96 After Days: Her Majesty'S Dietary Facts 02
I also asked Yufi himself, but I still think he has a low desire for a meal. It's more than becoming a spiritual contractor. It's an inevitable problem.
But that would put extra pressure on a royal castle-based cook, and could deprive him of his enthusiasm and accomplishment for the job.
I'd like to get rid of it somehow, but I can't come up with a good idea. The problem is that what is the staple food of the Spirit is not food, but magic.
"How do you use magic to cook..."
I define magic as something like blood that has no entity, something that overflows the elements that make up the soul. So people have inherent magic power for everyone, and it has to do with the amount of magic and the affinity with the Spirit of each attribute.
As far as that's good, I can hardly think of a technique that purely uses magic alone. Besides, what if we were to use that for cooking?
"Magic... magic... magic into cooking... mix...? Grant magic to ingredients......? But can you imagine how delicious the magic is... hmm..."
"What are you talking about bumps by yourself?
"Uh-huh!?"
All of a sudden I'm so surprised at the sound of a call from behind. I was totally alarmed because this is my workshop.
It was Lhumi who spoke from behind. Seeing how surprised I am, I'm grinning that the sound of being a jerk looks good on me. You sexually evil witch!
"If you're coming in, knock..."
"Oh, I'm sorry. You still let this distract you and put your face on, didn't you? I don't have an island to install anyway, so you're worried about making sure Uffi can enjoy his meal somehow, right?
Lyumi sits next to me, trying to sit down on her desk. I think I got a flashing look when Lumi pointed me out.
"... hit"
"You're not well."
"Shut up. And it's not just about Uffi, it's about the cooks' willingness to do their job, and if a spiritual contractor is born in the future, we can make the most of it."
I don't know if I can do it.
Lyumi was pulling in a grin and erasing her expression. The voice was pale and created an atmosphere that reminded Lhumi that he was outside.
"Is that really necessary?
"Why are you asking me that?
"As long as there's nothing magical about it, the Spirit will be content? Is it worth bothering to make that available in the form of a meal?
"... Either way, if you need a meal to maintain your flesh, you should enjoy it"
"Would that really make you happy for a spiritual contractor?
Rhumi packs the distance so he can peek into my face. Strange eyes with multiple colors of light mixed together, but from close range, I can tell that the original eye color is light green. He looks at me like those eyes are worth it.
I don't know if it would really be good for a spiritual contractor to be able to consume magic with a meal. Even if I could make it, I don't even know if the Spirit Contractor would like that.
"You can think about that later after you've done it. If you can't, you can't give up, and what you've done won't go to waste."
"It could just be a roundabout, right? A human life is a short one. It's too late to regret it later, huh?
"Still much better than not doing it and regretting it. We have to start something. We can't go anywhere. Then I'll do it anyway."
I tell you without distracting myself from the Rhumi and looking straight at it. For a while Lyumi and I were gazing at each other, but we strayed our gaze like Lyumi had taken root.
"You really are an idiot, Anis. It's a lovely barbarity."
"Thanks for that."
"Then shall I tell you?
"... what?
"Even the Spirit rejoices, how people eat"
Liumi smiled as she returned her deviant gaze to me again. The smile was faint and was going to melt and disappear.
Then we'll get started.
"... can you cook rumi?
out-of-house kitchen, I was getting ready to cook as Lumi invited me.
I wear the apron I have prepared for each other Ilia and my hair is tied up so that it is not disturbed or stopped with a hair fastening.
Long hair that seems to cling to the heel of the rhumi is knitted into three large pieces by Ilia. Llumi looks at me as I rock the big three braids bracketed in two.
"To the crowd? We only had a lot of time."
"... I hope so. So? How do you cook for people who like spirits?
"It's nothing like the usual cooking procedure. I'm just gonna put one hand in there. The quickest way to do this is to use spiritual stones."
Saying so, Lhumi lined up the spiritual stones next to the ingredients. I unexpectedly see Rhumi as a ghost.
"A spiritual stone..."
"Oh, this is my own thing, isn't it? I didn't steal it from a boulder."
"I don't doubt that.... I don't doubt it, do I?
"Yes, sir. Now, if you're going to use it for cooking, I'd prefer something that doesn't belong. Spirit stones of attributes that match the person you feed on the next point. Otherwise, it could be blood or meat. But you can't mix that with people's meals, can you?
... Well, that's true. It's not nice to have blood or hair in the rocks for cooking.
But is it still a spiritual stone here? How ironic it seems to be to be an unattributed spiritual stone that was also said to have few ways of using it.
"Spirit stones can be magical. Use it with condiments in its magical state. Even spirits can consume magic while enjoying their meals."
"Spirit stones are not stingy to use in cooking because they can sometimes be used as medicines... do they taste good?
"Of course, if you keep using it, it's subtle. I used it finely crushed and mixed with seasoning, like salt."
"Salt, salt."
Salt is also in circulation in the Kingdom of Palletia, but there are two routes to obtain it.
The first route is to take salt from the sea. The current mainstream of the Kingdom of Palettia is this way. However, it is said that the sea in this world is more dangerous than on earth. Because the demons that live in the sea are quite a threat, combined with the interests of the land.
So even if villages and towns are created along the sea to recover salt, it can be devastated by demonic damage. Still, the value of salt does not waver, so villages and towns continue to be created by pioneering the coast, even at the risk. If you say which is better than the border, it's probably better because it's still close to the Wang capital.
Another way to get it is rock salt. Until they started taking salt from the sea, they were rock salt when it came to salt. Although the Kingdom of Palletia has a territory facing the sea, there are many unexplored places along the sea, and they used to take rock salt better.
"But don't you care about the texture or something? It's not like the Spirit Stone is going to be salt."
"Right. So it must be a waste of time to include magic in your diet. Always people don't benefit that much, and if you consume too much, you can get sick. So as a guide, the wind flavoring is ideal. It would be tasteless and odorless for people, but if it's a spirit, that's enough."
"Phew..."
Should I think of it as something of a medicinal meal dish? If the pills pass, it's poison, but if it's the right amount, it serves as a magic restoration. Because for humans, external magic needs to be tamed by their own bodies, I think it has something to do with magic that makes them ill because they consume too much.
Um, can't we make effective use of this not only for spiritual contractor meals, but also for cases of lack of magic?
"Even so, you were a little surprised. Lumi was studying cooking."
"So unexpected?
I thought you were breaking up your hobbies.
"Hey... honestly, did you cook properly over a hundred years ago...?
"You must be really ok!?"
"Shut up, you can't just magically heal yourself if you get hurt. I'll stick to one of my fingers myself."
"Okay, okay. Lumi, don't grab the knife. Just put your mouth out behind you."
I guess I have to educate the Spirit Contractors to take care of my body more!? I'm already dangerous and anxious to make Rhumi cook, I'll take the lead and cook and go.
"Ennis, please use your magic. I'll crush the Spirit Stone."
"... then okay, yes"
"Thanks.... I kinda miss you"
"Do you miss it?"
"I don't study cooking for no reason.... I used to pick up orphans and raise them."
To Rhumi's words, I unwittingly stop my cooking hand and turn my gaze to Rhumi.
"Were you raising a child or something?
"It was a long time ago. Talk about when I was just young."
"... that, hundreds of years ago?
"I don't know. If you untie it in the history books, you're going to get a hit."
"? Why a history book?
"It's a boring story.... Well, maybe you still wanted Annis to know"
……
"If you look at the times when witch hunting was happening, it's just back then."
It's a lumi that tells me to be nothing, but I've put a little effort into the gaze of seeing a lumi.
"... Speaking of which, they used to call me a witch."
"Yep. If you were headed for the reign of the day, you'd be a witch at some point."
"What are you doing!?"
"I just preached on the dangers of spiritual covenants. So heretical interrogation, the witch-certified execution course. Well, I ran away."
Tong, says Lhumi with a disgusting grin as he punches himself in the neck with his finger. I flaunted my face as much as I could at how Lumi was doing.
"Then you started hiding in the clouds, didn't you? I wasn't as ambitious then as I am now. Oh, I guess you got too close to a jerk. Mistake me, don't try to understand anything, hold your mouth to the wind you find out, and call me a witch with it. You deserve half of it."
"... how does that relate to orphans?
"Because the orphan I raised died in a witch hunt. A child taught by an evil witch. I just picked it up on a whim."
I'm stunned and breathtaking. Lyumi just goes on with her pale words without changing her expression.
"Seems like the orphans I picked up had a lot of confusing circumstances, but I don't remember them very well anymore. It's just that I picked them up on a whim to try and raise them. Then I tried to get her to cook for herself. Tell me that if you don't eat with me, it won't taste good, and I'll think of a cooking method that makes you eat with me and think it's delicious..."
"... I'm having trouble reacting. All of a sudden they talk like that."
The person talks like it's nothing, but as far as I'm concerned, I don't know how to react.
I had never heard the details of what kind of life Lhumi, the living witness of history, had lived as the daughter of the first king, because he was often in smoke. I think I've been through that, too, and I get emotions that are hard to describe.
Then Rhumi smiled bitterly and strayed from my gaze.
"That's the same, isn't it? … just a little bit of a burden."
"Losses?"
"At that time, if I were to hold fast to the kings of the time and be stopped by the tide of the supremacy of the Spirit. Then I wonder if those kids didn't have to say anything about witch girls. And then you didn't have to let them take over until this day and age, or something. I can't help it. So this is my casual sentiment."
Rhumi exhaled as she rolled the spiritual stone in her hand to swallow it. The narrowed eyes aren't here. They look like they're looking somewhere.
"I'm just a busy man showing up at a time of change, nothing more or less. But there's something I can tell you because I've lived long enough. This is one of them, isn't it? I don't want to be pitied because I told you about the past. So I just thought it would be a good opportunity."
"... yes"
If you say so, you can't even tear it up. Even if I want to say something, I can't think of a word.
I kind of figured that out because Rhumi didn't want any other words of comfort. This is nothing more than a story of the past and the fact that it's over in the Llumi.
It's not like I want you to grieve with me. I don't want you to comfort me. Either that or it's fear. I remember, I can't forget, but I seem to refuse to let that emotion weather.
So tell the story. Don't leave your memories behind. I think I got a glimpse of one end of the outwardness I feel for Rhumi. It's like she's a grave guard.
Without forgetting the many dead you've nursed, you can't even interact with the living. It's like a shadow of an era that keeps shaking between life and death, between memory and oblivion.
"- Anisphere, you can't be like those kids."
I felt that the words of Lhumi, who told me without looking at me, were only a little trembling.