Chapter 97
Several days had already passed since I arrived in the capital.
“My leg seems to be completely better now.”
After jumping in place a few times, I murmured with a satisfied smile.
Feeling good, I headed to the first floor and ran into Joy, who was standing at the door.
“Joy? Where are you going out?”
“Yeah. I thought I’d take a look around outside today.”
“What a surprise.”
I asked back with a rather surprised expression at Joy’s words.
It was surprising because Joy usually disliked being noticed by others, so it was unexpected for him to voluntarily go to a crowded place.
“I ran out of ingredients for the potions. It’s more reliable when I see and buy them myself.”
After finishing his sentence, Joy scanned me and asked with a curious tone, “By the way, where are you going?”
“I have some business to attend to at the plaza today as well. This works out perfectly. We can go together by carriage.”
At my words, Joy looked pleased and asked if that was alright.
It was a distance that could be walked, but since I knew he disliked being in crowds, I casually suggested it, not expecting him to be so happy.
As we stepped outside together, Caelan, who was waiting with the carriage, greeted us.
“Hello!”
Behind Caelan were two more knights, making a total of three knights as my escort today.
“It’s been a while, Caelan. And…”
“This is Eric.”
“I’m Maevin!”
After exchanging greetings with the knights behind Caelan, I finally got into the carriage.
After about 10 minutes of riding in the carriage, we arrived at Joy’s destination.
“Have a good trip.”
“Yes. Please be careful as well, Lady Dahlia.”
Perhaps because the knights around us were listening, Joy greeted me in a formal tone reserved for public occasions.
Every time Joy acted so formally, it felt so out of place that goosebumps rose on my arms.
Suppressing a laugh, I bid farewell to Joy and set the carriage off again.
Before long, we reached Mihenne Street, where the tavern mentioned in the note was located.
“Wow, it seems like the Harvest Festival preparations are in full swing, making the streets busier than usual.”
Caelan looked around the lively street and spoke with a mix of admiration and anticipation.
Turning my head toward the people in the street, I saw everyone smiling broadly, looking genuinely happy.
“Indeed. Especially since this is the first festival after the war, everyone has such expectant faces.”
Seeing people who seemed to have the world at their feet just because they could enjoy the festival freely brought a smile to my face.
Leaving behind the people busy with festival preparations, I hurried my steps to find the location written on the note.
It was when I had entered further into the street that I finally found it.
“Ah, there it is.”
As soon as I spotted the name written on the note, “Spring of December,” I instinctively ran toward the shop.
“Lady, are you perhaps hungry right now?”
Caelan, who had been following me, examined the somewhat shabby-looking shop and cautiously asked.
Since this wasn’t a place I would usually go to, I somewhat expected Caelan to look puzzled and ask about it.
“I’m not here to eat; I’m here to meet someone.”
At my answer, Caelan still looked curious but silently nodded and followed behind me.
As I entered the shop, I was greeted by a surprisingly spacious interior.
Just as I was thinking that it was quite clean considering the shabby exterior, someone emerged from the kitchen and approached me.
“Welcome! Are you a party of four?”
The young-looking female server quickly scanned me and the knights behind me before leading us to a large table.
“It seems like this is your first time here; our beef stew is the best! Actually, the chef can only make beef stew, but it’s really good!”
Watching the friendly server enthusiastically recommend the menu, I cautiously spoke up.
“Um, actually…”
“Yes! Would you like four beef stews?”
“Not exactly; I came to meet someone. I heard a person named Terry is here.”
“Terry, you say?”
I noticed the cheerful smile on the woman’s face falter for a moment.
In that brief instant, I felt as if her gentle gaze sharpened as she scrutinized my face.
Then, having reached some conclusion, she returned to her warm demeanor and smiled at me.
“Oh! You’re a guest of the chef! Hehe, I heard you were coming, but I completely forgot. The chef is inside preparing ingredients; let me take you to him!”
As I stood up to follow her, the knights quickly stood up as well.
“Ah, customers can’t come in! There’s a risk of our beef stew secret being leaked, so only invited guests of the chef can enter.”
“But…”
“Customers can enjoy some beef stew here. Even if I can’t share the secret, I can still serve you the stew.”
Caelan looked like he didn’t care about the beef stew secret, but the woman’s stance was firm.
“Caelan, it’s okay. She’s trustworthy. I’ll be back soon.”
I calmed the knights, who seemed ready to follow me at any moment.
In fact, the knights had been worried about what to do up to this point, so I was grateful they were holding back on their own.
“I understand. I will wait here, so please call me immediately if anything happens.”
Since he judged that there were no elements of danger inside the shop, Caelan reluctantly nodded.
Once the server confirmed that the knights had sat back down, she turned around with a satisfied expression.
“Please follow me!”
The server entered the kitchen, opened a side door in the corner, and guided me through it.
As I stepped inside, I found a longer-than-expected staircase leading down.
“I heard from the owner, but I didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly.”
As I followed the woman down the stairs, a lively voice came from ahead.
“The owner…?”
“He’s the one who informed the chef about your visit.”
I swallowed a chuckle at the woman referring to Bjorn as the owner.
‘You really can’t tell what’s inside her head.’
To think that a prince of the empire was also running a restaurant like this.
I had no doubt it was anything but an ordinary establishment.
“We’re almost there.”
As we reached the bottom of the stairs and passed through another door, a neat room appeared.
“Terry! A guest!”
The woman entered the room without knocking and shouted into the air.
“Quiet…”
“Gah!”
I was startled to hear a faint groan coming from what I thought was an empty room.
Turning my head toward the sound, a hand suddenly emerged from a pile of books in the corner.
“You came in late yesterday because of your mission, right?”
“Ugh. That damn owner. Always throwing difficult tasks at me. I’ll definitely get back at him someday.”
I was momentarily startled by her blunt language, but then a woman with a sharp expression emerged from between the books.
“Hmm? Who’s this? A rabbit-like guest has arrived.”
The woman, who had been cursing the owner with a fierce expression, instantly softened her face upon noticing me and approached.
“Your surprised expression is so cute.”
“Terry, that person is a guest of the owner.”
“Ugh. The owner?”
The woman named Terry stepped back a pace after hearing the server’s words.
It didn’t seem like she had any positive feelings toward Bjorn.
“Oh, now that you mention it, I think he came by a few days ago and mentioned that a guest would be coming.”
As she muttered to herself, recalling the past, Terry eventually looked directly at me and spoke.
“You do realize that coming here means you’re in the same boat as us, right?”
“In the same boat…?”
“Come on, you’re trying to make the owner into an emperor for some purpose of your own, are you?”
With her straightforward manner of speaking, she asked me directly without any hesitation.
And just as she said, I was indeed someone who wanted to make Bjorn an emperor for my own reasons, so I cautiously nodded my head.
