The Porter Is Not Interested in the Hero Party

133 – Interlude (5)

As I turned around, dodging the straight sword, the sound of the wind rang in my ears. The warrior who fixed the wooden sword that had fallen to the floor, this time aiming at my side, bounced the sword up.

He fixed his sword in reverse and blocked the next blow, then took a step forward and aimed at the hero with his shoulder. The single shot, which aimed precisely at the back of the warrior’s nose, cut through the air as the warrior pushed me to the side and avoided it.

Swords and swords met each other in midair. Heavy breathing and wind noise. The soldiers who came to watch the parade were in a circle, and everyone waited with bated breath for the next situation.

We lowered our swords without asking anyone first.

The hero wiped away the sweat with a satisfied expression, and I said to the hero as I wiped my hands.

“You are also a warrior. Even with a wooden sword, it’s heavy, so it’s hard to block it.”

“Your swordsmanship is unique. I heard that the Empire uses a sword that pushes heavily with force, but it was difficult to block because it moved in a different way than I thought.”

“It’s a skill I learned after fighting for a long time. It’s nothing compared to the warrior’s sword.”

I put my sword on the floor. The vertically inserted sword was like a tombstone, or a ceremony to commemorate someone. The warrior asked as he returned his sword to his waist.

“What does that mean? You did it before Dalian, too.”

I said, wiping the sack with my hand.

“It is the custom of Imperial Knights. Before the sparring, after the sparring, I put my sword on the floor and recite the prayer of oath.”

The warrior nodded and smiled. After watching, the soldiers were scattering to do their own thing.

“awesome. The kingdom has such a ritual. They greet each other, reveal their families, and promise a fair fight.”

“Isn’t everyone’s place the same?”

Here, in this place, the two pledge a duel,

I swear to act without shame before the sword.

The short oath phrase lingered in my ears even if I didn’t say it out of my mouth. I drew my sword again and kicked it around my waist. The warrior patted his stomach and said.

“I am hungry, how about something simple to eat? mister.”

“It looks like there was bread in the tent, but with that simple… … .”

This place sometimes gave out quite large bread for snacks, and I ate it as a snack while reading a book yesterday, but there were quite a lot left. The hero shook his head at my words and said.

“no. no. Other than bread, sometimes you have to eat the right thing. Eating that kind of food every day is harmful to your health.”

When she glanced at me, I said with a smile.

“Oh, then I will cook for you. In the Empire, knights used to cook outdoors with simple ingredients. Imperial military style… … .”

I continued talking and looked at the warrior again. Watching my eyes while wiggling my fingers seemed like there was something I still wanted to say. She looked around once more and spoke in a low voice.

“I-I want to do it… … . Yo.”

A princess and a cook, are they really a good combination? I nodded my head for a moment with an anxious expression on my face.

******

The dish was chicken soup.

Once I saw it, it seemed like that.

A few carrots, chicken, potatoes, and onions from the supply window rolled around with anticipation for cooking. Water was boiling in the pot on the fire, and the warrior was breathing deeply in front of the chopping board, holding a kitchen knife in a kingdom swordsmanship posture. She looked like a novice who had never stood in a kitchen before.

“Warrior. How about I just do it? Cutting is difficult for beginners. It’s dangerous.”

The warrior who stabbed the air with a kitchen knife in a stabbing posture reacted sharply to my worried tone.

“I-I’m also a prosecutor, right? Go, I know how to cut potatoes!”

Red-faced and gibberish made me feel like I wouldn’t be able to eat lunch properly today, but it wouldn’t be nice to further dissuade her from cooking here. When I shrugged and stepped back, she grabbed the potato and began to use the chopping knife.

I opened my mouth to advise her.

“there… … .”

“I-I’ll take care of it.”

Then, the hero closed his eyes while holding the potato and threw the potato high into the sky. The potato, which had risen as if it were going to break through the clouds, spun around and fell again at high speed. The hero grabbed the cleaver with both hands and swung it with spirit.

“Haap!”

Onions rolled around in the intense wind pressure. The pot shook and the flames roared and spurted heat into me. The potatoes that passed between the swords landed on the cutting board again as if nothing had happened, and the hero wiped the sweat from his forehead with a satisfied face.

“…..done.”

And when the hero put the sword down on the floor, the potato was cut into 8 pieces, and the skin was peeled off.

“Five.”

When I exclaimed, the hero shrugged in delight and picked up the cleaver again. And this time, after pulling out the sword from the floor, he lifted the entire basket of vegetables.

I spoke to the warrior in a worried tone.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“Hey, don’t worry!”

However, it was not enough to stop the hero inspired by a single success. She tossed the vegetable basket upwards before I could dry it further. Vegetables, including onions and carrots, embroidered the sky like stars and fell aiming for the warrior’s head. The hero held his stance, closed his mouth, and swung his sword at high speed, blinking his eyes.

Only the afterimage of the sword was visible, and a wild dance unfolded in front of my eyes, the goal of which was unknown. An outsider would say that he saw a true master with admiration for his speed and movement alone, but when I saw it, there were many things that were lacking compared to the neat and tidy sword that the usual warriors show.

Vegetable fragments flew in all directions along with the hero’s smile, and they entered the bonfire to add heat. The vegetables that passed through the swarm of raw materials were cut into small pieces and peeled as soon as they arrived in the basket.

“Oh.”

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Good! The sight of the vegetables being cut into pieces with the sound is a strange feat that can only be seen in the troupe of magicians.

“Did you see it? Are you okay?”

And the basket was cut into dozens of pieces as soon as the warrior could lift it.

“uh?”

The warrior’s face turned white. Materials poured onto the floor like heavy snow. I blinked and thought about what to do with this situation. The materials were already entangled with the soil, and the hero was blinking his eyes and shaking his hands.

I said.

“…I’m okay with bread.”

“…..It’s okay if it goes into the stomach. It’s okay to brush a little… … .”

The hero was pulling up the material again pretending nothing was wrong.

Then, in contemplation, he began to shake off the ingredients and toss them little by little into the pot. The warrior’s white hands smelled like vegetables, and I sat down next to her and started adding the ingredients together. The hero winked at me with a puzzled expression and spoke in a small voice.

“….sorry.”

“It looks delicious. The warrior is good at it. You can eat this with bread.”

I told a different story to revive the warrior’s spirit. It was a story about how to eat this soup after making it. There was bread and beef jerky in the tent, so even if the soup tasted a little strange, it was enough to fill the stomach.

The warrior nodded. Then, after pouring out the last remaining vegetables and chicken, he stood up and said,

“…Uncle, how do you eat soup and bread?”

I looked at the warrior. The soup, which had a slightly earthy smell, had only been put into the water for a moment, but it was already bubbling with thick broth. The hero found the ladle and returned to his place, glancing at me.

I said.

“I usually eat it with soup. Gunnap bread was hard, so I used to cut it into small pieces, soak it in the soup, and roll it in my mouth. This has become a habit, so when I eat later, I cut the bread into small pieces and eat it with dipping.”

The warrior shouted with a lively expression.

“That, right? Soak the bread in the soup and eat it, don’t you?”

“I’ve seen Ashuria do that a few times, but I’ve never done that. Is that delicious?”

The hero smiled and stirred the soup with a ladle, then rolled his eyes in amazement at my question, shook his head vigorously, and spoke in an urgent voice.

“Oh no! Not tasty! It’s so tasteless!”

Seeing how the warrior reacted like this, Ashria’s taste was unusual. I passed the time by watching the soup boiling bubbling next to the hero.

Looking at the blazing heat and the steam spewing out, the other members who came back from work were also sitting around and eating together.

Lena clung to my side, stared at the soup, and said,

“…why does the soup smell like dirt?”

“…..It’s all like that if you boil it outdoors.”

The hero was giving me a frowning look, and I avoided Lena’s question with a shy expression.