CH 102

There is not enough time, so I’ll just keep it simple.

Alright, let’s go with a few kinds of small pies for starters. I cut the left-over dough into squares. The rest is just a simple matter of choosing whether to put the left-over ingredients on top, or just wrap everything up, then put them in the oven and voila, they’re good to go.

All that’s left for me is to take out the other left-overs and make some pinchos. No one will be any wiser if I claim they’re pinchos after skewering them, right.

I skewer tomatoes and mozzarella alternately, then season it with a pinch of salt and some olive oil. Take the bottle of marinated stuff and bell pepper out and skewer them, too. We now have two kinds, one with marinated octopus and paprika, and one with marinated oysters.

Dinosso’s family returned while I was hastily skewering the food.

「Oi, what’s up with the house next door, it’s kinda amazing. 」

「Is that so?」

「The houses and the furniture have become quite good while we were holed up in the countryside, so it was such a surprise.」

Shiva commented while beaming.

「No, compared to an inn, that is… 」

「My room is cute! 」

「There’s a double deck bed! 」

「The one on top is mine! 」

I laid a pink-based patchwork quilt on top of Tina’s bed and it seems she liked it. The twins might get lonely if they were suddenly separated, so I installed a double decker in their room. The beds can be disassembled into two separate beds, so it’ll be fine if they decided to have a room each later on.

「Alright, I’m done. You can take the bed and the covers even if you decide against living next door. 」

「Yay!! Jean’s food!! 」

「It looks delish as ever. 」

「Dinosso, if you go down there it’s a cellar, so go pick a wine you like. 」

「Oh! 」

Dinosso looked quite dissatisfied, but his expression immediately brightened up when wine was mentioned.

There’s a 90 cm2 trapdoor that can be opened by the round ring on the floor at the edge of the pile of firewood. You can see the staircase if you lift that trapdoor, and you can keep it open by hooking the ring to the railing that prevents the pile of firewood from tumbling down.

「Here, a candle for you. Alright, the other four, go choose your cups over there, 」

Dinosso hummed as he went down the stairs.

Shiva took the cups that the children pointed out down from the shelf, showed it to them, then returned it afterward — rinse and repeat many times over.

I also chose some suitable plates from the shelf, then plated the pies that I took out of the oven. This room is situated right after entering through the entrance, and the upper shelves that lined the wall were filled with utensils, while the bottom shelves were for tools.

The hearth and the stove were also here, so it’s kinda like a semi-kitchen, I guess. I ended up finishing the preparations for tea while they were still happily engrossed in choosing.

「Alright, alright, come here and bring your cups for tea. 」

「Then I choose this! 」

「This is mine! 」

「Hmm! Pink! 」

「Fufufu, thank you, you prepared all of these for us, right? 」

En chose a pale blue one, while Vak’s cup was blue. They’re the same shade as their hair. Tina chose the cup with the same shape and pattern with those of the twins, but hers is pink. Shiva’s cup was bigger, but it has the same shape and pattern with the kids, too.

I might have pulled a few strings, but yeah, they did choose the cups just like how I anticipated them to.

「Dinosso’s cup is a bit too large, don’t you think? I can’t let him drink wine in this. 」

Shiva also brought Dinosso’s, but she looked a bit worried.

「It’s fine to choose another one as his wine cup, you know. 」

I said while pouring the tea. Can’t go against Dinosso’s madam when it comes to Dinosso’s alcohol!

「What a nice smell~ 」

「Something smells sweet, too! 」

「Papa, come here! 」

The kids were sneaking glances at the freshly-baked pies.

「Yeah, sorry for making you guys wait. 」

Dinosso was hugging a jar of red wine when he returned.

「Alright, then let’s eat. 」

Dinosso told the family after a short prayer, and everyone started eating.

「Sweet~ 」

Tina grinned from ear to ear after taking a bite of the pie with apple compote on top.

「Hot! It’s spilling! So tasty! 」

Vak bit into the shrimp gratin pie. The white sauce spilled from the pie just as he said.

「Yummy! It’s stretchy! 」

En’s pie was the one with sausage and cheese. I see, the kids started with the warm food first, huh. Kinda expected it.

Dinosso and Shiva happily drank the wine together while munching on the pinchos.

「They look nice, and they’re easy to eat. 」

「Delish! It’s so good, but cover it at least, you! 」

Ahh, yeah. I should do that with the tomato, mozzarella and eggplant, huh.

「Madam’s dishes are tasty, so I can only compete with rare ingredients and sweet things. 」

「Oh my, thank you. I also love Jean’s dishes very much. 」

No, really, it’s amazing how Shiva’s dishes are so tasty, with their mellow taste and warmth.

「By the way, so that house comes with conditions attached, and that will be the attic, huh? 」

「Yup. Good job picking up on that. 」

「Fufun~ 」Dinosso happily snorted, proud of himself. The palace dungeon that I crawled in back when I was young was filled with a lot of those, you know. 」

He winked while smiling knowingly.

「Mom discovered that. 」

Tina exposed him.

…My intuition is telling me strongly that it’s Madam who was the better adventurer.