Chapter 4: Henry Howler

　The next day at noon. Henry was able to peacefully eat lunch at the “hideaway''.

　(The food was delicious today as well, and Mai-san was kind as usual. Well, Mai-san is kind to all her customers.)

　It was more than two months ago that he found the café “Hideaway’’.

　◇ ◇ ◇

　Henry has a good nose.

　He was trying to find a new place to eat lunch when he noticed a delicious smell that he was not used to smelling.

　A narrow street further back in the backstreets of downtown area was a dead end. Just before the dead end, there was a restaurant. A small signboard read “Hideaway,” and the windows were drawn with lace curtains, making it difficult to see inside the restaurant. At first glance, it seemed to be an unlikely place for a casual visitor to enter.

(This is where the good smells is coming from.)

　The dining room at the castle isn’t bad, but the menu hasn’t changed over the years. He’s  already eaten his way through everything on the menu, and he’s been around the castle dozens of times. In other words, he was tired of eating at the castle. So he walks around the castle everyday looking for a new place to eat.

　The unknown smells wafting from this store attracted Henry.

　He gathered up his courage and opened the door. The doorbell rang with a chirping sound and a young woman greeted him, saying, “Welcome.”

　She handed him a menu, and as he read the unfamiliar names and descriptions of the dishes, he was offered a glass of water, which he had not ordered.

“What’s this?”

“It’s just water. It’s our well water. It’s very good.”

(Does that mean it’s free? The well water probably doesn’t cost money, but it does cost time and effort to wash the glasses. Customers who were going to order tea or fruit water may drink the water and stop ordering. It's not profitable for the store. Moreover, these glasses are transparent, thin, and of high quality. If they were to be dropped and broken, the restaurant would lose money even if they were paid for the food.)

　With this in mind, he read the menu and ordered a dish called “Sweet Tomato Noodles.” It was an unfamiliar dish, but he figured that if the dish used tomatoes, it could not go wrong. Henry loved tomatoes, which grew in abundance in this country.

(Could this be a shop run by the daughter of a wealthy commoner as a hobby? I’ve heard there are such places every once in a while).

　While he was waiting for his food, he was served a small bowl of salad and a cup of clear soup first, and told, “This is the salad and soup that comes with your lunch set.” He tried it and found that the soup had a deep, rich flavor.

(Is this free too?　This woman must love cooking and be good at it, but she is an amateur when it comes to business. I wonder if she calculates the cost.)

　That's what he thought, but he was the kind of person not to say anything unnecessary. He silently ate the small bowl of salad and drank some soup. The warm vegetables in the salad were fresh and crunchy, and the dressing on them was very appetizing.

“Sweet tomato-flavored noodles.”

　Illustration (By Mitemin)

　The dish that came out was something he had never seen before, but it smelled good and looked delicious.

　He scooped the noodles with a fork, put them in his mouth, and stopped moving involuntarily. The tomato sauce had a good balance of sweetness and sourness. The bacon used lavishly. The delicately sliced green peppers. He thought that if any one of them were missing, it would not taste like this.

　The powdery substance on top was cheese. The onions were neither too soft nor too hard. Everything was cooked at the perfect temperature. Above all, the noodles are wonderful. Floury and delicious. They had a chewy texture.

“Everything is delicious…”

　He said out loud in a small voice and then looked at the woman who owned the shop, their eyes met and she smiled at him. He was a little embarrassed that she saw how moved he was. He knew that he wasn’t usually very expressive and the things people say behind his back, “He has a nice face, but I can never tell what he’s thinking. He’s so expressionless, it’s a little scary.’’ I also have good ears.

(I appreciate that the restaurant is empty and quiet, and I am tired. It was a good thing I staggered my lunch hour.)

　He picked up the menu he had seen earlier and looked at it again, and found something called “daily specials” at the bottom.

(I thought that since they were so good, I could just have these noodles every day for the time being, but if there’s a daily special, I’ll have to try these as well).

　Henry’s appetite suddenly came to the fore.

“Excuse me, what kind of menu does this ‘daily special’ have?”

“I offer a limited number of different dishes each day. The menu is determined by my whim. Today’s daily special was a cutlet sandwich. It’s already sold out, but it is battered, deep-fried pork with sauce and sandwiched between two pieces of white bread. It too comes with a small salad and soup.”

(That sounds delicious too!)

“Will that cutlet sandwich be offered again sometime in the near future as a daily special.”

“Yes. If you would like, I can tell you when I have all the ingredients for the cutlet sandwiches.”

“No, thank you. There are other items on the menu that also interest me.”

“Yes, I understand. Please enjoy whatever you like, whenever you like.”

(The owner is kind and affable. The restaurant is surprisingly clean. Good food, quiet, clean and friendly. I have found the best restaurant. I wonder if Mom has ever eaten such delicious food.)

　Since he was adopted right after he was born, he doesn’t get to see his birth mother very often. To begin with, Henry was not informed of his birth mother’s whereabouts, and his adoptive parents were unaware that Henry occasionally sees his birth mother.

　It was three years ago that he tracked down his birth mother. He had hired someone to find her. It took two years to find her. When he met her, he found that his mother looked just like him and was from a foreign country with quite a difficult past. She stubbornly refused to tell him anything about his birth father. He asked her to at least tell him the details of his birth, and what she told him was vague.

"Your father fell in love with me when I was working as a laundry girl a long time ago. He happened to bump into me while taking a walk during his free time at work, and he liked me at first sight. I was in a difficult situation, so I was surprised he didn't abandon me when I became pregnant. Your father wasn't like that, but the people around him were."

　When his mother realized she was pregnant, she immediately told his father. She then said, “I don’t want to cause any trouble, so I won’t see you anymore. I won’t tell anyone about our relationship and I’m quitting my job here. Please forget about me,” she told him.

　But his father, concerned that his mother would have to raise the child alone, suggested adoption.

　Henry’s mother was convinced that he would be better off being raised by wealthy parents than as a child of a poor family who would have to live without food or shelter, so she put him up for adoption.

The person his father asked was Viscount Howler. The Viscount had no children of his own and his father knew that there was talk of adopting a child. Viscount Howler and his wife were good people, but there must have been something in return for adopting a baby in his situation.

　But his adoptive parents loved Henry. There was no sense of any desire to get something in return. Henry’s biological father, was a good judge of character, which is why he had chosen them to adopt him. His mother said that his father was a very talented man.

　Henry was born with the “best of both worlds,” his father’s intelligence and his mother’s beautiful appearance, and he rose to the position of first secretary of state at the young age of twenty-five, using his superior intelligence as a weapon. He has always tried to remain calm and collected, so as not to make enemies. Perhaps because of his precautions, no one knows the secret of Henry’s origins.

(I have been burdened with a big secret since I was born, and I am lucky or unlucky to have been able to keep it hidden.)

　Henry found himself looking back on the past with uncharacteristic sentimentality and smiled bitterly.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

　He returned to the castle, remembering fondly the day he first visited the “Hideaway”. As soon as he took his seat in the large room, a subordinate approached with papers in hand.

“Henry-san, I have just been informed that you are also requested to attend the meeting regarding the matter mentioned. It will begin in a few minutes.”

“A meeting on the matter?　I wonder what they want me to say by having a civil servant attend.”

“I think they’re relying on your brains, sir.”

“Only wizards can know what wizards are thinking. Where is it?　Conference Room 1. I’ll be off then.”

　I wanted to reread the material to make sure I could do the impossible, but there was no time for that.

The “case” in question was of the disappearance of the head wizard, Jusel Leesley, along with a magical tool that was still in development. The disappearance of the leader of the Magic Department was one thing, but the disappearance of a magical tool that was being developed with the national budget is a major incident. To his dismay, the blueprints for the magic tool are said to be only in Jusel Leesley’s head.

(Why don’t they write them down on paper? Wizards are so sloppy in that area. They probably think it would be nice if they could use magic as a result, but I wish they would realize that they are given funds by the government).

　Henry likes the peace and quiet. He wants today to be as peaceful as yesterday, and he wants to live his life as planned. He wants to live the same way every day. Except for food. He wants to eat delicious food and avoid repeating the same taste.

　He arrived at the conference room 1 and knocked on the door.

“Henry Howler, I’m coming in.”

　The bigwigs, including the king, were gathered in the conference room.

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