Translator: Reo

Editor: PalenMisha

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 59 – Maihan – Toki

I slept so deeply, I didn’t have dreams, and when I woke up, it was already noon. 

I got dressed and freshened myself up in the omaru before heading to the rug where Assam was sitting.

He was using a paper imbued with magic called “Mashi”¹ and a tablet-like thing called “Maban”.² It seemed to have something to do with his work.

“Morning,” I called out and was about to sit down next to him, but Assam pointed at his lap. I’ve sat between his legs so many times now that I’ve gotten used to it. Being close to Assam makes me feel happy and warm.

“Morning, Toki. How are you feeling?”

“Um, am hungry.”

Gurgle.

My stomach let out a noise. How embarrassing.

“Haha! It sure seems so. Let’s go eat.”

“Work, no?”

“This isn’t work so don’t worry about it.”

Assam tidied up the papers, made a call on the communication device, and ordered food to be brought to the bedroom.

“Pardon my intrusion.” A voice called out from beyond the door and, after receiving Assam’s permission, a young man, around twenty years old, wearing all red entered the room. He was carrying something in a shallow bowl and the second I saw it I couldn’t help but shout out.

『Rice! It’s rice!』

I could hear Assam laughing from behind me. I’d been so excited by the prospect of cooked rice that I’d stood up.

“Toki, I know you want to hurry up and eat it, but sit down.”

That’s a bit embarrassing.

As I sat once again, I noticed that there were two more attendants other than the red-clothed man whom I hadn’t seen before.

“I was planning to give you some new attendants once your body had fully recovered, but some things happened and I decided to move up my plans,” Assam explained from behind my back but I was already entranced by the dish that was laid out in front of me.

The rice looked a bit like red rice and there was a yellow fruit mixed in with it. It looked like chestnut rice made with red rice.

Other than that, there was also a leafy salad and a soup with plenty of meat, but my eyes had already locked on the rice dish.

“Thank you for today’s harvest.”

“Thank for today’s harvest!”

I said itadakimasu under my breath and hurriedly scooped up some of the rice with a spoon. I brought the springy-looking, light-red rice and what looked like steaming chestnuts into my mouth.

“Mm~~~~!!!”

“I got it, I got it. Is it delicious?”

I nodded. It tasted exactly like chestnut rice and it didn’t have that manufactured sweetness of the chestnuts on the market either, rather the natural sweetness of chestnuts grown in nature.

Around the building where I was hospitalized, there were several chestnut trees and however many chestnuts the children could gather would then end up in that day’s dinner. I never thought I’d get to enjoy chestnut rice in this world as well!

I ate the rice with relish, but about a quarter of the way through my hand stopped.

“Toki?”

“…?!”

What should I do? I’m full. The etiquette here was to finish your meal and I haven’t even touched the salad yet.

All of the people’s eyes gathered on my hand that had stopped moving and it didn’t take them long to realize what the problem was.

“Toki, it doesn’t matter if there are leftovers today. This is the mistake of the one who prepared the food. It isn’t your fault.”

“?”

“Maihan has a high nutritional value and a small portion is filling enough because it expands in your stomach. Even I would feel moderately full eating that portion. To top it off, there’s also salad and soup.”

“Maihan? Red grains?”

“Yeah.”

To be this full with only a quarter of a portion, it would make for a great diet. Currently, I was supposed to be putting on some weight though.

“Kiha, take the food from Toki and bring some tea.”

“Ye-yessir!”

The man in the red clothes approached us. His face was pale and his hands trembled and I realized that he was probably the one who prepared the food.

He will probably be punished. However, I didn’t want to lose someone who could take a flavor unfamiliar to them and make it into something so delicious. There was only one thing I could do then.

“Assam. This leftover no.” I told Assam, shielding the bowl of rice from the young man who was trying to take it away. “This is ‘for later’! Not leftover. So no punishment.”

As the etiquette in this world was to finish all the food on your plate, not eating the whole portion and leaving some food behind was like shaming the person who made the food. That was something even I could understand.

However, I didn’t want to lose this Japanese flavor. With my stomach healed, I could finally enjoy eating whatever I wanted as much as I wanted to. I’d only just gotten this privilege. Assam also seemed to understand that.

“’For later’ huh? Understood. Kiha, as he said. Do it properly next time.”

“Y-yes!”

“Kiha…san? Always tasty, thank you. Can leave this to you?” I handed him the bowl with a bow.

Kiha received it, bowing deeply, and then left the room.

A woman in her late thirties gave me some tea to replace the bowl.

The tea that was poured into a wooden cup was yellow in color. When I brought it to my mouth to take a sip I could smell a faint, sweet scent.

“Ah, golun?”

“Aah. For us, the tea is a bit bitter but for you it probably has a subtle sweet flavor, right?”

“Un. Warm, sweet, good.” It wasn’t a cloying sweetness but a subtle, fragrant one.

After I’d finished my meal, I was introduced to the new attendants.

There was the cook, Kiha, from earlier. A 23-year-old cook who was over 180 cm tall with brown hair, green eyes, and a cheerful-looking face. He was my personal chef.

The woman who served the tea, Joo, was 36 years old and 176 cm tall. She had straight, light brown hair and matching eyes and looked like a reliable older sister. She wore orange, Arabian-style clothing similar to Tsugura. Her job was to serve me and Assam, help us change, tidy up, and other miscellaneous tasks.

Tomi had the same job. She was 20 years old, a little shorter than Joo at 174 cm, and had dark, fluffy, brown hair, green eyes, and a soft atmosphere. She too wore the same orange garments as Tsugura.

In addition to those three, there were two men standing by the open door.

The 190 cm tall man with a sturdy build was called Issa. He was 32 and had reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. He seemed older though, perhaps because of his mustache. 

Like Yarra, Issa wore brown armor with large decorations. He was an ax-wielding guard whose job was to protect me and Assam.

The other guard was called Mima. He was a handsome 18-year-old boy who was 170 cm tall with deep dark hair and eyes and pale, translucent features. He was a magic user and was closest to me in age so perhaps he could become a friend.

Mima also wore brown but his clothes had an Arabian-style design and were decorated similarly to Laham’s.

As the new attendants were introduced to me one after the other, I really wished I could take some notes.

“Tsugura and Laham are going to be busy with your revue from now on. Laham might be ok but it’d be difficult for Tsugura to serve us full-time until it’s finished. Also, after your heart heals, I’ll show you around the kingdom. Issa and Mima will be our guards at that time.”

“The kingdom!!”

“You’re looking forward to it, huh?”

Just as I was starting to get anxious about being separated from Laham and Tsugura, my attention was stirred toward getting to explore this new world. Assam was good at distracting me like that.

It seemed that all the people here were attendants that Laham had chosen and brought with him.

I think that after everything he’s been through, Laham has become much brighter. Even now when our eyes met, he smiled naturally.³

Was happiness contagious? 

I smiled happily back at him.