Adelheid Chapter 10 Part 1: The Day of Creation Banquet

William von Vuldar only had an artificial resemblance to their father, Albrecht. The only thing that could be said to be similar between father and son was the characteristic steel gray eyes of the Vuldar Imperial Family and the blond hair, but William's was a tad darker. Aside from that, they looked nothing alike!

While Albrecht had a face that seemed to be carved out of stone, William's face was soft and delicate. Let alone an aura journeyman, who had the strength to defeat a hundred men, he looked like the type of person who never even held a knife before.

The only thing that looked out of place was that stern expression.

Adelheid pondered how to interact with this brother of hers. Both of them were currently sitting on a long sofa with a table separating them in a lounge. Behind Adelheid were here her two maids, Matilda and Sofia, while William had a single butler standing behind his sofa.

There was a tense silence between the two siblings as neither of the two siblings spoke. Half an hour had already passed since the two met, and the three servants were already beginning to worry for the two imperials.

Clack

The sound of Adelheid placing her teacup back onto the saucer resounded noticeably throughout the room.

'Brother, are you not the older one? Should you not speak first? Plus, you should have met the original princess before she fell into a coma, so what's with the strange silence?' Adelheid complained internally, but seeing that it wouldn't do for the silence to continue, Adelheid attempted to break the ice. 'Even though William is said to have gone to the battlefield and killed, I should be mentally older.'

"Brother, I heard from Farther that you've made plenty of accomplishments at the border," Adelheid said, testing the waters.

It was as if a switch had been flipped for William as his stern expression melted and was replaced with an excited smile, making him look a few years young than his actual age. Even those cold steel gray eyes of the Vuldar Imperial Family seemed to sparkle. "Of course, you're big brother is a genius! I easily slaughtered those beasts. How could the barbaric beastkin compare to the Vuldar Empire?"

Adelheid sipped her tea as she listened to William go on and on. She could tell that William inherited at least one of Albrecht's traits. Unfortunately, it was Albrecht's ability to talk nonstop once he got excited.

"Lemme tell you, soon, the Beast Kingdom will be annexed into the Vuldar Empire, and then we will take our place as the strongest superpower!" William gestured with his hands, not that he needed anything else to show off his excitement. The sheer exuberance in his voice told all.

'Yeah, I do not think that the other countries will standby and watch us swallow another superpower, especially the Holy Seraph Kingdom and Principality of Alvarius.' Adelheid thought in her head. She had learned of the delicate power balance between the strongest superpowers with her lesson with the governess.

"I almost forgot," William turned towards his butler. "Baldwin, take out the souvenirs I brought for Addie!"

"You will not mind if I call you Addie, will you?" William stopped and asked once he realized that he had called Adelheid a term of endearment.

Adelheid accepted it as she did not particularly think there was anything wrong with siblings calling each other by nickname. "I hope you do not mind if I call you by Willliam then, dear brother."

William's reply was the biggest and most innocent smile Adelheid had ever seen.

Baldwin, William's butler, was a man in his late teens and had blue eyes and short, coffee-colored hair. In Adelheid's opinion, he looked like a male version of Sofia in terms of atmosphere. "Your Highness, are you sure you want to gift that to Her Highness?"

William gave his butler a questioning look as if asking why he was asking something so simple. "Of course. I collected them as gifts once I h heard my little sister was awake."

Adelheid's ears perked up. 'Now that I think about it, I have not received any gifts since I woke up. I received many things, but those were items I would receive due to my status, and Albrecht only gifts me items for some purpose, like in preparation for the Creation Celebration at the start of the new year.'

Even back on Earth, the only times Adelheid had received presents was when her parents had yet to depart. From then on, no one cared to give her anything without ulterior motives—not her caretakers, not her teachers, her fellow students, and certainly not her business partners.

So when the seventh princess heard that William specifically brought a souvenir back for her, she felt her heart move. Adelheid had some misgivings on whether the intentions behind the gift were pure or not, but from her observation, she couldn't detect any falsehoods from William. 'If he is sincere, I'll treat him gentler when I ascend the throne. At least better than Albrecht.'

Baldwin left the lounge and returned shortly after. He was carrying a tray with a white cloth covering it. He placed it in front of Adelheid and then pulled the white cloth off, revealing a claw about three centimeters long. The claw was black and slightly cracked, and there were crimson flakes at the point and end of it.

Adelheid didn't hide her confused expression at all.

"It took me by surprise too, you know," William said as he leaned onto the back of the couch with a proud expression. "I never expected a prince of the Beast Kingdom to be stationed at the border."

Then William sighed with regret. "I forced him to beastify, but I only managed to cut off his arm. If I managed to kill him, I could have given you a fang instead."

Beast transformation was a unique skill that powerful beastkin could utilize. Once they transformed, the beastkin would resemble a humanoid beast, gaining power far greater than before. The current king of the Beast Kingdom was a lion beastkin, and there were rumors that his son happened to be a rarely-seen mutated griffon beastkin.

"Why are you giving a trophy from your battle, though?" The seventh princess asked, absolutely baffled.

"I know, I know!" Matilda excitedly interjected, her eyes shining.

On Adelheid's other side, Sofia suppressed a vein that was threatening to form as she glared at her fellow maid. It was fine to be exuberant privately, but this was the first time the princess met her brother!

Adelheid gestured for Matilda to explain after making sure William was okay with it.

"I forgot, you are only seven this year, almost eight, so it is no wonder that you do not know about this old tradition," William said as he lamented at his folly.

"Princess, the act of a man giving a battle trophy is an act of confession!" Matilda said, starry-eyed as she spread out her arms.

"Hah?" Adelheid looked at the claw on the tray and then at William. 'I know that some royal and imperial families practiced incest, such as the Tudors, but a brother confessing to his sister is still out of line, right? Plus, He's seventeen, while I'm only seven!

Thankfully, there was the knowledgeable Sofia and Baldwin to clear the misunderstanding created by Matilda. Yeah, Sofia couldn't stop herself and hammered the flaxen-haired maid's head with her fist.

As it turns out, the tradition originated from before the Vuldar Empire or Kingdom even existed, back to when the nation was still but a rather large tribe. To show that he valued his family, a warrior would often present a trophy from his battle as a physical representation. The receivers of such gifts were often family members. The cases of the betrothed receiving such gifts were rare. At one point, many powerful families passed down the most treasured trophy of their founder as a sign of inheritance.

Matilda mistakenly believed that the act of giving a battle trophy as an act of love was due to a recent phenomenon. Thanks to a famous novel after the founding of the Vuldar Empire, the main character, a brave knight, present a trophy from his battle to his beloved. Due to this, the act of presenting a battle trophy became an act of confession and became something all young ladies wanted to experience. However, the original practice was something only older families with roots in the origin of the Vuldar Empire did.

After the misunderstanding was finally cleared up, Adelheid accepted William's gift. While Adelheid pondered on what she should do with the claw, William continued to talk.

"I heard that you are taking magic lessons with the court mage, Mr. Redland," William said as his eyes blatantly expressed his interest. "How is it?"

"It's a slow process," Adelheid replied, but if any other aspiring mage were to hear her words, they would begin to question their existence. Adelheid's talent and skill allowed her to progress faster than any before her. If she said it was slow, then a normal mage's progress was not as fast as a snail's pace. "However, I should be able to cast my first spell after the new year's celebration."

"I see," William said, but then he sighed as he looked at Adelheid with slight jealousy. "Truthfully, I tried to learn magic too, but my instructor said I have no talent in the field. You are so lucky. I wish I were talented in magic as well."

"It's not all bad. Perhaps in exchange for my magical talent, my talent in aura is abysmal. I've trained for almost a year now, but I still have not become an aura novice." Adelheid comforted.

"If I could trade my ability to use aura for magic, I would do so in a heartbeat." William sighed. "Compared to the might of magic, aura practitioners can only play a small role on the battlefield."

'Definitely a sorcerer-type mage.' Adelheid thought.

"Sometimes, I envy you," William said. "You inherited the magical talent of elves, while my mother was just a common noblewoman, who married Father for political purposes."

"Are you not in contact with your mother's family?" Adelheid asked as she took a sip of tea to hide her frown. She had heard that both of Albrecht's wives died due to childbirth, which she found strange in a world where magical healing was possible.

"No, there is no real point in associating at this point. They still hold a marquis title, but none of them possess any strong influences." William explained.

Adelheid gave an affirmative sound. As someone who wanted to enact vengeance on her uncle's family from her previous life, she had no right to judge William's attitude towards his mother's family.

While the two continued to talk, with Adelheid mostly asking about the border situation. She wanted to discover some of William's power base, but she didn't want to make it too obvious. Even if William didn't notice, she was not certain his sharp-eyed butler wouldn't.

Just as William was sharing his knowledge on the weaknesses of the beastkin, a knock could be heard on the door. The source of the knock was Alfred, Albrecht's butler, who had come to inform the two of them that the second prince was awaiting their attendance for dinner.

With the addition of one more person, the seating was changed so that Albrecht sat at the head of the table with William on his right and Adelheid's on William's right.

"So good! I have never had such interesting food before. To get meat this crispy, it would have had to been burnt and would taste acrid." William said after he tasted a piece of breaded pork cutlet.

The fourth prince then used a spoon to sip some soup. The soup was clear with no garnishes or extras, just broth. The liquid had a slight golden tint but was otherwise transparent. "Amazing! The broth is clear like water, but I can taste so much flavor."

It had surprised the seventh princess that bone broth soup was not a popular item, but she was no longer surprised after tasting them. Bone broth soup was something the common people created to utilize all parts of an animal.

Perhaps because of the aristocracy's disdain for vegetables, the original bone broth soup only used bone itself and salt as flavorings. In addition, the marrow was left inside, so it gave the broth a metallic taste.

Adelheid's revision didn't account for much. She just told the chef to remove the marrow and add vegetables during the simmering process, which did a world of wonders. Maybe some chefs had already thought of a method, but it never became popular until Adelheid did it.

"And this bone butter, as you called it, it is amazing, too!" William used a dull knife to scoop out some marrow from a plate and spread it out on a piece of bread. "It is rich, creamy, and utterly delectable! Much better than regular butter!"

Adelheid didn't waste the bone marrow either. It was also not a popular ingredient since the blood contained within gave it a metallic taste, the reason bone broth soup tasted the way it did.

To get rid of the blood inside the marrow, Adelheid had the chefs soak it in chilled salted water overnight. Only then did they remove the marrow and use the bone for the bone broth soup. To cook the marrow, they were placed in a baking bowl in the oven after seasoning with salt, pepper, and herbs.

The seventh princess had wanted to cook them in the bone after cutting lengthwise, but the kitchen simply did not have the necessary tool for a clean cut. According to Head Chef Wolfgang, it would have required a mithril knife.

Adelheid had also wanted to experiment with truffles, but no one knew what truffle was. Thinking about it logically, nobles disdained vegetables, so it was no wonder that they would disdain a fungus that was buried in the soil even more.

"Addie, you're really amazing. It'd be great if you could create a recipe for rations. Then the war would be half won! Haha!" William laughed goodheartedly.

"I will think about it," Adelheid seemingly rejected, but she was really pondering on William's request.

William's request was something every official in the Vuldar Empire wished for. Unlike the other superpowers, the Vuldar Empire had the largest standing army, and food was a significant concern during wars.

The food of nutrients needed to feed per day was astronomical. For every legion, a good portion of the soldiers' sole duty was to transport food. However, aside from grain that could be used to cook pottage, the only other form of nutrients were dried meat and fruits. More often than not, the army would have to hunt whenever possible, which was half the reason why armies raided.

Even with the Vuldar Empire's might, it was an impossible feat to sustain an army on the march for long.

There was another problem with the soldiers' rations aside from the sheer amount required, and that was flavor. The empire had trouble feeding a legion for an extended period of time, so they ignored the taste factor. An army marches on its stomach, so morale would undoubtedly dip if they get sick and tired of their food.

The first thing the seventh princess thought about when thinking of rations was canned food, but mass production was impossible with the current technology of the era, even with magic. However, there was another extremely tasty and long-lasting food that could work just as well: instant noodles.

I remember eating them so much I got sick of them for years during my college years. It was a food that Adelheid was infinitely familiar with. The nutrient value was low, but just the taste should be a hundred times better than the flavorless pottage that the troops ate during wars.

However, Adelheid had no plans of 'inventing' instant noodles for now. First of all, it was unknown whether she would be able to benefit or not from introducing instant noodles. More likely than not, someone else would snatch it from her and benefit instead. If she were going to make instant noodles, it would have to benefit her.

Second, she didn't have the time nor human resources to spare for such a large project. Adelheid wanted to gather her own power base before undertaking a world-changing project such as altering the army rations.

To say the introduction of instant noodles would revolutionize war would not be an understatement. Instant ramen was lightweight and easy to carry. Not only that, but it can be preserved for years, and the soup base is just as easy to preserve. Although the seventh princess didn't know how to create the powder base, evaporating all the water in a soup was an easy alternative.

Adelheid shook her head. She had to stop thinking about it. Right now, she had other things to worry about, so she should not waste time on meaningless things.

"Addie, are you okay?" William asked with worry seeing Adelheid going silent.

Adelheid blinked before shaking her head. "No, it is nothing. I was just thinking about the Day of Creation Celebration happening next week."

"I see. It should be your first time participating. It is no wonder you would be curious." Albrecht interjected from the side after sipping some wine.

"I have not participated in one yet?" Adelheid asked with an unnoticeable frown.

"Of course not. You were too young and immature before your com—sleep." Albrecht changed words midway so fast, Adelheid thought she had misheard it.

Ignoring Albrecht's near blunder, Adelheid remembered that she was still only seven years old, eight on the first day of the new year. Commonly, a noble scion's social debut would only happen around when they were twelve years of age unless they were exceptionally gifted.

Abrecht stared into Adelheid's eyes and spoke with stern words. "Adelheid, I know that the Day of Creation is your birthday, but remember that the Day of Creation Banquet is first and foremost a national holiday. So do not harbor any hope that it will be special for you alone."

Adelheid nodded. She didn't expect anything less, but William couldn't help but frown. "Father, that is a bit cold-blooded, is it not? This is Addie's first birthday since waking up. Can the emperor really not make an exception this once?"

Albrecht shook his head negatively. "You already know the emperor's temperament. The empire comes first."

William sighed with regret. Then he suddenly looked at Adelheid and winked, much to her confusion. After winking, William turned towards Albrecht. "Father, how are Antonia and Alexander? Will they appear at the banquet?"

Albrecht's knife and fork paused in their movements and glanced at William. "Son, I have told you countless times, forget about the two. Associating with either will do you no good."

"But father, as members of the Vuldar Imperial Family, they should be contributing to the empire and not lazing around," William said, the first time Adelheid had seen him have a different opinion than Albrecht.

"Listen to me. No good will come from having them contribute to the empire." Albrecht said with a tone of finality that shut any more words William wanted to say. The second prince resumed his meal but stopped and then looked at Adelheid. "Adelheid, you should be careful around the fourth princess and fifth prince, especially the fifth prince."

Adelheid nodded and gracefully accepted Albrecht's advice. That advice stuck to her for the rest of the week and all the way to the Day of Creation Banquet.

As always, the Day of Creation always occurred on Lightday, just as the Day of Destruction always occurred on the last day of the Month of Darkness. Unlike the other months, the Month of Darkness only had twenty-seven days.