The Crimson General Desires no Prince! (GL)
Chapter 28 - 26: Their First Date (VI)

Chapter 28: Chapter 26: Their First Date (VI)

Chapter 26: Their First Date (VI)

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Main Road: Food District

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Onto the journey of their date, the first thing on the list that they decided to do was-

List #10: Try the Street Foods in the City.

The morning sun cast long, golden fingers through the gaps in the tall wooden stalls, the marketplace alive with the energy of traders and townsfolk. The air was thick with the scent of roasting meats, fresh herbs, and the earthy fragrance of ripe fruit. A clamor of voices filled the space, haggling, laughing, and shouting above the thrum of busy activity.

A woman in a bright yellow shawl passed by a butcher’s stall, where a burly man with a beard the color of smoke was expertly carving a boar’s haunch.

"Are you going to order some fruits for your wife?" The woman in the shawl asked the butcher.

The butcher shakes his head, his wife has already ordered from another fruit vendor so they don’t need more fruits. "No need! We still have some fruit leftover, I’ll call you if we need some more."

The sizzling sound of it hitting the fire was almost drowned out by the calls of another vendor, a wizened old elf with silver hair, who sold dried mushrooms and rare spices. He leaned over the edge of his counter, whispering to a curious child, "That there? Moonshade mushroom, picked at midnight, brings luck to those who eat it."

A little further along, a group of dwarven traders had set up a stall piled high with golden loaves of bread, their crusts crackling as steam rose from them in the cool morning air. The smell was intoxicating.

A plump baker with rosy cheeks was handing out samples to a line of eager customers, her apron dusted with flour as she grinned widely, "Best bread in the kingdom, I promise you, none else comes close!"

At the far corner of the market, a massive tank of water bubbled with the movement of squirming fish, their silvery scales glinting in the sunlight. A fisherman, his face withered and wrinkled from years on the lake, hawked his catch to a group of soldiers lounging nearby. "Fresh as the morning! A fish for a silver, or a dozen for a gold, you won’t find a better deal, I swear!"

A juggler spun oranges in the air, their skins glinting like tiny suns, while a wandering wizard, his cloak a patchwork of bright colors, handed out small glass vials filled with glowing golden honey, claiming they were enchanted to improve one’s digestion.

"Wow! There’s lots of food to choose from!" The princess doesn’t hesitate to look around and smell the different cuisines available. How wonderful that she can get to experience the food district of the capital city of her kingdom. "And so many kinds of people gathered around at the capital."

She turns to see merchants of elves and dwarves. Princess Camille always sees their races in a few private parties, only the nobles ones though- it’s refreshing to see them bustling in the capital city too.

Meanwhile Rowan was too busy drooling over the grilled meat that was on one vendor.

"Mm, they have a variety of meat and fresh fish most likely caught from a nearby lake. The smell of them cooking is heavenly."

Princess Camille, seeing Rowan’s drooling and hungry face, chuckled and wondered what this girl liked to eat. "What kind of foods are you into, General Rowan?"

Rowan turns to the princess slowly wiping her drool away, answering with a straight face. "Meat, I love roasted chicken, fried pork, beef steak medium rare, fillet fish drizzled with lemon... and um anything that has meat in it I suppose."

"Quite the meat lover I see." (Princess Camille) thought that her love for meat sort of fits the heroine’s character. Even in the original game she was well known to be a meat lover, thank goodness that hasn’t changed.

"When I was in the front lines, meat was rather scarce. I missed it very much even though we were hunting, when there was nothing to catch we would often starve. One time we tried cooking meat on our own- it didn’t taste too good because we ran out of spices to put it in, none of the soldiers in my battalion know how to cook well and our Military Chef got injured. It took a while for him to get replaced." There were days when the great human-demon war got too much and food shortage happened, a few soldiers got desperate and ate some of their weak horses just to survive.

Rowan couldn’t tell the princess of her dark past.

"Hmm... I guess now that we’re talking about cooking I know how to cook. I would like to get to know what kind of palate General Rowan has so that I can cook for you every morning." (Princess Camille) closes her eyes for a second, imagining herself as the perfect housewife anyone could ask for.

There was this silly cliche that she always watched in slice-of-life anime of a married couple, you know where the husband comes home and the wife acts all cute and asks, ’Would you have a bath, dinner or perhaps me?’

If she did that to Rowan, what kind of expression would she make?

"H-Her highness, you can cook?" The general was surprised.

Princess Camille crosses her eyes nodding with a smile, understanding Rowan for thinking that she can’t cook. Hell even in the palace’s kitchen she wasn’t allowed inside, she was missing some of the food she ate back home in Japan- this European like kingdom didn’t have rice in their diet.

"Yep! In my past life I was always helping mom to cook since she does her best working as a freelance illustrator online and my dad was a salaryman that goes home really late. I handled the cooking." She proudly stated.

Somehow hearing that only made Rowan fall even more deeper. The independent princess, she can’t wait to try some of the food that she cooked in her past life.

"A-Amazing! I... forgot that you lived another life. What’s a freelance illustrator and a salaryman?"

"If you want I’ll tell you all about it when we get to your home, General Rowan but for now-"

Ding!

[Notifiation: Heroine is happy. She got to know more about the princess].

[Lover Meter Full].

[Happiness Meter Full].

"Let’s enjoy our date."

Princess Camille took the lead on the date, she doesn’t mind and it helps to know that they at least have a plan. They bought some chicken skewers from a food stall that smelled good, "Mm! This skewered meat is really good! It’s doused in some special sauce and it was only two silvers a piece."

From the way the meat looked you would think it was burnt, but that was only the sauce- the meat was quite tender and juicy.

"You’re right... The capital city’s food district is good. I would like twenty more of these please but you wrap it to go, miss?" (Rowan) took out some money from her pouch, counting the silver coins until she got the right amount.

The stall vendor who notices the bright red hair on her head, she squints her eyes trying to make sure if she was right. "I know who you are! You’re the great crimson general that defeated the demon lord!" Her voice was a little too loud.

All the other store vendors noticed her presence, beginning to gossip and smile.

"So it’s true? The great crimson general actually came to visit the capital city? Do you think the girl beside her is the crown princess?" One old woman whispers to her friend.

Her friend was quick to respond. "Indeed rumors have it that she refused to marry any of the princes offered by the king. I’m not sure if it was true but have you ever heard of a woman choosing another woman? That’s utter hogwash- surely that rumor that’s going around is nothing but someone trying to smear dirt on the great crimson general’s name."

The relations of the same sexes were seen as something: Unruly, disgusting and just unnatural for others.

However, seeing that the kingdom of Polestin once had a King who would take in both women and men for his harem... now they see it as somehow ’tolerable’ for a change.

An old man hearing this couldn’t help but groan. Such ignorance, don’t they know that this type of thing is quite normal? "Ay- you don’t know what happens in military ya old hags. Things like that are normal- hell my cousin in fort gay became well... gay."

Rowan swallows the lump forming in her throat, being forced to reveal herself because of her red hair. "A-Ah yes, that’s me. It is nice to meet you. I am the crimson general, General Rowan Bonheur."

"I knew it! I think you’re the only red head I’ve ever seen in Polma City! This is on me! Please take it, no need to pay!" She grins happily- flipping over the cooked meat, the war is over thanks to this girl she was very thankful for her great leadership and sacrifices.

Rowan waves her hand around feeling embarrassed, she nervously takes the coins in her hand offering it to the vendor. "No, no! You don’t have to give me free food. I can pay you, this is a lot of meat that I’ll be taking."

It was indeed a lot.

The street vendor laughs, honestly any other people in the capital would’ve taken this for free. "Nonsense, you saved our kingdom and the least we could do is feed our hero. Come on now, I’ll get your meat ready and wrapped. I won’t take no for an answer."

"T-Thank you."

With a last thank you, the stall vendor got to work cooking her requested meat.