Chapter 177. Cup Rice (1)
Jurgen stepped forward in his work clothes.
"My good lawyer, did you just say Article 45 of the Urban Planning Act?"
"That is correct."
The lawyer, puffed up with arrogance at the sight of that shabby figure.
"Yes indeed. It is the provision prohibiting the use of facilities outside their designated purpose. Cooking rice in a printing house is a clear violation of the law—"
"Just a moment, if you please. Ah, well…… hmm, I can't quite remember……"
Jurgen scratched the back of his head and cut him off. He narrowed his eyes and darted them quickly, as though trying to recall something.
The lawyer, not wishing to waste any more time, pressed him impatiently.
"Do you have something to say?"
"I can't quite recall, but I was wondering whether there wasn't something else tacked onto the end of that provision."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Well, it's generally the way with laws, isn't it — where there's a principle, there's usually an exception as well. Ah, it's come back to me now."
Jurgen rummaged through the hazy recesses of old memory and opened his mouth.
"Article 45, Paragraph 3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Urban Planning Act — the Proviso Clause."
"……?"
The lawyer's brow furrowed. A Proviso Clause? Had there been such a thing?
He rapidly searched through the law in his mind, but nothing came to him immediately. In all likelihood it was a dead-letter provision — one that had never once been invoked in practice.
Jurgen smiled pleasantly and recited it.
'Facilities operated on a temporary basis for the purposes of a major Royal event shall be exempt from the requirement of notification and authorisation' — …… well, roughly that sort of nuance is what the Proviso Clause would say."
"……!"
The lawyer's eyes wavered. Come to think of it, there did seem to be something of that sort……
But how could this be? Details like this were things even legal practitioners wouldn't know unless they specialised in Royal-related litigation.
And yet a mere factory technician had pinpointed it without getting a single syllable wrong?
"Serena, still no water?"
"No."
"Haah…… what a headache."
What was more, the reactions of those around him were entirely unbothered, as though this were perfectly ordinary. They were ignoring the lawyer entirely and clattering away at their machines.
'What on earth is this……'
The lawyer stood there, thoroughly bewildered by a situation he simply could not make sense of.
"……Are you saying that Proviso Clause applies here?"
"Why ever not? Whose feast do you think we're currently preparing?"
Jurgen shrugged his shoulders.
"A temporary facility for a Royal event. Doesn't it fit perfectly?"
It was an extremely simple argument, but there was no rebutting it.
And furthermore…… If Y&P Trading Company had someone this well-versed in the law, then this attack itself could end up providing the very foothold for a counter-offensive.
"……We shall return."
"Do take care on your way out."
The lawyer, who had arrived with such swagger, grabbed the building owner by the sleeve and scrambled out of the factory in a fluster. Jurgen gave a casual wave of his arm at their retreating heads.
"Is that enough to settle it?"
Penelope slipped over and asked.
"They're unlikely to come back."
Jurgen shrugged as though it were nothing.
The provision in question was real, and if handled properly, this could be construed as an act of treason. Even a lawyer retained by Clarisse would find it difficult to make a move lightly.
But the problem still remained.
"But Jurgen……"
Serena pointed to the parched, dry faucet.
"We've stopped them from throwing us out…… but what about the water?"
This attack had been designed on two levels. Just because the legal obstruction had been removed didn't mean the valve locked by the Water Bureau would turn itself back on.
The Water Bureau had already carried out its administrative disposition, and reversing that could take goodness knows how many more days.
"Hmmmm……"
That much even Jurgen had no neat solution for.
The Water Bureau was an administrative body. The administrative act of the Water Supply Suspension had already been executed.
It was almost certainly on the orders of the Director of the Water Bureau, who had received a bribe from Clarisse — but once a decision had been made, the system moved according to its own course. Considering that Clarisse would likely be throwing up obstacle after obstacle throughout that process……
They might not make it in time for the Birthday Banquet, with only a handful of days left.
"And we went to all the trouble of repairing the Water Tank too……"
Should they simply buy water and fill the tank themselves? Even if they did that, could they manage it in time?
Just as Jurgen sank into thought—
Grrooooom!
A deep, heavy vibration rose from somewhere far below the factory floor. The sound of a massive underground watercourse surging back to life.
"Hm?"
Shhhhhhhhh!!!
A sudden rush of cool water came gushing from the faucet. At the same moment, the boiler's feed water gauge began shooting upward like mad.
"Miss Serena! Water! The water's back!"
The employees burst into cheers. Serena stared at Jurgen with wide, round eyes.
"Ju, Jurgen? What did you just do?"
"It wasn't me……"
"Hm? You're saying you didn't do it?"
"I was just standing still, wasn't I?"
"Then what happened?"
For a moment, everyone at Y&P was equally baffled.
***
Approximately two hours earlier. The Office of the Acting Minister of Internal Affairs, Royal Palace.
"This measure is not reasonable."
A cold voice froze the air of the office solid. Lily Fontaine set down her teacup and looked up at the Director of the Water Bureau standing before her.
She did not appear to be angry. It was the same expressionless look as always — or perhaps something closer to the air of reprimanding an incompetent subordinate.
"Director of the Water Bureau."
"Yes, yes! Minister of Internal Affairs!"
"Acting."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Acting Minister of Internal Affairs."
"Ah, yes…… Acting Minister."
The Director of the Water Bureau mopped continuously at the sweat streaming down his face with a handkerchief. It was grievance enough to have been summoned at the crack of dawn, but the Acting Minister's bearing was no trifling matter.
"This water supply suspension in the industrial district. The report states it was an emergency leak inspection."
"Th, that's right! The pipe deterioration was quite severe……"
"And yet, for something of that nature, the dispatch orders contain no record of maintenance personnel being sent."
"I, I was planning to send them shortly……"
Lily closed the report with a sharp thud.
"If you cut the water, you fix it. The fact that you cut it and simply left it unrepaired means the suspension itself was the purpose — not the repair, does it not?"
Lily's eyes sharpened.
"I am inclined to regard this as deliberate work sabotage."
"N, no! Absolutely not! It appears there was an administrative error!"
The Director recoiled in horror and waved his hands frantically.
And yet he could not help but be bewildered.
It was true that Clarisse Rosemore had come to him with a small request. Locking a valve under the pretext of an inspection, with a slight twist of the regulations. It was nothing that would cause a problem under his authority, and he had complied because he thought it was the sort of thing that commonly occurred in noble power struggles.
And yet the Acting Minister of Internal Affairs was personally intervening in a matter of this scale? And had summoned him to her very own office at that?
"I will not ask whose request you accepted. I am also aware that this sort of thing happens frequently within the Kingdom."
Lily spoke quietly.
"No person can be entirely free from connections and personal requests."
She nodded as though she genuinely understood — yet the Director felt as if he were sitting on a bed of thorns.
"However, Director. I ask that private matters not be allowed to paralyse public duties."
"Ah, yes…… as I said before, it was an administrative error."
"Fortunate. Then it is simply a matter of correcting it."
"Ah, understood! Right away! I shall turn it back on right away!"
The Director of the Water Bureau waddled out of the office.
"……Haah."
Lily let out a quiet sigh, watching his retreating figure.
And then, as though nothing had happened at all. She returned to processing the next document awaiting her approval.
***
"Th, the legal team suffered a complete defeat in the interpretation of the law. The opposing party…… produced the Royal Special Exemption Clause."
The attendant made his report with his head bowed low.
"Furthermore, a short while ago, the water supply to the factory resumed. According to the Director of the Water Bureau, it was a direct order from the Minister of Internal Affairs."
Clarisse set down the wine glass she had been holding.
Her brow was creased, and her lips were twisted.
She had attempted to bring a key asset by the name of Serena Renoir over to her side, and failed. She had attempted to cut off the administrative force of the water supply, and failed. The legal termination of the contract had also failed.
All of this had taken place within just two days.
It felt as though an invisible iron wall was wrapped around Y&P Trading Company.
"Lily Fontaine, the Minister of Internal Affairs…… that woman has moved again?"
Her head felt ready to burst.
The Minister of Internal Affairs was, by long tradition, of the pro-Queen faction. And it was the Queen herself who had commissioned Y&P Trading Company for the supply at the Birthday Banquet.
Had there been some kind of secret pact with Penelope from the very beginning?
Clarisse felt a chill run down her spine. This was the first time she had been so completely unable to see the picture.
"Y&P Trading Company……"
Clarisse bit her lip.
***
After weathering all manner of storms. The factory had come back to life once more.
―Beep-beep-beep-beep!
At last, the Steam Oven's timer let out a cheerful series of beeps.
"The rice is done! The meat is steamed too!"
Brigitte cried out amidst clouds of white steam billowing up. It was the moment the very first prototype was born from the carefully converted equipment, having broken through every act of sabotage thrown at them.
"Attention, everyone — work stoppage! Let's eat lunch before we continue!"
Jurgen, Penelope, Serena. And the Renoir Workshop employees gathered before the preparation counter.
A paper cup-shaped bowl. Into it, white fluffy steamed rice was packed. And on top of that, a generous heap of steaming Braised Ribs was ladled.
Braised Ribs Cup Rice, No. 1.
"So this is what they call Cup Rice or whatever?"
"It has quite an unusual shape."
"Sniff sniff, the smell is wonderful though."
Serena stood to the side, eyes glistening with moved tears.
The sweetly rich scent of the Soy sauce. The warm, comforting smell of freshly cooked rice. Memories of the sleepless, nerve-wracking night flashed past like a revolving lantern.
"Let's taste it."
Penelope was the first to pick up a spoon.
"Say 'ah.'"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Your hands are dirty."
"Ehehe…… Ahhh~"
Serena received a big spoonful of meat and rice fed to her by Penelope.
Chew, chew.
A tense silence. All eyes gathered on Serena, and the Workshop employees swallowed hard as they watched.
Presently, Serena's brow furrowed. She appeared to be tasting carefully.
The meat melted softly on her tongue. The savoury seasoning soaked through every grain of rice, and with each chew the umami exploded.
It wasn't the flavour of direct-fire Charcoal Grilling — but this was magnificent in its own right.
Serena thrust her thumb straight up.
"It's delicious! You've done it again, Brigitte!"
At that single word from Serena, the factory erupted in a roar that threatened to blow the roof off. Brigitte threw her arms around Penelope and jumped up and down.
"Hooray! Then let's have a taste ourselves!"
After that, it was time for the people who had worked so hard to eat their fill together.
Heaping rice generously into the paper cups, then ladling Braised Ribs on top.
"Ohh! Delicious!"
"Miss Brigitte, was it? What extraordinary skill!"
"Oh stop it! It's all thanks to the wonderful machines you built! That's the truly impressive part!"
Jurgen, watching the boisterous festival atmosphere with a warm feeling in his chest, picked up his spoon contentedly.
Jurgen set his spoon back down with a smile.
"A success."
They were almost there now. Right up to the true Culinary Revolution.