CH 91.1

The lid of the wooden shipping crate with Kraunia’s emblem, which had been in our bedroom closet, was opened for the first time in about two years.

Inside came out a box of government made cigarettes.

Laura-san opened the box as if she were picking it open, tapped the bottom with the palm of her hand, and grabbed the cigarettes that showed up.

She grabbed three cigarettes forcefully, put them all in her mouth, and lit them with magic.

Before I knew it, the three long cigarettes were all turned to ash.

She quickly reduced all three to ashes to the butt in one phenomenally long suck and exhaled the smoke with a big smile on her face that she rarely shows.

She was like a college student at a party as she held three cigarettes between her fingers and smiled with satisfaction. Since she was satisfied, I will not say anything.

Right, on this day……Laura-san’s smoking ban, which had been going on since the early stages of her pregnancy until the end of her breast feeding period, has finally ended.

「Quitting smoking was a great experience but I still prefer to have more fun in my life.」

「Laura-san, how long have you been smoking?」

「Since I joined the army so about 10 years ago, I think. Almost everyone around me smoked so I don’t remember when it started.」

Laura-san, who continued smoking another cigarette, says so with nostalgia.

Laura-san when she was 14 years old, I can’t imagine that at all.

I wonder if she wore a school uniform like me and went to school yawning.

「Laura-san, what were you like when you’re still a student?」

「I don’t know if you can call me a student but, at that time, I was being taken care of the children of nobles related to our house at our castle. I was educated by them at my parent’s house.」

Whoah, sounds like a princess.

No, she was the true princess of the north.

「I never thought I’ll end up going to a school as a researcher even though a decoration.」

She chuckled as she said this and that and let out a puff of smoke.

A dry wind blew the white smoke out of the window and blew it away.

The sunlight streaming through the window grows more dazzling by the day and sweat poured with the rising temperatures. The twins cry out.

Another hot, hot summer had arrived in Torquiva.

-0-

A paddy field located on top of the roof of one of the towering apartment buildings on Schenker Street.

It is a small rice field where seedlings were raised from unhulled rice and recently planted.

Today, Isuka, a tigerkin in charge of this place, was showing me around, wiping the sweat off her face using her sleeve.

「What has it been like recently? 」

「We’re doing exactly as what Lina Lina said……keeping water running, getting rid of the bugs, and asking the farmers take care of it everyday.」

「Is that so? It’s getting hotter these days so be careful.」

「Everyone is licking salt candy, wasn’t that thing made by master……?」

「Ah, I did.」

As we talk, I casted healing and strengthening magic into the rice, water, and soil.

About three quarters of the seedlings planted in the rice paddy are super seedlings that I have grown by hand since they were still seeds. I strengthened them so I think they are probably disease and bug resistant.

I knew how to make seedings out of them because I had done it in elementary school in my previous life. Even so, I asked Lina Lina, who is from the area where this rice comes from and my second brother’s wife, for details.

Perhaps the way of rice cultivation is totally different from that of Japan but it is no wonder that it’s inferior to that of a country that has been cultivating rice for more than 2000 years.

I didn’t expect to succeed in my first try. This is a hobby for me so I’ll just do it as time goes by.

「Ano……I’m just wondering, how is this crop eaten?」

「Ah, I guess you’ve never eaten this before. It’s eaten like a kind of wheat porridge but without soup.」

「Like a watered down wheat porridge?」

「Well, its flavor is slightly different from wheat. I’ll give you some when it’s ready.」

「I look forward to it……」

Isuka’s long tail swayed against the blue sky of the roof which was unobstructed by anything.

After a few years of knowing her, I know that her tail moves like that when she’s in a good mood.