Chapter 123.1: Banquet of The Beasts
◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki
「A~h♪ The great Gypseal♪ It’s the golden land managed by the majestic lion♪ Its radiance shall illuminate the world forever♪」
Adorable cat girls were dancing in the center of the hall. The golden ornaments on their attire created rhythmic sounds as they spun in accordance to the tune.
The goat beastmen were playing the musical instruments and flute happily.「Well then everyone, you may enjoy the feast to your heart’s content.」
The moment Sekhmetra, the queen, announced the start of the banquet and raised her glass of ale, the beastmen Gods all cheered. The sphinx court ladies, on the other hand, were busy giving directions to the catgirl maids; the dishes and liquor were being carried in one after another.
Before me was a lot of liquor and meat dishes.
The cook, baboon-like apeman, cut a whole roasted ox, and delivered it to the high ranking beast Gods first. The other dishes consisted of shoulder meat stew, bone rib pig cutlets covered in breadcrumbs and fried in vegetable oil, salted grilled mutton, venison roast, vegetable and chicken soup, chicken teriyaki with fish sauce, and many other dishes. They were all lined up on the table.
「It’s a truly sumptuous feast, Chiyuki.」
Even Reiji, who sat beside me, couldn’t help but to exclaim in surprise.
「Yeah… you’re right.」I agreed with him, it was a sumptuous feast indeed.
Which reminds me, this was the first time for us to participate in a divine race banquet. Though Rena held a banquet for us every once in a while in her temple, it wasn’t as sumptuous as this.
Nevertheless, they were by no means inferior in quality. They even prepared vegetables, but then, the ratio compared to the meat dishes were insignificant, maybe because the lion queen was the promoter of this banquet.
The beast gods ate the meat dish with gusto, then washed the grease and meat juice in their mouths with liquor before moving onto another meat dish.
They might develop gout if they eat meat like that everyday.[Gout: a disease in which defective metabolism of uric acid causes arthritis, especially in the smaller bones of the feet, deposition of chalkstones, and episodes of acute pain.]
Not that I’ve ever heard something like gout exist in this world though.
Well I guess I had to enjoy the dishes too.
When I tried the grilled beef with honey and fish sauce, I felt the warm taste spread inside my mouth.
In this world, mutton was the widely available meat while beef was rather rare.
The reason being that oxes were mainly used for farming. The available beef was from the old oxes that were already unable to work. Naturally, the beef taken from these kinds of oxes was tough, and not tasty at all. And yet, the beef I ate right now was so tender, and really delicious.
Just as I had expected, the divine race used oxes that were raised to be eaten.
I ended up eating the beef with gusto, feeling really satisfied with the dish.
The other meat dishes might be equally delicious.
I scanned at the variety of the meat dishes before me.
Despite my initial worry, they didn’t seem to serve human meat.
I heard that they ate humans in the past.
But, once upon a time in the past, queen Sekhmetra changed that particular policy after she drank the red ale made by a human, who was taught by her future husband back then, God Heibos. It seems she concluded that it was such a waste to eat the one who had the wisdom and creativity to create such a wonderful and tasty beverage.
Ever since then Sekhmetra never ate any creature with enough intelligence to create something again.
The same goes for the sphinxes, her kin.
It seems the myth about being eaten by the sphinxes if you couldn’t solve their puzzle originated from this story.
「Fufufu, how about trying the liquor now?」
Suddenly, someone came to our side.
「Bruhl-san?」
It’s the Goddess of Scorpions, Bruhl.
「Just call me Bruhl, and I’ll call you Chiyuki. But still, have you seen Ishtar? She’s supposed to be with you guys, right?」
「Ishtar went to the princess’ palace.」
Just as Reiji had said, Ishtar seems to have been taken by Nel, Sekhmetra’s daughter, right before the start of the banquet.
For some unknown reason.
「Princess Nel? How rare of her. But whatever. Allow me to greet you properly this time, Hero of Light Reiji and Black hHaired sage Chiyuki. My name is Bruhl. My apologies for my previous statement, I personally have no problems with giving you guys my poison, but, our leader who wanted to borrow your hand to take back the pyramid didn’t allow me to do so. Please understand that she also has her own priorities as the queen of this land.」
And just as I had expected, Bruhl had already been aware of Sekhmetra’s plan.
「It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we can just leave you guys in peril when you’re facing such troubles too.」
「I see, then allow me to express my gratitude.」
Said Bruhl with a relieved look on her face.
「Nevertheless, can you tell me more about the liquor in this place? Honestly I’m really troubled since there are too many different kinds. Which one should I start with?」
Reiji spoke to her while pointing at the line up of liquor before us.
He was right, there was not only an abundance of food, they served a lot of liquor as well.
Honestly it was confusing since there were too many of them.
The queen of lions, Sekhmetra, seems to love liquor.
I heard she went as far as importing all kinds of liquor from all over the world aside from the one made in Gypseal.
By the way, most kinds of beverages are ale. In fact, even the catchphrase when entering a bar in this world was “Toriaezu ale!”.
But, as the central production of wheat, Gypseal had a rich variety of tasty ale.
Thus, I wanted to try the other liquor.
The ones I’m most interested in right now are the palm based liquor, mead, and wine.
「Of course, then allow me to tell you my preferences.」
After saying that, Bruhl said something to the catfolk attendants.
The catfolk attendants left for a while and then returned later with three crystal cups with pale golden liquid in them.
「Hee, this is the first time I see this kind of liquor. Can you tell me about it?」
「This liquor is made from a mix of sweet and sour fruit juice, nectar reed, and a bit of water of life from wine. Since I loved it, I named it “Scorpion”. Please try it first.」
Bruhl explained her favorite liquor to us.
Nectar reed was another name for sugarcane in this world. Naturally since sugarcane existed, sugar also existed in this world. And what she meant by water of life was distilled liquor.
Moreover, since this liquor was a literal mix, this might be the cocktail version of this world.
Reiji and I accepted the crystal cup and tried the cocktail.
「Ah, it’s so delicious.」
One sip of the liquor was enough for a gentle sweetness to spread slowly in my mouth, this was the kind of liquor that would be loved by women.
「Yeah, this is delicious indeed, thanks for telling us about this delicious liquor, Bruhl.」
Bruhl’s face flushed lightly after Reiji thanked her.
Just as expected, she is weak against a good looking guy like Reiji.
「Nevertheless, we’re really glad that you guys came to this place. Honestly speaking, sending the God of War, Isdes, and the prince alone to fight is an extremely risky attempt.」
Bruhl looked at Reiji while holding the cup of cocktail in her hand.
「Since the other male Gods aren’t that much reliable either, your visit to this land is a blessing in disguise. Truly like a Hero. And a good looking man on top of that. Look, the Goddesses and attendants in this place have been eyeing you since a while ago.」
Come to think of it, I did realize that the women in this place had been looking at Reiji since a while ago.
Just like Bruhl, it seems they were waiting for a chance to speak with Reiji.
「I couldn’t say this when we were in front of the prince a while ago, but, Ishtar seems to be aiming for you too.」
Bruhl added so while shaking her head.
「Is something the matter with me, Bruhl-dono?」
Suddenly, someone called us from the side.
Speak of the devil.
The one who came was Harsesh.
Following behind him was his kin, the falcon headed birdman and the sphinxes, his concubines.
「Oh prince? Well, it’s nothing.」
Bruhl was visibly flustered when Harsesh came to our place.
As expected, it seems the son couldn’t just sit back and watch as his mother aimed for a man other than his father.
「Is something the matter, Your Highness?」
Reiji asked Harsesh with a teasing tone..
「Hum, my business isn’t with you. This Harsesh came for you.」
Harsesh stood in front of me as he spoke.
「Eh? Me?」
「I’m truly delighted to be able to see you again, Princess.」
Harsesh smiled gently as he spoke to me.
「N-Nay. I mean, calling me princess is a bit too…」
I felt my cheeks warm up upon hearing Harsesh calling me a princess.
