"New Year's eve soba, huh."
The vampire girl's voice dripped with exasperation.
Ignoring her, I slurped up the noodles in my bowl.
The Demon King sat beside me, slurping away at his own noodles in the same manner.
Only, he didn't seem to be very good at it — locked in a fierce struggle.
I'd heard that foreigners, unlike Japanese people who grow up with it, are surprisingly bad at slurping noodles.
It was pretty shocking that the Demon King — the guy with Gluttony, of all things — was one of them.
"It's something close to soba, I guess. A little different from the real thing, but totally delicious," the oni boy said, giving his verdict.
Right. This soba was soba, yet not quite soba.
The noodles were designed to look like soba, but they weren't actual soba.
After all, buckwheat didn't grow wild in this world.
What we were eating now was a soba substitute, born from countless experiments until we'd finally gotten something that tasted right.
I'd made full use of my position as Commander, embezzling the Legion's budget and funneling it all into development costs.
"Huh? A crime?"
"It's fine, it's fine."
"If nobody finds out, it's no big deal!"
"That's not what I was getting at — this isn't really New Year's soba, it's wanko soba, isn't it?"
The instant I finished the noodles in my bowl, a white-robed soldier from the Tenth Legion smoothly slipped a fresh serving inside.
Magnificent!
That impeccable timing.
All that training had paid off.
"Well, it's still soba either way. Maybe somewhere they actually do wanko soba for New Year's?"
"We just had regular soba at our place," the vampire girl grumbled, slurping away between complaints.
Behind her, Mella stood at the ready, extra soba in hand.
Mella should just eat some herself.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen before us, the cooks were desperately boiling noodles while creating a scene straight out of a Buddhist hell.
With the Demon King of Gluttony present, the quantities naturally had to be enormous.
I quietly pretended not to see the mountain of bowls piled in front of me — even more than the Demon King's.
"Oh, by the way, White."
Having given up on slurping, the Demon King chewed away and spoke.
Don't talk with your mouth full!
"Where's the budget for this coming from?"
I flinched!
Keeping my composure, I casually slurped my noodles.
The empty bowl was filled at the most perfect possible timing.
"It's strange, though. I don't think this is something you could cover with your personal savings. Just the ingredient costs alone—"
*Chomp.* *Slurp.* "We all ate it together, so that makes us accomplices too."
"Oh, gross!"
Heh heh heh.
The moment they sat down to eat, the Demon King, the vampire girl, and the oni boy were all accomplices!
None of them had any right to point fingers at me!
Ha ha ha ha!
"I'll file a report with Bart later."
Sorry, Bart. I might be mounting yet another direct attack on your stomach. But I'm not putting my chopsticks down!