An unexpected present was brought to us
“Well, Hart’s present certainly led to a lot of discussion. But now it’s my turn. Is it ready now?”
“It is ready.”
Sebastian said with a bow.
“Alright, then can you bring it?”
“Certainly…”
Sebastian and a few of the guards and servants then left the grand hall.
Was it really big? Or were there a lot of them?
“Mr. Euto. What is it?”
“Enjoy the surprise… Well…I think you will enjoy it. Yes, Takumi will like it, but I’m not sure about Claire and the others.”
“Claire won’t like it…?”
“I am grateful that you even thought of getting us a gift…”
“Uh, well…Claire and the others might like it as well. I just don’t know if it will be immediate.”
We were quite puzzled by this, but waited there for the next few minutes.
And then Sebastian and the others returned while carrying something very large.
The servants each carried cylinders, while the guards carried one on each shoulder. While Sebastian and a few other servants carried smaller wooden boxes.
They looked rather heavy.
“Is that…”
The boxes and cylinders were laid heavily on the floor.
“Mr. Takumi…?”
“I have an idea…but perhaps it’s something completely different…”
“Yes, it’s what you are thinking, Takumi.”
The cylindrical things were wrapped in sacks made of straw.
Just like cases of rice.
“They are about half the size of the ones you would recognize, Takumi.”
“Yes, they are a little small… But, is this really what I think it is?”
If this was half the regular size, then it should be around thirty kilograms.
“Rice…I can eat rice then!”
“Mr. Takumi?”
I couldn’t help but raise a hand into the air and shout.
Claire looked at me with surprise. Leo tilted her head to the side in confusion.
“Wou…sniff-sniff. Wou?”
Leo sniffed the rice bags and then turned to me as if she had no idea why I was over-reacting.
Well, she never liked the stuff.
“Yes, yes. I expected you to react like this!”
“Hmmm. I have eaten it before, thanks Your Excellency, but it wasn’t really that special…”
So Mr. Ekenhart had eaten it too.
“Well…it cannot be helped with Takumi. It is very nostalgic…something that is part of his body and soul, I suppose…”
Uh, that was an exaggeration… I probably ate bread just as often.
Still, it was nostalgic. As I had not had it once since coming here.
Ms. Helena had made things like a risotto out of oatmeal and something similar to rice porridge. But it was not the same.
Not the same at all!
“Mr. Takumi, does it really make you so happy? Well, it is a gift, so it’s only natural to be happy. But…”