“Mashed potatoes? I ate those often enough before coming to the ancient capital.”
Before Jean was a dish that, by all appearances, was nothing more than ordinary mashed potatoes. After the previous two dishes, which had been unlike anything he’d ever seen, Jean couldn’t hide his disappointment.
He would have almost preferred a plate of raw vegetables sprinkled with salt.
In Jean’s view, the Empire’s love of potatoes bordered on the obsessive. Traveling to the Empire from his previous posting in the United Kingdom, he had been confronted with mashed potatoes piled high like some kind of vengeance on a plate every single day, and he was thoroughly tired of it.
“No, this is potato salad.”
“Changing the name doesn’t change the contents. I don’t care for such deception.”
Most likely, she had boasted about being able to serve so many salads at the beginning to show off, and now she was resorting to this.
The ancient capital’s reputation, which he had just begun to reconsider, was about to plummet.
“That’s not it. Please, just try one bite. I promise.”
“…You’re a persistent young lady. If you insist, I’ll try one bite. But I’m warning you…”
The moment he put it in his mouth, an unexpected flavor stopped him mid-sentence.
An indescribable creaminess, with a slight tang. The blandness of potatoes he had anticipated was nowhere to be found; this was indeed something completely different.
“Well? What do you think?”
Jean, at a loss for words, simply cleared his throat, ignoring the serving girl’s questioning tilt of her head.
It certainly wasn’t mashed potatoes. Something had been mixed in, but he couldn’t tell what.
The carrots and cucumbers, which he had assumed were merely for decoration, were also doing their part, making this a dish worthy of the name “salad.”
“You’re right. This doesn’t seem to be mashed potatoes. I apologize for doubting you.”
“It’s alright. With plenty of mayonnaise, it tastes quite different from mashed potatoes.”
“Mayonnaise?”
“Yes. A condiment made from egg yolks, oil, and vinegar. It’s delicious.”
When Jean asked about the unfamiliar name, the serving girl cheerfully began to explain. Did she have no sense of caution at all?
“I see. I’ve never heard of such a condiment. This is educational.”
“Really? I’m glad to hear that. By the way, potato salad becomes even more delicious if you do this.”
She produced a small wooden salt mill.
It was a condiment dispenser that grinds rock salt from the inside, and is widely used even in the Eastern Kingdom. Jean was surprised to see it here in the ancient capital, but what exactly was she planning to do?
Adding rock salt to the potato salad he had just eaten wouldn’t drastically improve the flavor.
Jean was vaguely contemplating this as he watched the waitress’s hands move, but he noticed something peculiar.
The rock salt being sprinkled was black.
No, that probably wasn’t rock salt.
Among the stories collected by the Lore Gatherers, the organization Jean belonged to, there were tales of colored rock salt. But those were limited to pale colors like light pink.
Then, what exactly were those black granules?
“Here you go, please enjoy!”
Jean faced the potato salad again, intending to start fresh.
He focused on the flavor from before. By comparing it, he would try to discern what those black granules were. With that in mind, Jean brought the spoon to his mouth.
“…Eh?”
What spread was an unexpected sensation: spiciness. And not the spiciness of salt.
It was more stimulating, a flavor that sharply tightened the entire potato salad.
Jean recognized this taste.
“Could it be… pepper?”
“Yes. Don’t you think just a little bit makes the flavor pop?”
Makes the flavor better? Pop?
Of course. Even though the price has gone down a little now, pepper was once worth its weight in gold and silver.
To use it casually on a salad, and not even on meat, was the height of extravagance.
Delicious. He grudgingly had to admit it.
It wasn’t just because it was expensive that it tasted good; pepper actually complemented the potato salad. That only deepened his apprehension.
The ancient capital had the wealth to use pepper on a daily basis.
Presumably, a major merchant, likely connected to the city council, imported pepper in bulk, and some of it trickled down to the common people.
A city capable of that didn’t exist, at least not in the Eastern Kingdom.
“This is amazing. Potato salad is truly a delicious thing.”
“Yes! I think you can enjoy potatoes even more this way!”
Jean desperately suppressed the urge to retort, “Of course.”
He had to leave this tavern immediately, pack up his things at the inn, and return to the Eastern Kingdom. There were still things to investigate, but right now, speed was of the essence. A wrong decision could have irreversible consequences.
The plan to separate some of the Empire’s northern territories would also have to be reconsidered. If they wanted independence, they could have it, but all traces of the Eastern Kingdom would have to be completely erased.
He placed the money on the counter and was about to leave quickly, but he overheard the serving girl and the owner talking.
“Taisho, he enjoyed it so much. Why don’t we give him one more dish?”
“Give him what? I think the salad medley has been pretty good so far.”
“It doesn’t have to be a salad. Something salad-like would be good.”
“Salad-like…? Oh, no, no. That’s for my evening drink. It was expensive. It’s from Norway, you know.”
“Come on, don’t be so stingy.”
What was “that”?
The insatiable curiosity that had been cultivated as a Lore Gatherer kept Jean at the counter. The treasure the storeowner of a tavern that so freely uses pepper.
If he wasn’t curious about this, he didn’t deserve to call himself a Lore Gatherer.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
What was placed before Jean was thinly sliced meat of some kind.
It might have been fish, but he couldn’t tell just by looking at it.
The sauce it was mixed with resembled the cuisine of the southern Holy Kingdom.
“Carpaccio,”
The serving girl announced the dish’s name proudly, but she didn’t say what kind of meat it was.
Eat it and find out, she seemed to say. Jean hesitated to stab it with a fork, so he picked it up with his fingers and put it directly into his mouth.
Soft.
It was so soft he couldn’t believe it was animal meat. He could faintly smell blood, but it wasn’t unpleasant. He impulsively threw a second slice into his mouth.
He couldn’t tell if he was chewing it or if it was simply melting. Could such meat exist?
He looked at the serving girl, who was watching him with amusement.
Her eyes held a challenging glint, as if daring him to guess what kind of meat it was.
“This meat is soft, isn’t it?”
He said only that, ashamed that it wasn’t an answer at all.
He had eaten various kinds of meat before, but he couldn’t think of anything similar.
Beef, pork, lamb, chicken, horse.
How did they get their hands on meat that resembled none of those?
“Are you giving up?”
“Yes, I give up. What kind of meat is this?”
After hearing the answer, he would return to the Eastern Kingdom.
And he would ask to be removed from the Empire desk. He’d had enough of this incomprehensible country.
“This meat is… whale tail!”
Hearing “whale,” Jean didn’t immediately understand what she meant.
He had unconsciously expected an answer like “specially raised beef” or something. It was as if his mind was refusing to accept the serving girl’s answer.
“Whale?”
“Yes. You know, that big thing in the sea.”
Jean was part of the Lore Gatherers, after all. He knew that much.
He also knew that whaling existed.
But that was a story from a distant land far away. There was no record in the Lore Gatherers’ reports of anyone eating whale within reach of the Eastern Kingdom.
As far as the people of the Eastern Kingdom were concerned, Jean was the first person in history to have eaten whale.
Jean felt a chill run down his spine.
He shouldn’t get involved with the ancient capital. This was just a backwater tavern.
Curiosity kills the cat. Jean-François Mont de la Vigny prioritized his own safety over his duties as a Lore Gatherer.
“That was an excellent meal. I am very satisfied.”
“Really? I’m so glad to hear you say that!”
He took a horseshoe-shaped silver coin from the pouch at his waist and pressed it into the smiling serving girl’s hand.
“I just remembered something important, so I have to leave now. It was really delicious. Thank you.”
Jean leaped from the chair as if he were rolling, and an old monk at the corner of the counter gave him a nod without smiling.
“Be careful on your way back.”
Jean didn’t even look back as he rushed out of the tavern, the words sounding like both a caution and a warning. Was that old monk actually an Imperial spy?
Although they had cautiously sent Jean, who was in charge of the United Kingdom, to infiltrate the Empire, had the enemy known about all of the Lore Gatherers’ intelligence activities?
Before he knew it, the sun had completely set.
He had to get out of here as soon as possible.
All that dominated Jean’s mind now was the overwhelming desire to escape this place immediately.
Still, he also thought he’d like to try that Caesar salad again.