[A king, huh.]

I would think serving royalty would make you a knight, not a hound. I wonder why he would say no to enthusiasm like yours.

[He carefully examines the not!rice. Yeah, that should be good enough to fry. Might have to eyeball the doneness, sure, but he trusts his gut.]

Mm... just eggs and a replacement for the dashi. We can improvise the latter - wasn't there seaweed somewhere around here?