Chapter 67
Before the main course went out, I recalculated.
The basic course price, the surcharge for the companions’ special proposals, and the cost of incorporating the four accompaniments.
And the remaining option—wine.
I stirred the sauce in the pan and said to Elysia,
“My lady.”
“Yes?”
“It would be good to recommend wine pairings about now.”
Elysia paused for a moment.
“Lilia can’t drink.”
“Then the male leads can drink.”
“Male leads?”
“Your companions.”
Elysia gave me a strange look.
“You casually use strange words sometimes.”
“It’s kitchen slang.”
“It’s not.”
Busted.
I quickly changed the subject.
“We can give Lady Lilia something other than alcohol. Grape juice or a fruit drink, for example. But recommend a different wine to each of her companions to pair with the flavor each of them proposed. Don’t have them share one bottle—give them four different bottles.”
Elysia’s eyes lit up very slowly.
“Four bottles instead of one.”
“Yes.”
“You want me to recommend that naturally?”
“Since each of them said what flavor they wanted to add for Lady Lilia, tell them that choosing a wine to go with that flavor will make the meal more complete. Leave the choice up to the guests.”
“In the end, if they don’t choose one, it’ll look as though they aren’t willing to take responsibility for the flavor they proposed for Lilia all the way.”
“My lady, you’ve learned very well.”
“I learned from you.”
We had reached the point where neither of us could tell whether we were praising or accusing each other.
After checking that the grape juice was ready, Elysia went back to the drawing room.
Perhaps because she had known in advance that Lilia couldn’t drink, she said she had already chilled grape juice separately.
She said she wouldn’t fleece her friend, and she really was being considerate.
She just had no mercy for the men around that friend.
I watched the drawing room through a gap in the kitchen door.
Lilia still looked a little flustered, but she seemed comfortable with Elysia.
The four men all wore expressions of strangely eager anticipation about how their proposals would be reflected in the main course.
Elysia said gently,
“While the main course is being prepared, I’d like to make one more suggestion to your companions. You each just proposed a flavor that would suit Lilia, didn’t you? There’s a way to pair each one with a different wine so that the flavor can shine even more. Of course, Lilia can’t handle alcohol well, so I’ll give her grape juice I prepared separately.”
Lilia blinked.
“Elysia, you remembered that?”
“Of course. Even at the academy, you drank one glass of wine, turned bright red, and laughed for an hour.”
Lilia laughed shyly.
The mood among the four men shifted strangely again at that laugh.
The young noble spoke first.
“In that case, what sort of wine would go with my wine sauce?”
Elysia answered as if she had been waiting for him to ask.
“A delicate red would be best. If the aroma is too strong, it might overwhelm Lilia. But it shouldn’t be too light, either; it should also complement the game bird in the main course.”
The northern knight’s second son cut in immediately.
“Then the game-meat sauce would need a heavier wine.”
“That’s right. A weighty red would suit a sauce with northern flavors. But Lilia is the focus of today’s main course, so we shouldn’t make it too harsh.”
The young mage lightly set down his fork and said,
“For an accompaniment treated with magical herbs, the changes in its aroma will be important. Then the wine should be one whose fragrance opens in stages.”
“As it happens, we have a bottle like that.”
Elysia smiled very naturally.
“It’s a little expensive, but its aroma rises slowly.”
The merchant heir spoke last with a smile.
“As the one who proposed southern fruit and spices, I’d lose face if I chose an ordinary wine. Something bright and aromatic, please.”
“Then I’ll recommend an aromatic southern white. Its fruitiness is lively, so Lilia will enjoy it even just by smelling it. Of course, you’ll be the one drinking it.”
Lilia burst out laughing.
“You don’t all have to go overboard because of me.”
Those words were extremely dangerous.
At this table, saying they didn’t have to go overboard effectively meant giving them a chance to do exactly that.
Especially those men—they were the sort of creatures who couldn’t say they wouldn’t go overboard in front of Lilia.
In the end, all four men ordered wine.
Four different bottles.
I briefly closed my eyes when I heard the news in the kitchen.
Touching.
Marie asked while briefly washing her hands,
“Did you sell them?”
“Four bottles.”
“Expensive ones?”
“Expensive ones.”
Marie’s eyes glittered.
“Can we add meat to the staff meal today?”
“We can.”
“Really?”
“Not only that. I’m giving everyone in the kitchen a cash bonus today.”
For a moment, the kitchen stopped.
Thomas stopped grilling the meat, and Nina looked up halfway through wiping a plate.
Ria and Baron looked at each other, while Estelle blinked with her notebook in hand.
Marie was the first to laugh.
“Money!”
At that one word, the entire kitchen laughed.
The tired faces relaxed all at once.
Everyone had been on edge until just now, but the mere announcement that money was coming back to the kitchen brought the atmosphere to life.
That’s how kitchens are.
Praise is nice, honor is nice, and good reactions from customers are nice.
But money is very direct.
I clapped once.
“Laughing is fine, but keep your hands moving. If we sell those four expensive bottles of wine and then serve the main course late, we’re idiots.”
“Yes!”
The reply was more energetic than usual.
Money is an excellent conductor’s baton.
I arranged the main course.
In the center, I placed the gently cooked young game bird.
I kept the basic sauce light and warm to suit Lilia.
I arranged the four men’s proposals beside it like small accompaniments.
A delicate wine sauce, a rich sauce infused with the flavor of game meat, a magical-herb fragrance Estelle had worked on, and a bright accompaniment made by reducing southern fruit and spices.
Competition had been placed on a single plate.
But on the surface, it looked like consideration for Lilia.
I nodded as I looked at the plate.
“Good.”
Marie asked,
“Bad, but good?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s been a lot of that lately.”
“That’s how business is.”
The main course went out.
Lilia was speechless for a moment when she saw the plate.
“All of this…”
Elysia explained gently,
“Each of your companions proposed a flavor they thought you might like. Kyle incorporated them into one plate without making it too overwhelming. The centerpiece is the game bird, prepared so you can eat it comfortably.”
Lilia looked at the men with a moved expression.
“Thank you, everyone.”
The four men’s expressions changed simultaneously.
They had spent money and received a reward.
And that reward was Lilia’s words of thanks.
We could fleece them even more at this point.
Lilia drank the grape juice Elysia had prepared.
It was a deep purple juice in a transparent glass.
She took a sip and smiled.
“It’s delicious. This is something I can really drink.”
Elysia looked a little proud.
“It would be troublesome if I gave you alcohol and you caused another scene like that time.”
“Forget that ever happened.”
“I can’t forget. You were so cute.”
The two friends laughed together.
Beside them, the four men each received their own wine.
The cold-looking young noble checked the wine’s aroma while watching Lilia’s reaction. The northern knight’s second son took a sip of the weighty red and quietly nodded.
The young mage tasted his wine in silence for a moment, while the merchant heir smiled naturally as he drank the southern white.
They all paid.
One bottle each, and expensive ones at that.
I watched them from the kitchen and calculated once again.
Today’s meal revenue was already excellent.
The basic course, the special-proposal surcharge, the cost of incorporating the four accompaniments, and four bottles of wine.
Even with Elysia treating Lilia to her share, we weren’t taking a loss.
If anything, that decision had softened the mood and opened the men’s wallets even wider.
Their concern for their friend and their business sense had moved in the same direction.
It was a frighteningly beautiful structure.
Marie came over beside me and said quietly,
“Kyle, do you think those people will come again?”
“Probably.”
“Then can we sell four bottles of wine again next time?”
I looked toward the drawing room.
Lilia was smiling.
The four men wore expressions that seemed determined not to miss that smile.
I nodded.
“Highly likely.”
Marie smiled with great satisfaction.
“They’re good customers.”
“Yeah.”
I checked the sauce again and said,
“They’re very good customers.”
Just then, Estelle quietly asked with her notebook in hand,
“Then is the bonus for successfully selling the wine, or for successfully increasing the total course charges?”
“Both.”
“May I record that?”
“Why are you recording that?”
“The correlation between kitchen morale and the compensation structure is interesting.”
Marie looked at Estelle and said,
“Mage, you can just write that getting paid makes us feel good.”
Estelle nodded seriously.
“That phrasing is clearer.”
‘What a crazy graduate student.’
The kitchen loosened up with laughter once again.
But no one’s hands stopped moving.
The main course had gone out, and only dessert remained.
A fruit dessert that wouldn’t overwhelm Lilia, and a magical-cooking dessert with optional additions for the men.
There was still room to fleece them.