"Hah! Hngh! Haaah!"
Clear, spirited shouts rang out across the clearing.
A small girl gripped a wooden sword, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she slashed through the air.
It was Artoria, my twin younger sister.
Though the customs of the age and Uther’s decree had named me the heir to the throne, that did not mean Artoria neglected her training.
"Everyone must know how to protect themselves. And... if you become king, then I will become your greatest knight and remain at your side!"
Having declared as much, Artoria swung her wooden sword every day without fail.
She did not possess the grim resolve of a king who wore herself down through endless suffering. She simply had the pure desire to help the family she loved.
Her earnest, almost tearful devotion left me no choice but to vow that, as her brother, I would support her as perfectly as I could.
"All right, that is enough training. Come eat! Today’s lunch is a special meal!"
At my call, Artoria beamed, set down her wooden sword, and came running over.
Today’s menu was a seafood barley bowl and an assortment of sashimi.
Making full use of Tintagel’s advantages as a coastal village, I had procured a generous supply of quality fish and seafood from the fishermen.
There was no rice here, so I had to cook the less-sticky barley instead, but I steamed even that as softly as possible to create an excellent base.
Britain had potatoes, so there had to be rice plants growing somewhere if I looked hard enough. Still, it was a shame that nobody cultivated them.
"Wow... Brother, the fish is sparkling!"
"Hmm... It does not smell bad."
Kay approached while wiping the sweat from his face with a towel, then stared in alarm at the lavishly arranged sashimi on the table.
That was only natural. In fifth-century Britain, eating raw fish was practically an act of barbarism—or a wager with one’s life.
Even by the sea, there were no refrigerators to preserve freshness. The common practice was to grill fish thoroughly as soon as it was caught, or salt and smoke it for transport inland.
Eating raw fish was a fine way to die screaming from food poisoning, and even if one was fortunate enough to eat it fresh, parasites remained a lurking danger.
But I had two things to rely on.
"Do not worry. Merlin put a powerful freshness-preservation spell on the fish, so it is no different from having just pulled it out of the sea. And I removed all the parasites myself."
The instinct of a Pendragon—the intuition I had been born with as a dragon.
Combining that beastlike sixth sense with modern knowledge of preparing fish, I had precisely cut away any parasites hidden between the flesh, or selected only species that were safe to eat raw in the first place.
"Honestly, I doubt there is another cottage in all of Britain with lunatics who eat raw fish. Good thing Father cannot stand the smell of fish. If he saw this, he would faint."
Kay grumbled, but the gleaming flesh of the flatfish and rockfish belly I had carefully sliced still made him swallow his saliva.
"Thank you for the meal!"
Without hesitation, Artoria placed a thick slice of sashimi over her barley rice, sprinkled it with a little of the special brine I had prepared, and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Mmm~! It is delicious! It just melts in my mouth, Brother!"
Artoria’s happy smile naturally brought a fond, fatherly grin to my own face.
Still, as a cook, I could not help feeling one small regret.
The lack of gochujang sauce and soy sauce was truly heartbreaking.
Making gochujang sauce when I did not even have soy sauce would have been close to a miracle.
So I settled for seasoning it with a special brine made by purifying seawater, and served a plant I had dug up in the forest as my secret weapon.
Britain’s forests, steeped in the remnants of the Age of Gods, were truly demonic realms—but they were also treasure troves where every conceivable strange plant grew.
There, I had discovered wild wasabi. I grated it and set it on the table.
"Oh? Arthur, what is this pale-green lump? It has a strangely sharp scent that stings the nose."
Merlin had somehow claimed a seat at one corner of the table. Using the chopsticks I had made myself, she poked at the wasabi as she asked.
"It is called wasabi. Put only a tiny bit on the sashimi before you eat it. Too much will burn your nose."
Interested, Merlin piled a generous mound of wasabi onto a slice of sashimi and popped it into her mouth.
As an incubus, Merlin could not taste human food even when she ate it.
At most, she could enjoy the chewy texture of sashimi; normally, the flavor itself did not particularly move her.
But then—
"...!!"
Merlin’s eyes flew wide open, and her pale face swiftly turned red.
Clutching her nose, tears welling in her eyes, she stamped her feet.
"Aaaah! It is spicy! My nose—my nose feels like it has been blasted open! My brain is tingling!"
"I told you not to eat too much. It is closer to pain than taste, so it hits someone like you directly."
Spiciness, being a kind of pain, worked like a charm. Still, I was not going to make her spicy food. There were no chili peppers to begin with, and I did not want to end up going down the Mapo Tofu Priest route.
I was about to offer water to the teary-eyed Merlin, but her next reaction completely defied my expectations.
"Haa... haa... Wait. This is strangely addictive, is it not? To give such an intense stimulation to a mouth that cannot taste anything... Arthur! I want to add more of this!"
Rather, Merlin’s eyes sparkled as she began ruthlessly piling wasabi onto her sashimi.
Whether she enjoyed pain or had simply been starved for stimulation, I could only marvel at the peculiar tastes of an incubus.
Seriously, even if I found chili peppers, I should not make her spicy food.
"You really are eating well. If I get the chance later, I will catch some octopus and make you octopus wasabi, too. It will suit your tastes."
"Octopus wasabi? The name alone makes my heart race! Ahh~ Our Arthur is a hardworking genius, and he is even a perfect cook."
Propping her chin in one hand, Merlin gazed steadily at me with a blush on her cheeks.
"I suppose you really ought to become my husband. My future husband, you will stay by my side for the rest of your life and make food that makes my tongue tingle like this, will you not?"
It was a playful line, yet somehow suggestive.
But the one who rose to that provocation was not me—it was my younger sister, who had been eagerly devouring sashimi.
"No!!"
With both cheeks stuffed full of barley rice, Artoria raised her spoon and pointed it at Merlin as though accusing her.
"My brother is going to marry me! You cannot have him, Merlin! You are old!"
"Ghk...! Old, Artoria? How many times must I tell you that age is only a number to an incubus? Can you not see this firm, youthful skin?!"
Fuming, Artoria tightly linked her arm through mine.
"He promised to buy me all the delicious food I wanted and keep me full for the rest of my life! That means I will be his bride!"
At my sister’s fierce assertion of ownership, I kept a warm smile on my face while breaking into a cold sweat inside.
Having my favorite girl like me was enough to make me feel as though I could fly... but incest between biological siblings was still too much.
If I had been born as some other man, I would have cheered at Artoria’s declaration.
But I was Artoria’s blood-related older brother.
No matter how quietly the nobles of this era practiced incestuous marriages, Artoria was, to a man with modern values, nothing more than an adorable younger sister I wanted to protect and cherish for the rest of my life—not someone I could see as a woman.
"Yes, yes. When you are a little older, you can marry your brother."
I patted Artoria on the head and casually dismissed it as a child’s whim.
For now, she only said such things because she liked her brother. I thought it was a feeling that would naturally fade as she grew older.
It would be a little sad if we became like ordinary real-life siblings, though.
Even if Artoria’s gaze was burning with far too much sincerity.
I discreetly turned my eyes toward the distant sky and began sketching out grand plans for the future.
After all, my goal was a harem.
Britain alone had powerful, beautiful women such as Britomart, did it not?
I did not know much about the rest.
On top of that, I had the greatest supporter of all: Merlin.
Once I had grown a little more, I intended to use Merlin’s help to summon Servants.
What if I could summon powerful, beautiful female Servants from among the Heroic Spirits of the future or the past?
They would become an overwhelming force for unifying Britain, as well as dependable members of my harem.
Whoever came, they would be welcome.
Honestly, I would not mind even if a male Servant appeared. A woman would be better, but either way was fine.
With a slice of sashimi between my lips, I grinned as I pictured the thrilling future ahead.
Artoria and Merlin were bickering childishly over me at the table, but even that was merely the pleasant ASMR of everyday life to me.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register