"Fuu, I’m satisfied."

  Lit sighed contently in front of the empty bento.

  "You look happy."

  "Ahaha."

  If Lit was happy, I felt happy too.

  I looked at the town while tidying up the bento.

  It was entertaining to look as even the familiar town appeared fresh and different when seen from above the hill.

  "This is a good location, right?"

  Lit commented as she looked at me from the side as I stared at the town.

  "Yup, it’s an extremely good location."

  I didn’t know there was such a comfortable location so near us.

  "Ehehe, I’m not just thinking about Red the entire time every day okay."

  Lit said and turned her chest away.

  Her gesture was so cute that I smiled.

  "It looks like you found other spots too."

  "Yup, there are many more."

  "I’ll look forward to them. I’ll make bento again."

  "Yay!"

  We looked at each other and smiled.

  It felt as though Lit and I were smiling the entire time of this small picnic.

  Lit smiled gently and spoke.

  "This is the scenery that Red defends."

  " …… Yeah."

  "So I don’t think Ruti realizes what Red is thinking."

  "Ahaha …… you noticed?"

  "Of course, I belong to Red after all."

  As Lit said, I was slightly troubled about Ruti.

  "This incident happened the moment Ruti gave up on 『Hero』 and came to Zoltan. To the central region, this was nothing more than a royal family internal discord but to Zoltan, this was an unprecedentedly serious incident."

  "You’re right. I didn’t expect that I would be commanding Zoltan’s army either."

  "Lit looked very cool when you were commanding."

  Lit’s battle had a brilliance to it.

  Unlike pure strength, the way she swings her sword gives courage to her companions.

  She would be an amazing commander if not for her attribute of her strategies not working well.

  "Mu, you were thinking of something strange, right?"

  She seemed to have noticed the slight change in my expression as Lit hugged me looking displeased.

  While hugging me she ground her forehead against my cheek …… it was a little painful.

  So as I hugged Lit tightly, I moved my face to Lit’s shoulder.

  We hugged for a while with our cheeks touching.

  "Continuing the topic just now."

  Lit whispered softly in my ear.

  "Next time you can invite Ruti and have bento here too."

  "With Ruti?"

  "Yup, Red and Ruti, you brother and sisters. If you do that, Red’s troubles will be solved too."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, it’s okay. I’m sure Ruti would take a liking to the scenery here too."

  " …… I guess so."

  I nodded to Lit’s words.

  ☆☆

  Night time.

  After checking the medicine we have in storage, I returned to the living room.

  "Good work."

  Lit welcomed me back and presented a cup of steaming hot milk to me.

  "Thank you."

  There was melted honey in the hot milk.

  "I tried to imitate how Red does it but how is it?"

  "Yup, it’s delicious."

  I wanted to say something witty but Lit’s appearance of imitating me to make honeyed milk for my sake caused me to be hit by happiness so strongly that I could not speak properly.

  "Yay."

  Seeing Lit’s happy smile, I became even happier.

  I took another sip of the honeyed milk to hide the grin on my face.

  That was when we heard a knock on the door.

  "Hn, customers?"

  "It’s already way past our operating hours."

  Lit moved to the entranceway.

  Who would it be?

  "Tise and Ugeuge-san!"

  Oh, so it’s Tise.

  "And Prince Sarius and Ririnrara."

  "What?"

  I involuntarily asked.

  I quickly headed to the front of the shop.

  "Good evening."

  Tise and Ugeuge-san greeted me.

  And behind them.

  "Good evening Red-kun. There’s a beautiful moon out tonight."

  "I’ll invite myself in. Hoh, you really do open an Apothecary."

  Prince Sarius and Ririnrara spoke with a relaxed atmosphere.

  "What brings the two of you here?"

  "Because we want to eat Red-kun’s cooking once more before we return."

  Prince Sarius said and winked.

  "Return ……"

  "We’ll leave in about two to three days. I plan to leave the harbor the day we finish replenishing."

  "What do you plan to do with the grounded Wendy Dart?"

  "We can’t do anything about it since we don’t have a way to pull it back to sea. We’ll transfer it to Zoltan. There are all kinds of materials, equipment, and metals inside that will probably be useful."

  Prince Sarius shrugged his shoulders.

  The steel ship, which was the symbol of power for the Pirate Conqueror, seems to have finished its role.

  "It’s fine. That ship is father’s ship. I should set out with my own ship."

  "I see."

  "Let’s leave that aside, you two should not continue talking while standing.

  From the side, Ririnrara took out a bag and showed me the contents.

  "You brought a vast range of ingredients once again."

  The bag was stuffed with vegetables, beans, meat, and fish and they were all high-grade ingredients that can be obtained in Zoltan.

  "Use it as you see fit."

  "Cockatrice thigh meat and queen onion. Oh, there’s rice too."

  Rice was scarce in Zoltan.

  Zoltan had an abundance of water and you would think that the climate was suited for cultivating rice but this area that was developed by the residents of the Kingdom of Avalonia did not have the know-how in growing rice.

  This rice was probably imported too.

  "Let’s see, maybe I’ll try that dish I made once before."

  "Hoh, I’m looking forward to it."

  Ririnrara smiled with a slanted grin.

  Shit, I unconsciously said that because I saw rare ingredients.

  "I am not skillful enough to satisfy the palate of a great nation’s royalty and its general."

  But they actually came out of their way to taste my cooking as their final memories of Zoltan……

  But recalling the disappointing cooking from Ririnrara’s cook, I guess it’s a given that they can’t give up on my cooking.

  "It’s okay, the deliciousness of Red’s cooking has this Lit-chan’s seal of approval."

  Lit pushed her chest out full of confidence.

  "All right, if Lit says that then I can’t hold back."

  "You guys are really harmonious."

  Prince Sarius looked with warm eyes.

  Lit’s face turned red.

  Because we were in our own home, we unconsciously answered with our usual antics.

  I felt as though I had been repeating ’unconsciously’ ever since just now.

  I guess I was being careless after the war had ended.

  Prince Sarius and Ririnrara had relaxed expressions and were laughing but there was still a clear distinction of being warriors.

  But well that’s fine.

  Being able to fool around like this was the happiness I obtained from entering Zoltan.

  ☆☆

  Now then.

  First will be the rice.

  I knew the way to cook it but …… it was written that it would be tastier if the water was fresh so perhaps I should draw new water from the well.

  I was about to go out when ’pyon’ Ugeuge-san leaped over.

  "Oya, what’s wrong?"

  Ugeuge-san spread both its front legs sideways to communicate.

  What was it trying to say?

  "I brought water."

  "Tise."

  Tise entered the kitchen after Ugeuge-san with three buckets, two in one hand each and one on top of her head.