Chapter 20 : Irene has a food she wants to remember

1. “Wow… Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol everywhere I look.”

The house of the carriage maker, Irene, was a mess, as if a cave troll was her cousin.

“It seems like you’ve been going through a tough time for quite a while.”

“Ugh… What on earth happened…”

The sight of bottles rolling around in every corner of the house was definitely unpleasant.

Moreover, the whole house was permeated with the subtle smell of alcohol.

It felt like you could slowly get drunk just by breathing.

“But Purpure… Is this the same situation as last time?”

The carriage maker, Irene, said she was going to change her clothes.

“It’s the same. There’s also a Seven on Irene.”

“Oh… Then, if Purpure just noms on it, the problem will be solved, right?”

“I can’t just eat it right away.”

I didn’t expect the smell of food to be so strong this time, either…

Still, the fact that a Seven appeared was incredibly good news for me.

“I’m really sorry for showing a bad side to a guest… Haa.”

Irene appeared in front of us, who were awkwardly standing and unable to sit, looking neat.

Of course, the smell of alcohol emanating from her whole body was still there.

Still, she had tidied up her clothes very neatly, so her visible image had definitely changed.

“I’m fine.”

“I’m fine too. Everyone gets distressed when something bad happens.”

Irene nodded at Maeve’s kind words.

She looked around for a moment, then slid open a large door and gestured for us to enter.

“Wow… At least there’s a room to welcome guests.”

Maeve admired in a very small voice.

The guest room Irene guided us to was a little small.

But there was a large low table, and cushions to sit on were prepared, so it wasn’t bad.

If I had to find a fault, it would be that the smell of alcohol was strong in this room too.

“First… Haa, I reread the letter of recommendation that old man Rian wrote….”

Irene let out a hot sigh.

It seems like she hasn’t completely sobered up yet.

“I understand that the little demon lord there helped old lady Mae… But I’m curious as to why you’re asking about the food I want to eat.”

“Ah, that’s… Our Purpure has a strange power.”

“Purpure can see the Seven that grows by eating people’s desires.”

Irene frowned slightly.

Well, it would be unpleasant to hear that a monster is half-parasitic on your body.

“If you get rid of that Seven, Irene’s problem will be solved.”

“I don’t know what problem you think I have… Haa.”

Irene let out a painful breath and pressed her forehead with her right hand.

“Damn it… I’m getting irritated without realizing it because of the alcohol…”

“I’m fine.”

“If you’re too tired, we can come tomorrow.”

Contrary to expectations, Irene shook her head from side to side.

“No… It’ll be the same tomorrow. My problem is different from old lady Mae’s.”

I naturally stared at the blue desire clinging to Irene’s shoulder.

The guy was still a huge, squishy water droplet.

It was sleeping soundly, just like the black desire! But it was riding on Irene’s shoulder and had its face trapped inside the water droplet.

“Eating food… won’t solve this kind of problem…”

“I-It might be unpleasant, but could you tell us what the problem is?”

At Maeve’s direct question, Irene let out a long sigh.

“I can’t make carriages like I used to… I can’t hold tools in my hands.”

“Ah, ahhh…”

“I don’t have any inspiration… My body moves on its own, contrary to my will.”

Irene was in a lot of pain, but it was a simple story for me.

“If old lady Mae was deprived of her desire and vitality by the Seven for a long time, Irene is being deprived of her genius and passion.”

“…So, if I get rid of that Seven, the problem will be solved?”

“The Seven is only a result.”

Did Irene understand my words?

She suffered for a long time, then let out a long, hot breath.

“Yeah… Since you helped old lady Mae, I should cooperate as much as possible.”

“It’ll be a good thing for each other. Irene will solve her problem? And we’ll get a carriage!”

Irene laughed, showing a smirk for the first time.

“It seems like the Hero is only interested in the carriage.”

“Ah, no! That’s! What are you saying!? As, as a celebration for solving the problem, one…”

Maeve’s ‘Solvenusian’ problem was already written in the letter of recommendation.

So Irene nodded, laughing once more without saying a word about money.

“Yeah… If you can solve my problem, a carriage is nothing…”

“Then tell Purpure quickly what you want to eat!”

Unlike with old lady Mae, she’s in her right mind, so the answer will come out quickly!

“The food… I want to eat…”

Irene mumbled in pain, then chuckled.

But this laugh, unlike before, felt damp and bitter.

“I… I don’t even know what I want to eat…”

“Uh… Uhhh?”

“I really don’t know… Haa, even if I try hard to remember and recall… I just think that I’m wrong.”

Irene let out a long sigh in pain.

“What does Irene want to eat?”

“…There’s a food that my friend made for me a long time ago.”

It seems like it’s a food with a precious memory.

“Ah… I get it. You really want to eat that, but you just can’t, right?”

“Exactly… No matter how much I inquire, look up the recipe, change the ingredients, and try, it’s not it. It’s completely different…”

Irene rubbed her cheek with her right hand.

“Everyone… says it’s right, but it’s not. It’s completely different from what I ate!”

“So you lost your passion.”

At Dominicus’s words, Maeve poked her side and covered her mouth with her hand.

“What do you mean?”

“Ms. Irene ate the food in her memory to honor a precious memory.”

“Right? But it wasn’t it, was it?”

“You shouldn’t think like that. You should think that the truly meaningful food is wrong. In other words, she came to doubt that her memory was wrong.”

Irene nodded and eventually reached for a bottle of alcohol in the corner of the room.

“Yeah, yeah… That’s it. That’s it. My memory is completely wrong. How can I make carriages with a subject like this.”

“Ah, hey! If you drink more alcohol like that… Ah.”

Before Maeve could stop her, Irene tilted the bottle and gulped down the alcohol.

“Hiccup…! In the first place, I… I’m a woman who shouldn’t make carriages, hiccup… I just made a few well, because I was lucky…”

“I’m curious. What does the food in your memory taste like?”

If I leave it like this, she’ll become super drunk again, and I won’t be able to get any information!

“Meat… It was meat.”

“Is there anything else besides meat?”

“Fried… It was fried food. But maybe not.”

Irene smiled bitterly.

“I told this story to merchants from the west too…”

“From the west?”

“But… You know. The food they told me about wasn’t it. They said it was definitely right, but when I ate it, it wasn’t it at all.”

Irene drank alcohol gulping in pain.

“Damn it… They were so nice to me… Damn it, I… Ugh…”

“Ah! I really can’t take it anymore!!”

Maeve couldn’t stand it anymore and stood up.

Even I could see that Irene’s reason was melting away every time she tilted the alcohol.

And although we couldn’t talk for many words, it seems that when she’s sober, painful memories come to mind, and she can’t even live her daily life properly.

It would be impossible to get more information from a person like this.

“Ms. Irene!! First, I’ll take you to your room! Lie down! Lie down! Stop drinking!”

“It was delicious… It was incredibly delicious…! I, in the workshop, wait, wait… I’m still fine!!”

Maeve picked up Irene, who started to act drunk, with both hands and carried her on her back.

I quickly ran to Irene and grabbed the blue desire attached to her shoulder and pulled it off.

-Squish!

“Awawa… There’s a last resort left, so it’s okay.”

The fact that it was fried meat would be a pretty big clue, but there were so many types of that too.

Here, I’ll have to put the blue desire in my mouth and ‘taste’ it properly!

If I find out the feeling of the batter, the frying method, and the type of meat, the recipe will be easy!

“Nom…!”

I grabbed the squishy blue desire and took a big bite.

“Hmm…!”

The first taste that my squishy tongue felt was the taste of savory oil.

This isn’t the taste of being fried in oil.

It’s the taste of pouring oil into a pot, pushing it in deeply, frying it, and then taking it out!

This

•absolutely

won’t work…

“…Awawang?”

“Lady Purpure?”

But, what’s the next taste.

Why is the world suddenly spinning?

“The world… is spinning… and spinning…”

“Could it be… Does this Seven taste like alcohol?”

Looking up at the bewildered Dominicus, I looked at the blue desire.

“I think so… There’s an alcohol smell from the blue desire’s body…”

This won’t do…!

I couldn’t even get a sense of what the meat tasted like!

“Awawang…”

Even in the situation where I was dangerously drunk, I did my best to bite the blue desire.

“Huff…!”

The taste of thick, chewy meat.

While grasping that irresistible savory taste to the end, I plopped down.

“The world is spinninggg…”