Carla made a snide comment.

“You were so late in coming that I thought the wolves had gotten to the lot of you.”

“I apologize for disappointing you. The wolf’s teeth were not dexterous enough, it seems.”

Franz waved his right arm around.

From his elbow down, his arm had been bandaged. Seeing the bandage wound so tightly that one could see the outlines of his muscles, and the stain the shape of a bite on it, it did appear that he had been bitten while fighting with a wolf.

Carla closed her mouth. As detestable as that b*st*rd was, she couldn’t exactly make fun of someone who’d been wounded.

However, Franz apparently had no intentions to conclude this line of conversation there.

As if to show Carla explicitly, he extended his left hand to Anna and spoke.

“As you can see, since my arm is like this…. Miss Anna, would you help me with my meal?”

Pure and lovely gibberish that was clearly asking her to feed him by hand.

The veins in Carla’s neck bulged.

On the other hand, Anna stared at Franz blankly. From earlier on, her brain was so busy worrying about Bertram that it was a mess, so she could not understand what this bloke was going off about.

And so she said whatever came to her mind.

“If you can’t use a spoon, then maybe you should just drink it all up in one go.”

“……excuse me?”

“That’s the correct answer.”

The one who said that was correct was Carla. Gathering nearby plates at once, she held up a ladle as a grin spread on her face.

“I’ll mix it in real well for you.”

In seconds, a bountiful pork soup was placed in front of Franz. Hot foods and cold foods mingled with each other, and it steamed strangely, as if it was from the borders of hell itself.

“Eat up, sir. Put your mouth on it and slurrrp!”

“….”

“Anna, you go prepare the bedding for the soldiers. I’ll clean up after the dinner. Alright, Your Knighthood sir, if you don’t open your mouth wide, you’ll spill.”

“This isn’t a meal!”

Franz gritted his teeth.

Here he was trying to provoke her, only for his stomach to be provoked in return.

He was so lost trying to figure out just where he needed to begin rectifying all this disrespect so that he could get angry, but—

Carla got angry first.

“How could you say this isn’t a meal! We worked so hard to make all this for you when we don’t even have enough for ourselves!”

She then grabbed a spoon and tried the soup herself.

For something that everything was thrown into it, it tasted pretty decent. No matter what, they really had made everything with good ingredients since they were serving noble guests.

As soon as Anna left the restaurant, Carla took a ladleful of its contents and raised it up to Franz’s mouth.

“I’ll help you with your meal. If you want to work at tracking down your guy, you need to fill up that stomach of yours.”

“Wai—eugh! Keh!”

Franz without the ability to use one arm was unable to overpower Carla, who’d gotten used to tough restaurant work.

While Franz was being forced his meal, the soldiers continued consuming their part of dinner silently, and even happily.

When else would they ever be able to watch their superior being bullied? They needed to enjoy it when they could.

Dinner was soon over. The soldiers headed to the sleeping area first. Franz looked down at his shirt, now mottled with foodstuffs, and sighed.

“……Madam. I will acknowledge that I was the first one to act childish, but—”

“One silvre per shirt to launder. If you’d like to entrust it to us, leave it out at the well.”

“We will not be here long enough to need laundry.”

Pulling off his shirt, Franz crumpled it in his hand as he left the restaurant.

Watching him go, Carla murmured to herself.

“Huh, we have the same opinion for once. Scram please, all of you.”

***

The second night in which these noble uninvited guests had appeared, while Franz—who’d just finished washing clothes with his own hands for the first time in his life—and his four soldiers, the six horses, and even Carla was asleep…

“…Sorry, Mom.”

Behind her mom’s back, Anna packed some smoked meat. She was planning to cook it for Bertram.

For some reason, she felt certain that Bertram would be at those ruins.

It was just like how people in famous paintings were always in places that fit them just perfectly.

With a whole pack of food, Anna soon arrived to the ruins in the middle of the mountain and called his name.

“Mr. Bertram, are you there…?”

The moss-covered castle and its leaves did not even allow for an echo. With a strangely anxious heart, Anna took a careful step back—

And bumped against something behind her.

“Miss Anna?”

It was Bertram.

“Mr. Bertram, so you were here after all! Your pursuers are asleep in our restaurant. Have you eaten? Don’t tell me you didn’t eat anything?”

“I’ve had something simple.”

“You didn’t get to eat breakfast, did you?”

“Yes.”

“How about lunch?”

“I ate simply. There were quite a lot of nuts—”

“I knew you’d be like this. Are you a squirrel! Sit here and wait!”

Anna unpacked her things one by one. Bread, mixed nuts, and jam among other menu items appeared, as well as a big chunk of smoked meat.

“Is that not meat you need to use at the restaurant?”

“We need to use it where it’s most urgent. Gosh, really, if I had a mirror with me, I’d love to show it to you. Do you know your face looks half your usual size?”

Looking up at Bertram, who was three times as big as she was, Anna spoke worriedly.

Thanks to that, Bertram could not stop her any longer.

In a matter of moments, a small feast was spread out before them.

Note: Thank you for supporting the novel thus far. Unfortunately, due to staff storage, we have to put this novel on indefinite hiatus. Thank you and please have a wonderful day/evening.