The Wild Men's Club And Boiled Edamame

This was a corner of the castle.

Gathered here were the individuals who currently held power (?) in Sunity.

“Did you manage to come without anyone noticing?”

Confirming this was Gungrave, commander of the Gungrave Mercenary Band and currently the supreme power holder in Sunity.

“Of course. I erased my presence, erased my tracks, and came here.”

Guarding the surroundings was Teg, commander of the mercenary band’s archer unit and a master scout.

“Me too. I came here under the pretense of practice. The alibi is foolproof. I gave the vice-captain thorough instructions.”

Putting relentless effort into establishing an alibi was Kuuga, commander of the infantry unit, the highest combat asset of the mercenary band, and a master swordsman.

“…For now, I managed to bring my work to a pause.”

Handling his tasks without overtime so as not to affect tomorrow was Gings Sunity, nominally the feudal lord of Sunity and behind the scenes Gungrave’s military assistant.

“I secured, well, the supplies, I guess.”

In charge of securing the provisions was Garn, a former intelligence officer currently in training on the kitchen staff.

“Well, me too, I suppose?”

Following along with him was Adora, currently an apprentice on the kitchen staff.

“Everyone, thank you for waiting. Here is the item in question.”

In charge of cooking the target item was me, Shuri.

“Hey, I really can’t keep up with this vibe, though?”

“Ah! Gings took away the ladder!”

“Traitor!”

“Please calm down.”

Everyone was exuding bloodlust toward the calm Gings-san, but—

“Today is a men’s meeting, or rather, a Men’s Club, after all.”

That’s right, today was a drinking party for men only.

Hi, it’s Shuri.

During the daytime, after bringing the negotiations to a draw, Gungrave-san secretly proposed having a banquet with just the men.

I wondered why, but…

Well, there was no reason to refuse, so I had Garn-san and Adora-san secure the snacks and booze, and I did the cooking.

“Still, a men’s meeting, huh…”

“How wretched we are…”

Ah, black shadows appeared over Teg-san and Gings-san?!

“That’s true, among us, Gungrave is the only one who has a wife, or rather a woman, after all. He’s even got the wedding ahead of him.”

“Kuuga-san. With those looks of yours, aren’t you popular with the women in town and at the castle?”

“Traitor!”

“Punishment for the traitor!”

“I-It’s a misunderstanding! It’s a misunderstanding!”

Let’s leave those guys alone. The darkness of Teg-san and Gings-san doesn’t look like it can be wiped away.

“Don’t make a racket in such a dim, cramped room…”

Garn-san was downing booze with an exasperated look on his face.

Wait a minute, you. You’re an alcoholic, aren’t you?

“Here, confiscated.”

“Ah?! It’s alcohol after such a long time, it’s fine, isn’t it?!”

“You ruined your health with alcohol, didn’t you?”

I took the booze away and spoke. This guy leaves no room for guard.

Incidentally, this was a corner of the castle. We rented out a single guest room and were having a drinking party with just men.

It used to be used as a guest room… or rather, an empty room named a guest room that no one used, so Gungrave-san said, “Let’s do it here!” and brought it up.

“Garn-san is a no-go, but… everyone else, suppress the black aura, suppress it. Look, let’s talk nonsense to distract ourselves, okay?”

Setting the prepared snacks and booze on the floor, I sat down with a heave-ho.

Sitting directly on the ground wasn’t very familiar in this world, but this time a carpet was laid out on the floor.

Sitting on a chair and drinking politely just wasn’t our style.

“That’s true. This time it’s a men-only nonsense meeting, after all.”

Adora-san spoke while drinking booze.

“Taking this opportunity, let’s deepen the fellowship among men, is the idea.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right, Adora-san. Me, Garn-san, and Adora-san know each other from being on the same kitchen staff, but we haven’t had many opportunities to get to know the other captains, and we haven’t been able to take the time to become friendly.

So let’s get friendly while talking nonsense here.”

“Well… I was thoroughly beaten to a pulp by that swordsman over there, though…”

A black aura over Adora-san too?!

Somehow, I felt the air in this place was turning into something pitch black.

Teg-san and Gings-san, who had no women in their lives.

Kuuga-san, who had too many women in his life and made too many enemies.

Garn-san, who was nervous because he couldn’t drink alcohol.

Adora-san, who felt down about drinking alcohol with the opponent who defeated him.

Huh? Isn’t this black air completely uncontrollable?

What should I do about this?

“You guys, leave it at that.”

At that moment, a solemn voice echoed.

“Whether there are women in your life, whether it’s an opponent who defeated you in the past, or whether you can’t drink alcohol, it has nothing to do with this place.”

That voice filled the room like light illuminating a path clouded in darkness until now.

“Right now, simply, honoring the comrade next to you. That is what’s important.”

Ah, what words. It felt like everything we had been fighting over until now was ridiculous.

“Now, let’s drink. Let’s enjoy this time.”

Raising his cup, Gungrave-san declared.

“But Gungrave-san, you have a wife, you hold power, you have a wedding ahead of you, and you’re fulfilled, aren’t you?”

“The greatest enemy!”

“This traitor!”

“You’re so fulfilled it makes me envious, damn it!”

“With what mouth are you spouting that!”

“S-Stop, you guys stop!”

Ah, how ruthless. Gungrave-san was being mauled by everyone.

I drank booze and ate snacks while spectating. Yep, delicious. Well-made.

It seemed everyone had calmed down after kicking Gungrave-san, and each sat on the floor drinking booze. Incidentally, for Garn-san, I prepared fruit juice instead of booze. It wasn’t Nornels, though.

“Shuri… I’ll hold a grudge against you…”

I felt like I could hear Gungrave-san’s grudge-filled voice, but it was probably just my imagination.

“By the way, these snacks for the booze are quite good.”

Teg-san was drinking booze while eating the prepared snacks.

“It’s edamame, right. In the past, I used to eat them a lot at taverns.”

“That’s right. But this one is even better.”

It was well received by Teg-san and Kuuga-san. Good, good.

What I prepared was edamame. Boiled edamame.

A classic snack that goes great with booze.

“That’s right. I was particular about everything from choosing the edamame to how to boil them.”

“In a normal tavern, they just boil a large quantity and serve it, after all. And they even peel the pod and boil just the beans.”

“I thought that was normal too.”

Garn-san and Adora-san also popped the beans out one by one and tossed them into their mouths.

“The key points in choosing edamame are that the beans are firmly packed and have fresh, just-picked juiciness.

Also, when boiling, 4 percent relative to the water… I’ll explain this later.

And as preparation, slightly trim off the tips of the edamame connected to the stems. Doing this improves the water circulation so the salty flavor sticks firmly.”

“I see… so that’s why it has this flavor.”

The revived Gungrave-san had also put beans into his mouth.

“The booze goes down easily, Gungrave.”

“Yeah, completely. Even edamame changes this much depending on the skill of the person cooking it.”

“With the best snack that makes booze go down easily, I can’t drink alcohol, can I…”

Somehow a black aura seemed ready to revive over Garn-san, but let’s pass over it here. If I get too involved, the black aura, the negative waves, will infect me.

“Now then, snacks are fine, but shall we talk some nonsense?”

“Yeah. Then let’s start with women-related topics.”

“Gungrave-san. Do you intend to revive the darkness? Do you want to be kicked that much?”

“No, no. Nonsense talk like what kind of woman is your type, or that woman is nice, that kind of thing.”

Ah, I see. So that’s what it is.

“Then starting from Gungrave-san.”

“Hey, if I talk about women other than Arius here and put a crack in our martial bond, what do you intend to do?

Do you think a man before marriage would bring up names other than his companion?”

“Oh, so you’re saying no matter what, Arius-san is the best?”

“Whew, bragging about love!”

“As expected of a husband.”

“Well, even from my eyes, Arius is a beauty. …Though her chest is, well.”

“Did you say something?”

“Nothing at all.”

Gings-san turned his gaze away to cover it up, but probably everyone except Gungrave-san was thinking it.

Because every single male except Gungrave-san turned their gaze away slightly.

Flat-ch… no, it’s nothing.

“Then Gings. How about you?”

“M-Me?”

“That’s right. I’m curious about how Gings is.”

“…Will you listen without laughing?”

Gings-san’s face flushed red.

Eh? What is it? Are you a maiden?

“I… like Princess Tebis.”

Schwing. The air…

Time stopped.

“…I see.”

“Gungrave-san. Um, you see…”

“If it’s in the form of an engagement to form an alliance, it’s safe, right.”

“I see, even I didn’t think of that.”

“It’s okay?!”

Huh? Isn’t that Gings-san being a loli…

“Shuri… even at around ten years old, political engagements or alliance engagements are normal.”

…

“Rather, I’m curious what you were thinking.”

“Corrupted, no, festering, your way of thinking.”

“Our chef is a pervert. A closet pervert.”

“Ah—ah—! I’m sorry!”

Modern Japanese thinking didn’t apply!

“Shuri… as expected, I don’t like ten-year-old girls themselves as my type. It means I like Princess Tebis’s intelligence and brightness.”

“I’m sorry. I was corrupted.”

Ah, when put that way, Princess Tebis is like a younger sister figure while possessing the disposition of an older wife—an irresistible character for those who like younger women, I see.

I see… when looking at female preferences, it’s not just age.

“Then, next with Teg-san.”

“Eh?! In what flow did it come to me?!”

“Just because.”

Manipulating this flow is kind of fun.

“Oh well, my preference, huh… I guess I like Ecres-san.”

“I take it you’re picking a total fight with me.”

“Wait, Garn. This is a talk about preferences, not reality—”

“Are you saying my little sister lacks charm!”

“Are you saying my older sister lacks charm!”

“Hey, someone do something about these runaway sister-complex brothers.”

Ah, Teg-san is pitiable too.

“Garn-san, Gings-san. Right now it’s a talk about female preferences. Ecres-san is charming, but here it means Teg-san likes women who are boyish, combining boyish vivacity with a woman’s frailty.”

“Th-That’s right! It’s just as Shuri says!”

Teg-san agreed with a face as if he had found his own intent.

I see, Teg-san has a boyish preference, huh.

In terms of modern Japan, you could say he likes a healthy, sun-tanned woman with short hair belonging to the track and field club. And he probably likes the feeling where she presses a cold juice against the back of a junior practicing the high jump until the sunset illuminates the athletic field, encouraging him with full energy, saying “Do your best, junior!”

“What’s this, Teg is somewhat unusual, isn’t he?”

“Hmph, how about Kuuga then?”

“Me? Me… let’s see. Princess Tebis’s aide, Utin, was it? That type is my preference.”

“Kuuga, you have your pick of the crop, don’t you!”

“Snatched away our encounters, and yet you harbor feelings for a dignified beauty right in front of you!”

“Um—, I’ll say it many times, but this is a talk about female preferences—. Adora-san, Garn-san, don’t release the darkness—.”

I have to drive the point home…

Otherwise the darkness will spread.

“So, what part of Utin-san attracts Kuuga-san?”

“Let’s see. Did you notice? That woman is an intelligence officer or something.”

“What?”

The one who reacted to that was Gungrave-san.

His face was red from the booze, but he was dead serious.

“Is that true, Kuuga?”

“No mistake. Her behavior, how Princess Tebis treats Utin, and even when Shuri approached, she felt danger, shifted her center of gravity just a tiny bit, and entered a stance where she could attack.”

“Ehh?! Was I at risk of being killed if handled poorly?!”

“Even if not killed, you would have been subdued. Because Princess Tebis stopped her, it seemed like nothing happened, though.”

“Kuuga. Even I couldn’t pick up that presence.”

“Teg, yours is the eye of looking at the opponent as a scout. Mine is a warrior’s or… vaguely feeling a ‘guy who does it.’

But Utin, even with the presence of a guy who does it considerably, was good at hiding it. Just a tiny bit, really only noticeable if concentrating, so at first I thought she was an intelligence officer. Then, with what I just said, I was convinced.”

“I see… come to think of it, I’ve heard about it too.”

Garn-san put his hand to his chin and spoke.

“I was active as an intelligence officer too, so I heard a fair amount regarding other countries’ intelligence officers. Among them, regarding the intelligence officer serving Princess Tebis, not much information came in. But I knew a young girl was constantly by Princess Tebis’s side as a liaison. So Utin is that person, huh.”

“I see… this requires caution.”

With Gungrave-san’s single word, everyone nodded with serious faces.

Yep, I’ll cut in during a serious conversation, but… is it okay?

“So, what does it mean that such an Utin-san is your preference?”

“Hm? Ah, that’s right. With her, you could entrust your back, right?”

“Hey, Kuuga. Stop talking with a combat brain.”

“Well, outside of that too. Her slightly blunt face and dignified atmosphere—if you made her fall for you, she seems like she’d act sweet only in front of me, right? I think that would be irresistible.”

Ah—, I might somewhat understand.

In terms of modern Japanese moe, it’s what you call a kuudere, right?

Usually expressionless acting as the class representative, but when walking home together, she leans her body against you a bit, turning her face away, but when you peek, she’s smiling with a slightly red face. When seen with that face, she gets embarrassed and becomes expressionless, but she doesn’t stop leaning her body.

What is this, it seems totally possible for Kuuga-san, which is excessively frustrating.

“I see, Kuuga-san likes kuudere, doesn’t he?”

“Huh? Kuudere?”

“Just think of it as someone who is usually calm, but only in front of you, though her expression doesn’t change, acts sweet like a cat.”

“Yes, yes, that kind of person!”

What is this, hearing up to here, everyone’s female preferences are quite deep in karma…

No, is it moe?

“How about Adora-san and Garn-san?”

“Right now, I don’t have the room to think about such things. As an apprentice on the kitchen staff, there’s a mountain of things to memorize. Transferring from a soldier to the kitchen staff is tough, you know?”

“Me too. Well, I’ll think about it after seeing my younger brother and sister in their finest moments.”

These two are the work-priority type, huh.

There are women among the kitchen staff too, so maybe I’ll subtly match them up. Remaining single for life would probably rank number one among bad things in this world, after all.

“Now then, the main topic, right.”

“The main topic, right.”

“The main topic, yeah.”

“The main topic.”

“The main topic, huh.”

“It comes to the main topic.”

Hm? Everyone’s gazes are focused on me?

“Now, Shuri has been carrying the flow up to here, but…”

“That’s right. Somehow the way he carried it was natural, so we were swept along. Which woman is Shuri’s preference?”

“Me?”

Me, huh… when told that, it’s tough to answer.

Everyone has eyes full of curiosity, though…

“It’s been a year and a half of desperately cooking on the verge of life or death until now, after all. I had no time for romance or leeway to find a partner.”

“That’s true. But isn’t it about time you found a partner?”

Kuuga-san had a worried face. While drinking booze, though.

“If I hear correctly, Shuri is already over twenty, right?”

“Yes. I completely lost that sense, but I’m twenty-one. In a few months, I’ll be twenty-two.”

“Ha?! You’re older than me?!”

“You look considerably young for your age… I completely thought you were around fourteen.”

Gings-san and Garn-san were surprised, but… I don’t look that young for my age.

Come to think of it, Japanese people who go abroad reportedly get surprised by their age most of the time. Apparently they look young or child-like no matter what.

“Well, Shuri is at an age where age is age. Shouldn’t you get married and make a family?”

“Hmm…”

“That’s right. Even I can tell. You’ve passed the suitable marriage age.”

“That much?”

“Normally, if you get married, it’s around sixteen to eighteen, after all.”

“I see.”

When told that, it is so, but…

If I get married and make a family, it feels like I really won’t be able to return to my original world anymore.

I had made up my mind to continue being on the kitchen staff with this mercenary band, but… when confronting that issue, I waver.

The possibility of not returning is larger, after all…

It’s just a lingering attachment, though.

“Shuri, do you have a family or lover left behind on the continent outside the Outer Ocean?”

Teg-san asked with a worried face.

“No, that’s…”

“What does that mean, Teg? What talk is that?”

“Gungrave, Shuri is an outsider. He comes from outside this continent.”

“What?!”

Somehow everyone was surprised. Eh? What?

“I see, so you were an outsider. No wonder I thought you possessed unknown cooking and knowledge. Shuri, is that why you don’t think about engaging in romance?”

Gungrave-san also asked with a face half curiosity and half worry.

“No, I don’t have a lover. I’m a man whose age equals the duration of not having a girlfriend, after all.”

“Then, family?”

“Hmm… I don’t know if my family is still alive, either.”

I thought about it around a year ago, but the flow of time in this world and the flow of time on Earth aren’t necessarily the same.

Whether it’s just a few minutes over there, or whether hundreds of years have passed, I don’t even know.

So, as for returning itself, I’ve given up.

The only thing still smoldering is because there’s lingering attachment.

“In any case, I have resolved to live here.”

“I see… you had a tough time too.”

The toughest time was when you, Gungrave-san, made me cook a life-or-death cream stew.

What was that about “if it’s not delicious, I’ll kill you”?

“If that’s the case, all the more reason you should make a lover, right? If you’ve resolved to live here, whether a presence to protect your back, a person you want to protect, or a family. In any case, leave proof of having lived. Not by leaving it on the battlefield like us… right?”

Heavy. Kuuga-san’s single word was heavy.

Certainly… if I disappear as I am, what will happen?

Proof of having lived, as Kuuga-san says.

I… don’t have it.

The dishes I left behind and such, those are culture, not me.

I see…

“That’s right. Proof of having lived, or a lover, I think I’ll go about making them.”

“That’s good.”

With a chuckle, Kuuga-san smiled and put edamame into his mouth.

“So, to consult on a matter, how about Rir?”

Eh?

“Kuuga-san. Rir-san is—”

“No, rather than a lover or family. I think that gal can’t live without your hamburgers, though.”

“I can’t refute that.”

Hmm, come to think of it, Rir-san is quite a beauty too.

Her outer appearance, that is.

The outside is…

“Shuri, your face has become bitter.”

“Because, with the impression until now, she’s the arch-enemy of the kitchen staff who puts her effort into wasting beef, you know?”

“And from there?”

“There isn’t any.”

Where did you learn that transition, Teg-san?

“But… certainly, I think Rir-san is cute, though.”

That part is a fact, after all.

“Ecres-san is also a beauty, but… she’s too beautiful and hard to approach. Just having such a beauty near me gives me the terror that some scary guy will come from somewhere and drag me into a back alley.”

“I don’t know if your imagination is stout or humble.”

“Princess Tebis is… a beautiful girl, but her age…”

“It’s not ‘do romance right now.’ Waiting a few years is also an option, right?”

“Hmm, at that time I’ll be in my late twenties or thirties, you know?”

“Never mind then.”

The more I’m told, the less I know…

“Well, I’ll find one gradually.”

“That should be fine.

Alright, nonsense talk part two. I’ve prepared cards here. Let’s gamble!!”

““““Ohhh!!””””

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’ll step out.”

I excused myself and stood up.

“Why?”

“Garn-san. Actually, I was requested by Arius-san to make snacks for tonight.”

“What?”

“They said they’re having a women’s club. They said add snacks whenever I get free hands.”

“Seriously?”

That’s right, actually when Gungrave-san planned the men’s club, Arius-san also planned a women’s club.

At that time, I gave boiled edamame to Arius-san’s side first.

“Well, I’ll be going for a bit.”

Leaving the room, I walked aiming for the kitchen.

What I thought about in the meantime was the matter of making a lover that was mentioned.

“A lover, huh… hmmm, the partner, though…”

Now then, what shall I do, I wonder…