Is comparing people to animals a breach of etiquette?
I often think about this seriously, and every time I conclude, ‘It could be, or it might not be.’
If you compare someone to a pig, of course, they’ll feel offended. That’s basically saying they’re fat. Cows aren’t a great comparison either.
For horses, there are many instances where it’s used for the face, so that’s definitely out, and the same goes for ‘dogs.’ Usually, when calling someone a dog, only negative images come to mind. If you want to say they’re cute, it’s better to call them a puppy, or at least add ‘looks like’ in front of it.
Then what about hamsters?
Hamsters are cute. Honestly, they’re cute no matter what they do. Even if they bite a person’s hand, their round and adorable appearance doesn’t change.
But… at the same time, there’s a vibe of being greedy and gluttonous. The way they stuff their cheeks full of food and chew away looks cute but also makes them seem a bit silly and greedy.
And I was thinking this while looking at Mia sitting in front of me.
How should I put it… Is it that she has a big appetite? When I see her stuff her cheeks with various food and munch away, I can’t help but think of hamsters.
But then again, I wonder if hamsters exist here. They might exist in some form, but like other beasts, that hamster could potentially use some explosion magic or something.
Why explosion magic? Well… because that’s just the image it gives off, right? It looks like it’s about to pop with all that stuff in its cheeks!
“Don’t they get to eat stuff like this in Crowfield?”
I slid the dessert plate in front of Mia while I spoke.
“Oh, yes!”
Since I suddenly started talking, Mia quickly responded without realizing I had pushed the plate forward. There was a slight delay in her response; it seems she was busy munching on various things in her mouth.
“There’s no café selling desserts like this in Crowfield.”
“Crowfield is right on the border with Velbur, isn’t it?”
Charlotte, sitting next to Mia, asked in surprise.
“I thought some dishes would be influenced by Velbur cuisine.”
Alice shot a glance at Charlotte as she proudly proclaimed, “Velbur food is definitely tastier than imperial food.”
Right now, we were sitting in that café we often visited during the semester.
Since the academy runs on a boarding system, all the students moved their stuff to the dorms a few days prior. Generally, students who live far from the capital tend to arrive early. In this era, apart from trains and airships, other means of transportation don’t guarantee reliability. There are cars, but not every area of the capital has paved roads.
In fact, for Charlotte, there’s a train running from Velbur to the capital, so she didn’t need to come early.
But did she arrive early because she wanted to see her friends?
She’d never admit to that, though.
“Ah, well…”
Mia rolled her eyes slightly and said.
It might be a bit uncomfortable for her to think about the fact that Crowfield used to be part of Velbur territory. The existence of Velbur cuisine signifies not just a border influence but rather the fact that “it was originally Velbur territory.”
“My mother focuses on her business…”
Crowfield has industrialized to a degree. Apparently, there are some factories.
But that factory? It’s a morphine factory.
Since the topic of opium is still well-hidden, I have no idea how much is produced, but even the legal drug morphine is more than enough to keep Crowfield alive.
And in that way, as an ‘industrialized’ place, the economy for common folks has totally crashed.
When I say the economy for common folks has crashed, it means there are almost no cafés like this. Although this café isn’t exactly somewhere regular commoners can drop by every week, its prices are reasonable enough that middle-class commoners can visit from time to time.
This café doesn’t sell food at insane prices and only cater to nobles; instead, it operates by maximizing its profits from the occasional visits of commoners. I’m sure having someone of royal blood like us patronizing is a huge help since regular citizens can say, “I’ve eaten where the royals eat.”
But that works only if there’s a relatively large population.
In places like Crowfield, where there’s a smaller population, it’s hard for a café in such an ambiguous position to blossom. It either turns very upscale selling only to nobles or ends up selling cheap, low-quality food, splitting like this.
Naturally, Mia wouldn’t be able to eat ‘food like this.’
It’s difficult enough to enjoy decent meals. Whenever there’s a lot of food, it tastes absolutely awful, and all the gourmet food comes out slowly, like just ‘a bite’ or ‘a spoonful’ at a time.
“Ah…”
Charlotte, hearing Mia’s words, seemed to realize that fact and kindly patted Mia’s arm.
Then she pushed the slice of cake that had been sitting untouched in front of her toward Mia.
Mia looked a bit embarrassed by Charlotte’s gesture but didn’t refuse.
“By the way, it seems Claire and Leo haven’t entered the dorms yet.”
“They’ll probably come in on the day of the entrance ceremony. Their home is nearby, after all.”
“I’m a bit envious that you get to attend an academy so close to home.”
At Alice’s words, Charlotte smiled bitterly and replied.
“How about Velbur? Is there an academy like this?”
“Actually, there aren’t. There’s a similar place that teaches some noble kids, but nothing of this scale. There are universities, but those places aren’t for kids our age.”
“I see…”
“In fact, even without going to another country, such academies are quite rare. Across the empire, the academies are few and far between, and among those, the only ones as systematic as this one are in the Theoridarium Academy.”
“…”
As my words finished, both Mia and Charlotte’s gazes fell on me.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
As I saw the suddenly silent duo, I asked like that, to which Charlotte and Mia exchanged glances before looking back at me.
“When exactly did you start speaking so casually to Alice?”
Whether Charlotte was the representative of the two or not, she directly asked me that.
“Ah, we mutually agreed to drop the formalities during last break.”
“…Is that so?”
Charlotte tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Then why do you still use formal language with me and Mia?”
“Well, that’s because both of you are still using formal language with me.”
“Is it… is that how it works?”
Guess it is!
It seems like they’re thinking about getting me to drop the formalities too, but unfortunately, I’m not ready to do that with them yet.
It’s a bit… uncomfortable to use informal language while they are still using formal language.
And it seems my explanation left them without much to counter with.
Looking at Alice’s slightly proud expression, I felt somewhat incredulous, but—
“Oh, there they are!”
Claire’s voice rang out.
Waving from the terrace on the first floor of the café, Claire bounded over to us.
“I heard Charlotte was here, so I thought maybe you were all gathered here, and— voilà!”
“Long time no see, Claire.”
“Have you been well?”
“Yep, it’s been a while. And I’ve been well.”
“Both of you, it’s been a while too.”
Claire greeted Charlotte and Mia in turn, and behind her, Leo followed, a bit late, to say hello.
“Oh, by the way. Sylvia.”
“Hmm?”
As Claire was greeting everyone, Alice suddenly spoke up to me.
“Oh, that’s… no, wait. I was going to say something, but I can’t remember.”
“…What? Why toss that at me like that?”
I thought she might bring up something related to Claire, but an out-of-character line came from her.
Well, Alice babbling like this could be a sign that she’s comfortable around me now.
With a shrug, I turned my head back to Claire, only to be taken aback.
Claire was staring at me, completely frozen.
“Sister.”
“Yes?”
“Nehe???”
Ah, I’ve heard that tone somewhere.
It’s exactly how it was when seniors reacted with ‘Huh?’ instead of saying ‘I didn’t hear you’ back in the army. That kind of tone, ‘Nehe↗!?’
“…What’s the matter?”
“’What’s the matter!’?!”
Claire was outraged as if my words struck a nerve. People passing by turned to look at us.
Um, why is this happening?
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