I Favor the Villainess

A bell rang announcing the lunch break.

"Hmm. That's it for the morning lecture"

When the teacher says so briefly, he just leaves the room.

He's still a lack of love, but I'm sure he'll just finish the lecture in time.

And, then, the earth swayed.

"An earthquake!

As the whole classroom panicked, I sheltered and covered Master Claire.

The earthquake subsided in about a minute.

"That was huge, the earthquake now"

"Yeah, it's been a lot lately"

Earthquakes are frequent these days, as I also talked to Master Rod before leaving the kingdom.

There are examples of sassal volcanoes, so more people seem to be anxious even in the empire.

Most of all, for me from Japan, an earthquake power, this frequency is a daily feeling.

"Claire, Ray, were you okay?

"Dear Philine,"

"I'm afraid you're worried. But I'm fine."

Philine came with a worried look.

"Yes, good. Why don't you join us for lunch?

They're asking me out for lunch.

Lana and Frieda usually join us here to dine together, but unfortunately we're not on our own today.

"I'm sorry, Master Filine. We didn't bring lunch today."

I didn't have time to make lunch today because of Mae and Allea's out-of-school noise.

I was about to make it, to be exact, but that turned out to be May and Alea's breakfast.

Master Claire and I were out of breakfast, so my stomach is full.

But Master Claire's expression is not excellent.

"If so, are you two in the dining room..."

"I intend to."

Philine, who speaks to Master Claire, is also in a bitter mood.

Why.

Actually, the cafeteria in the school isn't very tasty.

"Then can I just come with you to the place, too?

"Of course that is. It's not bad as an institution, is it, the dining room here?"

"But for once, it's where the Empire serves its official meals."

While walking down the road to the dining room, I was listening to a conversation between Philine and Lady Claire.

The two are as close as ever.

I'm not jealous.

I don't know.

I can afford a full-wife.

All right.

I arrived at the dining room in minutes walking.

"You're still hanging out today."

'Cause it's not popular here.'

A scattered dining room as they say, but the facilities themselves are clean and spacious.

It would be as big as what I would call a college food study in my previous life.

Building materials are a lot of wood, not reinforced concrete, but the warm impression for that matter, and the table and chairs are not bad.

The only problem is cooking.

"Auntie, what is your dedication today?

"Stewed lamb and vegetables, sausage, sauerkraut, bread."

The aunt in the dining room answers lovingly and succinctly.

She is a woman who has a good width and feels like a liver balls mother.

The menu hasn't changed much from when I ate here before.

There is no freedom in this dining room to choose from more than one menu, etc.

Every day of the week, every user eats a certain dish.

"Well, give me two of those, please."

"Aye."

Unmotivated voices returned from inside the kitchen to Master Claire's voice.

I waited for the dish while I refrained behind Master Claire.

"Well, I'll keep my seat."

"Is it crowded enough to be a battle?

"You want to at least have a good seat for the bad food."

"That's true, too. Please."

"Yes."

Filine takes her lunch and leaves.

Following that figure with her eyes, she seemed to be securing me a sunny and scenic seat by the window.

"Aye, wait. Take it."

My aunt served me a tray with dishes on it.

It hasn't taken five minutes.

Probably just rewarm the buildup and serve.

There's, well, I don't think we have a choice.

Even the average restaurant doesn't show up, and there aren't many stores that make it from scratch.

That's fine.

The problem is...

……

"Dear Claire. Staring at it doesn't make it tasty. Let's give up."

"Right..."

I urged Master Claire to head to the seat that Filine had secured for me.

"Well, I'll have it."

"I'll have it."

"I'll have it."

When I look at the two of them hand in hand as well as I do, I realize that this is the world of games made by Japanese gaming companies after all.

If this is a totally medieval European world, it would be a religious prayer before meals.

I first carry the bread into my mouth by chopping it up, thinking blurry about things like that.

Yeah, stiff.

It would be because they use poor quality wheat or barley, not superior wheat.

Maybe the yeast isn't good either.

They also say a small percentage of the butter.

It's not as bad as you can't eat, but it's never tasty.

Nevertheless, this is still a prelude.

Next I put my mouth on the soup.

It smells like simple saltiness and tough spices.

The lamb used is a matton, not a lamb.

The spices themselves are delightful, but they are not properly calculated, and it is only appropriate that the smell of the matton disappears.

The vegetables are also too boiled and thick.

This is never good again.

The Warclout is normal.

Normal but nothing to take away and praise.

I don't feel anything more than pickled cabbage.

The only salvation is sausage.

I can eat this.

Delicious.

However, the main source of protein is like a matton, and the sausage is a side dish, so there is not much.

I think I'd rather quit the matton and make soup out of sausage.

And well, as mentioned above, an official meal of the Empire is by no means delicious.

This is a fairly famous story in this world, like the infamy of British cuisine in previous life.

Unlike that in England, there is no salvation where it doesn't actually taste good.

……

Even Claire, who never complains about what she has made, says it's best to eat quietly.

I wonder if this is the only way you can see what an imperial meal looks like.

Of course there are several reasons for this.

First and foremost, there is the traditional view of the empire's diet.

The wealthy of the Empire have traditionally encouraged a qualitative diet and have exhorted Huamei.

As a result, luxury disappeared from public dining.

It is the same schematic that the British Gentleman loved a qualitative meal.

There are also imperial social institutional reasons.

In empires, young people often leave their parents at an early age to live and work.

To this end, the so-called taste of the mother is not inherited and the meals made by young people without knowledge do not turn out to be tasty.

It is a negative reproduction in the dietary culture.

Traditionally low social status of chefs and pastries would also be mentioned.

In an empire that has been at war with other countries for a long time, a respected profession is still a military man.

There are verses where professions like chefs and pastries are considered professions in which those unsuitable for such battles take up and are subject to potential discrimination.

Of course, there are cooks who accompany the military, and meals are a very important element for the military in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, these things are limited to the public diet of the Empire until they are exhausted.

In the central market of the Empire we saw earlier, various ingredients from other countries were lined up in a narrow way.

There are also many international students and migrants from other countries.

In that, there's no way the people will continue to eat poorly.

I mean, there's a lot of good stuff in the private sector.

The wealthy of the empire, beginning with the imperial chamber, are stubbornly refusing it.

To that proof, Philine's lunch box, which is royal, is not so different from what Lady Claire or I are eating.

That's why Filine was so thrilled with the chocolate and the geese.

"Ray, you got a wrinkle between your eyebrows, don't you?

"Excuse me. But to cook so badly, I even learn to be angry. Blasphemy for ingredients."

"... sorry"

"It's not for Lady Filine to apologize. All I'm saying is this is national."

"But it seems to be a frequent problem among foreign affairs officials. Imperial cuisine has a very bad reputation for guests from other countries."

Well, I guess so.

On the day they serve such dishes in the welcome seat, it is a level of suspicion of poisoning.

"We're not even serious."

The words hung on the pretend belonged to my aunt who came out of the kitchen.

Apparently, he was listening.

"Oh, sorry, buckwheat. I never meant to blame you."

"That's okay, that's... I know. The food here is never delicious. But even we cooks aren't happy with food like this."

With that said, the aunt handed out a number of white chunks divided into small plates.

"Put it on the bread and eat it. We don't complain about using it in any other way."

With that said, my aunt laughed deeply.

"What do you mean?

Filine is leaning her neck.

"Perhaps this is what you mean"

I cut the butter in half and threw it in the soup.

When I look at the taste, it tastes much better with more richness than it did earlier.

"Oh, it's delicious."

"Right."

"Shouldn't this be flavored that way from the beginning?

When I say,

"I changed the flavoring before and they're not mad at me. Even the Empire has as many delicious dishes... Zviberkuchen, Spägelzuppe, Eierschecke… now it tastes forgotten."

With a bump, my aunt went back to the kitchen.

What she said should have been German local food in the original world.

"... can't you handle this?

"I'd like to do something about it too, because the mother at heart is not experiencing anything wrong..."

Yeah.

I don't think Dorothea and I can tell.

Nevertheless, meals are meals, so there can be no leftovers.

The three of us ate everything over time, a meal that would never taste good.

"Welcome...... was it?

"Stop questioning me."