Once all the event members had gathered, Hiroshi told them what was happening as he carried big plates with beautifully arranged food. Upon seeing the voluminous amount of food, Haruna raised a voice of delight.
ăCelebratinâ yer 18th birthday party, Haruna-san. Eat yer heart out, celebrate to yer heartâs content.ă
ăOkayďźă
Aearis added her own delighted voice into the fray, her eyes glinting at the tasty-looking food. For Japan, none of this food was especially new, but in Farlaneâs case, there were many things here never seen before. Furthermore, the only royalty there were Aearis and Elena. The other people apparently were busy and unfortunately couldnât find time to stop by, instead opting to prepare some items for the celebration, such as items that screamed âUse me as an ingredient to make something!â or foodstuff that would fetch a high market price. It was clear that Azuma Workshop was the first thing on their minds.
ăHaruna-san, ya also like vegetable dishes, so I tried to make the ratio slightly in favor of that. Whatcha think?ă
ăYeah, yeahďźă
Haruna responded, her attention moving to the seasonal vegetable tenpura. Hiroshi beamed at her before laying out the accompanying seasonal vegetable dishes. He placed four big plates of pome leaves and wyvern breast meat pilafs in an easily accessible location and made sure that the main course of garbarensia fillet Japanese-style marinade steak and todayâs soup reached everyone. Lastly, he brought the other main dish in front of Haruna- her birthday cake.
ăWow, this is crazyâŚâŚďźă
ăCanât have a party without this, amiright?ă
ăâCourse not.ă
What Hiroshi had set out was an elegant cake with every variety of fruit from storage arranged with a perfect balance, biscuits of two different colors spelling outăď˝ď˝ď˝ď˝ăď˝ď˝ď˝ď˝ď˝ď˝ď˝ă, and fresh cream around the candles to support them. And since they had yet to find cacao, they had used a type of red food coloring for the biscuits.
ăWow, I could totally live on thisâŚâŚă
ăIâm glad to hear ya say that, but I ainât done nothinâ all that special.ă
ăBut it canât be easy to prepare all this, right?ă
ăNah, Mio made it a lot easier.ă
Hiroshi acted like it was no big deal, but Haruna knew immediately from experience that this was no small feat. There were many areas that were left unmentioned that had required a lot of technique, so the simple appearance was anything but simple. And even if that werenât the case, they were using comparatively rare monster ingredients in the food. She didnât mind so much, since he enjoyed making food, but Haruna knew full well that it was no small task to cook all that monster food.
ăAlright, letâs start one of the main events of today, mate.ă
Hiroshi clapped his hands, and the next moment, the roomâs lightring vanished, replaced by the lit candles. As Harunaâs eyes widened at this parlor trick, everyone else who had secretly prepared this trick began singing happy birthday all at once. By the time they finished singing, Haruna had regained her composure, blowing out all eighteen candles. As she did so, a roaring applause filled the room.
ăI think weâll begin the next main event after we finish eating.ă
ăYeah. I donât want it getting cold, plus Iâm at my limit. I gotta eat!ă
Everyone smiled at how honest Haruna was with her appetite, but it wasnât like they were any different than she was. After saying itadakimasu, they began to plow through the food with a fierce pace.
ăThis vegetable tenpura is super tasty. Whatâs in it?ă
ăSomethinâ called leukon. Usually ya just straight up cook it and eat it, but I had a feelinâ itâd go well with tenpura.ă
Haruna nodded in amazement as she munched on a thick heart-shaped leaf. It was a short-lived ingredient, only ripe around this time until the end of April, so it was no surprise that this was their first time seeing it. It wasnât pungent and could go with tempura dipping sauce, salt, and various other condiments.
There were also reworked dishes like razzo (red asparagus) salad with plenty of lycopene as the base, with beefy-legged salmon, pome marinade, and baanya (a yellow type of broccoli), salad dishes concentrated only with vegetables that were foreign to Japan, beginning with mushrooms and daikon, and things like quiche with vegetables that slightly resembled but were unrelated to Japan.
Now, the most popular amongst the main dishes was a rock boar cutlet fried with a carrot/razzo coating and ginger-based sauce. You might refer to it as a subspecies of carrot/asparagus-coated pork cutlet. No matter the time period or world, orthodox cuisine would always be the most popular. For the amount of effort involved, food that included âcoma kingâ shrimp had a slightly better reputation than the same orthodox âfriedâ shrimp. Still, the other meals were fairly popular as well, and despite how normal it was at her age to dislike vegetables, even Lime ate one or two varieties.
ăThe main meat hereâŚIâve never had it before and it tastes good, but what did you hunt down?ă
ăGarbarensia.ă
ăThe other ingredients went well too.ă
ăAh, okay.ă
The hunting party answered Elenaâs query rather quickly, and Elena simply went along with it like it was nothing. It seemed that she intended to thoroughly enjoy this rare pleasure.
ăYou arenât surprised, Elena-sama?ă
ăNo, not by this point.ă
Instead, Teres was the one to be surprised at how unperturbed Elena was. Nora and Fum werenât much different. After Elena had replied with that matter-of-fact tone, she tried out some sake and divided a pilaf, excited to see how it was made. Also, no one was surprised by this point that Aearis wasnât surprised.
ăThatâs what Iâd expect from a princess. Her presence is off the charts!ă
ăWhen Nora heard about garbarensias, she truly questioned your sanity.ă
ăMe too. When I saw a Class Four potion for the first time, my reaction wasnât much different from yours.ă
After many other events, the two of them had stopped being surprised at anything they ate.
ăIâm just glad that the octogals arenât here.ă
ăYeah. I bet it would have been quite noisy.ă
Having apparently had enough to eat, Tatsuya and Makoto chatted as they drank sake with the dry, mellow taste of rice and a refreshing aftertaste. Anyone who knew about those strange creatures would agree with that statement, and thank goodness, even Artiem would concur.
ăOctogalďźă
ăAranwen-samaâsâŚpets? Retainers? Iâm not sureâŚâŚă
ăAnyhow, there are these strange-looking creatures that are difficult to describe.ă
Fum had not known about the octogals until now, asking a question on behalf of everyone else who did not. After hearing the response from the elder group, her face basically looked like she was thinking âThe hell is that?â. Even Layla, who was not participating in the conversation, grinning as she continued eating, was of a similar opinion.
ăYeah, you kinda have to see it for yourselves to understandă
ăDarn skippyă
ăTheyâre such strange creatures, thatâs all Iâm sayingă
ăTheir appearance is one thing, but explaining anything else is sort of difficult, yeah.ă
The Japanese continued their explanation, of which Teres and Artiem had no choice but to agree. They didnât end up explaining much more here, but later on, the craftspeople of the workshop would be coming face to face with these creatures in an unexpected fashion. Of course, no one was currently anticipating this.
ăRight, now that the foodâs gone, letâs use our second stomach for the cake ân enjoy the second event, yâall.ă
ăIâve been waiting for thisďźă
ăCakeďź Cakeďźă
As soon as they heard the word âcakeâ, the girls (and even Layla and Lime) reacted simultaneously. Even Wulls had fresh cream sweets, but they had all but none of the type that Hiroshi made with flowery, intricate designs. Needless to say, this was an issue of cooking technique. If Goivejon and Foeldan had been able to participate today instead of getting roped into some other tasks, they would have undoubtedly been taken aback from the sheer power.
ăOf course Harunaâs gettinâ the best place, and then yâall can get the next best places based on how young ya are, is that alright?ă
ăOf course.ă
ăItâs a given that the older people look out for the younger people. Just because weâre royalty doesnât mean you need to take special care around me or Aearis.ă
ăUmm, I still feel like Artiem and I have a slight disadvantage hereâŚâŚă
ăSuch is the fate of elves. Perish the thought.ă
The girls clamoured excitedly at Hiroshiâs proposal. He smiled awkwardly at them before dividing the cake up into fair portions.
ăAnd then we got the main present for ya right here.ă
Once everyone had gotten a piece, Hiroshi took out a firmly-wrapped package and handed it to Haruna. Everyone else who had previously heard about the gift cocked their heads in confusion at how much larger it was than they had assumed. Only Aearis, who had gone through with blessing rituals, saw the size of the bag as normal.
ăWhat could it be? I can open it, rightďźă
ăâCourse.ă
Urged on by Hiroshi, Haruna opened the first present she had received in who knows how many years. Out came three different-sized ribbons and a truly good-looking ribbon brooch adorned on the collar with sapphire. It was a fancy item made to look chic with subdued blue and white checkers, perfect for Haruna.
The brooch would look good not only on dresses, but also on wyvern laser armor. It was quite the fine item. Even the ribbon emitted a strange personality to the point where even people who were bad at discerning high value from low value could tell that some serious work had been put into the fabric. For those who could feel precise amounts of mana, it was possible to see almost instantly that this product was on par with the legendary artifacts. Still, they would also probably realize that it wasnât really something they could handle well enough to use.
ăBoss Man, I havenât heard about the brooch until now. Care to explain?ă
ăItâs a secret present from the royal family, mate. It was a pretty good item so I put my all into it.ă
ăO-Okaaay, now I just feel like Iâm in the presence of something awe-inspiringâŚâŚă
ăNah, câmon, weâre in a private situation now with Farlaneâs royal folk. No need to act all polite.ă
Elena and Aearis burst into laughter at how blunt Hiroshi said that. Haruna looked at them with a light smile before putting her present back into its wrapping, hugging it tightly against her chest and treating it with care.
ăThanks, everyoneâŚâŚă
Precisely because there were hardly any presents, Haruna could tell that everyone at the workshop had churned out their ideas and worked on this present with love. To Haruna, this would go on to be one of the most unforgettable handful of moments in her life.