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While the party was busy listing their desired dishes,

I entered the kitchen and quickly prepared food with the ingredients inside.

“Um, Master, what’s this…?”

“It seems I’ve made every possible dish with fish.”

From simple grilling to flounder steak and even seafood boil.

I decided to wipe out the excessive seafood ingredients and presented a seafood dish optimal for five people in front of the party.

“Lunch is ready. After eating, we’ll continue to explore the ship interior, so eat your fill.”

“…Sage, how long have you been in the kitchen?”

“About an hour?”

“You made all this in an hour…?”

“It was a bit challenging to do it alone.”

I raised both hands and shook them side to side.

“So, I used magic.”

“Ah, I knew it…”

“I manipulated the cooking tools with magic while cooking simultaneously.”

“…Huh?”

It might be considered somewhat like a circus act, but if you can physically move cooking tools, you can manage to cook multiple dishes alone at the same time.

“It’s not that difficult.”

“Even if it’s not difficult…”

“With my level of skill, I could easily be invited by the Emperor of the Empire, so just enjoy it for the next few days. I’ll keep cooking for you for a while.”

“Really?”

Lucius lit up with excitement.

“Master cooking for us…!”

“I’m pretty good at making delicious food.”

The two had already tasted the food I happily made at the inn once.

Indeed, Lucius had no resistance to delicious food.

Having grown up in a rural village, far from fine dining, I felt an odd urge to provide him with something tasty.

‘Poor guy.’

He probably lived his whole life eating only rye bread dipped in bland soup.

And when he caught a decent game, he likely only grilled poorly cleaned meat.

The Village of the Holy Sword itself wasn’t known for its developed food culture, so there was no doubt that before starting his journey as a hero, he might have only tried two types of food at most.

‘I need to give him a lot.’

The joy of eating is an important happiness that a hero must not forget to achieve their goals.

‘Those who even forget the joy of eating end up turning into monsters or wrecks.’

After excessive battles, some heroes are left eating the corpses of monsters, eventually losing their sense of taste.

‘You need to eat delicious food to be happy.’

I personally had no intention of losing my sense of taste, but no matter how tough or painful the circumstances, I still needed to eat meat after bleeding it and adding salt.

“…Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Did I mix up sugar and salt…?”

The expressions of the four, who were just about to pick up their utensils, froze.

“I’m just joking. There’s no way I couldn’t tell sugar from salt.”

“…A joke like that? My heart just sank, Sage.”

“Sorry. Everyone looked too tense while eating. Just food, eat before it gets cold.”

It was a joke meant to ease the tension, but it seemed they took it seriously over there.

No matter how novice a cook, mistaking sugar for salt doesn’t usually happen.

Even if my tongue could only perceive sweetness, one could not fail to notice the differences in texture.

“Um…Wow.”

“…Where did you live by the sea?”

“…It’s excellent.”

As expected.

As soon as they put the food in their mouths, all three let out exclamations.

“Sage, if it’s not too much trouble, can I have the recipe for this dish…?”

“I’ll organize the cooking method and leave a video, so you can learn it later.”

“…Thank you so much.”

Seeing such a reaction the moment they tasted the first bite was incredibly fulfilling as a cook.

If someone were to say the food I made was too salty or should have been cooked longer, it would make me never want to cook for them again.

Of course, if it were food being sold for money, it would be a different story.

The food I’m talking about now is about plain home-cooked meals.

“Ah, Lucius. Can you pass me that fish over there?”

I reached out for the saury placed on a long plate in front of him, and Lucius handed it over with a puzzled look.

“It’s a bit bony, so wait a moment.”

Receiving the plate, I coated my left hand with mana like a shield, grabbed the head of the grilled saury with my right hand, and raised it up.

Squick.

In my right hand were two thin metal rods from the kitchen.

Everyone’s eyes focused on me as I took a deep breath and then swiftly moved the two sticks with one hand to separate the bones from the flesh in one go.

“……Wow.”

“Heh, your skills haven’t rusted.”

I cut open the belly and swiftly extracted the spine from head to tail, leaving only the tasty fillet neatly arranged on the plate.

“Give me the others’ too. I’ll prepare them so they won’t get any bones.”

“…Sage, what exactly is that?”

“Oh, this?”

I pointed to the two metal rods in my hand.

“Using them as tweezers.”

*

After finishing the meal.

While Sorceress Bel took Lucius aside, claiming she had a close conversation to share with him, the three women gathered in the dining room lowered their voices seriously.

“…Is this a declaration of war?”

“It felt like they were mocking us, as if to say ‘Can you even make food like this?'”

“Mocking us might be a stretch, but the skill gap is certainly apparent.”

The three women sighed simultaneously.

“…What the heck? Did a bride come out instead of a witch?”

“…Tsk. Things were already dangerous in Belselphia.”

“The reason we did nothing in Belselphia might be simply because there was no need. You can afford to win without having to do so.”

Sorceress Bel.

She’s not your average strong opponent.

“Though you say you want to be Lucius’s partner…”

“You’re not suggesting we become concubines, are you? Seriously.”

What is Sorceress Bel’s true intention?

While it seems like she’s genuinely helping, at times, she just reduces the three women to mere female companions.

“What do you think she’s planning to do with Lucius?”

“…She probably won’t do anything weird. The ship itself is peculiar and strange, but I doubt she’d do such things in a space where it’s just us.”

“……You never know. It could happen somewhere.”

“Not yet. You know. Lucius hasn’t yet done that with the sorceress.”

The three women sipped their tea in front of them, lost in thought.

“Think about Lucius’s reaction. Sorceress Bel hasn’t taught him anything related to that.”

“That’s true. Lucius has been alone even in the village. Really…”

“Ah, no…!!”

Rosmas waved her hands in panic, shaking her head.

“Stop it…!!”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? We’ve all seen each other naked.”

“Ugh…”

“Except for the witch.”

Saintess Yan tapped her finger on her teacup.

“Witch, what if you also decide to teach him something like that?”

“Come on, there’s no way Lucius would ask that.”

“With Lucius, he might actually consider asking. After all, you’re the Sage who knows everything. Would he not think you’d know that too?”

“I might know about it, but whether I can actually do it or not is a different story.”

“If you know, it’s beneficial for us.”

Droniel licked her lips and smiled wickedly.

“If everyone else is a beginner, but he’s the only one with experience? No way, that’s not right. Lucius will definitely be disappointed.”

“But if the Sage has never done it either?”

“……Tsk.”

A long silence ensued.

“…No. Not yet. It’s still fine. We’ve made sure we’ve sealed the deal.”

“That applies to him as well.”

“Okay. Then…”

Droniel pointed at the other two in turn.

“One day me, another day Rosmas, and the next day Yan. The three of us will take turns doing the night watch.”

“Night watch…?”

“That’s just a figure of speech. You know what I mean?”

“Well, yes, but!!”

“…Fine. If this ship’s room structure is similar to the personal rooms in Belselphia, it certainly won’t be spacious. In other words…”

“A shape of a room that is just right for two people to stay…!!”

The three women clenched their fists.

“Once the two of them come back, we’ll decide how we’re going to share the personal rooms. And… we have to win.”

The three women piled their hands on the table together.

“We won’t lose to the witch…!!”

Ah—

Ah—

Even if the days of our birth differ, the intentions held within our hearts are the same.

*

“This is the captain’s personal room.”

“…It’s spacious compared to the other rooms.”

“Of course. It’s the captain.”

Just like all ships, captains are entitled to a slightly larger room than the others.

Thanks to that, my personal room on the Bride was the biggest and most spacious room.

Equipped with a restroom, a shower, a bedroom, and even a reception area.

The space might be a bit cramped, but it was undoubtedly convenient to live in.

“Master, the reason you called me separately is…”

“I’m asking just in case, but if you think it’s rude, feel free to tell me not to ask, okay?”

“…What do you want to ask?”

“Have you been with the three of them?”

Clap, clap.

I lightly clapped my hands.

“You did it on the last day of the festival in Belselphia, right?”

“……. ”

“You did, didn’t you? Hehe. Congratulations. You’ve finally become a man.”

Cheers.

Lucius, you’ve become a man.

“So, did you like it?”

“It wasn’t so much that I liked it… I’m not sure.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well… maybe because I was drunk…”

“Tsk. It seems like you didn’t do it right.”

I pointed to the bed.

“Want me to teach you?”

 

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