Humanities Exploration (2)

While absentmindedly preparing dinner, I ended up making far more food than I had imagined.

Looking at the amount of chicken porridge that could easily feed at least ten people, I felt dizzy wondering how to handle this situation.

‘Compared to me, Ethan eats a bit more, but he’s not exactly a big eater either…’

Even if we both ate our fill, we’d barely make a dent in this deep pot-maybe clearing only a quarter of it.

Perhaps the tragedy began when I decided to use a 1:1 ratio of rice to water.

‘Come to think of it, the ratio is 1:1, but that doesn’t mean it’s a recipe for just two servings.’

Considering the amount of broth from one chicken, even at minimum, it would yield enough for five or six meals, and with the rice cooked in it, the quantity had doubled.

For just Ethan and me, I should have used only half the broth to make a slightly thin risotto and saved the rest for a light morning meal before heading out.

…Instead of making a whole pot of chicken porridge with carb levels pushed to the limit.

“W-well, let’s eat as much as we can tonight and have the rest for breakfast tomorrow. If we keep the lid tightly closed overnight, it shouldn’t spoil.”

“…Understood, Young Master Ethan.”

“And if there’s still any left…unfortunately, we’ll have to throw it away.”

“……”

Lately, I hadn’t failed in cooking during our camping trips, so I had built up some confidence.

The only silver lining was that the dish itself wasn’t a failure. The rice, soaked in rich chicken broth, melted softly in the mouth, successfully reminding me of the chicken porridge I’d eaten in my past life.

It was just that I’d made way too much. The dinner itself wasn’t bad, and that was a small comfort.

“Understood. Then let’s eat before it gets cold-“

*Clatter, clatter, clatter.*

Just as we were about to give up and settle for a simple dinner following Ethan’s solution, the sound of carriage wheels suddenly reached us from a short distance away.

Thinking they might be travelers looking to camp nearby like us, I glanced over and saw two carriages with a familiar design approaching. The drivers and passengers-all familiar faces-began disembarking one by one.

“It’s a relief we arrived at the grassy plain in time to set up camp before dark.”

“We could’ve arrived two hours earlier if one of the drivers hadn’t suddenly decided to take a shortcut through the forest.”

“It was a shortcut. The carriage was just too big to go through.”

“You can’t call it a shortcut if the carriage can’t pass through, Miss Silena.”

“Shut up. You weren’t even driving. Don’t lecture me when you hitched a ride.”

“This carriage belongs to the imperial family in the first place! And you were the one who insisted on driving just so you could ride with the Hero-“

“P-please don’t fight, Princess Seraphine… M-Miss Silena…”

That Hero’s party is as lively as ever.

At first glance, the three main heroines bickering might seem problematic, but it actually shows how skillfully the Hero is managing their affection levels.

If Gyeotmwa Josyegigot were to show favoritism toward one of them, it wouldn’t just be verbal bickering-it would escalate into a full-blown catfight.

Right now, they’re in a state where they all know they have feelings for the Hero, but they don’t want to ruin their friendships with each other either.

If this balance is maintained, it could even lead to a harem ending.

‘…Though if you’re not aiming for a harem ending, there’s no need to manage affection levels this carefully.’

While silently listening to the Hero’s party, Ethan and I continued eating until a particular conversation caught our attention.

“…I’m hungry.”

“We’re late because of someone, but there’s nothing we can do. We need to set up camp before dark, so we’ll have to skip dinner.”

“…What? That’s ridiculous…”

“U-um, Miss Agnes. If you’re really hungry, would you like some raw carrots? I always carry them in case I get hungry during sword training…”

“…I’d rather starve than eat that.”

“……”

“……”

Ethan and I exchanged glances.

…The perfect excuse to get rid of the excess chicken porridge had just presented itself.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“…I’m not sure if it’s right to eat your dinner like this. I feel like we’re intruding on Prince Ethan and Miss Lillith’s meal.”

“Not at all. There’s plenty of food, so please help yourselves, Princess Seraphine.”

“Right. Lillith made way too much, so we’re actually grateful for more people to share it with.”

Since we had ended up with an absurd amount of food, the Hero’s party’s arrival was a welcome sight.

With eight members in the Hero’s party, the ten servings we’d accidentally made would be just enough.

“Did you make this, Lillith?”

“Yes, Miss Agnes.”

“…It’s my first time trying this, but it’s decent.”

“Thank you, Miss Agnes.”

Well, in this world, chicken broth dishes are usually chicken stew or chicken risotto, so this authentic Korean-style chicken porridge was probably their first time.

Considering Agnes rarely compliments anyone, this was high praise.

Even though it had a lot of garlic in the Korean style, everyone seemed to enjoy it. Eventually, Silena and Agnes even started competing over the last servings.

“Aren’t you eating too much meat for an elf? Stop taking more.”

“Only the elderly elders in the elven forest are vegetarians. And I’m still growing, so I need to eat a lot. Unlike you, a human who’s already fully grown.”

“…No matter how much an elf grows, their chest stays flat as a board.”

“Yours is smaller, human.”

“No, yours is smaller.”

“I’m still growing. You’re stuck where you are.”

“As an elf, you have no chance of growing further. This has been proven in multiple academic studies on racial traits…”

“Is there any point arguing about breast size at the dinner table? Human physical development is 80% determined by genetics anyway, so this is meaningless…”

“Shut up, busty human.”

“Yeah, must be nice being big.”

“…Well, it’s not bad.”

“……”

“……”

The best way to silence yapping small dogs is to bring in a tiger.

Since they were ranked 1st and 2nd from the bottom in chest size at Luminor Academy, they immediately fell silent when I joined the conversation and focused on their food. To steer the topic away from the awkward subject, Thomas the spearman spoke up first.

“Ahem. A-anyway, it feels wrong to just eat without offering anything in return. Is there anything we can do for you, Lady Lillith and Prince Ethan?”

“That’s right! It’s too rude to just take your food like this!”

“Hmm…? As I said earlier, we really had too much food, so we just shared it. We didn’t do this expecting anything in return. There’s no need to feel obliged, Thomas.”

“Ah, if you don’t mind, I could spar with you as thanks, Lady Lillith…”

“That’s just what you want to do, Natalie. …You can ignore what Natalie just said, Lillith.”

“I’ll just take the thought, Natalie.”

“……Understood.”

…She must still be bitter about losing to me twice.

If this were a sparring match at the academy with safety measures, I might have accepted, but sparring with Natalie out here could lead to disaster, so I politely declined.

Incidentally, compared to the original story, Natalie’s growth rate is slightly slower. Me suddenly reaching the entry level of Sword Expert played a part in catching up to her, but it wasn’t the only reason.

In my case, I leveled up rapidly due to experience farming in the Witch’s Forest, the pendant I received from Lara, and the survival training during the Natural Sciences Exploration class-things the original Lillith never experienced.

Meanwhile, Natalie…

‘The best level-up events for Natalie are the Lillith Rescue Operation in Part 2 or the Secret of the August Mansion in Part 3…’

Both events featured sword-wielding enemies as mid-bosses and final bosses, making them ideal for Natalie to serve as the main tank. The problem is, neither event happened in this world.

Ethan’s redemption and Lizzy’s survival.

As the saying goes, every gain has its loss. In a world where Ethan and Karaham didn’t fall, Natalie missed out on major growth events, delaying her entry into Sword Expert and her eventual bloom as a Sword Master.

‘I wish there was a way to help Natalie grow specially.’

I wonder if Gyeotmwa Josyegigot is aware of Natalie’s current state.

All I did was sink deeper into pointless worries for the day.