Guardians of the Prince

One day before we’d truly entered winter, on a calm Indian summer day.

A big garden stretched from the front gates to the entrance at Shiz Cagna, but there was also a private lawn in front of the prince’s chambers. The weather was great, so his attendant Lauren and I prepared lunch on the lawn.

“Lord Prince, could you come help us please? Let’s pull this over there, please.”

“Yup! Here we go!”

The prince loitered around, helping Lauren spread out a rug in the lawn.

“Okay? I’ll bring it over then!” I said, and started carrying over the plates from the wagon that we’d carted onto the terrace to the rug. There were going to be a lot of people today, so there were a decent number of dishes.

It had been three months since I started living in the separate palace.

During the time I spent at Mr Lahzt’s villa, Mr Kahzam had always made the meals for us, and I was usually the one to help him, so I had been thinking that I wanted everyone to try my food as a feast. That’s why I’d invited everyone here today. Unfortunately, Lemonina couldn’t make it, but everyone else was here.

After breakfast, I borrowed the palace kitchen, and made the food myself while Lauren looked after the prince.

As for ingredients I would have used in my original world… Well, but there was no miso or soy sauce here. They did have something like rice, but it wasn’t at all sticky, so I couldn’t form it into sushi or nigiri.

It was quite difficult to bring out any Japanese flavor in my food, and I was a little lost as to what to make, but after I remembered the bento I used to see all the time in Japan, I easily decided on my menu.

Vio Rizonna did have a history of picnics, but it had more of a European Lunch Box feel, like sandwiches in a basket, rather than anything that you might call a bento. I located a deepish, multi-tier, rectangular plate, and stuffed my dishes in there.

I packed Lauren’s portion separately, and wrapped it in a large handkerchief. When she was done with preparations, she gladly accepted it.

“Thanks for this. Take your time!” she said, and left with the bento in hand and a smile on her face. I hope it suited her tastes.

“Kohme, are we supposed to eat with these?”

The cutlery case in Mr Lahzt’s hands contained chopsticks I’d asked the gardener to make for me out of a tree branch.

“We are. I’m going to teach you how to use them,” I said, removing the cloth from the plates.

“That’s beautiful!”

Mr Kahzam was off duty starting at noon, and was in civilian clothes, a formal jacket with a stand-up collar. He muttered the praise like he had spoken involuntarily, and stared fixedly at the bento.

I laughed. “Japanese bento are particular about color, there are even things called ‘Chara-bento.’ ”

I’d filled up the gaps between the side dishes with vegetables cut into the shape of flowers, and wraps with layers of ham and thin omelette fashioned to look like birds, complete with beak and eyes in boiled eggs. Things like this were considered particular to Japanese culture, even in my world. It had to be pretty rare too.

The prince stepped onto the rug with an overjoyed, “Bird eggs!”

“Take off your shoes, little prince,” I said, and the prince rushed to remove his shoes. Mr Fatido followed the prince’s example enthusiastically, as always.

“This is amazing, is it really alright to eat it?”

“Of course, please, help yourself!”

I handed out the chopsticks to everyone and showed them how to use them, and Mr Lahzt and Mr Fatido got the hang of them immediately and started loading their plates with side dishes. Unexpectedly, Mr Kahzam was struggling with it, so I put some of the dishes on Mr Kahzam’s plate for him. As long as they were within reach, he’d figure out how to eat them one way or the next.

“These are rolled scrambled eggs with dashi, they have a fish broth in them. This one is fried with white fish and tartar sauce. Ah, the tartar sauce is made with minced sweet pickles.”

I explained them all one by one. My grandmother taught me the basics of pickling out in the countryside, so even after I came here, I was able to make them through a lot of trial and error.

“Please try the vegetable tempura with some salt. And some spices, if you’d like. And then this one is a little stretchy, I’m not sure if you’ll like it. Its potato rounds made from potato starch mixed into mashed potatoes and then roasted in butter. I think it might be a little off.”

I was nervous about what I was going to do if it didn’t suit their palates, but I was relieved to hear them let out noises of approval after every dish. The prince was joyously chowing down, and seemed especially delighted by things with toothpicks through them. He was even trying to eat the toothpicks.

It really brought me back. I used to give it my all with bento back in Japan.

Especially with Nanao’s bento.

Unlike meals normally eaten at home, bento were things that were often seen by other people, since they were eaten outside. Mom was already gone by the time Nanao started kindergarten, so Koaya and I really tried hard to make bento that she could boast about to her friends. After all, she’d never be able to eat a lunch her mom made for her. A few days before field trips or sports days, we have a Bento Planning Meeting, and decide on the menu.

“Kohme?”

I came back to myself with a gasp to find Mr Kahzam looking over at me, his hand frozen.

“Uh, yes? Does it suit your taste?” I asked back.

“Yeah, it’s incredibly delicious,” he said, smiling at me.

Good. In that case, maybe he’d like to try a little something else.

I chuckled to myself.

As the meal went on, I brought out another plate and removed the cloth from on top of it. “Alright then, how about this one?” I said, utterly casual. I’d arranged a fried and then sliced up dish on the plate.

“These are my favorite.”

“Really? Well then, I’ll try one right now.”

The line of men in front of me each plucked one off the plate without any hesitation, and carried them to their mouths.

Silence descended.

“Pfft– I’m so sorry!”

I burst into laughter and looked around at everyone’s face, and then immediately got to pouring them warm cups of tea.

“Geh, Kohme, this–”

Mr Fatido gulped down the tea, and then peered down at his half-eaten morsel. Something red was sandwiched in between slices of meat.

“These really are my favorite. It’s shredded plum between chicken tenderloin, which is then fried. That thing in the middle is pickled dried plum. Umeboshi.”

” ‘Umeboshi’? The ume part is the same as your name?” Mr Kahzam said, to which I nodded.

The plum tree that had grown in the Garden of Stars couldn’t just be left there, so it had been secretly transplanted by Mr Kahzam to the palace where Lady Solamire lived. That had happened while I was still in training at the main castle.

A lot of fruits had grown on that tree, so Lady Solamire had kindly picked them and had them delivered to me with a note. “These are edible, I believe?” So I’d gotten the ingredients from the royal kitchens and prepared them and taken them with me to Shiz Cagna.

“And so when they were finished, they became this.”

I showed some pickled plums I’d put in a little bowl, like I was on a cooking show, and everyone’s lips puckered at the exact same time, and I burst out laughing again.

Now that they knew the taste, just looking at a pickled plum was enough to set their mouths watering, huh.

“They’re incredibly sour, aren’t they! Even in my world, people in other countries always seem surprised.”

I wiped tears from my eyes, still smiling.

Oh my god, everyone’s faces! I’d deliberately made them especially sour.

“Jeez Kohme… You should take care of the next big feast here at Shiz Cagna.”

“Maybe the head chef could teach you a thing or two?”

""

Mr Lahzt and Mr Kahzam nodded at each other. Yikes.

“Wah, I’m sorry! I have something else, please forgive me.”

I brought over a glass pitcher from the terrace. It had plum syrup mixed with water in it. I had pickled the yellow plums, but the blue ones I’d made into this syrup.

“This is made from plums too, but it’s sweet. I promise.”

I poured them each a glass, and nodded for them to go ahead, and everyone brought their glasses to their lips with a lot of hesitation.

“Oh… It’s true. This is sweet,” Mr Lahzt muttered.

“It’s a nice thing to drink when you’re feeling exhausted. Well, it’s the citric acid that really does the work.”

“Citric acid? Tell me a little more about that,” Mr Lahzt said, his eyes getting that researcher look.

“Oh, uh… I don’t really know any details. Sorry.”

The character for plum was in my own name, it would have been nice if I knew a little more about them…

Just then, Mr Kahzam finished off his glass, and looked at me with a little sigh. And then he said, “I do prefer the sweet little plum after all.”1

For an instant, a strange silence fell over us.

I looked away, my cheeks going bright red, and Mr Kahzam rephrased himself in a mad panic.

“Oh no no, that’s not what I meant! Just that the sweet plums are the better ones. Better than the pickled ones before. Uh, can I have a second helping please?”

“Ah, yes, seconds, of course, yes.”

I rushed to pick up the pitcher.

I’d heard another meaning altogether! Seeing my feverish haste, Mr Fatido glanced at us out of the corner of his eye.

“So something did happen. You’ve been acting awfully suspicious lately.”

Mr Kahzam choked a bit.

“Oh no no, what are you talking about, Mr Fatido?” I sputtered. “Listen, I’m just gonna finish these off.”

Trying to smooth things over, I looked down at the plate of fried plum and chicken, but– They were gone?

Suddenly shifting my gaze to one side, the prince was just chomping into one. I thought he was awfully quiet!

“Prince!? Wait, are you okay?”

I peered over at him anxiously, but he just grinned.

“Yummy! More!”

“What? Prince, you’re good with pickled plums! What a connoisseur! Somehow that makes me happy.”

I patted the prince’s head, and he looked back at me in puzzlement.

Mr Lahzt picked up his chopsticks with a sullen expression. “I’m not going to lose to my own student. Kohme, hit me with another one of those.”

“What, please don’t push yourself too hard.”

I started laughing again without meaning to, and Mr Fatido flashed a bold smile. “Hmpf, adults have other ways of winning. Kohme, you make even pickled plums delicious, and if there’s anything you need, I can find it, thanks to my job, so I’ll get it for you. For your sake, anything becomes easy.”

“Oh, well I would be overjoyed to have something like shiso… 2 Well, but I’m not sure what you mean about winning or losing.”

Men… I was thinking to myself, a little exasperated, when Mr Kahzam muttered weakly to himself.

“I’m just gonna practice using these ‘chop sticks’ for now…”

And somehow or another everything on every plate had vanished, so I supposed all was well that ended well. Yes indeed!

Footnotes

Koume’s name being composed of the characters for little and plum.an herb usually used in the making of umeboshi