The Lesser Monster delivering their meals did not understand why two people needed three sets of bowls and chopsticks, or why they had added another person's worth of food.
Still, if that was what the princess of Himeji wanted, all it had to do was obey.
The little monster was just about to leave and tell Enma-tei to prepare the meal when Mole quietly called it back.
Mole said, "For dinner tonight, I want some especially nourishing food. Prepare things like abalone, ginseng, shark fin, and fish maw. Whatever provides the biggest boost, bring it over. And get some deer-blood wine while you're at it."
The little monster was utterly bewildered.
Mole shut the door before it had a chance to ask any questions.
Tonight, she would help her best friend firmly secure her place.
The little monster did not understand, but that did not stop it from relaying Mole's words to Benienma exactly as she had said them.
Though puzzled, Benienma still selected ingredients according to the request for especially nourishing food.
What would provide the biggest boost? As Enma-tei's poster girl, I have to make the perfect meal to meet the guest's request.
Benienma surveyed the ingredients, then turned her attention to Enma-tei's kitchen assistants, Ginseng Doll and Lingzhi King.
Ginseng Doll was a five-hundred-year-old monster, while Lingzhi King was a powerful monster a full thousand years old.
Neither was good at fighting, however, so after coming to Himeji Castle for protection, they had been assigned to Enma-tei as kitchen assistants.
She glanced at Ginseng Doll, who was diligently washing ingredients in the kitchen, and lifted her sword slightly from its sheath.
Ginseng Doll seemed not to notice at all as a section of its roots fell off.
Then Benienma followed the same procedure, swinging her sword at