Anyone would have accepted it without question if told that the woman named Arcadia Kerebel, standing where Rei's gaze was fixed, was Elena's mother.
She undeniably possessed that much beauty.
However, if Elena was a rose in full bloom beneath the sunlight, Arcadia gave Rei the impression of that same rose—only blooming in the shade.
Though both were roses, Elena and Arcadia differed greatly.
If the two hadn't resembled each other in the slightest, the differences would have appeared trivial. But precisely because their features were so alike, the contrast left a striking impression.
"Please, have a seat. My husband did something rather rude."
At Arcadia's words, Rei nodded and sat in the chair, then finally let out a breath of relief.
Merely sitting in a chair, and yet that alone had left him mentally exhausted.
But that was only natural. Those present were the Duke Kerebel family—the house that held the highest peerage and wielded the greatest influence within the entire Kingdom of Mireana.
If anything, the fact that Rei, a mere adventurer who happened to hold an alias, was present at all was strange in any number of ways.
In any case, seated with dishes before him, what drifted over was the appetite-stimulating aroma of the food, and alongside it, dishes that delighted the eyes as well.
(First-rate cuisine delights the eyes too... I feel like I saw or heard that somewhere. Is this what that meant?)
In this world of Elgin, the culture of cooking had developed to a certain extent, but compared to Japan—no, compared to Earth, it was overwhelmingly inferior in a technical sense.
That was only natural. On Earth, transporting freshly harvested vegetables over long distances while preserving their freshness was a common enough feat, and fish could be frozen immediately after being caught and transported far away—even to foreign countries—all while maintaining freshness.
By comparison, in Elgin, ingredients themselves were hopelessly difficult to obtain.
Of course, if one used magic or Magic Items, the problem could be mitigated to some extent. But mages were inherently and exceedingly few in number, and while common Magic Items existed, those capable of freezing or refrigerating were not priced so casually that anyone could afford them.
Under such circumstances, for dishes this visibly beautiful and appetite-stimulating to appear before him, it was only natural that Rei would be surprised.
(Was using new dishes as bait a mistake, I wonder?)
For a fleeting moment he thought so—likely because he wanted to eat the food in a more relaxed state rather than this tense one.
Stories about being so tense that one couldn't taste the food were heard fairly often. That was precisely why, when given delicious food, wanting to enjoy its flavor to the fullest was only natural.
Honestly speaking, it would be accurate to say that Rei had misjudged Duke Kerebel. No, in this case, perhaps "underestimated" was the better expression.
He had known that the man was Elena's father, and he had known that he led a great many nobles. Even so, he had ultimately assumed the man would be inferior to Daskar.
However, the person before Rei was, without question, equal to Daskar—no, as one who belonged to Gilm and maintained a friendly relationship with Daskar, Rei was reluctant to acknowledge it, but as a noble, Duke Kerebel was probably superior.
Of course, Rei understood as well that this was merely based on observing one facet of the man as a noble. For instance, if the heads of noble houses took to the battlefield under the principle of Noblesse Oblige—the so-called "obligation of the noble"—and one were asked whether Duke Kerebel or Daskar would be more useful, the answer would be Daskar, a former knight accustomed to combat.
Rei understood such things perfectly well, and yet he still could not help but judge the person before him as a man of great stature.
"Well then, let us begin the meal. Rei... how about wine?"
At Duke Kerebel's question, Rei shook his head.
However, it was Elena who spoke up regarding Rei's attitude.
"Rei seems to be poor with alcohol, so he always drinks things like tea, water, or fruit water. As his father, you must be disappointed."
"Hmm, I see. But I think fine wine pairs with fine cuisine. What a shame."
"Ahaha. It's not that I can't drink, but I just don't find alcohol of any kind pleasant to taste. If it's a matter of using alcohol in cooking, the alcohol evaporates, so there's no problem, though."
Rei said that somewhat offhandedly, but perhaps finding Rei's words mildly intriguing, Duke Kerebel, while enjoying the wine a maid had poured for him along with a ham and vegetable salad, turned his gaze toward Rei.
"Hoh, using alcohol in cooking? I'm afraid I'm strictly an eater, not a cook, so I can't say much, but is that something one actually does?"
While expressing surprise that fresh vegetables were available in this winter season, Rei, also savoring the ham and vegetable salad, returned a nod.
"Yes. I don't know the details myself, but if you sprinkle high-proof alcohol over meat cooking in a frying pan and then ignite a flame inside the pan, the alcohol burns off. It's a cooking method that, I believe, imparts aroma to the ingredients being cooked."
Flambé was a fairly well-known cooking method in Japan as well. That was why even Rei, who was not particularly knowledgeable about cooking, was aware of the method. However, he only knew the method itself; the specific effects of flambé were something he understood only vaguely.
"Hmm. A fascinating cooking method. I'm not familiar with it, but would you mind if I teach it to the cook of our house later?"
"I don't mind at all, but if it's Georgima, I'd think it's a method he might already know."
"Oh my, the fact that you already know Georgima's name means... have you met him?"
Arcadia, who had been savoring a potage-like soup made from a vegetable resembling a potato, interrupted the conversation between Rei and Duke Kerebel to ask.
Ordinarily, it would have been called a rude act, but when Arcadia did it, it somehow didn't feel that way at all. Duke Kerebel, too, showed no sign of any particular displeasure at his wife's attitude, nor did he offer any caution.
"Yes. I heard that he was the one who spread several dishes, including udon, so I imagine he probably took an interest."
"I see. Now that you mention it, I recall hearing such a story from a merchant who had come to the city where I was staying."
Staying? Rei wondered for a moment, but he judged that it would be better not to ask about that here, and so he did not voice the question. What the wife of Duke Kerebel, who led the Noble's Faction, had been doing—knowing that would bring a hundred harms and not a single benefit. Well, perhaps not quite that far, but the drawbacks clearly seemed to outnumber any merits.
"Georgima's cooking is delicious, after all. But today's dishes seem to have considerably more effort poured into them than usual, wouldn't you say?"
Elena, likewise enjoying the soup, looked at the food with a curious expression.
Indeed, the dishes for today were originally not intended to be of this caliber—not if Rei hadn't said something to the effect that if Georgima made something he found truly delicious from the bottom of his heart, he would teach him a new dish.
"Hehe. You have the look of someone who has an idea about this, don't you? It seems you've met Georgima, but did something happen then? Something like... if he made a dish that would make you groan in admiration, you'd teach him a recipe that had never been conceived before, perhaps?"
At Arcadia, who asked while wearing an elegant smile, Rei's movements stopped for an instant, wondering if his thoughts had been seen through.
But he quickly erased that surprise and, while reaching his spoon toward the soup, opened his mouth.
"That's right. Inside my head, there's knowledge of many dishes I saw while living at my master's place. Even so, I can hardly cook myself, so it would take the form of me teaching roughly what kind of dish it is, and then the cook properly perfecting it—something along those lines."
"Oh my, is that so? From the story I heard, while the cooking method was another matter, it was said that you explained the flavor with a clear understanding of exactly what it would be like."
At the casually spoken words from Arcadia's mouth, Rei's movements stopped once more for an instant.
Rei reflexively tried to look toward Elena, but he managed to force that impulse to a halt through an act of will. Because he understood that if he did such a thing now, it would become evidence corroborating Arcadia's words.
(Kind but scary, huh. That's exactly the impression she gives.)
Rei found himself strongly nodding in agreement, even now after the fact, at the portrait of Arcadia he had heard from a maid.
In terms of how she treated people, she was without question good. That was certain, because even though her daughter—Elena, the Daughter of Duke Kerebel who also held the alias of Princess General—had brought along an adventurer whose origins were completely unknown, albeit one who held an alias, Arcadia had not done anything to outright reject that, and was instead here engaging with him as such.
Once more, Rei directed his gaze toward Arcadia.
What lay in those eyes was neither admiration praising her beauty, nor desire toward a woman more mature than Elena, nor delight at her kindness, but rather a wariness directed at a being that was, in part, incomprehensible.
It was, precisely, the kind of gaze that Rei himself was typically on the receiving end of.
Of course, Rei was not entirely without experience of directing such gazes at others. The S-Rank Adventurers of the Bestia Empire and the Kingdom of Mireana; Grimm, for whom the title Lich Lord was fitting, who had continued to exist from the era when Zephyle was still alive; the Silver Lion, a Boss Monster that had been protecting the dungeon core at the Altar of Inheritance.
Beyond those as well, the occasions on which he had seen beings one could call incomprehensible were not entirely nonexistent.
But even so, feeling something of that nature toward Arcadia, whose direct combat ability was clearly below that of an ordinary soldier, was completely unexpected.
"Oh my, is something the matter? Your wonderful, delicious food will go cold, you know?"
"...You're right. Every dish is truly delicious, and it would be a shame to let them go cold."
So saying, Rei brought the spoon, which he had used to scoop up the soup, to his mouth.
The potage-style soups that Rei had ever drunk were, fundamentally, the ones from when he was in Japan. From the potage served in elementary and middle school lunches, to the simplified potage resembling soup stock bases, to the potage bought from vending machines in winter, the kind where the corn barely came out of the drinking spout.
What were those potages, compared to this? The potage that had entered Rei's mouth now was so delicious that he wanted to say exactly that.
"This is delicious."
Just seconds prior, he had held a feeling close to awe toward Arcadia, but from within Rei, it had vanished completely and cleanly.
What spread through his mouth was a thick, rich vegetable flavor and sweetness. And yet, the way it slid smoothly down his throat made him think that he could drink any amount of it.
Of course, this dish merely resembled potage and was not actually potage. But within Rei, the dish he was currently drinking had already been engraved into his heart as potage itself.
"I'm glad it pleased you. This soup is a soup called Georgima Soup, and as the name suggests, it is a soup that Georgima himself created. It apparently takes considerable effort to make, so it's not something that can be eaten so readily. I suppose you could call it a gesture of respect for the culinary knowledge you possess, Rei."
"Oh my, dear. That's embellishing Georgima just a little too much, isn't it? Knowing him, he's undoubtedly thinking of making Rei groan in admiration at the flavor so he can have him teach him a new dish, I'm sure."
Saying that, Arcadia picked up some freshly baked bread on the table—this too, as a matter of course, something Georgima had made by carefully selecting his ingredients and baking—and tore it into bite-sized pieces before carrying it to her mouth.
Just from Arcadia tearing the bread, a savory aroma of fresh bread drifted around them.
That bread, soft enough to understand just from looking at it, Arcadia ate with an expression of happiness.
Starting with the soup and salad, along with several other dishes that could be called light appetizers, they were spread across the table.
Dishes that, ordinarily, would make one want to eat until they were full from these alone.
But what was spread out here was, after all, nothing more than appetizer dishes. The full-scale main dishes, using meat and fish, had not yet been served.
When those dishes were served, would Rei be able to savor them properly? And above all, he thought, if possible, he would want to eat such delicious food in a state free of tension, together with his familiar companions.