"Miss Valentina! I'm back!"
When Herbert returned to the prison the next day, he was not greeted by a verbal assault from its elderly gatekeeper.
Instead, he was greeted by the same tousled back of her head, along with a cold snort that still simmered with anger.
"Hmph!"
The corner of Herbert's mouth twitched. He was at a loss for words.
Seriously, lady.
It's been over a day, and you're still mad?
How about asking the Beginningless Great Emperor to make room for you? We might as well leave the grand duty of turning your back on all living beings to Your Ancientness.
Still, he had expected Miss Dragon to remain angry, so he promptly produced the countermeasure he had prepared especially for her.
"I brought you a present. Made it myself, too."
He set the wooden box he was carrying on the ground and opened it, revealing its contents.
Ta-da-
"Hey! Turn around and look at me. Don't stay silent. Tell me, what outcome are you even hoping for?"
Hey, hey, heyyy!
"...Heh."
Listening to the commotion behind her, Miss Dragon gave a soft snort and stubbornly stiffened her neck, refusing to turn around. Yesterday, she had failed to resist and lost to him once.
"Hmph, give it up! There's absolutely no way I'm turning around!"
I'm terrifyingly strong today. I absolutely won't lose again!
Absolutely no... huh?
Sniff, sniff.
Her nose suddenly twitched, making tiny movements almost without her noticing.
Wait, what's that smell?
It smells so good, but it's different from yesterday's aroma. This smell is...
Sniff, sniff!
Valentina felt as though she had not smelled that scent in a very, very long time... That was it!
It was the smell of meat!
She turned around and saw a pile of meat skewers set out in front of Herbert, who was fanning their aroma toward her with his hand.
When he noticed her turning around, he even smiled, deliberately scooped up a handful of white granules, and rubbed them lightly between his fingertips. The salt fell like fine rain, bouncing off his arm before landing on the meat skewers.
Bling~ bling~
"...Huh?"
Wh-what the heck?
Valentina's eyes widened. She felt as though her brain could not quite keep up.
Even as a dragon who had lived for over a thousand years, she had never seen such a bizarre gesture.
If she said he was just fooling around...
His expression was serious, and his movements looked remarkably graceful and fluid.
But if she said he was cooking in earnest...
It did not quite look like that, either.
Weird.
After striking Salt Bae's iconic pose, Herbert pushed the wooden box forward and introduced it with a smile. "Today's meal from the Albert Family! Herbert's honey-glazed skewers!"
"Please, my lady!"
Gulp.
Valentina came back to her senses and swallowed. Her gaze flicked between the skewers and Herbert as she asked hesitantly, "What... do you mean by this?"
"Don't worry. There's no scheme or trick behind this."
Herbert raised his hands slightly to show his innocence and explained with a smile, "It's just a small token of appreciation for your kind warning yesterday."
"If you hadn't warned me, I probably would have fallen for that Sea Monster's tricks."
Herbert's expression was sincere, with what seemed to be a trace of lingering fear after a narrow escape. Valentina, who had suspected him of harboring ulterior motives, let out an enlightened "Oh."
"Oh-so that's why."
So that was what this was about.
Looking at the young man's respectful expression, she lifted her chin with a touch of smugness and gave a pleased little hum.
"Hm~ hm."
She picked up a skewer without the slightest qualm and quickly stuffed it into her mouth.
The moment the savory, juicy meat touched her tongue, taste buds that had gone hungry for centuries roared awake, erupting with an astonishing craving for food!
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
Under Herbert's raised-eyebrow gaze, Valentina, who could no longer restrain herself, did not even spare the wooden skewers. She bit straight through them and swallowed everything in just a few bites.
She was not worried about Herbert poisoning the food, much less about a few wood chips.
Dragons had extraordinarily powerful stomachs that could easily digest and absorb even the ore they ate, using it to strengthen their scales.
"Mmm!!!"
Herbert smiled as he watched Miss Dragon surrender so easily to food, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
In truth, Herbert had made up the reasons he had given Valentina.
Every last one.
The actual truth was that even without her warning, the Sea Monster with the affected cutesy voice could never have succeeded yesterday. After he caught her out, the Sea Monster had received quite a lecture and finally retreated into the water in embarrassment and anger.
But what did that matter?
Herbert knew the truth, and so did Freime, but Valentina did not!
Did the actual truth matter?
No.
In social interactions, making the other person feel they deserved credit... was very important!
In fact, people generally preferred those they had helped over those who could help them.
Simply put, most people thought of themselves as intelligent, reasonable, respectable individuals.
When people helped others, they felt that their actions aligned with their self-image, reinforcing their sense of personal appeal. That gave them pleasure and made them feel closer to those they had helped.
And Herbert's goal right now was to amplify that pleasure in Valentina's heart.
To make her believe that he had come through unharmed entirely thanks to her.
To make her understand that he was not someone who failed to repay kindness, and that helping him came with benefits.
If once was not enough, then twice, three times-until she grew completely accustomed to both ideas.
Once those two ideas became ingrained patterns in her mind, then... heh heh.
"Mmm!?"
Before she started eating, Valentina had still been able to restrain herself, thinking she should not look too undignified. But now, she had completely lost all reason and was greedily gulping down the skewers.
Even as she kept stuffing skewers into her mouth, she managed to find time to ask, "This flavor-what exactly did you put in these!?"
"Onions. I added onions."
The key to delicious food was, of course, not magic, but spices!
While marinating the meat, Herbert had added spices he had brought from the duke's household.
In this world, whose civilization had progressed to something resembling the Middle Ages, there were still relatively few varieties of spices, and they were extremely expensive.
Although druids were highly knowledgeable about plants, they would rather research techniques for making plants grow faster than focus on developing culinary spices.
In many places, spices could be exchanged for their weight in gold!
Aside from nobles, ordinary people had no access to spices at all. Most food was eaten with its original flavors intact-fishy, foul, dry, or bland.
Naturally, Valentina had never tasted anything made with such an extravagant use of spices before.
"Is it good?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Would you like more in the future?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Watching Valentina, who was now completely carried away, Herbert abruptly brought up his ultimate objective.
"Then, as long as you stop swearing from now on, I'll bring you food regularly. How does that sound?"
"Mm-hmm... huh?"
Before you continue