"She got dragged off to the women's society meeting."
"What about Anne?"
"Anne's with her. She says she's no good at those kinds of gatherings, but Mother and Mother Jeanne pulled her along by force."
"What about Allen-nii?"
"Holed up in his room, same as always."
"What about Kurt?"
"He'll be here soon."
Father had ordered us to put together some kind of performance for the spring festival as the Ootori family, which was fine and all, but it would've been nice if he'd told us a bit sooner. A month's notice was just far too little time to work with. On top of that, even though he'd told the siblings to pool our talents for the Ootori family, half of them couldn't have cared less.
"Sorry I'm late."
"You're late, Kurt."
"Don't mind what Shoma says. I heard ahead of time that you'd be attending a meeting about security for the upcoming festival together with Mother Chris. Meetings like that rarely end on schedule, after all."
Most of the knights handling security were either retired adventurers or new recruits, so explanations tended to drag on.
"Oh, and… Mother ordered me to participate in the festival's security detail as a junior knight until the event wraps up."
"I'll speak to Mother Chris on your end, so focus on things here. If even you get pulled away, we'll be far too short-staffed."
"That's what I figured."
"Brother, want me to put in a word with Din as well?"
"Please."
What in the world was Mother Chris thinking… I wondered for a moment, but she'd probably given Kurt that order assuming I would refuse it on his behalf.
As the one who would eventually succeed the Ootori family, even if Mother Chris was one of Father's wives, my standing was technically the higher of the two—so she was probably testing me, wanting to see whether I had it in me to push back.
"Brother Touma, what about Sister Touka…"
"Touka and Ann got dragged off to the ladies' association, and Allen is firmly in his hibernation phase. Besides, Queer and Yue aren't exactly combat-ready, so they weren't invited from the start."
Touka and Ann were understandable, but I really wanted to drag Allen out and get him to help somehow… Once that guy truly decided to hole up in his room, it was difficult for anyone but Father or Grandpa to get him out. It wasn't impossible for me either, but it would likely take the whole day, and none of my own work would get done.
"I plan to have Father give Allen a good scolding when he gets back, but for now, I need to push forward with as much work as possible."
"Even if you call it work, haven't you decided what to do for the festival yet?"
"If we just decide on our own, won't Sister Touka complain?"
That was indeed a problem. Touka would hate having the content of something she had to participate in decided without her input, even if her absence was unavoidable. She would definitely grumble about it.
"At least if Lady Yoshitsune were here, she would happily go along with whatever was decided. But since she's not, we have to proceed as we are. On the other hand, if we decide, complaints are guaranteed. So today, we'll present several plans, and for each plan, decide what and how much is needed. That way, Touka can also give her opinion at the next meeting."
"And if she still complains?"
"I won't allow it to go any further. Once Touka recognized me as the heir of the Ootori family, she has to put up with it within the bounds I've already conceded."
Eventually, Touka would be married off to the Southern Baron household. She couldn't be allowed to cause trouble for the Ootori family, and if she still insisted on being selfish, I would suggest to Father that he reconsider the engagement with Yoshitsune altogether… Well, suggesting it was one thing; it was highly unlikely to actually break off, but the idea that the future Earl Ootori might disapprove of the marriage might make her behave a little better.
"So, as for what to do, we need a plan that won't give Touka cause for complaint, but one that will also make it easy to get Allen to cooperate."
"That sounds like it has to be something related to food… It's Brother Allen's specialty, and luring him out would be totally possible."
"There are many rivals, but if it's a food stall, Queer and Yue could also participate as sellers."
Shoma and Kurt quickly grasped what I was thinking.
As Kurt said, the Ootori domain was one of the kingdom's finest when it came to food, thanks to Father's influence, so there would likely be many food-related events at the festival. Moreover, Allen was one of the top three gourmets even within the Ootori family, and his cooking skill might even surpass Father's.
So, I needed a plan that would appeal to Allen… No, wait. If I let Allen make what *he* wanted to make, not only would he have no complaints, but Touka probably wouldn't either.
"Shoma, Kurt, take a break for a bit. I'm going to go get Allen."
When I said I was going to get Allen, they made faces that clearly said it was pointless. But when I said I'd negotiate by promising to let Allen make whatever he wanted, they seemed to understand that it might actually work.
"So, Brother, I can really make anything?"
"Yeah, I can't allow anything where the material costs are too high or it doesn't make financial sense, but Allen can decide what to make."
"Nice! There's actually something I've been wanting to make, and I was working on that tool just a little while ago."
"That's perfect timing. So, how far along is that tool?"
Just as I expected, I managed to drag Allen out. And it turned out there was something Allen wanted to make so badly he would have ignored this whole meeting just to work on it, so he was thrilled to have the chance to actually prototype it openly.
At this rate, he was going to forget about the meeting and hole up again to finish that tool, so I decided to ask first what kind of dish he was planning and what ingredients it would use.
"So like I said, I don't think the ingredient costs for the food or the materials for the tool will be very high."
"Hmm, both do sound like they'll come out cheaper than expected... How much of the tool prep do you think you can get done in a week?"
"If I have a week, I can make a hundred of them easily."
"We don't need a hundred... Actually, maybe we should prepare a hundred just in case. If we don't use them, we can just keep them as spares. But I think we should make a few first to try them out. Fortunately, the ingredients for the dish are all things we already have in the kitchen."
"Even if they weren't in the kitchen, they're all in my Magic Bag."
"Big Brother Allen, how many can you make at once?"
"Four at a time, I think? But I made two sets that can do four at once each, so eight total."
"Then should we go call Mother Amour and the others? If they find out after we've already eaten, it's obvious they'll make us make more."
Sure enough, Mother Amour would definitely be able to tell from the lingering smell in the kitchen that something delicious had been made. And if that happened, she would absolutely demand they make more.
"Mother Amour is probably in the courtyard or the back garden with Queil and Yue. Shoma, Kurt, split up and go find them."
"Roger!"
After watching my two younger brothers head off, I turned my gaze to my other brother—
"Cabbage, check. Meat, check. Eggs, check. Broth, check..."
While I'd looked away for just a moment, he had finished preparing all the ingredients and was now doing a final check of everything.
"So, what are you planning to make, Allen? From the looks of it, those are the same ingredients as for okonomiyaki."
"The basics are the same. But the way you make it is different, so it'll turn out different from a normal okonomiyaki. Keep that in mind."
What Allen took out then was an iron plate with a handle attached, like a frying pan. But if you looked closely, you could see four circular depressions in the iron plate.
"If you do this and this with these, they become one, right? So, you cook the batter in these depressions while it's split in two for the first part, and then once it's cooked enough, you merge them together, and you get an okonomiyaki with an interesting shape."
"I see. It is certainly a different shape, and unlike the normal kind that needs chopsticks, you could probably eat it with your hands once it cools a bit... Perfect for a street stall. Since you're putting it that way, keep making test batches."
"Sure!"
When I told Allen to make okonomiyaki in the new shape, he began cheerfully pouring the batter into the depressions.
He could make four at once, but since you ultimately combine two into one, he'd have to cook eight simultaneously. So, I had him make four first, but then...
"Brother, big miscalculation. When I try to combine the two, they almost spill out in the process..."
He explained that because the batter was half-cooked when you tried to join them, it always threatened to spill during the combining step.
Fortunately, Allen had the quick thinking to use a skewer to remove the pieces from the molds one by one and place each onto one side of the batter, managing to complete it somehow. But this flaw was hard to ignore.
"For now, we've made a few, but it feels like it took more time than expected? The plan was, after combining the two, to crank up the heat, flip it, and finish cooking it all at once... What should we do? This is starting to seem incredibly troublesome."
I experimented with cooking it until the batter wouldn't spill even when tilted, but when I did that, the two halves didn't stick together properly when combined, and it split down the middle when I took it out of the mold. That was delicious too, but if that's the case, it would have been better to just cook one side from the start.
"Hey, Allen. What if we make one side of this mold's depression twice as deep, and leave the other side as just the iron plate?"
"Hmm... Oh! That might work! In that case, let's get right on it..."
"Big brother! Give me a snack!"
"I washed my hands properly, so give it to me now!"
Just as Allen was about to go make the improved mold, Yue and Quir burst into the dining hall, throwing the door open. Behind them were Lady Maria and Luna's mom, as well as Amour's mom.
Lady Maria looked like she had something to say to the two, but she was probably holding back because they were still young and it was someone else's household. Most likely, Luna's mom and Amour's mom would be the ones scolded in place of the two after this.
"Allen, the mold improvement can wait. It's a bit trickier, but we'll mass-produce it as it is for now."
"Okaaay."
If it were just me, Allen would have walked right out, but with his two little sisters, the mothers, and Lady Maria all present, he seemed able to restrain himself for now.
""Keel, Yue, what about Shoma and Kurt?""
""Big Brother Kurt is cleaning up!""
""Big Brother Shoma went to get Yuina!""
""Kurt got stuck with it, huh""
""Shoma went to fetch his bride, did he""
The fact that Kurt got stuck with Keel's cleanup meant that Lady Maria probably wasn't there. If she had been, he would've gotten scolded the moment he tried to push it off on someone.
As for Shoma... well, same as always. The fact that he'd grown enough to realize it wasn't right to leave his betrothed out of things was proof he'd matured quite a bit. Then again, it really made Yuina all the more fortunate not to be Allen's betrothed. Allen would've definitely forgotten about Yuina, and they'd have ended up fighting later. She's usually quiet, but Yuina has a stubborn streak too.
""We're going to keep making them, so Touma-niisan, help out too. We need to finish up quickly and test the new mold.""
""Yeah, leave it to me. It doesn't look that difficult—I just need to be careful with the final joining part.""
When I said that, Allen was about to say something like "Then, leave it all to you," but I wasn't about to let him off that easy. Besides, Touka and the others would probably be heading back soon enough. Once that happened, it'd be obvious I wouldn't have enough hands to manage on my own.
After that, we mass-produced the new okonomiyaki with the two of us, but Shoma and the others came back right after we started, so that made three, and before long Touka and her group returned to the manor, noticed the smell, and brought the total to four, and then Dad, Grandpa, Lord Alex, Sir Din, Aina, and Aura kept piling in, so Allen and I ended up having to keep grilling until everyone was satisfied.
I was already exhausted just from that, but then Dad tried the okonomiyaki and—
""Osaka... It's like an oobanyaki, isn't it?""
—it turned out he already knew something similar to what I'd thought was Allen's brand-new invention, which sent Allen retreating to his room in a huff. That said, even while holed up, he thoroughly refined the improved mold, and when he heard Dad say he'd never seen anything like it, he finally came back out.
Still... this had happened before too, but it seemed like Allen grew taller every time he locked himself in his room. I'm tall for fifteen myself, and considering I'm still in my growth period, I might catch up to or even surpass Dad in another year or two—but Allen, who's three years younger, is already about the same height as me. On top of that, even though he doesn't show much motivation, his talent in magic and martial arts is on par with mine... no, it might actually surpass it.
Having a little brother who might end up stronger than me is something to be happy about as an older brother, but at the same time, there's also the part of me that can't afford to lose as a man.
""As an older brother and as the heir to the Margrave household, I need to try harder... To start, let's aim for first place in sales at the next festival.""
Dozuru from Manpukutei had recorded the top sales two years in a row, last year and the year before, making him a formidable opponent, but if the siblings pooled their strengths, there had to be a chance. To claim first place, we'd need a detailed plan and thorough coordination.
Having made that decision, I immediately went to call over Touka and Allen.
The Father and the Great Carp's Side — Watching Touma from the Shadows
"Huh? Aren't my kids a little too talented?"
"Right? I mean, Tenma's got that cheat — knowledge from another world — but Touma and Allen don't have anything like that. They're definitely geniuses. And if even Touma sees Allen as someone to watch out for, Allen must be a genius too."
"Well, it seems like a healthy kind of wariness, so I think it's fine for now. I just don't want them to end up in some bitter sibling rivalry."
"That won't be a problem. Touma only became heir because there wasn't anyone else suited for it, and if Allen ever said he wanted to take over, Touma would hand it over without a second thought and switch to supporting Allen instead. Besides, Allen gets completely absorbed in the things he's interested in, but he's truly indifferent to anything he's not. That's like how Tenma used to be… no, even more so."
"Shouma and Kurt are always overshadowed by their two older brothers, but when you think about it normally, they're pretty exceptional too."
"They're both only ten, so they're more than talented enough. Actually, it's only because the two older ones are such absurd geniuses that the Ootori family calls them 'just talented' — anywhere else, they'd be considered genuine geniuses. Honestly, the Ootori family's standards are way too harsh."
Touka might not rival the two oldest boys in magical talent, but she had considerable ability of her own, and in terms of charisma, she might well have been the most outstanding member of the Ootori family.
Ann was hopeless in close combat, but recently her improvement in recovery magic and healing techniques had been remarkable. Kuiel, compensating for his lack of magical aptitude, was reputed to possess a natural genius for martial arts, and above all, he had inherited Amour's keen intuition. Yue was… still too young to tell, but she was the only child of the Ootori family who carried blood with a claim to the throne — the grandchild of the current king. In the noble world, where bloodline was considered talent in its own right, that placed her among the highest tier.
"You don't think… if they really put their minds to it, the children could declare independence for the Ootori territory on their own?"
"They absolutely could. Tenma aside, the Ootori family is made up of people with no ambition for that sort of thing, but if someone ever threatened harm to the family, they'd fight back without hesitation using whatever power they had — and if it came to it, they'd even consider declaring independence with the kingdom as their enemy. Well, if anything happens, I'll lend my strength too. Unlike Tenma, I'll probably live for thousands of years, so I'll keep looking out for the Ootori family as much as I can."
"Don't push yourself too hard, Namitarou. You don't have to force anything, and if my descendants ever become the kind of people who just use you, you're free to abandon them."
"That promise I made with Namitarou back then — I never could have imagined it would actually be kept, hundreds of years later…"
"No more weird narration, please. I'm bringing out the special sweet potato yokan, so let's invite Primera and the others over for tea."
Exasperated by Namitarou putting on his dramatic narrator voice, I gave him a quick retort before heading off to call Primera and the others, leaving the scene behind.
"Wait up, Tenma! If you're gonna treat me to something that good, I'll guard the Ootori family for hundreds of years — no, thousands! …Oh! Make the yokan nice and thick and the tea nice and bitter, please~"
The Father and the Great Carp's Side — Watching Touma from the Shadows — End
Touma — Formally decided as the heir to the Ootori family through a family council (where the discussion centered on who would succeed the family. Though Touka and the others nominated him, he initially refused. However, when Kuiel and Yue raised their hands to volunteer as substitutes, he was persuaded by Shouma and Kurt's desperate arguments and accepted.)
At fifteen, he stood 170 cm tall, placing him in the taller range for his age. He sometimes burned with a competitive spirit toward Allen, who was three years his junior.
Touka — Her long-awaited engagement to Yoshitsune was realized. As the leader of the young unmarried women in the city where the Ootori family resided and popular among the boys as well, she was often treated by the adults as a representative of the youth. However, since she would be marrying into the Nanbu count family in a few years, she had recently begun planning to designate Ann as her successor.
Standing just over 160 cm tall with a great figure, she's an aspirational figure for all the younger girls, including her sisters.
Shouma — At the age of ten, he got engaged to Yuina and it was decided he would marry into the Ootori family. Din said that whether he would marry in or not could wait until he was an adult, but since Shouma himself insisted strongly that he didn't want to cause a succession dispute within the Ootori family, both Tenma and Primera agreed. He and Yuina had been close even before the engagement was arranged.
Compared to his two older brothers, his talent falls short, and he's aware of it himself, but it doesn't bother him in the slightest. He does tend to compete with Kurt, who is the same age, but they get along the best out of all the siblings and share the closest bond.
He gets worked to the bone by Kuiel and Yue fairly often, but he doesn't really mind. When it came time to decide on the heir, Kuiel actually volunteered because her reason was that she wanted to make Shouma and Kurt work themselves to exhaustion, so he desperately tried to convince Touma to accept instead. He's the most like Tenma out of all the siblings.
Allen — His talent is the most outstanding among all the siblings, but he's the type who only does what he wants and spends most of his time holed up in his room. At first the whole family was worried about him, but while shut away he'd been teaching himself and coming up with useful inventions for the Ootori family, so now everyone basically just lets him do as he pleases. He's famous — for better or worse — as the Ootori family's shut-in.
He becomes eloquent when talking about something he's interested in, but most of the time he's easygoing and carefree.
He's technically the heir to the Armeria family through Jeanne, but since he has little interest in it, he's been thinking of ways to pass the role to his younger sister Ann instead.
He's only a few centimeters shorter than Touma in height, but over ten kg heavier. He keeps his silver hair on the slightly long side — he only bothers to cut it when it starts getting in the way, then lets it grow out again because he can't be bothered to deal with it.
Ann — Jeanne's daughter, nine years old. Excluding the youngest, Yue, she has the lowest close-combat ability (roughly on par with Kuiel in overall capability), so she always keeps the cores of multiple combat-specialized Golems hidden on her. Touka has been grooming her to succeed her as the leader of the girls' gatherings (meetings of unmarried young women), with Primera and the others helping out, though Ann herself hasn't caught on.
Her hair is a more white-toned silver than Allen's. Like Jeanne, she wears it long, but she only started doing so because she saw Touka wearing hers that way and copied her. Her hair color aside, having a figure that resembles Jeanne's as well has become her recent worry.
Kurt — Even within the family, he speaks to his elders using polite language. Just like Shouma, this is to signal both inside and outside the household that he has no intention of staking a claim in the succession dispute. Additionally, one of Chris's duties involves patrolling the domain, and Kurt is often made to help with that work, which means he frequently meets people without knowing their social standing. Because of this, Chris has drilled proper etiquette into him quite strictly.
He's good-looking and is the eldest son of a viscount's family, yet he has no particular romantic prospect, which has made him popular with the girls. He spends the most time with Shouma, who's the same age.
Kuiel — Amour's daughter, eight years old. Her selfish side stands out, but she basically listens to what everyone says, except for Amour, Shouma, and Kurt. Especially toward Shouma and Kurt, she tends to act willfully and cause them trouble — but that's also because she's grown the most attached to those two.
She's small in stature, but her athletic ability and fighting sense are exceptional, and her instincts are sharp. She resembles Amour closely in both appearance and personality.
Yue — Luna's daughter, four years old. She can be selfish, but not as much as Kuiel. She gets into mischief too, though she usually does it together with Kuiel. She's attached to everyone in the Ootori family, but Maria is her favorite, while Alex is the one she's least fond of. She doesn't like studying, including etiquette, but she'll do it willingly if she's with one of her older siblings.
Yuina — Din and Aina's daughter, twelve years old. Initially she was a candidate to be Allen's fiancée, but since the two of them didn't get along well, that arrangement fell through. Afterward, the idea of an engagement to Shouma, with whom she seemed to be a much better match, was brought up and both sides agreed. The reason she and Allen didn't get along was that Yuina is the type who likes to look after people, while Allen is the type who can basically do everything on his own and doesn't want to be fussed over. Shouma, on the other hand, is bad at taking care of himself and doesn't mind being looked after at all.
She inherited her parents' talent, and she works as a maid at the Ootori family, making full use of her high physical ability. She intends to keep working as a maid even after marriage, so she plans to hand over everything regarding the viscount family to Shouma — but she has a jealous side too, and she told Shouma in front of everyone at the time of their engagement that she would absolutely not tolerate any consorts or mistresses.
She looks like Aina, but she grows her hair long because she admires Touka.