Chapter 55 – Small Change

Rｅ​ad on ​Ka&t;R‌eä​dín&g;Caf̃e

–

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll go get something to drink.”

“Y-Yes…!”

It would be nice if I could relax just because I was told to, but unfortunately, I’m not that kind of person.

Hosanna chuckled as he disappeared, hearing my trembling voice that couldn’t hide my nervousness.

Why, why did he laugh and leave? Sitting on the sofa, I glared at the direction Hosanna had disappeared in and cautiously looked around.

I had already looked around once when I came in, but sitting down, it felt strangely empty.

How should I put it? I tried to decorate it as similarly as possible to the interior of a modern apartment, but it felt like I was only imitating it because of the lack of furniture here.

Looking at the empty decorations here and there, I felt a bit lonely.

“…”

Come to think of it, Hosanna always said he wanted to go back to his original world. I didn’t realize it because he always said it lightly, but looking at his house like this, I didn’t think his heart was light either.

Lost in thought, Hosanna appeared with a tray.

“Sorry. I only come in here to sleep, so I don’t have much to offer.”

“Ah, no. More than that, what’s that…?”

“Ah, this? It’s cookies that Yuika brought and shared before. It’s been a while… but it should be fine.”

‘What should be fine?!’ Looking at him with doubtful eyes, Hosanna glossed over it with a smile and placed the tray on the table.

On the tray were the cookies he mentioned earlier, neatly arranged on a plate, and a cup of warm milk.

Something seems to be missing… Ah. I asked, confirming that Hosanna didn’t have one.

“Um, Hosanna doesn’t have a cup…”

“Huh? Ah, you don’t have to worry about it. I don’t drink milk, so I didn’t bring one.”

“If you can’t drink it, could it be…”

Could it be that lactose intolerance thing? But Hosanna shook his head at my guess and said.

“No. It’s not that I can’t eat it because of my constitution, but I just don’t like it, you know?”

“Eh. You don’t like milk?”

“Um, something about the aftertaste is not good. It’s hard to pinpoint, but I just don’t like it. Of course, I can drink it if I have to, but you’ll see my face scrunch up.”

He just had a picky eating habit. I looked at Hosanna with slightly cold eyes and immediately shifted my gaze to the tray.

The first thing I reached for was the warmed milk. I drank cold ones when I was in the Chancellor’s office, so I was strangely drawn to the warm one.

Did Hosanna think so too and bring the warmed milk? Maybe he did.

I don’t know what method he uses, but it seems like Hosanna can see right through my mind.

He vehemently denies it, but it’s not like it’s only happened once or twice, so denying it is no different from playing dumb.

Wait a minute. Then he’s reading my thoughts right now, isn’t he?

Startled, I turned my head towards Hosanna, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh? Ho, Hosanna?”

It was a relief that he wasn’t reading my thoughts, but when did he disappear again? I looked around, gave up looking for Hosanna, and sipped the milk.

“Ah, hot…!”

Hot…! I thought it was moderately warm when I held it in my hand, so I drank it without thinking, but it was incredibly hot.

It wasn’t hot enough to burn my mouth, so I could cool it down by sticking out my tongue, but I was so surprised that my heart was pounding.

Ugh, that really startled me. As I fanned myself with my hand to cool my tongue, Hosanna, who had returned, asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you sticking out your tongue?”

“Ah, the, the milk was hotter than I thought… I just drank it and got surprised… Mo-More than that, where did you go?”

“Ah, I went to the bathroom for a bit. But aside from that, the drink was hot, so you didn’t get burned or anything, did you? Don’t you need to go to the Saintess?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that bad.”

I was really just surprised, but I definitely didn’t get burned. I shook my head vigorously at the worried words, and Hosanna sighed in relief and said.

“Is that so? That’s a relief. There are a lot of people who get scary when you get hurt, you know.”

‘People who get scary?’, I tilted my head, not knowing what that meant, and Hosanna waved his hand as if there was no need to think about it. Then he took a cookie from the plate and said.

“Whew, you haven’t tried the cookies yet, have you?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. I was just about to try it.”

“Actually, I put them out to treat you, but I’m getting a little anxious, so I’ll try one first.”

The one Hosanna took was a round cookie about two finger joints in size. After putting it in his mouth and chewing, Hosanna nodded with a pleasant sound.

“It’s more okay than I thought. You can eat it.”

“Is that so?”

“Try it.”

At Hosanna’s suggestion, I picked up a cookie without hesitation and brought it to my mouth. It felt a little hard, but it was definitely edible as Hosanna said.

As expected of Yuika’s cookies. Besides, I didn’t eat breakfast, so I kept reaching for them. After chewing for a while, the plate quickly emptied.

“Hooah…”

I’m full. As I stroked my stomach, which felt full, a yawn naturally came out. It seemed to be because I woke up earlier than usual and was full.

It would be best if I could fall asleep like this, but no matter what, I couldn’t be brazen enough to fall asleep in someone else’s house.

But I feel like I’m forgetting something. Rubbing my heavy eyes and thinking, Hosanna, who had taken the tray to the kitchen, sat on the sofa and said.

“Okay, now that you’ve eaten, let’s finish what we were doing.”

“Ah…! Th-That’s right…!”

Come to think of it, I was here to make dolls, right? Realizing my purpose late, I hurriedly opened the shop window and bought wooden blocks for firewood with a look that had completely chased away my sleepiness.

But, perhaps because I was too flustered. I thought I would buy a small amount and make them little by little, but I ended up pressing the button to buy all of them with the money I had, making that thought meaningless.

In other words, over 400 wooden blocks poured out from the air.

“Eek?!”

Plop—A scream burst out involuntarily at the wave of wooden blocks falling with a loud noise.

I unconsciously reached out to catch them, but Hosanna grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

“Just let them all fall. You might get hurt if you try to catch them.”

“B-But…”

Following the Chancellor’s office, even his house is a mess. Of course, it wasn’t me who messed up the Chancellor’s office, but Hosanna, but it was a different story if I was making a mess of Hosanna’s house.

Looking anxious with a guilty expression, Hosanna patted me and said.

“It’s okay. It’s just a little messy. We can clean it up together later.”

“I’m, I’m sorry…”

“You know you’re sorry?”

“Ugh…”

Although Hosanna said that, it didn’t feel like he was blaming me at all. Rather, he looked happy that he had something to tease me about. Of course, I was the one who was at fault, so I couldn’t do anything but moan.

After a while, no more wooden blocks came out. Instead, a small mountain of wooden blocks rose from the floor.

I watched the splinters that had fallen here and there from the wooden blocks colliding and looked at Hosanna’s face.

But instead of blaming me, Hosanna brought the wooden blocks in front of me and said.

“I’ll move them for you, so try making them one by one. Can you do it?”

“Ah, yes…!”

“Good. Then let’s start right away.”

At those words, I nodded hastily and grabbed the wooden block in front of me.

–

After that, it was a horribly repetitive task.

I received the wooden blocks that Hosanna brought, activated the doll production, and kneaded them to make dolls, then the materials were placed in front of me again.

I could endure this to some extent until I made the tenth doll, but after twenty or thirty times, I felt like I was going crazy.

It felt like I had become a machine. Of course, I was getting used to it while making them, so the speed of making dolls was getting faster, but even so, there were still a lot of materials left.

“Fiftieth… one…”

As I put down the doll I had just made with a groan, I saw countless dolls that I had made beside it.

If I could control all of these, I could conquer not only the first floor but also the second and third floors… no, even the fifth floor.

The reality is that I’m just barely getting used to handling one doll.

After being dazed for a moment, Hosanna pushed another bundle of wooden blocks and said.

“Come on, there’s only half left. Don’t lose your mind and work hard.”

“You mean there’s half left…”

“I know, who told you to buy so many at once?”

“Heeing…”

I had nothing to say when he said that. Just as I was making a whining sound and slowly moving my hands again.

[You have completed a wooden doll.]

[Completion level C]

“Huh?”

A small change occurred.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading today too!!!

For reference, tomorrow will be a disaster.

Thank you.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
I hate milk too so I understand the sentiment.

It feels like drinking a weird mixture of oil and water at times, you know?

The aftertaste really grosses you out!

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