Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

"Your Majesties," Chef Mao performs a proper curtsy once more at the three of us. Behind him, his waitress and daughter are carrying trays of food. "First, allow me to express my gratitude for blessing Ms. Yao's child and offering her a future, Your Majesties. Life hasn't been good to her family these days, and the neighborhood cares for the pair a lot, and we're ashamed that we couldn't help her more."
Mom smiles gently, gesturing with a hand for Chef Mao. "I did not do much to warrant such respect from you, Chef Mao. The only thing I did was to give her and her child a chance. It will be her fight from here on out. That said, I find it curious why she didn't bring her child to a hospital. His ailment should have been easy to cure by someone with proper expertise."
To this, Chef Mao smiles wryly. "I think it's mostly because she's afraid of the treatment cost, Your Majesty. Given that some of us have only immigrated here, we're still not used to the medical system of the Reich."
"Ah, I think I understand now." The three of us frown, with Mom saying. "Scientific treatment may be costly, yes, but there are certain magic spells that can directly eliminate the ailments with little to no cost. While not every sickness can be ministered by magic, what I did earlier proved that the child's illness does have a magical cure. A cure that is also readily applicable for a token price, if not free, at medical facilities with a healer throughout the Reich. Yet, according to your words, Chef Mao, there exists a populace of immigrants who are confused about the Reich's medical system?"
Chef Mao nods deferentially. "I believe so, Your Majesty. I believe I speak for other immigrants that our people are afraid of visiting something as grand as a hospital. We tend to see them as a costly last resort, albeit a usually effective one, and prefer traditional medicine and techniques."
The Chef then looks toward his daughter. "Xiangling and I, due to the nature of our work, regularly visit the hospital for either health check-ups or burn treatments. We have since moved on from the misconceived notion that hospitals should be avoided at all costs, especially those in the Reich, as the costs are much more affordable to even the poorest among us. Yet, not all see things our way until they experience it for themselves, Your Majesty."
Hearing this, Mama Lu sighs as she props a hand on the table to support her chin. "Really, a surprising conundrum is revealed through a chance encounter. We can't have people confused over something as important as their health."
Mama then looks at Chef Mao. "Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, Chef Mao, as it's indeed an unfortunate oversight. Your contribution is noted and will be recognized when we launch initiatives that bring effective healthcare to everyone, including immigrants."
"Indeed, I will see to it that our public departments are more thorough in the handling of information for old and new immigrants." Mommy Hel adds, nodding seriously as well.
As for me, other than being an attentive listener, I do not offer any words, as, technically, this is a civil and internal matter. Public healthcare is something that falls squarely under the purview of Mama and Mom. It's a different tale, however, when the matter concerns the health and psychological treatment of soldiers and war veterans. Now that is something that needs the Reich Marshal's oversight. And while my observant silence is both understandable and a must, Mom still shows her appreciation to me by clasping my hand under the table, giving it a couple of gentle squeezes.
Chef Mao, hearing the assurance of the Twin Empresses, cups his hands together and offers his sincere gratitude.
"On behalf of our people, I thank Your Majesties for your generosity and kindness! Please, allow us the chance to serve you with our humble offerings! They're best eaten hot!"
"You may proceed, Chef." Mama Lu nods kindly.
"We are eager to taste your Chinese cuisine." Mommy Hel gives the Chef her trademark smile.
As Chef Mao presents the plates of food on the table, we see for ourselves that the current dishes are humble indeed, but in a good way. The chefs of Wanmin have taken the most common food type, meat stew, and elevated it to the peak of appearance and aroma. Fragrant and colorful, the meat stew in front of us is a tempting sight despite its coming from a common streetside diner.
"This is our Wanmin's beef and offal stew, served with oat breads. It's our best-selling dish, Your Majesties."
With the meat dish put on the table, earning nods from my mothers, it's the Chef's daughter who offers the second one.
"And this is Wanmin's boiled fish, Your Majesties!" The girl cheerily says. "It's a seasonal, and Wanmin's signature dish. Makes accordingly to the type of fresh fish we can procure from the daily market! And today, it's made from mackerel, served with rice!"
The girl's cheerfulness and the beautiful appearance of the big bowl of well-cooked mackerel inspire smiles to appear on all of us.
"You must be Xiangling then." I finally say something after a while. "Since you said this is the signature dish, I presume there's something special about it?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Xiangling eagerly nods. "Wanmin's boiled fish, contrary to the simple name, is made out of careful research for each specific fish the dish will use, according to the time period. This means that, depending on the fish, the burst and lasting flavors will hit differently as each fish species has a different method of preparation, oil content, texture, and cooking temperature, and so on...! Nonetheless, I swear by my name as Xiangling, I can guarantee that no matter the fish being used in the dish, the taste and feel are always guaranteed!"
I chuckle at that, feeling refreshed at the young Chef's infectious energy. "Alright, I'll bite. I can see that the food is rightfully cooked with passion. My thanks to you and your father for preparing such delectable food for my outing with my mothers."
Both Xiangling and Chef Mao bow. "It's an honour to serve, Your Majesties. Please, enjoy your meal."
And that we shall.
More than acceptable, the quality of the food is astounding for something out in the streets of Berlin. The stew is savory, made to warm up your body on a chilly night. The beef itself is soft, tender, and juicy, and the offal is the right kind of chewy that will keep you going back for more. There are vegetables in the stew, things like carrots, potatoes, and other spices that keep the nutritious balance and flavor of the dish in check. The oat bread is a nice bonus and a must-have to enjoy this stew, surprisingly, as its inherent mild sweetness and fluffy texture enhance the taste and feel in each bite of meat or vegetable. Eating the bread alone after dipping it in the sauce is also a nice moment of pleasure. Suffice to say, I enjoy the humble opening dish a lot, and so do my mothers. We also have a couple of moments of fun here and there as we either feed each other or very caringly wipe sauce that smeared our lips. Warm happiness all around, actually.
Thereafter, we move on to Wanmin's boiled fish with rice with a sense of anticipation. We are not big eaters, no, but after a tiring day and the beef stew earlier was portioned just small enough to wet our appetite for the main signature dish, we are more than capable of finishing the bowl of boiled fish and still have room for dessert. I first used a pair of chopsticks to pick the most delicious parts of the fish for my mothers, the parts where there aren't any bones. The three of us are momentarily captivated by the golden glint and steaming burst of aroma from the meat on my chopsticks. Ultimately, when we go on to actually eat the fish with a spoonful of rice and sauce, our eyes squint in delight as a constant stream of stimulating flavors melts on our tongues.
"Oh my..." Mom can't help but exclaim softly.
"Wow, this is even better than what I expected." Mama comments, nodding a few times after finishing her bites.
I also see this very common dish in a new light, not that I haven't viewed it favorably earlier. "I believe we have found a place to revisit in the future. If anything, the others should try this dish, at least once."
Mom smiles. "Maybe not all of us should go at once, for reasons known to all of us, but yes, this diner is a joy waiting to be shared. Perhaps on similar dates like this, when you or others prefer something simple and rustic but also very fulfilling?"
"So kinda the same food, same atmosphere, but different partners?" Mama chuckles. "Well, I somehow can see everyone enjoying this if we already are."
I grin. "Well, if even the Twin Empresses, who are the nobles of the household, like this place, then what does that say about the rest of us?"
Mama ruffles my hair at my tease. "Don't forget, Yuki, you're a Crown Princess first before a Marshal, and that makes you a noble as well."
Mom looks at our brief antic warmly. "Then does that make Wanmin royal-certified three times over, given that three royalties are now dining in it?"
"I believe so, Mom." I giggle, nodding at her question.
"If that's the case, we can order a commemorative plate of sorts then." Mama Lu ponders with a hand on her chin. "Give it to Wanmin, kinda like an endorsement."
Although the idea sounds great, I remind my mothers. "A quaint establishment like this may not be equipped to handle the fame from such a heavyweight review, though. Too many customers, they have to hire more hands. Too many hands, they risk diluting the soul of the brand. The word of mouth alone about us three dining here should be more than enough to catapult Wanmin to the top of the local tourist restaurants. That alone may be more than what Wanmin can handle regularly."
Not to be a narcissist, but that's just the weight of our names, really.
Mama thinks for a bit before nodding. "Yeah, you have a point, dear. Given that Wanmin may be a frequent destination, let's not bestow upon it a blessing that may very well be a crushing curse. Anyway, enough of that stuff, let's continue dining~!"
While it may be an abrupt topic shift, it can be argued that the remaining food on the table is just that much of an attraction for all of us. Afterward, we dine and chat about more mundane stuff, and some teasing here and there, perfectly encapsulating an atmosphere that blurs the line between a date and a family outing because, let's face it, we've grown past the point where the words family and lovers aren't enough to fully describe us. When we call for a checkout, I use the chance to order some takeout food as well.
Overall, Wanmin deserves a five-star rating for the great food and wonderful service. Most important of all, the place is clean and well-kept, something which will no doubt greatly reassure any customer.
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"It's a beautiful night..." Mobius flops down on her office chair, spinning it in its place as she stares listlessly at the ceiling in her basement's lab. "Who the hell am I kidding? It's just a blank roof."
Fixing the stray green strands on her head, Mobius sighs tiredly as she stops spinning the chair, making it stop in front of a cabinet that, unlike the others in her private lab, is stocked full of ready-to-eat meals instead of data folders and delicate instruments. With a practiced motion, Mobius picks something from the food stack that is both her guilty pleasure and her dependency for long research hauls. Which is to say, Mobius picks cup noodles.
The moment I see Mobius pick up the cup from the door I just opened, I move faster than the good doctor can react and yoink the instant noodle out of her fair fingers.
"Holy-!" Mobius jumps in her seat, her shock sending both the chair and her crashing against another laboratory desk with a bang. "Yuki! Where the hell did you come from!?"
I watch Mobius' flustered expression with mild amusement in my eye before tossing the cup noodle in my hand up and down. "I came through the door like any normal person would, what else?" I answer teasingly.
Mobius rolls her emerald eyes exasperatedly, but it's the one who is following behind me who answers in her stead.
"What Mobius meant is," Einstein steps to the kitchenette that Mobius got her cup noodle from and places some food bags on it. "How did you seize her cup noodle without her being able to react to your presence. It is a thirty-step distance from the door to here, after all."
"Well," I smirk. "If dear Mobius here wasn't so fixated on trying to get a dose of her junk food sneakily, our amour would have noticed the door to her basement opening."
Mobius huffs annoyedly, having been caught red-handed by Einstein and me. Yet, she quiets when I level her a disappointed gaze. "Really, Mobius, of all the food boxes with arguably more nutrients and that are made as simple as throwing them into the oven, you instead settled for instant noodles? I could have sworn I had Dreamer discard all cup noodles out of your reach. Don't tell me you specifically went out of the Mansion of Knowledge just for a noodle run in a nearby store?"
If anything, Mobius looking away with a blush is all the answer I need. I try my best to give her my 'disappointed parent' gaze, and that only causes her to squirm more. And while the way her bosom moves can be quite hypnotic, it doesn't change the fact that I need to supervise Mobius' nutritional intake, again.
"For someone who seeks biological evolution and infinity, you sure know how to fail in taking care of your body, Mobius." I put down the cup noodles on the desk. "It's not like you're ever short on funding, so you don't need to eat something like this to save money..."
"But it's convenient! Save me all the time and effort in having to put away a ton of trash, which is the empty food boxes! Instant noodle provides a nice pick-me-up effect as well!" Mobius tries to defend herself. "And the taste is just right for my palate!"
"As if an empty cup is any better than a food box. No matter how you cook it, instant noodles only provide you with an instant burst of energy; it's not supposed to fuel a month-long research effort!" I emphasize with finality. "And if I see you depending on just cup noodles again, I will ground your ass back home where you can kiss your research projects goodbye, am I clear?"
Mobius, seeing my stern gaze, gulps. "Crystal..."
I look at her for a full ten seconds before nodding with an exasperated sigh. "Seriously, when I first saw you, Mobius, I thought you were a prim and proper scientist, if a bit headstrong and direct..."
Einstein, who has been eating some popcorn, literally, while watching me chiding Mobius over some mundane business, finishes the sentence for me. "But then you see the Mobius of now, who is sloppy in certain areas despite being at the forefront of other things. Yes, it is an image that creates a sense of discord with your previously conceived notion."
"Uh, hey, I am still here, you two?" Mobius harrumps, standing up and walking over to us.
Without much preamble, Mobius hugs me from the front, resting most of her weight on me. Being a size smaller than her, I obviously can't withstand the buxom Mobius, so I have to rest my butt on the kitchenette behind us. Despite our earlier interaction, it's nothing but a familiar banter between the two of us. For all of her love for the junk food I introduced as a ration option for the military and civilian sectors, Mobius actually knows how to pace her consumption of the stuff. I only make a scene regularly because I both love to see her reactions and I genuinely want her to eat something that is almost certainly better than cup noodles.
"Yuki, I'm hungry." Mobius says with a cute yawn as my head is put to rest on her breasts. "Feed me something, will ya?"
I sigh before chuckling wryly. "Is this supposed to be you acting, or is that you're really in a low-power mode?"
"Why can't it be both?" Mobius lazily answers, sniffing a bit on my hair, which is, thankfully, well-maintained.
"You big, bad snake." I comment before reaching out for one of the bags that Einstein helped me carry here. "If you really are too lazy to even eat your own food, then should I feed you mouth-to-mouth then?" I suggest directly, leaning in to peck her on the cheek.
"While I would love to do that now, I am hungry enough that eating and kissing at the same time may actually make me pass out." Mobius answers with a bit of a blush as she turns to look at my eye.
I deadpan. "What the Hell did you work on that you even forgot to eat your lunch again?"
"I don't know?" Mobius shrugs with a mischievous look. "The next evolution of the supersoldier serum? If anything, I am this close to cutting down the failure rate by at least half."
I roll my eye, flicking her in the forehead. "Right, because just working on making our own T-Dolls just isn't enough on your plate."
"Owie~," Mobius rubs her forehead with a pitiful expression, which I know is partly fake, at least.
I sigh before turning to Einstein, who is, as always, the more silent person in the Brainiac Trio. "And you, dear Einstein, you can stop eating your popcorn now. Why would you even have popcorn just before your dinner, anyway?"
Einstein nods, closing the paper bag containing street vendor popcorn she procured from somewhere before saying. "Well, I was working on marrying our Mjolnir armors with an inactive T-Doll's chassis, see how they click together and all that, and I ran out of sugar in my brain. These..." She raises the popcorn bag before putting it away. "Are popcorn with brown sugar."
Hearing her answer, I massage my temple. "You two really need to have your nutritional intake monitored. The moment you step into the Mansion, it's like you forgo a healthy lifestyle altogether, even though you all do so well back home. Even Ningyo and Mei, who are both your juniors and our sisters, are somehow more sensible than you two in the aspect of taking care of their bodies, and we all know just how wild they can be with their brains if they're to run amok without supervision."
I open the food bag on the kitchenette, bringing out the neatly wrapped food-to-go I got from Wanmin restaurant. I must admit that I have kept the food hot and fresh via an application of my magic and Divinity. It's totally not me abusing my power if it's to keep my dedicated lovers well-fed.
"Here, these are like hamburgers in a way. Except it's Chinese, being white buns filled with minced pork and assorted vegetables with some sauce in them. Much easier and healthier to consume than its American counterpart due to the higher vegetable content." I give both Einstein and Mobius the wrapped Chinese burgers. "Careful, though, as they're still hot."
While the pair of Doctors accept the food graciously, Mobius says. "Thanks, I never really had something like this before... This you got from your date with Lu and Hel?"
Einstein comments on the design of the buns. "It's cute, there's a stamp on the white buns. Quite delicious too."
I nod, explaining. "The Chefs called this Reichsmarks Meat. It's something like a hearty, swift breakfast or dinner meal, one that brings good luck to start a day and happiness to end a night."
"Oh, that's kind neat." Mobius smiles, taking a small bite of the meat-filled buns. "Wow, you aren't kidding when you said it's hot. Thanks, Yuki."
"Indeed, you must have made a conscious effort to keep these fresh and delicious for us. For that, we can't be any happier, even though today isn't supposed to be our date." Einstein smiles softly, scooting over to sit on the kitchenette like I am, and next to me.
Mobius mirrors Einstein's action as well, taking my right instead of my left. I smile at this, hooking my arms around theirs as they silently eat the dinner I brought over. These days, they have been so busied with advancing the Reich's scientific development that the amount of time they spend in the Obsidian Castle is less than half of the time researching in the Mansion of Knowledge. That means they have less chance of eating a proper meal, either made by me or other members of the family. Frankly, it's getting to the point I am worried about their health, even if I know that Nicolae and Dreamer are around to ensure nothing goes wrong.
"Perhaps, other than aiding you two in your research," I say thoughtfully. "I should also commandeer a cooking station here so I can supervise your meals myself. It beats eating cup noodles and food boxes, that's for sure."
Both Mobius and Einstein share a look over my head before smiling gently. The offer of me being their personal chef daily is something to look forward to. They then collectively lean in, nuzzling against me comfortably.
"Thanks..." Mobius says first.
"... My love." And then Einstein finishes it slowly, but with all of the genuine love both of them have for me.
Being the lover of these two academic geniuses is surprisingly simple; you don't need flowery words or complex interactions. You need to show them that you care, and you are ready to act on that care. And with that, they will move to hold the sky for you, despite your wishing the contrary. Still, while a date is a must in my opinion, according to Mobius and Einstein herself, researching and stealing private moments with me in the labs are more than enough of a romantic escape.
"Yeah, well, just don't go and rub it in Elysia's face. Otherwise, she will kidnap one of my clones just so I can cook for her and Eden on their tour." I add with a giggle, allowing myself to be the physical and mental support of my exhausted Doctors.
Surprisingly, it's Einstein herself who says the tease. "I don't know... I kinda want to see a pouting High Elf. You know, for research purposes."
Mobius snaps her fingers before making a gun gesture at Einstein. "For once, I agree with you on that, mophead."
"... Although it will be a sight to see indeed, mind you, I haven't created additional Temporal Clones lately. So if Elysia really comes knocking, you're in charge of getting me a death row inmate who fits the bill this time." I shrug, my arms somehow are pressed tighter to the Doctors' well-endowed breasts even more.
The feeling is... exquisite, as one may expect.
Mobius hums, knowing how morality constraints our actions for good reasons. "It's ironic how hard it is to actually get you to create a Temporal Clone of yourself. I think the only time you ever created multiple clones at once was when those foolish Crusaders dared to have intention against who's yours."
I nod simply. "And they paid for it with their very existences, that's all."
Unwilling to let the talks rest on such a heavy topic, I changed the subject to something they're working on.
"So, have you two gotten any thoughts on how to perfect the nascent souls that are the programming behind the T-Dolls? We aren't seeking to replicate Dr. Persica's achievement here..."
At once, both Einstein and Mobius gain a focused, even excited look. This project is not just something to increase the manpower pool of the Reich. It's also one of the first important foundations for their respective wishes: Mobius with her biological evolution, and Einstein with her mechanical perfection. Both find their paths to ascension intricately linked to one another. Both are gifted the opportunity to, for once in a million years, be mortals that can play as
So, you're damn right they're spirited about this endeavor, and so is the Reich. Perhaps the end products aren't just called A-Doll or T-Doll, but an entire new sapient mechanical race, or multiple even.