Third Arc: Thirty-Third Chapter

"So, today we'll make a scented omelette! It's an easy trick to bump your usual omelette up a notch, so everyone remember it and take it home!"

"Yes!"

As I lectured in front of the stove, hearty, deep-voiced answers came back. When I nodded, Anje handed me a large jar. When I opened the tightly sealed jar, a rich fragrance drifted softly through the air. Inside sat the truffle and eggs I had put in about a week ago.

At the fragrance, not only Anje, who should have known what was inside, but the students, the kitchen's cooks, widened their eyes. These were the eggs I had prepared for a truffle omelette. I had set them up with a truffle I happened to find while doing business with Elliot soon after coming to this country.

For what purpose? To eat it myself, of course. No, that was the plan. Now that I knew skill or lack of it with egg dishes swayed a cook's reputation, I had decided to use it to take control of the Lyonetta mansion's kitchen. It truly felt like cutting into my own flesh. But if I served an omelette made with these eggs, my reputation as a cook would surely rise. I had wanted to eat it. I had wanted to eat all of it.

"Some of you may know it already, but this black object is a mushroom called truffle. It's fragrant and can add an accent to the flavor."

"What a fragrance!"

"That's, come to think of it, I've seen it at a stall. I didn't know what it was, so I had never used it."

"We saw a lot of them back home. The pigs used to eat them."

The cooks were chattering, but I heard a line I could not let pass, and my eyes flew open.

"What did you say?! You, the one who just spoke! Come see Teacher later!"

"Y-yes?!"

"Hey, you, what did you do?"

"I don't know! Was it the pigs? Were the pigs a bad thing to say?"

The apprentice cook I had pointed at sharply dropped his shoulders with a tragic look for some reason and was being consoled by his fellows. But someone often seeing truffles was not something I could leave alone. I absolutely had to get the growing region out of him!

In this world truffles weren't much used, and Elliot had said only very rarely was there a customer who wanted one as a delicacy. So there was little of it in circulation. Getting hold of one this time was chance, but for the future quality of my eating, it was a matter of considerable importance.

"...Teacher!"

Anje poked at my back as I stared, eyes bloodshot, at the truffle, no, at the cook.

Huh?! There I go again, losing myself. Oh no, am I possessed by something after all?

"...Ahem, excuse me. These eggs were sealed and stored in a cool, dark place with the truffle for a week. The truffle's rich fragrance has passed right into them, so the eggs themselves smell wonderful."

The cooks' eyes were riveted to the eggs I took out.

"The key to a fluffy omelette is not to overbeat. So we deliberately use a fork and mix it roughly and lightly."

Beating the eggs with quick clicks, I set about making the omelette. I didn't forget to scatter thinly sliced truffle on top to finish. An omelette is hard until you get used to it, but once you do, it's easy.

When I held out the neatly plump omelette, the head chef timidly put it to his mouth, and the next moment his eyes flew open like a demon god's.

"Deeeelicious! A god, no less! No, really, what is this?! What is this?!"

He was a touch camp about it. Snatching the omelette plate from the wriggling head chef, the cooks around him carried the omelette to their mouths one after another.

"Aaaaah!"

"It's good, it's so good, Maaa!"

"To think the pigs were eating something this good!"

With that last line I fiercely agreed. My jealousy of the pigs gorging on truffles would not stop! I drew a big breath and clapped my hands sharply before the writhing cooks.

"All right, everyone, that's enough sampling! Today I've prepared eggs! Practice with these!"

"Yes, Teacher!"

The cooks each beat their eggs and took turns at the stove. Anje, whom I had coached beforehand in how to make an omelette, went to instruct the cooks too.

---

Once I had finished a round of teaching, I left the rest to Anje, called over the head chef, and headed for the back of the kitchen. As we walked along together, the head chef talked on and on without pause.

"Master! I was so moved! That such a fragrance and flavor were in that black mushroom. Your discerning eye has reached the realm of the divine, Master! Accordingly, I would like your permission to compose a song praising Cordelia, the god of cooking..."

This is bad. The head chef is about to attain enlightenment in some far-off land. And somewhere along the way I have gone from Teacher to Master. And a song? Why a song?

"Rooound little eeegg, Cordy's eeegg, the suuupreme eeegg."

"Chef! Chef! Never mind the song! Come back! And anyway, that song is praising the egg, not me!"

"Huh?!"

When I shook him back and forth, the head chef's eyes finally came into focus.

"M-my apologies. Ah, so, what did you want to talk about? Is it about a secret recipe?"

"Sorry, I'll teach you that another time. What I want to ask is whether there's lodging for the cooks..."

The head chef's eyes sparkled like a puppy's, too dazzling, and I looked away a little.

"Lodging! Of course there is! It's like a dormitory in the annex, though."

"The annex. I see. Could Anje and I stay there too?"

"You, Master...?"

The head chef knit his brows and groaned as if thinking. Hmm. Was he suspicious of me? Maybe I had stood out a little too much.

"To make a Master stay in a stuffy dormitory, heaven would strike me down! I'll give up my own room in the main house at once!"

"Huh?! Wait...!"

"Just a moment, please!"

Leaving me with my mouth hanging open, the head chef ran off, a cheerful smile still on his face.

Somehow, this hurt my heart far more than being suspected. Still dazed, I stood rooted to the spot until Anje came to fetch me.