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Chapter 209: Decoration

「Well, it’s not like the heroes are definitely the ones being targeted. 」
Dinosso said brightly with a comical expression plastered on his face. He probably misunderstood my stiff way of speaking.

「No, I don’t care about — 」
「Jean! Hi! 」
About that — was what I was going to say, but the sound of light footsteps kicking the cobblestones resounded and Tina popped out.

「Hi Tina. 」
「Can you stoop for a bit? 」
「Hm? 」
Tina kept her hands hidden on her back while grinning at me.

「This is a present from me! 」
With her little hands, she put the flower she’s been hiding behind her onto my ear.

「Thanks. 」
「We’re going to pickle the mushrooms in salt, and also in oil! I’ll help Mama, you know. 」
「That’s gonna be tasty for sure. 」
Hoh, so this is how they pass the taste of home cooking within the family, huh. Shiva’s dishes are delicious, so Tina will become good at cooking too..

「The boys are going to wash the mushrooms and remove the dirt. Well, just come over for dinner, alright. 」
「Oh~ then I’ll bring some refreshments later. 」
I do want to help out in the kitchen, but I’m having lunch with Ash later.

Butler and Lilith are off wandering about buying magic stones, monster materials, medicinal herbs, salt-cured meat and other stuff, so Ash is staying at the house. Canum’s goods are cheaper since it’s right beside the Magical Woods, so instead of buying souvenirs as an individual, Lilith is negotiating and dealing under the ducal house’s name.

They had been dealing with the fortress city of Teorall, but one of the countries that are part of their trade route seemed to be preparing for war, so the ducal house decided to keep it insured.

The scope of Canum and the fortress city is different from each other, so they’re just purchasing the bare minimum. Risk diversification is important after all.

Alright, what should I bring tonight. Maybe some liquor and something sweet? I know I always bring this, but isn’t it better to bring something they’re expecting rather than something unfamiliar when visiting someone else’s house?
Ah, I have to prepare a gift for Tina’s flower. I can add an extra dollop of fresh cream on Tina’s slice.

Ash will be here any minute now, so I’ll prepare the dessert while cooking the dishes too. With that decided, I move to the table to start working.

Ugh, it’s really hot in here. Working on fresh cream in the morning is fine, but I don’t think it’s okay doing this during noontime…

I teleported with Riche back to the mountain home and started all over again. I placed several chilly plates made for Riche in the kitchen. I’m going to use fire so I’ll be drenched in sweat since it’s summer, so better for me to forget all about seasons at least when I’m here.

I changed Riche’s water then started cooking. I had to return to Canum once to flip the meat and everything felt unexpectedly rushed, but I did manage to finish on time.

「Come in. 」
「Mm, sorry for bothering you. Here, some souvenirs — Cute. 」
Ash’s gaze turned towards my cheek… Ahh, the flower, huh.

「I got it from Tina. Thanks for the gift. 」
I took the basket from Ash and beckoned her in.

「So flowers are also an option, huh. Sorry for being so dull. 」
「Nah, your medicinal herbs are a huge help, you know? 」
I’ll be troubled even if you send me flowers so please don’t.

「Here you go. 」
Ash and I are having lunch in the room beside the castle walls on the second floor, but for some reason the sight of the dining room complete with all the kitchen utensils made me come back to my senses. I wonder why?

Maybe I should decorate this place with flowers next time — I took the wine out and served the dishes with that thought. I want to let her eat a lot of vegetables, so I prepared arugula and ham salad for the appetizer.

The main course is spaghetti alle vongole in bianco. I used shiso instead of italian parsley so it has a bit of Japanese flavor. I considered making tomato rosso, but I’m expecting a bountiful harvest of tomatoes this coming season so we’re going to have a lot of them to the point that we might get sick of them sooner or later.

「Smells fantastic, but Lilith might question what I had for lunch at this rate. 」
「Just say you ate pasta and leave it at that? 」
Manila clams aside, garlic is a mainstay in the kitchens of the folks here, so it should be okay. Garlic is essential for preserving food, after all.

Plus, some people around here smear garlic to cover up body odor, making for a fierce kind of scent — folks probably thought garlic smells nice, but I ended up being unable to eat garlic for some time because of that.

「These clams have a different tastiness compared to the oysters. I’m worried I might end up gobbling a lot. 」
「We also have meat, so it’s fine, just eat as much as you want. 」

I thought pasta won’t be enough so there’s also filet mignon. The cross section is a gorgeous burgundy color when I sliced the charred meat a little thickly.

Butler must be the one who eats the least among the guys, I think? Ash is very active so I don’t think she’ll get fat. Ah, but she doesn’t move at all like a shoehorn bill when we’re indoors.

「Ahh, so it’s the season for prus, huh. I’ll also go search for them in the forest later. 」
「Dinosso’s family went to the woods to gather some and they shared this with me. 」
For the steak’s garnish, I sauteed the mushrooms with olive oil and added some parsley.

Ash had wine while I enjoyed soda and lemon. Our conversations are very lively as we have fun talking about a lot of things animatedly.

「Rose? 」
「Yeah, I tried making it as a return gift to Tina. They invited me for dinner so I’m going to give that as a present. 」
Today’s dessert is blackberry cream cheesecake. I baked it so the outer part is a golden color, but the inner part is a cute shade of pink.

I sprinkled sugar on top, then coated part of it with blackberry gelee. The rose was made out of whipped cream that had been colored pink with fruit juice. What a relief that it looks like a rose, good job me.

「Mm, then there’s no way I’m going to eat it first. 」
「Eh 」
Ash, the famous sweet tooth around here, took her hand back!

It’s a refreshing sweet and sour cheesecake. I believed it turned out quite well, but I totally didn’t expect that reaction. I tried to explain that it’s just a common decoration from the country where I came from, but she wouldn’t have any of it, so I settled it by sloppily adding some berries on top of the rose.

She then braided my hair afterward.