Chapter 6.1 (1/2)

Chapter 6.1

Good morning…？」

「Mm, ‘mornin’」

It was the early morning of the following day from when Aearis and the others had woken up. The sun had barely risen. Perhaps because of already getting a lot of sleep, Aearis had woken up earlier than usual. Surprised to see Hiroshi as he worked on something, she timidly greeted him.

「Hiroshi-sama, is everything all right with your body？」

「Ye’d think I’d be the one askin’ you instead usually」

Hiroshi continued working as he gave a bitter smile. Aearis had been concerned about even being able to interact with Hiroshi after the painful events of the previous night, but from what she saw, he seemed to already have put the events of last night into the past. What tremendous mental fortitude he had!

「I am very sorry for what happened yesterday」

「Nah, don’t worry ’bout it. It ain’t like yer in the wrong, plus the way things were yesterday, it was objectively easy to be mislead」

「But…」

「Honestly, I wanna forget about it as soon as I can, so if yer really sorry, then can ya quit bringin’ it up？」

She nodded with an apologetic face, making sure to not carve in his wounds any further.

「Umm, what about Haruna-sama？」

Recomposing herself, she asked him the next thing on her mind. Haruna should have been sleeping here yesterday night, but she couldn’t see her anywhere.

「She’s gone to the mornin’ market to replenish stock. We generally buy a hefty amount, so we usually go together, but there’s somethin’ I gotta make today. I feel bad about it, but I gotta have her go alone today」

「Is that right. And is that what you need to make?」

「Darn skippy」

「What sort of thing would that be？」

Something he had gone out of his way to make, even so far as to leave the hard work to Haruna. Curious as to what it was, the question came unconsciously out of her mouth.

「Tools to disguise appearance. You three are all pretty well-known, right？」

「…Yes. Aside from me, those two are certainly」

「Also, the people from the Association are tellin’ us to keep y’all a secret, so that’s why I figured we could start with appearance」

「…I’m sorry that you have to go so far for us」

「We’ve gone this far in, so don’t worry ‘bout it. Plus I’d feel bad about kickin’ ya guys out as soon as ya woke up」

Hiroshi gave a pleasant response, despite all that had happened yesterday. That only served to increase her apologetic feelings, though. She felt really bad when she saw how he was guarding himself when talking with her. She even had the audacity to think that maybe getting kicked out would be more reassuring.

「Incidentally, I haven’t seen Lord Douga or Rayna anywhere. Might you know where they are？」

「The old man Douga’s contactin’ someone in the room that he’s borrowin’. Rayna-san is in the same room, takin’ some sorta punishment for yesterday」

「I-Is that right…」

Aearis nodded, wondering what in the world Hiroshi could be doing, especially since he sounded oddly reserved. This time around, it was different from his usual gynophobia. As they were discussing all of this, the entrance door opened and someone entered.

「I’m back」

「Welcome back. Thanks for the hard work」

「There were all sorts of good-looking ingredients, so I stocked some unplanned things」

「Gotcha. We’ve gone so far as to get soy sauce and bonito flakes, so let’s think up a good Japanese food menu later」

She nodded, taking out only the necessary things for the cart’s inventory from the bag. Seeing that, Hiroshi cleaned up the table.

「Finish the accessory？」

「If I obsessed over it more, I could probably touch it up some more. But eh, not like it needs to be flashy or nothin’. This’ll be fine. I made some internal medicine just in case」

Hiroshi said as he showed the current product. Sure, it was a step below what he usually made, but it wasn’t any less than a completed product. There was also the issue of how effective it would be, but as it didn’t require walking into the public eye, there wasn’t especially a need to fine-tune it.

「What’ll we do for breakfast？」

「We’re already on the subject of inventory, so how ’bout the stuff from the cart? Everyone seems to like it」

「Got it」

The conversation over, he gently cleaned up the rest of the table and took out cooking utensils, dexterously beginning preparations. That being said, they were already stewing the curry from the curry bread daily, and the dough was also plentiful in the storage from what they stocked in yesterday. Truthfully, this stocking was a type of insurance in the case of a scenario where they wouldn’t be able to stock up. Times like these were when Prevent Rot enchantments truly shined.