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Volume 4 Prologue 1: Return of Everyday Life

 

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What a wonderful morning.

Yesterday was so lively. The celebration for our victory and my wedding announcement overlapped and we spent the night partying.

Thanks to that most of the supply of Erucy Wine set aside for our private use was emptied. That alcohol is quite strong, but its taste is so smooth you end up drinking one cup after another.

One of my weaknesses is alcohol. Once I drink enough I always act up.

For example last night I let loose with Lucy and Kuu.

Usually I’m more cautious. Kuu normally lives apart from us so I to keep it quiet when I head over and stay the night in the workshop with her. No matter how well they get along usually, as the husband of two wives I need to take their feelings into account.

「I’ve made Lucy wait too long.」

I gently stroked Lucy’s cheek as I watched her sleeping next to me.

We were yet to hold the ceremony, but since we publicly announced our engagement we finally became one last night. Truly not laying a hand on her for so long was agonizing, and I’m sure she felt similarly. I occasionally saw her gazing at Kuu with envy.

I want to have children soon. I need to make a safe and stable country for us so that dream comes true.

As I was daydreaming I heard a quiet knock on the door.

「Good morning Cyril-niisama」

「Morning!」

Kemin and Kurone said cheerfully as they entered the room carefully.

We’d finished our tasks yesterday and decided today would be a rest day, so I wonder why they’re here?

「What’s going on girls?」

I asked and the two suddenly said

「Tada!」

and pulled a large jute bag inside.

The bag was wiggling and shaking. As expected of Fire Foxes, even young ones can carry such a big bag.

「This is our most important thing.」

「Their very nice. Good at learning housework, smart, and a genius that can learn most things after doing them once. And they look for Cyril-niisama to…kya!」

Kemin imagined something and blushed deep red as she shook her head.

After things progressed this far I basically understood. I broke into a cold sweat as they took out a girl from the jute bag. I saw the silver Fire Fox Yukino gagged with a cloth and tied up with some rope. They had purposefully not tied up her tail so she wouldn’t be hurt.

PICTURE

「nn, nnn~nnn」

Yukino glared at Kemin and Kurone as she shook and wiggled.

「Cyril-niisama, please be gentle with Yukino-chan.」

「We’ll leave you alone so make sure to report back to us Yukino-chan.」

「You might become a mother Yukino-chan.」

「If you have a child with Cyril-niisama I’m sure it’ll be cute. I’m looking forward to Kuu-anesama’s child ass well.」

「If it’s a boy then Kuro will take him as a husband. He’ll be the prince of the Fire Foxes.」

「Isn’t that no good considering your age?」

「If Kuro waits til he’s grown I’ll only be 25. It’s barely okay.」

「I’ll be 26 huh? It might work.」

「nn, nnnnn~nnn」

Kurone and Kemin kept chatting happily as Yukino desperately protested.

In my mind getting married in your twenties was still young enough, but in this world where people lived to around 50 they get married earlier.

「That look in Yukino-chan’s eyes is dangerous. It’s the same as when Kuro used her tail as a pillow and drooled on it…」

「Mmm…those eyes when Yukino secretly with Cyril-niisama’s…un let’s run away.」

And as quickly as they came, they left. Yukino’s revenge may be frightening.

I got up, took the gag out of Yukino’s mouth, and untied her.

「Puwa~, thank you Cyril-niisama.」

I looked at her and saw she was still in her pajamas. Looks like she was kidnapped as she slept.

「My condolences Yukino….well ummm…I can treat you to breakfast if you’d like. Right, you can tell me what you think of these crepes I tried making with some maple syrup. We can talk a bit too.」

As expected even if someone tries to give me a person as a reward I can’t say “Then I’ll be working you hard, and of course at night as well gehehehehe.”

It’d be nice if an honest and hardworking girl like Yukino lived with us, but that would be decision only she could make for herself.

「Crepe?」

「Oh, you’ve never had one? It’s a delicious baked sweet made from wheat. I was thinking of various goods to help sell our maple syrup and that was one of them.」

Even if we made a great product it was still unknown if it would sell. Unless we marketed it well no one would desire it. Even if we claimed it was sweet and delicious no one would believe it unless we let them sample some and there was still the issue of what to use to allow the greatest number of people to try it.

One idea I had was to make something like a dessert crepe.

「Yukino, sorry but could you give me a hand?」

「Un, okay Cyril-niisama.」

We moved to the kitchen and I grabbed my special made saucepan, poured maple syrup in it, and had Yukino heat it. Then I purposefully burnt it slightly.

As the viscosity of the syrup thickened, so did the flavor. As it burned a bit, it released an intensely sweet smell.

Doing this made the taste slightly bitter, but deeper, and the smell was highly appealing. This smell and flavor would show the appeal of maple syrup hundreds of times more than simple words. Sweet goods were precious in this era and there was no one who would be able to ignore such a sweet scent.

Making caramel sauce, selling the sweets, and selling the raw maple syrup to those who were interested.

I had thought of the easiest food that drew out the charm of this sauce. The crepe.

Not using eggs made the dough weak, but I could use mix wheat and potato to make a more starchy flower which would give the crepe a springy texture.

I took the wheat flour and potato starch and poured them into a bowl with water, then I added a small amount of maple syrup so it didn’t reduce the sweetness when topped with caramel sauce. Then I dropped it in the pan.

I cooked it until it was ready and placed it on a plate with plenty of caramel sauce on top.

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