「Your Majesty. We have ingredients sourced from north for today’s afternoon tea」
「My. Could it be that they found something interesting in the dwarf village?」
「Yes. Please enjoy」
In the center of the kingdom, the residence of the royal capital, the white dragon king elegantly enjoys tea.
What was served for tea was a baked sweet with a golden gleam and sweet fragrance that even the Queen Merior never seen before. Drawn by the beautiful appearance and appetizing aroma, she picked up the freshly baked treat and put it in her mouth.
「My! What intensely rich sweetness! And the cake has a moist and smooth texture! So delicious! What ingredients did they use for this?」
「This dessert is called sweet potato, made from the dwarf potatoes harvested from their village」
「Is that so? Drwarf potato? Wait?! Dwarf potato?!」
The male attendant, the knight who had gone North as the queen’s representative, smiled as he had succeeded with his surprise, looking at the queen who stopped her hand.
「By dwarf potato, you mean that thing? The famous crop also called as stone potato, which is hard and tasteless whether you boil or grill it? The reason why the dwarves were called stone eaters?」
「Yes. As your majesty already know, the dwarf potato was thought to be a tuber that is inedible whether boiled or grilled. However, we found that it becomes sweeter and softer depending on the cooking method」
The knight gives the signal and piping hot dwarf potatoes were brought in from the kitchen. He took one and gave it a cut, and sweet honey poured from the sticky crack.
「When cooking the tuber by steaming or stone-grilling, we found that it achieves sweetness suitable to use as a dessert, just like this」
「Oh my, this is wonderful! Hmm, so good!」
When the Queen received the roasted sweet potatoes, she brought them to her lips. The elegant sweetness spreads on the tongue making her grin.
Just as she was about to reach for another, the knight speaks.
「Actually, we found an even better way to cook these potatoes」
「Better? Even better than what I’m currently eating?」
「Yes」
What cooking method makes the potato, which was offered to the queen of this country, even more delicious?
「We found that cooking the potato using the steam from the dwarf village hot spring, as well as making stone-baked potatoes with the sun stone from the dwarf village will result in even more delicious flavor」
「I see」
The ingredient can be eaten most deliciously only in the dwarf village. It’s as if it was prepared only for the dwarves. Only the dwarves knew what they had, what other races considered t obe stone, was actually gold.
「What are your plans?」
「Nothing, I’m not doing anything. I gave him recognition as the lord, I won’t take it away」
She can get the hot springs, rare metals, and delicious specialty products. It would be a very attractive territory, even for the Queen, but she won’t be rash and commit on seizing it immediately.
「Speaking of which, how is the new lord? He’s a Zatsuryu, isn’t he?」
「Indeed」
When the knight was asked about his impression on meeting them in the party, he thought for a moment.
「It’s surprising that he could master the divine iron arms during the duel, but nothing else in particular. We didn’t converse much, and he seem to be enjoying the food at the party」
「I see」
(It’s strange that he can master the divine iron arms. Should I have sent other knights instead?)
If a dragon equips divine iron arms that annihilates mana, then carelessness will destroy them. A phenomenon where they equip a powerful item that makes them weaker.
Alec, who’s accustomed to synchronizing his mana with others, overcame the problem by synchronizing his mana with the divine iron arms amna, but the existence of such metho dis unexpected for the queen.
(This snack is delicious too, but if I go to the land of the dwarves, I can have even more delicious food. Maybe I should go to inspect there at least once)
A ruler of the country plots to arrange a meeting with Alec while savoring the sweet potatoes made in the dwarf village. However, the Queen’s strategy was brought to nothing by a single report delivered from the south
「Did you find the beast king in the southern forest? What happened to the long ears?」
The powerful king who reigns over the southern forest. These are the giant beasts that should have designated the deep, food-rich parts of the forest as their habitat and been engaged in territorial disputes with the elves.
Upon the abnormal situation of the beast king appearing in the southern part of the kingdom, the great lord who governed the south immediately sent envoys to the royal capital and requested the rescue of the kingdom’s knights.
□
The southern part of the kingdom. The kingdom’s food supply, where vast farmlands and ranches spread out.
It used to be a calm place filled with a relaxed, pastoral atmosphere, but that is the past. Now, defensive walls were built along the border with the Great Forest to surround the territories in the south of the kingdom.
A wall of flames, roaring and blazing, exceeding three meters in height. It is the inextinguishable flame barrier created by the Great Lord in the south using Magic.
Most of the monsters spilling out from the great forest are terrified by the force of the raging flames, and the reckless and foolish monsters, trying to break through, are completely burned to ashes without leaving even a trace.
ーーーWoooooooooooooooooooooooon!!!!
And powerful monsters, comparable to dragons, break through the wall of flames and attack the southern territory.
The pure giant wolf lets out a roar and the wolf beasts following around also roared in response. This is their magic group enhancement. Then a powerful buff is applied to the wolves in the pack, they plunge into the ranch with movements like an orderly army.
The livestock were devoured by the ravenous wolves in an instant and dozens of prey were carried off to the forest while still alive.
ーGaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
The giant bear monsters scream. It’s simple self-reinforcement, but their power is terrifying. The bears, protected by intense mana and thick fur, gorge themselves to their heart’s content on the farm.
The feast of fresh blood continued until the bears were satisfied, after defeating the zatsuryu soldiers who tried to stop the bear monsters, even the Kiryu knights at times.
ーーKooon…
The farmer, trying to take care of the field as usual, noticed something strange.
He’s unable to touch the crops in the field. His hands slip right through it, even though it’s in front of him.
Not understanding why, he repeatedly tried to touch the crops, and gradually, their forms faded, the plants disappeared.
An even more bizarre scene occurs in front of the dumbfounded farmer’s house.
The flame barrier, which was supposed to burn and protect their land, vanished, as if it was melting.
Nothing. The fields, walls, all of it disappeared, leaving only the lush great forest in sight.
Only the sound of a fox’s cry, as if laughing, mocking, echoed deep in the forest. It was all an illusion left by the fox.
□
The lords of the south tried to make contact with the elves using their connections, but they could not enter the depths of the forest, and none of them ever showed themselves.