第８２６堀：胃袋を握る (Part1)
### Chapter 826: Capturing the Stomach
**Side: Agil**
Well, I’ve been pulled away from my duties maintaining the ship’s armaments and am now sitting in the conference room.
“““……”””
I wondered what this was about, but it seems the folks from the Sea-Cypho Kingdom have requested a parley.
*Sigh.* Given my position, I suppose I can’t exactly refuse to attend.
...I might not look like it, but I am a diplomat for Enaria. Though, I suspect the people on the other side just see me as a little girl.
In that sense, it actually makes it easier for me to gather information, so I suppose it’s fine.
However, I must say, it’s a pity they’ve managed to pull themselves together faster than I’d anticipated.
Thanks to that, my time for tinkering with weapons has been cut short.
Just as I was thinking this, Yuki entered the room with Kirue and the others, carrying trays of food.
Oh, that’s right—it’s already past lunchtime.
I’d been so busy doing various things since boarding the aircraft carrier that it had completely slipped my mind.
“If you’d like, why not start with a meal? You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”
“W-well. Then, I shall partake.”
As expected of Yuki.
Even though the food is already set before them, it’s hard to say no.
In fact, the power dynamic has already shifted.
Prime Minister Aquamarine realizes this, which is precisely why he couldn’t refuse Yuki’s invitation to dine.
He knows he can’t afford to sour the mood of the man who leads Weed.
Ah, I see.
So the Sea-Cypho delegation has clearly recognized the power of Yuki—or rather, the power of Weed.
And by offering them a meal, Yuki has effectively confirmed their realization.
His methods are as ruthless as ever.
And then, to top it off, he’ll stun them with the quality of the food.
I’m starting to feel sorry for the Sea-Cypho delegation.
They likely came in thinking they could look down on us and end the meeting with a simple refusal, only to find themselves forced to keep bowing their heads.
Well, I suppose there’s the slim possibility they might choose the idiotic path of picking a fight with Weed, but the odds of that are quite low.
With that, the dishes were laid out before everyone, and we began a late lunch.
As for today’s menu…
“It’s curry!”
“It’s curry! And it’s hamburger curry at that. It’s invincible!”
Yes, it’s my favorite: curry.
It seems Aslin and the others are fond of it as well, as they began digging into the curry before them, devouring it with gusto.
Man, seeing others eat so happily naturally makes my own cheeks soften.
And as I eat my own curry, I feel the same. It looks like beef curry today.
It’s been simmered well, resulting in a delicious, tender finish.
It occurred to me that by eating this, Aslin and I are effectively proving that the curry is safe to consume.
Ah, am I overthinking it?
I thought so, but the Sea-Cypho delegates, who had been frozen in place before the unfamiliar dish, eventually reached out with trepidation and took a tentative bite.
It really was effective.
I mean, it’s hard to say, “We’re too scared to eat this,” when small children are happily devouring it right in front of you.
And their reaction after that first bite?
“““!?”””
They all wore identical expressions of shock, then began to shovel the curry into their mouths with vigor, blowing on the hot food as they went.
It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Encountering an unknown flavor and discovering it’s delicious.
I had worried whether it would suit the palates of people from this country, but that concern was clearly unfounded.
And, as they say, a delicious meal possesses a magical power to draw people together…
“Y-Yuki-sama. This food… you called it ‘curry,’ did you not?”
“Yes. Did it suit your palate?”
“It was magnificent! It is crafted from a marvelous combination of spices; despite the heat, the umami overflows from within.”
“Is it true that you and your people are in a position to eat this at all times?”
“Indeed. We can eat it whenever we wish, for the time being. Though, it does depend on the supply from the source.”
“The source… Ah, come to think of it, I heard Weed trades with other nations. Does that mean these spices are a specialty of your trading partners?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
I wonder how he can say that with such a straight face.
The origin of these curry spices is Yuki himself, who had seeds brought over from his own world and asked various nations to try cultivating them.
He made deals with them to buy the produce if they could successfully grow it.
Seeing it as a money-making tree—and a way to enjoy delicious food—every nation is scrambling to find a way to mass-produce them based on the seedlings they received.
Especially pepper.
The true source is Yuki. Well, since he is technically giving credit to the other nations, his answer isn’t exactly a lie, and since he doesn’t assume the supply from the dungeon will last forever, it’s a pragmatic approach.
But there is no need to reveal that backstory here.
He likely answered that way to see how Sea-Cypho would interpret the information.
“...To think that you use spices obtained through trade that we have never even seen before… Weed truly must exist in a very distant land.”
“That is correct. As you have likely heard from General Lake beforehand, we were accidentally summoned here during the trouble between Haiden and Findal, and that is how we arrived at this point.”
“““……”””
At Yuki’s reply, the Sea-Cypho delegation finally seemed to recognize that everything they had heard until now was the truth.
Well, having such a stark difference in power demonstrated to them, they must have felt in their bones that Weed had no reason to lie.
Because of that, Prime Minister Aquamarine opened his mouth, his face stiffening.
“Tell me, Yuki-sama… why is it that you are lending a hand to the problems of our Sea-Cypho Kingdom?”
He’s gotten to the heart of the matter.
For me, that’s much better than beating around the bush, but from the perspective of the Sea-Cypho Kingdom, they must be trembling, wondering what ulterior motives might be lurking beneath the surface.
To that, Yuki replied…
“Because I wanted to avoid a situation where the Sea-Cypho Kingdom loses its maritime industry, seeks land in the interior, and triggers a war.”
He stated the reason honestly.
There are no hidden agendas.
For Yuki, for us, and for the Intercontinental Exchange Alliance, we truly have had enough of such conflicts, which is why we went out of our way to come here.
Well, it’s true that that isn’t the *only* reason, but everything he said is the truth.
However, they weren’t about to be convinced by such a simple explanation…
“To avoid conflict, you say? However, if one were to look at it from the other side, that would mean you now have a reason to invade the Sea-Cypho Kingdom should something go wrong… Do you not desire more territory?”
“Unfortunately, we lack the manpower to maintain a country even if we were to take one. More importantly, if the Sea-Cypho Kingdom were to fall or descend into chaos, Haiden and Findal—whom we have helped—would also be caught in the fallout and suffer. That would render all our efforts to help them meaningless.”
This is a misunderstanding born from not knowing Weed’s position in detail.
Territory only has meaning if you can govern it; land you cannot rule is nothing more than a nuisance.
Well, I doubt there’s anything Yuki and his people *couldn’t* do, but it would certainly require unnecessary manpower.