The Black Iron Glory
Divergence

Chapter 96

Divergence

Mary left seventeen days later, not ten. He might have stayed longer, but a messenger arrived on the afternoon of the sixteenth day, calling him back to the capital.

Claude was his chef and laboratory assistant for those seventeen days. In the end they harvested enough leather for seven thick books and 35 empty scrolls. Aside from all the work she did, Maria also taught her how to use various machines in her laboratory as well as drill her on some introductory basics of herbal medicine.

Sometimes Claude sighed to himself, but he knew how blessed it was to be taught by the baroness, so he always tried hard to make it the best meal he could. Her food was a big part of the reason Mary chose to delay her return to the capital. She was as surprised as her talent in medicine as it was for cooking, but not that much. He was still determined to turn her into a chef rather than a pharmacist.

The two spend most of their time burying in books, or working on crocodile skins, but that doesn't stop Claude from learning his fair share of baronesses. He's gluttonous. He thought he should be polite, so he would call him a very enthusiastic gourmet. He thought it was inevitable, given the state of his upbringing. Being a royal princess in all but name, with all the amenities that come with it, she had developed a smooth ceiling. It does not help that, unlike the rest of humanity, food is not a necessity for survival for him. It wasn't his body's fuel that forced him to eat whatever was on hand. Instead, it was a treat, a welcome delicacy that he could have forgotten if not for his liking.

He usually travels with quite an entourage, although he sometimes, like this time, comes without them when he wants to hurry up or avoid attracting unwanted attention. At those times he would send Rodan to the city to bring food from the old tavern. He could have had Pjard make food for him, but his plates were common in the capital, and too many good things were boring. He also considers his people going to the countryside as a kind of meditative retreat, simple, like simple like a princess retreat, so simpler meals are welcomed.

Boring is a word that happens too. He grew up on the best dishes in the kingdom, and while they were delicious, thirty years of them were exhausting. She's half afraid of having dinner with Claude's father. No doubt he would prepare the prepared dishes. He was shocked when he told his son to go out to dinner, and was fascinated by the food he made. None of his plates felt or appeared like anything he had ever seen before. Some of them were on par with the food he ate in the capital, let alone the palace, or so he thought at first, then he started to realize that there was no point even comparing them. It was not that the food was not comparable to the food of the capital; it was a different meal altogether. Being a very enthusiastic gourmet, he could not resist the opportunity to taste something new. She had been determined to maintain her modesty, to stick to the small portion, but, once she bit her first one, she felt her determination pack up and move out of town, and he found himself waving with a big smile on his face. .

One of the most incredible surprises he brought was a plate of vegetables. He didn't know what he was looking for, at first. They did not look like the vegetables he had once eaten. When he asked, he told her it was a 'whiskers' vegetable'. The word was foreign to him. But he thought it must be a variant of grilled meat, related to grilled meat, one of six Freian dishes. The other five are steam, boils, smoke, grills, and the original Aueras cuisine called blends.

Claude then tells her that he learned it from a notebook. He thought he meant magus' diary. Maybe the magus likes to cook. If it was a dish from before autumn, then it wouldn't be surprising if it was just one of the thousands of things lost in the dark ages after.

Claude had no idea what was on his visitors' minds. As far as he was concerned, his food was the epitome of similarity. He only made the most basic and common dishes that he had learned from his mother. He was even more hampered by his father's stiffness. He could not throw away the unwanted parts of the meat or the plants he used for the dishes, he had to find a use for everything, he had to find a use for everything, which meant he had to make dishes that could accommodate the different flavors of those parts.

The limitation was lifted when he started preparing food for the baroness in his residence. Baronesses loved food, and had the money to cover the wastage necessary for its preparation. It was Claude's playground, in that sense, just like the baroness. If he wanted to make a dish that required an obscure or expensive seasoning for the right flavor, he just needed to tell Rodan what he needed and he would find it for him. Claude was as surprised as the butler's ability to find the rarest and most unknown spices here, in the middle of nowhere, also because of his employer's willingness to pay for them.

He had become convinced over the past two weeks and some that the core nature of the baroness was her gluttony. The other, a branch of the former, was his greed for recipes. If he tasted the dishes he liked the most, he always demanded, in a way that was always polite and adamant, the recipe. Fortunately, Claude did not understand the value of his plate and was too happy to give it to him.

Both get along well, except for their arguments about recipes. It was not that Claude was unwilling to give it to him, as he said, that he was too happy to do so, but because of the way he described the amount of each ingredient. He strongly believes in 'guidance with freedom', that his recipe should be the basic guideline that gives chefs a general direction to aim, he said, but it still gives them room to experiment and make the dish themselves. Instead, her mistress wanted the female chefs to make Claude's dishes, get to the grain and fall off, so she was never happy when she checked the recipes.

Another core characteristic of barons is their obsession with herbal medicine. With all the simplicity he could have in everything else, Claude had never known a harsher teacher once the two began herbal medicine lessons.

"There is no room for error in herbal medicine. It could be success, or death," he said.

His other distinctive feature, far behind the two in defining his character, but remarkable in its uniqueness, is his identity as a magus. She tells him one afternoon that she learned magic due to childhood craziness with him. Right now he doesn't care much about that.

Claude could see that, he didn't even know what kind of magi he was. Most of his spells were harmless, clearly chosen for their simple comfort. The only combat spell he knew was Lightning, and it was only because his adoptive brother insisted he learn it that he would have at least one spell to defend himself. For Maria, magic is just a convenience, a tool to make everyday life a little easier.

Claude was thrilled his first magus encounter was with Maria. He doubted there were others who would come with information, or be cooped up in that afternoon's attack that they first encountered. Most importantly for Claude, however, he was only interested in his spells and diary. He was very grateful for his guidance in herbal medicine and his guidance in the making of thick books and scrolls. If anything, he regretted that he did not have a little more interest in the subject, he might be able to learn more from him if that was the case.

He shared enough for Claude to understand the general position on the stairs. He also shows her that she does not have to live in fear as much as being found, or, rather, as long as she is not found, she does not need to live in fear. Most importantly, he had to hide as much information about his abilities as a magus. Not to avoid detection by normal people, but to protect himself against other magi.

He got one tome and five empty scrolls from his concubine once the job was done. He nearly fell down when he held the six items in his hand. One tome, depending on the spell it contained and the quality of the materials and workmanship, could sell for 50 crowns or more. An empty roll is also worth 5 piece crowns. He finally realized why he didn't even dare to buy a crocodile for 45 crowns. He could return it with just one thick book.

At first Maria thought she had to stay for two weeks to complete the crocodile process and make a thick book and scroll. Thanks to Claude, however, he finished in just seven. Even so, he continued to teach the boy.

Claude mastered the basics of inscriptions, the process of inscribing spell formations onto parchments to make scrolls or thick books, just a day before he was summoned back, he said, and he rewarded him with the only war spell inscription on one of his scrolls.

The spell was not so powerful, nor did it have any real range, but the side effects of its paralysis were very useful. Maria wanted it to be one of Claude's seven initial spells, but its formation was too complex, so it had to wait for him to prepare for a second hexagram.

Claude realized, a day or two before the departure of his mistress, that she would be his class teacher, or he treated her like that, at least. She turned into an attentive pupil – read sponge – who stared at her with big eyes and shone all day. That realization also explains why her mistress has had a strange smile on her face the past few days, such as being staring at a puppy or toddler. He sought even more earnest efforts to please her; and he was sure she would wag her tail at her praise if she had.

All things must come to an end, however, and the end of their two weeks together is brought by the messenger from the capital. It was time for her sister-in-law, on her sibling's side, to give birth, and she had to return to take care of her. Even though he wanted to stay, the family came first, so he packed up and prepared to leave.

He had Claude prepare and join him for their last dinner together, and officially told the Siori couple that the boy was now in charge of guarding the forest. He also gave the boy keys to his lab and permission to use his tools and materials when he was not around.

Claude thanked him for his kindness. He did not have to worry about being found within his forest and being able to practice his magic openly.

On Maria's side, he just wanted her to keep working hard. She showed potential, sad that she cared more about herbal medicine than cooking, which she still firmly believed was her true calling.

She handed him a piece of paper during their final farewell, an address written on it.

"There are no magic black markets in the three prefectures, but they operate small stores for the purchase and sale of various materials here" he pointed to a piece of paper. "–If you need anything, visit this address.

His eyes widened when he saw the address. A shop had just opened there, and the employer wasn't there yet.

He slipped the paper into his pocket and handed it to him an envelope with instructions not to open it until he was on the street. In it he had written everything that he, or rather, Landes, knew about the Hand, Decomposition, and Reconstruction Magus, as well as their formation diagrams, as well as the temptation that if he carved four spells, he would have, he could create an array that was right his own.

Claude noticed the horse running off into the distance, the carriage behind him, with his mistress and his butler's head inside.