“I’m sorry. It’s because I made such a ruckus…”
It looks like Kotori is convinced that Chris collapsed because of her.
“It wasn’t your fault. It’s a lot of things piled on top of each other. Don’t worry about it so much.”
“Yes, master’s right.”
Kotori hears Hikari, and stares at her.
And then she slowly turns her head to me.
“This girl just said ‘master’!”
“Yes, master.”
“W-what kind of relationship do you two have?”
“…? Hikari is master’s?”
Hikari says as she tilts her head, but it looks like there’s a lot of confusion swirling in Kotori’s head, because she keeps turning back and forth between me and Hikari.
“Ah, first tell us how much you know about this world, Kotori.”
“What do you mean?”
I ask a few questions, and apparently she spent most of her time fighting, before she was brought here. It’s clear she doesn’t know a lot about this world.
“Firstly, Hikari is my slave, but she’s something called a special slave. And a special slave is…”
I give her a thorough explanation, and for some reason, she responds with an angry ‘it’s not fair’.
“Forming a contract with such a cute girl. I’m jealous.”
She says with a frown, after hugging Hikari from behind.
People sure change.
She keeps insisting we tell her, so we talk about how Hikari and I met and her upbringing, and now Kotori is crying.
“Uu… That must have been tough.”
“It’s all right. I met master.”
Those words move me a bit too, but I manage to keep my cool when I see Kotori making a fuss.
“Master, I’m hungry.”
“Yes, I think it’s about time we eat. How do you prepare food here?”
“Food… Suiren and the others prepare it for us.”
She says that with a low tone, which is surprising considering the vigor she’s shown so far. Is there something I don’t know?
“I want to give Chris something to eat too. Would it be all right if I asked to use the kitchen?”
“Eh? You can cook?”
“Well, yes. Stuff like preserved foods aren’t very good.”
“Yes, master’s cooking is good.”
“Hum, there are probably others there, so I’ll take you.”
Kotori takes us to the kitchen, and we see two elves we haven’t seen before.
They introduce themselves, and apparently they’ve already heard about us.
I also say my name, and explain why I want to use the kitchen, and they gladly accept.
Actually, it seems they’re also interested in seeing what kind of food I make. They stop what they’re doing to watch me, and start asking questions.
Are all elves like this? Every elf I’ve met is beautiful. Then again, it’s not like I’ve met many.
I say that without thinking, and Kotori agrees, like she never really thought about it.
She whispers that she’s met over ten elves so far, and they were all beautiful to the point of making her jealous.
“I met an elf in the castle, but she had a collar.”
I ask her to tell me more, and she says she’s talking about the castle in Elesya. Apparently said elf taught her how to form contracts with spirits.
When the two elves hear about this, their faces darken, and they speak with a worried tone.
What they say reminds me of Drett’s letter. It sounds like he was right.
If she’s not here, we have to go to the capital of Elesya, but we have no way to get inside the castle.
They’re probably pouring a lot of their resources here, to defeat the demon king, but the castle won’t be unguarded.
Maybe I should ask Ghido for help?
“You can really cook, uh?”
Kotori changes the subject, probably because of how dark the mood has become.
I also stop thinking about it, and jump on her topic and start explaining.
“I think it’s less that I can cook, and more that the skill helps me do it.”
“That’s not true. I’m sure your cooking would still be great without it.”
Hikari denies it, but I think it really is the skill. And Appraisal too, I guess. It helps me a lot in understanding ingredients and flavorings.
“Anyway, this is a soup that’s easy on the stomach, for Chris. And you can all eat this if you want.”
“What about you and the others?”
I say we’re planning to stay here for a while, especially considering Chris’ condition, and when I say that we’re going to ask for an empty spot where we can stay, I’m told we should just stay here.
The elves are also welcoming, and say they have room. Although they also say they want me to teach them to cook new things.
Suiren and the others come out too, and she also says we can stay, so we’re staying here for the time being.
We should wait until Chris is back on her feet before deciding what to do next.
Leaving the dark forest shouldn’t take long if we use that separate space we used before, but it will be a long way to Elesya from there.
I have money, so I should probably just buy a wagon… Actually, I don’t need it. If we can disguise the golem wagon well, that’ll be faster.
In fact, should I modify it so it can run even on bad terrain?
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Thanks for the treat.
Figured he would be back cooking soon enough. He should really leave It to the others already