Chapter 38: Take Lei with or Not
“Mm, what shall we do with her tomorrow?” Bart looked indecisive, and Alistair fidgeted.
“Lei ish good. Shiththing. Niwe and shithiww.”
“You were certainly well behaved while we were travelling.”
Bart thought.
“I, I’ll take her since I can bring her to work with me.”
“But, you know. I’m at Brendel’s too, so I’ll feel better if she was with me.”
Doesn’t this world have something like a nursery school?
“Widsh gathher?”
“Gathher? Oh, gather? The kids get together in the afternoon, so infants stay at home until then. Most kids help out at home and some even work as apprentices like Alistair. So they don’t really go out before then.”
Bart looked a little troubled, but then he said as if moving on, “Hey, let’s eat first. We didn’t have much choice in what we ate during our journey, after all.” Then he opened the parcel with Mill.
The soft looking bread was cut by Mill with a knife. The meat was still steaming and looked like it had been scraped from a bigger piece of meat. Vegetables that looked like eggplant, and were larger than Alistair’s palm, was covered in sauce. There was also mashed potatoes.
I’ve eaten the mashed potato thing at home. But I haven’t been allowed to eat a lot of meat yet. My vegetables always get smashed into something soft so I couldn’t tell what it used to be. I’m so happy that I get to eat all this.
Mill chopped the eggplants and meat into smaller pieces. He put a slice of thin bread onto a plate and along with the eggplants, meat and mashed potatoes before putting it in front of me. By the way, I’m sitting on top of Clyde’s legs.
“We’ll need to make her a chair before we make the bed.”
“Can’t we just borrow a chair?”
“We can probably find one somewhere. Let’s go look for one tomorrow.”
I was given the smallest fork as they talked, and I stabbed the meat first. The meat stuck well onto the fork. Uh oh. I only have my front teeth for now, but I bit hard onto the small piece of meat. I don’t know what kind of meat this is, but the umami is brought out really well, and it’s tasty.
“Thashthy.”
Everyone relaxed. The potato was soft and easy to pick up with a fork. The eggplant also went with the sauce and was tasty. The bread quickly disappeared.
“What about seconds?”
“Don’th newd. Thhanwsh.”
My tummy was full.
“Hmm, when I think about it, I think it’s better if we cook for Lei.”
“We’ve been eating at a lot at restaurants until now.”
“Shyt! We have to clean.”
Isn’t it normal for a chef to be clean? Did it become this dirty because you guys don’t cook?
“Lei hewp cwean.”
“Oh yeah. Alright, let’s get cleaning.”
After that, Alistair bathed me in a bucket; apparently people don’t normally take baths in this world. Alistair watched me until I fell asleep after that, but since I haven’t slept in a bed in so long, I fell asleep straight away.
☆ ☆ ☆
(Bart’s POV)
“Hey, what are we really going to do with Lei tomorrow?” Kyaro asked me a little sternly.
“I said I’ll-.”
“Alistair, shut up.”
“Well, I think it’s best if Alistair and I take her with us to Brendel’s.”
“Then what’re you worried about?”
I, who was sitting with my arms crossed, unfolded them and put them onto the table.
“I don’t know if we should hide her or not. And Brendel keeps a lot of small things at his shop, so I was worried that babies might want to play with them.”
“So that’s what you’re worried about,” Kyaro said as if he were shocked.
“You can’t hide her even if you try. It was the same for Alistair. It’s better if you just tell him about her from the start.”
Everyone else nodded too.
“And carpentry is much more dangerous. At least you work inside with magic stones.”
“Being a chef is also dangerous even though it’s an inside job. And lots of different people come to the restaurant.”
“We can’t leave her at home alone.”
It’s already been decided. The four looked at me.
“Alright, fine. But, you know-.”
“What now?”
“I went to report to Brendel today, and I also sold the magic stones we got.”
‘And?’ Everyone’s faces seemed to say. Hunters hunt Hollows and sell magic stones. This was common practice.
“We had so many magic stones, and they were all of good quality. We earned a few years’ worth of pay.”
“Wow.”
“Brendel knows about Alistair’s barrier box. But he knew that wasn’t how we got the magic stones and he questioned me for a long time. I thought it was better if he knew, so I also told him about Lei.”
“Isn’t that fine?”
“I got really depressed when I thought about the people who would appear because they would want Alistair and Lei.”
“The arseholes from the fief capital?”
“Yeah.”
Alistair hung his head down. The mayor was stopping them right now, but they think it’s a waste for such a strong magic user to stay in Lentforce since it’s already protected by the barrier and had the nerve to tell us to send Alistair to the fief capital.
“They’ll probably tell us to send Alistair or Lei to the fief capital since they’re both strong magic users.”
“Or they’ll try to make us send both of them, huh.”
“I’m-.” Alistair lifted his face.
“If mum and I had headed to the fief capital and they’d helped us out, then I would have repaid their kindness. But, we came to Lentforce instead, and the people here took care of us. I don’t want to go to the fief capital just to fill magic stones day in and out. I don’t even know anyone there!”
Mill patted Alistair’s shoulders.
“We won’t make you go there. You said it didn’t you? Even in Kingdom, it’s better if people don’t do jobs relating to filling magic stones until they’re 18. They’re barely allowed to fill magic stones even when they turn 10. It’s no good to push yourself.” Surprisingly, Mill remembered such an important thing.
“But it’s scary for them to say that they want you. I’m-. What’s the fief capital trying to do?” Mill was right. That’s why the mayor also couldn’t agree with them.
“That’s why I’m worried. A lot of people come into the magic stone stop, and I don’t want them to find out that Lei can fill magic stones.”
“You’re right.”
“We have to get Lei to act like a normal baby.”
“Pfft.” Kyaro started laughing at my words.
“What?”
“Cause-.”
Kyaro laughed for a while before speaking again, “Cause we all know that Lei’s not a normal baby.”
“Yeah.”
What did I say? It just came out. Kyaro was still acting strange.
“It’s not enough to get Lei to act like a normal baby.”
“What?”
“If we ask Lei to act like a baby, and she does it. What kinda baby is that? Even Mill probably can’t do that.”
“I can,” Mill grinned and joked back. Kyaro looked serious.
“She wasn’t selfish at all while we were travelling. She says what she needs to. She didn’t cry at all except for when we’d first met her. And yet, she cries for her father and brother in her sleep. That’s like an adult doing their best to keep it in isn’t it?”
“I guess so.”
Mill put both his hands behind his head and bent back. Oi, you’re gonna fall. *BANG* Oh boy.
“Ouch.”
See.
“But she’s cute,” Alistair grumbled.
“She tried very hard to be on her best behaviour, but she always surprises me. She pouted when we first met her and told me to hug her. She does act selfish sometimes like when she wants to walk.”
“She won’t push herself and she doesn’t let us push ourselves either,” Kyaro continued Alistair’s words.
“She knows that we’ll make more trouble for ourselves if we don’t take it easy.”
Lei’s a weird baby.
“I want us to be together even if she’s a weird baby. I want to treasure her.”
“Yeah,” Mill replied in a carefree way as he laid on the ground. I put his chair back.
“I know. I know. I’ll be honest. Even I think Lei’s cute.”
“Me too.”
“Same.”
“M-e-t-o-o.”
The last one was Mill. Gees.
“I won’t hide Lei. But I also won’t tell people that she can fill magic stones. And I’ll protect her as best as I can. That’s fine, right?”