CH 17

「I see… um, I kept quiet about this to everybody else, but I actually have a bit of the elven bloodline.」

Elven?

Fuah, more fantasy!

「Because of that, I grow a lot slower compared to other humans.」

Ahh, elves were said to be a long-living race after all.

「I know I look like this, but I’m actually twenty-eight years old.」

Hm?

Eh?

Huh?

A legal shota?!

No no no no, I couldn’t possibly imagine an elementary school kid with the brain of an adult, that’s just impossible! Even if our age was close to one another, I didn’t have such sick intentions to flirt with someone who looked like a young child!

I shook my head in small intervals.

「…could it be that I’m too old for you now?」

No, he wasn’t the older one, I was. Wait, what would happen if I told him that?

Actually, how old did he think I was?!

「Um, of course, I’ll wait for you to grow a bit if we decide to get engaged… um, after another five years or so, the gap between my appearance and my age will lessen, so…」

He said with a smile, but I couldn’t return it.

「No, that’s not the issue. Look, I really don’t mind about what happened. Um, yeah, you don’t need to marry me to take responsibility or anything!」

「It’s not just me trying to take responsibility… The first time we met, I thought your big, black-colored eyes were attractive. Also, you looked cool when you fought against those speedy slimes. And… I was captivated by the way you cooked. At first, I was planning on graduating from the potion field without telling you my feelings, but, well… 」

Even if he confessed to me with such a shy look…

This whole scene was as unrealistic as a kindergartner telling their nursery teacher, 「I want to marry sensei~.」

The boy in front of me looked like he was at most fifteen years old. Even if he emphasized the fact that he was twenty-eight…

「I’m sorry, but…」

I thought I might hurt Bryce-kun’s feelings if I explained that to him, because he might have a complex about it. However, it was a sin to lead him on.

He would probably forget about all this after he left the potion field for a while.

「I can’t marry a boy who looks younger than me!」

I bowed my head down once again in apology.

「Uu…」

Bryce-kun grabbed the chest area of his shirt and fell on his knees.

Oh no, I’m sorry. But still…

「It’s okay, Yuuri-san. I just need to hold out for another five years. The reason my growth is so slow is because I have quite a lot of elven blood in me. I will come see you in five years time after I become a proper elven man.」

Eh?

What does a proper elven man even mean?

Was he saying he would gain pointy ears and use a bow and arrow…? That was about all I knew about elves.

「Yuuri-san, let’s go fish. You’re going to make something for us again, right?」

「Y-yeah. I was thinking about how nice it would be if we had some salt, but we have soy sauce, so I think that’s enough to make the fish taste good.」

Since I didn’t eat freshwater fish that often, the first fish dish I thought of was grilled salted sweetfish. However, it should still taste good with only soy sauce.

「The soy sauce was very delicious. It was salty, and gave off a fragrant smell after it was grilled. It was such a mysterious flavor.」

「I see. Oh, that’s right. What kind of seasoning does this world have? Are salt and sugar readily available? Also, are there any spices?」

「I don’t cook so I’m not too sure about the details. The distribution of salt is managed by the country, so it should be cheap enough for you get some. Sugar on the other hand is a high-class seasoning, and only nobles eat them. There are these things called spices, and those are treated in the same way as sugar.」

I see. To think that even different worlds had such similarities.

There was a time in history where sugar had the same value as pepper and gold.

As for the salt, was it being managed by the country so they could put a tax on it? Or did they have to depend on imports because we weren’t surrounded by the ocean?

If spices were difficult to get, then what about herbs?

There were various species of fragrant grass back at the field, but I didn’t see any herbs.

Bryce-kun acted as he always did. It was definitely difficult to see him as an adult when he looked like a child. He was probably trying to make me feel better so I wouldn’t be troubled.

That, or he had been overly excited then and has now calmed down.

「Dinner’s ready!」

All I did was bake the fish we caught in the oven. Bryce-kun watched the heat for the rice.

I placed the pot onto the table with a big thump.

「Take only as much as you can eat.」

Since we didn’t have a rice spoon, I shoved the biggest spoon we had into the pot of rice.

「Oh, right, there’s one more thing. Give me a moment.」