Ch.62Ruide’s Cooking Class (4)

Happiness is a simple thing.

Ruide believed that happiness meant eating well and living well. That’s all he cared about.

Of course, he had absolutely no desire to deal with villains or solve the empire’s various problems.

Yet his actions always led to unexpected results.

“Well, what do you want? If you desire territory, I’ll give you territory. If you want treasures, I’ll give you treasures.”

The Emperor said this incident had greatly benefited the empire and offered a substantial reward.

Ruide was simply dumbfounded.

Greatly benefited the empire??

All he’d done was make the kids shuttle ingredients back and forth because he wanted to eat tteokbokki.

Ruide felt extremely uncomfortable with the Emperor’s excessive praise.

“I’m fine. Your Majesty should just enjoy good food.”

“Haha, are you even concerned about my health? I’m discussing rewards, yet you’re looking out for me. Ruide, you’re truly an incorrigible nephew. This is why I can’t help but favor you.”

Lucius, seated on the imperial throne, gestured to his aide.

Aide Mikael quickly approached and leaned in to listen.

After hearing the Emperor’s whisper, Mikael’s eyes widened.

“Are you really asking me to bring that?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll prepare it right away—”

“??”

Ruide felt puzzled.

The Emperor looked at Ruide and grinned.

“Even for me, it’s not easy to decide what reward to give to a Windsor. What could Windsor possibly not have, except this throne? And I can’t very well give that away.”

The Emperor made an incredibly frightening joke while shrugging his shoulders.

“So I thought, if I’m giving a commendation to Windsor, it’s only right to give the ‘best’ of what I possess.”

‘What is he planning to give?’

Ruide was secretly looking forward to the Emperor’s gift. Though receiving a gift just for making tteokbokki seemed excessive.

‘I hope it’s a blanket…’

Ruide slightly opened his mouth with an expectant face.

Shortly after, Mikael returned with five or six knights.

They carried something covered with red cloth. Ruide’s expression brightened.

‘Must be a bed.’

And a portable one at that!

Ruide was already satisfied.

The knight gently set down the covered object and slowly, very slowly, opened its lid.

As the lid slid open with a smooth sound,

inside was a plush red fabric that looked incredibly soft.

So it really is a bed!

Ruide immediately felt the urge to go lie down on it.

But then…

“This is Dellin’s Staff. As the 13th Emperor, I bestow this upon Ruide Christopher Windsor.”

The words fell like a bolt from the blue.

The Emperor reached into the red case and pulled out something—it was a staff.

A staff that emanated an incredibly powerful force.

“Dellin’s Staff…?”

“Haha, my boy. Even you must be surprised by this! It’s the very staff used by the great mage Dellin. The only one of its kind in this world.”

The Emperor spoke proudly, but…

‘I can’t eat it or cover myself with it.’

Ruide was dejected.

Seeing his underwhelming reaction, the Emperor was taken aback.

“D-don’t you like it?”

But Ruide had enough sense to give the best reaction he could muster.

“Wow~ I’m really happy.”

**

On the way back.

Damon Kairos was sweeping fallen leaves with a broom.

It was truly an ill-fitting combination.

“What are you doing?”

Ruide walked up to Damon and spoke to him.

Seeing Ruide, Damon proudly replied.

“I’m being disciplined.”

“…Disciplined?”

“Yes. The greatest punishment for royalty is humiliation. His Majesty ordered me to perform tasks fit for servants to make me reflect.”

Damon raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk.

“But this level of punishment won’t make me submit. My spirit remains unbroken, so don’t worry.”

‘You should be a little broken.’

“…Fighting.”

Ruide still offered words of encouragement.

As he was about to pass by, Damon suddenly said:

“The tteokbokki was delicious.”

“Thanks.”

‘He’s actually a good kid.’

Ruide thought that while Damon had a personality prone to misunderstandings, his character seemed fundamentally good.

After briefly watching Damon sweep with an awkward expression, Ruide turned and walked away.

The cooking class had received better feedback than expected, which felt somewhat rewarding…

‘Next time I’ll make kimchi fried rice.’

They might just faint when they taste it.

Ruide considered this seriously.

**

At Ruide’s mansion.

He was chatting with Hersy.

“When is my sister coming back?”

“Y-yes, I wonder. Could something have happened?”

Three days after making tteokbokki.

Amelia hadn’t returned to the mansion.

Neither had Sherry.

She seemed to have followed to grade the dishes—but the usually meticulous Sherry hadn’t sent a single letter.

‘That idiot, did she get lost?’

Even the typically indifferent Ruide couldn’t help but worry.

“…Should we go look for them?”

Hersy subtly suggested.

‘Just the two of us in a secluded mountain range… that’s basically a date.’

“Ahem, since you two are so close, I think it’s only right to go check if you’re worried.”

Hersy, who wanted to go on a date with Ruide, advocated strongly.

“That’s a bit…”

Ruide slightly turned his head away.

‘He rejected me!!’

“Amelia isn’t the type to get beaten up wherever she goes.”

While he was concerned, his worry was more along the lines of her getting lost and going hungry for a while.

“Besides, it’s a mountain range. If she’s facing monsters, my sister would never lose.”

He had strong confidence in this.

Though Amelia was weaker than Irene, she had more talent for hunting than Irene did.

When Irene would bring back one creature, Amelia would return with a cart full of monsters.

“…She probably went to the mountains under the pretext of gathering ingredients and got carried away hunting monsters after so long.”

“Is that so…”

Hersy was visibly disappointed.

She had missed an opportunity for an event that could have brought them closer.

“By the way, how are the nobles these days? Any complaints?”

Slurp, Ruide asked while drinking tea through a straw.

When nobles make noise while eating, it’s for one of two reasons:

Either they’re inconsiderate ruffians, or they’re close enough to the other person.

Since Ruide was definitely not the former, it must be the latter. Hersy’s expression brightened again.

“Ruide’s cooking class is incredibly popular. Everyone’s talking about it.”

“Not about my class, just… the overall atmosphere. Is anyone opposing the merit-demerit system?”

“Nobles hate wasting time on useless things. Rather than spending time opposing it, they’d rather earn some merit points. Of course, some nobles dislike teaching etiquette to commoners.”

Teaching etiquette to commoners.

He’d heard that some nobles disliked allowing commoners to enjoy what they considered their exclusive privileges.

But those were a minority, and most thought it was actually good since it didn’t bother them personally.

“That’s a relief. What about the commoners?”

“…There have been some disrespectful movements. According to recent investigations through Miho.”

Miho purred as if asking for praise. Ruide patted her head.

“Is the Countess the target of these disrespectful movements?”

Hersy opened her eyes wide.

“How did you know?”

“Hmm, then just leave it be.”

‘Things are progressing according to the original story. Somehow.’

Ruide thought about “Dellin’s Staff” hidden inside his robe.

Originally, this was an item that Justin would receive as a reward through some episode.

Dellin’s Staff, which couldn’t even be used by someone who wasn’t a true mage.

The story went that Justin, with his mediocre skills, would grow stronger each time he managed to utilize 1% of the staff’s power.

Of course, now that it was in his hands, Ruide had absolutely no intention of returning it.

‘I shouldn’t mention this.’

The name Dellin carries significant weight among mages.

In boxing terms, he’s like Muhammad Ali; in science, like Einstein. Sensational, and the creator of many foundational magical theories.

The prevailing theory is that no mage has surpassed Dellin to this day.

Of course, Ruide didn’t think so. He had already surpassed Dellin.

“So everything is in the palm of Ruide’s hand, as expected.”

Ruide held out his hand.

Seeing his adorably small hand, Hersy blinked.

“My hand is small.”

“……”

‘Was my joke not funny?’

Ruide lowered his hand with an indifferent expression.

But his face reddened slightly from embarrassment.

“Oh right. Ruide, when will you hold your next class? I noticed your classes don’t have a set regular time.”

Ruide’s approach to teaching was arbitrary. He taught when he wanted to, and didn’t when he didn’t. The tteokbokki lesson might have been his first and last class.

But now he’d even received Dellin’s Staff from the Emperor… who seemed to have high expectations.

‘This is really troublesome.’

…To Ruide, even the Emperor was like family. He couldn’t bear to disappoint him.

“…I’ll do it as soon as my sister returns.”

“You’ll do it right away?”

Hersy was quite surprised.

“Ruide has been working really hard lately.”

“Does it seem that way?”

Ruide felt a little happy that someone recognized his efforts.

“Yes, these days you only sleep 15 hours, and you’re only an hour late to appointments.”

‘…What? I sound like a terribly dysfunctional person.’

Ruide blinked.

Still, for someone unemployed, that wasn’t too bad.

Since it seemed like a compliment, he responded with a sense of satisfaction.

“Thank you.”

**

Two more days passed.

Ruide immediately complained to his mother.

“She’s definitely having fun on her own without giving me a thought.”

[…Tell her to contact me as soon as she returns. More importantly, Ruide. Are you eating well?]

“Yes.”

After exchanging a few more everyday pleasantries, Ruide ended the call and connected with Irene next.

“Amelia isn’t coming back. Scold her.”

[That child is useless. Don’t worry, I’ll half-kill her, Rui.]

“Just half of a half.”

Another week passed like that.

That was also how long Ruide had been staying in Amelia’s room.

Today too, Ruide activated a crystal ball.

“Amelia isn’t coming back.”

Ruide wasn’t even calling her “sister” anymore.

Victoria looked extremely troubled in the crystal ball.

[Ruide, this is already your third transmission today.]

He’d used 40 crystal balls today alone.

In gold, that was 4 million gold.

Considering that the mansion where Ruide lived was worth 200,000 gold, it was an enormous sum.

And this was just the cost of crystal balls Ruide had used. Not including those at Windsor Castle.

If included, it would be 8 million gold. An astronomical amount.

“What should I do when Amelia isn’t coming back?”

[I told you there’s no need to worry about Amelia. There’s no one near where she went who could pose a threat to her.]

“Who’s worried? I’m not worried at all. It’s just annoying.”

[Hmm, hmm… the crystal balls at Windsor Castle are running low too. Rather than this, why don’t we keep one crystal ball active and talk all day with mother…]

“Are you saying the crystal balls are too precious?”

Click-

Ruide turned off the crystal ball.

He hugged a pillow and glared at the crystal ball with a face full of discontent.

Next, he sent a transmission to Irene.

Irene was smiling as usual.

Ruide normally disliked her smile because it seemed crazy, but today it felt incredibly reassuring.

“Amelia isn’t coming back.”

[That’s a capital offense.]

“Right?”

[Leaving a 12-year-old brother home alone—it’s unforgivable.]

Ruide nodded vigorously.

“Only Irene understands. Irene is the best.”

Irene’s smile grew even deeper.

Bang!

-M-my lady!

Commotion could be heard from within the crystal ball.

Soon the door opened and Victoria appeared in front of the crystal ball, wiping cold sweat.

[Ah, son. I think there’s been some misunderstanding—]

“I haven’t misunderstood anything.”

Ruide cut the connection.

He curled up on the bed.

“…Should I go?”

This prolonged absence indicated a problem.

But that’s why he couldn’t go.

The fact that Sherry was also absent suggested this was some kind of test.

During the previous Black Mage incident, Amelia genuinely disliked his involvement.

Intervening this time could hurt Amelia’s pride.

…He didn’t want family relations to sour.

But at the same time, he was extremely annoyed that she’d been gone so long without sending a single letter.

“Just wait until she gets back.”

**

Amelia entered the mansion with a pleased expression.

‘Hehe. I’m a bit late, but Ruide will surely love something like this.’

Amelia had gone to the Mellan Mountains to find ice fish.

Along the way, she met a fisherman…

-Do you know? They say the Ice God lives at the peak of the Mellan Mountains.

The god of ice fish, the Ice God.

After hearing about this legendary being, she couldn’t bring herself to catch ordinary ice fish.

So Amelia had wandered endlessly through the mountains to catch the legendary fish…

“Ah, Sherry. You’ve worked hard. You can go rest now.”

“…Yes.”

Upon hearing those words, Sherry immediately collapsed face-first onto the floor.

Amelia shook her head.

“How can Ruide’s maid have such weak stamina?”

Amelia didn’t consider it a miracle that Sherry had endured until now without sleeping for over a week.

She thought about freshening up and meeting Ruide quickly as she opened the door.

“Huh?”

But Ruide was sitting on the bed in her room.

Seeing Amelia, Ruide briefly looked happy before his expression turned extremely fierce.

“Why are you here…”

“……”

Ruide’s magical power suddenly surged.

Everything in the room fell to the floor, making it rumble.

“Get out!!”

The door slammed shut with a bang.

“…Rui?”

Amelia froze with the fish still slung over her shoulder.

The fish flopped around mercilessly.