Everyone had nothing but rave reviews for the heatwood ale.

“All right, everyone. Let’s start grilling,” I said, facing the large metal plate before me. Within arm’s reach, I also had a table full of food, with a mountain of thin-sliced immortal snake in the middle, surrounded by an array of spices and fruit from the Sea of Trees.

Most adventurers would say that food in the Sea of Trees was hard to come by, but that was only because of the presence of dangerous monsters. There were plenty of edible plants throughout the woods—specifically around Korumi village, I could see where people had once attempted to set up farms for their survival. Still, my top food of the forest had to be the immortal snake. That’s why I had decided to host this sort of cookout. I began laying slices of immortal snake on the hot plate, spreading the sound and aroma of crackling fat throughout the room.

“Whoa... Just the smell of that meat is making me drool.”

“The phrase ‘violently appetizing’ comes to mind...”

“And you haven’t added any spices yet?”

“I was hoping that would catch your attention,” I said. “Yes, this meat tastes good without any seasoning. It has a simple but powerful umami that can actually overpower a lot of spices.”

“If that’s true, I can’t wait to taste it,” Jill said, his gaze shifting between the sizzling meat and the pile of food. “Even most nobles rarely get to taste food from the Sea of Trees.” He would know, since his father was an earl. Bringing home any food from the Sea of Trees would be an ordeal—hiring an adventurer to do so would cost an exorbitant sum. “I doubt many people have even seen an immortal snake in real life.”

“Jill is right,” Reinbach chimed in. “Back when the king’s forces were trying to develop the Sea of Trees, a unit came back with one and presented it to the former king...which caused a stir for a while. I can’t remember how long that lasted...”

“A few years, at most,” Sebas said. “It certainly had demand because of the former king’s praise for the meat and the unit who brought it back, along with its scarcity and a widespread rumor that claimed—because of the immortal snake’s regenerative properties—it was an elixir of immortality. Alas, the supply was too limited for the trend to last.”

“Now I remember. In the end, only those who believed in its life-extending qualities were hunting for it.” Then, Reinbach tilted his head. “Oh? I do remember many rumors claiming that the immortal snake tastes vile and it wasn’t worth sending adventurers into the Sea of Trees to hunt for them, despite their rarity.”

“I can already tell you the meat doesn’t taste bad...” Hughes said.

“I agree. I am baffled that such rumors circulated when its aroma alone seems to grab hold of my senses,” Reinbach added.

“Those rumors probably came from some of the immortal snakes that had been regenerated,” I said, theorizing that those who’d liked the taste had eaten a piece of the immortal snake that a hunter had cut off in battle. Those who didn’t like the taste must have eaten an immortal snake that had been killed after a long battle that caused the immortal snake to regenerate. Perhaps some of the meat had been mass-farmed using a captive snake’s regenerative abilities.

“That would explain the disparity. Too many people are willing to do anything to make a quick buck,” Reinbach said.

“Even if the meat was farmed, it’s still genuine immortal snake meat,” I countered. “It’s also possible that the quality of the meat suffered due to conventional methods of transporting it out of the Sea of Trees. With so few people having tasted good cuts of an immortal snake, I doubt it was difficult to convince people who ate the regenerated cuts that an immortal snake was supposed to taste that bad... Oh, these are almost ready,” I announced.

I could only imagine what condition the immortal snakes were in when they were previously on the market, but mine was in the best possible: freshly caught, meticulously cleaned with the help of my slimes, and carefully stored to preserve its freshness.

I moved a perfectly cooked slice onto my plate and took a bite...and the familiar burst of flavor assaulted my taste buds.

As soon as everyone took a bite of their own slices, their eyes widened as they silently chewed. They all seemed to smile as they swallowed.

“I never thought game meat could be this delicious,” Camil breathed, and everyone quickly agreed, including the Jamils. The immortal snake seemed to satisfy even the sophisticated palate.

As their host, I could have hoped for nothing more.

“Let’s eat up,” I urged. “It’s delicious on its own, but I have plenty of seasonings: pepper from Korumi village, herbs from throughout the Sea of Trees, along with soy sauce, miso, and sesame dressing. Try it with any of them!” Even while I said all of that, people eagerly began grilling their next slices without a hint of flavor fatigue yet. Since they’d probably grill and eat the meat as it was for a while, I decided to make serving portions of the seasonings. It was then that Eleonora came up to me.

“Master Takebayashi.”

“Eleonora. What can I do for you?”

“I saw you walking towards the table of food. I can help,” Eleonora offered.

I was happy to have her relax and continue eating with everyone else, but maybe she felt awkward doing so when her soon-to-be boss was doing a task. “Then I’d love your help with divvying up the seasonings. I’ll set up a station for you. Can you grab those wooden dishes with partitions—enough for everyone here?”

“Right away,” Eleonora said.

In the time it took me to create another table with Earth magic, she returned with the plates. Working together, we filled them with every seasoning I’d prepared. There were a lot that I’d found throughout the Sea of Trees, so her extra hands were very helpful. Soon, I was passing her the bag of pepper to divvy out. She did have a nervous tone and attitude, which was only natural since this was only our second time meeting each other—she had to be struggling to find topics of conversation, just as I was. We seemed to be figuring each other out while we stuck to our task and conversations related to it. But knowing that we’d be working together soon...I wanted to formally introduce myself.

“Eleonora,” I began.

“Yes?”

“Now that I’m back from the Sea of Trees, the duke should reassign you to me soon. I just want to thank you in advance for working with me.”

Eleonora hesitated for a moment, then met my eyes with powerful intensity. “I will serve you until my bones are dust,” she said, and clearly meant it—like she felt that this was her last chance.

To avoid making things any more awkward than they already were, I tried to shift the conversation a little. “Thank you for saying that. I know this is a party, but I was hoping we could speak a little about my expectations of the job, if you don’t mind.”

“There were a few things I wanted to ask as well,” Eleonora said. I hadn’t expected her to refuse since I was about to be her boss, but her tension seemed to ease a little—this was an easier subject for her to broach. We weren’t close enough to talk about any personal matters like hobbies, and considering her history, her private life was a conversational minefield... To be honest, my only option was to talk about work, so if she hadn’t agreed, then we would have been stuck with awkward silence.

“The first thing I wanted to go over was your residence in Gimul, where I work. I’ve already prepared a place and an office with basic necessities. Is there anything else I can have ready for you? Anything that you think may be helpful. It will improve our work if I can ease other burdens you may have and make sure you can be well-rested.”

“A bed and a kitchen are enough. I can use your establishment for laundry, which makes it a lot easier. As for an office, what I would need would depend on the work expected of me. Since my primary duty will be to organize and relay information, I should only require basic stationery and file storage,” Eleonora said.

“Got it. I’ll have you make sure you have everything you need once you officially start the job. Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything else you require,” I said.

After going over a few more things, she seemed to be less nervous about speaking with me. For the first time, she initiated a conversation. “Upon reviewing records of your business and research, there was something I noticed regarding the contracts between the garbage plant and other businesses. Purchasing food waste from restaurants seems like a net loss without any benefit for your business,” she said with a stern expression.

That contract included a clause that prohibited us from reselling or giving away the food waste, which prevented us from producing any direct profit. Even though we paid a fraction of the price compared to how much that food would cost fresh, we bought it from all over the city at a considerable expense.

She hadn’t mentioned this contract solely out of concern for turning a profit, though. She continued to bring up something I wasn’t too proud of. “This contract stands out because it benefits one party at the expense of the other. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had delegated the drafting to someone else as you tended to your many duties, but that contract seems malicious.”

I hadn’t hidden anything from the Jamils, nor did I ask Hughes and the others to keep this a secret—it seemed like they had an effective net of communication within their ranks.

“As you’ve guessed, there was some malicious intent involved with the drafting of that contract.”

Back when I’d decided to purchase food waste and begun looking for shops and restaurants to buy it from, some of the owners started quarrels with me, so I decided to work with them first and get the negotiations over with. At the first appointment, the owner greeted me with barely concealed disdain and nonstop backhanded comments. He kept complaining about the contract I’d drafted until he proposed the ridiculous one I had now.

“I could have walked away then and there, but I had an idea,” I said. “I agreed to his terms, including a clause about revisiting those terms when the contract was up for renewal, of course.”

He must have thought I was going to leave with my tail between my legs, either offended or dejected. When I accepted, he looked surprised—then smirked mockingly. The food waste was meant for me to continue my experiments with slime magic and instant-meal making. Not being allowed to sell or give it away wasn’t an issue for me. That owner had proposed these terms with malicious intent, but it hadn’t hurt me at all. He and the other business owners who had a history with me had probably never imagined that a kid was working on improving food productivity with Wood magic or inventing new instant meals.

“Even if he hadn’t expected me to go along with his terms, he still presented horrible terms, out of a personal vendetta, no less. You wouldn’t consider him a trustworthy contact, would you?” I asked Eleonora. “I took those same terms and presented them to every owner I met with... That made it really easy to figure out who I could and could not trust.”

“You used those terms to test your potential vendors,” Eleonora said.

“It helped me decide where to purchase the food I needed for my canteen once I had hired a lot of staff for the security company, garbage plant, and the hospital. I wanted to make sure I could trust whoever was going to supply the food that my staff would end up eating. I hadn’t considered doing business with those whom I couldn’t trust. If I do say so myself, they missed out on a massive contract.” Even among business owners who had a conflict with me at the meeting, there were people who pointed out how unfair the food waste contract was for me—regardless of their personal feelings, they had stayed honest in business. With some of them, I had established a recurring contract for buying food off their shelves as well. “Also, from the perspective of those untrustworthy vendors, there would be a huge difference between refusing to sign a contract with me in the first place and turning down a renewal after temporarily enjoying the unfair benefits of selling off their food waste. This way, it’s a lot harder for them to reject a renewal offer.”

“Not only will it strengthen your position in future negotiations, you could potentially get them to amend the contract. If they refuse to compromise and continue to act as if they’re superior, you could end the contract completely. That would be an ironic payback,” Eleonora said quietly, letting a dark smile slip through for a moment—whoever she thought of in that moment, she apparently had some scores to settle in life.

“I had considered the option of paying them back that way...but they kind of took themselves out,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the reason we had friction in the first place was because I refused to fall for a con that they all went along with.”

Eleonora seemed to remember. “I read the report on that. Some store owners had been tricked into setting up explosives in their shops and warehouses, thinking they were for surveillance.”

“Those businesses, owned by many of the people who had a problem with me at the meeting, blew sky-high,” I said.

Some of those storefronts had doubled as the owners’ residences, so it was a small miracle that no one had died—even if they didn’t feel that way. Without my doing anything, their businesses had crumbled, regardless of my contracts with them.

“Even without that explosive turn of events, their malicious contracts with me and their shady business practices were the talk of the Merchant’s Guild for a while... I doubt their reputations would have survived for long anyway. Even that contract, which wasn’t much of a loss for me to begin with, is being revised under the supervision of a former law officer recommended to me by the duke,” I explained.

“A former law officer... There was no need for me to mention anything, then. Thank you for walking me through that, and I’m sorry to have wasted your time,” Eleonora said.

“Not at all. I’d barely explained what your job will look like. I feel very reassured that you were already on top of things regarding my businesses.” I saw her gaze drift towards the guards a few times during our conversation, so I assumed she’d heard about the contract from them. Buying out that food waste really was mostly for my research, and I was basically running that aspect on my own. Everyone had been busy at that time, and I hadn’t completed signing those contracts until they’d returned to the Jamils’ residence, so they must not have heard the full story. Even in my previous life, and with the help of email, there were plenty of times when information was sent out late or left out altogether. This conversation with Eleonora was fruitful enough in the sense that I was able to get her caught up. “Don’t hesitate to ask me anything you’d like to know,” I reassured her. “There will be more times when I will leave the city, potentially for long periods of time. Even when I’m here, I’ll be focusing on my research, so the more curious you are, the more secure I’ll feel.”

“Understood,” Eleonora said. There was still a hint of nervousness in her demeanor, but I was happy that we were at least able to hold a conversation. Just as I was about to wrap it up and let her enjoy the party, Reinbach and Sebas approached us.

“Now that it is an impressive spread,” Reinbach said of the seasonings.

“I hope you’re both enjoying yourselves,” I said.

“Of course. The immortal snake was so delicious that we’d forgotten the man of the hour,” Sebas said, apparently in an attempt at humor. The butler was always a calming presence, but he seemed particularly happy today.

“I’m happy showing off my loot from my adventure and having everyone enjoy themselves. The spotlight should be on the food, really,” I said.

“Then I must enjoy all the food and drink I can,” Sebas said.

Is he a big drinker? I wondered, thinking how he was the only one who hadn’t been hungover after we had celebrated Elia taming a limour bird. Maybe he enjoyed any form of eating or drinking.

“Sebas often traveled either as my attendant or messenger,” Reinbach said. “Tasting different cuisines at our destinations was a hobby he enjoyed in what little spare time he had. When you’re skilled enough in Space magic, even accounting for breaks needed between each jump, using magic is much faster than traveling on horseback.”

“There is only so much work I can do on the road,” Sebas added. “Not to mention the tight schedule. I was exploring ways to use my free time productively.” He smiled nostalgically and beamed outright when I gave him a plate of my favorite seasonings.

“Can I get you anything else?” I asked.

“The fruit looks delicious... But if I’m going to try these spices out, I would love another drink,” Sebas said.

“Don’t party too hard, neither of us are young anymore,” Reinbach joked, took his own plate of spices, and walked Sebas back to the hot plate. Everyone else was still enjoying the meat unseasoned, but the first pile of immortal snake slices was running thin.

“Eleonora, let’s take these spices over there, along with more meat,” I said.

“I’ll get them right away,” she said, rather mechanically. Still, she was good at communicating and completing any task I’d given her. Feeling optimistic about my new assistant, I played waiter while I enjoyed talking to everyone for the rest of the party.