Now that I had secured a room where I could masturbate whenever I wanted, it was time to gather information.

"Also, I’d really appreciate it if you could introduce me to some work. These clothes are borrowed, so I need money to buy my own and some travel funds."

"I understand. I’ll ask the council members if there are any workshops looking for apprentices."

*Gurgle.*

I wondered what the sound was, then realized it was Iferasky’s stomach rumbling.

*Gurgle.*

My own stomach followed suit. Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. The only things I’d put in my mouth were Iferasky’s piss and the small amount of thick cheese from between Rafilia’s legs.

"Pardon me. You were attacked by bandits, weren’t you? You must be hungry and thirsty. Let me prepare something."

Thank you.

"Please let me suck on your tits."

"Eh?!"

"Eh?"

"W-what did you just...?"

"Oh, no. Since you’re offering me a meal, I was just saying thanks... Does ’thank you’ mean something else here?"

"Ah, no. I’m sorry. My hearing must have failed me for a moment."

"Ah, no. I’d like to lick your tits."

Please don’t mind me.

"Eh?!"

"Eh?"

"...?"

For some reason, Rafilia covered her chest with both arms. Did she just read my inner thoughts?

*Gurgle...*

*Gurgle...*

Iferasky’s and my stomachs began singing in chorus.

"I-I’ll prepare the meal, so please wait a little in the assembly seats."

"Okay."

After moving to the assembly seats and waiting a few minutes, Rafilia came to call me.

We left the church once and moved to another small building on the grounds.

It was probably the house where Rafilia lived.

In the center of the room was a foldable table with soup, bread, and fried eggs prepared.

How did I know the table was foldable? Because when Rafilia, who was sitting across from me, put her breasts on the table, it tilted...

It might be bad manners, but I decided to eat with my elbows on the table. Even if the table hadn’t tilted, I probably would have leaned forward anyway just to get a closer look at Rafilia’s huge tits, so elbows on the table was inevitable.

The tableware consisted of wooden plates and a metal knife. The tip was pointed, so it could be used for stabbing. Many history websites and works of fiction say "there were no forks in medieval Europe," but that’s misleading.

In certain regions and cultures, people ate with their hands. Or the spread of forks was delayed due to religious reasons or immature hygiene concepts. That’s the correct view.

It’s not that tools equivalent to forks didn’t exist at all.

The misunderstanding probably spread when people added their own interpretations and exaggerated it, leading to the claim that forks hadn’t even been invented in medieval Europe.

Obviously, just as Japanese toddlers can figure out how to stab with chopsticks, the act of "stabbing" is simple and anyone can think of it. Of course medieval Europeans could too. It’s impossible that people who could skillfully scoop hot soup with a spoon would suddenly become idiots when eating pork and just grab it with their juice-covered fingers.

Wealthy people might roast a whole pig, but commoners would cut the pork into pieces, skewer them, and grill them. The idea that they would then remove the meat from the skewer and eat it with their hands is just underestimating medieval people too much.

Medieval people had the intelligence to realize that putting a dick in a pussy feels good, so of course they could invent utensils that are used by stabbing.

However, there is one mystery.

There’s a theory that forks began to spread in the late Middle Ages, but the surviving historical forks are two-pronged. Why were forks at that time two-pronged? Later, forks evolved and three-pronged ones, like the ones common in Japan, became mainstream.

I have one hypothesis.

At first, it was just a single stick for stabbing. People skewered caught fish and grilled them, and did the same with animal meat.

The act of skewering is a metaphor for insertion into a pussy — it’s human instinct itself.

Humans, who originally inserted for reproduction, eventually learned the pleasures of sex and began playing with the anus.

There’s no doubt that the two-pronged fork is a metaphor for insertion into both the pussy and the anus.

And the third prong... doesn’t that represent the urethra?

After the pussy and anus, humanity discovered the possibility of developing the urethra and made the fork three-pronged—

Could it be that male sexual preferences unconsciously influenced the shape of stabbing utensils?

—Which means...

In this world, they’re using knives in place of forks, so anal sex might not be known yet. That could be why Rafilia didn’t understand the term "anal rose."

Generally speaking, isn’t the reason female knights have weak anuses because they don’t know about anal sex or anal masturbation? Because they don’t know tools for attacking two holes, their anuses are weak?

I’ll have to verify someday whether making female knights use two-pronged forks will strengthen their anuses.

"Um... Masaharu-san. You’re making a very serious face... Is the food not to your liking...?"

"Ah, no, sorry. I was just contemplating the historical evolution of tableware..."

"My, how interesting. If you don’t mind, could you tell me about it?"

"No, it’s just that my sage mode ran out halfway through..."

"Sage mode?"

"Ah, I’ll tell you about it someday."

"Yes. I’ll look forward to it. Sorry, please continue eating."

"Okay."

The fried eggs were about the size of Rafilia’s areolas. The egg white was the areola, and the yolk was the nipple. Well, comparing a nipple to a yolk might be a stretch, but they were pretty big. From now on, every time I eat fried eggs, I’ll probably remember Rafilia’s massive breasts. I want to see them raw again someday. I occasionally hear chickens crowing outside, so she probably keeps them in the yard.

The soup tasted like freeze-dried low-sodium soup that had been made even lower in sodium with all the ingredients removed. It had a slight thickness. Probably cabbage or onion scraps simmered for a long time. It didn’t seem like something prepared in just a few minutes, so maybe they had a large batch stocked. From the smell, there might be chopped garlic in it too.

The bread was black bread. The kind you occasionally see in Japanese supermarkets that carry foreign foods. The wild type made with just rye and salt. The kind where sourness shoots up into your nose the moment you put it in your mouth. The one I was eating now probably didn’t even have salt in it.

Just like how more Japanese people started eating barley rice during the health food boom, black bread apparently became more popular in Europe too. As a result, import shops in Japan started carrying it, but because it doesn’t suit Japanese tastes, sales usually stagnate and there’s rarely a second shipment... That kind of black bread.

Honestly, it wasn’t good.