Having finished the meal prepared by the fake Elena, Dopa Noreth gave a slight bow of his head.
"Lady Elena, that was delicious."
"...Still, this 'ketchup'? Is that what you called it? How did you make it?"
Rokou B. Sihalo seemed equally curious.
"I wanted to make Worcestershire sauce, but without access to the proper ingredients, I had no choice but to make this instead," the fake Elena prefaced before offering a brief explanation. "I made it using tomatle (tomato), marunegi (onion), sugar, salt, pepper, and vinegar."
She added that having ingredients like garlic or chili peppers would have lent it an even deeper flavor.
"Mmm, to achieve such a rich taste with only those ingredients..."
Harboring his astonishment, Dopa Noreth went to deliver his report to the Duke.
"Oho, to think that woman possesses such culinary skill..."
Duke Niestol Kirilo Jagus of the Jagus Principality grew intrigued.
"...Tomorrow night, bring a dish to my chambers. Just a small portion will suffice."
Curiosity had gotten the better of him; he wanted to taste it for himself.
"Understood, Your Grace."
"...If having more ingredients means she can prepare even better food, then all we must do is demand that those Nostalgia fellows bring them."
The following evening, on the 24th.
"Oho, so this is the dish that woman made?"
"Yes, Sire. She mentioned it would still taste fine even after cooling down a bit."
"Is this not simply tamagoyaki?"
No matter how one looked at it, it appeared to be ordinary tamagoyaki.
"Sire, she referred to it as 'dashimaki tamago.'"
"Hmm..."
It was a name the Duke had never heard before.
"Have you tasted it?"
"Yes, forgive me, Sire. It was quite delicious."
Explaining that it would have seemed suspicious not to touch the food there, Dopa Noreth lowered his head apologetically.
"Hmph, very well."
Waving a hand magnanimously, the Duke said, "Let us see how it tastes," and speared a bite-sized piece with his fork before bringing it to his mouth.
"Mmm... This is... marvelous!"
The ingredients for dashimaki tamago were eggs, sugar, shiro-dashi, mayonnaise, and water.
One simply mixed all the ingredients together and cooked it like tamagoyaki.
The secret was to prepare it without letting the mayonnaise blend in completely.
Incidentally, since mayonnaise was not in circulation within the Jagus Principality, the fake Elena had whipped it up herself using eggs, vinegar, vegetable oil, and a tiny dash of pepper.
Furthermore, lacking shiro-dashi, the flavor fell several tiers short of authentic dashimaki tamago, yet it was still far superior to any cuisine currently available in the Jagus Principality.
"Mmm... To think one could create something of this caliber using only ingredients found in our land..."
And then, the Duke realized something.
"Tell me, you have eaten other delicious dishes besides this, haven't you?"
"Y-Yes, Sire."
"I see..."
Even if it had been in the line of duty, the Duke felt a twinge of resentment toward Dopa for having tasted delicacies he himself had never known, and toward Rokou B. Sihalo for enjoying them regularly.
"...Even so, we cannot simply let her out of the 'Tower'..."
The Duke naturally wished to dine like this every day. After some thought, he arrived at a solution.
The morning of the 25th.
"Lady Elena, it is an honor to be in your care."
"A-Ah, yes..."
The one who arrived at the "Tower" was a royal chef.
The Duke's plan was to have his chef assist the fake Elena with cooking, memorize her recipes, and recreate those same dishes in the Royal Palace.
The morning menu would be recreated the following morning, the midday menu the following afternoon, and the evening menu the following night.
While there might be some slight loss in technique, the Duke reasoned that could easily be compensated for by the superior quality of the palace's ingredients.
For that reason, two chefs were arranged to visit the fake Elena on alternating days.
Although this was an unexpected turn of events, the fake Elena deemed it an excellent opportunity.
She patiently and thoroughly instructed the young male chef who had arrived.
"Lady Elena, could you teach me how to make this 'mayonnaise'?"
"Yes, of course. For this..."
Since it was a common recipe in the Conference Countries, there was no harm in sharing it.
"If you have it, mixing in a tiny bit of mustard will give it a richer, more layered flavor."
"I see, I see. That makes sense."
And then:
"Lady Elena, this thing called 'dashi' is truly incredible, isn't it?"
"It's similar to 'fond,' but using vegetable, meat, or seafood bases appropriately gives a dish remarkable depth."
"Aha, I understand..."
He was remarkably enthusiastic.
Because he would spend the next day preparing the recipes he had learned here for the Duke, the same chef would return two days later.
And so, two days later, on the 27th:
"Lady Elena, it is a pleasure to learn from you again."
"It has been two days, hasn't it? Did the cooking turn out well?"
When the fake Elena asked with a warm smile, the chef flushed slightly and nodded.
"Y-Yes! Thanks to your guidance, His Grace was thoroughly pleased!"
"I see, that is wonderful to hear."
The fake Elena smiled, causing the young chef's cheeks to redden even further.
"Now then, what we will be making today is..."
Between her instructions, the fake Elena casually wove in light pleasantries.
"Have you been cooking for His Grace for very long?"
Or:
"When did you first begin learning how to cook?"
On the surface, they were completely innocuous questions.
However, from answers like "I have had the privilege of preparing His Grace's meals for five years now" and "I have been devoted entirely to cooking since I was ten," one could infer that rather than being forcibly brainwashed, the chef had undergone educational conditioning.
Through these conversations with palace staff, she was able to steadily gather intelligence.
Every piece of information was transmitted back to Hourai Island via her built-in manacam.
Bit by bit, Laojun continued to accumulate intel on the Jagus Principality.