I somehow managed to calm Alice down, but I still was quite embarrassed.
[S- Sorry for showing you something unsightly……]
[U- Unnn. Let’s forget about that for now.]
Feeling slightly awkward, I was about to change the subject when the food arrived at just the right time.
[Thank you for waiting. Here’s the appetizer, “Grossierip & Vegetable Aspic and Marinated Zude Shells”.]The waiter puts a plate in front of Alice and I while announcing the name of this dish that somehow has a high-class French cuisine like vibe around it.
The Grossierips and Zude Shells are probably shrimps and shellfish, right? I don’t know what an aspic is though.
[……Alice, what’s an aspic?]
[It’s bouillon made from meat and vegetables and turned into jelly.]
[I- I see……]
I don’t really understand it that well, but that means that the star-shaped jelly on this plate is aspic. Indeed, if I look inside, I could find some bits of shrimps mixed in it.
Glancing at Alice, she said “Please try it.” with a smile and began moving herself.I’ve been in this world for nearly half a year now…… so I’ve gotten used to eating with a knife and fork and eating course meals with elegance…… Ah, no, I guess it would be better to describe it as being able to eat that doesn’t make it too unseemly.
While thinking about trivial things like that, I brought the aspic in my mouth…… Unnn, I see. It has quite an elegant taste. However, I think it’s a bit bland……
[Kaito-san, I think it would be better to eat it with the sauce, you know?]
[……U- Unnn.]
I- I’d like it if you told me that beforehand……
When I ate it again with the sauce that I thought was a design for the plate, the sauce accentuated the elegant taste I felt earlier and made it taste many times better.
While personally experiencing its deliciousness, I turned my gaze towards Alice…… She’s eating her food with an unimaginable grace from her usual appearance.
Vexing it may be, but her movements look flawless…… If only there wasn’t that mask on her face, everything would have been perfect.
[Speaking of which, Alice. It seems like Kuro and Isis-san have been busy lately…… I guess you all were busy preparing for the Six Kings Festival huh?]
As we chatted over food, I mentioned the Six Kings Festival, which also involved Alice.
The reason is that lately, Kuro’s time visiting me has been decreasing. She used to stay for more than three hours every day, chatting and helping me practice my magic, but lately, she leaves after about an hour.
No, well, she’s still coming every night……
Isis-san was also the same, as when I’ve gone to visit her twice, she wasn’t home, so I guess she would also be busy preparing for the Six Kings Festival…… Even though she’s the Six Kings, why is it that Alice looks quite carefree?
[Ahh~~ I know what Kaito-san is thinking, but I’ll have you know that I’m pretty busy too.]
[Really?]
[Yes, 20 of my Alice-chan clones are working right now……]
[I- I see……]
Apparently, Alice is leaving the work to her clones while her main body is with me.
[Since Kuro-san was the one who suggested this event, it can’t be helped if Kuro-san is busy.]
[Fumufumu, even Isis-san?]
[Ah, errr…… Isis-san, ummm…… S- She’s doing her best, I guess?]
[Eh? What’s with that questionable way of saying it?]
When I asked Alice, who stammered for some reason, unlike when she was talking about Kuro, Alice continued speaking with a complicated expression on her face.
[No, in a way, Isis-san is even more enthusiastic for this festival than Kuro. Well, Isis-san had never organized a festival like this, other than for the Festival of Heroes, and she seemed to be very happy about it.]
[……Isn’t that a good thing?]
[……Isis-san, you see. She’s super good at breaking things down, but she isn’t very good at building and fixing them……]
[Ahh……]
Hearing the words Alice muttered with a troubled look on her face, I remembered the time when I went to the Demon Realm to see Magnawell-san before.
When she tried to help Lillywood-san fix the broken rock mountain, instead of fixing it, she ended up breaking another rock mountain……
[Especially this time, Isis-san was so excited, telling us that “she would help out a lot”. Well, for us, hearing those words makes us feel despair instead.]
[……………….]
[And, Kuro-san also couldn’t flat out refuse her since Isis-san only has good intentions, so things would be built only to be broken, and after it was fixed, it would be broken again.]
[I- I see…… That’s why all of you were so busy huh.]
[Yes, in the end, after Kuro-san said “I appoint Isis as Lillywood’s exclusive assistant!”, we somehow managed to proceed to work. Well, Lillywood-san was crying about it though……]
Lillywood-san, how pitiful……
However, I see…… Isis-san is also working hard. Somehow, imagining Isis-san being in really high spirits brings a smile on my lips. I don’t think Lillywood-san, who was the one who needed to fix them, would be able to endure it though.
[I see, but let’s put that aside for now…… I’m looking forward to the Six Kings Festival.]
[Yes, so that “she would be able to have a festival date with Kaito-san”, even Kuro-san is quite enthusiastic about it. Well, since “Kaito-san’s plans are mostly filled up”, I guess it would be pretty tough for Kaito-san too.]
[……Unnn? Wait a moment. What did you just say?]
[Eh? L- Like I said…… During the Six Kings Festival, Kaito-san would basically go around with the organizing member of the Six Kings…… Haven’t you heard about it from Kuro-san?]
[……I haven’t heard it from her.]
Eh? Wait a moment, what does that mean? During the time of the Six Kings Festival, I’ll basically go around with the organizing member of the Six Kings?
As I recall, in the Six Kings Festival, each of the Six Kings would organize a festival for one day, right? Then, they would exchange turns? Doesn’t this mean that it would turn to that…… Wouldn’t this catch lots of attention?
[Well, but then, with Magnawell-san whose size makes it impossible for him, he said “Would being together with me any fun? I will go welcome him, but I won’t tag along with him”, while Megiddo-san said that he won’t be going around with you. That’s why, I guess it will be Kuro-san, Isis-san, Lillywood-san and me.]
[……Even Lillywood-san agreed with that?]
[Yes, she said that if it isn’t too much trouble, she’d love to go around with you.]
[Fumu……]
[W- Well, resistance is futile. Please give up!]
[Isn’t that a villain’s line!?]
[Ahaha, w- well, it will definitely be fun…… Everyone is planning a festival that shows their own personalities.]
[……Incidentally, can I at least ask what it’s like?]
Unnn. I’m starting to understand it. That in these kinds of development, resistance is meaningless…… Well, besides, it’s as Alice said, it certainly sounds fun.
[Kuro-san is planning an orthodox festival. Megiddo-san’s, well, as you might have expected, it would be something like a competition convention. Lillywood-san’s will be kinda similar to the Sacred Tree Festival. I heard that Magnawell-san’s theme will be about interaction with monsters. I think Isis-san’s is going to be more like a flea market? As for mine, well, please just look forward to the day it comes.]
[……Flea market? That sounds like fun for me, but what about the other guests?]
[Even before the event, there is a lot who anticipates it. I’ve heard that there will be a lineup of items collected by Isis-san herself…… As Kaito-san knows, Isis-san has always had a hobby of collecting items from her favorite books.]
[Unnn. Isis-san had told me about it.]
Collecting flowers and jewelry that appeared in her favorite books is Isis-san’s hobby, and she even showed me the room where she keeps them, and there were a lot of them in that room.
[Some of them are extinct plants and flowers, and there were even some legendary ores…… and for this festival, Isis-san has announced that she is going to part with “everything”.]
[Eh? W- Why!?]
When I heard Alice’s shocking words, I forgot that I was eating and leaned forward.
After all, these items are supposed to be memorabilia, and Isis-san treasures them…… and she’s going to part with all of it……
Seeing me flusteredly asking that, Alice looks at me with a smile on her face before slowly opening her mouth.
[……”I don’t…… need this…… anymore….. From now on…… I’m going to…… put all my memories…… together with Kaito…… in heré”…… Saying that, after cleaning up her storage room, she carefully laid out the ice crystals Kaito-san and Isis-san mined. Someone’s really loved eh~~]
[……Isis-san.]
[For Isis-san, I guess it means that the future with Kaito-san is much, much more important than the past tens of thousands of years.]
Hearing Alice’s words, I felt my shoulders abruptly relax. And at the same time, an inexplicable feeling of happiness sprouted within me.
I definitely want to live up to her expectation. I hope that I can make lots of memories with Isis-san, memories that far exceed what she can fit within her storage room.
Dear Mom, Dad———- I heard from Alice about the Six Kings Festival. It seems that it has been decided that I will go around with each member of the Six Kings on the festival, one after another. Regarding that matter, unnn———– I gave up on resistance.
<Afterword>
Those who saw the title and thought that his reason finally collapsed, I won’t be mad, so raise your hand.
T/N: Not sure if I’ll be able to post a bonus chapter today. I’ll be doing the last chapter of volume 6 of my other novel, and I’ll do that now so that I can go back to focusing on this novel again.
