In the eastern town of Mateo…
“I’m suddenly feeling really hungry…”
“Me too…”
A rumble echoed from the bellies of the Half-Elves.
“By the way, you guys spent a million years in that ■(Box), but how did you manage without food?”
Mobeel replied, “Inside that ■(Box), you don’t get hungry or sleepy. Plus, it’s designed so you don’t age, sis.”
“Wow… really?”
Images of Mobeel enduring a million years of training under Morrigan flashed through my mind.
Regardless, it was true that my companions had caused some trouble, so I thought it would be nice to treat them to something delicious as an apology and to commend them for their hard work.
“Everyone’s hungry, right? Let’s eat!”
“““Hyahha~~~~~~~~~~~~!”””
And so, we gathered for a meal. However, we couldn’t take too long.
The Half-Elves didn’t show it much, but they all looked pretty hungry.
“Today… it’s Yakiniku!”
“Wow… Yakiniku! I love Yakiniku!”
Lisia-chan raised both hands in delight.
“Shia-chan? Yaki… niku?”
Mei tilted her head, asking her older sister Lisia-chan.
“We grill the meat and eat it! It’s a fun and delicious meal!”
“Oh! That sounds… exciting!”
Alright then. I pulled out some delicious meat and a Yakiniku set (a charcoal barbecue grill) from KAMIZON.
“Meat!” “Meat!” “Meattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!”
“Whoa!” The Half-Elves raised their hands and let out a battle cry.
It was a bit intimidating…
“Meat!” “Meat!”
Well, since the girls didn’t seem scared, I didn’t pay it much mind.
“Ha~~~~~~~~~~~~…”
In contrast to the excited group, Luciel let out a deep sigh.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing… More importantly, we should prepare the food, right? I’ll help too, Mika.”
Hmm, it felt like she was about to say something. And sighing like that…
I wondered if something was bothering her. But it wouldn’t be good to pry if she didn’t want to talk.
So, I decided to put it on hold for now and wait for her to bring it up herself.
I began grilling the meat with tongs. Today, it was Morrigan and me who would handle the grilling.
After all, it was because of our foolish God that we had caused trouble.
“Alright, everyone, eat up!”
“““Hyahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”””
At first, the Half-Elves hesitated to let me grill the meat. But after I placed the meat on the grill and the delicious aroma wafted through the air…
“Whoa! Meattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!”
“What an amazing smell!”
As you can see, they completely switched to Yakiniku mode. Well, that’s fine. Eat as much as you want.
“Sis! Can I eat… this meat!?”
Mobeel leaned in close to me. His face… looks so intense… now that I look at it closely…
“Uh, yeah… go ahead.”
“Thanks! Then I’ll dig in!”
With a fierce grip, he snatched the meat off the grill with his bare hands. Whoa, whoa…
“Use chopsticks or a fork…”
“Digging in! Nom!”
He grabbed the hot meat with his hands and took a bite.
Wow, how wild…
Munch munch…
Gulp.
“Ugh!?”
“Huh?”
“Th-this is soooooo goooooood!”
Mobeel looked up at the sky and shouted. I was glad he enjoyed it.
“Luciel, you should eat too.”
“B-but…”
“Come on, it’s delicious.”
I placed some meat on Luciel’s paper plate. Unlike the other Hyahha members, she seemed to use a fork properly.
Nom.
Munch munch…
“How is it?”
“It’s… delicious…”
Oh? Her reaction seemed a bit underwhelming…
“Whoa! This is amazing!”
“This is too good!”
“Meat is the best!”
Unlike the Hyahha members behind her, Luciel was eating at a slower pace.
“I’m sorry… but Elves generally don’t prefer meat…”
That’s true; I don’t have much of an image of Elves eating meat. Even Half-Elves seem to struggle with it.
“But Mobeel and the others are devouring it.”
“Those are… more like different beings shaped like Half-Elves…”
Indeed. They fit the description of Hyahha or even something from a post-apocalyptic world better than Half-Elves.
“If you don’t like meat, should we get something else?”
“Oh, no. It’s not that it’s bad… I just don’t particularly like it.”
“I see.”
I wanted to find something she would enjoy eating.
Just as we were making progress with the meal…
“Whoa!”
“I-I feel power surging through my body!”
The Hyahha members’ physiques bulged even more!
“Wow…! Hey, Mommy! The Half-Elves turned into gorillas!”
Mei exclaimed. “Gorilla” was a metaphor, of course. They hadn’t literally turned into gorillas. Everyone had become muscular and buff, looking even more imposing than before.
“W-what happened to you guys?”
The God of Representation asked.
“Hmph! After eating Mika’s meat, I felt… Hmph! Power surging through me!”
What could this mean?
“Mika, have you forgotten?”
Morrigan, who had been silently grilling meat beside me, spoke up.
“The dishes you make from another world have the effect of strengthening the locals.”
Ah… now that you mention it, I remember. So, eating the meat increased their stats.
“I feel power surging through me! Nutrients flowing through my blood! My cells are overflowing from my body!”
“That’s disgusting! If your cells are overflowing, that’s a problem!”
Well, it’s true that their muscles were bulging as if they were about to burst.
“Hyahha! Now we can avoid causing trouble for you and Luciel!”
“Hyahha! With our evolved selves, we’ll be invincible as long as we have our leader’s guidance!”
Leader Luciel let out a big sigh.
She was probably the most exhausted among us.
To recover her energy, sweets would be the best.
“Um, how about… dessert after the meal?”
I prepared a pseudo Cow Brand Ice Cream by taking vanilla ice cream from KAMIZON and drizzling it with black syrup and kinako, then served it to her.
“What!? Th-this is…?”
Luciel’s eyes widened as she looked at the ice cream in the paper cup.
“Ice cream. It’s a cold dessert.”
“D-dessert…”
She gulped, and then took a spoonful to taste.
“Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm♡”
Her expression transformed from earlier, and a smile returned to Luciel’s face. Her long ears perked up and wiggled.
“So good!”
“Great! I’m glad. Eat more!”
“Yes!”
Luciel devoured the Cow Brand Ice Cream. Unlike the meat, she seemed to have a much better impression of this.
Meanwhile, the Hyahha members were saying things like, “This is good, but the meat was better,” “I want more meat,” and “Should we hunt something in the forest?”
So they’re meat lovers, huh?
On the other hand, Luciel was shedding tears of joy while eating her ice cream.
“It’s cold, sweet, and delicious! This is the best dessert I’ve ever had!”
Now that I think about it, she did seem to enjoy chocolate, so maybe she has a sweet tooth.
Then Morrigan smirked.
“As long as you’re by Mika’s side, you can always have this delicious ice cream, you know? Right, Mika?”
“That’s right. I’ll always make sure you can have some.”
Especially since she would be taking on a significant role in managing these Hyahha members in the future.
“Mika, I… I’ll do my best. Honestly, I didn’t want to manage the Hyahha members…”
Oh, so she didn’t want to… I figured as much…
“But if it means I can eat this ice cream… I’ll do my best…”
“That’s impressive, Mika!”
Morrigan clapped her hands as if she had been waiting for this moment.
“To motivate a disinterested subordinate with food and get them to work hard! What a brilliant strategist you are!”
“That’s not quite how it is… I’m not just using food to lure her…”
“But it seems Luciel has become someone who can’t live without Mika’s ice cream anymore.”
Luciel was enjoying her ice cream with a blissful expression.
Well… it did end up looking like I lured her with ice cream…
“I’m amazed by Mika’s cunning schemes!”
“Um, for now, let’s finish eating and hurry back to the Heavenly Realm, Morrigan…”