She Becomes The Hero In Another World 25 She Knows Potatoes

She had been a part of several re-enactments of Macbeth within castle walls. But, still, that didn't mean that she couldn't admire the architechture and the view. As opposed to centuries old castles, where the very stones themselves seemed weathered and pitted, the castle itself felt almost brand new in comparison. According to Keith, though, it was at least one millenium old, which was older than could be said of most castles.

Swirling green marble was the floor they stepped on, and the windows opened upon a view of the most fantastic garden she'd ever laid eyes on. There was even a rosebush maze in the center of the garden.

'I wonder how many gardeners have gotten lost in there while tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the flowers?' Robin pondered with a twinkle in her eye, before turning back to listen to Keith ramble on.

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After dragging the entire story out of Christian, and confirming it with the old magician, King Zephron sat back with a sigh.

"What on earth am I going to do with you?" He asked Christian, anger making his voice deepen to a gravely growl.

"Umm...." Christian didn't know, but he wasn't going to start suggesting anything. he just stood there, awkwardly. "Yes, this is all my fault. I am sorry." He hung his head.

"Sorry doesn't even begin to fix the situation! You probably don't know the amount of trouble you and the court magician have created for us all, eh?" King Zephron spat out in frustration.

"Do you even know how this kingdom has been able to remain as stabilized as it is?!"

"Ah, the treaty fifteen years ago, at Feirn." Christian replied.

"And who was it who signed that treaty?" King Zephron asked patiently.

"You did, father." Christian replied.

"With whom?" Zephron pressed.

"...erm....I can't remember, father." Christian began sweating again.

"The most important step forward in history and he doesn't know!" King Zephron shook his head. "I signed that treaty with the current Demon King. It was a treaty promoting non-aggression between Demons and Humans, unless, of course, demons were to intrude upon our territories without permission."

"WHAT!?" Prince Christian exclaimed.

"How could you not know this!?" Zephron roared.

"I...maybe...sort of...fell asleep during history cla.s.s a lot..." Christian admitted.

"Well, now we've got one big problem!" King Zephron explained.

"I'm not sure how long we can keep the news that the Hero has been summoned a secret. All demons know that the Hero was usually summoned to destroy the demon king in the past. If the current demon king thinks that we're going back on the treaty of non-aggression..."

"Then?" Christian gulped.

King Zephron's face was grave. "We might have another demon war on our hands." He answered.

"But, father, surely we can do something about it, right?" Prince Christian asked.

"Can you send the Hero back to where he came from?" King Zephron asked.

Christian turned to the court magician, who shook his head.

"We do know that there is a way for the Hero to return." the old magician said. "But, we don't know what that is, or even where it is."

Christian started to understand that he had made a terrible mistake...

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Meanwhile, Keith's tour had taken him down into the kitchens. It turns out, there were about five different kitchens. The king had his own personal chef, which took up a kitchen. The queen also had her chef, which took up another kitchen. Even Christian had a Personal Chef, which took up another kitchen.

Then the two remaining kitchens were separated between one s.h.i.+ft of workers/knights, and the other s.h.i.+ft of workers/knights. This was to help prevent a lack of security in case of a food poisoning incident.

Keith greeted Christian's chef. "Oy, Ponzu! What are ye up to today?"

Ponzu looked up from his work.

"Oh, Keith! You've been a long time not seen! I'm trying to figure out the best way to cook this foreign vegetable that I found in the market today." He said, showing the strange item on his table.

Robin recognized it right away.

"Isn't that...a potato?" Robin asked.

"Yes. It's filling, but it's much too bland to use just by itself. I wanted to use a dish made solely out of potatoes as a highlight to tonight's dinner."

"You know I don't know anything about these strange foods, Ponzu. I'm from the North. We either eat meat, roots, or snow." Keith replied.

"Um, if it's just about recipes, then I might have a few." Robin said. She had considered a bit about whether what she said would raise some weird flag or not, but she couldn't help herself watch the young man ruin potatoes' potential.

"You know some recipes!?" Ponzu almost leaped over the counter before he realized his appearance wasn't very dignified. "Ahem! I mean, my name is Pons.h.i.+eu. While your mask seems to be quite the accomplishment, you don't seem to be a familiar face around here. You're new, right?"

"Of course I am." Robin replied. "I'm the Hero. I come from far away, which is why I know about these." She picked up a potato and waved it around teasingly. Pons.h.i.+eu's eyes followed the potato before what she said registered in his ears.

"YOU'RE THE HERO?!?" He exclaimed.

"Yep! Now why don't you get a pen and some paper so you can write down the recipes I'm going to give you?" Robin said.

"at once!" Pons.h.i.+eu scrambled away to find the aforementioned items, leaving Robin, Keith, and Gerard standing in the kitchen.

"You really know about these?" Keith asked.

"Not only do I know about them, there is an entire food business built up around using them as a main staple food." Robin replied seriously.

French Fries, hash browns, twice-baked potatoes, home fries, mashed potatoes, potato chips, potato soup, scalloped potatoes: there were plenty of potato recipes out there. The only problem was seeing if the kitchen was stocked with the ingredients they would need.

The recipe that Robin wanted to give the chef right now was one of her personal favorites: melting potatoes. Brown and crispy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside: that was melting potatoes. Although it took about an hour to make it, if you add the preparation time in, these potatoes couldn't be beat!

Robin's growling stomach reminded her that she hadn't had any breakfast that morning.

'Looks like I'll be making a few hash browns as well.' She decided.

"Will this take a long time?" Keith asked.

"Just an hour or so." Robin said. "But since we're here, I can whip us up a quick lunch in the meantime!"

She sliced up a few pieces of bacon, as well as a small loaf of bread and a tomato. She also ripped up a large leaf of lettuce into three pieces. Then she fried the bacon on low heat, while she quickly whipped an egg, some vinegar, mustard, salt, and oil together to make mayonnaise.

When the bacon was finished, she took the pan off the burner, and continued whipping the mayonnaise. When it firmed up, she spread it on the slices of bread, and made the ever-popular BLT. The finis.h.i.+ng touch was when she slammed the knife down upon the three sanwiches, and separated them into two pieces.

"Whoah!" Gerard was impressed. Keith also clapped his hands. The whole ordeal didn't take more than ten minutes to finish. They all enjoyed their mid-day lunch as they waited for Pons.h.i.+eu to return.

"Hmm...I wonder where Ponzu's gone off to?" Robin wondered. "Is finding paper such a hard thing to do?"

Keith grinned wryly. "Well, it usually isn't that hard...unless..." He glanced at the door.

"'Unless' What?" Robin asked.

"Unless he ran into ol' skinflint." Keith replied. "That old bag of bones is in charge of the treasury, and he does a right good job at it. The only thing is, he can't stand seeing people waste the castle goods. So, Pons.h.i.+eu might be in the middle of a scolding right now." Keith replied.

Everyone had forgotten about Prince Christian. As he stood there in front of King Zephron, he didn't even notice when his stomach started demanding food.