28 – Cooking
I lifted Pii onto my shoulder and moved to see Siz.
I was the captain of the unit I belonged to, so I had to at least visit him.
I climbed up the stairs that wrapped around the tree and walked along the path between the branches.
It was quite high from the ground, but I didn’t feel scared at all.
I guess I got used to the elf’s lifestyle.
I chuckled and walked briskly, and saw the sickroom where Siz was resting.
From Noble mtl dot com
“Shizu. We’re here.”
[You said you got shot in the side. Are you okay?]
As we entered the tent, a strong smell of herbs wafted in the air.
The air was so healing that it seemed like breathing alone would boost our recovery.
I looked around the sickroom, satisfied with the decent environment.
That’s when I saw Shizu’s bare back, facing me.
“Wow.”
[Wow.]
I couldn’t help but admire the six red camellia tattoos on her back.
I had seen Shizu’s back before, but this time she had her hair tied up, exposing everything.
The graceful curve that stretched from her shoulder to her hip was etched in my eyes.
I snapped out of it and quickly looked away, but Shizu, who was changing the herbs, spoke to me casually.
“Hey. You came.”
She sounded very bored for someone who was half-naked.
I expected her to scream or blush and get angry, but she seemed to not care at all, making me feel awkward.
What made her so indifferent?
As Bii and I showed our displeased expressions, Shizu put on her clothes and sat down, facing us.
“What? What’s with your faces?”
She looked completely clueless about our reactions.
I let out a hollow laugh and a sigh at the same time, and Bii, who was on my shoulder, snorted sarcastically.
[Shizu. Aren’t you ashamed?]
“Of what?”
[You changed your clothes in front of Gaul! What do you think of Gaul to have such a reaction?]
“That guy?”
Shizu looked at me with a frown.
Then he paused for a moment and opened his mouth.
“A well-built ogre.”
Heh.
A well-built ogre, huh.
At least he stopped treating him like a goblin after spending a few days together.
Or maybe it got worse than that?
As I tilted my head and pondered, Pii sighed and slapped his forehead.
[Sigh… It got worse, didn’t it?]
It seemed that ogres had a worse image than goblins.
But I didn’t need to worry about it.
It would be solved once I purified his mana anyway.
Still, I felt a bit disappointed.
I sat next to Shizu with my duck-like lips and said.
“Yeah. The ogre has something to report, so I came.”
“Why are your lips like that? Are you mocking me right now?”
“Why do you do this, because you’re an ogre?”
“……”
I ignored the bewildered Shiz and tried to report about Lenny.
But Shiz reached out and pushed my duckbill in, stopping me from talking.
“I already heard the report from the subordinates. You spared and sent away a human, right?”
Ah. The report had already reached Shiz.
No wonder the high elves followed my words obediently.
“So you already knew. You don’t seem to have any objections?”
“I don’t care as long as the subordinates are convinced. They’re high elves too, so they must have made a good judgment.”
Shiz’s face showed pride in the high elves as he trusted the subordinates’ judgment.
I was worried about what if he asked me to bring Lenny back and kill him, but it seemed to be a needless worry.
I relaxed and stretched my legs comfortably next to the bed, laughing.
“I wish you would trust my judgment too, not just the subordinates.”
It was a joke I made to show some friendliness.
Shiz seemed to notice that, and pushed me off the bed with a snicker.
But his light-hearted words were quite sharp.
“Just act within your limits. Honestly, this incident was a bit over the line.”
“Can’t I do that much? I’m a druid candidate, you know.”
“I admit that you’re a druid candidate, but I can’t approve of you contacting humans based on your personal judgment.”
It was a reasonable enough statement, so I nodded in agreement.
Then, Pii, who had come down from my shoulder and was rolling around on the bed, joined the conversation.
[But Siz accepts that Gaul is a druid candidate, right? There are many elves who don’t like the fact that a druid candidate is a human.]
Indeed, there were not a few elves who looked at me with disdain and shunned me.
The goddess of nature had appointed me as a druid candidate, but it was hard to ignore the instinctive disgust that I felt.
That’s why Siz’s recognition of me as a druid candidate was quite helpful.
Thanks to the hunting leader’s support, the elves who had complaints also kept their mouths shut.
They could grumble about the goddess’s choice, but they couldn’t make a sound in front of the fist.
“That’s right. Thanks to Siz, I don’t have to worry about what others think, right?”
I lay down next to Siz’s bed and rolled around with Pii.
Siz opened his mouth as if he was dumbfounded by us.
“What else would a guy who received the blessing of the wild be if not a druid? If you show them your weapon, the other guys will have to admit it too.”
“Right. I also received the blessing of the wild. I have to go and meet the god of the wild too. But who stopped me from going? I’m so sad.”
“……If you’re talking about the incident with the Toan tribe, I apologize. I’ll let you go without a word if the opportunity comes next time.”
“Do you promise?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes with a satisfied smile.
As I lay still with Pii on my chest, a cool breeze blew and a pleasant fatigue came over me.
Ah. It would be nice to take a nap as I originally intended.
As I thought so and closed my eyes quietly, Siz kicked me and asked.
“What are you doing now?”
What are you doing? Trying to sleep?
I answered by lifting the beep instead of the eye mask over my eyes.
“I’m tired because I couldn’t sleep yesterday.”
“So you want to sleep next to me?”
“What’s wrong with that? We’ve camped together before.”
At my answer, Siz burst into a snort.
Then he kicked me hard in the ribs and growled.
“Ouch!!”
“Stop messing around and go to the kitchen and grill some meat. I’ve been eating thin soup since yesterday and I feel like my recovery speed is slow.”
“Ouch. Hooouch.”
“Stop whining and get out of here.”
As I gasped for breath from the unexpected blow, Siz pushed me off his bed with his foot.
He looked fine by what he was doing, but I didn’t know what he meant by slow.
I crawled on the floor to avoid his spot and headed for the exit.
[Me, me too?]
“That guy can’t do anything without you.”
[I just want to rest….]
“Shut up, go quickly.”
[Waaah!!]
As I was crawling, the beep flew over my head.
I grabbed Pii and ran out of the room as if fleeing.
I wanted to ignore it and just rest, but the atmosphere felt like I would have to give up a few ribs if I did.
I had no choice but to head to the kitchen with Pii, holding my side.
[You know, you deserved it.]
“Ugh. I guess so.”
I must have been too cheeky.
* * *
“Ah! Mister!”
“It’s Hoo-bo mister!”
“I’m not a mister, okay?”
As I entered the kitchen following the delicious smell, the children I rescued from the humans yesterday greeted me.
They looked like twin sisters, sticking together so well.
They must have been together when they were kidnapped, since they were so close.
As I quietly smirked, the children smiled brightly and asked me.
“What are you doing in the kitchen, Hoo-bo mister?”
“Are you hungry, mister?”
It felt oddly bad to hear them call me mister over and over.
They were elves too, so they looked different from their actual age.
I coughed a few times and asked the children.
“Hey, kids. How old are you to call me mister?”
The children pondered for a moment and then answered as if they knew.
“Thirteen years old!”
“Fourteen years old!”
Ah. I am an old man.
I gave up neatly and accepted the fact that I was an old man.
“Well. This old man wants to cook something. Can you help me?”
[Brrr… It’s so cold….]
Pee-ee said something, but I ignored it and crouched down next to the children.
The children smiled brightly and nodded their heads as if they were already planning to cook.
“Yes! We were going to make food for Captain Siz. Do you have anything you want to eat, old man?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“No. I also came here because Siz ‘auntie’ asked me to. Siz ‘auntie’ wants to eat meat.”
“Really? Oh, okay. Then we’ll prepare some meat dishes.”
When I called Siz an auntie, a question of ‘why is this old man doing this?’ rose on the children’s faces.
It was so unfair.
I don’t know how old Siz is, but isn’t she older than me for sure?
I can’t be the only one who gets treated like an old man.
“Then let’s make some delicious meat dishes for Siz ‘auntie’.”
[Brrr… It’s really too cold….]
Pee-ee said something again, but I lightly ignored it and rolled up my sleeves.
Then, the children who were awkwardly smiling started to bring out a lot of things from the corner.
They were white lumps that looked like butter or soap.
“What is that?”
The children answered confidently, as if I didn’t know anything.
“This is a flammable fuel!”
“We need this to grill meat!”
I took the fuel that the child handed me and examined it closely.
The fuel had a familiar but different smell that wafted faintly.
“Gasoline?”
Suddenly, a chainsaw came to my mind.