For Tomorrow?

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/27/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

After that we showed our faces where Chris was working, and it was a reunion after a day, or something… at any rate, we reported a little on how each of us was doing.
Having finished a fruitful visit, we took the road home.
And we arrived. At the workshop. In one hop.

“Right, the third time, I’m a little… used to it… maybe?”

A little better, even so I was still limp.
From the backyard where we had landed, I walked unsteadily toward the workshop.
Yes, I really am walking better than before!

“Asha, you need not force yourself. I will carry you.”
“Thank you, I’ll take the thought!
If Kira saw, it would be quite embarrassing!”

Yes. I knew Gerda was offering from goodwill.
…I also knew she was enjoying it, a little.
At any rate, a princess carry at the workshop I could call home was considerably embarrassing.
So I did my best and reached the workshop on my own.

Thinking good grief, I put my hand to the door, and was about to, when the door opened.

“W-welcome back…”

Kira came to meet us, smiling.
That my movement stopped at that smile could not be helped, I thought.
A pretty girl’s smile when you’re tired works. Works enough to blow the fatigue away, somehow.

Bad, bad, I haven’t put on a creepy face, have I.

At any rate, she had gone to the trouble of meeting us.

“I’m home, Kira!”

I returned a smile as well.

 

The nap had apparently had a large effect after all; Kira’s fatigue had almost gone.
Youth had something to do with it too, surely.
Being young is wonderful… toward the end of my previous life… no, let’s not, it would only darken my mood.

That aside, we would take a light breather, and so I made chai again and served it, and so on.
I told Kira the results of today’s visits and shared them.

“You… worked really hard…”

Kira said it as if to comfort me.
Somehow that alone made me feel rewarded, honestly.
Well, this was not the end at all, though.

“Thanks. But that it went this smoothly is thanks to Gerda, I think.
Thank you, truly, you helped us, Gerda!”

As I said it, I bowed my head to Gerda.
With an expression like a wry smile, Gerda waved a hand, light.

“No. I only laid the table, at most.
The negotiations after that were all yours, Asha… I think that skill was splendid.”
“Oh, stop~ if you praise me all I can put out is more tea.”

As I said it, I poured Gerda another cup of chai.
That she drank it, one way or another, I could call it well received.

“And tomorrow… in the morning I’ll examine as today, and from the afternoon there are various things I want to try.”
“Hoh, things you want to try. Of course I intend to follow your direction.”
“I-I’ll do my best too.”

Gerda and Kira both nodded at my words.
Yes, yes, I truly thought I was blessed in people.

“Thank you. There will probably be things where you don’t understand what I’m doing…”
“A bit late for that, I think. There is meaning in what you do. I believe I understand that.”

…Gerda’s full trust was embarrassing.
No, Kira was nodding hard as well; she trusted me about as much.
I did not want to betray these two’s trust.
So I would have to work from tomorrow as well!

 

And to nourish our spirits for tomorrow, good food!
And so today, too, we came to Elma’s shop for dinner.

“Oh, all three of you, welcome! This table’s free!”

Elma noticed at once and showed us to a table.
It was just dinner time, and fairly thriving; here and there people chatting lively, people drinking, each enjoying themselves.

“Drinks the same as yesterday?”
“Ah. For now that’s fine for you two as well?”

At Gerda’s voice, Kira and I answered, “Yes.”
Then, as I was thinking what to do about food.

“That’s right, that came in today.
It’s good for tiredness. How about it?”
“Ah, that. That’s good. I aside, you two must be tired.”
“…Eh~… we are tired, but… Gerda, you arranged appointments all over this morning, and carried that much water and flew, and you’re not tired…?”

At my puzzled voice, Gerda showed a puzzled face.

“No, that much is nothing much, you know?”
“T-tough…”

As expected of a half-dragon, I supposed. Well, it was certainly reliable.

“By the way, what’s ‘that’?”

Perhaps curious, Kira asked.
Indeed, I was curious too.

“Let me see… no, this one you’ll enjoy seeing.”

Gerda thought a little and winked, with a snap.
Dammit, this sort of thing looks like a painting on her…

“Ehh, tell us~”

We were fussing like that when the white wine was brought, and first we toasted.
We were enjoying something light to nibble with it when it arrived.
The smell of garlic drifting over. Ah, they grow quite a bit of garlic here, and use it often.

And what was set on the table was a small frying pan that looked like cast iron.
That look, that smell—this was, surely not…?

“Sorry to keep you. Chicken and Chinese yam in oil! This Chinese yam doesn’t come in often, you see.”

Yes. What had been brought was what is called ajillo.
The ingredients inside were not very Spanish, though.
Or perhaps there is Chinese yam in Spain and I simply don’t know.
I had heard it was seen in quite a few regions.

“I see, Chinese yam… this does look like it would give you energy.”
“Ah. You’re from the mountains, Asha, so you know it.”

Yes. Chinese yam—Dioscorea polystachya—had been grown in my hometown in this world as well.
I recalled it had been welcomed there too for its tonic effect.
Nutritionally it contains, I was fairly sure, minerals such as zinc and potassium, and B vitamins, vitamin C, and so on.
That it would be effective for recovering from fatigue was understandable.

And then, garlic. There was no way you would not feel lively.
Besides that, chicken contains various vitamins as well as protein.
In the West, chicken soup stock is apparently a staple when you have a cold; that made sense too.

“It smells… really delicious…”

Kira, too, had a face that very much wanted to eat. Good, good.
Having her show her feelings like that makes this big sister happy.
No, our physical ages here are almost the same.

“Then, shall we?”

When I declared it, Gerda portioned it out at once.
See, that’s what I mean, Gerda.
She served it onto small plates, first Kira, then set a plate in front of me.
Not a gap, truly not a gap.

At any rate, we would eat at once.
This, at least, not with our hands; with spoons.

“Hafu, hot, but, it’s good!”

Fresh ajillo was, as expected, hot.
But it was good enough that you ate it even so.
Rather, eating it going hafu hafu might be the delicious way.

Chinese yam is often eaten as tororo, I think, but it is actually good heated as well.
In the fluffy texture, a little remaining stickiness goes torori, producing a slightly sensual feel on the tongue.
Perhaps because of that the flavor seemed to gain richness, and then the savor of the chicken and the punch of garlic.

There was no way it would not be delicious.

“This is white wine, or red… I’m torn.”
“That’s so. Either might do. Or… ah, Elma, could I have grappa?”
“Oh, going on already? Well, you’ll be all right, Gerda.”

Hm? Grappa? A question floated up.

“Eh, Miranda’s place makes grappa too?”
“Ah, it is Miranda’s, yes. Why do you know about Miranda?”

That question was fair, so I explained we had gone to Miranda’s in the afternoon, and Elma nodded, looking convinced.

“Say, Elma. Grappa is cheaper than brandy, right?”
“Ah, well, yes.”

Elma nodded at my question as if it were obvious. Of course it was.
Yes.

Grappa is a distilled liquor that in my previous life was made in Italy.
Brandy is made by distilling wine, but grappa is made by fermenting the grape pomace left from wine and then distilling that alcohol further.
Asked which is cheaper, of course it would be grappa.

What I had decided to purchase from Miranda a little while ago was alcohol distilled from wine.
In other words.

“Y-you’ve done it, Miranda…”
“I don’t know what you mean, but that girl is shrewd, despite how she looks.”

Elma told me, smiling wryly, as I grumbled.
Dammit, is everyone on this island like that!?
…Ah, come to think of it, that reminded me.

“Come to think of it, Elma. There was something I was curious about.”
“Hm? What?”
“What sort of relationship do you have with Miranda?”

At my sudden question, Elma coughed despite herself.
Ah, a hit after all.

“Did that girl say something?”
“No, just a fee~ling, from her face when she talks about you?
I see~, so even a shrewd person like that goes honest when it’s about Elma~”

Smile. Or perhaps a smirk.
I think that was the face I was making.
Elma, red-faced, glared at me, but it was very cute.

…And then my glass was taken.

“Asha who says such things gets no wine!”
“Ah~! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was wrong, anything but that!”

I clung in a hurry, and Gerda laughed, kusu kusu.
Kira was watching, looking puzzled.

When she had somehow given the glass back, Kira opened her mouth.

“By the way, what kind of relationship is it?”

With no ulterior motive whatsoever.
At those words, Gerda and Elma both looked away, then looked at me.
Eh, wait, you’re tossing it to me there!?
I thought a while about what to do.

“Ah, ah~… I’ll explain later, okay?”

Somehow that let me dodge.
I aside, for Kira, raised in the common sense of the outside, it might be a bi~t stimulating.
Come to think of it, Kira had not been there for the Demon King’s doting.
But if Elma and Miranda were as well, that meant there were other such couples.
In this environment, it would be stranger if there weren’t.
It was a fairly common story in closed environments of mostly women.
In that case, I might ought to tell Kira somewhere.

“…? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing, nothing.”

To this apparently pure, innocent Kira.
I felt as if I were doing something terribly improper…

 

After that we ate all sorts of things, and I was given a sip of grappa.
We ate enjoyably as yesterday, and unlike yesterday Gerda took Kira to the magicians’ housing.
I returned to the workshop alone.

I lit a magic lamp and went into the bedroom alone.

…Hmm.
It could not be helped.
I had bustled that much in the day, and until just now had been noisy and having fun.
After that, being alone was lonely, as expected.

That said, I could hardly call the two of them back now, so for tonight I had no choice but to go quietly to bed.
Surely I would get used to a life like this someday.
Thinking that, I changed into nightclothes and got into bed.

However.

“I-I can’t sleep…”

Yes. The ajillo Elma had put out had apparently been highly effective for recovering from fatigue, indeed.
Too highly.

My body was flushed, and I could feel the blood circulating strongly through it.
Vitality filled even my brain, a sensation as if waking.
This is too lively, however you look at it!

And so I spent the second night alone, tossing and turning.