Kid’s Meal
A corner of a huge old castle, politely interior decorated.
Young twins softly asking about the state of affairs.
[Alf, how is it? Okay?]
[It’s fine. There’s none now, Marie.]
They decided that there’re no watchmen that guarded the “dangerous places” and the twins resumed their “adventure”.
While they held each other’s small hands, their aim was the top of the west tower of the huge castle, so they started to climb the stairs carefully.
The two were excited. They were on the way to the “witch house” told by their mother.
A witch lived in the west tower of the castle, so don’t approach it.
The first prince and princess of the Principality, Alfred and Margaret, had heard that ever since they were young.
As they did not have “lessons” today, they decided to use this free time for their “adventure”.
A dangerous place that their mother said not to approach.
They decided to sneak into the room where the evil witch lived.
[A, I see it!] [It’s here…]
The twins finally reached the summit of the spiral stairway.
An old big door was at the summit.
The twins rushed over and opened it.
[…Eh? It’s normal.]
[Un. Normal.]
The two tilted their heads seeing as the room was a far cry from a witch’s room.
A canopied bed that could fit a dozen of people the size of the twins, and a gold and silver dresser studded with jewels.
Well-polished wooden furniture and a well-decorated silver jewelry box placed on a bedside table.
These were familiar to the twins who were royalties of the Principality.
Therefore, it seemed like a common bedroom for them.
[What, how boring.]
Bored, the twins sat on the bed so soft their bodies sank into it.
Even though they managed to slip from the nagging ministers’ and generals’ supervision, this turned out to be boring.
While thinking such, Margaret opened the jewelry box.
[Uwaa!?]
Margaret withdrew her hand due to the cold.
[What!? What happened!?]
Alfred felt that the jewelry box that Margaret opened was interesting.
[…Potion.]
[True. It’s witch’s potion.]
Their eyes shined seeing it.
At first glance, there were no jewelries at what seemed to be a jewelry box.
Instead, it contained one glass bottle filled with dubious yellow material and a silver spoon.
[What to do?]
[Un… what should we do?]
Unexpectedly they looked at each other. Though they had raised their courage to visit the witch’s residence, there’s no need to do anything there.
[…Let’s drink it.]
However, Alfred said that after a while.
He would show his courage as the prince of Principality.
From such feelings, Alfred picked up the silver spoon and bottle filled with something pale yellow.
[Are you sure?]
[Yes, maybe.]
While replying to the uneasy Margaret, he broke the bottle’s seal and thrust the spoon inside.
He scooped up the “witch’s potion” that had firmly solidified and it trembled on the spoon.
Alfred felt nervous and gulped his saliva… and ate the potion.
[…!? What is this!? It’s sweet!]
The witch’s potion was unexpectedly sweet.
Apparently it seemed to be made from milk and eggs.
The witch’s potion had two tastes and its smooth texture melted in his mouth.
When Alfred rushed to eat more of the potion, his sleeve was tugged.
[Ani-ue, give me too.]
His sister’s intuition told her that he was eating
something delicious.
[…All right.]
After sulking a bit, he divided the potion with his sister.
[What is this!? Delicious!]
Her eyes widened and she smiled.
Looking at it, Alfred felt happy and tried to eat the rest of the potion that only remained half.
[What are you doing here?]
He stiffened when he heard those words from behind him.
Yes, this was the witch’s house, so naturally there’s a witch too.
The twins who were suddenly aware of that saw the appearance of the “scary witch”.
[Obaa-ue!?] [Why is it obaa-ue!?]
Standing there was not a scary witch; it was their silver-haired aunt that their father always said was an important person.
Her twin niece and nephew shrieked shrilly seeing her, the “former” princess of Principality.
[…This is my room. Of course it’s me.]
While answering the two, Victoria answered her circumstances.
The current king… the twin’s father loved Victoria dearly, but their mother was a little different.
The twin’s mother that was the current king’s legal wife hated Victoria.
Perhaps because Victoria was a loved family member of the current king but did not meddle with politics, or perhaps because Victoria was a half-elf, a tribe that was hated from the founding days of Principality.
The royal family who had ruled the Principality for many years was the descendant of the legitimate child of the Old Empire’s “Half-Mystic King”.
On his young days, when the Half-Mystic King still served as the king of the Old Empire, his son managed this place which was the base of trade.
That thing itself was not strange. As the successor of the Old Empire, the crown prince had to temporarily take a lower position and manage the governance and politics of the land of the current Principality which was particularly important to the Old Empire; it was a traditional way of the Old Empire to train and prepare the crown prince.
…The problem was that it was “temporary”.
The Half-Mystic King was a replacement child.
His youth and life expectancy was different from others and his reign lasted for hundreds of years, it was the time of prosperity for the Old Empire.
However, the son of the Half-Mystic King was a human whose life expectancy didn’t span for hundreds of years.
Thus when the Half-Mystic King passed away, the crown prince that was called as the first king of the Principality had already passed away long ago.
For the reign of the Half-Mystic King, 5 generations of leaders counting from the crown prince to complete strangers had ruled the Principality.
It was unthinkable for the King who had brought prosperity for hundreds of years to hand over his throne even for his son that was closer to “ordinary humans”.
He thought so, but when his life expectancy was about to reach its end, the Half-Mystic King went mad.
Similar to him, his half-elf ministers and generals, along with his court magicians that followed the teachings of elves tried to get rid of their physical bodies in order to live forever.
In order to lengthen the prosperity of the Old Empire, they didn’t even notice why the elves considered it as a “taboo”.
Thus, the Old Empire which was said to be promised for thousands years of prosperity, became a country of undead ruled by a mad “lich”. The then Old Empire, which had divided into smaller countries now, brought the storm of war to the Continent.
Even if hundreds of years had passed since then, half-elves were considered as taboo and they wouldn’t be involved in certain things especially politics.
Even in the position of the princess of Principality, no, in a country that detested half-elves, Victoria could not be in the limelight of the Principality, not to mention that it was not in her nature to do so.
That’s why even while living in the castle, she stayed away from the royal family and her laboratory was situated outside the castle.
[But why is obaa-ue over here?]
[Is obaa-ue the witch?]
Victoria nodded with a smile to the twin’s fearless question.
[Yes. I am a magician… a witch.]
After answering, Victoria looked at the pudding eaten by the twins and came up with a good idea.
[Please come back tomorrow morning. I’ll show you witch’s magic then.]
Yes, the next day was Satur’s Day.
It should not be a problem to “treat” her niece and nephew a bit.
The next day. In the corner of castle, a bell sound echoed.
[This is another world…]
[Amazing…]
The twins looked around the interesting new place.
A bright room despite being in a basement, they had never seen such decorations.
And the various inhabitants of their world that their wet nurse had told them about before.
Among them were monsters like a lizardman and a lamia, eating their food.
The “real witch’s room” that the twins had passed through to visit the restaurant was a strange place with tools that the twins did not know how to use, bookshelves filled with difficult books and witch-like potions, but here was even stranger.
[Welcome, would you like to place an order?]
[I’ll have Carbonara and ordinary pudding. And if I recall correctly, there’s a dish called “kid’s meal” that children age 12 or younger can order.]
Victoria quickly ordered while the twins looked around on their seats.
As the twins were accompanying her today, she did not order pudding a la mode and ordered ordinary cuisine and pudding.
Then Victoria ordered something that she had heard from her master Artorius before.
[E? Kid’s meal, is it?]
To Victoria’s orders, Aletta unintentionally asked back.
This was the first time she had heard of a dish that only children could order.
Certainly there were a few children customers before, not more than 12 years old, now that she thought about it.
[Yes, kid’s meal. Please give it to these children.]
Victoria who expected the reaction calmly repeated to Aletta.
[I understand, please wait a moment.]
Aletta nodded and returned to the kitchen.
They waited for a while.
[Thank you for waiting. Here are your Carbonara and kid’s meals.]
It came.
The kid’s meals were placed in front of the twins.
After seeing the piping hot “kid’s meal”, the twins looked at each other.
[Weird.]
[Un, it’s weird… but it looks delicious.]
While confused, their mouths watered to that scent.
It was a mysterious unknown dish to the twins.
There were a number of dishes placed on a plate with lots of cavity.
Round baked meat with reddish black sauce poured on top.
Reddish orange rice of Western Continent placed beneath yellow egg cloth with a small flag of red circle in the middle of the white background pierced on top.
An unfamiliar brown straight food with the tail of a Schripe and white sauce poured on top.
Something like a round white ball made of plenty vegetables placed on a bright green leaf.
Fried thinly-cut Cobbler’s fruit with a small bowl containing red sauce.
And…
[A, this is pudding! There’s pudding!]
[That’s true!]
Placed on a corner of the plate was a glass bottle filled with yellow pudding, the name of the dish said by their obaa-ue.
Though they tried to reach it as soon as possible, they were stopped by Victoria.
[No good, you have to eat pudding last after finishing the rest.]
Although she did not speak loudly, but there was strength that was hard to resist, so the twins followed it carefully.
…However, there was no need to be worried. All of the food was delicious.
Alfred reached for the mass of meat placed near the center of the plate first.
He picked up the small knife and fork placed near the plate.
[Wa, so soft.]
The meat was softer than he thought and he was able to easily cut it apart.
When he brought a slice near his mouth, the fragrance of cooked meat with sauce made his stomach growled.
His mouth watered after smelling the small cut of meat.
The mass of meat with its meat juice and fat combined with sweet Oranie and intertwined with the black sauce, Alfred thought that it was very delicious.
Though he was very young, as the first prince of Principality, Alfred knew about luxury.
Alfred was in a daze due to the taste and continued to eat the Hamburg steak.
The first dish Margaret picked was the one with bright red tail.
(What is this?)
As the capital city where Margaret lived was far from the sea, she had never seen it before.
While tilting her head, she cut the edge and lifted it with her fork to inspect it.
(Wa, pretty.)
While peeping at the cross-section, she could see the clear white body mixed with a little pink and Margaret sighed.
At first, she was unwilling to eat anything before the pudding though their obaa-ue told them to.
When she carried it to her mouth, she smiled.
This unknown thing was seafood.
Unlike fish, this food had unique elasticity, and its taste and fragrance were faintly oceanic.
In the royal court of the Principality, seafood like fishes and shellfishes preserved by magic of preservation sometimes lined up on the table, but Margaret had never eaten shrimp before as it was easy to decay and its perishability.
Therefore, the taste of Schripe which she had never eaten before had stolen her heart.
(Un! This is delicious!)
The crunchy surface coating, the plump Schripe body and the sour sauce poured on it with the taste of eggs and milk.
They mixed together in her mouth and entertained her tongue.
They forgot that they were reluctant to eat in the first place and ate their kid’s meal.
Besides the main features of Hamburg steak and fried shrimp, the white grain balls and the red rice with baked eggs were also delicious.
The Cobbler’s fruit, which was the Empire’s specialty, was deep-fried in the usual way, but there’s no oily feeling as it was fried in high quality oil. The crispy outside and the white fluffy inside showcased the gem that was Cobbler’s fruit and unraveled in their mouth.
Its seasoning of only salt was already good enough, but it was more exquisite when eaten with the bright red sour sauce.
The rice cuisine with the tiny flag also used the red sauce.
It was fried together with chicken meat and yellow grain vegetables, which had little acidity, and wrapped together by the aroma of butter.
The rice itself was already delicious, but it was perfectly finished with the soft flavor of baked eggs.
And the white ball set on green leafy vegetable.
Brilliant orange Caryute, green beans and yellow grain vegetable were mixed in and appeared as a beautiful pattern on the white background.
Apparently it seemed to be made from Cobbler’s fruit. It was carefully mashed and seasoned with slightly sour sauce, something that was similar with the sauce for the seafood. The result was smooth and slightly sour, the mixed in vegetables were not very tasty, but the food was tasty enough to compensate for it.
Those two who only thought of eating pudding were moving their hands and mouths while fully enjoying their meal.
Unlike their usual elegant way of eating, they smiled with their mouths full.
(…I wonder it would be like this if I ever have children.)
Looking at the situation, Victoria smiled while eating the pasta dish with milk and eggs flavor.
Her dear brother’s descendant, her niece and nephew.
As humans, they would definitely grow older and die before Victoria.
Although she missed it, when she watched the children eating the dessert of pudding, she smiled warmly like a mother.
[Obaa-ue, it was very tasty.]
[Obaa-ue, thank you for bringing us today.]
After the twins finished their meal, they noticed that their faces were dirty so they hurriedly wiped with white clothes while thanking her.
[It’s fine. I don’t mind it since you both are my important family.]
Victoria replied them with a smile.
The food of otherworld dining hall was more delicious than usual.
Perhaps because she was with these two.
[Then, that…]
[Would you mind bringing us here again someday?]
Victoria’s answer had already been decided.
[Of course. I too, want to request it.]
Those words naturally came out from Victoria’s mouth making the twins smile.