"I see you both have a lot of love for Lady Amelia," Kyle said in an attempt to
placate them.
"F-Fool! We're not good enough to love her!"
"T-That's right! We may be happy to lay down our lives for Lady Amelia, but that's beside the point!" Their love for Amelia ran so deep, Kyle's face twitched
in his attempt to keep smiling.
"Aaand... it's done! This is the renowned pasta soup of my stall. It's hot... Be
careful so you don't burn yourself," the pasta stand owner said, holding out a
wooden bowl, fork, and spoon.
"It looks delicious. So this is pasta soup... I see..." Kyle accepted the bowl and
peered carefully at its contents.
Inside was a type of pasta that Earth's Kyle was undoubtedly familiar
with — Italian noodles that were called spaghetti. The soup was clear, and most
likely seasoned with nothing but salt. There were bacon and vegetables in the
soup, too, adding a delicious fragrance to the steam wafting from it.
"Hehe, thanks. Oh, you're meant to eat men foods with a fork and spoon. Do
you know how to use those, boy?" A fair proportion of commoners didn't have
access to cutlery like forks and spoons, so the pasta stall owner asked, just in
case.
"Yes, I do."
"That's great. Must've been raised well, huh? Most adventurers find them too
bothersome and just slurp up the food by grabbing at it with their hands. They
get burned a lot."
"Haha, I'll have to pass on slurping like that," Kyle gave a strained laugh as he
lowered himself into a seat next to the stall. He set the bowl down on the
makeshift table before him and picked up the fork and spoon.
As he enjoyed the smell of the soup, he moved the fork and spoon with
practiced hands and considered the texture first. From the tender, springy
texture, the pasta used was probably fresh, not dried or preserved. The flavor
was simple and salty; he could appreciate the taste of the vegetables and
bacon, too. Still, Kyle would have preferred a spicier taste with garlic, chilli
peppers, and olive oil instead. But those things were probably hard to offer
here, due to their costs.
If there are dried noodles out there, I could take them as preserved food on my
journey, Kyle thought to himself as the nostalgic taste of pasta relaxed his expression. If there was fresh pasta being made, then dried noodles should be
more than accessible, too.
"Sir, can you tell me where I can buy this pasta?" Kyle hastily asked the owner
about his stock.
"Oh? Have you fallen for pasta, too, boy? If you go to the Rose Guild shop
inside the city walls, they'll sell you some. They sell other products exclusive to
the Guild, so it'd be well worth a visit. It's kinda pricey, but they also sell meat
manju' at their shop."
"Meat manju, you say?"
"Yeah. They're round, and they kinda look like bread, but their texture is fluffy
and surprisingly soft. And the best part is, they're filled with juicy minced meat.
It's expensive, but worth trying once."
The pasta stall owner's explanation made something click in Kyle's head. The
food he had described just now sounded very similar to 'nikumanju' — which
were meat buns that Kyle had eaten before at Earth.
"Huh, that sounds nice. I'll try it out later." Kyle pasted a smile on his face as he
expressed his interest, then he resumed his meal, silently, as he processed his
thoughts about this mysterious Amelia.
Meat buns... right.
Pasta, noodles, and meat buns — all of these foods existed on Earth, with the
exact same names and ingredients. What were the chances that this world and
Earth would, coincidentally, have words that sounded the same and have the
same meaning?
He couldn't go as far as to say it was absolutely impossible, but...
While one word might have been believable, having a second and third word
in the same instance made the possibility much lower, especially because they
were all foods invented by a single person. As a result, Kyle's suspicions seemed
more and more conclusive.
Perhaps this Amelia girl was in the same position as him, Kyle suspected. In
other words... perhaps someone who was living on Earth had died, only to be reborn as Amelia Beautmont in this world. That person was most likely Japanese.
Of course, it was also possible that Amelia was simply a facade. A third-party
of Japanese origin may be acting as her brain instead — but there was no proof
of that, either.
At any rate, Amelia definitely had access to Earth knowledge — knowledge
she was most likely using to revolutionize Eldoria, Kyle deduced. But that was
as far as his thoughts went before they came to a screeching halt. He had no
intention of aggressively pursuing his curiosity any further than that. Even if
Amelia really was experiencing the same circumstance as him, he didn't have
the slightest desire to meet her and discuss it.
Because the human nameKyle had died full of regrets.
Meeting her wouldn't change anything, only remind him of his bitter
memories and unwanted lingering attachments — that thought alone
prevented Kyle from acting.
Kylr was dead.
Right now, he was Kyle of this world, not the one who lived on Earth. That was the undeniable truth.
Sure, his memories and personality from Earth might have been residing
within this body, but they were blended in.
No... he wasn't even sure if they were real or not.
On top of that, even if he were to return to Earth like this, he wouldn't be able
to live like before anymore. It would be impossible, because Earth's Kyle had his burdens, while he had his...
At any rate, this Amelia situation opened the possibility of others being
placed in similar circumstances to himself. Kyle considered himself fortunate
enough to learn that much. And while he was postponing the matter for now, if
he was lucky, it might not even end up being an issue at all.
In any case, there was no way they'd let someone of unknown origins meet a
daughter of high-class nobility anyway. For now, just being able to smack his
lips at the nostalgic taste of this cooking was enough.