Volume 10 Chapter 1 Part 2 (1/2)
”OK then, what's on today's menu?”
”Ox hamburg steak, soup, and salad. There's bread and rice too, but which do you want, huh?”
”Ah, I'll have rice, I guess.”
Maybe because s.h.i.+n had ”bothered” her while she was cooking, Marino was now slightly cold towards him. He had offered to help, but was turned down sharply.
Still, she was continuing to cook for him, so she was probably not really angry.
Now they only had to wait for the steak to finish cooking, so s.h.i.+n waited quietly.
Marino's cooking skills were still low, but Tsuki no Hokora's kitchen had cooking skill bonuses and also shortened cooking times. Because of that, even Marino could make sufficiently delicious food.
”Here you go.”
Marino came out of the kitchen, carrying a tray with the hamburg steak still sizzling on its iron plate. The rice and soup were steaming too.
After Marino had removed her ap.r.o.n and sat down, s.h.i.+n took fork and knife in hand and set to eating.
s.h.i.+n cut the steak, revealing its juicy insides and spreading its delicious aroma further in the room. It was a rather high degree of realism for a game. It could be said that the level of realism had increased even more after the start of the death game.
”It's really great that they implemented the sense of taste too. It would be pretty sad if this just refilled the stomach bar.”
Good food gives energy needed for tomorrow. Eating tasteless food items day after day would get one's spirits down soon.
”Hm? What's wrong, Marino? Is there sauce on my face or something?”
Marino was contemplating s.h.i.+n's face as he happily ate his meal. s.h.i.+n felt his nerves calm down thanks to the peacefulness of that atmosphere.
”No, I was just thinking that you really look happy when you eatthat's all.”
Marino's expression also showed how s.h.i.+n eating her handmade food made her happy.
”Eating good stuff would make anyone look like that, no?”
”I wouldn't feel this happy if it was anyone else.”
Marino directly conveyed her feelings to s.h.i.+n.
For s.h.i.+n, eating while she was looking so intently was a little awkward, but saying that would turn Marino's mood sour again, so he refrained.
It wasn't too much of an annoyance since Marino was the one looking, actually.
After a while, Marino started eating her part too. s.h.i.+n asked for seconds of rice and soup, then after the meal they sat together on the sofa.
”You're finally back to the usual s.h.i.+n.”
Marino talked while leaning on s.h.i.+n's shoulder.
”.did I look that horrible?”
s.h.i.+n felt the same as always, so his reply contained some surprise.
”When you think too much or hit a dead endyour face gets gradually tenser and tenser. Your eyes get so sharp too. That's how you were until just now.”
Marino herself was concerned that mentioning this too much would have ended up burdening him.
”Don't worry so much on your ownI end up getting down too just by looking at you.”
”You can say it anytime, you know? I can't notice it myself, well in fact I didn't, so”
”Choosing the right timing is not easya long time ago, I messed up while trying to do that.”
Marino replied while wrapping her right arm around s.h.i.+n's left. Normally s.h.i.+n's attention would focus on the softness of her feminine parts, but this time he was more concerned about her looking down.
”In real life, you mean?”
”Yeah. I was yelled at, like ”what the h.e.l.l do you know about that!?””
”I see.”
Marino rarely talked about real life, but evidently she felt like she could now.
”OK, I'll take a slower pace with the dungeon crawling. That will help in the long run, and I won't worry you either.”
Frustrated at his inability of saying something better to ease her mind, s.h.i.+n tried to sound as cheerful as he could.
Even without physical fatigue, mental strain could cause failures at important times. s.h.i.+n would hate to make Marino worry because of things that normally would never happen.
”This could delay our return to the real world though, sorry.”
”Your safety is a lot more important than that, s.h.i.+n.”
Marino smiled faintly.
”Hey, Marino, the dungeon clearing has reached a good point now, so can I go with you tomorrow?”
Because of her relatively low stats, Marino worked in a church in the first hometown, Kalkia. The city also housed an orphanage, used to give shelter to very young players. Since Marino worked in the orphanage, s.h.i.+n had helped modifying it, so now it was a structure different from the average.
”That's fine by me, but it'll probably be boring, you know?”
”That's OK. After all, I just want to look at you working.”
s.h.i.+n grinned and looked at Marino. His tone was a teasing one, but his expression was very serene.
”Aah, if you make a face like that I can't even stay angry, can I?”
Marino seemed unsure whether to get angry or to calm down because of s.h.i.+n's conflicting words and expression, especially because lately s.h.i.+n always seemed down.
”Hm? Did I make a weird face?”
”Aah, if you don't know then never mind. Rather than that, if you're coming too you're going to help me with the kids, ok? They love games too, so it'll be easy for you, I bet.”
”It'll probably be OK with the boys, but the girls are all yours. Our philosophy towards playing games is totally different after all.”
s.h.i.+n knew out of experience that most female players, like Marino, preferred to focus on cooking skills, communicating with tamed monsters, and knitting, all skills he had barely touched.
Because of that, he wasn't able to keep a conversation with them at times. Not even s.h.i.+n was knowledgeable about all sorts of skills and items.
”Well, you'll have to talk to them first. OK, let's get to bed soon to be ready for tomorrow. I'll clean up here, so why don't you get a bath first, s.h.i.+n?”
”I will, thanks. Oh, I got some cookies and madeleines from Catnip's shop, should we bring them to the orphanage?”
”Oh, that's a good idea. The kids will be really happy.”
s.h.i.+n left the rest to Marino and went to the bath.
Dipping in the hot water-filled bathtub filled him with an inexplicable feeling of liberation.
”The high level of realism can give a lot of trouble, but I really am thankful that they replicated this feeling too”
It might be strange to say, but even if one's body was dirty or smelled the game gave no penalties, nor did bathing increase the avatar's specs. Even so players, especially female ones, wanted to bathe regularly.
In real life, only particular hot springs gave considerable effects, but in this world bathing after a battle seemed to give an even greater feeling of relief.
”Life itself feels cleaner after a bath” was a very apt way of putting it.
s.h.i.+n got out of the bath, gulped down a bottle of milk from the fridge, said goodnight to Marino, and proceeded to his bedroom.
He had to be more exhausted than he thought, as his consciousness slipped away as soon as he lied on the mattress.
”Mwaht?”
Some time later, s.h.i.+n woke up and felt something strange on his right arm.
He looked at it and found Marino, wearing pajamas, snugly gripping his arm, sleeping peacefully.
”Ah..well.whatever.”
The option of carrying her back to her room did not emerge in s.h.i.+n's half-asleep brain.
They were lovers since before the death game and now, at least according to the system, they were husband and wife. Was there anything wrong with sleeping in the same bed? It was easy to accept the situation.
s.h.i.+n thought that he might as well go all the way, removed the right arm that Marino was grabbing and hugged her with both of his arms.
Relis.h.i.+ng in the happiness blooming in his chest, s.h.i.+n fell again into slumber.
The following morning, s.h.i.+n woke up after feeling something tremble. Something was moving in his arms.
”.hn?”
Like the day before, he looked in the direction of the noise and found Marino, blus.h.i.+ng fiercely. s.h.i.+n had apparently woken up because of her attempts to slip out of his embrace.
”Ah, ah, er”
”..morning.”
Words wouldn't come out of the embarra.s.sed Marino's mouth, so s.h.i.+n thought he should say good morning, for the moment.
”G-Good morningshoso, why are you hugging me?”
s.h.i.+n smiled gently because of Marino's cute stuttering and replied.
”You slipped under the covers yesterday, so I used you as pillow.”
”I-I-I guess I was half asleep and g-got the wrong room”
”We're husband and wife, at least according to the system, so isn't it fine?”
”It's embarra.s.sing!! Aaah, I bet you looked at my dumb sleeping face too”
Marino must have been really embarra.s.sed, as she covered her face with her hands and squirmed after s.h.i.+n freed her from his hug. Her bellyb.u.t.ton was in plain sight because of her wriggling.
”Sleeping face? Haven't we both seen each other's a lot already?”
”Today was not OK! Not after the dream I hadI bet I looked so dumb”
s.h.i.+n only remembered seeing her smiling peacefully. Marino would probably not believe him, though.
”I see, I see, a dreamwhat kind of dream was it?”
s.h.i.+n decided to press further.
”I”
”I?”
”I CAN'T SAY IT!!!”
”Gwah!”
After firmly planting an uppercut on the grinning s.h.i.+n's chin, Marino rushed out of the room.
Left alone, s.h.i.+n reflected that he might have gone too far, while ma.s.saging his unhurt chin.
”My deepest apologies. I teased too much.”
”You think that if you apologize like that I'll forgive you, right.”
s.h.i.+n lowered his head at the breakfast table, but Marino's reply was just jaded. s.h.i.+n knew from experience that honestly apologizing was the quickest way to obtain Marino's forgiveness.
Marino, of course, had already seen through s.h.i.+n's attempt.
”OK, OK. In exchange, you'll have to work plenty today.”
”Yes, I shall work my hardest, ma'am!”
”Enough already! Eat your breakfast, come on!”
Spurred by Marino, s.h.i.+n rushed through his morning meal.
He would ask what to do at the orphanage on the way there. There was nothing in particular they had to bring with them.
”Have a nice day.”
”I'll leave the rest to you.”
After greeting Schnee, s.h.i.+n and Marino teleported to Kalkia.
Walking through the crowd, s.h.i.+n felt several pairs of eyes on him. His equipment was different, but evidently his face was recognized by many. He did not mind anymore, but when going into town this happened often.
”Ah! It's big sis Marino!”
They heard a boy's voice when they arrived at the orphanage. Two boys came running towards them from the square next to the orphanage. Both wielded sponge blades, equipment that did not cause damage.
Both kids were around 150 cemels tall and looked like elementary or junior high school students.
Their faces still looked childish, probably because they hadn't edited their avatars. Setting avatars to automatic mode would make their appearances change according to one's age.
”Who's this person?”
”Your boyfriend??”
”His name is s.h.i.+n, he will help me today.”