Eddie was in a good mood.
He was a little concerned about Ketron’s lack of energy, but he seemed to have prevented the Hero’s Darkening, at least temporarily, and thanks to the festival, the inn was overflowing with guests, even if it was only for a short time.
Tourists who came to the Empire would enjoy the festival, and then stay and enjoy the Empire’s attractions before returning home.
That meant now was the perfect season to launch a new menu. There were many options, and Eddie was happily contemplating which one to choose.
On the morning of the third day after taking in Ketron, Eddie thought everything was going smoothly, at least until he found that note.
“Huh?”
It was morning, and Eddie, who habitually woke up early, was yawning and stretching. Eddie suddenly noticed a piece of paper stuck in the window next to his bed.
The paper stuck in the window gap was too perfectly placed to be a coincidence, and it looked like someone had sent Eddie a letter.
But the Empire had a perfectly good mailman, who went around the city delivering letters every morning, so if he wanted to send a letter normally, he would have sent it through the mailman.
In other words, this was no ordinary letter.
Eddie carefully took the letter out of the window gap.
There was no envelope. When he opened the neatly folded paper, there were only a few words written on it.
[Eight, Completed]
“……?”
Eddie looked at the letter with a puzzled expression. The letter, which had no further content, no recipient, and no sender, made him wonder if it was even meant for him.
[Eight, Completed]
He couldn’t understand what it meant, even after looking at it again. What was completed?
What was this number eight? Roughly speaking, it seemed to mean that something had finished its eighth numbering.
But why did they have to send that information to Eddie so secretly?
What was he?
Eddie stared at the letter for a long time before folding it up again.
Should he ask Gerold?
He briefly considered it, but then thought that if Gerold knew, it would look suspicious that Eddie didn’t, so he dismissed the idea. Amnesia from possession was inconvenient in this way.
Sometimes he wondered. What kind of person was Eddie? How did Gerold, with his high-level skills, end up in this humble inn? Why didn’t Gerold say anything, even when he saw Eddie’s changed personality and lifestyle?
Why was he so loyal… did the ‘original’ Eddie have any family or siblings?
He couldn’t know for now, and he didn’t want to actively find out yet. He felt like rushing things would only make things worse. Anything rushed would cause indigestion.
Eddie’s expression became a little serious.
But only for a moment, he nonchalantly put the note in his desk drawer.
Burning it as soon as he read it, like in the movies, wasn’t an option because Eddie was just a normal person with no Mana or anything, so he couldn’t use Sorcery, and he was worried that he would burn something if he used matches, and it wasn’t winter, so the fireplace was quiet, and he might need to see the note later.
Besides, even if someone saw it, how would they know what it meant? Eddie didn’t even know.
There was no need to worry any more. All Eddie knew was this inn and the surrounding area, so he couldn’t find out anything more by worrying.
And Eddie was positive enough not to waste his energy on such things.
Eddie soon forgot about it and went down to the first floor of the inn as usual, took out a piece of parchment, and began to think.
Since Gerold took care of most of the inn’s work with Sorcery, Eddie could comfortably think about the future of the inn.
More precisely, the new menu.
“Hmm.”
I think it’s time to make a proper meal menu.
Convenience stores have a surprising number of fresh foods. Eggs, fresh vegetables, and the like. He had succeeded in attracting some attention with the Fire Chicken Noodle, so now it was time to think about a steady menu that could be sold anytime.
Rather, there were too many things to put out, so he was more worried. Eddie stared at the white, or rather yellowish, parchment for a long time, pondering.
It was lunchtime when the voices of the chattering guests caught his ear.
“Did you hear the news?”
“Yeah, I heard. You mean about Marquis Meggin.”
“Shhh! Don’t talk so loud, it’s about a great noble.”
“Hey, you’re too timid. Everyone in the capital is talking about it anyway.”
Marquis Meggin?
Eddie frowned, trying to remember. Then he remembered that the name was one of the core nobles of the Empire’s aristocratic faction.
A noble who often appeared in the original 〈Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Well〉, a typical and authoritarian aristocratic noble, a hateful character.
Of course, the evaluation of being hateful was only from the reader’s point of view, and in this world, Marquis Meggin was nothing short of trash.
“For someone like that to be assassinated, what on earth is going on!”
“They say there was a poster?”
“The Marquis’s people took it down quickly, but the rumors have already spread like wildfire. It said, ‘Behold, the sinner Marquis Meggin!’ and listed all the Marquis’s sins.”
In addition, the men chattered about trivial things. Nothing much except for the story of Marquis Meggin.
A bakery on the west side of the square was very famous and had a line every day, and I smelled the bread from that bakery, and the owner of that bakery had studied baking in a neighboring kingdom that was famous for it.
Something came to Eddie’s mind as he listened to the story.
Come to think of it, isn’t this inn a place where a lot of information comes in if there are a lot of guests? Isn’t that a famous gimmick in fantasy novels?
In martial arts novels, the beggars of the Beggars’ Sect played that role, while in fantasy, it was the inn.
“Hmm.”
Well, of course, this endlessly ordinary and humble inn doesn’t have that kind of gimmick.
Eddie, stroking his chin as he looked down at the empty parchment, spoke to Gerold, who was working nearby.
“It’s unsettling, Gerold. Isn’t it?”
Gerold, who had been silently concentrating on his work, stopped and looked up. He must have quickly realized that it was Eddie’s impression of the Marquis Meggin affair, which Gerold had also heard.
Eddie had spoken to him, but he didn’t intend to carefully observe Gerold’s reaction, he was just trying to be a little friendly with this taciturn employee, so he didn’t see Gerold’s expression.
“It is.”
With a calm answer, Gerold’s gaze lingered on Eddie for a moment before scattering. Eddie couldn’t tell that it was a slightly more intense gaze than usual.
Eddie had come down to the convenience store. The refrigerator and freezer, which still worked perfectly without electricity, and the space with brilliant lighting were very alien in this Empire, but very familiar to Eddie.
“Hmm.”
He had decided on the general direction of the menu. He would add two or three meal menus.
Meals are all about carbohydrates, so all he had to do was choose what kind of menu to make based on noodles or rice.
But what should I add? Should I add side dishes like a set meal? How much should I sell it for? He was worried about what kind of composition to sell it in, but in the end, he couldn’t come to a conclusion, so he decided to look at the items directly and think about it.
Since his base was Korean, the first menu that came to mind was kimchi, but he thought that it would be rejected because it was a fermented food, so he put it on hold for now.
Since there was already Fire Chicken Noodle, he put ramen on hold for a while.
He didn’t not think of a Korean set meal with various side dishes, but he was worried that it would damage the inn’s identity, so he put it on hold after thinking about it.
A menu that is not too strong in flavor, does not have strong likes and dislikes, can be eaten often without problems, has a simple setting, is not burdensome on the stomach, and is good to eat for breakfast rather than lunch or dinner.
“…It must be that.”
Eddie closed his eyes for a moment and made a decision.
“The most important soy sauce, um… ah, here it is.”
Soy sauce. He chose soy sauce that had an egg drawn on the outer packaging, chose instant rice, chose a large amount of seasoned seaweed, chose a small pack of 6 raw eggs, and also chose instant udon with a picture of hot udon on it.
“Oops.”
He almost forgot the most important one. Finally, he chose sesame oil, and he was running out of hands.
Eddie smiled as he picked out all the ingredients.
As Eddie was about to put the ingredients neatly in the basket at the entrance of the convenience store and leave, he suddenly saw retort porridge near the entrance. Abalone porridge, abalone innard porridge, beef porridge, vegetable porridge, pumpkin porridge… there were many kinds.
Among them, the bright yellow pumpkin porridge caught his eye.
Usually, porridge is strongly associated with eating when you’re sick, but in the past, Eddie used to enjoy eating porridge as a regular meal.
That’s why he had lived a life that was a little distant from sweet pumpkin porridge.
Suddenly, the face that had readily accepted the banana milk came to mind.
“It’s sweet.”
And the voice that honestly answered the question of how it was.
If he thought about him not eating today either, he thought it would be good to take something to eat.
He seemed to like sweet things.
Eddie crossed his arms and pondered, thinking about how Ketron would be dumbfounded, saying that he had never enjoyed it in his life.
Besides, strictly speaking, Ketron was currently a patient. Since he hadn’t eaten for a few days, it seemed like it would be good to feed him porridge to avoid putting a burden on his stomach.
Eddie also put the pumpkin porridge in the basket. But it wasn’t a large amount of food, so he also took the abalone innard porridge and beef porridge next to it.
He had to eat a lot to maintain that body, and Eddie knew better than anyone how terrible Ketron’s diet had been lately, so the amount of porridge he put in gradually increased.
The small basket was finally full.
It seems like the food I packed to feed Ketron is heavier than the ingredients I was trying to get.
Oh well, men can still grow even after they turn twenty, so he’s just a baby in his growing season.
Eddie, who didn’t even think that the baby was bigger than him, left the convenience store with a light step.
Behind him, the items were automatically refilled as naturally as the items that had been taken out.