“D-Director Ristia?!”
“Heehee, the way you turn red is adorable.”
“D-Don’t make fun of me, please!”
Ristia was, of course, not making fun of the girl at all. She was simply doting over an adorable younger girl with extreme sincerity. Then again... it was pretty much like being made fun of from the young girl’s perspective, so to each their own.
“Uh-oh~ Big Sis Maria’s blushing~”
“She is! She’s blushing~”
“Blushing~ Blushing~ Whole face is flushing~”
Seeing Maria, the same Maria who acted as their older sister this entire time because she was the oldest, blush gave the children material to start teasing her. That was when Maria had had enough.
“Alright, all of you! Quit it with all your nonsense and get back to your chores in the room!”
“Oh, man! Big Sis Maria is mad!”
“She’s mad~!”
“Mad~ Mad~ Sure not glad~” the children chorused, making merry, as they scampered into the back of the room. Among them, Ristia could see the standoffish boy, Allen, with a slightly complicated expression on his face. It was just her guess, but he was probably trying to assess Ristia’s personality just as he’d declared he would. His actions had a very adult-minded manner despite his age. She had felt him stare at her a lot ever since then, too. Once he looked Ristia in the eyes with that extremely, incredibly serious expression, it made him turn his head and blush.
“Teehee, kids are so cute...”
“...While I agree with you, I would like it if you didn’t project that onto me, too.”
“What are you talking about? You’re one of those cute children, aren’t you, Maria?”
“~~~!! Okay, seriously, the poking fun at me needs to... Oh, whatever,” Maria started, but probably noticed that Ristia’s smile wasn’t mean-spirited in any way. Maria turned her head in an attempt to cover up her embarrassment.
“By the way, Maria, was lunch alright?”
“Right! About that! What the heck was up with those ingredients?!” she said, storming at her at lightning speed.
I left the ingredients out in a rush before I left, so maybe I made a mistake along the way? Ristia thought, anxious. If I remember correctly... I left fifty kilograms or so of the highest quality meat, as well as ten kilograms or so of fresh vegetables like carrots and cabbage. I also left them an assortment of spices with it, so I don’t think there should have been anything wrong, right?
“Oh... do you not eat meat due to religious reasons?”
“That’s not the issue here!”
“...Then, do you hate carrots?”
“I’m telling you, that’s not the issue! Plus, we don’t have the leeway to be picky like that.”
“...Then, I assume it’s the amount?”
“You don’t have to assume anything. That is the reason.”
“Sorry, it was too little, wasn’t it...?”
“It’s too much!”
Boy, kids sure do eat a lot, was Ristia’s initial thought based off of her impressions, but Maria completely shut that down. “Oh, okay. A little too much, huh?”
“Considering that we only ate a little of it, I would say it was ‘way too much,’ not just ‘a little.’”
“Oh, really?”
Her idea was to get everyone to eat since they all looked so thin. She was the type of girl that, if she kept a pet or something of the sort, she would feed it until it was nice and plump.
“So, yeah, we’re starting to take the leftover meat and dry it out for storage.”
“Aah... so that’s what you meant by ‘chores.’”
“Yes. I thought about confirming it with you, Director Ristia, but it was too much as a whole, and it likely would have spoiled if we didn’t act fast,” Maria said, looking slightly anxious. Ristia didn’t mind since her intent was to have them eat it all anyway, but Maria probably thought that she went out of line in her actions.
Taking this into consideration, Ristia looked at Maria with a smile and said, “Thank you.”
“...Director Ristia?”
“I didn’t give you clear enough directions. Thank you for coming up with a backup plan.”
“Huh? Oh... um, I just did what was natural!” Maria replied, looking away in a bashful manner. Incidentally, while Ristia would have no way of knowing, Former Director Georg was the type to scold Maria for acting out of line if she did things independently and get angry and tell her to act on her own if she didn’t. Hence, Ristia not only applauding Maria’s decision, but being thankful as well was enough to fill her with indescribable emotion. That was the main reason why she turned her head away in such a bashful manner. “So, yes... Should we be drying out all the meat?”
“Right, about that... Truth is, there’s actually a way to store it raw.”
“Huh? There is? Have we just been wasting our time, then?”
“Not at all. There’s plenty to go around. You guys dry all the meat out, or I can store it for you—either way works.” Those ingredients were also collected by Ristia before she ran away from home, making them all a millennium old by this point. But since she had stored them in her time-freezing Item Box, there was no problem when it came to their freshness. If there was a problem, it was that the meat was from animals that were long since extinct in this era, but that was relatively tame by comparison.
“I’m not quite sure where I should point out what’s wrong with that statement.”
“Every word is true.”
“...If it is true, then can we dry out all the meat?”
“Of course. I don’t mind, but can I ask your reason why?“
Maria seemed a little anxious as she asked that question, but she didn’t give off the impression that she was doubting what Ristia said to her. Be that as it may, there shouldn’t have been any need to hurry and dry out all the meat if she did believe Ristia’s words. Ristia was curious as to the reasoning Maria had in wanting to preserve everything regardless.