Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

Since we will be leaving early tomorrow, we won't be at the dinner for the next few days.

"All done?"

"Almost. I still want to work a little more on the desserts."

"Oho? What are we having today~?"

Rein was outside helping Anna and Zoe with the tables while Carla was surprisingly helping me with the dinner today.

"What aren't we having? Haha, I was confused so I ended up making a lot of things-."

"Oh! Is that a greenberry pie~? I love it!"

"Of course you do."

Though I didn't make something special for everyone today or anything like that, I did make sure to make things that one or many of us liked commonly.

We were going to have dinner outside today, in the front yard to be more specific, with all the guests who had their last day in the castle today.

'They would be going back to their normal lives starting tomorrow as well, so I at least wanted to give them a memory that they do keep with them.'

And what was better as a memory souvenir than a precious dinner?

"How do you make so many things, Eon? Actually, how can you make so much and not get bored? I always find cooking and making stuff the most boring, haaaa."

Carla was not a kitchen person so seeing her in the kitchen was a surprise for all of us. Alf was understandable, Quin had some good qualities of helper… it was not surprising seeing Cradle helping me out in the kitchen either since she used to be the top student in the cooking class in her batch in her first two years.

'She apparently stopped cooking for others after a certain incident that happened with Them around the time of their end term exams of the second year.'

And from the third, no one ever saw her cooking except president Zodiac. But that too, was only on the special occasions as he says it.

'After that incident, cooking had become a big thing for her so, since she was helping me out here out of the blue, the president couldn't help but also lead us a hand even though he knew little about cooking 'good' food.'

After the Kaksha incident, he often tells us about his time in his own world. How the cuisine of that world used to be, the kind of species and ingredients that they used, even what he used to eat in his world.

'He had told us how he mostly lived off of raw food when he was living with Sansan's mom in the forest, and since he had lived with them for so many years, he had become accustomed to the raw food of nature.'

Granted he sometimes ate the burnt meat of the creatures that he hunted, that was only a measure he had to take in desperate times when there was no other source around for the Other creatures.

For a good part of his life though, he had lived off of magical fruits and berries… which is strange since, I don't think Sansan's mother used to eat them.

'The Okagi surely were omnivores but…'

Like, they were pretty much snakes, right?

Even though they have wings, they do need a lot of energy, no?

"Alright. I'm taking these things to the table."

"I'll help."

Cradle and president left the kitchen after arranging the food on the carts after telling us to finish quickly and get out as well.

"So? Aren't you going to answer me, little brother?"

"Hmm?"

"I asked you something. You surely heard me, right?"

"Oh, of course I did. I…"

The caramel I was making needed precision of Mana output.

Grandmother and elder aunt are going to like this one, so I wanted to put a little more effort into it which, resulted in my late response to her question.

"Elder sister Carla, I could tell with good certainty that you already know the answer to a question such as that.

I mean, I don't think people have asked you how you can like swinging a sword, not wearing pretty clothes, or being more dedicated to your weapon arts instead of ladylike duties of high society."

I was done with the last of the desserts as well, so finishing the platting, I looked at my hardworking elder sister.

"This and that is different, mister chef."

She did not care about how the other ladies looked at her or if she was considered elegant among the people that gave more importance to looks, background, and social standing.

She did what she liked and in this house, no one was ever bothered by it.

"It's very much the same, dear sister."

It wasn't that she did not like dressing up and properly presenting herself as a Lady. She did not have any problems dressing up for Anna's tea parties and she did not complain much about being in a dress.

She just did not do it because she was more comfortable doing what she did and she did not feel uncomfortable, tired, or fatigued when swinging a sword for hours and hours.

"I like making food, you like training with your sword.

I cook because I love the aspect of cooking, and you go out and collect new swords because you like doing it."

It's a common fact that when you're out sword hunting with Carla, it's never an easy day.

All of us knew that, and, just like how she did not understand my passion for cooking, I don't think I'll ever understand her craze for different swords.

"Passions are important, Carla.

They are what makes us… Us, you know?"

The dinner table was set.

A big table was set for us, the main family, with many different, smaller ones scattered around the yard.

The ladies who had a great time chatting about Heroes and what heroism was at their tea party were here now, with Anna sitting with Miss Nerissa who would stay with her for a few more days.

The fathers… the big boy trio were also back from their 'secret' personal time… though, from how they had come back with a dozen unique slimes, some of us including the mothers could tell what their 'secret' destination might have been.

Grandma, grandpa, Elder uncle and Elder aunt had a talk with the Olsens a few days ago so, they also had nothing much to do here.

Grandma had spent her day at the lighthouse today, looking back at a few things while Elder Aunt spent her time at the tea with the ladies.

Grandpa had gone out into the city to look back at a few things and retrace his past memories, filling in the fading gaps of the pretty, as well as ugly memories.

'Elder uncle, on the other hand, had spent his day with the knights including Chry and showed them a few things that he had learned from the knights of all around the world before his awakening as a [King] rank.'

The adventurers who were going to be here for the last day were astonished by his precious demonstrations and even the high ranking knights like our knight captain of the dungeon party were also able to learn quite a bit from him.

"Oh~. Big brother~! Here! Come here~!"

Anna had a blast with the ladies as well.

'Apparently, listening to their stories and their talk about the heroes had kindled a new curiocity within her.'

She had been talking about grandpa and grandma all evening. Before that, she had been talking about how wrong she was about the heroes.

It all had started with her understanding how the heroes are the ones who suffer the most during, before, and after their exploits, and how they are not exactly the knights and shining armours wielding magical weapons.

"Big brother~! Did you know about the mourning heroes~? There are heroes who never live happily or find happiness!"

While it was a good thing that she found a good topic to stay motivated for right before we are leaving, she should mellow down on the emotional aspects of these heroic tales.

"Of course, dear. Well… heroes aren't the only mourning souls who live in the darkness their entire lives.

It's… sadly a pretty common thing."

I still want her to avoid these things.

She feels emotions differently than we do. Emotions are the same as sensory stimuli to her, which makes no sense to us who had never experienced it, but for her, it's much more than words, feelings, or attachments.

"It's… common? Really?"

"Sadly, dear… very few get to have what countless others wish for their entire life."

I knew how I felt to long for something and never get it till the end… But I don't want her to know that feeling, those emotions for now.

For as long as possible.

"Anyway… I'll be back in a second. Please excuse me."

So, changing the subject, I went back to the serving part and assembled the feast on the many tables present before us.

The last dinner did not sound like a good thing to call this simple dinner, but for some, this is going to be the last experience of its kind.

Experience more on empire

They might never get to experience something like that again. But at least, I know the experiment that we are going to do would be a success.

"Hey, darling."

Rein was feeling well now, so I also had to thank the headmaster somehow.

'I guess… getting positive success on this experiment would be a good enough thanks for him.'

But, I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

'We still have to get to the site before we start thinking about the actual process that's going to take more than a day to conclude.'