CH 48

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We both returned to the cave in silence.

“Well then, see you later at dinner…”

Gram returned to her room like that. Our conversation ended rather suddenly, but it doesn’t seem like she was angry; it feels like Gram was still acting as usual.

‘Do you think… it would be okay for me to hold you?’

Her voice was trembling when she said that, but I don’t think it was because of anger. I was going to dwell further on the matter but soon it was time for preparing dinner.

“Goku, has the pre-preparation done already?”

I washed my hands, put on my apron, and rushed into the kitchen. For today’s appetizer, I would make a cold cucumber and yogurt soup.

This is a dish called Jajuk in Turkey. It’s very easy to make; just mix yogurt, water, grated garlic, herbs, chopped cucumber and season with salt. It is refreshing and can be enjoyed even on hot days when usually you don’t have much appetite. Strictly speaking, it’s not soup, but it’s watery, so it’s easier to eat with a spoon.

For the main dish, I’m making Tandoori chicken by using cockatrice meat marinated in yogurt. I had marinated the meat overnight, so it’s tender and juicy. The taste is exquisite if you eat it with bread and vegetables dipped in mayonnaise. [1]

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“In a few more days, I won’t be able to eat Okami’s cooking anymore,” one of the officers said in a sad voice.

“Yeah. I’ll be glad to go back home, but I’m sure I’ll sorely miss Okami.” Cheryl, the healer, firmly asserted. “If they ever send a second survey team, I’ll certainly volunteer. Not many healers want to come to a place like this, so I’m sure they’ll choose me!”

“Ooh, you love Okami that much already?”

The officers made a ruckus at each other, but an officer named Laila muttered something with a small voice. “She’s right, you know… I’ll be much happier if I get assigned in here…”

At her words, everyone fell silent. The empire is at war with many countries right now, and the soldiers could be sent to the front lines at any moment. Compared to fighting in a war, investigating dungeons would be much better.

To break off the silence, Lane stood up and poured a little of the white wine left on the table into everyone’s glass.

“Everyone, raise your glass.”

All the officers raised their glasses at Vice Commander’s order.

“I think we need to take a moment and appreciate that what could have been a routine deployment, instead turned out to be an unexpected trip to heaven on earth.”

Everyone nodded at those words.

Lane raised her glass, “To Okami, and our memories of this Southern Paradise!”

“To Okami, and our memories of this Southern Paradise!”

In unison, the glasses were tilted, the wine was consumed; the food and drink consumed that night would become part of them together with the sweet memory of the Southern Paradise.

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By the time we finished cleaning up after dinner, all the lights in the log cabins had gone out, and everyone seemed to have fallen asleep.

Since the soldiers were going to start their activities at dawn tomorrow, no one was willing to cut into their precious sleep time. They were so exhausted from doing dungeon exploration daily and the stress accumulated so much, I daresay some of them even think about the exploration in their dream.

As for me, the golems do most of what I need to do, so I’m not tired at all.

“After we’re done cleaning up, let’s all take a bath together. Iwaos, prepare the hot water.”

The Iwaos were dirty since they’d been working at the construction site, and the Gokus had to be kept clean at all times, since they were working the kitchen, so bathing the golems at the end of the day had become my daily routine.  I’ve created over 10 scrubbing brushes by using Tools Production, and so I’ve been using them to clean the golems. I never realized that a scrubbing brush could be made by using coconut fibers though, so it’s good that we have plenty of coconuts here since I can make a lot of brushes.

I’d also installed a streetlight on the road leading to the bath. It’s something that doesn’t consume much magical power; even one magic stone would be enough to light it up for three months.

Thanks to all this, my level had gone up again.

＃＃＃＃

Creation Magic Lv.11　All category creation time reduced by 7%

MP 1024/1024

Food Production: Lv.8 Food creation time reduced by 15%

Tools Production: Lv.8 Tool creation time reduced by 15%

Weapon Production: Lv.2 Weapon creation time reduced by 3%

Material Creation: Lv.7 Material creation time reduced by 13%

Golem Production: Lv.5 Golem creation time reduced by 9%

Medicine Production: Lv.3

Repair Lv 2

Other ――

＃＃＃＃

I now had two Cimas and I was currently working on the next one, I hope I’d have four Cimas ready for pulling the boat soon. I haven’t tested it yet, but I think I can make the high-speed boat a reality. Also, once the fourth Cima is completed, my level of Golem Production will increase.

I can’t wait to see what kind of golem I can make next.

The Gokus were busy scrubbing the Iwaos, while I was scrubbing Wonder No. 1’s belly. He was currently lying sideways on the bath floor and was enjoying the belly rub. He may have a metal body, but he was behaving cutely like a normal puppy. Now that I think about it, back on Earth, didn’t we have something called Aibo? [2]

Suddenly, Wonder leapt up from the floor.

“What’s wrong, boy?”

Wonder stared at the entrance to the bathroom and readied himself as if anticipating an intruder.

“Is someone there?” As I called towards whoever is at the entrance, a hesitant voice replied.

“Shirou… It’s me…” The voice belonged to Gram.

“Gram-sama? Please come in, don’t worry I’m wearing clothes.”

Gram appeared, dressed in loungewear.

“To come here this late at night, is something the matter?”

“I was talking a night stroll, since I was unable to sleep, but then I heard the sound coming from the bath… And I thought I’d wait for you to come out.” Gram looked undecided, but finally shook her head slightly. “No, actually, I’ve been wanting to talk with you.”

“I understand, but it would be improper for us to talk here. Please give me a moment.”

I then instructed the golems to take care of the rest of the work and left the bathroom.

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The sky was full of stars, and they’re shining brightly. [3]

This is a world that has no light pollution, so I can see them clearly. There are so many of them that I can’t even begin to guess at the different constellation. Well, it’s not like I know any constellation on this world anyway…

We started walking along the forest path toward the dungeon.

“No matter how often I see them, the stars are amazing, aren’t they? In the place where I come from, we can’t even see this many starts at night.”

“Shirou… Did you come from one of those stars?”

I wonder. Do Earth and this world even exist in the same universe? It’s also possible that they’re in the same universe, but in different galaxies, but there’s no way to know really.

“I don’t know. But Gram-sama, when I told you that I came to this world from a different one… do you believe me?”

Gram nodded with a wry smile. “Somehow, it made more sense that way, with how different you are compared to other men.”

I’m glad. It’s nice to have someone who accepts me for who I am. Hearing what she said made the huge lump of loneliness inside me lessen, even if just a bit.

“To you, I must seem to be a really strange man, right?”

“Yeah, but thanks to that, it lets me talk freely like this. I’ve… never talked to a man properly before, not until now. And I’ve never walked together side by side with a man, like I do now.”

“That’s because Gram-sama is too reserved. It’s fine if you have more confidence in yourself, you know?”

Grams became embarrassed at my words.

“Shirou, what do you think of me? I know I’m short… right?”

“In the world I come from, shorter women are considered cute, but I guess it’s different here…”

“Yeah. Nobody likes short women.”

Gram shrugged her shoulders and laugh self-deprecatingly, like it was the only response to her situation.

“And I… I really can’t get along with people well. I’m often unable to really convey what I want to say…”

“That kind of thing does happen sometimes, doesn’t it.”

“Uh-huh… I feel like Shirou is able to understand my loneliness very well.”

I think Gram has been forced to endure by herself all her life.

“I can’t speak for the others, but for me, Gram-sama is very attractive, both from the inside and the outside.”

“I see…”

After saying that, Gram fell into silence again.

…

Somehow, I suddenly remembered an anecdote:

There was a person who was really lazy; so lazy that all he could think about was slacking off at work. One day, however, the hard-working boss in his department moved out, and a slacker boss moved in to replace the old boss. Now, what would happen if the new boss was even lazier than him? The lazy person would have to start working, albeit reluctantly, or nothing would ever get done under the slacker boss.

Now, I felt like the same phenomenon was happening before my eyes.

Normally, I’m a very passive person. But now that I see Gram whose even more passive than I am, I felt an incomprehensible impulse well up in my heart, and I held Gram’s hand as we walked.

“!!”

She seemed surprised, but Gram didn’t pull her hand back, and so we kept walking while holding hands.

“Gram-sama, if you don’t mind, would you like to make a memory with me?”

“Memories? what do you mean?”

“I’m talking about sex.”

“!!!!” Gram’s body twitched. [4]

“If Gram-sama don’t want to, then please pretend that I never said it. But I’m asking you this because I want to do it.”

“But, however…”

“On the way back from the dungeon, Gram-sama asked me if it was alright for you to hold me, right? And I answered yes. That wasn’t a lie, it’s truly how I feel. Actually, rather than being alright, I want to be held by you.”

“…”

“This is just me talking, but I don’t think there’s any change in a person’s value if they have sex. It’s just that the relationship between Gram-sama and I would change. There’s no real meaning in no longer being a virgin. If anything, it might make Gram-sama lose the illusion that you have toward the opposite sex. That’s what I think.”

“Illusion?”

“That’s right. You see, because you don’t have experience with the opposite sex, you end up overthinking what to say and what to do around them, making it more complicated than it should be. By having skin to skin contact, wouldn’t it allow you to better grasp the relationship between man and woman in a simpler way? At least that’s what I think.

“…”

Gram remained silent, but she didn’t shake my hand away.

“I’m not a virgin, so maybe I’m not someone that Gram-sama would think of as an ideal partner. But, if it’s alright for you to hold me… what do you say?”

Before we knew it, the forest had cleared up and we were in the plaza in front of the dungeon. The feeling of wind blowing from the ocean felt comfortable against my skin.

This is absurd. I’d never had any experience flirting with girls back on Earth, so why was I able to ask her out so casually? Well, the women in this world have a different way of thinking than women on Earth, is that the reason why?

Since the women of this world have a similar mentality to the men on earth, maybe that’s why I could comfortably flirt with them?

“Shirou… Are you really fine with this?”

“Yes. Oh, just so you know, I am not the kind of man who would sleep with just any woman.”

“I-I know that!”

It’s really interesting to see Gram making such a flustered face.

“Since it will be Gram-sama’s first time, I’ll follow any request you might want me to do, as long as it’s not painful. And please spare me from something like the whip or other violent things.”

“I-I don’t have any preferences like that. If anything, I would like to be on the receiving end…”

“Eh?”

“N-Nothing!”

We went into the place where we had completed the foundation work earlier that day. Then, we turned the magic lantern’s light so low it was nearly out.

“Wh-what should I do now?”

I gently stroked Gram’s head, which was stiff and tense. Her hair was really smooth.

“We should start with a kiss first, don’t you think?”

“I-I see…”

When I closed my eyes, I could hear the sea breeze rustling, mixed with the sound of Gram’s anxious gulp.

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1 The thing that I like about the cooking in this series is, it’s not exclusively Japanese cooking, which for me is quite rare amongst Isekai Web Novel.

2 AIBO: Artificial Intelligence Robot, is a series of robotic dog manufactured by Sony.

3  ‘Cause you’re a sky, ’cause you’re a sky full of stars

I’m gonna give you my heart

I’m sorry, I’ll see myself out.

4 The poor girl is probably having a light heart attack at this point.

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Additional notes: I really like this chapter. I don’t know why, maybe because Shirou and Lotte finally do it.