After the Battle, Past Noon

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/24/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Now then, things had settled, and I was wondering what to do about lunch.

“Thanks as always! Ah, looks like I came at a good time.”

The one who came in all of a sudden saying that was Elma.
Yes? Yes? Why??
While I was thinking that she came stomping in.
She had some kind of basket in her hands.
…Eh, surely not??
I found myself looking at Gerda.

“Ah. You looked so busy I thought you wouldn’t have the will left to cook.
I asked Elma for a delivery.”
“I-I… see…?”

No, when?
Because after Gerda joined she had been moving around quite busily too?
Was it when she went to draw tap water!?
Or before she joined!?

Hmm, formidable… but it was also true, honestly, that it helped.
I would receive it gratefully.

“Then let’s have lunch.
Um, Elma, could you bring it over here?”
“Sure, over here.”

First I showed Elma to the dining area.
Then I made lemon water as a drink for now, in the morning’s fashion.
…In that time Gerda had finished paying… dammit, not a gap in her.

At any rate, I would take it that a hasty meal was ready.

“Thanks as always! Ah, will you come eat again tonight?”
“Ah~… probably, I think we’ll come by again.”

To be honest, given this morning’s busyness and the afternoon’s plans, there was a high chance I would have neither the will nor the stamina left to cook.
In that case it was better to say so plainly. Elma would likely prepare something thoughtful.

“Sure. I’ll have something good ready, so look forward to it!”

So saying, Elma left.
Hmm… what a generous spirit. I honestly admired people like that.
I wanted to become a cool adult too. …No, my mental age ought to have been adult long ago.

I thought that inwardly, but first I had to do what I ought to now.
Namely.

“Then, Kira, Gerda. Let’s eat!”

I announced it, energetically.

 

What Elma had brought was sandwiches.
Yes. There was probably no Earl of Sandwich in this world, so it was something converted that way.
Incidentally, there is apparently a theory that the Earl of Sandwich did not invent the sandwich… but well, that is that.

I received it gratefully and washed it down with lemon water.
Hah… it soaks into the body… I can feel the nutrition being absorbed…
No, I know actual absorption starts a little later.

At any rate, taking in water properly itself was important.
And speaking of important things.

“Then, about the afternoon.
Kira, I confer upon you an important mission!”

I called out when I had timed it so Kira had properly finished swallowing.
Kira, so addressed, started and hunched her shoulders, but she looked at me.

“Y-yes, what?”

She looked at me with a terribly serious expression.
Yes. Perhaps the morning’s work had given her confidence; the light in her eyes was different.
But that was exactly why there was something I had to have her do.

“First, eat properly.
Then this afternoon, take a nap and recover your strength.”
“Eh? …Eeeeeh!?”

Yes, it’s surprising, of course it is.
But it really was an important mission.

“First, looking at today’s situation, this place doesn’t run without you, Kira. You understand that, right?”
“Um… I… was useful…?”
“More than! If it had been me alone, we absolutely would not have finished at this hour.”

I could declare that in earnest.
Thanks to Kira’s history-taking, my examinations had been considerably lightened.
On top of that, she had done this and that of odd jobs without a single complaint.
That alone, how much it had reduced my burden…

And that was not all.

“What’s more, Kira’s ‘Desiccate’ really was amazing.
Thanks to that I could make medicine at once.”

This too. Not only the mushroom in question; there were other herbs better dried, and those she had dried at once as well.
Thanks to that, how many medicines I had been able to put out properly today that I should not have been able to…

“Really, thanks to you, Kira, today helped so much.
Thank you. Thanks to you I was able to work properly as an apothecary.”

So saying, I bowed my head.
…Huh, no reaction from Kira? I thought, and lifted my face.

“I-I, I…”

Ah. R-right, with Kira’s character it would go that way!?

Gerda and I comforted Kira, who had teared up as if overcome, as a pair.
…Yes, the hugging and such was a legitimate act for comforting, all right?

Ahem, ahem.

At any rate, after a while of that Kira settled as well.
There I went on with the explanation.

“And from tomorrow on, Kira’s ‘Desiccate’ will be important, and more than anything, from tomorrow the number of times we use ‘Desiccate’ will definitely increase.
I think we’ll start doing what I wanted to do, from tomorrow.
So for you, Kira, resting properly today and getting your condition in order is important work.”
“Resting is… work… it feels kind of strange.”

Yes, well, I thought that was so.
I glanced at Gerda.
…She nodded, small, as if to say she understood; truly reliable.

“That resting is work is the truth.
It is thorough in the army as well. In marching drills and the like, we were always made to take regular rest.”
“I-is that so… even in the army…”

Told even by Gerda, Kira apparently accepted it.
Or rather, they really did build rest firmly into military activity… as expected of the Demon King…

…I was starting to feel it might be better to have the Demon King dominate the world?
Well, with that character, she would not want to do such a thing…

That aside, the first priority now was having Kira rest with her consent.

“And so, as work, rest properly.
I’m used to this sort of thing, so I’m still all right. But you’re quite tired, Kira.”
“That’s… um, true, but.”
“Yes, so rest properly. If you rest, I can be at ease too.”
“Uu… all right…”

I did think, even of myself, that it was a sly way of putting it, playing on Kira’s character.
But Kira had accepted it, so I would take that as good for now.

“Gerda, I’m sorry, but could I ask you to show me to everyone you arranged appointments with?”
“Ah, of course. Provided you eat properly as well. All right?”
“Ah, ye~s, I’ll eat properly.”

I did not think I could fool Gerda.
I nodded honestly and bit into the sandwich.