The Seirei Gensouki Spirit Chronicles
Chapter 3

yuba orders, assigning Ruri to give a warm welcome to the visitors. Ruri has a smart and friendly personality, so she is perfect for the job. Yuba should also stay with the visitors, who naturally left the cuisine for Rio and Sayo.

Rio returned to the kitchen to continue cooking, and turned to Sayo. “Sorry it helped you a lot, Sayo. Is Shin okay for food today?” he asked with a guilty look.

“Iya. My brother's having dinner at Dola and Ume's tonight. It happens quite often when important visitors come, so please don't let it bother you,” Sayo said happily, shaking her head.

“Did something good happen?” Rio asked about Sayo's good mood.

“Hah? Why are you asking? ”

“Just you look happy.” Sayo tilted her head in confusion for a moment before she realized.

“... Ah,” she grinned shyly, before hesitatingly asking Rio: “.... Is that obvious?”

“Iya.” Rio nodded, making Sayo blush.

“Umm, it's confidential.”

“So ... Then I won't dig any further.” Rio's lips pulled upwards in a bright smile. As long as Sayo was happy, she was happy.

.

“...Good.” A conflicted expression flickered on Sayo's face for a moment, but she nodded in agreement.

“I'm sure everyone is hungry now, so let's hurry with the preparations.” Sayo nodded at Rio's suggestion.

“Good. But ... I kind of want to take the time to enjoy cooking together, too,” murmured slowly. Rio was already gone, so half of his sentence did not reach him.

◇◇◇

Less than an hour later, all the cooking was done, and the table was set for dinner.

“It's an amazing meal. I didn't expect to be treated for your precious meat supply. It must be exhausting to prepare enough for this many people. My sincere thanks.” Hayate's eyes widened as he looked at all the dishes on the table.

As a tax officer traveling through many different villages, he had been treated to a lot of food in the house of each village chief, but they rarely served meat as generously as this. All his servants buzzed happily as well.

“Rio is a very accomplished hunter. He is quite multi-talented, and has been very helpful in our village.” Ruri praised Rio with pride.

“Oh? So Master Rio not only prepared the food, but also hunted the meat? While my party can hunt, when it comes to cooking, the most we can do is grill meat and prepare a simple campfire meal. Being able to do all this as a young man is the most impressive.”

Hayate praised Rio with admiration alongside Ruri. “The campfire” he spoke of was the food supplies they used during their field operations.

“I traveled alone for some time, so I got the skill naturally. I was in charge of the main dish, but Sayo made all the other side dishes. Please eat before they cool down,” Rio said, staring at Sayo, encouraging all the male attendants to get excited.

“Ooh, women's cuisine!” Sayo looked embarrassed. Rio smiled wryly, and Hayate scolded his maid in embarrassment.

“Silent, all of you. Now, we'll eat soon. I'm so grateful for your incredible hospitality.” Hayate cleared his throat and sat up straight. Yuba took that as a sign.

“Then, let's eat,” he said, and everyone started eating.

“If I want to ask, Mr Rio, what kind of meat dish is this? I can say it's some kind of poultry meat, but I'm not used to the smell. The aroma was most tantalizing, I must say,” Hayate asked, after taking a piece of meat between his chopsticks and bringing it to his nose to smell the scent.

“This recipe is one that I obtained during my trip abroad, by roasting meat with spices. A rather unique aroma is the hallmark of the recipe, but the main ingredient is the Lenou bird. ”

“I understand ... Bird of Lenou, hm? Ah, this is indeed ... how should I put this .. delicious! ”

.

Hayate swallowed his saliva and placed the piece of meat in his mouth. As soon as he bites, the juicy taste of meat – with very free seasoning – explodes in his mouth, making his eyes widen. Seeing his reaction, the adjutants grabbed the roasted meat in a hurry, groaning in unison because of the delicious taste on their tongues. They ate their rice with it.

“How do you create an amazing taste?” Hayate asked with interest.

“The main spices are salt and pepper, but I also use some special herbs and oils that are not native to this area for flavor. The secret ingredient is a little honey,” explained Rio.

“Ooh, you use pepper? Very valuable material ... Is it really okay to use all these materials that are not native to our kingdom? ” Hayate responded in surprise with a tone of regret.

“It's okay. There's no point holding on to it forever. I decided to use it when I heard there was an important guest visiting the village. ”

Salt was harvested in certain temperate kingdoms in both Yagumo and Strahl regions, so although it was expensive, it was not impossible to obtain. While Rio had all the materials he wanted stored in the Time-Space Cache, he wasn't stupid enough to openly reveal it, so he made a lie suitable for the situation.

Yeah, that's not the only reason. If he could use this opportunity to get the attention of their guests, it might be beneficial for the village if something were to happen in the future. It seemed that everything went exactly as Rio planned, as Hayate seemed to revise his evaluation of Rio in a positive way.

“Umm, is pepper an expensive material?” Ruri asked, still doubtful about the value of the item.

“Well, this is not a big deal in the area where it is produced, but it is not cheap to buy in our kingdom. The last time I saw it in the capital market, it cost ten times the price of salt,” Hayate replied thoughtfully.

“Hah?!”

“Fweh ?!”

Ruri and Sayo's eyes widened in shock. While Yuba did not make a sound, his eyes were also wide-eyed. Rio had used pepper on his plate for Yuba and Ruri a few times before, but he had never revealed the value of the seasoning. It was not the kind of item that the villagers were interested in for their entire lives, so it was only natural that Ruri and the others were unaware of its value.

“Rio, do you use something expensive on us all the time?! You should have said it!” Ruri shouted in shock.

“... Erm, didn't I say pepper is much less than salt?”

“K-You may have mentioned that, but you never said it was so expensive! Ugh .. ”

“Umm, I bought it in one of the production areas, so it's not that expensive.”

.

“I said there's no point holding it forever, right? Don't worry about it, really. Come on, let's have dinner before it gets cold.” Rio shook his head with a wry smile.

So they sat down and continued eating. Finally, a typical drink of the village was served, turning the scene into a lively commotion. By the time Rio and Sayo prepared an additional side dish for the drink, the male waiter was already flushed with liquor.

“You will all feel it tomorrow if you drink too much now,” said Hayate, their boss, while

sigh.

“Haha – we know, Sir Hayate,” the aides replied with a tense laugh. Currently, the conversation was split between Yuba and the male officers in one group, and Rio, Ruri, Sayo, and Hayate in the other group.

“Are you not going to have a single cup, Mr Hayate?” Rio asked.

“Not that I don't want to, it's just because I tried to refrain from drinking while being out of work,” Hayate replied calmly.

“I understand,” Rio replied with admiration.

“In addition to Ruri and Sayo, why don't you drink, Mr Rio? No need to hold back just because we are here.” Hayate asked the same question to Rio.

.

“I have a daily workout I have to do after this, so I practice restraint for today.”

“Oh, so you learn some forms of martial arts. I've guessed as much from the way you held back. ”

“Iya. But it's just a hobby. ”

“Ha ha ha. No need to be humble about it. You have traveled all over the world at that age

very young – I'm sure you have enough skills. Can you tell me some stories from your trip? I rarely have the chance to leave the kingdom and travel alone to another place,” Hayate said with a gentle laugh.

“This may not be too interesting for you,” Rio warned him earlier, nodding.

Hayate went ahead and began to question Rio about his journey. Ruri and Sayo listened carefully to most, occasionally interrupting with their own questions for Rio. She answers their questions with as much as she can comfortably express; finally, they ask about her parents' hometown, which she names Karasuki Kingdom.

“So, your parents were born in this country. Then, it is possible that you were named after the person who appeared in the legend of our kingdom.” Hayate nodded in understanding.

“Aah, you mean the legend of Ryuo the Hero? It must bring back memories. My father used to tell me about it,” Ruri said with nostalgia, the story in question immediately came to my mind.

“Is that a famous story?” Rio tilted his head and asked Sayo, who was sitting next to him.

.

“Iya. All the villagers heard it when they were children ” Sayo nodded.

“What kind of legend is that?”

“Let me see. If I remember correctly ..” Hayate began to tell the story.

Sometime, more than a thousand years ago (before the Karasuki kingdom had been formed), evil creatures ran rampant across the country, threatening the livelihoods of the people. They destroyed the land, leaving a trail of death and great despair behind them. It was then that the hero, who people later called Ryuo, appeared.

Ryuo was a strong, kind, and extraordinary person. He was able to single-handedly face and defeat the evil creatures that were helpless against the people back then. He shared food with anyone on the verge of starving to death, and would heal anyone's severe injuries in the blink of an eye. It is said that he also taught spirit arts to people in the Yagumo region, when there were hardly any users at all.

People from all over flocked to this land to rely on Ryuo. They

placing him on a pedestal as their hero, and it was only a matter of time before a new kingdom was established around them.However, Ryuo was only one person, and there was a limit to what he could do on his own.

No matter how many evil creatures he defeated, they continued to appear out of nowhere. At the same time, a surge of poor citizens who heard the rumors came calling,

seeking safety. Even so, Ryuo continued to fight without rest, and continued to act as a savior without pause. He continued to work without rest. Because he was so strong and so good, he himself remained the perfect hero to the people. No matter how great the suffering, Ryuo maintains a completely perfect image of the hero.

One day, Ryuo declares that he has found a place where evil creatures appear. The plan was to immediately head there to eliminate them, but no one else was able to stand up and fight by his side. So, accompanied only by one traveling companion, Ryuo goes to the origin of the evil creatures, leaving the people behind to await his arrival. That's when tragedy happened.

While Ryou is away, a horde of evil creatures ambush humans with full force. Those who faced the evil creatures did so with their troops, but without Ryuo fighting alongside them, their death count only continued to rise even higher. By the time Ryuo returned, the lands were completely destroyed by the war that broke out in his absence. Ryuo used his powerful strength to exterminate the advancing evil beings in an instant, but once the war was over, someone spoke up.

Wh why?

Why didn't you come to save us sooner?

Why did you leave us here to die?

Although Ryuo apologized for his late arrival, others insisted: 'Read more:

The dead will not return.

The dead will not rest in peace just because you apologized.

Of course, it's not like we haven't had any casualties until now …

However, there had never been a single battle that caused this much death, and the hopes of the people had been betrayed. Dissatisfaction that increased during the war among the people grew as a collective mass, and exploded all at once .

While there were some people within the crowd who were trying to appease the others, there was no way for the voices of some people to reach the rioting crowd.

Ryuo did not fulfill his duty as a hero – people saw him guilty of that sin – but he bowed his head in front of them and received their criticism at a very low price. As a result, Ryuo declares himself unfit for the title of king, and abandons himself from the throne. The new dynasty began shortly after the – predecessors of the current Karasuki Kingdom.

Life continued peacefully from then on, without any further attacks from the evil creatures. After a long period of time passed without conflict, the people finally realized that Ryuo had destroyed the origin of the evil creature, just as he said it would happen.

Thus, people began to ponder loudly in memory. Where is Ryuo at the moment? they wondered, but at that moment, Ryuo had already disappeared from the ground.

Splice...