Chapter 37
“Huff! Huff!”
“You’re incredible, young master. Truly, your skill feels beyond Rank 4.”
“For someone saying that…! You look way too fine yourself…!”
He grumbled between ragged breaths.
Priyana smiled lightly, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.
“Not at all. I did sweat a little too, after all.”
“Ha! Sure you did.”
Yeah, rank difference really was unfair.
When it came to swordsmanship alone, I could confidently say I was superior.
But a real fight isn’t just about sword skills—it’s about putting everything you’ve got on the line.
No idiot would ever think, ‘He’s lower rank, so I’ll fight without aura.’
Except for the rare sparring session where we agreed not to use aura, both Priyana and I usually fought with our full strength.
And as expected, the lower-ranked me lost every time.
‘Hurts my pride a little, but still… where else would I ever get to spar with someone like Priyana, who actually became my vassal?’
I didn’t know for how long, but for now, Priyana had joined the Count of Impera’s household as a sworn retainer.
Naturally, the news reached Aemon’s ears soon enough.
After all, Priyana had once fought as a champion for none other than their family’s enemy, Count Vener.
When Aemon first heard it, he was absolutely stunned.
“What—what did you say? That Priyana? Wasn’t she working for Count Vener?”
“She’ll be working for our house from now on. I’ve already received her oath of loyalty.”
“Hooh…”
Honestly, if she’d been just some mediocre knight, Aemon wouldn’t have even considered it.
But we were talking about a rare monster who’d surpassed the second wall.
If this had been the old days, he never would’ve allowed it—but luckily, he let bygones be bygones and accepted her.
Rejecting a Rank 5 knight who wanted to serve you would’ve been the dumbest move imaginable.
“If someone like her’s willing to lend us her strength, I’m grateful… but our house can’t really afford her salary, can we?”
“It’s fine. She said she’ll work unpaid for the time being—just feed and house her.”
“Hah! Truly?”
At the mention of “unpaid,” Aemon seemed to forget every grudge he ever held.
He asked, as always, where I’d even met such people, and I gave my usual answer.
“She’s just a drinking buddy.”
Since I’d already recruited a dwarven craftsman the same way, he just shrugged it off.
“Every time I spar with you, young master,” Priyana said again, “I feel it—you’re truly unlike anyone else.”
“Unlike?”
“This may sound presumptuous, but your swordsmanship… it feels foreign. I graduated from a knight academy, so I thought I knew the styles from all over the continent—but I suppose I was a frog in a well.”
“Hmm.”
“And your skill doesn’t even match your rank—it’s far beyond it. I’m honestly amazed.”
“Well, it’s a big world out there.”
“Indeed.”
I brushed off her words like it was nothing, though inside, I was a little impressed.
‘Maybe it’s because of her higher rank—she’s perceptive.’
In this world, it was simple truth:
The more skilled you were, the higher your sword rank rose.
Same as in my old world—train your muscles, get stronger.
I only had this edge because of my experience from that world.
Getting trapped in someone else’s body? That kind of thing doesn’t just happen in real life.
‘…Well, not usually.’
And of course, the iron law of this world—
A lower rank can never defeat a higher rank.
At least, until the protagonist, Dia, shows up and shatters that rule completely.
Because Dia was…
“Young master!”
Lost in thought, I snapped back to reality at Ilene’s bright voice.
She came running over, holding a large straw basket that smelled sweet and inviting—like something you’d take on a picnic.
Finally.
The product that might not only fill our hungry bellies but could also become the new source of income for the Beggar Count’s territory!
“Hehehe…”
“…?”
As I grinned mischievously, Priyana gave me a puzzled look.
Ilene, rushing over, stopped mid-motion just before pulling off the cloth covering the basket.
“Oh? The knight is here too?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… then…”
She hesitated, then leaned toward me and whispered in my ear.
“What should we do, young master?”
“Relax. She’s sworn loyalty to me. Right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… If you say so, young master. …But!”
“…But?”
“This is something you and I worked really hard on! So we can’t just go around telling anyone, okay?”
Ilene raised her finger to her lips in a cute “shh” gesture.
She still didn’t quite trust Priyana—probably because of her past with Count Vener.
Priyana could only nod awkwardly, clearly curious about what was inside the basket.
And who wouldn’t be? After all that sword training, we were starving—and the smell alone was torture.
“Yes, well… understood.”
“Then… ta-da!”
Ilene finally lifted the cloth, and the sweet aroma flooded the air.
“Mmm. Nicely done.”
“Hehe, I worked hard since morning!”
Inside the basket were small beer mugs, each layered with colorful ingredients.
“This is…?”
Priyana frowned at the unfamiliar sight.
At the bottom was red Redfin fruit, then a layer of white cream.
Those two layers repeated several times, and on top was a drizzle of syrup made from blue Bluefin berries, glowing faintly.
‘I’ve only ever seen them in comics, but… yeah, something like this.’
Ever since I first saw Bluefin, I’d been thinking hard.
I could barely afford to eat, but we couldn’t just consume all the produce we got each week.
So I thought—why not turn it into proper food to sell?
But that came with a problem.
I couldn’t just go, “Ah, this is called a cake. Eat too much and you’ll get fat,” because cakes already existed here.
If I made something too familiar, it wouldn’t sell. Too foreign, and people wouldn’t buy it either.
So I settled on a middle ground—something like a parfait, made only with local ingredients.
It wasn’t hard to make: just layer fruit and cream alternately.
‘That one guy in the comment section used to post recipes all the time. I remembered a few.’
Of course, compared to a proper parfait, this one had plenty of flaws—but visually, it was good enough to make you hungry.
‘The real ones use ice cream too, but… that’s pricey.’
Freezers in this world were rare and expensive, so ice cream was basically a luxury dessert.
I even thought of using Islin as a cooling agent, but for now, it was just an idea.
“Wanna try it?”
“Yes! Here!”
Ilene quickly handed me a beer mug filled to the brim.
We didn’t have any proper glassware, so it looked a bit crude—but desserts are half visual anyway. I decided we’d serve them properly once we started selling.
“Well then…”
I scooped up a spoonful of Bluefin syrup and cream and took a bite.
Sweet cream mixing with even sweeter syrup—of course it was delicious.
That one spoonful alone made all the trouble of getting Bluefin worth it.
Redfin fruit was sweet too, but its fragrant tang blended perfectly with the syrup, creating a deeper flavor.
I’d even sprinkled in cookie crumbs for some crunch.
By the time my spoon scraped the bottom, I’d already devoured it clean.
“Whew. Sweet.”
“R-really? Too sweet?”
“That’s the point.”
“Right? Hehe! I thought so too! It’s sweet, but somehow you just keep eating it!”
“Heh. Better than the nutrition paste, right?”
“Hehe… that stuff and I don’t really get along.”
If it suited Ilene’s taste, it’d probably suit anyone’s.
A few more test batches, then we could start selling.
Sure, most people here were poor, but there were always rich folks somewhere.
Once word spread, people from other towns might come just to taste it.
Humans can’t resist delicious things—it’s in our nature.
“…Ahem!”
Just as the parfait’s first tasting seemed a success, someone cleared their throat nearby.
Not hard to guess who—it was only the three of us here.
‘Priyana?’
It was her, of course.
For a second, I thought she might scold me for slacking off from sword training, but her expression said otherwise.
“Do you… need something?”
“Ah, no. It’s just… I feel a bit thirsty.”
“Oh! There’s water right here!”
Ilene, oblivious as ever, handed her a cup of water.
“…Hmm.”
Priyana took it, then sighed softly, clearly unsatisfied.
“You said you were thirsty. Why not drink it?”
“Ah… right.”
She downed the cold water quickly—but it obviously wasn’t what she’d been craving.
Watching her like that was… oddly funny and awkward at the same time.
‘Was she always like this?’
I hadn’t pegged her as the type to drool over food, but thinking back, the novel had mentioned she ate a lot once or twice.
‘Right, there was that celebration scene where she ate several portions by herself.’
I’d assumed it was just because she was a knight commander and burned lots of calories.
Maybe it was both—she liked food and needed it.
“Want one?”
She’d worked hard training with me, so being stingy over a single dessert felt wrong.
Luckily, Ilene had made a few extra.
“W-would that be alright?”
“A loyal vassal asks for one—of course I’ll share.”
“Ahem. Then, since it’s a gift from the young master, I’ll accept it gratefully.”
And before I could change my mind, she grabbed a parfait.
“Mmm!”
Her eyes widened in shock at the first spoonful.
Within moments, her spoon was moving nonstop until she’d emptied the cup completely.
Judging by her reaction, if other people’s tastes were anything like hers, we had a hit on our hands.
“Amazing! The smooth, sweet cream, the chewy bits of bread—simply divine!”
“Looks that way.”
No one eats bad food with that face.
“How did you even come up with this? Remarkable!”
“R-really?”
Ilene blushed, embarrassed but clearly pleased by the praise.
I just stood there, unsure whether to laugh or sigh.
“May I have another?”
In the end, Priyana even polished off the remaining parfaits from the basket—and insisted Ilene take one herself.
For someone I’d once thought was the model of a disciplined knight, this was almost embarrassing to watch.
“…Sure. Eat up.”
