SIAW Vol. 2 Chapter 27

Full title: I Became the Strongest in Another World in the Tutorial During My Lifetime.

Note: If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write them in the comment. Thanks.

Translator: Dario

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Chapter  27 - Miss Arlene

Seeing me stupefied because of the crowded dining room, Dorothea hurriedly approached me.

“I am really sorry, Tenma, my boy! I boasted just a little bit to Zanvert about the guinea fowl, and he decided to join us all on his own, and even brought people with him! Please, make my portion smaller if you must, but could you serve some to them too?”

I turned to the table, and Zanvert had an apologetic look on his face.

Honestly, I wish they’d let me know when I was cooking…but there was no point in losing my cool.

“Well…the reason why I am cooking this guinea fowl meal is to thank you, Lady Dorothea, your maids and servants, for how kind you have been to us, to celebrate our partnership, so to speak, and also as a welcome party for Zizi and Pipi. Are our guests aware of this…?”

The new guests, sitting at the table, were probably listening in on our conversation: I could tell some of them shuddered.

“I am sorry, Tenma, I didn’t tell them about these circumstances…”

I sighed.

“Besides, even if I gave you a smaller portion, it would not be possible to have enough for so many people, as you can surely tell. I will have to give everyone else smaller portions too. Did you think about it?”

Zanvert has always been a great help for us, so I could understand him joining, but to give smaller portions to the people I really owed something to because I had to serve people I didn’t even know…felt just wrong.

Dorothea fell silent, so the older maid spoke on her behalf.

“I am grateful for your generosity even to us servants. It is simply natural, however, for us to follow our master’s will. Please, let our honored guests have the portions destined for us.”

Dorothea, however, shook her head.

“That cannot be done! Tenma has kindly cooked for all the people working in this residence, reducing their portions on a whim should not be allowed. This was all caused by my boasting, after all!”

Dorothea then turned to the people sitting at the table and bowed her head.

“It hurts me to say such a thing after you have come all the way here, but could you please leave us for today? Please, accept my deepest apologies for all the trouble!”

Dorothea was really apologizing in earnest.

Zanvert lowered his head too.

“I’m sorry for the trouble, Tenma. I did think it was not proper to show up unannounced, but hearing from Dorothea about the guinea fowl, I felt so envious that…in any case, I understand the circumstances. We will leave for today.” 

After Zanvert finished speaking, however, the older maid shook her head.

“There is no need to fret about us, Lord Zanvert.”

“There is. We do not wish to disrespect Tenma’s feelings. Do accept his gratitude.”

“Milord…”

Seeing that the veteran maid still looked conflicted, the husband of the couple I didn’t know spoke up.

“As Uncle Zanvert said, please do accept the meal. Tenma — may I call you like this? — my name is Albert, I am Aunt Dorothea’s nephew. We heard that there was guinea fowl, and couldn’t resist coming to have some too, without knowing of your circumstances. We are really sorry for the trouble. It was our fault for letting our gluttonous instincts take over: please do not blame Aunt Dorothea more than this.”

Thanks to Appraisal, I already knew that Albert was Ronda’s Lord. He was 36 years old, a young and well-mannered intellectual-type, pretty slim. The things he said were reasonable too.

Honestly, I thought they came to abuse their authority and take away the guinea fowl from the servants. It turned out that wasn’t the case, though. Which meant that the real culprit was…

“I’m afraid that won’t do: Lady Dorothea deserves to be punished. She wanted to boast so much that she ended up losing control of the situation, after all.”

“Agh.”

Dorothea grunted and her bunny ears flopped down.

I took out a rabbit tail from the Item Box and gave it to her.

“As punishment, you have to wear this too.”

Dorothea’s bunny ears perked right up: she was clearly overjoyed.

The gaze of the people around us were very perplexed, to say the least…but I pretended not to notice.

I cleared my throat and tried to wrap things up.

“This is punishment for you, remember. Honestly, if you really tried to abuse your position of authority, I would have left this place right away, and never come back again!”

Dorothea looked relieved.

I cleared my throat again and loudly proclaimed:

“There is no need to worry, everyone! I have made enough food for everyone to enjoy!”

All the people present in the room smiled at my words.

◇　　　◇　　　◇　　　◇

I asked the older maid about the exact number of the servants, then gave her their portions first.

Gazing upon the plates, the maids could barely contain themselves.

They still had their work to do, so they were going to eat in turns.

After that, I served the food for Dorothea’s group and us.

Everyone’s eyes were transfixed on the plates.

To Dorothea, however, I only served salad.

“T-Tenma~! Please don’t bully me~!”

She reacted just as I expected, and I burst out in laughter.

“Haha! Just kidding!”

I served her the other food, and Dorothea smiled wide, as innocently as a child.

So cute…no! She’s sixty! Sixty!!

I repeated the words in my mind, to calm myself down, then turned to the others.

“Well then, everyone, let’s dig in!”

Thus the banquet started.

While eating my share, I looked around the table.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food…Pipi looked especially adorable when eating fried chicken!

“Do you like it, Pipi?”

“I never ate something so delicious!!” (is what I think she said, at least: her mouth was still full)

Look at her, her cheeks stuffed with chicken! Lovely little angel…!!

No one talked much after that: we were all too concentrated on the food.

—

After the meal, we all moved to the guest room.

Everyone was served tea. After a brief moment of relaxation, Dorothea spoke up.

“Tenma, I have never had such food! I knew that guinea fowl was delicious, but there must be more than that to the recipe!”

Zizi seemed to agree too.

“The cooking process alone was surprising at every step, but after tasting it I was even more shocked…! I can’t believe something so delicious exists in this world…I feel like I’m still dreaming…”

Everyone else followed, praising my food to high heavens.

I was listening, feeling proud, when someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around and found a little girl, who seemed to have mustered all her courage to come speak to me.

“M-My name is Arlene, I am Albert’s daughter. I have a favor to ask of you, could you please listen?”

Arlene was an adorable young lady, whose features resembled Dorothea a bit. Her hair was long, fluffy and pink: the perfect picture of a noble family’s daughter. She was probably a bit younger than me.

Her manners and speech were polite, as expected of her upbringing.

“What is it?”

In response, Arlene flushed slightly.

“I’d like to try the same bunny ears Aunt Dorothea is wearing…could you please lend me a pair?”

W-What!? Now this is unexpected!! But dear Arlene, for you papillon-type ears would be the best! Yes, you’re the puppy type!

Feeling more and more excited, I answered her.

“Of course it’s okay. I’m going to make a new pair of ears just for you. Can I bring them next time?”

Arlene’s eyes sparkled.

“You will make a new pair? Just for me!?”

“Yes, I want you to wear the type that fits best, after all.”

Arlene grinned and chuckled, unable to contain her glee, while graciously hiding her mouth with her hands. She then bowed and said “thank you so much”. What perfect manners she had.

Dorothea’s bunny ears were either a joke or punishment, but as an animal ears lover, such opportunities were always welcome.

I was feeling all giddy inside, when Dorothea blurted out something out of left field.

“Oh right! Why not take care of Arlene’s magic training, since you’re at it?”

Lady Dorothea? What sort of foolishness are you on again?

“Unfortunately, that’s not possible. I could not take such a young girl to train into the forest.”

I felt like it was going to get troublesome, so I made up an excuse and tried getting out of it, but Dorothea wouldn’t budge.

“It’s safe enough for Pipi to go, right? What problems could there be?”

Kh…my words came back to bite me.

Dorothea continued on.

“Actually, Arlene has even more talent than me. With you as her mentor, she can become a formidable spellcaster! Your magic pow—gwaah!!”

The Contract Magic effects finally activated, and Dorothea started rolling on the floor.

What took you so long!?!

I ignored Dorothea’s plight and used Appraisal on Arlene.

Her Species Talent was [S], Magic Talent [A], INT too was [A]...furthermore, most of her Magic skills were either [A] or [B]...indeed, as Dorothea said, she had incredible talent!

She was probably raised with the utmost care, as despite her age she was only level 7, which was a great starting point for undergoing my training. Honestly, I was already feeling excited, wondering how she was going to grow.

To take the Lord’s daughter as pupil, however, could easily bring about all sorts of troubles…

As I was considering such things, Dorothea grabbed the edge of the table and pulled herself up.

“Haah…haah…Albert, listen to me!! You have to entrust Arlene to Tenma!!”

“If Aunt Dorothea is so convinced, I have no reason to refuse. To be honest, it sounds safer than to entrust her with you, Auntie. What do you say, Arlene?”

Albert seemed already on board…what about Arlene herself?

“If Aunt Dorothea and Father decided so, I would have no objections!”

Did you consider that I might have objections!?

Despite such internal screams, my desire to train her was making me feel very conflicted.

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