episode_0015

Lily and Allen’s journey towards the next village, much like going on a picnic, was leisurely.

Even as they walked, Lily would occasionally ask Allen about things she didn’t know.

“Sir, what is that?”

“Hmm? Ah… That’s a forget-me-not flower.”

“It’s pretty…”

Lily’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the blue flower.

‘Forget-me-not.’

Although she didn’t know if the concept of flower language existed in this world, to Allen, who had experienced modern society, the forget-me-not flower was more famous for its meaning than the flower itself.

‘Don’t forget me.’

Allen’s expression, recalling the bittersweet flower language, softened.

‘I wonder how Irene is doing.’

Though he tried to suppress thoughts about Irene, sometimes worries would unconsciously surface.

‘She must be doing better than me, at least.’

No one could disrespect a hero who defeated the Demon King.

Surely she was somewhere being well-treated.

‘I wonder if she read the letter…’

Despite everything, Allen worried whether Irene had read the letter he left behind.

Leaving a letter laden with his guilt in case she worried about him leaving without a word, Allen, though not regretting his actions, still carried that small letter in his heart like a thorn whenever he thought of Irene.

“…Sir?”

“Hmm? Oh, sorry.”

As Allen stopped in his tracks without a word, Lily called out to him with a concerned expression.

Not wanting to worry Lily, Allen smiled as if to say it was nothing and resumed walking.

“I was just thinking about flower language.”

“Flower language? Do flowers speak?”

You could say that. Sometimes flowers convey messages through their language.”

Having lived in modern times, Allen had seen cases where people used flower language to communicate.

“What’s the flower language of the flower we just saw?”

“The forget-me-not’s flower language is ‘Don’t forget me.’”

“Hmm… I don’t really understand, but it seems a bit sad.”

“You’re sharp.”

At first glance, it seemed like a simple request not to be forgotten, but the meaning ran deeper.

Perhaps Lily, too, subconsciously sensed that sadness because of that meaning.

‘I’ll learn to write soon.’

There wasn’t an exact way to quantify intelligence, but Allen felt that Lily was quite smart.

The saying “wise men learn by other men’s mistakes” wasn’t without reason.

“Now, let’s take a break and have some food.”

“Wow!”

Whether it was due to the long period without eating or growing up in hardship, Lily had a tendency to fixate on food.

To start cooking, Allen asked Lily to gather small twigs from around them. He then took out special ingredients for a dish for Lily from his bag, starting with beans for protein, followed by various vegetables and cheese that aid in growth.

“I gathered them!”

“Well done.”

Patting Lily’s head as a sign of appreciation, Allen lightly used magic to ignite the twigs.

Sizzle-

Once the fire reached a suitable level for cooking, Allen placed the pot on the fire using a stand he had prepared.

“Gulp…”

“Just wait a little longer.”

Lily stared intently at the pot, seeming very hungry.

“Why is the sky blue?”

“That’s how God made it.”

“Why is the sea blue?”

“That’s how God made it.”

Allen, who had a small chat with Lily, realized that it was time for the dish to be completed and took out a small bowl and spoon from his bag.

“Let’s eat.”

“Wow!”

Allen, opening the pot lid, first poured the soup he made into Lily’s bowl.

“Wow… Huh?”

What Lily expected to be a delicious meal turned out to be just soup that Allen had thrown various ingredients into and boiled.

“Thank you.”

“Enjoy your meal.”

Despite being grateful for Allen cooking for her, Lily, after taking a spoonful, froze in the same position with the spoon in her mouth.

“Lily? What’s wrong?”

“… ”

Even at Allen’s call, Lily showed no reaction.

She remained motionless as if under a petrification curse.

“Why is she acting like this?”

Puzzled, Allen wondered if there might have been something spoiled among the ingredients and decided to taste his own cooking by taking a spoonful.

And he found out why Lily was reacting that way.

Allen’s cooking was unbelievably tasteless.

***

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m really sorry.”

Having ruined their precious lunch, Allen and Lily walked along, nibbling on emergency rations they had brought, beef jerky.

Although Lily said she was fine, her expression was slightly darkened by the shock of the earlier meal.

Still, since the beef jerky was delicious, she seemed to relax a bit.

Silently walking with Lily, Allen realized that when he claimed to cook during the heroic party days, his comrades would panic and stop him.

‘…I didn’t know it would be this tasteless.’

Having committed the typical mistakes of inexperienced novice cooks, Allen vowed to treat Lily to a delicious meal when they reached the next village.

Feeling melancholic about all the ingredients he had bought becoming useless, Allen realized that even common salt was missing among the ingredients he had purchased.

He had only bought various vegetables and cheese.

Simply tossing everything together and boiling it, there was no chance it would taste good.

“Here, have some of this.”

“…It’s a carrot, though?”

“Yeah. You need to eat vegetables during your growth period.”

“…Okay.”

Though Lily thought it was a bit much to ask her to eat a raw carrot, she decided to endure it and eat it.

At least Allen was doing it for her.

Crunch-

Thinking this way, Lily, who had taken a bite of the carrot, wanted to spit it out but couldn’t ignore Allen’s kindness, so she just ate it.

‘He must like vegetables.’

Unaware of this fact, Allen added the incorrect knowledge that Lily liked vegetables to his head.

***

The routine of the punitive expedition team sent on a journey to subdue the remnants of the Demon King’s army was repetitive.

Continuously engaging in conversation with Aileen, the unwavering prince trying to win her favor, the knight commander who mediated when the prince crossed the line, and Rebecca and Jenny who couldn’t keep still beside them.

“According to the strategic book stored in the royal library…”

‘Will I kill him?’

Even Aileen, who held the title of a hero to the extent that there was a saying “rotten but loyal,” did not attack innocent people no matter how uncomfortable or angry she felt.

However, constantly being bothered by the prince could eventually wear down her patience.

Just enduring this far alone could be said to place Aileen’s patience on par with that of a saint recorded in history.

“…!”

Irene, who could no longer bear it, noticed first and hurriedly approached the prince, raising her voice.

“Today, please stop now.”

“Why?”

“… Any more than this, Your Highness’s life is in danger.”

“Got it.”

Due to the knight commander earnestly urging him in a voice that could be heard by the prince, the prince decided to step back for now.

‘Ha… Buying commoners at such a high price.’

The prince didn’t understand.

Having inherited the empire’s greatest bloodline, even if he showed interest, to receive such an attitude despite being willing to kneel down in gratitude immediately was lacking.

Although he wanted to mobilize the knights and suppress them by force, he couldn’t bring himself to do so because he feared the power the warriors possessed.

“Hmm, let’s start preparing the camp.”

Once again today, due to the knight commander declaring the camp early to refresh the atmosphere, the warrior party, including Irene, began to move away from the knights.

“… Are you okay?”

“I can’t be… okay.”

“… That’s true.”

Despite feeling worried and only being able to offer comfort in the situation, Jenny, who had a cheerful personality, also became gloomy.

…

Leaving those two behind, Rebecca silently began setting up various spells in the camp.

‘The prince is too obvious… No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.’

Rebecca, who had dedicated herself to training from a young age and had no experience in love, but with over a thousand romance novels read, her knowledge of love was exceptional.

Even though Irene was building such a strong wall, the prince’s continuous approach without any concern made Rebecca suspect that there might be hidden intentions.

Although she couldn’t yet determine what it was, Rebecca’s intuition was sending a signal that it was dangerous.

“I’ve set up all the magic.”

“Thank you.”

“Great. Then let’s go today as well!”

Just like yesterday, the three people simultaneously reached out their hands.

“Why am I in the middle again?”

And once again today, Jenny ended up taking the middle position in the order of rotation.

Jenny wanted to cry.