“But…”
“Wouldn’t this be a good opportunity to prove to your leader that you can be relied upon?”
“Oh, I see!”
In distressingly short order, Hinata had cajoled Shion to join her side. Even worse, the two Lycanthropeers joining us chose that moment to speak up.
“Don’t worry, Shion. We’ll be there, too, so if you forget anything, we can help!”
“Quite so. We’ve become regulars at this point, so we know how it all works.”
“Sir Rimuru,” Shion replied, her mind made up, “please let me handle this!”
“Uh… Sure. Make me proud.”
Aw. And here I was hoping to get a look at Hinata’s lovely naked body…but at this point, giving up was the only option left. I had just lost the chance of a lifetime, and I had to face up to that, as much as it distressed me.
Pulling myself back together, I turned toward Benimaru.
“Pfft. Ah well. I’ll pay the men’s bath a visit for the first time in a while.”
That’s one thing I like to give myself credit for—my ability to mentally switch gears fast.
“Okay, who wants to scrub my back? Nothing like letting water from deep in the mountains take the sweat and fatigue away.”
“Allow me, sir…”
Benimaru and the gang loved the hot spring we’d all built together. Going in as a group now and then wasn’t such a bad thing.
“Kwah-ha-ha! Will you do my back then, Rimuru?”
“Why do I have to do something like that?!”
I had no interest in dealing with Veldora. Brushing him off, I took the lead as we all headed over.
The majority of paladins were male, nearly a hundred in all, but that was no problem for my main bathhouse facility. If there was just one room, that would fill it up, but we had several, allowing them all to bathe at once. I could tell some of them were nervous—it must’ve been exciting for them. I’d love to give ’em a bit of a shock.
As I walked on, thinking this over, I ran into Shuna.
“I’ve prepared the clothing—but why are you together with the gentlemen, Sir Rimuru?”
The question was casual enough, but her eyes weren’t smiling. It gave me pause.
“Oh, I just thought I’d join them in the baths.”
Shuna gave me a cute little grin. Uh-oh. Doesn’t that mean she’s incredibly angry?
“How do you mean?” she asked, sizing us up before squaring her gaze upon Benimaru and Soei. “I’m sorry, Sir Rimuru has an errand to handle, so I’m afraid he cannot join you. Also, Benimaru and Soei, I would like to speak with you later.”
“Er, um—”
“…”
The two fell silent under Shuna’s pressure. I wasn’t sure what this was about, but they must’ve felt it wise to avoid stoking her rage any further.
Me, meanwhile? I was being assigned to the bath in my detached house. How could it be? What set off Shuna like that? I had no idea, even as Shuna pointed me straight back home.
After wrapping up a quick bath, I decided to check on how our prep work was going.
We’d be using the banquet hall for the festivities. With all the events we’d been hosting lately, I had this hall hastily built for us; it had only just been completed. Basically, it looked like a circular domed stadium, about the size of a gymnasium inside. Internally, it was wide open, the floor lined with tatami mats. It was meant to serve as an evacuation site in case of emergency, so it could hold a fair number of people. We had a lot of space to work with, so we used steel frame to construct a building of a decent size and sturdiness, but over time, this was going to change to magisteel. Our nation, and all the powerful magic-born living in it, had a lot of natural advantages like that.
As I thought about this, food began to be delivered on serving trays, on a set of intricate-looking bowls like you’d see in a fancy restaurant. I had shown them how to knead clay into bowls like that, but then the children started imitating me, and nowadays you saw a lot of really impressive pieces. For colors, they made dyes out of herbal extracts or mixed weird ores into the clay, resulting in some dazzling work at times. The children’s output was being used in the homes of families across town.
It’s important to experiment with a lot of things, right? You never know what’s going to stick. The trays themselves were intricately detailed as well, made by Dold using processed wood from other projects. The kids started imitating that, too, and these days, handicraft sessions were part of regular recreation in Tempest.
Looking at it this way, from hot springs to the containers the food came in, my personal tastes were starting to show their presence everywhere. Compared with those first few days of chewing on grass, life had become unbelievably better for me. The food itself was really enjoyable now, too. I guess it’s easier to strive for something if you really feel like it’ll benefit you personally.
The main dish on tonight’s menu was tempura. Excellent. I mean, progressing this far was seriously moving to me. It looked perfect; it tasted amazing. All the work of Shuna in the galley. Definitely not Shion, it went without saying. Whether Shion had the Master Chef skill or not, one look at her attempts at cuisine and you knew she couldn’t be trusted with the responsibilities of a kitchen.
This tempura had also come about after I showed my memories to Shuna and we developed each component, piece by piece. And that wasn’t all. Fried chicken, hamburger, steak, croquettes, fried shrimp—I loved it all, and it went without saying that Milim did, too.
For someone like me, not that well versed in cooking, trying to explain the difference between fried shrimp and tempura was quite a challenge. In simple terms, all you’re doing is taking shrimp, coating it with batter, and frying it in oil—but the batter makes all
