At the End of the First Day

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/17/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

I had wrapped things in meaningful smoke, but the discussion of what to do from tomorrow on finished without a hitch.
The three of us went out together to Elma’s shop.

“They were kind to us at midday, and the sandwich was really good.”
“Not only the sandwiches. The other cooking is good there too.”
“Is… that so…? I’m looking forward to it.”

Kira answered Gerda’s and my words with a shy smile.
Damn, this girl is cute at every turn!
No, no, restrain, restrain.

To be honest, I was considerably carried away.
In today’s events alone I had had meetings good enough to think my life had taken a dramatic turn.
And the outlook from here on was by no means dark.

Well, they also say good fortune brings many demons, so I could not let my guard down.
But I wanted to be allowed this much, at least, while we ate tonight.

After all.

“Ah, leave the bill to me. I earn a fair amount, despite how I look.”
“No, ‘despite how you look’… Gerda, however you look at it you’re a high-ranking knight, like an aide to the Demon King, right?”

A generously openhanded, handsome-type, refreshing grown-up beauty, without a hint of spite.

“It’s been a while since I went to eat with someone like this…”
“It’s fine, Kira, eat plenty! You can even eat my share! Elma will put it on a tab!”

And a puppy-type pretty girl who stirred up the urge to protect, going to eat with us.
There was no way my spirits would not rise.
Whether Elma would actually put it on a tab, I did not know.
I wondered idly if they could send the bill around to the Demon King’s castle, and other useless things.
Well, I was not much of an eater.
Kira probably wasn’t either. …What about Gerda?

“Hm? Asha, is there something on my face?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing, nothing!”

Bad, bad. I had been staring despite myself.
I waved my hands in a hurry to dodge.
Gerda looked a little dubious, but she seemed to let it pass.

While we were exchanging that, we came out into a place I recognized.
And we passed through a door I recognized.

“Gerda, and Asha too. Welcome!
…Oh, and this young lady?”

Elma, who had been clearing plates inside, turned and greeted us with a smile.
Seeing her gaze go to Kira, Gerda introduced her.

“Ah, this is Kira. She came with Asha.
She’ll be helping Asha at the workshop, so look after her as well, along with Asha.”
“N-nice to meet you…”
“Ah, is that so! That workshop getting lively is a good thing.
Kira, is it? I’m Elma. A pleasure!”

Elma showed a cheerful smile to Kira, who bowed her head timidly.
Yes. I was glad the first evening meal was here.
Kira, I felt, looked a little relieved as well.

“Then for three, this table.
Gerda, surely this time you’ll have a drink?”
“Haha. Refusing now would make things awkward. I’ll have white wine.
What about Asha and Kira? Ah, Kira, can you drink?”

Gerda answered Elma’s words, looking thoroughly pleased.
What, so she had wanted a drink after all. And in that earlier scene she had held back, just like that.
…Damn, what is this pretty-boy act. Even though she’s a woman.
Gerda tossed the talk to us, and Kira and I looked at each other despite ourselves.

“Ah, I, a little…”
“Then I’ll have some too, while we’re here.”

When we answered that, Gerda looked even more pleased.
That I thought it was a little cute is between us.

“Then, Elma, three white wines, and a plate of olives in salt.
And… ah, one seafood stew as well.”
“Yes, yes. …One of each is all right?”

Elma taking the order tilted her head, puzzled.
Gerda nodded and winked, smiling.

“Ah. These two are from the mountains. I don’t know if olives and seafood will suit them, so it’s a taste.
Anything with beef or pork after that?”
“I see, that’s how it is. If it’s beef or pork, how about salt-cured pork, grilled?”
“Good. We’ll have that.”

Elma nodded, understood, and went to put the order through to the kitchen.
Kira and I found ourselves staring at Gerda, somehow.

“…Is something the matter, you two?”
“Ah, no, how to put it… you’re used to this.”
“Yes. Very used to ordering, somehow.”

Kira nodded hard at my words.
Receiving our gazes, Gerda looked a little wry.

“Well, I come often. I’m hopeless at cooking and the like.”
“Ho ho, I see. An unexpected weakness for you, Gerda.
Incidentally, Kira?”

After nodding along, I suddenly tossed the talk to Kira.
Kira started—and then shrank.

“I used to light the fire.”
“Yes, I got it, I got it very well.”

She looked so apologetic that pursuing it further would have been pitiful, so I cut the talk off.

“And you, Asha… ah, you handle herbs, so you can cook as well, I suppose.”
“Well, it’s not exactly the same… and I can, but it’s nothing much.”

I answered Gerda’s words that way.
In fact, in my previous life I had cooked reasonably often.
But in this world, those methods were not very usable.

Of course not: there was no gas stove with which you could change the heat in fine degrees, and the ingredients were different to begin with.
There was no such thing as a mechanical slicer, so there was none of the thin-sliced meat you often saw at the supermarket.
However much you sharpened a knife, that thinness was impossible.

And vegetables. There were almost none sanitary enough to eat raw, so salad was out as well.
Marinating was about the most you could do.
And besides… the vegetables here were not tasty.
I had known from manga that vegetables left as nature made them tasted bad, but I had not thought I would experience it myself.
I really had to be grateful for farmers’ cultivar improvement and the polishing of agricultural technique.

I had strayed, but in short, cooking based on my previous life, especially the seasoning, would come out dubious.
And if I cooked in the local style, it became a matter of putting it over the fire and being able to eat it.
Either way, by my standards, it was dubious.

“Hmh. Is that so. Then if there is a chance, I shall have to confirm whether that is true.”
“Ah, I want to eat it too.”
“Mmh. If you two say so, I’ll make it sometime.”

As we were saying that, Elma brought three wines and a small plate of olives in salt.

“My, my, you’re enjoying yourselves already. Then have some of our wine and liven things up a bit more.”
“Fufu. That’s so. We’ll enjoy it.”

Gerda answered with a laugh and took her glass.
Prompted by her gaze, Kira and I followed.

“Then. Wishing Asha and Kira much fortune in the life ahead. Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
“Ah, cheers…”

In time with Gerda’s lead. Kira a little late.
We touched glasses.