CH 16

I removed the cork and sniffed the liquid.

「Ah! This is the smell of…」

I sniffed another bottle, which had a similar color.

「Eh? This one is…」

Then I smelled another one.

「Ugh, this one should never be smelled directly, but at least I know what it is now.」

Mirin, cooking sake, and vinegar.

Any of these would taste awful when drunk. I heard that cooking sake and mirin were purposely made to taste bad when drunk to prevent people from consuming it like alcohol.

Then, there was the vinegar… Just imagining someone drinking it with diluting it first made me shudder. Doing that was punishment.

Now, the black liquid.

It was soy sauce, of course. I was hoping for it to be some other type of sauce.

Now that I found these, I wanted some ketchup and mayonnaise… But both of those were rather thick in consistency. Maybe only viscous liquids appeared in the form of potions.

Eheh. Either way…

We got some onions and carrots from the field, and the potatoes were ready soon.

I was lacking some things for the dishes I wanted to make, but that couldn’t be helped.

That’s right. Were there eggs in this world? It’d be nice if I could get eggs from the vending machine.

First, I chopped up the ingredients and seasoned them. Then, in order to save power on the fire magic stone, I took the pot off the heat and wrapped it up in a blanket from an unused room so I could retain the heat.

I just had to make rice, and maybe some sort of main dish to go with the meal too… Okay, let’s go to the lake. I’ve never fished before, but maybe I could catch something.

I was told that the lake was down the path that was west of the hut. I brought along a bucket and a makeshift fishing pole. Eventually, I saw the water’s surface, glistening from the sunlight that shined through the cracks of the tree leaves.

Uwah, it’s so pretty.

The water was transparent. I could see the fish clearly.

…I wonder if I could bathe in here?

Unfortunately, the hut didn’t have a bathtub or a shower. The sun was high up, and the temperature was quite warm. I probably wouldn’t catch a cold if I went into the water now.

I looked all around the lake. There weren’t any scary animals, nor a person in sight.

「It’s so cold.」

The water was a bit chilly, but I should be fine once I get used to it.

Ahh, I wish I had some soap too, but I have to be content with how lucky I was to be able to take a bath here. Were there any hot springs gushing out around here? Japanese people have it tough in times like these. We are inconvenient creatures that suffer when we can’t take a bath.

By nature, any other country that mostly take showers would probably be fine being reincarnated into another world.

Crunch.

I turned around to see what made the sound.

「I, I’m sorry.」

There was a bucket that was flipped, probably because it was dropped.

Standing beside it was Bryce-kun, whose face was completely red.

「Ah…」

I’m sorry too. This oba-chan here was being too defenseless because there were only children here.

When I thought about it, Bryce-kun was at the age where he’d be conscience of other girls.

My lower half was submerged in the water, but the remainder was above it with nothing covering my slightly bulging chest. Seriously, I’m sorry you had to see this, Bryce-kun.

I hope this doesn’t traumatize him.

「I’m sorry, um, you see…」

Bryce-kun had turned around so I could get out of the water and put on my clothes. Ah, I didn’t have a towel. What was I doing? I was supposed to be a good role model.

「I put my clothes back on, so you can turn around. Bryce-kun, did you come here to fish too? I was thinking of fishing, but, well…」

I tried talking to Bryce-kun normally like nothing had happened, but he continued to face away from me.

Hmm, I hope I didn’t make things awkward between us…

After a slight moment of silence, Bryce-kun turned around, his face looking determined.

「Yuuri-san.」

「Yes?」

「Let’s get married!」

Eh?

Huh??

Did this world also have that thing where a man would marry you as a way of taking responsibility after seeing you naked?

No no no, this was just an accident, and I was already married. Well, I was getting divorced sooner or later.

Wait, that wasn’t the point. First and foremost, I was an oba-chan! I hit my thirties, three-zero! Compared to me, Bryce-kun was about thirteen years old, right?

Well, in Japan, there’s this thing called the Youth Protection Law, and there are rules concerning marriage with minors. Boys can only get married on their own once they hit twenty years old. They can get married at eighteen if their parents gave permission, but Bryce-kun looked like he was fifteen at most. Wait, that’s not it, I’m not a shota-con!

「I’m sorry, but I can’t marry a boy younger than me!」

I quickly lowered my head and apologized.