We spent the night as we were in the monster forest.
At night, the monsters became more active, making it dangerous,
but with me there, I could guarantee Rosaria’s safety.
If anything, for her,
staying at the restaurant was far more dangerous than being in this monster forest.
After all, there was no telling when people from her family might come looking for her.
“Manager, Manager, aren’t you going to sleep?”
Aris asked me while Rosaria lay down beside the campfire on a blanket, trying to sleep.
Since Aris was, for the time being, a ghost,
she had no need to sleep unless she deliberately tried to.
“I’m going to stay awake a little longer before I sleep. Camping like this after so long brings back old memories. It’s nice.”
“Um… we’re safe, right?”
“Don’t worry. Before I sleep, I’ll set up a warding magic circle to keep monsters from approaching.”
It wasn’t as if I had given up sleep specifically to protect the two of them from monsters.
Even if I slept, there were plenty of ways to block monsters from coming near.
It was just that, now that I was camping out in the forest like this,
memories from my old adventurer days came back to me, and I wanted to savor them a little longer.
“Um… Manager.”
“What? If you’re going to say something weird like you’re scared of the dark despite being a ghost, you go to sleep too.”
“Nooo, can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
Aris scooted a little closer to my side, water dripping from her hair.
“Were you actually an incredibly amazing person, Manager?”
“Hm?”
“I mean, you know the heroes… and your magic is incredible too…… so I wondered if you were someone really, really amazing.”
“Hmm…….”
At Aris’s sudden question, I fell into thought for a moment.
Was I an incredibly amazing person……?
Well, there had been a time when I was fairly impressive.
I had pioneered a new magical principle called “Meta Control,” received the title of Archmage,
and gone on adventures with the four heroes, including Irit, ultimately succeeding in sealing the Abyssal Rift.
But it had already been over ten years since I received the title of Archmage.
Back then, I had been quite famous among mages,
but now, unless someone deliberately studied magic and dealt with Meta Control, there was no reason for them to hear my name.
My name was listed in the Archmage biographical dictionary,
but since I hadn’t consistently performed deeds that drew public attention, ordinary people didn’t know who I was.
After we sealed the Abyssal Rift, I had asked them to remove my name from the party members who had distinguished themselves afterward,
so I was absent even from the statues of the heroes erected in the royal capital.
Of course, there had been many chances to make my name known throughout the world.
But in the end, my goal had been to retire as an adventurer and open a quiet restaurant,
so I had deliberately passed up those opportunities.
No, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I had lived while cutting down my own fame.
Though I did have the bare minimum recognition one could possess as an Archmage.
“I just made a bit of a name for myself with magic once. And I made some good friends.”
“Eeeh…… I don’t think it was just that……”
“Quiet. If you’re going to ask useless questions, go lie down and sleep.”
“I told you, it doesn’t really matter if I don’t sleep~”
The water dripping from Aris’s seaweed-like hair fell to the ground and vanished with a soft hiss.
Because she had become a spirit in the same state she had been in when she was soaked through,
strictly speaking, what fell from her wasn’t water but part of her spirit body.
I suddenly grew curious about what the water falling from Aris felt like,
so I quietly reached out and caught a falling droplet.
The droplet vanished the instant it touched my hand,
and I didn’t feel anything particularly cold, or even the sensation of contact.
Seeing things like this made it sink in that, even if I had forcibly injected mana into her and materialized her,
she really was a ghost.
“Let me ask you something too.”
“Huh? Is there something you’re curious about?”
“What were you doing before you died?”
Come to think of it, I had never properly asked.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected her to stick around the restaurant as an employee for this long either.
I had only forcibly grabbed her when she was trying to eat and run before passing on, intending to teach her a lesson,
but somehow it had turned into me practically hiring her as a full-time employee of the restaurant.
“I fell into a lake.”
“I already know that.”
Aris looked at me, water dripping from her.
“Umm… before that, uh…….”
She pressed her pale white index finger to her lips and tilted her head up in thought.
Don’t tell me this girl doesn’t properly remember what happened before she died?
“When you first came into the shop, you were looking for your mother’s home cooking.”
“Ah! Yes, I was. The stew I ate then was really, really, really delicious.”
“Then you should have some memories of your mother or something.”
“Eh…… that’s…….”
Aris tilted her head this way and that, making troubled groaning noises.
“You don’t remember?”
“Nooo…… I’m sorry… all I remember is that I fell into a lake and died…….”
“Hmm.”
Could this be…… because of me?
Was it because I forcibly held a spirit that was trying to pass on in this world?
Honestly, I didn’t know much about necromancy, so I couldn’t say.
Even if that was the case…… it wasn’t as though there was anything I could do about it now.
“Why? Is it something important?”
“No, I just asked because I was curious.”
I decided to stop digging into Aris’s past
and roughly lay down on the blanket spread over the ground.
“Manager? Manageeer~ Now I’m curious~”
“Ah, you hurry up and sleep too.”
“Uuuh~”
Ignoring Aris’s whining, I turned over.
Then, while listening to the cries of monsters coming from far away,
I slowly sank into sleep in preparation for tomorrow morning.
* * *
The next day.
For Rosaria, who had become able to eat again, I prepared a proper dish.
Using the leftover meat from the cockatrice I had caught the day before, I made braised chicken.
Soy-sauce-based braised chicken.
I already had soy sauce I had brewed at the restaurant,
so I had packed some in my bag and brought it with me.
Since she had eaten porridge the day before, her stomach should have been ready to accept food.
But whether she had fully regained her appetite was a different matter.
The pure desire to eat something.
Hunger, longing for food.
I prepared the menu in order to draw that out of Rosaria.
I seasoned the meat, placed the meat and vegetables into the pot, and poured in the soy sauce.
Using mana, I began boiling it while maintaining a steady heat beneath the pot.
The key was to boil it over high heat at first so the sauce would quickly seep into the meat,
then, after a while, lower the heat and let it simmer gently for a long time.
Before long, the scent began to spread through the air of the forest.
The sweet and salty aroma of soy sauce.
The sauce, slowly reducing, mingled with the meaty aroma of the cockatrice,
and gently drifted beyond the campfire.
“…….”
At first, Rosaria sat there blankly with a blanket over her knees.
Then, at some point, her gaze had turned toward the pot.
She didn’t seem to realize it herself.
She was simply looking naturally toward the direction the smell was coming from.
I said nothing.
Even if I did not try to persuade her with words,
the smell of the food would awaken her appetite on its own.
That was the power of cooking.
* * *
“Please eat.”
I served the sufficiently simmered braised chicken in a bowl and held it out in front of Rosaria.
The glossy soy sauce coated the meat.
The vegetables had absorbed the sauce and softened tenderly.
Rosaria stared at the bowl for a moment, then slowly picked up her spoon.
Carefully, she scooped up a piece of meat and brought it to her mouth.
Aris watched with bated breath.
A brief silence.
“…….”
Without a word, Rosaria lifted a second spoonful.
A third.
A fourth.
At some point, her hand no longer stopped.
What had begun as cautious, tiny bites
had become her emptying the bowl at a fairly quick pace before long.
“……It’s delicious.”
After eating for quite a while, Rosaria murmured quietly.
“I’m glad.”
I answered calmly and checked the pot.
There was plenty of meat left.
“Would you like more?”
“……Yes.”
It was an answer without hesitation.
Aris, who had been watching from the side, held out her empty bowl to me with sparkling eyes.
I pretended not to see it and filled a second bowl for Rosaria.
* * *
We returned to the restaurant around lunchtime.
After having Rosaria sit inside the restaurant and rest,
I sent a carrier pigeon to call Irit.
A carrier pigeon sent flying with a small amount of mana infused into it could deliver news accurately and quickly.
It was a method I had often used since my adventurer days.
And while waiting for Irit,
I decided to spread detection magic over a very wide area centered on the restaurant to check if anyone was approaching.
“There is no need to be anxious. If anyone tries to come to the restaurant, I’ll be able to detect them with magic. Even if your family sends someone, I should be able to notice them from far enough away that we’ll have plenty of time to respond.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Rosaria nodded with a relieved expression.
Her complexion had now clearly improved compared to before,
and because of that, she looked far more lively and beautiful than when I had first seen her.
“I called Irit. Think about what you want to do from now on while under Irit’s protection.”
“It feels strange. This is the first time I’ve felt this way.”
“That is what freedom is. It isn’t simply a pleasant feeling. It comes with responsibility too.”
Looking at Rosaria, I smiled faintly and added,
“But it will be much better than not having it.”
* * *
Irit arrived at the restaurant that evening.
I was surprised she came sooner than expected,
but it seemed she had flown over the moment she received the carrier pigeon.
“Klaus~! What’s going on? You called me first~?”
Irit, who had opened the door and stepped inside, discovered Rosaria sitting within and widened her eyes.
“……The Doll Princess?”
A brief silence passed.
Irit looked at me.
I gave a short explanation of the situation.
After listening, Irit wore an expression of disbelief.
“……So you’re trying to leave the Doll Princess with me?”
“You can hide her from her family, and no matter what choice she makes, you can create options for her.”
Irit looked at Rosaria for a moment.
Rosaria did not avoid her gaze.
Her eyes were gaunt, but firm.
“……Shouldn’t you have discussed something like this with me first?”
“Well, isn’t this what friends are for?”
“Haa…… Fine, whatever.”
Irit replied.
Then she turned toward Rosaria and said,
“Your complexion has improved a lot, hasn’t it? Princess, shall we go right away?”
Rosaria said nothing for a moment.
Then she quietly opened her mouth.
“……I’ll be in your care.”
Before leaving the restaurant with Irit,
she turned back toward me for a moment.
“Um……”
“Yes.”
“This is for the food.”
Rosaria removed a ring she had been wearing on her left hand
and handed it to me as she spoke.
It was a platinum ring set with a red jewel,
one that was clearly valuable enough to more than cover the price of the meal.
“Thank you. Truly.”
That was all.
The door closed.
Aris pressed herself against the window, watching the two of them grow distant, then asked me,
“Manager~ What will happen to the princess now?”
“Who knows.”
Resting my chin on my hand, I said,
“Well, she’ll live well on her own somehow. Our service to the guest is over.”
Aris looked as though she wanted to say something more, but closed her mouth.
On the counter, the ring Rosaria had left behind gleamed with a brilliant light.
* * *