"I'm so full, nya..."
Following dinner, the dining hall was filled with adults wearing satisfied expressions. I had savored the long-awaited taste of the curry myself, but the others had practically turned into machines, rhythmically shoveling spoons into their mouths. I had ended up the same way when eating crab in the Fatma Territory, but apparently, curry was also capable of rendering people speechless.
At any rate, seeing them so satisfied made the effort worthwhile.
"This curry is truly incredible. I feel like I could keep eating it forever."
"The dessert was wonderful, too."
"I'm glad to hear that."
For dessert, I had served ice cream made with soy milk and ice magic. I went with vanilla—the quintessential flavor from my past life. The plants required to produce vanilla beans were actually among the materials I could gather in the Sea of Trees.
They required a bit of processing before use, but since they were available in abundance near Kormi Village, I had a virtually unlimited supply. If anything, keeping fresh milk on hand was the more difficult part of the recipe.
Since I didn't have any in stock this time, I had substituted it with soy milk. Perhaps I should look into acquiring some dairy cow monsters, just as I kept Clever Chickens in my Dimension Home.
"The coldness is a welcome relief for a tongue and body heated by the curry's spice," Sebas chimed in with a critique. As a self-proclaimed food enthusiast whose hobby was touring restaurants, his praise gave me confidence in the recipe. "Furthermore, the refreshing sweetness and that mellow fragrance drifting through the nose... it provides an indescribable sense of bliss."
I’ll have to try the milk version next time.
"By the way, what should we do about the alcohol?" I asked.
I had prepared drinks to accompany the meal, but everyone had been so focused on the curry that they hadn't touched them. I wondered if I should just clear them away.
"A delicious meal followed by drinks? You've really thought of everything," Welanna said. "I think I'll have a bit."
"Count me in," Jeff added. "I'll leave the selection to you."
Several voices spoke up in favor of drinking, and the room transitioned into a relaxed banquet. Since everyone was full and still savoring the curry, the atmosphere was one of quiet, casual drinking.
It didn't seem like they wanted to get rowdy, so I decided to serve a standard wine for the group. While the goblins' shirozake and seishu tasted good, they weren't familiar flavors in these parts. I thought about offering a variety if they intended to drink heavily, but in this relaxed mood, a familiar vintage was the better choice. I kept the snacks light as well.
"Well then, cheers!"
"Cheers!"
As the group began to relax, Eleanora caught my eye. She sat directly across from me and had stiffened the moment the glass touched her lips. She stared into the wine with wide, unblinking eyes. She had mentioned it had been a long time since her last drink; I wondered if she found it unpleasant.
"Eleanora, is something wrong?"
"No, I was just a little surprised," she replied. "Has wine always been this... delicious?"
It seemed it wasn't a matter of the alcohol being too strong or the taste being poor.
"I'm glad you like it. I'm not very knowledgeable about wines, so it was just something I had bought at random a while back."
"To call it random... I find this truly remarkable. It’s possible I only feel this way because I haven't had much high-quality wine, but it has so little bitterness. It’s incredibly easy to drink."
"I suppose some labels are like that."
"They are. As I mentioned before, I grew up near a gold mine. There was a high demand for alcohol among the laborers, so wine was imported in such bulk that it was cheaper and easier to get than clean water. It was our primary beverage. However, it certainly didn't compare to this."
I had heard that in certain regions of Earth's history, people drank low-alcohol beverages as a substitute for water. It seemed Eleanora's home shared that culture.
"So you've been drinking it for a long time?"
"In the beginning, it was low-alcohol wine diluted with water produced by magic. I believe I've been drinking it for as long as I can remember. As I grew, the ratio of wine was gradually increased. I think the first time I ever drank pure, unadulterated water was when I left the territory to enter the Royal Capital Academy. At the time, it felt strange that my drink wasn't wine."
As Eleanora spoke nostalgically, the usual tension in her posture softened. It was a good sign. If she was the kind of person who could bond with others over a drink, it would be a huge help to me.
She seemed to truly enjoy the vintage, tilting her glass as if savoring every drop. It didn't take long for her glass to reach the bottom.
"Would you like another?"
"I would, thank you."
"Well now, you've got quite a pace going," Welanna said, leaning over. "How about some of this cheese to go with it?"
"I'll have some, thank you."
Welanna held out a plate of smoked cheese, and Eleanora accepted it with a polite nod.
"I'm glad to see you're hitting it off with the adventurers," I remarked.
"I agree," Eleanora said.
"Haha, there's no need to worry about that," Welanna laughed. "To be honest, I thought she seemed a bit stiff at first. But once we actually started talking, she wasn't nearly as nagging as I expected. Everything she says is logical and well-reasoned."
"It's not just Eleanora; the four of you are quite decent, both as nobles and as people, nya," Miya added. "I've worked for nobles before, and the bad ones are truly nightmare-inducing, nya."
"Is it really that common?" I asked.
Miya, Silia, and Mizeria all nodded in unison.
"It's not just nobles, but in my experience, they tend to be the most overbearing," Mizeria said.
"Our rank is reasonably high and we're an all-female party," Silia explained. "Most of our requests from nobles involve guarding their daughters."
"Emergency monster subjugation or herb gathering is one thing," Jeff grunted, "but with guard duty, you're stuck facing them for days on end. I don't care for it myself."
Everyone had certainly had their share of trouble.
The nobles I had dealt with so far were either associated with the Jamil Ducal House or Count Polko. Aside from them, there was only Sieber, the former Knight Commander, and Big Sis Remily. I had known for a while that I was incredibly lucky to have only met "good" nobles so far.
"I can understand why adventurers would find work with the nobility unpleasant," Eleanora said. "Even from my perspective, many of my peers are quite insufferable."
"You've mentioned something like that before," I recalled.
"Yes, my former husband was a typical useless noble. He used his parents' money and power to play around all day, every day. If anything didn't go his way, he took it out on the servants. He was a vacuous man; you could summarize his entire personality in a single sentence. Only his body was thick—his character was paper-thin."
The room went quiet for a heartbeat before laughter threatened to spill out. Eleanora hadn't intended it as a joke, but the deadpan delivery in the middle of a serious conversation caught everyone off guard.
"If a guy like that was your husband, you must have had a rough time," Welanna said, pouring more wine. "Here, have another."
"Thank you. He was certainly a tedious man, but it didn't affect me directly as much as you'd think. Our marriage was decided solely for the convenience of our families. My husband had mistresses before we were even wed, so I was simply given an annex of the mansion and left to my own devices."
"Wait, what?" Jeff asked. "Noble marriages are about family ties, right? Is that even allowed?"
"As you say, Jeff. In a normal marriage, it would be a scandal. However, my marriage was merely a ploy to control my family's gold mine. I was a hostage being 'managed' by the other family. I wasn't treated as a wife, nor was I expected to be one. My family's position was overwhelmingly weaker. I never once desired for that man to like me, so a marriage in name only was exactly what I wanted."
Perhaps it was the alcohol talking, but Eleanora was being remarkably blunt.
"I suppose if you have to marry someone you dislike, it's better to just be left alone, nya," Miya mused.
"That's true. But you eventually joined the territorial army, right? I heard you led a unit," I said.
"Yes. Sitting in that annex was pointless, and as a hostage, they didn't care if I lived or died. When a swarm of monsters appeared and they were short on hands, they told me to go help. I took that opportunity to stay with the army. Though, the place they assigned me was a Penal Unit—a dumping ground for those who disrupted military discipline."
"A Penal Unit!?" Yudum looked aghast.
Lord Rosenberg looked equally shocked. Sebas seemed to have known, but even he silently furrowed his brows. It was clearly unheard of to send a noble lady—especially one married into the lord's family—to such a place.
"No matter the politics, that’s just..." Yudum began.
"My former father-in-law hated the idea of me having even the slightest amount of power," Eleanora explained. "A Penal Unit is lower than any other. Even a commander has severe restrictions on what they can do, and in the army, a superior's orders are absolute. Surely you know that, Yudum?"
"Even so... by their very nature, Penal Units are full of the worst elements of the military. The missions are the most dangerous and grueling. Throwing a woman married to the lord's son into a place like that is a massive blow to their reputation."
"My father-in-law valued profit more than his reputation. Since I can fight with magic, he could cut costs by using me. Furthermore, keeping me in constant hardship allowed him to pressure my family more effectively and siphon off profits from the mines. Then there was my husband's influence. That man had no talent for the sword or magic, and he made no effort to improve. He was intensely jealous of anyone stronger than him—especially women. That was a large part of why he avoided me."
"I hate to say this about your ex, but the guy was trash," Mizeria said.
"He was," Eleanora agreed.
She described a household that would discard common sense and ethics the moment their greed or emotions were involved. She was smiling as she spoke, but her eyes were completely vacant. I couldn't tell if it was the alcohol or years of repressed resentment.
"However, being in the army was a stroke of luck for me. The Penal Unit had its advantages."
"I'd like to hear those," Lord Rosenberg said.
Eleanora moistened her lips with wine before continuing.
"First was the freedom of movement. I could use training or missions as an excuse to leave that stifling mansion. Second was financial freedom. It is customary to pay soldiers hazard pay based on the mission. In the Baron Rufred Territory, it was stipulated that materials from monsters and bounties on bandits belonged to the soldiers who claimed them. The Penal Unit was no exception; because we were given the most dangerous missions, I had the most opportunities to earn. It allowed me to afford small luxuries, like eating in town or buying books."
"I see... Finding small comforts can provide the strength to overcome any hardship," Lord Rosenberg mused.
Being confined, denied entertainment, and left penniless, only to find an escape through life-threatening military missions... I admired the way she had fought her way through, but logically, this was far beyond a standard case of domestic abuse. No wonder Yudum and the others were horrified.
"Takebayashi-sama, please do not look so concerned."
"Sorry, was it that obvious?"
"You had a deep wrinkle between your eyebrows. What happened in the Rufred territory is not a pleasant memory, but it is in the past. Now, thanks to Duke Reinhardt, I have my life and true freedom. I have a new job. I consider myself remarkably lucky."
She nodded at her own words. Considering she could have been executed alongside her husband's family, she probably meant it... but I wondered if anyone could truly be that well-adjusted.
"Everyone goes through hard times," Eleanora said, looking at me. "Takebayashi-sama, surely you've had your share of struggles?"
"I've had some rough patches with the people around me, but nothing like being sent to a battlefield," I replied. "At most, I just had people occasionally trying to kill me."
"Owner, that is definitely not normal," Welanna interjected. "What on earth leads to that?"
"I’m not entirely sure why myself, but back in the day, a street fortune teller once screamed, 'You’re going to be a mass murderer!' before trying to bash my head in with their crystal ball. I used to get attacked out of the blue like that all the time. Maybe I was cursed to attract those types of people."
That wouldn't happen on Earth, but in this world, being cursed would be a perfectly logical explanation for the string of bizarre incidents I had endured. Even so, I had never been sent to a war zone. I still felt Eleanora had it harder.
"No, in my case, it was merely a job," Eleanora countered. "They treated me coldly, but they didn't explicitly want me dead. I believe Takebayashi-sama had the more difficult path."
"No, definitely you," I argued.
"Takebayashi-sama, it was you—"
A strange battle of modesty began, but I suddenly noticed something. While her expression remained calm, Eleanora’s eyes were wavering slightly. Her complexion hadn't changed, and her speech was clear, but...
"Eleanora, are you drunk?"
"—? Drunk? I feel a bit warm, but that is all."
"I see... No, wait. How many glasses have you had?"
"The toast, one from you, one from Welanna... and I believe two more during our conversation. Oh?"
As she counted, the alcohol finally seemed to hit her all at once. Her upper body swayed visibly.
"Hey, are you okay?" Welanna asked.
"Forgive me... it seems I am intoxicated. I feel quite sleepy."
"I thought so. I'll get some water."
Five glasses of wine in such a short window was a heavy amount. She didn't seem sick, but she definitely needed to hydrate.
I quickly filled a large cup with cold water using magic, but by the time I turned back, she had slumped into the back of her chair. Even with her eyes closed, her posture remained perfectly straight.
"Eleanora?"
"..."
"Hello? Oh boy... she's out. Completely."
"Well, I guess she can drink the water when she wakes up," I sighed. "Welanna, can you look after her?"
"Leave it to me," Welanna said, standing up. "I'm a pro at handling drunks."
The spirited Welanna easily picked Eleanora up and carried her toward the women's quarters. To help, the other three finished their drinks and followed, bringing the banquet to a natural end.
Through this, I learned that Eleanora was the type of person whose intoxication didn't show on the outside until it was too late. If there was a next time, I’d have to keep a closer eye on her pace.