Volume 2
Special Chapter
Citrus-Scented
Morning
Translator : PolterGlast
She woke up, guided by
the morning sun's rays passing through her eyelids.
"Nn......"
Spring is almost over,
and the sun is getting stronger and stronger. While raising her hand and
squinting her eyes, she looked out the window and saw that the sun was already
peeking over the roof. It seemed that she had slept longer than she had
expected.
"Fu~aa......."
She let out a slightly
sleepy yawn as she got up from her comfy bed.
It had been two weeks
since the battle in the forest. She almost had no more nightmares.
Even when she did
occasionally have nightmares, she felt as if she were looking through a glass
somewhat distant.
But that did not mean
that she no longer felt the same way. Her heart still yearns for the forest of
her homeland.
However, She is no
longer trapped in the "past" where she was powerless. She is no
longer afraid of the future, which she does not yet know.
[ Chuichu...... (Yo,
Shi-jou, are you awake?) ]
"Good morning,
Raz. Has Mimuru woken up yet?"
[ Chun, chuchun (Yeah,
she said she was going to buy some freshly-baked bread) ].
"I see. Then I
have to prepare breakfast as well......"
She exchanged morning
greetings while smiling at her friend, who was wagging his tail beside her
pillow.
Getting out of bed,
she took off her nightgown and began to change.
The dormitories
offered at Arcazam are designed to accommodate two students in a single room.
In order to give the students a more varied lifestyle, the shared areas are
equipped with the necessary equipment for household chores, but with a little
creativity, they could even cook a simple meal in their rooms.
After putting on the
uniform and apron, she asked the water spirit to fill the pot with water.
Then she asked the
fire spirit to slowly heat the pot, and began to make soup.
The spirit magic,
which had been unusable, is now working properly.
"Fufu, thank
you."
After saying so, she
poured magic power into her hand and gave it to the micro-spirits who helped
her as a thank-you.
The spirits who helped
her happily gathered around her magic power and began to circle around her.
[ Chuichui (Oi oi, if
it was just that much, why don't you just ask me?) ]
"Ara, Raz, are
you jealous? Don't worry, I'm counting on you at school."
[ Chichichi ......
(Keh~, I don't know about that......) ]
While chopping
vegetables and preparing the stew, she appeased the jealous Raz.
The comfortable,
peaceful feeling, and the connection with friends that had been lost until not
long ago.
She couldn't help but
smile as she once again realized what she had regained.
[ Chunchun! Chuchun!
(So, what's on the menu? French toast? Or maybe creamed Roche beef? Oh, candied
Plantafruit would be great!) ]
Plantafruit is the
general term for fruits from the southernmost part of the Sumahya Union.
Generally colorful,
sweet, and sour, it is a very tasty fruit, and at the same time, it is
considered a luxury item.
"I can't afford
to eat such expensive food in the morning. Besides, we have to save our
money."
[ Chu ~~ chun (Eeh~~.
Don't be such a bore~~!) ]
"Don't be
selfish."
[ Chi, chichichi……
(Tsk, I thought I was going to be able to taste delicious foods~~) ]
Shina's childhood
friend has been begging for the humans' expensive food ever since he was
resurrected. Especially sweet foods with a lot of sugar. Even though he used to
be a bit more modest .......
"No way. Even
when we were in the forest, I used to pick the ripest, sweetest fruits to feed
you."
Spirits are different
from ordinary physical beings.
Because they are a
mass of pure source elements, even when they manifest as spirits, their senses
are different from those of ordinary living beings.
The most noticeable
difference is their sense of taste. They feel nothing when they eat what humans
would consider delicious. This is because they do not have a physical body, and
they do not need a sense of taste as they ingest the source elements that fill
the world.
However, there are
exceptions. One of them is when a direct contract is made, as in Shina's case.
Some spirits and
contractors who have developed a deep connection can share their senses. In
other words, Raz can also enjoy the food that humans eat through Shina's taste
buds.
Well, in short, this
gluttonous spirit was going to make Shina's stomach filled with sugar, honey,
and milk so that he could enjoy the food of the human world.
"In the first
place, there were no Plantafruits in Nebula Forest. Where did you get such
knowledge? ......"
[ Chu? Chunchun ( Hm?
Well, I was just strolling around this town and happened to hear merchants
talking about it.) ]
Arcazam is frequented
by numerous merchants from all over the continent. Certainly, as a spirit, Raz
would have no trouble eavesdropping on the merchants' business talks.
However, even so, this
friend of hers seemed to be becoming very much tainted with the human
world.......
"You see, even
though I receive a subsidy from the academy and a reward for defeating the
demonic beast the other day, it doesn't mean I can waste my money. I have to
save money, and I have to do what I can by myself......"
[ Chichichu ~~ (I'd
like to take it easy if I could tho ~~) ]
Raz was yawning while
lying down comfortably on his belly.
(It is true that I am
grateful that you have been protecting me for twenty years, but even so, aren't
you being a little too lazy?)
"Raz, aren't your
laziness getting worse? When it comes to this, unless you work, I'll have to
limit my shared senses......"
[ Chichi, chunchun!
(Oi, stop it, you're depriving me of my limited entertainment!) ]
"It's okay, Raz.
Working is not a bad thing."
[ Chun, chichun,
jijijijiji! (Stop it, unlike you humans, I'm a spirit who can live without
working. Don't try to instill a work ethic into a spirit who can just stay
alive without even moving!) ]
Spirits who have made
a contract and then learned about entertainment are rather reluctant to have
that entertainment taken away from them. Shina thought that Raz was getting a
little too flippant lately and needed to be made more mature .......
"I-am-home~!"
While she was having
such an exchange with Raz, Mimuru came back.
The aroma of fragrant
bread filled the dorm room. In the basket she was carrying, there were various
kinds of bread, such as rolls and baguettes.
"Mimuru, welcome
back. You bought a lot of bread again."
"My body is my
investment after all, and it's not in my nature to eat only a little."
"Well, okay. The
stew is almost ready, so let's have breakfast."
Shina put the cooked
stew on the table and put it on a plate, and then she took out some jars from
the back of the cabinet.
Inside them is jam
made from mashed berries from Spasim Forest. Others are bought in town.
Mimuru immediately
jumped in front of the meal laid out on the table.
After dipping the
bread in the jam, she devoured each piece of bread with her mouth.
(Wait a minute,
Mimuru, I just made that jam yesterday, so you have to hold back a little
more.)
"Mmmnn~, yummy!
Oh, do you want some Razward?"
[ Ji ji ji ...... (Oi,
were you making fun of me?) ]
Perhaps it was because
Shina threatened him by restricting his senses earlier, Raz was oddly worked up
when it came time to eat.
(You're a little too
worked up. Look, your feathers are getting stuck against each other. And your
tail feathers are in the way. We're eating now, so please behave yourself.)
"Ah, right,
spirits can't eat. Well then, Shina, here you go, a ~~ n..."
Why are you trying to
feed me?"
"The only way for
Razward to have a taste of it is for Shina to eat it after all. So, here, a ~~
n..."
"I have my own
portion, too, you know? Why do I need Mimuru to feed me? ......"
"A ~~ n..."
"......
Gosh."
Reluctantly, Shina
reached over and took a bite of the bread Mimuru had offered her while brushing
her hair out of her face.
The aroma of freshly
baked bread and the taste of moderately sour jam spread in her mouth.
"How is it?"
"It's good, but
maybe a little too much jam?"
[ Ji-ji, ji-ji!
Chun-chun! (Hey, hurry up and let me taste it too! Stop discriminating against
spirits!) ]
Unable to stand it any
longer, Raz finally jumped at Shina from the side.
Like a baby chick
begging for food, Raz's cries were echoing inside her head.
He was being so loud
that she had no choice but to restore the sensory sharing with Raz, which she
had cut off.
[ Chu ~~~~! (Mmmhhh～～～～!) ]
Raz, who had been
turned into a fluff ball just a few moments ago, was quickly deflated.
He looked so happy and
ecstatic with his mouth open, but from the side, it looked a little dangerous.
(I knew it, let's cut
it off again after this.)
"Well then,
Shina, me too a~~n......"
As Shina was thinking
of such a thing, Mimuru opened her mouth as if to say, "Now feed me".
With a wry smile on
her face, Shina took the lightly jam-dipped bread in her hand and brought it to
Mimuru's mouth.
"Mmm~~ delicious!
Maybe it's because Shina fed it to me~."
"Is that so? It's
the same thing I always make, so it should taste the same ......"
"Yeah, it's
delicious. It's like the taste of sugar and the scent of warm milk wafting
through the air. When Tom fed it to me, it tasted like sweet and sour
lemon."
"This jam is made
with honey though, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have milk or sugar in
it......"
Shina didn't use sugar
or lemon because it wasn't originally meant for preserving and besides, they're
both expensive. She did add a few apples though.......
Nevertheless, she
doesn't have much trouble with ingredients here in Arcazam, and there is a wide
variety of them. In fact, her culinary skills have expanded to include a lot of
different things since she came here.
"It's just that
the taste changes depending on who I'm eating it with. Therefore, Shina, here,
have another one."
Shina once again
stuffed her cheeks with the bread that Mimuru had thrust out to her.
"How was it?
"Well, I'm not
sure."
Mimuru's face turned
sour when Shina answered with a straight face.
"Muuu, I wonder
if elves' sense of taste is dull......"
(Excuse me. I lived in
the forest, so there's no way I have a bad sense of taste. Because I had to be
able to identify what I can't eat and what I can't!)
And so they resumed
their breakfast.
Mimuru kept refilling
the soup, and before they knew it, they were starting to see the bottom of the
pot.
(Haa, I thought it
would be enough to last until dinner. I'll have to make it again when I get
back from school.)
While thinking about
such things, Shina chewed on her bread.
(Did I not mix it
enough when I cooked it? Or was it because of the time it took? I think the jam
tastes a little sweeter than usual.)
In the meantime, their
breakfast time went by peacefully.
"Come to think of
it, the soup that Nozomu made was pretty good, wasn't it?"
"Eh?"
"Do you remember
when we were chased by that black demonic beast? He made soup for us when we
took shelter in his hut."
"Ah, yeah, now
that you mention it......"
"It tasted kinda
simple, but it wasn't bad~~. Somehow, I think it was similar to your
cooking."
"Hmm, I wonder if
it was......"
Shina honestly did not
remember the taste at all, because she was trapped in a lot of trouble at the
time.
Looking back on it now
that she was able to get past that crisis, she felt that it was a bit of a
letdown that she didn't remember it.
"I wonder what
he's up to now......."
Looking out the
window, she could not help but notice a large building amidst the roofs of
houses illuminated by the morning sun. It is the boys' dormitory of the
Soluminati Academy. That is where he currently resides.
*Thump, thump......*
For some reason, her
heartbeat started to beat faster. And she noticed that her eyes were naturally
drawn farther and farther into the distance.
"Hm? Shina,
what's wrong? You're staring blankly out the window."
"N-, no, it's
nothing. Anyway, let's hurry up. If we take too long, we'll be late for
class."
"Oh, no!"
Mimuru shoveled her
meal into her mouth in a hurry and began thrashing around, stuffing her bag
with the textbooks and tools she needed for today's class.
Basically, she
prepared for her classes at the last minute, just in time. That's why she was
always in such a rush whenever she left the dormitory.
Shina, on the other
hand, had prepared everything yesterday, so she could take it easy.
"All right, I'm
ready to go! Shina, let's go!"
"Yeah,
sure."
While chewing the last
piece of bread, Shina put away the dishes and grabbed her bag.
(He should be on his
way to school by now, too......)
She couldn't help but
smile at the thought of him walking down the same path to school.
Before she knew it,
her mouth was filled with a faint, strong scent of citrus.
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