Ch.5757. Raid (1)

After discovering I was blessed with heaven-sent talent, how many days had passed since then?

“The Prophet is looking forward to this morning!”

[······Ahem. I-I’ll excuse myself too.]

“Yes, well. It’s breakfast time. Eat to your heart’s content.”

While our adorable Tarask was snorting enthusiastically as it advanced toward the Holy Empire, we were having what might have been a slightly late breakfast.

Since I was the only one who knew how to cook, I naturally became the chef. Today’s breakfast was the traditional fare from my past life’s island nation—the only edible traditional meal, commonly known as the English breakfast.

Thanks to having a proper base now, which allowed for aging and cultivation, I was able to make sausages and bacon. Black pudding made from congealed pig’s blood. Grilled mushrooms and tomatoes (or something similar). All this with well-toasted bread and a large batch of baked beans.

Normally the meal would end there, but unable to bear the heaviness of this meal, I specially added several green dishes.

For example, a lettuce and onion salad drizzled with dressing made from olive oil and balsamic vinegar (wine vinegar), and citrus fruits to refresh the palate after the meal.

And the onion soup—a secret recipe from my homeland made by sautéing onions with butter in a chicken broth base—added vibrant color to the otherwise bleak table.

“······Woooow!”

The taste of the onion soup, where onions were caramelized by long sautéing to bring out their extreme sweetness, boasted a sugar-level sweetness and deep flavor despite not containing a single pinch of sugar.

“······Delicious.”

Minerva, who was extremely picky about food unless it contained olives or olive oil, and whose diet was otherwise mostly carnivorous, ate three bowls in succession.

After finishing this very enjoyable breakfast, I prepared a special dessert for Sophia.

“Is this snow… or frozen milk?”

“That’s right, but it’s a slightly different dish.”

What I prepared was none other than vanilla ice cream.

A simple homemade ice cream made with milk, sugar, a bit of vanilla, and egg yolks.

······Of course, this ice cream couldn’t compare in quality to what I’d eaten in my previous life, but that’s just my opinion as someone who has tasted high-quality ice cream created by modern scholars.

“······?!! The Prophet has never tasted anything like this before!”

Sophia’s reaction to tasting ice cream for the first time in her life was so intense that I had to swallow the “Ah, so this is what ice cream is” that had risen to my throat, and said something else instead.

“It’s called ice cream. It’s a food made with milk, sugar, and vanilla. There are other flavors too. Would you like to try them?”

“Yes! The Prophet wants to eat them!”

As a cook, Sophia’s enthusiastic reactions made me want to feed her more, so I reluctantly brought out my secret weapons.

“This is raspberry ice cream, and this one has grape… or rather, dessert wine in it. This one is blueberry.”

“······The Prophet truly has come to like her comrade.”

I’m talking about ice creams made with various easily obtainable colorful fruits and alcohol, as well as parfaits using several fruits and cookie varieties.

Anyway, after happily finishing our meal with ice cream and parfait for dessert, we sat across from each other at the table and began a casual conversation while drinking fresh apple juice.

We chatted about our magical research and shared ideas—conversations that had become almost routine by now. During this, I voiced a question that suddenly came to mind.

“Sophia, come to think of it. How did you become a druid?”

It might be a bit impolite, but as comrades traveling together, it was a question that could be asked without much burden.

And perhaps because of that…

“Hmm······ Where should the Prophet begin?”

Without showing any reluctance, Sophia pondered briefly, and then, despite not having thought for long, she simply shared her past.

“The Prophet doesn’t remember the time when she wasn’t a Prophet.”

“······Memory loss?”

“Yes. My earliest memory is meeting my master. That druid of the Assembly found me, barely ten years old, at the edge of the Great Forest and took me in.”

Sophia spoke as if it were nothing unusual, lifting her glass from the table and taking a sip of apple juice. Listening to her, I also calmly asked:

“Then, how old were you when you became a druid?”

“Around twenty····· I think. I don’t know my exact age.”

‘······Isn’t she also naturally talented?’

The fact that Sophia reached the intermediate level around the age of 20 is actually quite remarkable when examined closely.

I may have had some mental growth from my second life, but Sophia reached the intermediate level in just ten years, starting with memory loss and without any such advantage.

“The Prophet wants to ask her comrade too. How··· did you become a druid?”

“Me? Hmm·····.”

※ ※ ※

Sophia, the druid of the Celestial School, sipped her delicious apple juice while listening attentively to Gregory Aleinos’s story.

“I was originally the fourth son of a serf family, as I recall.”

“·······.”

“We were an extremely poor family in an already poor domain, and when drought came, everyone died except my father and my first and second brothers. But the drought continued.”

“······Is that so?”

“Yes. It was a drought that lasted for years, so many people died. In the village, people were so hungry they ate their own children, and ····· looking back, I think some strange cult was popular in the village.”

Sophia felt an indescribable emotion at Gregory’s terrible past and how casually he spoke about such a desperate life despite having lived through it.

What was this feeling? This strange emotion she had never felt before was far from sympathy or pity, and certainly not a happy feeling.

So while Sophia concealed her emotions behind an expressionless face and looked at Gregory with a peculiar gaze, Gregory, not noticing this, continued his story calmly.

“Well, what happened next is predictable. Families who couldn’t bring themselves to eat their own children abandoned me in a distant forest. That place happened to be the Aleinos Forest.”

“Then·····.”

“Yes. That’s where I met my foster mother, Master Dalia. My life changed from that point on.”

Looking at Gregory, who was smiling genuinely happily, Sophia felt something seeping into a corner of her heart.

And······ amidst this, Sophia suddenly had a question.

“The Prophet has a question for her comrade.”

“A question? Feel free to ask anything.”

“Thank you. Since you said you reached intermediate level at 14, how old are you now?”

“Me? ·····Probably around 16, I guess?”

“S-sixteen·····?!!”

Sophia, who had vaguely assumed he was at least over 20 despite his youth, was shocked by Gregory’s age, which was far younger than she had imagined.

Her age, currently 2■ years old.

Finding out that a close… friend whom she had thought was roughly her peer was actually much younger made her feel quite strange, especially as someone who had been somewhat influenced by the secular world.

Of course, 16 is an age that would be considered adult in this era anywhere.

But······ even so, Sophia couldn’t help feeling conflicted.

‘With that build… he’s only 16?’

The fact that 16 is still a young age, equivalent to just turning 20 in modern terms, made Sophia feel an inexplicable sense of guilt.

And at that very moment.

-──Doo─doo─doo─doo─doo─doo─doo!!!

A piercingly loud sound penetrated their ears. This awkward sound reminiscent of a scream was······ a warning signal, specifically the one that sounded when the Tarask’s presence was detected.

“·····Why is there a warning signal?”

“The Prophet is certain! It’s a raid!”

While Gregory momentarily stuttered, not fully grasping the situation, Sophia, who quickly read the celestial voice flashing through her mind, responded immediately.

She didn’t know who had discovered this Tarask that had blended with nature—this mobile “Nature’s Hut”—but given the circumstances, they couldn’t just hide in a safe place.

“The Prophet will prepare to intercept. Meanwhile····.”

“······Alright, I’m counting on you!”

So while Sophia moved to the pilot room inside to move the Tarask, Gregory also hurriedly grabbed his staff, opened the door, and dashed into the forest.

It might be an overreaction, but this was better than being caught off guard by an unexpected crisis.

In this seemingly insane world, carelessness is one of the surest paths straight to death.