Volume 10 - Chapter 15 – The princess’ melancholy (1/2)
Volume 10 “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
Princess Lieschen came in. She had already changed clothes.
“Waa, princess! Pretty!”
Hanna was entranced.
She was wearing a comfortable dress and not her outing clothes. It was a pink dress with white lace.
“I, for one, do not like this kind of clothes, though.”
Wearing a bitter smile, she said those words. However, that behavior was polished and it could easily be understood as not being pretension.
“The preparations for dinner will be done soon. Please do not worry about etiquette and have fun.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
And then before long, two attendants and two automatas, came in carrying dinner.
No, the ones who came carrying it were the automatas and the ones who lined it up on the table were the attendants.
An elderly man, the grand chamberlain, was standing at the corner of the room and was overseeing the affair.
(Ah, this automata is pretty worn out…)
Looking at the automata’s behavior, that’s what Jin thought. Jin could understand just by looking.
(I can’t just fix it as I please, either…)
He could not help being bothered by it. It’s what one would call the mechanic’s saga.
The lined up dinner was moderately extravagant and one could tell it was a menu which isn’t pointlessly luxurious.
A small boiled pot, which had various vegetables in it, was there, like a pot-au-feu.
On a mouthful-sized steak were red and yellow vegetables cut into small cubes with sauce on top.
A marinade made with a tinge fish–salmon.
A boiled food, which looked like rusk but was not rusk, cut into small pieces with sugar smeared on top.
Plain omelette.
And a salad with a lot of fresh vegetables.
For drinks, they served fruit juice.
“This menu is similar to the one I normally have. Well, it might not fit your tastes perfectly but please, dig in.”
“Yes, itadakimasu!”
Hanna started eating at once. Similar to Jin, Hanna was not a picky eater either. It seems like Elza does not like Cokarisk’s meat but looks like it wasn’t served this time.
And so, the three of them were normally enjoying dinner but then the princess asked with a curious expression,
“Is that ‘itadakimasu’ an Egelia kingdom manner or something?”
To that question, Jin answered,
“No, that’s not quite right. It is like a greeting said before having meals in my house.”
Hearing that, the princess looked very curious.
“Hou, looks like Jin is from a very unique household. I’d be happy to hear all about it when there are no hindrances.” said the princess.
Moreover, she smiled and said she wanted to know many different customs of many different kingdoms.
Jin decided to talk about the automatas.
“It looks like your automatas are being used quite a bit, princess. Do you know their manufacturer?”
“No, I do not know. It was given to me by my father.”
“I see. From what I saw, one seems to be from Egelia kingdom and the other from Selroa kingdom.”
As Jin said that, the princess, who was impressed, said, ‘Hou, you can tell just by looking?’ and continued,
“How do I say this, it feels like their movements are getting sloppier. What do you think?”
Hearing that, Jin thought that the princess knows her stuff as well. And said frankly,
“It is as you say. I think they are not undergoing maintenance.”
He even went on to say that there is a need for the required materials and someone who can do the maintenance. But that was asking for unnecessary trouble.
“Ohh, is that so? I will make arrangements for the materials tonight. Jin, rest well today. And tomorrow, please do maintenance on them!”
Elza, who was listening beside them, let out a sigh and gave a look at Jin saying ‘Even though we had to stay over tonight because you said something unnecessary, you had to do it again..’.
But Elza doesn’t hate such sides of Jin. She was just a little worried. After all, she knows Jin’s interests towards automatas and golems are not normal…
“Hanna, looks like you took quite a liking to that. Here, have mine as well.”
“Wah, thank you, princess.”
She shared her pelshika with Hannah, making her even happier.
As for Jin, pelshika equals peach, so he was wondering why they were here at this time.
He had not yet done a detailed research of Hourai island yet but it feels like the underground’s Ether has something to do with it–but here, in Kurain kingdom….?
He won’t come to an answer no matter how hard he thinks so he decided to make Quinta investigate it later on.
While Jin was pondering such a thing, Elza was having a heartwarming feeling that, while they were not connected by blood, the three here were definitely her family.