Chapter 13 - A Relaxing Day
"Around here?"
"Yeah, that should be good. Alright, I'm lowering it slowly, okay?"
Confirming each other's status, we slowly lowered the cupboard.
Once the cupboard was properly installed against the wall near the kitchen, I let out a sigh.
"Gah! Why do I have to carry furniture all the way to your house?"
Toak shouted as he slumped onto the sofa in the living room.
"Since you're going to check the room layout to make the bed anyway, you might as well help carry the furniture. Our houses are close, too."
"Well, it's better than being worked to the bone by the old ladies in the village. Those women make me carry heavy things even though they've got plenty of strength themselves."
Toak rested the back of his head on the sofa's backrest and looked up at the ceiling.
Thinking that he probably helps carry things for everyone regardless of whose house it is, I immediately poured water into a cup I had just bought from him.
"Here, my house's first guest. Have some water."
"Wasn't the first guest Flora, who saw you naked?"
As I handed the water to Toak, he looked up at me with a smirk.
"............"
I reflexively fell silent with a bitter expression, and Toak laughed a hearty "Haha!" before gulping down the water.
To return a person's goodwill with such twisted words—he was like a brat who had simply grown larger.
Maybe that was why the village women worked him so hard.
While thinking that, I poured water into my own cup and moistened my throat.
"Having furniture really makes it feel like someone lives here, huh?"
I murmured deeply as I looked at the living room from the kitchen.
Yesterday there was nothing in the room, but now a stylish table, chairs, a sofa, and even a cupboard were installed.
With this, I could finally lead a civilized life.
I was moved by the thought that I wouldn't have to sit or sleep on the floor anymore.
"The furniture fits the atmosphere of the house; it's not bad. It looks a bit lonely when you see the whole room because there aren't any small items, though."
Toak was sitting lazily on the sofa, but it seemed he had been checking if his furniture matched the room's atmosphere. He really was serious about his work, after all.
"Well, most of those daily necessities are made in this village, so I'll take you there if you ask. Just putting a carpet under the table would make it look stylish, and it'll keep the floor from getting scratched."
He was quite the meddler, but if I said that, he'd probably get sulky and go home, so I kept it to myself.
"True. I want clothes, carpets, and bedding too."
I hadn't been particularly picky about clothes, so I didn't have many. The clothes I bought during my journey were getting tattered, so it was about time I bought new ones.
As Toak said, I wanted a carpet, and I wanted bedding before the bed was finished.
"That kind of stuff is the specialty of those old ladies. They'll make anything as long as they have the materials."
"Come to think of it, the villagers' clothes here are quite stylish. People in other villages are usually pretty plain. Are those clothes all handmade too?"
Yes, the clothes of the people in this village were quite stylish.
The overall color balance was good, and the clothes were sewn very carefully.
If you looked closely at the wrists or collars, there was even floral embroidery.
I couldn't believe they were clothes found in a rural village. It wouldn't be strange to see them lined up in a high-end shop.
When I asked, Toak turned his body from the sofa and shrugged.
"Look, this village is flashy with beautiful flowers everywhere, right? The old ladies' argument is that if the people living in such a place wore shabby clothes, it would ruin the village's atmosphere."
"Ah... I think that's a good idea. Actually, it really matches the atmosphere of the flowers."
It was a sense of beauty unique to this village, where flowers were said to bloom all year round.
Not just the flowers, but the people living there should be beautiful too.
Those words made it clear how much the villagers here loved and took pride in their village.
"Well, as a man, I'm happy to see women wandering around in beautiful clothes. Though it's tough when you're dragged along with them..."
Toak murmured with a distant look in his eyes.
It seemed that women being particular about clothes and men getting caught up in it was the same whether in the Kingdom or in a village.
◆ ◆ ◆
"Phew, that's the end of the measurements."
Toak, having finished checking the layout of the bedroom and other areas, returned to the living room and stretched.
Since my height had already been measured, the work Toak needed to do at this house was over.
"Good work."
While Toak was measuring, I had been storing the newly bought tableware into the cupboard.
After putting the last of the plates into the shelf, I offered Toak words of appreciation.
Toak let out a pleasant-sounding breath after stretching. Then, while letting his gaze wander a bit,
"...Hey, I saw a crazy bathtub when I peeked into the room earlier."
Well, when put that way, I could understand what Toak wanted to say.
"Ah, that. It's nice, right? It's quite spacious, so it's comfortable. Want to get in later?"
"Oh, for real! Then I'll count on you tonight. Preparing hot water by yourself is a pain, so I rarely do it."
When I made the suggestion, Toak looked happy.
Well, since I had the power of magic tools, it wouldn't even take ten minutes to fill it with hot water.
Since he let me buy food and gave me advice on furniture and how to buy clothes and bedding, this was a small price to pay.
"It's almost time for lunch; do you want to eat here? Or rather, there are foods I don't know, so I want you to teach me while I cook."
"...Well, I guess it can't be helped then. I'll eat here while I'm at it."
Perhaps the thanks for preparing the bath was working, as Toak came to the kitchen looking in a good mood.
I took the ingredients I bought from Toak out of the hemp bag and placed them on the kitchen counter.
Bread, eggs, bacon, broccoli, carrots, onions, potatoes, cranberries, blueberries, cheese, wine, spices, and many other ingredients including vegetables and nuts I didn't recognize were inside.
"What are these small green nuts?"
I rolled the elongated, rounded nuts in my palm and showed them to Toak.
"Ah, those are Kuku Fruits. They grow around my house. They're a bit sour, but I like them because they refresh your mouth."
I stroked the smooth skin and tried sniffing them. They didn't have a particularly strong scent.
"Can I eat them with the skin on?"
"It's fine."
Since Toak said it was fine, I popped a Kuku Fruit into my mouth.
When I bit down, the slightly tough skin popped, and sour juice overflowed from inside. The sourness might be strong enough to make some people grimace, but it certainly felt refreshing in the mouth.
"It's definitely quite sour, but it clears the mouth nicely. It might be good for when you're tired or as a palate cleanser."
For some reason, sour things taste delicious when you're tired. Keel used to make honey-soaked lemons often.
"Right? They also go well when squeezed over salted fish."
"That sounds good. Let's go fishing in the stream over there next time."
"Yeah, now I've made myself want to eat it."
While having such a peaceful conversation, he taught me how to cook and eat the vegetables I didn't know.
"Now then, I guess I'll start making it. It's already well past noon, so is a simple dish okay?"
"Yeah. I have to make your furniture and other customers' furniture too, so something quick is good."
For now, I decided to make a simple dish using eggs, bacon, and vegetables, which would lose their freshness as days passed.
"Then, bacon and eggs it is."
"Simple, but delicious."
I actually wanted to make a vegetable soup like Toak's, but if I started making that, it would probably be evening by the time it was done, so I'd stick to a light lunch for now.
During my adventurer days, I used to cook for myself, so I was reasonably good at it.
In the party, everyone shared the cooking duties, after all.
I lit the firewood with a flint and warmed the frying pan.
While I was warming the pan, Toak shredded the cabbage with a knife.
A rhythmic tapping sound echoed in the living room.
"You're fast at cutting cabbage..."
"Well, you get used to it when you live alone."
While I stared blankly at the piling cabbage, Toak answered with his gaze fixed on the cabbage.
Unfortunately, the person working next to me was a man, but I hoped to cook with a cute wife someday.
Once the pan was warm, I drizzled some oil and tossed in the thinly sliced bacon.
The smell of roasting bacon wafted through the air, and a savory aroma spread.
As I listened to the sizzling sound of the bacon frying, Toak, who was next to me, murmured.
"...Smells good."
Then I cracked the eggs over the bacon and lightly sprinkled salt and pepper.
After adding a little water, all that was left was to cover it with a lid and wait.
It was such a simple thing that it could hardly be called cooking—just cutting and frying—but it was quick and delicious.
While the eggs and bacon were frying, I pulled out the wooden plates I bought from Toak from the cupboard.
Since I was serving fried eggs, vegetables, and nuts this time, shallow plates would be good.
Choosing newly bought plates was very exciting.
I felt like I could now understand Keel's words about how one should start a meal with its appearance.
Keel must have been careful about his meals and used different plates too. My past self hadn't even noticed such things.
As I gazed at the plates with deep emotion, a popping sound came from the frying pan as an egg burst.
"Hey, how long are you going to keep staring at the plates?"
Toak's rebuking voice flew from where he was cutting vegetables.
"Crap, crap, the fried eggs are going to burn."
I hurriedly lifted the pan and took off the lid, and a puff of steam rose up.
"...It's okay, right?"
"They're not burnt."
Relieved that the fried eggs weren't burnt, I arranged them on the round wooden plates.
Along with that, I plated the shredded cabbage, thinly sliced tomatoes, cranberries, and cheese, and completed it by adding bread as the staple food.
"Alright, done!"
We immediately placed the plates and utensils on the newly bought table and sat in the chairs.
Ah, having furniture is wonderful.
The feeling that I was actually living in a house welled up within me.
Yesterday, I had managed to get a house, but other than taking a bath, I hadn't done anything that felt like living.
"Well, shall we eat?"
"Yeah."
After enjoying the meal and seeing Toak off, I spent the rest of the day relaxing on the sofa and taking a nap.