The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 3

Act 3:

The Food Festival

ONE WEEK AFTER Marchioness Ashley’s tea party, it was decided that I would host my own event.

Perhaps someone else would have warned me that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I myself wasn’t sure how any of it had happened. Or at least, that’s what I would like to claim. In truth, I knew exactly how this had all come together, because the king and the prime minister summoned me to explain.

It went without saying that Marchioness Ashley was the instigator behind it all. After the tea party, she had spoken with her husband about the discussions that day. When she expressed her surprise at how receptive I had been to the idea of creating my own social event, the marquis immediately went to speak with the king about me hosting a party.

Capable men are quick to strike when they see an opportunity, after all. I was a bit amazed by his alacrity, all the same.

Having heard the marquis’s request, the king and prime minister decided to leverage it to their advantage. They would make this a chance for the nobles who were frustrated by the lack of opportunities to meet the Saint to make her acquaintance and thus resolve their discontent.

The nobility had been sending a deluge of invitations to the Saint in hopes of making her acquaintance all this time. The king and prime minister determined that it would be less stressful for me to host my own party instead of responding to everyone else’s invitations.

I agreed. I believed that by inviting the nobility to my own parties, I would have to deal with them less frequently than I would if I went to theirs. 

To be clear, I wouldn’t have been nearly so overwhelmed if I could have just been a wallflower at any ball I was invited to. But things never could be that easy. Any time I went to one, people would inevitably approach me to keep up acquaintances with the Saint, and there would surely be a line of people wanting to ask me for a dance. All through the party, that line would never wane. Just imagining it distressed me beyond belief.

Therefore, when I considered whether accepting invitations or hosting my own party would be more painful, I didn’t even have to think about it—especially since figuring out what kind of event to host had honestly been kind of fun. I had a feeling that preparation would be a lot of work, but I was sure it would be worth it.

So, when the king and prime minister asked if I would be interested in hosting an event, I agreed. Thankfully, they gave me their complete support the whole way through, so I wasn’t on my own for this. The palace provided everything I physically required—the venue, assistants, and even ingredients for the meal.

For the venue, I was offered the use of a courtyard in the palace, and for the assistance, I was able to borrow the servants, maids, and chefs who worked at the palace. If I needed any particular ingredients, all I had to do was ask an official and he would make the arrangements for me.

The most I personally had to do was come up with the ideas. Even with that, I sorted it all out during discussions with the officials, so it was a great deal less stressful than I initially anticipated.

Except, well, they expanded the scale of the party a bit beyond my original expectations. Apparently, what I had first had in mind would be too intimate. According to the official helping me, my starting plan would have accommodated less than half the people who were interested in attending, which would have meant hosting yet another party at a later date. I didn’t want to host one event after another, so I took the official’s assessment into consideration and opted for one bigger shindig.

A busy half month of preparations passed until the day of the party finally arrived.

Since I was hosting, I stayed at the palace the night before. The party began just before noon, so we started getting ready before daybreak.

By this, I mean I had to get dressed up. My usual maids took care of the majority of that, so though I was half-asleep throughout the process, that wasn’t really a problem.

However, the maids couldn’t afford to slack off. They woke up earlier than me, got themselves dressed for the day, and then got things ready for me to get dressed. I was full of utter admiration for everyone’s dedication to their duties.

There were also a number of people working hard to get the venue ready from before the break of dawn.

I was sure that, since I was hosting a party that was a bit different from the usual soirées held at the palace, they would have some trouble. Nevertheless, somehow, everything was set up with no major problems along the way. It all came down to the various people I’d met with to plan it, as well as their hard work.

“It looks like they got everything set up okay,” I said.

“Yes,” said my companion. “And it looks like they’re just about done setting out all of the food.”

“Mm-hmm. It all smells great.”

After getting dressed, I arrived at the venue early to do a final check. Accompanying me was Prince Rayne. He was essentially the supervisor for all matters concerning the Saint and was one of the people who had put in a lot of the elbow grease to get this party up to snuff.

At first, I had considered him my assistant, but the fact was that he had played a central role in managing the whole thing. The way it ended up working out was that I would give him a request, and then he and his close associates would deliver the appropriate instructions to the appropriate departments.

Thanks to Prince Rayne and his associates acting as my intermediaries, party prep had wound up being relatively easy. As such, I considered him a central figure for this event, but Prince Rayne insisted he had merely helped out here and there.

I felt awful about that, since he had done most of the work. But when I said this, he smiled and told me, “This is just what I need to learn how to do for the future.”

He was so competent; it was hard to believe he was only fifteen years old. Actually, both he and Liz were quite mature for their age. Was it possibly because of how they had been taught since they were very young?

Prince Rayne’s responsibility didn’t end at making the arrangements for the party. He was also acting as my escort for the event, which was why he was dressed quite handsomely as he stood beside me in the hall. Apparently, his outfit was appropriate for afternoon parties; he was less decorated than he would have been for an evening event.

“I’ve never been to this kind of party before. It feels like I can’t keep still,” Prince Rayne said.

“Are you feeling nervous?”

“Yes, but I’m also looking forward to this. This is what your parties are like back in Japan, yes?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t say they’re exactly like this. This is more like a food festival, if anything.”

“A festival? You mean like a harvest festival?”

“Yes, that. Although I would say that our party is more specifically about enjoying the meal.”

Prince Rayne surveyed the venue looking somewhat excited as I explained the initial concept for the party again. 

The prince was right that I had based my concept for this event on a certain sort of event in Japan—food festivals, in particular, which were held outdoors.

Our venue was in a section of the palace gardens that was typically an open space with nothing regularly kept within it. Tables, chairs, and sun parasols had been arranged in the center, with countless tents erected around the perimeter.

Well, I called them tents, but they were more specifically canopy tents. They were comprised of four long poles holding up a white cloth canopy, and none of them had walls. The weather was lovely that day, so the white of the tents and parasols stood out against the green grass and made it all look extremely pretty.

Inside each of the tents was a kitchen and table for setting plates on as a counter. The food would be finished cooking on-site. The mise en place for each meal—such as chopping up ingredients and the like—had been done in the palace kitchens first, as per usual.

I had decided on this format for the party because I thought it might be good entertainment for the nobles to watch the chefs at work, since they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to do so. I had also arranged it so that the nobles would have to go to the tents themselves to get their food.

However, there had been a bit of a dispute about this. Someone had noted a worry over whether this event would be completely safe. It seemed some of the nobility always found something to complain about, though fortunately this complaint wasn’t especially loud. 

Ultimately, we had to designate special seats to ensure the safety of important persons such as the king and prime minister. Therefore, the king wouldn’t be eating at the center table but taking his meal in a different section. In other words, we had to have a VIP area.

Their area had its own tents and places for plating food, but it also had chamberlains on standby. The VIP guests would tell the chamberlains what they wanted to eat, and the chamberlains would go fetch the dishes.

This section also had taste testers to check for poison. Furthermore, we had mages on the premises who could use magic to heal any toxins or related effects. I happened to be one of them.

“Everything seems all set here, so perhaps we should start heading to the entrance?” Prince Rayne suggested after we finished our tour of the venue.

“Good idea.”

We had the important job of greeting the guests and thanking them for coming. This would be my main duty for the day.

At parties organized by the royal family, it was customary for the host to appear after everyone else. However, we decided that I would greet the guests at the door like a typical noble would for one of their own events. Once greetings were seen to, guests would select and enjoy their food. This was to ensure that eating would remain the main focus of the party. I had decided to do this because I was afraid that if I made my entrance after everyone else, the focus would turn to me instead.

Moreover, I wasn’t yet acquainted with two-thirds of the people who would be attending. In other words, these were the people who had thus far been unable to secure a chance to meet the Saint. I imagined that they would be fired up at the prospect of meeting me, especially those who likely wouldn’t get a chance to see me again anytime soon.

I anticipated that initial conversations with these people would run long, so I was hoping to curtail that behavior by greeting them at the door. I wanted to take advantage of, you know, that feeling of mental pressure to hurry up and finish when you know other people are waiting on you. Besides, if I could bring up that other people were waiting, I’d have an easier time getting them to move along.

Thinking about the oncoming flurry of meeting new people is a bit depressing… But I think I can do it? I tried to give myself a mental pep talk as Prince Rayne and I headed to the entrance together.

***

As soon as it was time for the party to begin, guests came in one after another. The moment they spotted Prince Rayne and I waiting by the entrance, they made a beeline toward us with amiable smiles on their faces. I dredged up the memory of my lessons and greeted them with a smile in turn.

The palace had put together the guest list for this event, so many of the arrivals were people who I was meeting for the very first time. I had asked the palace to take care of the list because I had felt stymied and ill-equipped to handle it myself.

Yes, one of the reasons I was hosting this event was to give people whom I would not ordinarily ever meet the chance to become acquainted with me. Even so, it wasn’t like the guests could be picked at random. There were political concerns at play, so it was vital to take various power dynamics into consideration.

I had learned a bit about this during my lessons, but not nearly enough to be able to confidently select a large number of people to invite while keeping all that in mind. On top of that, this party wasn’t an extension of my lessons or practice. I was going to be performing without rehearsal, so to speak, and if I made any mistakes, there would be consequences. Therefore, I had determined that it would be best to ask other people to do what I couldn’t and so asked the palace to curate the list in my stead.

That being said, I did have some acquaintances in attendance, the very first of these being Marquis Ashley’s family. In addition to the marchioness and Liz, the marquis himself had also come, as well as Liz’s older brother, Viscount Ashley, and his wife.

Liz was pretty, so I had predicted this, but everyone in her family was drop-dead gorgeous. I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination or whether they actually radiated halos of light.

Although this was my friend’s family, I felt a bit nervous about this meeting, as I had yet to meet any of them besides her mother. However, I immediately felt at ease. Marquis Ashley was a wonderfully considerate man. He could sense my anxiety, so he treated me as his daughter’s friend rather than as the Saint. I was genuinely thankful for that.

But after them came one stranger after another, although I recognized some names. For example, people from House Drewes and House Aiblinger. I knew of House Drewes because that was the grand magus’s family, and the latter was from the family of the knight commander of the Second Order.

It was rude of me, but I couldn’t help but stare at them when I heard their familiar names. Both of them were relatives of people I knew. The representative from the knight commander’s family bore a resemblance to him, but the representative from House Drewes looked nothing like the grand magus.

There was one other house whose representative I recognized.

“Thank you so much for inviting me today.”

“And thank you so much for coming, Lord Hawke.”

Josef Hawke stood before me. He had golden hair that softly reflected the sunlight and blue-gray eyes. He was the minister of military services and Knight Commander Albert Hawke’s elder brother.

They shared the same hair color, though I found Josef’s to be a shade darker. As it happened, this wasn’t our first meeting. I had encountered him once before. Therefore we only exchanged simple greetings with one another this time around, perhaps because he knew I disliked being all formal.

It was my first time meeting his wife, however, so I gave her a polite hello. She had ash-colored hair with a slight purple hue and gray eyes. In short, she was a true beauty with an ethereal aura.

“I hear that today’s event is modeled after ones from your place of birth?” she said.

“You heard correctly,” I replied. “Today’s party is all about celebrating cuisine.”

“I hear that you created the recipes for everything that will be served today,” she went on. “I am dearly looking forward to sampling the food I’ve heard so much about.”

“I am as well,” said Lord Hawke. “Thank you kindly for gracing us with this opportunity.”

They were both intent on expressing their gratitude for this event. The point of the party had been written in the invitation, and as such, the guests all knew both that I had based the party on a food festival and that the food on offer would be re-creations of the food from my place of origin. I still didn’t understand how that had gotten twisted into me being the one who had originally created these dishes.

“I didn’t create the recipes,” I clarified. “These are just imitations of what we ate at my old home. I hope you enjoy them.”

“Is that so?” said Lord Hawke. “Well, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s all brand new to us. I’m sure my younger brothers are going to be quite disappointed when I tell them about today.”

“I hear that neither of them will be attending.”

“My apologies for that. Neither is the type to bring himself to this sort of social event.”

“It’s nothing to apologize for! I heard they have work too.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle dryly at the mention of Lord Hawke’s two brothers. As he said, both Lord Smarty-Glasses and Albert wouldn’t be turning up at this event. Lord Smarty-Glasses would be hard at work as usual at the Royal Magi Assembly, and Albert was out on an expedition with his knights in some domain that was quite far away.

Incidentally, Grand Magus Yuri Drewes wouldn’t be attending either. I heard he was off at another location for a different expedition.

I didn’t know how Lord Smarty-Glasses would feel, but I knew for sure that Albert and Yuri would be disappointed to hear they’d missed this event.

I suppose I could host some other event to give them the opportunity to try these dishes? I thought. 

Just then, Lord Hawke leaned close to my ear as if he meant to whisper into it. 

Huh? What’s he doing?! My heart lurched in surprise at his sudden approach.

“If you would be interested,” he said, “I could invite you to visit our home sometime. I shall invite my brothers as well.”

“Lord Hawke.”

Lord Hawke had lowered his voice, but Prince Rayne had heard. He was standing next to me. The prince addressed Lord Hawke with a critical tone as I stared at the lord in amazement. It was no surprise that the prince was concerned. Once one person took the initiative to offer the Saint a personal invitation, other people were sure to do the same.

Other people had actually done the same already, so Prince Rayne didn’t see this as that big of a problem. He only softly chided them, just as he had done with Lord Hawke. If anything, he was more tolerant of Lord Hawke’s advance than he was with others—the look he gave the lord was softer than the ones I’d seen from him before.

Maybe it was because Lord Hawke hadn’t delivered this invitation in a haughty manner? But something else bothered me more than that.

Was he basically inviting me to his home—the Marquis of the Hawke Borderlands’ villa in the capital—to treat them to a meal? What he was getting at before was that his brothers would be disappointed that they’d missed out on eating all the dishes we were serving today, right? 

Or did he mean something else entirely? As I mentally flailed, trying to understand what exactly he was inviting me to do, Lord Hawke smoothly stepped away and excused himself with a smile. Wait—don’t just walk away after saying something that has a deeper meaning! 

However, even those thoughts were in vain because the eldest Hawke brother and his wife disappeared into the party as if nothing had happened.

After that, I was yet again drowning in hellos to the never-ending stream of guests. A little while later, the flow of people finally stopped, and an attendant whispered something into Prince Rayne’s ear to confirm that most of the guests were now inside.

“I suppose we too should join the party,” he said.

“Yes.” I nodded, and together, we walked in as well.

***

We entered the party venue and immediately ascended the platform that had been erected in the far back. As the host, it was my job to address everyone at the start of the event. I really wished I could skip that part, but no dice. My announcement allowed the party to commence. Too bad for me!

I felt everyone’s gazes trained on me as I assumed my spot at the highest point. I really hated speaking in front of a crowd. My expression stiffened and I felt like my heart was going to leap out of my mouth.

I want to get this over with as soon as possible and go hide somewhere super out of the way, I thought as I recalled the speech I had come up with ahead of time.

Somehow, I got through it, and then the guests were off to the races. They made straight for the tents as if they had been waiting impatiently this whole time. All according to plan!

As I had explained to them on the invitations, the main purpose of this event was to celebrate cuisine. Since I had met each of them already at the entrance, I didn’t want them to pay me any more mind; their goal was to thoroughly enjoy the food.

Despite that wish, I still saw some people try to approach me.

Uh-oh—please don’t let them catch me!

I was completely tapped of mental energy after that speech. I didn’t have it in me to endure being fawned over by people with whom I had briefly spoken all of one time.

I’ll just pretend I didn’t see them. Yeah.

And so, I urged Prince Rayne to take us to the area where the king and prime minister were seated. This tent was located near the platform in the part of the venue farthest to the back. Guards were posted at its entrance, so only those who had permission could enter.

It had been constructed to be a safe place, but it also served as a location for me to take shelter from bothersome nobles.

Unlike the tents where the food was being cooked, all three sides were enclosed by drapes, apart from the entrance, which was left open. Although we were outdoors, there was a rug inside the tent, along with a large folding table and chairs. In the corner was a smaller table with a water pitcher and the like.

I also discovered that it wasn’t only the higher-ups inside. There was also a guard, a mage, an attendant, and a maid to wait on them.

The king and prime minister were already sitting down in the tent. I must have looked exhausted, because the second I entered, the king chuckled and said sympathetically, “You did well.”

The prime minister, who was sitting beside the king, wore the same look. “The food should be here soon, I believe. Sit down and relax while we wait.” 

“Thank you very much,” I replied as I wearily collapsed in the chair the attendant pulled out for me.

The maid set down some tea, which I tasted. Just as I was taking a brief moment to relax, another higher-up arrived. An attendant received Marquis Ashley, whom I had just met earlier.

The marquis was by himself, and I couldn’t see anyone following behind him but for a different attendant, bearing a silver tray. I wondered what that was about, but as soon as I saw what was on the tray, I understood.

“I am glad to see you in good health, Your Majesty,” said the marquis.

“No need for the formalities. What brings you here?”

“I have come to humbly offer this to you.” The marquis picked up the bottle on the tray and held it out to the king.

“Is it wine?”

“No, a juice made from the roses for which my domain is known.”

The juice was bottled as you would wine, so it was no surprise that the king would assume as much. However, I could tell that the king thought it a bit strange that the marquis had come to deliver the bottle personally. Upon hearing the marquis’s response, he let out a sound of surprised admiration.

“I brought it here today thinking you might wish to enjoy it with your meal,” said the marquis.

“Is that so? In that case, let us make a toast.”

“Are you certain, Your Majesty? It is not alcoholic.”

“That’s all right. Sei, you made this too, didn’t you?”

“Ah, yes. I did.”

“Traditionally, we only make toasts with fermented brews, but a drink made by you is more than suitable for the job.”

I nodded, and the marquis passed the juice to the attendant.

Perhaps I should have made a liqueur out of the roses instead of juice? But liqueur needed time to infuse and wouldn’t have been ready for this particular event. I supposed it didn’t matter, since the king didn’t seem to mind the lack of alcohol.

Not long after, an attendant served us glasses full of the rose extract. The original color of the roses lent it a different hue than wine. The juice itself was transparent within the glass, and it looked very pretty.

When everyone complimented the color, even the marquis didn’t seem as dissatisfied as he would have had others believe. The king led the toast, and we all took a sip. The scent and flavor of the juice brought everyone to voice their admiration.

“It’s magnificent,” the prime minister said.

“Indeed. I believe this drink would be very popular with women,” the king said.

“You would be right,” said the marquis. “I had my family taste it at home beforehand. My wife and daughter especially took to it.”

“To think that a drink could taste like this. Now I’m very much looking forward to the meal.”

The king looked at me, so I bowed my head and said, “Thank you.”

I had come up with this event during my conversation with Marchioness Ashley during her tea party. The dishes were all food people had eaten back in the world I came from, which the noble ladies had all said they wished to try, and they had been made using ingredients from parts of the kingdom that were famous for producing specific products. Drinks were included in that spread, and the rose juice that the marquis had presented to us was one of them.

I had come up with the dishes on the menu and decided how to use these specialty products in discussion with Prince Rayne. I’d then shared my conclusions with the king, the prime minister, and other related officials.

I didn’t know how much of a hand the king himself had played in it all. Regardless, he must have guessed that the juice was related to the party as soon as he heard that it was made with a local export. He must have then thought that I was the one who had provided the know-how to actually make it. The timing at which the marquis had presented the juice only further supported this conclusion.

As it so happened, the reason I had decided to discuss all of this with Prince Rayne first was for the same reason I’d had him manage the guest list—that stuff about political balance and all. I’d had to be even more careful with the menu than I had been when picking guests.

If the Saint were to select a given region’s specialty product for use in one of her works, everyone in this kingdom would automatically consider it a great honor. On top of that, if the resultant dish was in turn well received, then they could anticipate that it would lead to extremely high profits in the future.

With money and honor at stake, many people were eager to have their products in my hands. That was why we had to take political balance into account.

You guessed it—this whole thing had been a huge pain in the behind!

“Do you have plans to sell this on the market?” the prime minister asked me.

“Yes. Although I was thinking of leaving this to another company instead of mine.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“My company is busy enough as it is handling cosmetics.”

“Ha ha ha. I understand. I suppose that can’t be helped, since your beauty products are so popular.”

Indeed, I was planning to leave the production and sales of the rose juice to the marquis’s personal business ventures. The drink we were enjoying at that moment would be sold in individual bottles.

Naturally, I hadn’t given them this right for free. I would be receiving a usage fee from the companies the lords of each domain had recommended to me, which would be calculated in proportion with production rates as well as by the terms of the agreement. It was more or less akin to a licensing agreement from my original world.

Similarly, I would offer whatever items couldn’t be sold separately, like recipes, to anyone who wanted them using a similar contract. As such, only specific restaurants would be entitled to serve these dishes.

Prince Rayne was the one who had come up with this idea. At first, we had discussed whether my company could handle everything. However, I’d thought it would be difficult for the company to manage food sales on top of cosmetics, at least at its current size. When I brought this up with Prince Rayne, he’d suggested this alternative.

“It’s thanks to Lady Sei that my domain will profit from this innovation as well. I am most grateful to her.”

“Please, the pleasure was all mine,” I said. “I would like to thank you as well for all your cooperation for this event.”

“That makes it sound like you’ll be the one handling production, then, Lord Ashley?” the king asked.

“That is correct. Lady Sei herself proposed this arrangement.”

“Oh, um, it was actually Prince Rayne’s idea,” I pointed out.

“Is that so? Does that mean that other domains will be benefiting from this sort of agreement as well?” the marquis asked.

“Indeed. I plan to sign a contract with anyone who desires one and leave the manufacturing and sales of each new product to the lords.”

As we continued our discussion, the food was brought in. There were large portions of each dish placed on platters on the table, because even the appearance of the food was a delight. I was to tell the maid what I wanted to eat, and she would serve a portion of those dishes for me.

All the food brought in was new, never before served at the institute’s dining hall. The king gazed at the dishes with anticipation.

There had been a great deal of discussion before we ate, during which we had identified which dishes were using which ingredients from which domains. Thus, just as the platters of food were being set on the table, the king said, “Shall we begin?”

I could tell he was truly looking forward to this meal. Moreover, the food appeared to meet everyone’s expectations. As they dug in, they excitedly hailed the flavors and fragrances. There were all sorts of dishes that they had never eaten before, but they seemed to like them all, by and large, so that was a bit of a relief.

“I’m thinking I should take a look at the venue,” I said.

“Very well. I suspect it won’t be easy, but take care,” the king told me.

I nodded and smiled stiffly. “Th-thank you.” 

I had a feeling I knew what he was referring to: I was about to be surrounded by all kinds of people.

I mentally wailed as I stood up, though Prince Rayne stood with me. He was coming to lead the way. I could practically see a halo around the sparkling, smiling prince. It was extremely reassuring to have him by my side—he was just so good at handling people.

With this dependable ally by my side, my steps felt slightly lighter as we headed outside to the battleground.

***

I squinted at the blinding sun as soon as I stepped outside the tent. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I was finally able to make out how things were going.

My guests were enjoying the meals they had selected at the central tables. Their expressions told me that the fare had been generally well received, which meant that the event was a success, for the time being.

I felt someone’s eyes on me and casually glanced to see who it was, only to find that the people who had tried to talk to me before I went inside the VIP area were watching me.

Had they been waiting for me all this time? I felt a bit bad, but I also wished they would just enjoy the food. Hmm, maybe I should talk to them a bit? 

As I worried, Prince Rayne urged me to move. “Lady Sei, where shall we go first?”

“Oh, hmm, I’m not sure.”

“Lady Ashley is in attendance today, so perhaps we should speak with her first?”

“All right.”

The prince’s immediate suggestion to go see Liz reminded me that the two of them were the same age. They had to be well acquainted, as they were both children of high-ranking nobility.

Liz was a good friend of mine, so I instantly agreed to this idea.

Prince Rayne began purposefully walking in a direction as if he already knew where Liz was. Based on the trajectory, I was sure he was headed in the direction of the tent distributing rose juice. Perhaps Liz was there to help promote it; the juice had been made using the roses from her family’s domain.

However, he didn’t walk to the tent in a straight line. We kept checking out the other displays along the way. Every tent was doing well, and there appeared to be no problems at present.

A lord at each tent was explaining how ingredients from their region had been used to guests who came to take food. Everyone seemed to have had the same idea.

Prince Rayne also took the opportunity to say hello to each lord. I did as well, of course. We could also exchange words with whomever a given lord was talking to at the time, so it made for efficient socializing.

It had the additional effect of enabling me to gradually meet all of the people who had been vigilantly waiting to talk to me. These people were able to intermittently say their piece while I spoke with others in front of the various tents.

Fortunately, nothing that happened was nearly as bad as I had imagined. Everyone had only wanted to speak to me to give me their thoughts about the party and politely promote their own domain’s exports.

I had braced myself for the possibility of mothers trying to talk up their sons like Liz had warned me about, but luckily no one mentioned any potential matches. Perhaps it was because Prince Rayne was at my side?

We ended up speaking of not only each domain’s exports but also the finer points of residing in each region. Perhaps this was more of a preliminary skirmish on that front. Some people invited me to visit their domains in the future, but Prince Rayne gently drove those people away for me.

To no surprise, the reason I used to decline their invitations was monster slaying. Although things were stable for the moment, the king had yet to declare that the problem had been completely eradicated. As such, I could claim that we were still in the middle of dealing with it.

As we made our way around and stopped at each tent, we soon spotted a crowd up ahead. Actually, we had spotted it a while back—there were so many people that it was impossible to miss. I had mostly been ignoring it and focusing on socializing with the people in front of me.

The crowd was composed of people wearing brightly colored dresses. In other words, it was a crowd of women. I had a hunch about this, and it was proven right: They were all gathered at the tent serving rose juice. Now I was afraid to approach it for a completely different reason. However, I spotted a familiar face within the crowd, so I gathered my resolve and walked over.

“Liz.”

“If it isn’t Sei! And Prince Rayne as well. You’ve come all this way to see me?” Liz replied with a large, joyous smile.

At the signal of Liz’s voice, all the women present curtsied in unison.

Huh? Wait, we already finished with greetings already! Oh, but I guess it’s because Prince Rayne’s here too, so they have to?

Prince Rayne told them to raise their heads, and the ladies relaxed. 

With that, I continued speaking with Liz. “Of course I wanted to come see you. Although I also wanted to see how the other tents were doing as well.”

“Of course.”

“All things considered, it looks like your tent is rather popular with the ladies.”

“Very much so. Everyone loves the aroma of the rose juice.”

As Liz said this, the women began to express their own opinions. The king had been right; the women of this world simply adored the fragrance of roses. 

“Does the juice have any kind of effect?” a woman asked me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I heard that food can alter one’s very state of being.”

“Ooh, yes, I remember hearing that. But I think that was limited to only food made by people who have Cooking skills?” another woman said.

“Is that true?”

It seemed that a number of them had been hoping the juice would have some kind of additional benefit. The second woman was right that in order to make food that imbued people with special powers, the person who made it needed to have Cooking skills. Unfortunately, all of the rose juice had been made by people who weren’t thus gifted, so the juice wouldn’t do the sort of things they were hoping for.

When Liz explained this to the women, they all looked a bit disappointed.

Back in the world I’d come from, food had provided all kinds of benefits even though we hadn’t had skills. As such, it was possible that the juice had some kind of effect I wasn’t aware of, more specifically, the sort of effect it had been said to have back in my original world.

Incidentally, using these ingredients to make a potion using the Pharmaceuticals skill created something much more potent than a juice made using the Cooking skill. But I had a feeling that mentioning this fact would lead to something troublesome, so I decided to hold off on that comment.

You see, there was another part of roses that was famous for its beauty-related effects. This part was their seeds: rose hips. It was said they could lighten skin color and make your skin more beautiful.

If I had been dumb enough to blurt out that fact there, I would definitely have caused an uproar. The zeal this world’s noble ladies had for beautifying themselves was not to be underestimated.

“Well, I should be on my way, then.”

“Wait, I shall accompany you.”

“You can step away from here?”

“Yes. I think father should be back soon enough.”

After speaking with the women for a bit, the topic soon changed from food to topics I was less versed in, so I tried to bid Liz farewell. Yet she insisted on coming with us. Since she assured me that things would be fine, I agreed to have her accompany me as we looked around the other tents.

The next place we headed was the area that a large portion of the guests had been especially excited about. We gradually made our way there, and I continued saying hello to everyone at each tent just as I had done on my way to the Ashleys’ display. All of the tents had crowds, but this area in particular had an even bigger one.

In short, it was the area where they were serving food made using ingredients from Zaidera. They were offering the sort of food that in my original world would have been described as Japanese or Chinese food.

The area we had passed through mainly served Western dishes, which was the sort of food available in the Kingdom of Salutania. But this area’s ingredients being what they were, there were all sorts of unfamiliar smells and flavors for people to experience. I had been worried that the guests wouldn’t like these new foods, but those worries proved unfounded.

Some people’s expressions were unsure as they tried the food, perhaps because of the unique smells, but those looks soon changed to ones of awe. There were even people whose eyes sparkled at the unusual tastes. Naturally, some didn’t care for the new dishes, but they were fewer in number than I had imagined.

We circled the area while listening to the opinions of people who were excited about the fascinating new spread when I spotted another familiar face: Marchioness Barchet, whom I had met at Marchioness Ashley’s tea party.

“Hello, Lady Barchet.”

“Oh, Lady Sei! Thank you for stopping by.” Marchioness Barchet smiled even more broadly at me, like a flower coming into full bloom.

The ladies she was speaking with had also been at the tea party, and they all said hello upon recognizing me. I had come at a good time, as they had just finished eating.

“Have you finished enjoying the food?” I asked.

“Yes! It was all wonderfully delicious.”

“That’s right! I was just telling Lady Barchet my thoughts.”

“I had assumed this was a dish from Zaidera since it has rice, but I heard it’s actually from your hometown.”

“That’s right. Though, to be more precise, it was a dish we ate that actually came from another country.”

“Oh! How interesting.”

A chef brought out a large pot with two handles from inside the tent and placed it on the table, which made everyone nearby let out a sound of joy. Perhaps the food hooked them immediately because of its vibrant hues.

The tent it came from was serving colorful paella. Its characteristic yellow color came from the saffron with which the rice and ingredients were cooked—the same saffron that was the local specialty of Marquis Barchet’s domain.

When I had learned about the saffron during the tea party, I had immediately thought of paella. So because of that, I had instantly decided to use it for this party.

“It looks so delicious!”

“It does! Have you gotten to try it yet, Liz?”

“Not yet.”

“Let’s have some together, then.”

As it turned out, Prince Rayne and I had yet to have any paella either. We had tried some of the foods that had been delivered to the VIP tent, but we had left before the paella arrived. If I had to guess, it was being served at the VIP tent right at that very moment.

At Prince Rayne’s order, the chef swiftly served portions of the paella to us. That being said, we knew there were other people waiting, so we asked that they be served first. However, everyone felt obliged to us, so we wound up getting our share before them.

Ah, yeah, I guess it makes sense. This was a country beholden to a class system, and our group was composed of the Saint, the second prince, and the daughter of a marquis. I felt bad about it, but I thanked everyone and gratefully partook of the paella.

It tasted incredible, and Liz and Prince Rayne both enjoyed it.

At the end of the party, the three of us chatted as we savored the food at one of the center tables. As we did, people took turns coming over to join us, so I thought we met our other goal of socializing pretty well.

The problem was that while I had originally been hoping that hosting this party would lead to receiving fewer invitations, the event only served to increase interest in hosting me.

That wasn’t all either. Everyone had liked the food at the Saint’s party so much that they wound up talking about it for a long time. I was optimistic that one party would satisfy the guests, but I learned later that the palace had received a flood of petitions for me to hold another.