Kaida-kun is eating natto rice with gusto.
“I-It’s delicious…! What… how can simple natto rice be this delicious!?”
Kaida-kun is wolfing down the natto rice with a “gak gak gak.”
Food always looks so much more delicious when someone else is eating it. glurp
“Master… I want to eat natto rice too, glurp.”
“Oh, what a coincidence. Me too.”
So, I microwave a pack of rice.
“I see, rice. White rice! This bowl is full of white rice! Not a single grain of mixed grains! That’s why it’s so delicious!”
Beep, the microwave sounds.
Umm…
It feels like he’s stating the obvious… No, wait.
I’ve heard that there used to be food shortages.
Apparently, there was a time in Japan when people were so poor they couldn’t eat their fill of white rice.
If he’s from that era, it’s no wonder he’s so surprised.
How… he’s someone who survived a difficult era. Yeah.
“Eat plenty.”
I give him my microwaved rice.
“Is it alright…?”
Oh, he’s not refusing or being suspicious?
“It’s fine. Go ahead.”
“I am grateful.”
With that, Kaida eats his second bowl of natto rice. He’s really wolfing down the rice with relish.
But rice alone won’t be enough.
So, I decide to microwave another frozen food.
“Mogumogu… Master… what are you doing?”
“I’m microwaving a side dish.”
There are so many kinds of frozen foods these days.
The one I’m heating up now is one of the many varieties of frozen food!
Beep, it beeps, so I open the lid.
And there it is…
“Ta-da, frozen Karaage~”
“K-K-Karaage!?”
Kaida-kun falls off his chair with a clatter.
Eh, isn’t he overreacting…?
“Eh, you don’t know Karaage?”
“N-No… I know it. I’ve eaten Karaage before… but. What’s going on?”
He stands up and comes over to me.
He’s staring in shock at the Karaage on the plate.
“Steam is coming out…! What’s going on? Just by putting it in this box, how did it become warm Karaage!?”
Umm…
“Putting it in this box makes it warm because… something about microwaves, um…”
I can’t explain how a microwave works…!
“T-That is, this is a microwave. It uses the power of electricity to do various things and warm up food.”
“E-Electricity!? Electricity… can warm things…?”
He’s incredibly surprised.
Well, he seems like someone from the past. I guess it’s no surprise he’s amazed by a microwave…
…Hmm?
Huh?
Did I just do something unbelievable…?
“What’s wrong, Master?”
Sinri approaches and sneaks a piece of Karaage.
“No, I just feel like I did something I shouldn’t have…”
“? Isn’t that every time?”
“I guess so.”
I felt like I did something unbelievable just now, but that’s right. It’s always like this!
Well, maybe I shouldn’t worry about it too much…
Sinri doesn’t seem particularly concerned either.
“Alright, let’s have a frozen food party!”
I microwave other side dishes besides Karaage.
On the table are Karaage, fries, hamburger steak, okonomiyaki, takoyaki…
“Hey Master. I don’t think flour-based foods count as side dishes.”
“Huh? Flour-based foods are side dishes. They have sauce on them. They go great with rice.”
“Is Master from the Kansai region…?”
Kaida-kun says with wide eyes, ignoring my argument.
“Amazing… is this what they call paradise…?”
“No need to exaggerate…”
“Exaggerate? An unknown device, and a mountain of such delicious delicacies. No matter how you look at it… this is… the afterlife.”
Kaida-kun looks down with a pained expression.
The afterlife, he says.
“No, this isn’t the afterlife.”
I don’t know where you came from or what the situation is.
“Without a doubt, this is reality, and you’re alive.”
“…But this isn’t the place I know. There’s a place I have to return to.”
“…………”
A place he has to return to… huh.
He’s probably talking about Earth.
“Hey Sinri. Is there a way to return to reality… to Earth?”
“Currently, it does not exist.”
…Huh?
“But what about Saint Summoning?”
“That’s a method to summon people from another world to this one. There is a summoning method, but there is no teleportation method. Moreover, his timeline is different from Master’s. It is impossible for the current Master to accurately send him back to his time.”
I see…
“I see…”
Kaida-kun has an expression of despair. Huh?
“Why are you making that face?”
“Eh?”
“Sinri said it’s impossible for the current me. In other words… it’s not that there’s no way. Right?”
It’s impossible now, but it might not be impossible in the future. That’s what I heard Sinri saying.
“That’s right. As expected of Master. You understand me so well… bugya!“
Fairy King Oberon hits Sinri’s head.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t use roundabout ways of speaking and make the child cry.”
Oh, Oberon, could it be that he’s taken a liking to Kaida-kun…?
Well, he was always like a mom (strong maternal instinct).
He probably couldn’t leave a crying child alone.
Oberon hugs Kaida-kun tightly.
“It’s alright, Kaida-kun. Lord Mika seems to be able to send you back.”
“R-Really…?”
“Yes. Lord Mika is an omniscient God. The word ‘impossible’ does not exist for her. She will definitely send you home. So, please don’t cry.”
Oberon gently pats Kaida-kun on the head.
Tears well up in his eyes, and he breathes a sigh of relief. Yeah… that’s good.
“Hey Master. Isn’t Oberon’s attitude towards me a little too different? I’m a child too, a zero-year-old, but he’s super strict.”
“That’s because you’d get cocky if I was nice to you…”
“Guu…”
That’s the first time I’ve seen someone make a “guu” sound…
“So, Sinri. There is a way to send him back, right?”
“Yes. We can send him back using the Tower of Sealed Gods.”
“Oh, why?”
“The Tower of Sealed Gods is a special device that connects space-time.”
The Tower of Sealed Gods is the Dungeon we’re heading to.
“The Dungeon itself is a space-time transfer device. If we use it, we can send him back to Earth, to the timeline he was in.”
“Seriously?”
How convenient.
“So, we just have to go to the Tower of Sealed Gods and take the tower, right?”
In the first place, Mass-Produced Mika seemed to be having some kind of trouble at the Tower of Sealed Gods.
We’ll help her and take the tower while we’re at it.
“Master… your thinking is like a bandit’s?”
“Bandit? What are you talking about?”
I grin.
“I’m a God, you know? Everything in this world is mine.”
Ooh… Kaida-kun cheers for some reason.
Why is he cheering there…?
“The whole world is yours… Is it okay for a human to be this… greedy…?”
“No, Kaida-kun. You shouldn’t take this person as an example? This person is really a God, so…”
“Should humans be more greedy…?”
“He’s not listening…! Don’t go there! You’ll catch Mika God’s ways!?”
What do you mean, I’ll rub off on him…?
Kaida-kun sits down and claps his hands together.
“Thank you for the food!”
He starts eating his rice with a “gatsugatsugatsu!”
Until now, he was just eating to satisfy his hunger.
But now, I feel something like vitality from him? He’s eating rice to live. That’s the feeling I get.
“Feeling better?”
“Yes! Lord Mika said it. That there’s a way to return. Then, I… I’ll believe in your words.”
O-Okay… Hasn’t his attitude towards me suddenly softened…?
“If there’s a way to return, then I need to survive until then. So, I’ll eat!”
“Y-Yeah… that’s a good thing.”
“Yes! But it’s delicious! All of it!”
“That’s good.”
Well, whatever. I’m glad he’s feeling better for now.
And I’m glad he doesn’t see me as an enemy anymore.
After all, the power of food is great. You can become friends by eating together.
“Munch munch… No, maybe it’s not the power of food… mogumogu… but the power of Mafuha’s words…”
Sinri is eating with her cheeks puffed out like a hamster. Stop talking while eating.
Anyway, once we’re done eating, we’ll depart for the Tower of Sealed Gods.