MTDL 33

Chapter 33

I beckoned toward the child.

“Here, would you like to come over?”

Then, when the child timidly approached alone, I held out some salad in a piece of paper folded into the shape of a funnel.

The child hesitated, glancing at his mother as if wondering whether he should accept it. I smiled brightly and said,

“Try it. I’m giving it to you for free so you can taste it.”

“Really?”

The child’s expression brightened. He took it and put the beet salad, which looked somewhat like fruit salad, into his mouth.

As the sweet beet juice burst across his tongue, the child’s expression changed as if he had entered a dream.

“Woooow… It’s really delicious…!”

The child’s mother slowly approached as well.

“Why don’t you try one? It’s great as a snack!”

Before long, the area in front of our tasting tent became crowded.

“No way, this is that tasteless red beet?”

“I heard it was good for children’s brains, so I was looking into it, but I couldn’t bring myself to try it because it supposedly tasted awful!”

“It’s really delicious. And so crunchy.”

“I can’t believe it! This is what they feed horses?!”

“Wait. Aren’t that man and child the ones who bought red beets at the market last time?”

Some of the people there had even been among those we’d encountered at the market.

“I’ll have one, too.”

“Me too, miss!”

Adam discovered the market people looking at him with bewildered expressions. He shrugged and handed out samples to all of them without exception.

“This is…!”

“Ohhh. With a taste like this… there’s no way children wouldn’t love it.”

At last, the injustice filling Adam’s eyes was washed away.

We also handed out flyers containing the official opening date of our business and the products we would be selling.

Down in the underground storage room, the beets were deliciously fermenting, waiting for the day they could finally be sold.

“You truly are remarkable. To think you would come up with such a way to promote the business.”

Adam had not been able to guarantee the effectiveness of the tasting event when I first suggested it, but now he was amazed as he watched the crowds pouring in.

“I told you to trust me, Adam.”

Hehe. Was the tasting event a success?!

And then, I noticed someone making their way through the crowd toward us.

Just as Adam was about to stop them, saying that they couldn’t come in—

“Wait a moment!”

“……”

Adam stopped at my words, and a boy passed him and stood in front of me.

Black eyes stared at me from behind a white mask.

“…Did you come to help, Mas?”

I’d told Mas that I would be holding a tasting event today, but… I hadn’t expected him to actually come.

Mas nodded and silently rolled up his sleeves.

Then, the people suddenly began murmuring as they looked behind them.

‘Huh? What’s going on?’

…What is that? Why are there armored cavalry?!

Every time they stepped forward, the ground shook with a heavy thud.

The people froze in fear as they watched the approaching army.

About a hundred soldiers were all clad in full plate armor, each holding a terrifying spear.

And the man at the very front… winked at me before beginning to shout in a booming voice.

“Wahahaha! Hear me, comrades!”

The copper-skinned Minister of Military Affairs, Pamel Garment, proudly sporting a Mohawk hairstyle!

Why is this man here…?

“Today, you shall join as reinforcements for the great future commander who will one day lead the Ministry of Military Affairs and display your prowess!”

“Woooooah!”

Huh?!

“No enemy who dares threaten Arinell Myle can ever raise their heads before the mighty army of Albreon! Our spears pierce the heavens and annihilate our enemies!”

“Woooooahhhh!!!”

Why would anyone use the word ‘annihilate’ at a tasting event?!

But fine, Pamel was one thing. Why were the soldiers getting so excited?!

“War! War! War! War!”

At Pamel’s signal, the soldiers began chanting their battle cry.

When they struck the ground with the bottoms of their spears, the earth itself seemed to tremble.

Thud— Thud— Thud—

The people who had been sampling the food were trembling as they held their paper funnels, terrified by the sudden appearance of an army.

“W-War?!”

“I-I’m scared… Waaah!”

“This child is going to become the head of the Ministry of Military Affairs?!”

At this rate, my tasting war… no, my tasting event was going to be ruined!

“Ah… N-No, everyone. This is—!”

Just as I was desperately trying to calm the situation—

“We’re from the Ministry of Economy!”

Young men in uniforms began streaming toward us from somewhere.

I saw Pamel’s eyebrow twitch.

“…Miss.”

The man who walked right up to me whispered,

“He said you would know if we mentioned Uncle Armus. We came here at his request to help you.”

I stared at him in surprise.

Uncle Armus told them to help me?

Then these people must be Uncle Armus’s juniors.

Pamel snorted and asked in a stern, metallic voice,

“What business does the Ministry of Economy have with the affairs of the Ministry of Military Affairs! The position of reinforcements for Arinell has already been claimed by our Ministry of Military Affairs!”

Reinforcements… I never asked for any…

“We understand that Duke Garment wishes to help Miss Arinell with her tasting event, but he said that doing so would actually weaken our forces.”

“What?!”

“What does His Grace think the purpose of this tasting event is? Is it not an event intended to distribute food to many people and, through that experience, encourage them to purchase the products when Miss Arinell’s business officially launches based on the positive impression they have formed of the products?”

Pamel tried to object angrily, but the man from the Ministry of Economy spoke without hesitation.

And because everything he said was correct, Pamel’s momentum gradually began to fade.

“If His Grace truly wishes to help Miss Arinell, he instructed him to disarm the soldiers and have them participate in the tasting event.”

“Going onto a battlefield without weapons is…”

“Did I not tell you? This is not a battlefield, and the weapons will only weaken Miss Arinell’s forces. That is what he said.”

After finishing his words, the man panted as though he had finally released a breath he had been holding.

No matter who they were, it could not have been easy to speak their mind in front of Pamel Garment’s overwhelming presence.

Uncle Armus… you really have surrounded yourself with brave people.

And it seemed he’d made his intentions very clear as well.

“……!”

Pamel’s expression remained stiff with frustration for a long while. Eventually, as though he had finally made his decision, he let out a fierce snort.

“Personally, I have nothing but the desire to smash the heads of our enemies with this iron gauntlet, but I cannot allow our forces to suffer any damage.”

W-Who exactly are you planning to smash?!

He clenched his trembling fist and thrust it toward the sky.

Then he roared at the soldiers.

“Disarm!”

“Yes, sir!”

A deafening shout rang out, and they began taking off their armor.

The people who had been frozen in terror, thinking a real war was about to break out, visibly breathed sighs of relief.

The man who had come at Uncle Armus’s request also sighed in relief. When his eyes met mine, he smiled.

“It seems we have dealt with the enemy forces for now.”

“Phew. Thank you.”

I answered in a small voice so Pamel wouldn’t hear.

“Then we will now assist Miss Arinell by implementing a systematic plan for the tasting event.”

“…A systematic plan?”

“Yes. Here is the document he prepared.”

The man suddenly pulled out a thick report.

The white stuff was paper, and all those densely packed things were words.

…Huh?

“It would be difficult to read the entire thing here, so there is a summary here.”

I stared blankly at the final page, which even contained charts.

The waiting area, the tasting booths, and the place where promotional materials would be distributed. The entire process for the event had been described in incredible detail.

It was certainly practical, but… he sent such a thick report just for my little tasting event?

There were even an enormous number of footnotes and references.

No, did this really need to be prepared with this much effort?!

“We have all familiarized ourselves with the contents of the document, so we will now begin assisting with the event in earnest. That is why we were sent here today.”

I stared blankly at the man for a moment before nodding awkwardly.

And before long, the situation began to settle down.