Will I End Up As a Hero or a Demon King (WN)

Chapter 127

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Chapter 127 – What is High-Class Cuisine?

“I see…that’s what it was.”

“Yes. I’m sorry I kept quiet at first. I thought I’d wait until I found out for myself if it was true or not.”

“No, it’s only natural that you would make that judgment, especially if you know Ria.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. It would be bad if she suddenly went off the rails.”

“But… that’s the way it is, isn’t it? With the map and the reincarnated people, we really are full of mistakes… I even have the feeling that we ourselves are hastening the end of the world.”

Riste is basically a calm and collected person.

I don’t think she’s the type to show her emotions on the outside like Felin, but I can still tell she’s feeling down.

“Not everything the Goddesses decided to do turned out badly, right? By eliminating the map, you eliminated a war that would have involved the entire continent. I suppose that is also true, and by inviting the reincarnated people, they created facilities with functions that even I, an earthling, would be amazed at, like the one in front of me now. For every advantage, there is always a disadvantage. It is important to consider what to do from here based on the results. There’s still a lot of information that can’t be determined yet.”

“…You’re right. Fufu, as expected from Loki-kun.”

“No, no. It’s just for my own sake. Letting me, the foreign element, go around is a big disadvantage for the goddesses. But I’m sure there are some advantages as well.”

“I don’t think there are any goddesses left who feel that Loki-kun’s existence is a disadvantage, are there? Alicia is the only one who worries about unnecessary things.”

“Unnecessary things?”

“Yes… Well, let’s leave that aside for now.”

“Huh?”

What is this blatant change of subject?

Aren’t we supposed to be honest with each other?

Well, I know I can’t just interfere in the gods’ affairs…

“We know that many people in the lower world have been harmed by some of the reincarnated people. And Loki-kun will confirm this fact. Is this understanding correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct. But as something really important, I don’t intend to become a world hero or savior of any kind. I understand better than anyone that I don’t have those qualities, so it’s just a secondary goal. I want you to understand that it’s not something I put above anything else.

“Your goal is… to become stronger, right?”

“That’s right. In order to do that, I need to go around the hunting grounds of this world, so I think I’ll be able to get a lot of information in the process. Of course, I’ll pass it on to the goddesses.”

“Still, it’s more than enough. It was our fault for sowing the seeds in the first place, so I don’t intend to let Loki-kun deal with it all. I will first think about how to deal with this, including the matter with Felin, on my own.”

“Since Felin read my thoughts and found out about it, you might want to talk to her if necessary.”

Knock-knock-knock――

“I brought your food.”

“Oh, well, let’s put aside this matter that we can’t come to a conclusion on right now and enjoy the food first. I’m sure the food in a high-class inn will be amazing!”

A long dining table that could seat about 20 people, made of what looked like marble, was set with a variety of dishes that made me wonder how many people it was meant to feed.

“…..”

“…..”

In front of me was a metal…or was it silver?

There was an array of metal forks and knives, unlike anything I’d seen before.

There were hardly any wooden plates, and most of the cutlery was glass or ceramic.

“I’ll be back in about two hours to take your plates away.”

After the employee left, I turned to Riste.

“That’s a lot of food…”

“It seems that nobles have the idea that they should leave food on their plate, so maybe they’ll follow that.”

“Hmm, as expected from the top-class room. It seems like a waste, but I guess I’ll just ask them to reduce the amount starting tomorrow. Let’s have a toast first.”

“A toast?”

“You know, clinking glasses. I guess you could think of it as a custom on Earth where people who are close to each other do it.”

“L-Let’s do it!”

“Well then, cheers.”

“Cheers!”

I have to earn some money tomorrow, so I have to be careful not to drink too much.

But I want to drink at least the first glass of wine because of the atmosphere.

I lightly touch my lips to the glass and quickly look back at Riste.

“(She really looks good…)”

I’ve never seen anyone look so elegant while drinking red wine in a stylish dress, not even on TV.

When she lifted her chin slightly, the earrings she was wearing, which were cheap, looked really good.

“Is something wrong?”

“Hmm? Well… I just thought you looked beautiful.”

I hesitated to say it.

I wondered if I should try to cover it up.

But the word “honestly” stuck with me, and I said it, even though I was terribly embarrassed.

“T-Thank you… very much…”

Her translucent white skin turned red in an instant.

When she reacts like that, it makes me even more embarrassed.

I looked away, and through the large glass pane I had never seen before in this world, I could see the roof filling my field of vision.

“This city seems quite large. Do you think we can finish the investigation in a week or so?”

“I don’t know. I can’t say yet because we don’t start working in earnest until tomorrow, but if we don’t make it, I’ll pass it on to the others.”

“I see…”

I secretly thought that if we didn’t make it in time, we could just extend the trip instead of saying it was for a week, but the Goddesses decided the order, and I don’t know if it was Rigal-sama or Alicia-sama next, but I think they were looking forward to sightseeing in the lower world as well.

In the midst of all this, I gritted my teeth and held back from saying anything that might make things more complicated.

“Let’s eat! I wonder what Riste’s favorite food is… but since we’ve never eaten together before, I guess I don’t know.”

“That’s true. That’s why I want to try the things that Loki-kun finds delicious.”

“Okay, then. I’ll try a little of everything.”

I divide the dishes I see into small plates, and I have about 10 dishes in front of me.

“Let’s see, I’ll start with the soup… it’s spicy! This soup is spicy!”

“Is it a spicy dish? I want to try it.”

“I-I guess you could say it’s a life experience…wait a minute, I’ll get it for you.”

“That’s okay, I’ll just take Loki-kun’s.”

“Huh? Oh, really?”

Riste, who had stood up a little and quickly picked up my soup bowl with the spoon, took a bite of the soup without hesitation.

“…I see. It numbs your tongue and throat.”

“Right? There are dishes that are delicious even when they’re spicy, but this one just seems spicy…”

After that, when I ate the meat dish, the strong, rich seasoning hit me hard; when I ate the fish dish, the sneezing-inducing ingredients attacked my nasal cavity, and when I put the fried dumpling-shaped thing in my mouth, it was like a bomb of spicy seasonings inside.

Time went by without me ever encountering a dish that I thought tasted good.

During this time, Riste, who seemed to be following a set pattern, kept taking the plates from me and eating a little bit of each dish, but she frowned a lot, and the only thing she said she liked was the raw vegetables.

“(What is this? Is this some kind of harassment? No, they wouldn’t do that if they knew Riste was there…)”

“Riste, can I be honest?”

“Yes.”

“The thing that tasted the best was the salad, and the rest was a total disaster for me personally, but is my tongue just weird?”

“No, I think your sense of taste is normal. I also thought the food I had for lunch was definitely tastier.”

“I know, right? What is it?”

“I think this is the kind of food that the nobles and other high-class people and some privileged classes eat, don’t you think?”

“What? They actually eat this?”

“It’s just a memory of the merchants who stopped by the church, but it seems that there is a way of thinking that using expensive spices in abundance is the food of the nobility.”

“I see…”

That explanation made sense.

The food looks very luxurious. There are all kinds of dishes, including whole roast-type dishes, and I’m sure they use high-quality ingredients that cost a lot of money.

But they don’t make the most of the natural flavors of the ingredients, and they just throw expensive spices on top of everything―it’s a dish that prioritizes the achievement of using so many ingredients over the taste.

So it doesn’t matter that most of the food is cold.

And then they show off their power and wealth even more by eating a little of it and throwing the rest away.

When I imagined this, I couldn’t help but let out my true feelings.

“The vanity of the nobles is so meaningless.”

“Isn’t it different on Earth?”

“I was a commoner on Earth, so I don’t know much about it, but I don’t think there is any cooking that doesn’t make sense at this level first. The most important thing is to make the most of the flavor of the ingredients while making the most of how delicious they are. There are exceptions, but it is natural for expensive ingredients to be tasty. On the other hand, the most common way of thinking is that how tasty you can make a dish with cheap ingredients is where your skills really come into play.”

“I see…”

“The residents pay taxes for this, right? When I think about it like that, it seems so pointless. Well, maybe that’s just the way things are in this world.”

“…..”

“Hey, Riste, can you still eat?”

“Eh? Ah, yes.”

“To be honest, I’m not full either, so I’d like to have a proper meal. Can you wait a bit? I’m going to buy something.”

And with that, I ran out of the room without even waiting for an answer.

“(This is no joke. We just made up, and I’m not going to let this fancy food ruin it.)”

Because of the remaining money, the only thing I can afford to buy is food from a stall.

But I’ve eaten it a lot since I came into this world, and most importantly, I’ve never had a bad one, and they’ve all been delicious.

Then I want to feed it to Riste as well.

“(Well, what does Riste like?)”

With that in mind, I naturally felt light on my feet as I ran around the city in search of food stalls.

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