Chapter 18: The Muscle-Brained Princess and the Indoor Lady’s “Girls’ Night Out”

An obsession with food can sometimes make the impossible possible.

Dusk crept over the hunting grounds’ base camp.

At this hour, the fragrant smell of roasting meat should have been drifting through the air.

Instead, what surrounded the kitchen tent was not the scent of charred fat, but the stench of impatience.

“…Is it ready yet?”

I went to check, rubbing my stomach.

Several hours had passed since the lunchtime sandwiches.

My stomach was fully prepared to receive grilled meat.

That was when I found the tragedy unfolding.

“D-damn it…!
The blade won’t go in!”

“It’s unbelievably hard…!
A mithril knife chipped!”

The elite royal chefs stood before the carcass of the giant boar, despair written all over their faces.

The legendary magical beast, the “Black Lord.”

Its hide, reinforced by years of accumulated magic, apparently boasted strength greater than steel.

“Enough!
Step aside!
I’ll do it!”

Having lost her patience, Hilda-sama stepped forward, raising her greatsword.

“If the hide is hard, then I’ll smash through it by force!
I’ll crush it bones and all!”

“Please wait!”

I shouted without thinking.

That would be a crime against good food.

“Hilda-sama, please stop.
If you do that, you’ll ruin the meat fibers.
And shattered bone fragments will mix into the meat and crunch when you eat it.”

“…Hmm.
But Master, at this rate night will fall.”

“Trying to solve everything with brute force is a bad habit of muscle-brains.”

I sighed.

If it was for the sake of delicious meat, bending my ‘energy-saving principle’ temporarily was worth it.

“…Let me handle it.”

I picked up a small fruit knife from the table.

The chefs looked at me as if to say, ‘What can you do with a toy like that?’

I stood before the boar.

A mountain-like body.

Black hide covered in coarse bristles.

(…Basically, I just need to separate the outside from the inside.)

I took a deep breath.

I imagined peeling an orange.

Or the sensation of neatly removing a price sticker.

“Target, the boundary between ‘epidermis’ and ‘subcutaneous fat.’

Effect, separation of magical bindings.

—《Cleansing・Separation Clean》.”

I lightly placed the tip of the knife against the boar’s neck.

Then I poured magic into it.

I wasn’t cutting.

I was recognizing only the ‘connections’ between hide and meat as ‘impurities’ and repelling them.

Slip.

The knife slid without resistance.

The hide, which should have been as hard as steel, split apart left and right like a zipper being undone.

“Wha…!?”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

I continued, smoothly running the knife all the way toward the tail.

No strength was needed.

I simply traced the path of magic.

Peel.

The enormous hide fell away cleanly, like a single carpet being removed.

Beneath it appeared beautiful pink meat, finely marbled.

Not a single scratch.

Perfect butchery.

“…There.
All done.”

I set the knife down.

Time required, three minutes.

“You should be able to cut it normally now.
…and please slice the best loin cuts thick.”

Silence.

Then, an explosion of cheers.

“A-amazing!”

“She butchered it with magic!?”

“Not a single mark on the hide…!
This could become a top-grade rug!”

The chefs began to pray to me.

Hilda-sama stared back and forth between the peeled hide and me, trembling.

“…Master.
Are you also a master of cooking?”

“No.
It’s just a task.”

I answered calmly.

Proper sorting is important.

Just like separating burnable and non-burnable trash, I merely separated hide and meat.

An hour later.

The long-awaited feast began around the campfire.

The crackle of burning logs.

Thick cuts of meat sizzling on the grill.

Fat dripped, fragrant smoke rising into the air.

“…Delicious.”

Hilda-sama closed her eyes as she bit into the grilled meat.

“It’s tender…
And the fat is sweet.
So this is the prey I defeated.”

“That’s because the prep work was perfect.”

I took a bite as well.

It melted in my mouth.

The effort had been worth it.

(I only slid a knife, but still.)

Off at another table, King Louis and Claude-sama were drinking with the knights.

Here, it was just Hilda-sama and me.

The night breeze was pleasant.

Staring into the flickering flames, Hilda-sama spoke quietly.

“…Master.”

“Yes?”

“Today, I learned something again.
Is this what ‘softness overcomes hardness’ means?”

She stared at her palms.

The hands of a warrior, hardened with sword calluses.

“I have always tried to be strong.
To avoid being looked down on, I wore armor, put on airs, and shouted louder than anyone.
…but.”

The firelight reflected in her eyes, making them tremble.

“Sometimes, I grow tired.
…There are moments when this armor feels heavy.”

It was the first time I had heard her speak so weakly.

The honest worry of a princess feared as the ‘Rose of the Battlefield.’

I swallowed my meat and wiped my mouth with a napkin.

“…Rigid branches snap when strong winds blow.”

“Huh?”

“If you become like a willow, you won’t break.
…If you stay tense all the time, someday you’ll snap.
Like me, you need to slack off and loosen up sometimes.”

“Slack off, huh.
…but how?
I don’t know how to ‘loosen up.’”

She looked seriously troubled.

She was too earnest at heart.

I rummaged through my magic bag.

Then I took out a single sheet.

“Then let’s start with appearances.”

“What is that?
A new magic tool?”

“It’s a beauty face pack.
Full of moisturizing ingredients.”

“…A pack?”

Hilda-sama blinked.

“You’ve been exposed to forest sunlight and wind all day.
Your skin is dry.
If you leave it like that, you’ll get wrinkles.”

I opened the package and unfolded the sheet soaked in thick liquid.

“Stick this on your face and space out for ten minutes without thinking about anything.
…It forcibly creates ‘rest time.’”

“I-I see…!
Mental training under the guise of beauty!”

“Well, something like that.
…I’m putting it on now.”

I pressed the sheet onto her face.

She let out a cute little yelp at the cool sensation.

“…It’s cold, but it feels nice.”

“Right?
I’ll put one on too.”

I placed a pack on my own face.

Two white masks lit by firelight.

From the outside, it probably looked surreal.

But I could feel the tension leave Hilda-sama’s shoulders.

“…Master, this scent is nice.”

“It contains rose extract.
Perfect for the ‘Rose of the Battlefield,’ don’t you think?”

“Heh…
A rose not on the battlefield, huh.
That doesn’t sound bad.”

She chuckled softly.

Her expression was hidden by the pack, but her voice was bright.

“…Hey, Master.
Can I buy this pack in the Empire?”

“It’s sold at apothecaries in the capital.
You should buy a bunch before you go home.
…Want me to recommend some bath salts too?”

“Please do!
…Actually, my hair’s been feeling dry lately too.”

From there, it was just a girls’ gathering.

National affairs and military strength didn’t matter.

We talked about skin troubles, sweet snacks, and just a little about men we found interesting.

Hilda-sama was surprisingly girly and liked cute things.

She had simply never been able to show it due to her position.

We talked until night deepened, until the packs dried.

Then I felt someone’s gaze.

When I turned around, I saw Claude-sama watching us from the shadows of the trees.

In his hand was a skewer of roasted marshmallows, probably meant for me.

But perhaps because we were giving off an atmosphere too lively to intrude on, he stood there awkwardly, looking lonely.

(…Ah.)

Our eyes met.

He pouted slightly, then looked away with a huff.

Then he popped the marshmallow into his own mouth.

Was that jealousy?

Or loneliness at being left out?

I smiled wryly beneath my face pack.

He really was adorable.

I’d have to make it up to him later.

“…Master?
What is it?”

“Nothing.
…It just looks like a big kid got lost.”

I said to Hilda-sama.

“Shall we peel off the packs now?
…It’s time to return to our bare faces.”

We removed the sheets.

Our skin, exposed to the night breeze, was moist and supple.

Hilda-sama’s face looked refreshed and beautiful, as if a weight had been lifted.

“…Thank you, Eliana.”

It was the first time she called me by my name.

Her smile shone brighter than any martial achievement.

Thus, our strange friendship was established.

But as the price for that, I had ignited one man’s possessiveness, something I still underestimated.

Just how troublesome a chancellor deprived of his “Eliana supply” could become.

I would learn that lesson the next morning.