Chapter 6: Etiquette of Eating

“―Then order whatever you want?”

“…”

Giving a smile to Fina, who was seated in the chair opposite me, a quizzical expression was formed on her features.

The place I dragged Fina’s hand to was a restaurant located on a street slightly off the main road. Without windows, the restaurant’s interior cannot be seen from the outside, making entry challenging for first-time patrons; nonetheless, regular patrons would find it unobtrusive. The exceptional quality of the food was another aspect that made the place so appealing to me.

“…That.”

“Hmm?”

As our conversation continued, I cast a downward glance at the menu.

“Aren’t you bringing me here to listen to what I have to say?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Oh, and of course, I’ll pay for your order here, so you can have whatever you want up to 1,000 Fanta―”

Fanta referred to the currency here. It was adopted from the name of this world.

“―In that case? Why not just listen to me right now? Why are we even bothering with the food!”

“No, no, I can’t listen to you on an empty stomach, because I am as tense as you are right now, can I? So why don’t we first eat, and then you and I can take our time and catch up?”

“…Lady Karen is probably waiting for me at home.”

“That’s a big deal. Then why don’t we hurry up and eat before we have the conversation?”

“…A plate of stew.”

She seemed to have sensed that I was not willing to make any concessions. Satisfied, I ordered the same stew as Fina, and eventually, the stew was served in front of me. Next to it were two slices of bread to go with it.

The stew in front of me was a great illustration of the many culinary parallels between this place and where I was from.

The potatoes were almost melted and the broth was pure white. There was a sound of a faint squeal before my eyes then.

“…Let’s hurry up and eat it.”

“…Well then…”

With a wry smile, I said, “Bon appétit,” and brought the soup to Fina with a downcast look on her face as she began to move the spoon around.

For a fleeting second, Fina glanced at me, but returned her gaze to her dish immediately. The food here was not terrible. She must have realized that.

Fina seemed to be fairly starving, and she dared enough to have another bowl of stew. Of course, I had a second serving, too, and for the first time in a long time, I was contented with my meal.

I did, however, utter a serious scowl—a rare occurrence in my life—at the sight of the bread crusts that remained on Fina’s plate.

“Fina. Aren’t you going to finish those bread crusts?”

“? Yes.”

“If you use the bread crusts to wipe the stew plate at the end before you eat it, it tastes better than you might expect. It kills two birds with one stone because it cleans the plate too.”

She then followed my advice and consumed the bread crusts she had left over.

Her expression was one of surprise.

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“…I’ve never seen anyone do such a thing before.”

“Fina, you’ve been in the royal castle for a long time, right? Well, I suppose it’s unusual for people to eat like this, even in a normal city.”

“―That’s true. Even I have never observed another customer who eats like he do.”

The owner of the restaurant suddenly interrupted our conversation from the kitchen. He was already well-acquainted with me, and I adopted a startled expression.

“Really? It used to be the norm in my region.”

Everyone used to do it during school lunches and such.

“You are quite a varied one. Other than that, you chant by yourself before and after eating.”

“Ah… I was wondering about that too.”

Fina bit at me in an unexpected way, making me slightly taken aback, but I promptly seized the opportunity and started talking.

“That’s a greeting at the time of a meal. Before eating, we say ‘bon appétit’ to express our gratitude for the life used in the meal, and after eating, we say ‘thank you for the meal’ to express our appreciation for the person who prepared the food.”

“Wow, that’s a practice I’ve never heard of before.”

I supposed that would be true.

Originally, I would like to share my knowledge about food education here, such as the fact that “thank you for the meal’ means making the efforts to prepare the food, but in this country where there existed no kanji culture, there seemed to be no opportunity for me to do so.

“…It is a fine practice.”

The words that struck my ear suddenly brought me to raise my face, where the sight of Fina, averting her eyes, was eating the bread crusts just as I had done.

The success in breaking the ice from an unexpected source made me chuckle inwardly.

In my childhood, food was a scarce commodity as an impoverished child, but never did I imagine that being fussy about food would come in handy in a place like this.

“…Haha. That’s very kind of you to say so.”

“Nevertheless, Mister, you came with a rather young girl today, didn’t you? Is it your daughter?”

“Please refrain from saying anything innuendos that will hurt me, owner. She attends my school, a student. I brought her here today to have an important conversation with her.”

“Oops, I’d better go over there then. There won’t be any more customers here today, and no one will hear you.”

“Thank you.”

Thanking the owner for his discretion, I turned to Fina once more.

Now, here was where the real feat of skill would unfold.

——————

T/N:

‘Bon appétit’ and ‘thank you for the meal’ are Itadakimasu and Gochisousama respectively, I simply did not want to use Japanese words mainly because this world is based on Western settings

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