CH 14

Hello. It's way past lunch time I'm starving here.

Currently making food for four.

I cut up garlic (-like ingredient) and forest ginger clumsily, ground them into paste and mix them together with salt, soyu-like, sake, sugar (pricey) and pepper (stupid pricey) in a bowl.

Adding to it, large pieces of chicken meat-like meat. I massaged and left them for a while on the pot lid. It's kinda inconvenient not having plastic bags in a kitchen.

And now it's finally time. This sure feels like a cooking show. I've prepped it beforehand this morning.

Cut up the seasoning, mix it with beaten egg, and pour wheat-like flour. Would have used potato starch there if I had it. Too bad.

I couldn't help feeling like a host of a cooking show because of the three people eyeing me from behind.

Why are they staring so hard anyway? Alma's the same as ever, but the parents, their eyes are glaring...

Alma Mama is smiling softly but on a closer look it's obvious she's been watching my meal preparation in minute details.

Wonder if she's mad because I'm too clumsy... I feel like a newlywed getting stared at by a mother in law. I'm neither a wife or a husband though.

Alma Papa has a gentle expression but I can sense this hard prickly aura from him. He's definitely hostile inwardly.

I mean, thanks to the innlady saying, 'My, you're not carrying Alma on your back today', when we arrived here, it almost turned into a scene of carnage.

I explained that I had to do it cause she ran out of mana due to training, he pressed hard instead, 'You haven't done anything untoward on my defenseless daughter, have you'... I might have been cut down there if not for Alma and Alma Mama pacifying him.

I've been feeling how close to death you are living in this life recently. The weight of life is so light, so light.

...Let's get back to focusing on the food.

Next up, just gotta turn on the stove and fry the meat.

"Alma, can you light the stove please."

"Got it."

I asked the same thing like this morning, Alma Mama spoke here.

"My? Did you have a ring on Alma-chan?"

"I didn't."

"W-was livelihood magic cast-able without the ring on I wonder...?"

"...Err."

This person's pretty sharp. How'd she figure that.

Alma seems hesitant to tell them about direct mana control.

"Alma, you can tell them. I mean they're your parents right?"

Honestly, I wouldn't give the permission had they been abusive parents, but these two seem all right.

I'm sure they're not going to needlessly leak the info and trouble their daughter.

In fact, they'd likely boast to everybody around 'Our daughter's amazing'... Huh wait, isn't that bad? Am I being too hasty?