Volume 4 - CH 2.15

And if Roxanne did not know about it, that any smart person would be able to put two and two together, realizing that if she did not know about it, then there would be no way for me to know about it as well.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  and that is exactly what Sherry did, because she was looking at Roxanne and myself with the eyes that were clearly saying something along the lines of 「Really now? Seriously?」.

「Uhm. . . . . . .  I come from a country located far, far away to the east, so the customs we had there and the way things are working here in this country differ significantly in quite a few aspects, so I will gladly welcome any piece of knowledge that you would be willing to share with me.

「*Sigh. . . * Okay, I understand.」

Damn, there is no way that the good impression that I managed to score with her throughout the day did not take a real plummet towards the ground just now. But I cannot help it in any shape, way or form, because if I do not know something then I do not know something, even though I just lied that I did because I thought it was going to make me sound more cool in Sherry’s eyes, which ended up backfiring horribly.

「So about those Kobold Skill Crystals. . . .  you think we would be able to buy them if we went to one of the auctions?」

「I guess so. . . . . . . but doing that now would be pointless, unless you have some connections with someone who has a Master Smith Job?」

You are my Master Smith connection, my dear Sherry. But for the time being, it would be best for me to keep quiet about it in order to not make her even more suspicious of us than she already might be.

「I see. Thank you for your explanations, Sherry. They are really easy to understand even for someone like me. As you probably guessed, neither Roxanne nor I knew anything about it, so having someone like you around, someone who is smart and does not hesitate to share her knowledge with others is really quite useful to us.

「No, you do not have to thank me, master. What I am telling you is not really anything that groundbreaking, just something that those who live in the empire consider to be common knowledge.」

「I know, but even so, we appreciate your help. It might sound a bit presumptuous coming from me, but do continue to support us in the future, all right?」

「Y-Yes, of course! Thank you very much for putting so much of your trust in me!」

Now that I finished complimenting Sherry, I went to the Labyrinth for another time. While in there, I made sure to praise Roxanne for how useful she was as a preventive method against her getting jealous that I praised Sherry more than her today. *Phew. . . * now that I have bought sherry and the ranks of my Party have grown, there is a lot more things that I have to consider and look out for now, huh? I never would have expected that sharing my life with just two more people is going to be so tiring not only on my body, but on my psyche as well. In any case, Roxanne was the first slave that I bought for myself, and the one who has supported me with everything that she could ever since our paths have become intertwined, so I have to make sure not to neglect her or make her feel sad in any way. What kind of master would I be if I allowed something like that to happen, a horrible one, that is who I would be.

After finishing another round of recovering MP in the Labyrinth, We came back home and I finished preparing the bath. As a finishing touch I have thrown some lemons into the water and that was it, so I left the bathroom.

「Thank you for your hard work today, master. The dinner is ready now.」

Roxanne informed me after handing me a towel so that I could wipe the sweat off of my forehead.

「Thank you. Let us go and eat now.」

When we arrived in the dining room, the dished were already lined up on the table. Judging from the position of the plates, Sherry seemed to have put her own right next to Roxanne’s this time. And as for the dish before my eyes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

「*Sniff* *Sniff* It smells incredible.」

「Thank you for your kind words, master. Since this is the first dish that I am preparing for you as your slave, I wanted it to be something that would represent the culinary culture of my race, and so, I have prepared a traditional Dwarven soup, Borscht. (TL Note: So, Borscht is considered to be a typical Dwarven cuisine, huh? Does that mean that Dwarves in general are going t be modeled after Russians, or other inhabitants of Cental and Eastern Europe, since this is where Borscht originally comes from? I guess we shall see one day) I hope you will find it to your liking.」

Those were the words that Sherry greeted me with.

The soup that was in the pot that was on the table definitely looked like the genuine Borscht, or at least something that was very similar to it, but I wonder if it was really called Borscht, or was this another case of the game mechanics with the Brahim language translating the untranslatable words to their equivalents from my world that my mind would be able to comprehend without much issues? Anyway, let’s check this thing out real quick before I have myself a seat. Red color? Check. The typical aroma of the beet boiled in hot water with various spices? Check. Yup, for all intents and purposes, this soup really looks like Borscht (TL Note: God damn, the urge to just start writing it as Barszcz as we call it in Poland is really strong in me right now), but I wonder how is it going to be taste wise. Also, this is going to be my first time tasing a cuisine other than that what I was eating at the Vale Pavilion and later the things that Roxanne and I were making together, so I guess you could say that I was really curious to see for myself exactly what does the Dwarven cuisine have to offer in comparison to all those other dishes I have eaten. Will it taste better, or perhaps worse? Is it going to be more exotic, or perhaps something more along the lines of standards of your typical European cooking? That being said, I did not taste all that much cooking that was not purely Japanese when I was still there, so I really do not know what kind of sensations I should be expecting.

As I was thinking about how this Borscht was going to taste like, Roxanne sat down at the seat that was across from me at the other side of the table.

Hm?

「Roxanne, are you really fine sitting there?」

Now that Sherry has joined our ranks and all three of us are going to eat at the same dinner table every day, I really think that it would not hurt us to spread out a bit to ensure that we will be using the table in its entirety, since it was too big for just wo people anyway.

「Yes, master, I am fine with it. After all, this is the best seat possible.」

Is this about that whole 「I am my master’s first slave, therefore the place in front of him belongs to me」schtick? I am not so sure, and I do not know if I want to be digging into it more than I should.

「All right, if you say so. Sherry, you sit down as well.」

「Eh? Are you serious, master? Am I really allowed to sit down and eat together with you?」

Again with this disbelief that she is allowed to eat at the same table as Roxanne and I? I do not know if this is the mentality of all the slaves or something that is being taught to them when they become the property of the Slave Shops, but I am not going to treat them as some sub-category of human beings.

「Sure you are. Unless you explicitly want to eat your meal while standing, in which case, go right ahead. If that is what you want, I am not going to stop you.」