Volume 1 Chapter 14 Lydia And The Twenty Mages
I'm carrying the finished hamburger to the dining table on the other side of the kitchen.
There's a long table with chairs lined up.
Usually, the mages from Saintwise eat here.
The table and chairs are made of heavy wood, and a clean white cloth with no stains covers the table.
It looks fancy, but it's not very cute.
I think it would be nice if the cloth had a strawberry pattern or something, as I arrange the plates with hamburgers.
Normally, I would make mashed potatoes as a side, and serve bread or rice, along with salad, but today's order is just hamburgers.
Since I'm being kidnapped, they don't need that kind of service.
Just as I finish setting out the hamburgers, Sir Ciel comes back with a few mages from Saintwise.
"...Sir Ciel, will everyone be safe with this?"
A young man with a pale face and slicked-back black hair says.
He has a cross pattern on his forehead, and red earrings sway from his ears.
He doesn't look as flashy as Sir Ciel, but he has a somewhat cold and handsome face.
"...From any angle, it looks like a very ordinary... no, it looks like a hamburger with a seasoning I've never seen before."
"Yes... it's a very ordinary Angry Hamburger with grated daikon radish and soy sauce sauce...!"
As I tremble in fear at the large group of young men entering the dining hall with me, I quietly say this while hiding behind Sir Ciel.
Sir Ciel is an enemy of women, but the other men are strangers.
It's still more comforting to know a pervert than to be around strangers.
Of course, since he's a pervert, I can't feel completely safe.
"...I guarantee the effect. I actually experienced it with this body."
"Sir Ciel, you were the first to receive the curse. Honestly, it's strange that you can even stand and walk; your body must have been severely affected. ...Are you okay now?"
"Yes. My sense of taste, sight... and even my bodily sensations were almost lost, but just one bite of Ms. Lydia's hamburger made the curse disappear like magic. Leavis. Before you doubt it, just try it."
"Understood. ...Then I will."
The black-haired man nodded, and the mages took their seats.
After putting their hands together to pray before the meal to the divine ancestors, they each picked up their knives and forks.
"Ms. Lydia. I'm sorry. This is Leavis Mistylenia, my deputy. He's just a bit too suspicious."
"I-I don't need an introduction...! Once I'm freed from your kidnapping, I don't think I'll ever see you again...!"
"...Still, the Angry Hamburger looks delicious. I should have asked for one for myself."
"Sir Ciel, you just ate a lot earlier, didn't you... But, um, Sir Ciel, were you in a dangerous state when you came to the restaurant...?"
Leavis was saying something like that.
When he came to the restaurant, Sir Ciel didn't look that bad.
"Yeah, well..."
"──That's not good...! Please tell me important things like that first..."
"Ms. Lydia. I'm pretty strong in terms of health. ...The hamburger and all the other dishes were delicious. I want to eat them again."
"...Ugh."
Sir Ciel is genuinely praising the food.
Even though he's a bit of a pervert. Maybe he's not a pervert after all.
I don't know. I really don't know.
"...This is...! Delicious...! The deep flavor and juiciness of the beef are highlighted by the grated daikon radish and the refreshing sauce. It's fresh yet creamy, with a deep taste that melts on the tongue...!"
Mr. Leavis is eating the hamburger and giving a very vivid description of the taste.
"Uh, um, thank you..."
You don't have to say it so passionately...!
It's so embarrassing...!
Just saying it's delicious would be enough. Just one word, like "delicious," would be fine.
Of course, I'm really happy to hear that the food is good, but it makes my face turn red.
All around, I hear voices saying, "Yummy...," "My tiredness is disappearing...," "I can taste it, I can really taste it...!"
"...You said your name was Ms. Lydia. I'm sorry for doubting you. ...What a powerful curse-breaking ability this is... With this, everyone will be saved...!"
Mr. Leavis finished his hamburger quickly and ran over to me, wiping his mouth clean with a napkin.
"Did you already eat it...? I was just thinking about making some tea..."
"Thank you for your concern. Honestly, I could eat at least ten more plates because the hamburger was so delicious. Not only is it tasty, but it also has an incredibly strong curse-breaking effect. Who exactly are you?"
"...I'm the cook at Lobelia Diner House..."
Mr. Leavis is coming on strong. It's scary.
I hid behind Sir Ciel again.
He looks like a cold-hearted mage, but he's really passionate, Leavis.
"Leavis. I understand how you feel, but please calm down. Ms. Lydia is scared. It must have been frightening since I kidnapped Ms. Lydia from the diner."
"I'm so sorry about that. I caused trouble for both Sir Ciel and Ms. Lydia. This happened because of our poor judgment..."
Leavis took a step back and bowed deeply.
Behind Leavis, the mages who finished eating their hamburgers are lined up.
They all bow their heads to me.
Somehow, it seems I've ended up being called the villain for bullying Francois...
But I'm not really happy about it.
They're all men. I don't like men...!
My mind flashes to my father and Sir Stefan making peace signs.
I can't really remember their faces, so there's a black line over their eyes. They look really criminal-like.
"...Um, Mr. Leavis, the mages from Saintwise were cursed because of Sir Ciel, right...?"
Leavis and the others were having a terrible time, and I wonder if it's Sir Ciel's fault.
It's a bit different from what Sir Ciel said.
"...What kind of explanation did Sir Ciel give you? Sir Ciel hasn't done anything."
"What do you mean? It's because of Sir Ciel's research that the curse fell on everyone, right...?"
"No, that's not it. This time..."
"──Leavis... you shouldn't say that to Ms. Lydia."
"What do you mean, Sir Ciel...! Of course, I'm not that interested, but...! Even after my kidnapping, keeping it a secret is just awful... This is why I hate men; they're all liars...! Even though Sir Ciel is popular with women, he's lying too...!"
I really dislike liars.
Tears start to well up in my eyes as I glare at Sir Ciel.
I can only think that my tear ducts are going crazy.
I wasn't this emotionally unstable before my engagement was broken.
Hmm. How was it? I've forgotten.
Was I unstable? I remember a long time ago when Sir Stefan said, "Lydia is such a crybaby." How annoying.
"Ms. Lydia..."
"So cute..."
"A fairy..."
Sir Ciel's voice overlaps with unsettling words.
With sparkling eyes, Mr. Leavis and the other mages are looking at me. It's scary.
"...I'm sorry for lying. ...It's true that I brought back Medusa's head. I had something I really wanted to investigate. I thought that by studying a powerful curse, I could gain an equally powerful way to break it."
"That's right, Ms. Lydia. Not just Sir Ciel, but all of us mages from Saintwise have been continuing that research. ...The Curse of the Moon. Recently, it has been seen in the kingdom as a terrible disease. On the day when red tears fall from the red moon, monsters appear. Humans are also affected by the moon... due to the moon's curse, they can turn into monsters themselves."
"...The Curse of the Moon, huh?"
I tilted my head at Sir Ciel and Leavis's explanation.
It was a term I had never heard before.
"This is classified information. ...Humans affected by the Curse of the Moon become violent. Most of them are found and captured by us at Saintwise, and we give them the proper judgment. ...On the surface, it just looks like humans suddenly became vicious. But it's probably the curse."
Sir Ciel said in a quiet voice.
He couldn't say it because it was classified. ──He had been talking as if it was all his fault.
I wish he had told me from the start.
But if I had heard something like that from the beginning, I might have been even more scared and wouldn't have been able to cook.
"Monsters fall from the red moon. The monsters are created by the red moon. So, I thought that by researching powerful cursed beings like the 4-headed Medusa and many other monsters, we might find a way to break the curse on humans. ...But, we failed."
When Mr. Leavis said this, the other mages all sighed.
"When Sir Ciel is not here today, we accidentally let Medusa's curse go out of control in the lab. When Sir Ciel noticed something was wrong, he took on most of the deadly curse with his own body to stop it. ...We got splashed with the remnants of the curse."
"This is a big deal..."
I don't really understand much.
Monsters fall from the red moon.
I know that.
But I don't know anything about the Curse of the Moon.
"...If Sir Ciel hadn't been here, we would definitely be in trouble by now. And if it weren't for Ms. Lydia... Ms. Lydia is our lifesaver. We should take Angry Hamburger to those who are bedridden."
"...W-well, I'm not angry anymore, so it doesn't have to be Angry Hamburger. It's grated daikon hamburger."
It's not good to be angry at people who are on the brink of death.
I corrected the name of the dish.
Then──I really wanted to forget about the conversation we just had.
Knowing state secrets is really heavy.
I was just cooking in the restaurant.
I carried the hamburgers to the hospital room with Sir Ciel and the other mages.
In the hospital room, there were a few mages lying in bed, their bodies afflicted by the curse and unable to move.
I helped feed them the hamburgers.
Because now that I knew the situation, I couldn't just leave them alone.
As soon as they chewed and swallowed the hamburgers, the people in bed started to sit up and were strong enough to eat the rest by themselves.
My hamburger might really have some kind of power, just like Sir Ciel said.
I don't feel it at all, though. Anyway, I'm glad everyone at Saintwise is feeling better.
Just as I was relieved and about to go home, everyone from Saintwise surrounded me.
The mages from Saintwise were saying things like, "Ms. Lydia!" "An angel!" "A miracle fairy!" and they lifted me up while I cried, "Nooo, please put me down...!"
I really don't like men after all.
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