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Chapter 28: The Prince’s Curiosity
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“Anyway, do sea demons taste that delicious?”
“Yes. The appearance and the flavour are a little bit peculiar but if it’s made my Miltia, I can vouch for its deliciousness.”
Hearing Maricle-sama’s stamp of approval, my heart warmed up unconsciously.
“Hearing that from a picky eater like you is really hits different.”
“I was still a kid back then!”
“I wish I could try it too… The food that was made from sea demons…”
(….E-Excuse me…)
Nervously, I tugged on Maricle-sama’s sleeve.
“Hm? What is it, Miltia?”
(I…. I’ve bring the 『space-time storage box』with the seafood in it with me so… If it’s only for several people, I think I can make it now… But….)
“REALLY?!”
Whoa!
My body unconsciously jumped a little. I thought I had been whispering low enough so only Maricle-sama could hear me but… As expected from an experienced Hero… He seemed to have heard everything I had just said.
Ars-sama was now staring at us with sparkles in his eyes.
“Haaah…. You have an iron stomach so I’m sure there will be no problem even if you eat those demons raw but as the crown prince, please refrain from getting so excited over the prospect of eating unknown food brought from outside.”
“It’ll be alright! I’m a Hero after all. I’m resistant to poison!  …. Anyway, the only people who’re strong enough to beat me are you and that other person, right Maricle?”
Ah… So that’s why even though he’s 『His Royal Highness the Crown Prince』there’s no one around here acting as his bodyguard… If anything,he went… 『If they’re going to become my bodyguard, they need to be stronger than me or at the very least as strong as me, right?』And so as the result of the selection test carried by the crown prince himself, the position for his bodyguard… Has completely disappeared.
As expected from a Hero… He’s so strong….
“Fufufu~ As a matter of fact, between all the mock battles I’ve done with Maricle, I’ve only won 4 times and ended up losing 99 times.”
Ars-sama said while winking at me.
“What?!”
D-Does that mean… Maricle-sama has won 99 times against the Hero? ….. A-Amazing….!
But Maricle-sama then whipped his face away.
“………… You’re talking about those magic matches we’ve done, right? ….. Or rather, even though I’m a magician and you’re a swordsman, isn’t it even weirder that you can win 4 times against me in a magic match?”
“Maricle’s magic barrier is so tough indeed…I even had to use my holy sword~”
“When you bring that kind of stuff into a mock battle, of course I need to seriously defend myself or I’ll end up dying.”
“Yeah! My digestive system is more or less as strong as my magic barrier so I’m sure I’ll be alright!! Hey? Hey? So what do you say??”
When he stared at me with his puppy-dog eyes, I couldn’t help myself… From wanting to make him something. I stared at Maricle-sama from the side, hoping to find some answer from him.
“….. Haaah… We have no other choice then. Miltia, I’m sorry but can you please make something for this gluttonous man?”
“Yes! Absolutely!!”
“Wooooo! Yayy! Ah, feel free to use whatever is in the kitchen!!”
“Miltia, if it’s for this man, you can just feed him raw seafood. Raw seafood is fine.”
“Yes, please wait for a moment!”
“Hey, Maricle… At the very least… Please roast it a little first…”
Okay, since we’ve come all the way here anyway… I will cook something for them with all of my might!
It seemed like Prince Ars  and Maricle-sama still had a lot of things to talk about so I was guided to the royal palace kitchen by the maid.
Whoa…. How peculiar… Are these ingredients from the east?
In the kitchen, there were some sort of grass seeds called rice used for making “pilaf” here. The previous head chef used to  make “pilaf” for us. The one I used to use was long and narrow but the one in the royal kitchen was more round, like it’d be easy to roll on a flat surface. This type of rice would be more suitable to make a risotto with.
Seeing this rice reminded me of all the other foods I wanted to make one day.
….. Maricle-sama did say Ars-sama would be fine even if I gave him raw seafood… If that’s the case then… There’s this menu I want to try a little…
As I stood in the kitchen, I opened the 『space-time storage box』containing the blessing of the sea I had mentioned before.