Chapter 2: A warm meal and a visitor (2) The young man, whose name is Eos, is considerably eccentric.
I vaguely felt that the day after I saved him, but now ‘It"s not so vague, I wonder how I didn"t notice’ was what Astreya was thinking.
It was already the forth time Eos visited, is he perhaps coming on his every day off? scowled Astreya.
Astreya forgot about the intervals of his visits but even so, Eos’ visits were too frequent.
“......you, don"t you have any friends?”
“Why?”
“Because if you did, would you expressively come to such a place on your day off?”
Astreya dwelled in here because people wouldn’t come for sure.
However at Astreya’s words, Eos slightly slanted his head and laughed at once.
“The nature is abundant here, this really is a good place.”
“……”
Does he really have no friends? Or is he just sweeping things aside like usual?
(As I thought, he really is a weird person.)
In the first place, even if he doesn"t have friends he should have other matters to settle, right? To come to such a place…...if he is not a weirdo then what is he?
Astreya drank the simmered, stewed meat soup that Eos bought today from the same container. On the side were two portions of bread with b.u.t.ter and jam on them. As the last time he visited, Eos also brought his portion.
The first time, the second time too and also the third time, Astreya told Eos to go back immediately after finishing the meal. They never had a conversation that looked like a conversation. Even with this, why does he incessantly keep coming to the place of an unsociable person such as myself? The shock come in first before the question.
And why do I take the soup each time? This is the first question, to begin with.
(But, really, this smell is delicious…..!)
It"s vexing but, I don"t feel like winning against this smell. It"s also Eos’ fault for bringing soup with a different flavour each and every time. The number of times I ate increased respectively, I feel like my sense of smell has sharpened too.
I"m being swept in an excessively hopeless direction…..really, it"s not like I didn"t think of this in the back of my head.
But as I was thinking so, the soup emptied.
While Astreya ate the bread with cheese, Eos finished eating and was waiting. However, I feel like today"s amount is less than before. As Astreya thought this, Eos suddenly laughed.
“Not enough?”
“N-not really…..”
“I brought less on purpose though.”
It"s been perhaps four hundred years since Astreta felt like beating someone.
He is not only a weirdo but even a weirdo with a bad personality! When she glared at Eos, while laughing he took out a slightly larger can from his bag.
“......What"s this?”
“It"s a simple chimney starter. And, this is a fry pan. So, you heat this up, you drop a bit of b.u.t.ter and break an egg above it. Ah, or shall we lightly cook cook some ham before we put in the eggs?”
While explaining the utensil, Eos promptly advanced the preparation.
The b.u.t.ter dissolved in the fry pan, and then he first lightly cooked the ham. Like that, he put in the eggs and then a bit of water because it was burning a bit. To not let the steam from the water escape, he put on a cover and from then waited. After waiting for a while, he opened the cover and pretty eggs had been cooked.
“I personally like them half-cooked but…..I wonder if it would be to your taste?”
“……”
It smelt good.
Astreya that thought so, unconsciously accepted the square shaped pan with that.
And bit on it without hesitation.
“Soup is the only thing, that can retain its warmth, that I can bring here. Even if we tried to make it, your house doesn’t have any cooking equipment.”
“……”
It goes without saying that I never, ever, thought of having cooking equipment in the first place.
No matter how you look at it, a normal person would have trouble in living in this one room house. Rather than house, should I call it cabin?
(Because I am a witch, I can make anything…..or something, he thought maybe?)
Eos hasn’t asked Astreya anything. If he did it would be on the lines of ‘Do you want to eat? Or don’t want to?’ Particularly, he hasn’t asked the reason I"m living inside the forest, or what kind of life I"m conducting.
(......because he doesn"t ask, might be why I"m not seriously turning him away.)
If by chance he asked, no matter how captivating the cuisine he were to present in front of her, Astreya thought that she would indisputably stop Eos.
(That’s why I"m saying that I am troubled that he comes so often.)
Just that, I wonder when he"ll get tired of coming here.
Thinking so, is it okay to leave things like this? Her thoughts leaned to that a number of times.
Moreover, if it"s true that he was ‘just appointed to the fortress,’ it"s probable that his a.s.signment would change. If that happens, I"m absolutely certain he wouldn"t come anymore. If he doesn"t ask anything, then it might be okay to not unreasonably turn him away. It"s not like Eos is a bad person, he is just a weirdo…...thinking so, Astreya was relieved.
What am I being moved for? Even though I"ve come to such a place just to be away from people, I"ve been moved by a few meals, what"s this?
“Was it delicious?”
“Y-yes.”
With Eos’ question, Astreya noticed that she had already finished eating the egg. However, because she was lost in her thoughts, she wasn’t able to taste the food.
“If you come to the fortress, I can treat you to fresh food you know?”
“......no thanks!”
Just as she was thinking that it was a pity, hearing those words, Astreya strongly shouted.
To be lured by food, as I thought, it"s no good.
“When the fry pan has cooled down, quickly leave!”
“Then, in the time it takes for you to cool down, shall I finish eating the dessert?”
Becoming vexed at Eos, that laughed looking amused, I ate both servings of dessert. I"ve never been laughed at like this, till now.
Tn: Naoriel
Ed: Aeternatrix
Nao"s lil corner
Lol this guy is so hateful....and cunning, when people say to enter the grace of someone through food, I never believed it would succeed.....amen, to our poor witch that got her weak point exposed.