Ch.40Chapter 40

Yuria had many ongoing research projects. While it was unavoidable to conduct multiple studies simultaneously since results couldn’t be achieved all at once, in Yuria’s case, she had an exceptionally large number of them.

‘Methods to euthanize a Demon God.’

She was already well aware that Demon Gods had different physical structures from humans, so they wouldn’t die by simply reducing oxygen levels and increasing nitrogen levels.

That’s why she needed to research alternative methods.

It would be better to find a way to prevent Ourr from emitting aura, but if that wasn’t possible, this research was at least aimed at preventing her from experiencing pain.

There was no choice—killing Ourr would make her younger, reducing her vessel size enough to prevent her from emitting aura.

Even Yuria herself sighed frequently while conducting this research, finding it frustratingly difficult. Though she sometimes wondered if she could just stop, she knew that not doing it would surely cause Ourr to suffer.

‘Methods to remove a Demon God’s aura.’

If this could be definitively accomplished, research on euthanasia would become irrelevant. This was Yuria’s highest priority research, but the lack of progress was eating away at her.

Yuria had previously created an original while researching Demon God auras. But even someone of her caliber was still struggling to find direction in this research, making her groan in frustration.

Prevent mana collection? How?

Prevent mana from filling a large vessel? How?

There were spells that could dismantle and nullify magic, but this was fundamentally different, so referencing them didn’t seem helpful.

These two research topics frequently consumed Yuria’s thoughts.

She clutched her head and rolled her pen. Ourr was growing rapidly almost every day, and Yuria worked with increasing urgency, wondering how to solve this problem.

She assigned research tasks to Academy students while simultaneously shifting her own perspective, trying to determine whether her theories could work in practice.

“…Haah.”

With so many other research projects still needing attention, she could only furrow her brow in concern.

Sometimes she wondered if becoming a Professor had been a mistake, but then seeing Ourr made her think otherwise, deepening her contradictory feelings.

Even after organizing her research results, there were no breakthroughs. Naturally, such things couldn’t happen overnight. Typically, research would continue for years before results could be announced and implemented, but Yuria found it increasingly difficult to hide her anxiety as time passed.

What was Ourr’s physical age now? Fifteen? Something like that…?

Yuria wiggled her fingers. A year had already passed since Ourr reached the minimum age, and she worried about when Ourr might grow again.

This year might be fine. But what about next year, or the year after? Even if mana wasn’t accumulating well in Ourr’s body now, as she grew larger, she would inevitably create aura, making it impossible not to kill her.

It would be best to remove the aura, but if that couldn’t be done, killing her was the only option. Since Ourr would open her eyes again anyway, Yuria thought it would be better to find a painless method if it had to be done.

“…Professor, when will you be finished?”

While Yuria was groaning over her documents, Ourr’s voice reached her ears. Yuria turned her head in surprise.

The question about when she would finish snapped her back to reality. Her gaze was drawn to the window. It had become pitch dark outside. She had been so absorbed in her paperwork that time had flown by, causing her to groan involuntarily.

“Sorry, I’ll make dinner right away.”

Although Ourr didn’t particularly care whether she ate or not, she had remained quiet out of concern that Yuria wasn’t eating or drinking anything, focusing solely on work.

Yuria carefully organized her documents, worried that Ourr might read them. After putting them away in her room, she headed to the kitchen with tired steps.

Ourr followed closely behind. When Yuria turned to look at Ourr, she found her looking up with sparkling eyes.

“What is it? Is there something you want to eat?”

“I was talking with the others earlier. I’d like to cook something for you.”

While Yuria had been engrossed in her papers, Ourr had been wandering around chatting with Sera, Aria, and Karen. Though she’d only heard the theory, she seemed to think she could manage it and raised her hand slightly, wanting to show off to Yuria.

Yuria observed this quietly before nodding with a dry smile.

“Alright, what dish is it?”

“…An omelet.”

“An omelet?”

Yuria leaned in, wondering if she’d heard correctly.

“O-omelet…”

Ourr’s confidence wavered at Yuria’s reaction, and she began to mumble.

Was it omurice? Or an omelet? What was it? She glanced toward where she’d left her phone. As she debated whether to go back and listen to the voice message again, Yuria gently spoke up.

“An omelet might be difficult. Are you sure?”

“I know you mix eggs well and clump them together. On low heat…”

As Ourr explained with animated gestures, Yuria found it adorable and nodded.

“Then I’ll give you a step stool here. Take as many eggs as you want.”

“Ah! Yes!”

She nodded. Ourr stood in front of the induction stove. And then froze.

“…Oh.”

How do I use this?

In Ourr’s past life memories, she only knew gas stoves, so facing an induction stove suddenly left her clueless about how to use it.

With widening eyes, Ourr hesitated before turning her head.

Putting aside the induction stove usage, she decided to start by cracking eggs. Knock, crack. She cracked the eggs one by one. Though quite a bit of egg white got on her fingers, at least no shells fell in.

Yuria glanced at Ourr’s actions while preparing dinner ingredients for them both.

Ourr was gripping a whisk and vigorously stirring. Seeing how she was energetically moving her arm when snap was what mattered, it was clear she was inexperienced with cooking.

When would a Demon God ever need to cook? This was all new to her, and she just wanted to experience it. Yuria watched Ourr’s efforts with fondness.

“Phew.”

After wiping her forehead with her arm, Ourr picked up her well-mixed eggs and looked at the frying pan. Then she poured them straight in.

“Oh.”

“Eh?”

A short sound escaped Yuria’s lips. Responding to that sound, Ourr froze and glanced at Yuria.

“You need to add oil first. Without oil, the eggs will stick, you know?”

“Ah, ah…!”

So focused on figuring out how to use the induction stove, Ourr hadn’t thought about adding oil and only now realized her mistake.

But to Yuria, even this looked like the adorable actions of a child cooking for the first time.

“Ah, I know…! Um, this, how do I use it…”

“Here, this is how you set it to low heat. And here’s some cheese.”

Unable to just watch anymore, Yuria ended up helping with everything. Originally she had planned to just observe, but seeing Ourr’s cluelessness, she couldn’t bring herself to do that.

She worried that stepping in might upset Ourr since she’d said she learned the recipe from friends, but Ourr listened attentively to Yuria’s instructions and nodded.

“Cheese… we add cheese too?”

“Yes, we eat it with cheese too. Don’t you like cheese, Ourr?”

“I think I do.”

Ourr hadn’t heard about adding cheese, so she looked at it curiously. Then she waited patiently as the oil and eggs heated in the pan.

“Should I add it now?”

“No, not yet.”

Since Ourr hadn’t known about the cheese, she asked about the timing.

“…Now can I add it?”

“Hmm, could you wait just a little longer?”

After looking back and forth between the frying pan and Yuria several times, she asked again.

“…Now? Should I add it now…?”

“Yes, now would be good.”

Feeling self-conscious about asking repeatedly, Ourr looked at Yuria with a timid voice.

Finally, at the signal that the timing was right, Ourr’s hand moved swiftly. Her small hand grabbed the cheese and sprinkled it over the eggs.

Ourr’s golden eyes flashed. This was her chance—the outside was cooked while the inside was still slightly undercooked. Determined not to miss the opportunity, Ourr moved the spatula.

“……”

Splat.

As she tried to gently flip it with the spatula to create a beautiful oval shape, Ourr’s dream shattered like the eggs themselves.

The eggs, which seemed to be lifting well, tore apart and lost their shape completely.

“Ourr…”

“N-no, it’s fine. I can still do this.”

She shook her head at Yuria’s voice. Thinking she could still salvage it, she moved the spatula again.

She spread it back into a circular shape like before. Then she waited for the outside to cook again. In her tension, she licked her dry lips.

“Now…!”

Ourr tried once more.

“…Ah.”

But having cooked it for too long, the outside had turned brown. Instead of forming a pretty oval, it had become a brownish scrambled egg pancake.

“…It’s well-cooked.”

Unsure how to respond, Yuria decided it was better to focus on success rather than failure to avoid discouraging Ourr.

At those words, Ourr trembled slightly and pouted.

“I heard about this from friends too… they called it an egg and cheese pancake…”

Both Ourr and Yuria knew this was a lie, but they both let it slide.

“Looks delicious. I’m getting spoiled thanks to you, Ourr. May I try a bite?”

“…I’m not sure if it’s any good.”

Her voice was deflated, so different from what she had intended to make. Ignoring that, Yuria moved her fork to taste Ourr’s creation.

It wasn’t bad—a standard combination of eggs and cheese. The only drawback was that it lacked salt, but that could be easily fixed with ketchup, so she nodded.

“It’s delicious! Try some, Ourr!”

“R-really? It’s good?”

She had worried Yuria might be forcing herself to say it was good, but seeing Yuria’s reaction now, that didn’t seem to be the case, and she felt hopeful.

Taking a bite of her own creation at Yuria’s encouragement, Ourr made an ambiguous expression at the unremarkable but decent taste.

“Usually we eat this with ketchup. You did well.”

“Really…?”

Ourr asked half-doubtingly, but she couldn’t hide her smile.

Watching her, Yuria thought she really wanted to give Ourr a hug.