Federico's POV
I am Federico Carmero, the current AISE captain assigned to the Italian team of the MPC. The next day here in the Special Region, or Regno di Falmart in my native Italian, fast. We rested up in the Alnus Base well, and we were eating our multicultural, yet simpler breakfast when we received a letter from Principessa Piña, the current leader of Falmart. When most of the MPC agents and I read it, it was a request from the Principessa herself. The request was brief yet simple:
Bring the foods of our cultural background to her royal court.
Plus, the letter said that the royal kitchens are open for us so the food would be cooked there and remained hot instead of us bringing the food cold by the time we arrive there.
There was no pressure, as we noted.
"Guys, ragazzi," I said to my diverse comrades. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"
Odesa from the NBI gave a grin. "Shall we bring our ingredients and whip up our cultural delicacies in their kitchens and serve them in her korte?"
"Yeah, guys!" Theofylaktos yelled. "I'll introduce feta cheese to them, plus the now-popular Greek Frappé."
"I shall introduce Adobo in their court," James added.
I eventually nodded. "Sì, guys, farò alcune pizze con farina, pomodori e mozzarella che la mia squadra di AISE aveva a portata di mano (I will make a few pizzas with flour, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese my AISE team had on hand.)."
"Let's do that!" Margaret chirped.
And so, we gathered our ingredients from our own MPC stockpile and pulled out our small recipe books. We started picking at least 1 or 2 recipes from each of our home countries. I picked the classic Neopolitan Pizza and Maritozzo buns. James and Odesa picked the fried eggplants and the classico Adobo. Buana and Rahman picked the Indomie and some satay.
Oh, a proposito, we informed the JSDF about. It seemed that they had diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Falmart, and they agreed to accompany us in our first diplomatic trip alla capitale (Lol, I couldn't help but juggle between Japanese and my native standard Italian). By 10 a.m., we went to the capital via the JSDF's Humvees.
12 noon, and we arrived at the royal court of Princess Piña. She sat on her throne with her guards and couriers (classical medieval setup). Following the strict etiquette when having an audience with royalty, we kneeled before her on one knee. There were at least 2 from each MPC country who represented our flags to the princess.
"Greetings, Princess," Ferdinand said on our behalf. "We had received your imbitasyon to us to cook our local delicacies for your court this noon."
"Principessa, we shall cook our delicacies in your royal kitchens for this lunchtime," I added with a solemn and rispettosa voce.
"Very well," said the princess. "Take your time. The table was empty for now."
And so, we became busy with our foods from our own countries in the stone and rustic royal kitchens. It was hot with the fires from the heart, noisy from the sizzling and frying, and albeit a bit crowded with our supplies and a bit messy with the mess of ingredients. It took one hour, but this isn't a Masterchef show.
By 1:10 p.m., we finished our cooking and presented the food to the princess and her court, all hot and beautifully presented. "Princesa," Thiago said with his usual Rio De Janeiro accent and with a deep bow, "the food is here. Pick what you like and take your time."
The princess and some of her consiglieri gathered on the table and armed with small ceramic plates and cutlery, gathered small bites of our food.
Princess Piña took a small bite of my Italian AISE team's Neopolitan Pizza, and her eyes widened in how the pizza was unique to her. After that, she took a bite of Odesa's Chicken Adobo, and the taste got her attention again. By now, she had finished half of her pizza slice so she would have room for the rest of the dishes we made. She also invited her guards, advisers, and courtiers to try the food for this ora di pranzo.
"Wow," said Itami to me and Cesare, "you guys really nailed it. The food you guys cooked was a mesmerizing thing they never tasted before."
"Sí," Margaret responded with her Catalan accent, "food is the best way for this kind of diplomàcia."
"Worth ang lahat!" Odesa responded.
Even some of the JSDF grabbed some food for lunch as the princess sipped a tall glass of Theofylaktos's Greek Frappé with ice cubes.
I eventually updated our other MPC agents with food diplomacy using my comms. They were really glad about that and informed me that they drastically lowered the volume of the mixed music loops in the command centers of the intelligence agencies of the three superpowers to aid with their ears and because their local media are wondering what the heck is going on for the last 48 hours.
I guessed the fallout in Beijing, Washington, and Moscow was inevitable, I supposed.
Also, I heard a hilarious joke from Odesa that at the time we force-fed the captured Triad Powers agents at the detention facility in Tokyo, the mess hall there felt 7 degrees below zero when we got mad when the prisoners refused to eat what we had cooked yesterday morning. I doubled over at the core joke that 1 degree equates to one MPC nation. Itami and Kuribayashi couldn't help but double over on that joke.
"You guys also had a sense of humor!" Itami wheezed.
"7 and 7!" Kuribayashi remarked.
Haha, everything is worth it.