I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace (WN)

Chapter 2542 - A Conversation about the Tea Party ~ ~ Ein ~ ~

After that, I followed up with Jutia-san and went to visit Ein-san, bringing up the idea of the tea party. Of course, I made sure to tell her beforehand that if I prepared new tea leaves, I would gift some to her as well.

[Yes…… I had already heard about it from Kuromu-sama, but just as Kaito-sama conjectured, it would be unthinkable for me, a mere maid, to attend the tea party as a guest…… much less sit at the same table as my master, Kuromu-sama.]

[Yeah, figures.]

[And I suspect that you were perhaps hoping I would participate as part of the serving staff, Kaito-sama…… however, while I may have acted as support staff during the housewarming celebration before, serving at a tea party hosted by one’s master is, for a maid, a role of pride and honor…… one could even call it a starring position. In that case, I have no intention of committing the barbaric act of taking away a stage where the maids themselves should shine, as an outsider.]

In the Maid World, was serving at a tea party really such a coveted job? I didn’t really understand, but anything related to maids usually went over my head anyway, so it was safest just to let it go.

In any case, it seemed Ein-san had no intention of participating even as part of the serving staff.

[If, hypothetically, the maid serving at your residence did not meet the standards required to serve tea to Kuromu-sama, I might have stepped in. However, with someone as capable as Illness, there would be no issue whatsoever. In fact, if her skills were insufficient, then it would be a situation where only I or Shalltear could handle.]

[I see…… well, either way, that means you won’t be attending, Ein-san.]

[Indeed. Rather, I can only be grateful for your consideration in offering me the tea leaves to be served at the party, Kaito-sama. Since it will be the first tea party you host, Nebula-sama will surely prepare tea leaves worthy of the occasion, so I find myself looking forward to it already.]

[I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet, so it’s something I’ll figure out from here……]

After wrapping up our discussion about the tea party like that, Ein-san didn’t seem to have anything urgent to attend to, so we continued chatting casually.

[By the way, Kuromu-sama had a rather curious seasoning with her.]

[Ahh, that was made using the Star Powder Generator we got from Tiana-san.]

[She seems to be quite looking forward to it. For the past few days, she’s been taking out a new seasoning at set times and happily testing it on baby castellas.]

Apparently, she had already started exploring the potential of baby castellas…… At this rate, she might show up soon with baby castellas made with star powder.

That said, the star powder really does seem capable of producing all kinds of flavors. I tried it myself and ended up with a very spicy seasoning. It felt like something that would go perfectly with curry, so I was thinking of trying it next time…… though I rarely get the chance to eat curry in the first place.

There are hardly any curry shops in the Symphonia Kingdom. It seems there are some in the Hydra Kingdom, so I’d like to visit sometime, but I doubt they’d allow outside seasonings…… Maybe it’d be better to have Alice make it instead.

[……Tea from a bouquet?]

[Well, it’s not exactly tea, but it tasted pretty similar. Apparently, it uses some kind of otherworld technique called atomic transformation, so it’d probably be hard to recreate.]

[As expected of another world, I suppose…… there truly are astonishing items. Speaking of otherworld tea, Shalltear once brewed a rather peculiar tea for me before.]

[A peculiar taste?]

[Yes, she called it something like kokucha, or pu’er tea. It was quite dark in color…… I imagine the fermentation process must be different.]

[Ah, pu’er tea…… I’ve never had it myself, but I’ve heard of it.]

Was it Chinese tea? I’d only ever really had oolong tea, but I’d heard they had all sorts of varieties, so it was probably one of those.

From Ein-san’s reaction, it didn’t seem to fall under the category of black tea, so to her, it was more like an unusual curiosity from another world rather than something she particularly wanted.

Even with that bouquet-based tea from earlier, she seemed interested but not desirous of it…… It felt like her true passion was reserved solely for black tea.

[Kaito-sama, this may be a bit of a sudden change of topic…… but if you haven’t had lunch yet, would you like to dine here?]

[Is that okay? Well then, I’ll gladly take you up on the offer.]

[Would curry be acceptable?]

[Oh, that’s exactly what I was just thinking…… Eh? How did you know?]

[Anticipating one’s desires is a basic accomplishment for a maid…… fumu.]

Ein-san, who had just offered to prepare the very curry I’d been craving moments ago, seemed like she was about to launch into her usual “maids can do anything” philosophy, but for some reason, she trailed off mid-sentence, her expression turning thoughtful……

[……If it’s for someone you cherish, you can tell what they want just by looking at their face.]

With that, she gave a slightly mischievous smile and a light wink, before going off to prepare the curry.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [……This one’s also got pretty high affection for him……]