Chapter 43
I grumbled as I slowly awakened. Kany was lightly kicking my stomach in an effort to wake me up faster. The sky was no longer dark, but instead I could see the faint glittering of dawn. The gra.s.s in front of me glistened with the morning dew.
Slowly, I brought myself up from my sleeping position. I got out of my sleeping bag to stretch. The slight chill of morning greeted me and a.s.sisted in the process of removing the lingering slumber from my body.
"Kenjiiii! I'm hungryyyyy!"
"That sounds like a you problem, Tael."
"It's gonna be an 'our' problem if you don't start cooking, Onii-san."
"What are you, gremlins?"
As our group began its daily banter, I could hear the shuffling noises of Erana awakening.
"*Yawn…* Ah… Good morning…"
Erana was wiping her eyes lazily in the morning light. I don't know why, but I'm nervous when I look at her now. I can't look her in the eye. Maybe it's because the ambience from last night is gone?
"Oi, what's breakfast?"
"Huh? Oh… I think I planned oats and igripps today. It's nothing special but it's pretty good when you add a few spices to it."
Kany sat obediently on the ground in response to my answer. Tael also appears to be acting more obediently. It seems as if food is a good way to calm them down. I should keep note of that for the future.
Now that I think about it, these two were alone together all of the previous night. I hope they were fine with being alone together for that long...
I reached into my rucksack and pulled out a jar that was filled to the brim with oats. Since I knew that this would be a multi-day trip, I had planned our meals ahead of time. I will restock on supplies when we get to Mulbik tonight.
I scooted myself towards the still burning fire and placed my cooking pot on top of it. I then poured some water into the pot and the oats followed suit. Once I had finished preparing the oats, I pulled out a small orange fruit called an "igripp" which has a very citrusy taste that is reminiscent of an orange. I pulled out my adamant.i.te knife and began to slowly peel the igripps one by one.
"Woah…" Tael let out. It seems that my ability to cook simple breakfast items is impressive to him.
"You should open a restaurant, Onii-san."
"Really? It's just oatmeal..."
"Maybe, but if your dinner last night was an indication then you have some good skills!"
I simply shrugged at Kany's declaration. It seems as if the basic ability to cook oatmeal should not be taken for granted in this world. If I fail as an adventurer, at least I have a backup plan.
"Thank you for cooking for us, Kenji-san."
I suddenly felt a chill go up my spine as I heard Erana address me. My sluggish morning nerves have been woken back up by my anxiety at the antic.i.p.ation of how Erana will act towards me now.
"Y-yeah… No problem!" I managed to stammer out.
Erana
(So… Did anything juicy happen last night between you and Erana?) I heard Tael ask in my head.
(N-No! We just talked!)
(Oh? Then why are you acting so nervously? Honestly Kenji, pulling moves on our first night! You sly dog!)
"S-Shut up!" I blurted out. It seems like I didn't respond with my mind, but instead with my actual voice.
"Hm? What's wrong, Kenji-san?"
"N-Nothing! Haha! I just had a bug fly near my ear and it was annoying!" I said as I turned towards Tael.
(Hey man, you gotta be careful! I cast this spell quietly so they wouldn't know what was going on!) I heard in my head.
(Well it's not like you're making it easy for me! Why do you need to get in my business so much?)
(So there IS business!)
(N-No there's not!)
"I knew it, you two are having some psychic talk."
Tael and I both turned around in shock as Kany was standing over us. Despite being the shortest member of the group, Kany appeared to be larger than life right now with her arms crossed and a strong frown on her face. This was dumb of me, I should have expected the rogue to sneak up like this.
"So… Wanna let me know what you two are talking about?"
"Huh? Oh, Kenji and I were just talking about… the weather! Yeah! The weather!"
(Tael, why do you have to come up with such a bad excuse?)
(Don't get on me about this man! I'm bad under pressure!)
"The weather, huh? Odd that you had to use magic to talk about that…" Kany was obviously letting us know that she was not going along with our excuse.
Forced to go along with Tael, I decided to double down.
"Yeah! The weather! Tael was just telling me about a bad time he had with a certain type of weather so he hopes that we don't have it today! It's really personal so that's why he was using his magic for it!"
"Oh? Tael-san, you had a bad experience with a certain type of weather? I can explain what certain types of weather mean for you if you want…"
"N-no! That won't be necessary, Erana! Thank you though! And Kenji is absolutely correct!"
"Hmm…" Kany placed her hand on her chin. It looks like she's deep in thought right now about whether or not she should believe us or not. After a moment, Kany seems to have made her decision as she let out a big sigh.
"...Fine. Personal stuff is personal stuff. Just keep it together next time, alright?"
Kany went back over to Erana and began to comb her hair once more. Tael and I quietly let out sighs of relief. By the time that our life or death experience ended, breakfast was ready.
Instead of making a grand declaration, I decided to instead be direct.
"Food."
"Yay!" x3
Everyone took a bowl of the oatmeal and gobbled it down like pigs to slop.
"More please, Onii-san!"
"I prepared ahead of time. Here you go."
"Yay!"
"Keni-san, What do you think will happen today?"
"Today? Probably a lot of walking. According to the map at the guild and what Yimmie said, we should arrive sometime in the evening. Once we get there we need to find an inn and get rooms there. I don't want us causing trouble on the first night, understood?"
Both Tael and Kany nervously glanced at one another at my insinuation.
"W-Well, Onii-san, I don't plan on causing trouble! This jun store magician might cause trouble though!"
"Oi! Why am I the problem? You're the literal thief!"
"I may be a thief but at least I don't declare each of my actions like a child!"
"I may declare my spells like a child but at least I don't look like one!"
"Umm… Everyone please calm down…" Erana meekly let out.
I could feel the electricity between these two. Honestly I'm surprised they didn't wake us up last night.
"Honestly, I thought Kany and Tael-san would become better friends if they kept watch together! Kenji-san and I did!"
I could feel my own face flush red when Erana casually made this declaration. It appears as if I'm in the friend zone… Wait I've only known this girl for less than a week! Why am I getting hung up on this?
"We may argue, but we're not going to be too loud at night. I respect people's sleep! I'm used to being quiet at night anyway!"
The three of us chuckled at Tael's declaration. Tael, however, seemed to not understand what his statement implied.
We finished eating our breakfast and broke down camp.
"Alright… Next stop: Mulbik!"
"Alright! Adventure number 2! Let's do this!"