Van

GIANT CHUNKS OF MEAT SIZZLED ATOP MESH AS they cooked to perfection. This was a grand old barbecue, Seatoh’s regular big event. The aroma of cooked meat tickled the nose, causing countless mouths to water. Normally we’d have bread, some sort of pasta, salad, and fruits lined up on tables as well, but this time around there was a large, heavily decorated cake instead. Sugar was especially expensive in this world, so the only cake was the one sitting in front of me.

Why? Because it was my birthday, of course.

Till smiled even wider than me when I looked at the wedding-cake-sized monstrosity. It was actually a sponge cake loaded with cream. This was an extremely uncommon baked good in this world, so uncommon that it might’ve actually been the only one in existence. That spoke to how much trouble Till had gone through to make this happen.

Why all the trouble? Because I didn’t exactly remember the baking process in detail. I told her that it required mixing eggs, sugar, butter, milk, and some kind of white powder, then baking the end result. Till took that information and spent a month experimenting before arriving at the base form of the sponge cake. I also told her that frosting could be made using butter or milk, but I didn’t have any further directions for her. Somehow, she managed to make that happen as well.

If I hadn’t already been prepared to follow Big Sis Till for the rest of my life, I certainly was now.

“Happy Birthday, my lord! You are officially nine years old!” said the beaming Big Sis Till, expert baker.

I couldn’t help but give her a big smile in return. “Thanks a bunch, Till.”

The villagers, Bell and Rango, and even the adventurers all wished me a happy birthday.

“Thanks, guys.”

After eating a whole bunch of meat and fruits in my VIP seat, I finally had someone cut me a slice of cake. I took a moment to examine the cake’s soft, fluffy profile before opening wide and nomming down. The cream’s smooth mouthfeel! The moist texture of the crumbs! The perfect level of sweetness! Its phenomenal flavors melted in my mouth.

“Delish!” I shouted, prompting someone nearby to turn toward me enthusiastically. That wasn’t surprising; I suspected that most of the people here had never seen a cake before. In this world, cakes were more bread-like. For comparison’s sake, they were similar to pancakes. They were delicious, sure, but they lacked the fluffiness of a sponge cake.

For the record, baked goods were fairly developed in this world, so it wasn’t impossible to find buttery sweets and pastries.

So, context aside, I got to enjoy my first bona fide cake in ages, and it was so good I was almost in tears. Arte watched as I partook, looking intrigued. After all, though she’d essentially been kicked out of her house, she was still a highclass noblewoman; she was more than a little familiar with fancy sweets.

“Um, might I have a small bite?” she asked.

“Oh, sorry! Of course you can. Actually—everyone, let’s eat! This is Till’s masterwork, and it’s super-duper delicious!”

This cake is huge, so why not share? There’ll be plenty left even if everyone grabs some.

Till looked thrilled as she cut slices for everyone who approached. At last, the moment of truth: everyone took a bite of the cake together. There were wide eyes all around, and I started to hear exactly the responses I was hoping for. “Whoa, it’s delicious!”

“It’s so sweet!”

“Amazing!”

“…I see.”

I accidentally caught Till’s eye, and we both grinned. It genuinely felt wonderful to see her hard work acknowledged. Then I noticed she had yet to take a bite. “Wait a sec… Till, why haven’t you eaten any?”

She leaned in close and lowered her voice. In an apologetic tone, she said, “In the month it took me to get this right, I ate cake every single day, so…”

I knew Till well, and in a situation like this, she would normally go with the flow and have some cake. But if she’d been eating it every day, maybe she had heartburn or something. Heck, that sort of thing could make anyone’s stomach feel bad.

Then Till put a hand on her belly and complained, “My weight… It’s getting bad…”

She never spoke about this kind of thing in front of me, so all I could do was nod and grimace. “R-right, yeah. Making cake sure is rough,” I said, attempting to comfort her. There was a time and a place for positivity. The wrong answer here would mean the end of my life.

Just like that, the birthday atmosphere was gone. I ate my cake somberly, every bite heaped with delicious feelings of guilt.

Not long after, Esparda slid in behind me. “Nine at last, Lord Van. Soon, a year will have gone by since you were charged with leading this village. Going forward, I shall put my back into helping you with your studies.”

“Y-you mean you weren’t putting your back into it to begin with? I’ve been drowning in studies every single day!” Shocked, I spun around, only to find Esparda staring down at me with those expressionless eyes of his.

Dee, meanwhile, frowned and shook his head at Esparda’s side. “Esparda, his studies are certainly important. But might pushing him too hard have the opposite effect? Pacing oneself will lead to better studying habits. As such, I believe that half of any given day should be dedicated to the pursuit of swordsmanship, for Lord Van’s future. There are no downsides to learning the way of the blade, you see.”

“No, no, no. All you guys are doing is giving me more work to do! Dee, you’re acting weird!”

I did my best to rally against my stone-faced and muscle-brained tutors. Despite their polar opposite approaches, they were united in going overboard with their harsh teaching styles. They were going to smash me into dust with their absolutes.

On a personal note, I felt I had been working plenty hard. If anything, I thought one of them should propose cutting all of that learning down by half. I tried to resist, glaring at them.

Arte nodded gently, a little wrinkle in her brow. “Indeed. Lord Van knows everything, and he can use the sword as well as any other knight…”

In her own subdued way, she was taking my side, and Till and Khamsin nodded in agreement. But the two demonic ogres shook their heads in unison.

“Regardless of how wise a lord or a king might be, there is no downside to possessing more knowledge,” Esparda said. “For example, when they are faced with some kind of danger, the knowledge of suitable countermeasures will equip them to overcome any obstacle in an appropriate fashion. Lady Arte, let us say you were a citizen of some hypothetical nation. Would you prefer a king with plentiful knowledge and the ability to act fast or a king who lacked knowledge? Which would be the better leader?”

“I-I see… Now that you mention it…”

Esparda’s calm and sensible tone was enough to bring Arte to the dark side. Khamsin panicked and spoke up. “B-but even then, um… Yes, it’s good for the lord to be able to wield a sword, but he would have bodyguards around him, so maybe he doesn’t have to be that strong.”

Khamsin wasn’t particularly good at talking, but he was trying his best to back me up. You’re definitely getting a bonus!

Dee grimaced. “He won’t always have bodyguards by his side. Imagine, for example, if bandits slipped into his bedroom at night. Even without a blade, there are ways for him to physically prevail in such a scenario if he’s learned swordplay. Besides, this kind of training also strengthens the mind. A lord with a strong heart that cannot be swayed versus a lord who is frozen stiff with fear. Which would you prefer to serve, Khamsin?” “Urgh, well… I…” Khamsin faltered and gave up.

Et tu, Khamsin?!

Overcome with an odd sense of sadness, I watched the four of them go back and forth with each other until Till spoke up, looking angry. “Even without knowledge or sword skills, even if he couldn’t do anything in the face of danger,

I would serve Lord Van until the very end, no matter what!”

The four of them turned to her immediately. Arte in particular seemed genuinely moved. “You are so amazing, Till. Once you have decided on a master, you would serve them until the end…”

“Ugh, I’m so stupid!” said Khamsin. “Why didn’t I say I would protect him no matter what, bedroom or no bedroom?” He was maybe focusing on the wrong thing, but clearly Till’s words had moved him.

But Esparda stood strong. “That might be fine for a maid, but as one of his educators, I simply cannot agree.”

Good sir, is your heart made of ice?

“Mmm, in that case, I suppose I must train Khamsin to be the greatest knight in the kingdom.” Dee was all brawn and no brains, so he refused to change his stance even after hearing Till’s impassioned speech. “Except… Hmm, in terms of

Lord Van’s health, at least four hours of training every day might be necessary.”

For my part, Till’s declaration got me thinking. “Well, I don’t want to be some pathetic and helpless lord, so I guess I’ll try a little harder,” I said with a sigh, shooting Till a pained smile.

Her eyes filled with tears. She clasped her hands in front of her chest. “You are a wonder, Lord Van! To choose such a difficult path, and of your own volition!”

“Er, well… Yeah, I guess…” Till seemed moved, but in reality her words had driven me into a corner. It wasn’t like she meant any harm, so I chose not to point that out.

Esparda and Dee’s eyes were shimmering. No, maybe I was just imagining things.

“In that case, let us increase your study time by an hour every day. A perfectly reasonable amount, no?”

“Yes. And two extra hours of bladework.”

“C’mon, don’t fight over it!”

It was always bad when the two of them got all weird and excited, so I had to put an end to this conversation, fast. With a rueful smile, I thought, Though I suppose the only reason I’m good with a sword and know so many things is because they trained and raised me so well. Feels wrong to complain too much…

My feelings must’ve gotten through to Till and Khamsin because they shot me all-too-similar smiles.