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Most workers long for a vacation.

However, Karem found himself in a cheeky situation where this vacation was gradually becoming a bore over time.

Honestly, he couldn’t cook, so his hands itched and fidgeted restlessly.

So, every time he walked near the kitchen, the rotating Kikimora cooking crew looked at him with wide eyes, as if to say, “No way, right!?” and he fled without a word.

Organizing documents was somewhat tolerable, but that too ended quickly. The noise was far greater than the reality—he barely filled one shelf.

By the time he was done, excluding peculiar observations and summary explanations, it would have reduced by half. This took just over half a day.

“Well, it’s quite empty, isn’t it?”

“Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I enjoyed a proper vacation. Hmmm…”

“…Just a moment. I’ll use it again.”

Karem placed his hand over Catherine’s, who was holding her side, and cast a Cure spell. A pale light gently emanated from his hand.

“Ugh…”

“Alright, brace yourself. I’ll help you.”

Karem began to leisurely enjoy the vacation with a revived Catherine who had only just regained her senses late in the evening.

They didn’t do anything grand.

They looked at the livestock grazing in the pasture, strolled leisurely through the garden and forest, returned to the mansion for an early dinner, soaked in the hot springs, responded to Catherine’s provocations with some vigor, and soaked in the hot springs again.

Only after fully enjoying their incomplete vacation did Karem board the wagon with Catherine.

As they received a tearful send-off from the Kikimoras, who hoped to see them as often as possible, the wagon set off back to Coldon.

Inside the wagon, where not even the subtle vibrations of the paved road could be felt.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence flowed between the only two passengers in the wagon, who didn’t even make eye contact. It was a rare occurrence.

Catherine, who had accumulated tales over three hundred years, was practically a living treasure trove of stories. In other words, she was an unending wellspring of narrative.

So when there was silence in the wagon, it usually meant Karem couldn’t think of any more questions to ask or that a small spat with Mary or Catherine had simmered down.

But the reason their gazes were fixed outside and on the pages of a book, lips tightly sealed, was nothing special.

They were simply a little embarrassed.

When it happened, instead of pondering, what came to the forefront were the emotions and sensations felt at that moment. But as time passed and those feelings simmered down, what would happen as they approached the return to everyday life?

The dam of emotions plugged by the cork of vacation had burst.

Meanwhile, Mary, who was sitting at the driver’s seat, restrained her twitching mouth to the point of bleeding while holding the reins, except for the minimum focus required to drive the wagon.

This was serious—if she said the wrong thing, there would be trouble.

But frankly, she wondered who would break the ice first—

“…As soon as we return, I’ll have to offer a sacrifice right away.”

A sudden remark. An awkward opener.

Karem, counting the days by folding his fingers, eased Mary’s curiosity a little.

“Now that I think about it, today is that day.”

“Has it really been that long? Well, even if it was, I couldn’t do the sacrifice at the mansion anyway.”

“I’ve been sacrificing dishes made entirely by hand until now… it would feel a bit odd to stop doing that now.”

As people are instinctively sensitive to losses no matter how big the gains are, that’s just human nature.

Especially if it were a sacrifice to a god, it felt more uncomfortable to not give what was normally offered, unless it was truly unavoidable.

Not to mention, one of the three gods was originally human.

Suddenly, Karem wondered if ensuring labor welfare for the house fairies counted as a compelling reason.

“…Hoo.”

“…Should we test it out, hmm?”

Suddenly, Catherine’s head rested sideways on Karem’s thigh.

“Am I really just a fool lost in a ridiculous situation?”

“Well… perhaps. But, what’s with the ridiculous situation?”

“You’ve seen all the spectacle and now you’re embarrassed? Isn’t that a foolish thing to do? Don’t you think?”

“…Speaking of you, Catherine—”

“Enough with that! So what was that foolish thought?”

Despite her calm expression and tone, her ears and cheeks were red.

With a blatant yet brazen nuance of “don’t say that,” Karem shrugged and gently ruffled her hair.

“Just thought, if the departure got delayed by a day and that meant the sacrifice would have to be prepared by the Kikimoras, wouldn’t that be seen as unavoidable?”

“That’s a short-sighted thought.”

“Suddenly?”

“Can’t we just return to Winterhome?”

Catherine, who claimed the distance was only half a day, slightly opened one eye and sneaked a glance at Karem.

“Then it would take two days.”

“Don’t go making excuses.”

“Who was it that said it was short?”

“That would be you! Ugh.”

Catherine froze abruptly mid-sentence and clutched her side, prompting Karem to quickly place his hand on it and cast Cure again.

“It’s less than yesterday, but it still seems to be hurting… thinking about it, shouldn’t drinking a potion solve this?”

“Ah… I forgot.”

“Catherine?”

Catherine closed her eyes, feeling a pleasant warmth and coolness spreading from her hand to her entire waist.

Though it would definitely be solved with a potion, she felt good in this situation, the expressions of affection felt awkward and embarrassing.

Catherine vaguely brushed past Karem’s question.

“Are you telling me to work during my vacation? And you have more than enough Divine Power, don’t you?”

“Well… I suppose that’s true.”

Karem smiled while ruffling her hair, maintaining his hand on her waist and continuing to cast Cure.

With all the ingredients there, it felt a bit silly to classify making potions for his own use as work, but he decided to let it go.

He felt a bit shy about indulging now, so he wanted to have a reason for it.

If he revealed it, she’d get angry, so Karem decided to quietly enjoy the situation and the sensations.

*

*

*

The bystanders couldn’t fail to notice the changes between the two.

In the moment Karem cautiously helped Catherine down from the wagon as they returned to the castle, passing through the Mage Tower.

From the soldiers in training, passing knights, servants and maids, workers, guests, and cooks, etc.

Those living in the aristocratic society, where even small gestures were laden with meaning, caught on to the subtly shifted hand gestures and distances as well as the looks exchanged between them.

‘Did they have an affair?’

‘How long are they planning to keep this up? Have they finally devoured each other? The victory of the wager is mine.’

‘Should I prepare Haggis for this?’

As people sent lukewarm glances as if asking if they had really made a move, Zigmeser felt unease wash over him again.

“Hmmm… this… white blocky thing, is for a daughter-in-law?”

In Zigmeser’s personal kitchen.

While Richard poked the tofu with his thick fingers, Zigmeser suppressed his shivering body, battling a daze and tension while recalling how he ended up in such a situation.

Three days prior.

Richard, who should have been at Aferglow Fortress, dashed day and night and finally reached Winterhome.

Naturally, a state of emergency was declared in Winterhome. After all, he was a VIP among VIPs, second only to the king and duke. The former duke had personally visited the castle.

Although Richard had somewhat relinquished the dukedom shortly after Alfred grew up, the history of Richard being the former duke remained.

Anyway, Winterhome wasn’t even prepared to welcome the former duke.

It was just like an ogre charging into the plains.

The reason Richard barged in so suddenly.

Richard made it clear himself.

“Is the baby in your womb a boy or a girl!!!”

He truly epitomized the definition of a fool, but Richard couldn’t just sit idly by while Alicia was said to be pregnant.

Moreover, they said she couldn’t eat meat!

How serious of a situation was this!?

As Alfred shut his eyes tightly at Richard, who casually spoke while bringing various herbs, medicines, and byproducts believed to be good for the body, it was already too late to turn back.

Of course, the person involved, Richard, told him to relax.

After all, wasn’t it originally his house?

How could they not welcome a former duke? Especially since he was family. Would it be okay because he was family? It would be even more suspicious because they were family.

However, the oldest man in that family had forcefully demanded that the welcoming feast be disregarded entirely.

Thus, without a care, Richard flipped over his only son’s attire and confirmed Elizabeth’s condition, who was feeling awkward.

To his surprise, she seemed to be well enough.

Though she was a bit undernourished.

“Daughter-in-law! You may be frail because you can’t eat meat, but aside from that, your condition seems substantially better than I expected!”

“Thanks to the special dishes prepared by Karem and Zigmeser.”

“Huh? What is this…”

Richard was presented with tofu and margarine.

Regardless, it was a relief that Elizabeth, who couldn’t eat meat, was getting healthier, but naturally, Richard became curious.

So he sought out the chef.

“Hmm… indeed. The texture and hearty richness of this tofu go exceedingly well with soy sauce.”

“Thank you for the praise, Your Grace.”

“This margarine might lack richness, but it’s so light compared to butter, it could be eaten endlessly.”

Richard chewed on a thick slice of toast slathered in margarine and then forked some tofu coated with soy sauce into his mouth.

“By the way, you said this tofu is in its raw state?”

“Indeed, Your Grace.”

While it may not be precise to claim it was uncooked given that it was boiled and steamed during its production process, Zigmeser answered tersely due to issues of security, reputation, etc.

However, Richard interpreted that in another way, feeling rather dissatisfied.

“Why bother with such walls? Where’s that bald guy who used to yell at me to eat the leftover vegetables?”

“Who are you calling bald, you wretched lord’s son? I said I wore it for the sake of cooking!”

“‘Lord’, you say? Your lord is now your son!”

“Oops! My mistake. My mistake.”

With a loud pop, Richard chuckled at the smooth-skinned dwarf, who was nervously snapping his mouth shut.

“No way this thing could be made using alchemy.”

It was rather satisfying to reminisce about the long-lost former subordinate’s appearance.

“So, is this tofu made with alchemy?”

“Well… the principles of alchemy do play a part.”

Zigmeser consoled himself, feeling a bit pricked.

Strictly speaking, he hadn’t lied.

In any case, boiling is the most basic potion-making process in alchemy, and salt is also used as an alchemical material, so cooking is similar, hence.

“However, there’s an unpleasant fishy taste at the end…”

“That’s likely due to the soy sauce being added onto raw items.”

“Indeed, it’s the same for raw meat.”

“…You still eat raw fish and meat?”

“It’s fine! It’s fine! Unlike before, I regularly drink cleansing potions now. Occasionally, the priests cast purification spells too!”

Richard burst into laughter at Zigmeser’s brilliant statement about using divine magic to kill parasites, his forehead smooth like silk as he exhaled in relief.

Meanwhile, Zigmeser internally sighed at the headache he was experiencing after a long while.

At that moment, an assistant chef rushed in to deliver some urgent news.

“Head chef! It seems we need to prepare Haggis.”

“What?”

“Haggis? Is there a celebration?”

Richard and Zigmeser exchanged beaming smiles, immediately understanding the rumors spreading throughout Winterhome.

 

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