Evening came.
While tidying up the kitchen, I took a look into the dining hall.
The girl was still in the same spot.
Her back against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest.
The bowl of porridge was completely empty.
Her tail was slowly sweeping across the floor.
Aris pressed close to my side and spoke in a small voice.
“Manager…… What should we do about her? Do you think she has anywhere to go?”
I didn’t answer the question right away.
I still didn’t know where she had come from, or why she had been wounded like that.
But the fact that she had crossed through the Monster Forest to get here
meant she had risked her life to travel quite a distance.
If she had somewhere to return to, she wouldn’t have thought of crossing that vast forest to the west.
“She probably doesn’t have anywhere to go right now. Most likely.”
“Then……”
I walked over to the girl.
Hearing my footsteps, the girl pricked up her ears.
Her eyes immediately shifted into wary mode.
I stopped in front of her and said,
“Sleep here tonight.”
The girl looked up at me.
“There’s a bedroom on the second floor. You can sleep there.”
The girl’s eyes narrowed.
They were still the eyes of someone suspicious of something.
As if asking why I was going this far to help a beastkin I had only just met.
I met that gaze and added calmly,
“If you sit here all night with those wounds, they’ll get worse. It’s better to lie down.”
The girl didn’t answer.
There was a strangely anxious look in her eyes.
I had no intention of persuading her any further.
“Do as you like. I’ve said what I had to say. With that body, there’s nowhere you can go if you leave this place.”
After saying only that, I returned to the kitchen.
I heard Aris whispering behind me.
“Um…… The second floor is where the manager normally sleeps. Letting you use it means he’s being incredibly considerate. Even if he talks like that, he’s absolutely not a bad person, so why don’t you trust him and rest for now?”
I couldn’t tell whether there was an answer.
A little while later, the sound of feet brushing against the floor very slowly headed toward the stairs.
Listening to that sound from the kitchen, I washed the dishes.
* * *
The next morning.
After giving the second-floor bedroom to the nameless beastkin girl,
I had slept uncomfortably in the first-floor hall with a blanket spread out on the floor.
If her body had been fine, I wouldn’t have given up my bedroom,
but she was in such a battered state that I simply couldn’t bring myself to make her sleep on the floor.
When I opened my eyes and got up to the morning birdsong and sunlight streaming in through the window,
the beastkin girl I had sent up to the second floor had come back down and was sitting on the floor just like yesterday.
Her back against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest.
I wasn’t sure whether she had slept properly.
But seeing her ears standing perked up, it seemed she had recovered at least a little strength.
The girl still didn’t say a word.
However, the wariness in her eyes as she looked at Aris and me had faded slightly.
Since it seemed like she had just gone through something major,
I decided not to force her to talk.
Leaving the beastkin girl alone, I headed to the kitchen.
I could feel the girl’s gaze on my back, but I didn’t bother turning around.
“Ummmmm……”
Just then, Aris approached the girl first and opened her mouth.
I was about to tell her not to do anything unnecessary and to leave her be,
but on second thought, Aris seemed more harmless than I did, so it would probably put the girl more at ease if Aris spoke to her. I let her be.
“D-did you sleep well? How does your body feel?”
The beastkin girl only stared blankly at Aris without answering.
Aris tried to step a little closer to the girl,
but when she saw the girl’s ears flatten slightly, she stopped.
“Ah…… It makes you uncomfortable if I come closer, doesn’t it? Sorry.”
There was still no answer.
“……Then I’ll talk from here.”
Keeping a reasonable distance, Aris stood where she was and continued speaking.
“The weather is clear today. There isn’t much wind, either. I don’t know what happened, but this place is safe, so don’t worry. Our manager isn’t an ordinary person, you see. This place is, well… um…… a restaurant! But the manager is a mage…… so…….”
Perhaps she couldn’t think of anything in particular to say,
because Aris rambled somewhat incoherently and said whatever came to mind.
Watching Aris and the beastkin girl from a distance in the kitchen,
I thought that, if anything, that side of Aris might actually help.
Aris briefly closed her mouth, then continued speaking to the silent girl.
“I’m Aris. Ah! I said that yesterday, didn’t I! Um… I work here as a waitress. Ehehe……”
The beastkin girl’s ears stood up a little more toward the front than before.
“The manager is really good at cooking. I don’t know what happened, but if you eat something delicious and rest, you’ll feel much better! I look forward to the meals the manager makes every day, too. My favorite is meat stew. Ah! Of course, I like other things too! Because……”
Aris chattered away all on her own.
That girl…… She isn’t that talkative with me.
For some reason, there was a hint of excitement in her voice.
Well, there didn’t seem to be any major problem over there, so I left them alone for the time being.
In the kitchen, I thought about what to make for breakfast today.
Porridge had been enough for yesterday.
Now that her body had recovered a little, it would be better to feed her something proper.
I looked through the food storage.
One fish that had been flash-frozen with magic caught my eye.
Sky Fish.
It was an oily blue-backed fish similar to mackerel.
A fish native to this world,
and if you grilled one, it was big enough for three people to eat their fill and still have some left over.
The flesh was firm and had just the right amount of fat, so it tasted good even simply grilled.
A cat beastkin, huh……
It was common knowledge that cats liked fish, but what about beastkin?
With that, I decided on the breakfast menu.
* * *
I prepared the Sky Fish.
After thawing it while minimizing damage to its tissue with magic,
I scraped off the scales, removed the innards, and washed it clean.
After wiping off the moisture, I sprinkled coarse salt evenly over both sides and left it for a short while.
It needed time for the salt to seep into the flesh.
In the meantime, I sliced some bread to serve on the side and toasted it in a pan.
With a thin spread of butter.
Since it was breakfast, I kept it simple.
On a plate, I placed finely grated radish and sliced lemon.
If eaten together with lemon juice squeezed over the grilled fish and the radish, it would taste even better.
Once the Sky Fish seemed sufficiently seasoned,
I added oil to the pan and turned up the heat.
The moment I placed the Sky Fish on the pan, it made a sizzling sound.
To make sure it cooked evenly where it touched the bottom,
I pressed down on both sides of the Sky Fish with my bare hands for about ten seconds.
As the flesh turned white, a savory smell began to spread.
The dining hall grew quiet.
Aris’s chattering voice suddenly stopped.
A moment later, I heard the soft sound of someone approaching the kitchen window.
Then there was a faint sniffing sound, as if someone was smelling the air.
Without taking my eyes off the pan,
I focused only on grilling the fish.
* * *
The delicious smell of the fish grilling until even the skin was crispy filled the restaurant.
“Wow…… It smells so good!”
Aris reacted first.
“What kind of fish is that?”
“Sky Fish.”
“Ugh… my mouth keeps filling up with saliva.”
Behind Aris’s admiring voice, I heard footsteps.
Pit-pat.
They were very cautious footsteps.
The footsteps stopped in front of the window that looked into the kitchen.
Glancing over, I saw that the beastkin girl was now standing beside Aris.
Her eyes were fixed on the fish being grilled in the pan.
I flipped the fish over.
Sizzle—!
The other side began to turn golden brown as well.
“Um……”
Aris, who was glued to the kitchen window watching the fish grill, opened her mouth to the beastkin girl.
“Do you perhaps like fish?”
No answer.
“You do, right? Right! Or not? Which is it?!”
The girl still didn’t answer.
But her eyes, fixed on the fish, were sparkling brightly.
Her fluffy, perked-up ears twitched every now and then.
She still wasn’t speaking because she felt awkward around us,
but she clearly seemed to like fish.
I took out plates and served the fish.
I sprinkled lemon juice on top and added herbs.
Finely grated radish was set beside it.
I also took out the bread to eat with it and plated that as well.
Three plates of nicely grilled Sky Fish set meals.
When I turned around carrying the plates, my eyes met the beastkin girl’s.
“……!”
The girl flinched and quickly took one step back.
Her perked-up ears flattened again.
With an indifferent expression, I carried the plates and walked out into the hall.
“Eat.”
I set a plate on the table and said it.
The beastkin girl hesitated in front of the table for a long while,
then sat down on the chair uncertainly.
Aris brought over her own plate and sat across from the beastkin girl.
“Hurry and eat. It’d be a waste if it got cold. Ah… it looks delicious.”
The beastkin girl’s ears wriggled.
When Aris’s eyes met the girl’s, she smiled brightly.
Aris was the first to start eating.
With a fork and spoon, she separated a thick piece of fish flesh,
then ate it together with the crispy, salty skin and grated radish.
“Mmm~!”
As if enraptured, Aris placed a palm against one cheek and marveled.
I didn’t eat and instead watched the scene from a short distance away.
Then the beastkin girl copied Aris and began separating the fish.
Due to her clumsy hands, she gathered the fish flesh that had nearly fallen apart and placed it on her spoon.
And the moment she put it in her mouth,
her ears shot straight up as if electrified.
The tail that had slipped out behind the chair’s backrest swayed slowly and widely.
The girl continued eating the fish without a word.
Her skill at picking apart the fish gradually improved in real time,
and her eating speed grew faster by the same degree.
A little while later, nothing remained on the plate except the fish bones and spines, picked completely clean.
The girl looked down at the empty plate, then slowly raised her head.
Then she stared intently at me with golden eyes.
“What? Do you want more?”
When I asked, the beastkin girl cautiously opened her mouth.
“……Pina.”
Her voice was so quiet I could barely hear it.
“Hm?”
“……My name is Pina.”
The beastkin girl answered in a slightly hoarse voice.
Hearing that, Aris’s expression brightened.
“Pina! So you’re Pina! I’m Aris, it’s nice to meet you!”
Pina flinched at Aris’s reaction, then soon lowered her gaze.
Her ears flattened a little, but her tail was still swaying.
I nodded.
“All right, Pina. I’m Klaus. The owner of this restaurant. Do you want more?”
Pina watched my expression,
then quietly nodded.
Since I was fine even if I didn’t particularly eat breakfast,
I brought Pina the plate with my portion of fish on it.
As Pina began eating the second plate, her tail swayed with a relaxed air.
There was no trace anywhere of that initial wariness she had been filled with.
* * *