The Academy was holding what everyone called a "small festival."
With students and teachers from across the campus participating, the event was easily as large as—if not larger than—the festivals we held back in the village. I didn't think it felt "small" at all, but if that was what they called it, then so be it.
Then again, compared to the parade we held recently, maybe "small" was appropriate after all.
I threw myself into the rhythm of making ramen.
The dish I was serving at the stall this time was an orthodox Tonkotsu Soy Sauce Faction ramen.
It featured thick, straight noodles topped with chashu pork, spinach, and a sprinkle of corn.
Usually, I would offer more experimental varieties at my stalls, but since our preparation time was short and we needed to churn out a high volume, I settled on this choice.
I would have loved to include menma and nori for a proper Tonkotsu Soy Sauce Faction ramen, but I couldn't secure a sufficient quantity.
It was a real shame.
Tables and chairs had been set up near the stall, so the customers had plenty of places to sit and eat.
The real problem was that many of them didn't know how to use chopsticks, and we quickly ran out of forks.
We ended up borrowing forks from the Academy Dining Hall to make up the difference.
The Academy Students were a huge help in that regard, scurrying around to make the arrangements for us.
I was truly grateful.
I had heard that this Academy was primarily for noble children, so I’d expected more of them to be difficult to handle, but it seemed that was just a baseless assumption on my part.
On second thought, since they were the children of nobles, their training in etiquette was likely quite strict.
Frau and the other Civil Official Girls who used to attend, as well as Isree who was currently enrolled, all had impeccable manners.
Granted, Alfred and the others had to caution a few students because their "noble speech" toward me was inappropriate...
I didn't actually mind, so I didn't think they needed to be quite so severe with the reprimands.
Still, the students had their own social rules to follow, so I kept my mouth shut.
I went back to focusing on the ramen.
By utilizing three stalls to their fullest, limiting the menu to a single type to save time on orders, and treating the whole process like an assembly line, we managed to serve eight bowls every five minutes.
Eight bowls every five minutes meant sixteen every ten minutes, and ninety-six bowls an hour.
Since I had only prepared two hundred servings for my stall, we were sold out before noon.
Even if I wanted to prepare more, some of the ingredients required hours of simmering and prep work, so they couldn't be replaced on short notice.
In other words, we had reached our limit for the day.
Besides, the fatigue was starting to set in for both me and the staff.
We had prioritized the people Tiselle wanted to host, and we managed to properly serve the Demon King, Beezel, Gratz, Randan, Yuri, the Academy Director, and everyone else we couldn't afford to skip.
I felt I’d fulfilled the purpose of my visit.
As we began packing up the stall, I finally found the breathing room to look around at my surroundings.
The other food stalls seemed to be doing a brisk trade as well.
At the Maruura stall, the employees were handling the lines with practiced ease.
The person in charge of Maruura this time was Potte.
She was a veteran who had been with us since Maruura was first founded, and she was one of the shop’s executives, often acting as a proxy for Marcos and Paula.
Paula had mentioned wanting to entrust her with Maruura's Second Shop, but it seemed Potte herself preferred to keep working directly under Paula.
Paula had complained that she wished the girl had a bit more independence, but I could understand the appeal of a stable workplace.
Besides, forcing her to run the second shop would likely end in failure, so it was best to wait until she felt ready to take the leap herself.
There were no issues at the Kuro and Yuki or Korin Sweets Shop stalls either.
They had focused on bringing items that didn't require much on-site cooking.
Since the payments were being handled in a lump sum by the Demon Kingdom, they didn't have to waste any time on individual transactions.
They just handed the goods over.
As for the stall serving sake...
That place had already turned into a full-blown banquet hall.
And it wasn't even noon yet.
Well, I didn't see any children around, so I supposed it wasn't a problem.
Wait, I just spotted Hou over there.
She looked like she was having the time of her life doing a sake tasting.
It wasn't everyone, of course, but there were a surprising number of big eaters who finished a bowl of ramen, then moved on to curry and finished with sweets.
When I asked Alfred about it, he told me that almost all of them had been "adjusting their stomachs" for several days in preparation.
Now that was some impressive dedication.
I was just glad they were enjoying themselves.
Naturally, the stalls we brought weren't enough to feed everyone, so the Goroun Company and the Dalfon Company had set up their own stalls to fill the gaps.
No one was going to go hungry today.
The sake might run low, but there were more than enough other drinks.
I spotted the stall for Earth's Shop, where the maids were busy serving customers.
They were offering only two choices: coffee and black tea.
They had apparently avoided sweets so as not to overlap with Kuro and Yuki or Korin Sweets Shop.
"The guests Tiselle-sama wanted to host specifically asked for our shop's coffee," they explained.
I see.
By the way, the coffee served at Earth's Shop was a blended coffee.
When I had used the Universal Farming Tool, I’d simply thought of "coffee beans" without considering specific varieties, assuming I was growing a single type of tree. As it turned out, I had actually been growing several different kinds.
Since I had harvested and processed them all together as one batch, they naturally became a blend.
It was delicious in its own right, but once Lu and Flora realized there were multiple varieties, they insisted on harvesting the beans separately.
Whether one preferred it acidic or with a heavy bitterness was a matter of taste, but having options was a good thing.
It allowed us to cater to everyone’s preferences.
If we started experimenting with roasting methods on top of that, we’d be at the dawn of a profound Way of Coffee.
...
Well, most of the people in the village eventually decided that the blended coffee was just fine as it was.
I was getting sidetracked.
The blended coffee really was good.
After finishing the stall cleanup, I grabbed a cup of blended coffee from Earth's stall and headed toward a large, hall-like venue.
A diorama measuring ten meters square was on display there.
I didn't know the exact scale, but one glance told me it was a part of the Demon Kingdom.
The mountains, rivers, and coastlines were all clearly defined.
The towns, however... were tiny?
No, were they ruins?
Gratz, who was standing beside the diorama, explained that it depicted the area around the new country Tiselle was building.
"Torain and Maa built it using aerial information provided by the wyverns," he told me.
Impressive.
In reality, Torain had likely directed the project while Maa provided the materials, with the volunteering students doing the actual construction.
It was incredibly well done.
"Indeed. It makes everything clear at a glance. It would be quite useful for military marches."
I really wished they wouldn't use things the children made for military purposes.
"Hahaha, point taken. I'll see to it that the army tries making their own versions."
Please do.
"So, where exactly is the town Tiselle is building?"
From what I could see, there were few high mountains, and while the land wasn't perfectly flat, it was mostly a vast wasteland.
"Right there."
Gratz indicated the spot with magic.
It was a set of ruins right in the middle of the wilderness.
Since a town had originally been located there, they apparently wouldn't have any trouble finding water.
However, the transportation accessibility looked terrible.
"Well, the previous roads were mostly destroyed, after all."
I see.
The area shown in the diorama was the Buffer Zone between the Demon Kingdom and the Human Kingdoms.
Years ago, the Demon Kingdom had launched a massive invasion and then pulled their front lines back significantly.
Normally, the Human Kingdoms would have pushed back to reclaim the land, but the Demon Kingdom had systematically destroyed every town and bridge during their withdrawal.
As a result, it became impossible for the humans to easily reclaim the territory.
The armies simply had nowhere to rest or resupply.
Furthermore, it made hiding military movements nearly impossible; if any sign of an offensive was spotted, the Demon Kingdom had ample time to prepare.
Marching through that wasteland only to fight a waiting Demon King's Army was a losing prospect.
The Human Kingdoms had eventually decided it wasn't worth the effort and gave up on pushing back.
Well, they were still slowly inching their front lines forward as if eroding the Buffer Zone, so they hadn't given up entirely.
They had just given up on an immediate recapture.
During that interval, the Demon Kingdom had built a massive fortress as a defensive anchor for their own territory.
In other words, as long as they didn't intend to invade again, the Demon Kingdom held all the cards.
...
"Back then, did the Demon Kingdom have no plans to push further?"
"We lacked the food. We couldn't even manage the residents of the regions we'd already occupied, let alone more."
That made sense.
Forcibly occupying land you can't feed only invites rebellion.
Still, pulling the front lines back that far was a bold move.
Being able to execute a plan that looked like abandoning the spoils of war spoke highly of the Demon King's leadership.
The reason Gratz looked so smug was that he was the one who had proposed the withdrawal strategy.
I knew that already.
I'd heard the story dozens of times.
Usually while we were drinking.
He’d even told Ronana all about it.
In any case, the ruins in the center of the wasteland were the planned site for Tiselle’s town.
Although, it seemed the wyverns were currently using the place for their nests.
...
"Is something bothering you?"
"Ah, no... I assume this location was decided after experts weighed in?"
"It was decided with Tiselle at the center, in consultation with military executives. We chose a spot with enough distance so as not to provoke the Human Kingdoms too much... But please, I'd like to hear your thoughts, even if only for reference."
"Even if you say 'reference,' I'm just an amateur at this."
"The perspective of an amateur is often quite valuable."
"If you say so. Then, I'll be blunt..."
Isn't the transportation accessibility just awful?
"Hmm? I thought I explained that a moment ago..."
"No, that's not what I mean. Tiselle is building a country that will act as a proxy for negotiations with the Demon Kingdom, right?"
"That is my understanding."
"Then what's the point if it's hard to reach for both the humans and the demons? How is anyone supposed to actually get to this new country?"
"..."
"On the Demon Kingdom side, you have Beezel, so you can manage somehow... but from the human side, there are two major powers acting like a lid on the region. Unless you're on great terms with both of them, no one will be able to reach the capital. Personally, I think it would be much more convenient to build the town on the northern or southern coast. If you have a port, people can come from anywhere by ship, and in a worst-case scenario, you have a way to escape by sea."
Gratz listened to my opinion and nodded slowly...
Then he called Tiselle over and changed the location of the planned town on the spot.
Wait, really?
Is it okay to just adopt my random idea like that?
Tiselle and Gratz both assured me at the same time that it was perfectly fine.
W-well, if they were happy with it, then I guess it was okay.
Village Head: "I really wanted nori and menma for the toppings..." High Ogre Maid: "Our apologies. We used a massive amount of nori for yesterday’s lunch." Village Head: "Ugh... Right, those nori rolls." High Ogre Maid: "And the Dwarves ate all the menma as a snack with their sake recently..." Village Head: "Dammit, I slacked off on restocking."
Village Head: "What if we reduced the serving size per bowl to increase the total count? Say, by half?" Alfred: "P-please don't. You'll start a riot."