Chapter 1-40 : The Girl Wakes Up To A Peaceful Morning In The Dirtiest House In The City
The next morning, the light of the sunrise coming through the window woke Elle up.
「Fwaaahh~!」(Elle)
She raised her upper body and stretched her arms upward while yawning.
Thanks to Ingrid, she was able to sleep soundly at night. It had been a while since the last time Elle could sleep like a log.
「…Hm? Where’s Ingrid?」(Elle)
The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was Ingrid, who was supposed to sleep next to her, wasn’t there.
She looked around the room and found her lying down on the floor. It seemed that she had a bad sleeping habit and fell out of bed while sleeping.
「Ugh… Elle, help…」(Yoyo)
「Master, help us…」(Neige)
She then noticed that Ingrid was hugging Yoyo and Neige tightly like a pillowー no, she wasn’t hugging them, she was choking them.
Elle got off the bed and shook Ingrid’s shoulder.
「Ingrid, wake up. You’ll catch a cold if you sleep here.」(Elle)
「Mmmm… Five more minutes… Zzzz…」(Ingrid)
「Hahh…」(Elle)
There was no sign of her waking up, so Elle pulled Yoyo and Neige out from her arms and put a blanket on her.
「Phew, finally.」(Yoyo)
「Thank you, Master.」(Neige)
「You two could have escaped on your own, right?」(Elle)
「Yeah, but we didn’t want to wake her up. She gave us shelter, so…」(Yoyo)
「So we let her use us as a pillow as thanks.」(Neige)
「Fufu. I see.」(Elle)
That was a weird way to thank someone. Elle couldn’t help but giggle.
Leaving Ingrid, who was sleeping on the floor, Elle went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Yoyo and Neige followed her.
However, when they got to the kitchen…
「Ugh…」(Elle)
Elle couldn’t help but shake her head when she saw how dirty the kitchen was. Almost eighty percent of the place was covered in stains and dust.
She didn’t notice it when she took a bath there last night because it was dimly lit, but now she could see clearly thanks to the sunlight coming through the kitchen window.
There were some bottles of suspicious liquid scattered all over the place. It seemed that Ingrid once used this place as a laboratory. It explained where those stains of dried liquid came from.
Elle even spotted some small, poisonous-looking mushrooms growing in the dirty sink.
「I can’t cook here…」(Elle)
「Yup. You’ll get sick if you eat a meal cooked here.」(Yoyo)
「What’s the plan, Master?」(Neige)
「Let’s go to the backyard. I can’t cook inside the house, but I can probably cook outside.」(Elle)
With that in mind, Elle approached the back door leading to the backyard and reached the doorknob, but it didn’t open.
「Hm…? Hnnghh…!」(Elle)
She turned the doorknob and pushed the door with all her might, but it didn’t even budge.
「It’s not moving. I think it’s stuck.」(Elle)
It seemed that the hinges were rusty because the door was rarely opened. Elle couldn’t open it no matter how hard she tried.
「Master, let me try. Please move away from the door.」(Neige)
「U, un.」(Elle)
Thinking Neige would be able to do it, Elle nodded to him and stepped away from the door.
Soon after, Neige took a fighting stance for some reason. He then jumped andー
「ーWatta!!」(Neige)
ーkicked the door.
Unlike Elle, who didn’t have much strength, Neige, who had the power of a trained soldier, was able to open the door even though he almost broke it.
「Thank you, Neige.」(Elle)
「I’m happy to help.」(Neige)
Now that the door has opened, they stepped out into the backyard.
They were expecting to see an open area just like a normal backyard, but what they saw was… a jungle.
「…Really…?」(Elle)
「Well, I’m not surprised.」(Yoyo)
「This is horrible…」(Neige)
To be exact, a high-density jungle of overgrown weeds that were twice Elle’s height.
It seemed that Ingrid had been neglecting her backyard for years.
「Sorry, Elle, but count me out. I don’t want fleas to get into my fur.」(Yoyo)
「Master, I don’t think it’s a good idea to cook here.」(Neige)
「Yeah, I don’t think I can cook here either. I might cause a fire and end up burning the entire neighborhood.」(Elle)
Giving up on the idea of cooking in the backyard, Elle went back into the house and closed the rusty back door.
「Now what?」(Yoyo)
「Back to the bedroom, I guess.」(Elle)
The only clean place in the entire house was the bedroom since they cleaned it up last night.
Having no other choice, Elle went upstairs and returned to the bedroom. Ingrid was still sleeping on the floor when she got there.
Trying not to wake her up, she took a position in a corner of the room. She carefully took out her portable cooking tools and food ingredients from her magic bag and started cooking while sitting on the floor.
She planned to make mushroom soup with plenty of herbs that she collected from the forest where she lived.
First, she put a fire magic stone into the portable stove, put the pot on top of it, filled the pot with water using a water magic stone, and then lit the stove.
Elle then sliced the mushroom and the herbs with a knife, and then put them into the water when it started to boil.
While waiting for the mushroom broth to be ready, she took out some bacon, sliced it into thin pieces, and put it into the pot as well.
She then warmed up the bread she bought in the port town with a fire magic stone and brewed tea in her magic teapot.
「Mmmhh… I smell something good…」(Ingrid)
The appetizing smell of the mushroom soup woke Ingrid up.
While still lying on the floor, she opened her eyes and looked at Elle with a sleepy face.
「I’m sorry, did I wake you up?」(Elle)
「It’s alright. Are you cooking something?」(Ingrid)
「Yeah. The breakfast is ready. Do you want some?」(Elle)
「Of course~」(Ingrid)
Ingrid crawled on the floor through the room toward Elle like a worm. She then opened her mouth while lying down next to Elle.
「Aaaaann~」(Ingrid)
「Umm…」(Elle)
「Come on. I’m waiting. Aaaaann~」(Ingrid)
「…..」(Elle)
It seemed that she wanted Elle to feed her.
「Oi, what are you? A child? An adult should act like an adult.」(Yoyo)
「Yeah, but the thing is I have low blood pressure. It’s hard for me to wake up unless I eat something first.」(Ingrid)
「Reeeally? I doubt it. Either you’re just making an excuse so Elle will feed you, or you’re just lazy.」(Yoyo)
「I’m not lying.」(Ingrid)
「Then how in the world had you been waking up by yourself before we came here?」(Yoyo)
「I wonder how… It’s still a mystery~」(Ingrid)
「You’re not answering my question…」(Yoyo)
Seeing a grown woman messing around like a child as soon as she woke up, Yoyo couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
「It’s alright, Yoyo. Umm, you’ll get if I feed you, right?」(Elle)
「Yup! So, come on. Aaaaannn~」(Ingrid)
「Uhh…」(Elle)
Elle took a bit of the bread she had just warmed and put it in Ingrid’s mouth.
「Mmm~ Now I want the soup.」(Ingrid)
「…..」(Elle)
Elle took a spoonful of the soup, blew it to cool it down a bit, and brought it into Ingrid’s mouth.
「Mmm~ Delicious~!」(Ingrid)
Seeing Ingrid eating the soup she made, Elle smiled. She had never fed someone other than Moritz when he was bedridden. It felt strange, but at the same time, it made her happy.
「Now you can get up, right?」(Elle)
「Yes, mom~」(Ingrid)
◇◇◇
After they finished eating breakfast, they were chilling on the floor while drinking tea.
「Your soup was really good. It’s been a while since the last time I ate with someone. Thank you, Elle.」(Ingrid)
「I’m glad you like it.」(Elle)
「So, do you have a plan today?」(Ingrid)
「I think I will start looking for my dad right away.」(Elle)
「Do you know where to go?」(Ingrid)
「I don’t, but I think I’ll start by looking for information in the library. I heard this city has a big library.」(Elle)
「It does, but why library?」(Ingrid)
「I’m guessing that my dad is living somewhere in this city, so I want to look up the resident register and see if I can find where he lives.」(Elle)
「I see, but I don’t think the public can access that. It’s restricted, you know? Besides, only middle and upper-class people can enter the library.」(Ingrid)
「What? That’s… so unfortunate… I didn’t know that.」(Elle)
「Let alone entering the library, you can’t even enter most places in this city since you don’t have an ID card.」(Ingrid)
「Ugh… I have a good memory, but… I totally forgot about that… Perhaps because it gave me trauma…」(Elle)
「Ahaha… I can understand, but since you’re going to stay in this city for a while, you will need one.」(Ingrid)
「You’re right.」(Elle)
Elle wanted to start looking for her dad as soon as possible, but her plan changed. She needed to go to the guild to issue an ID card before she could start her mission.
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