And so, the meal with Yggdrasil-san began.
My parents, Yggdrasil-san, and I sat down at the table.
Father seemed a little nervous. Mother, on the other hand, was her usual self. As expected of Mother…
On the table were four servings of bread and soup.
The bread was the usual rye bread. The soup was the usual mystery meat with carrots and potatoes. …When there are carrots and potatoes, it always makes me crave curry or meat stew.
By the way, in another world, when it comes to potatoes, the standard move for reincarnators is to “point out the poison in the sprouts, ensure safety, and spread their use to the world”.
Naturally, when I first saw Mother holding potatoes, I rushed to warn her.
――But when she calmly dug out the sprouts with a knife and asked, “What?” all I could reply was, “Never mind…”
「Mm, delicious. You’re quite skilled, aren’t you?」
「Thank you.」
While I was lost in my pointless potato memories, the meal had already begun.
At least Yggdrasil-san seemed satisfied with the food.
Well, I wasn’t too worried about that. Mother’s cooking is delicious, surprisingly delicious, in fact. Maybe she even has some sort of cooking skill?
…Still, Mother’s attitude was unbelievable. Speaking casually to Yggdrasil-san, a god, of all people… even Father looked at her in shock.
「By the way, World Tree-sama. What brings you here today?」
「Hmm.」
「Is it about the Alec Brush….? I tried to act in line with your intentions as best I could…」
Father’s polite speech was rare to hear…. Usually, he had a gentle and easygoing face, but this time he was deadly serious.
Come to think of it, Father had been worrying a lot about the World Tree. In the end, he made his own decision and acted on it. He must be wondering whether he was right or wrong,
…Though he was wrong, of course. The whole “gift from the World Tree” premise was wrong to begin with…
「Hmm. About that――」
「Father truly acted with the World Tree-sama’s interests at heart! He never sought personal gain. Please, believe that at least…」
I couldn’t help but step in to defend Father.
「Alec… No, if I was wrong, then please, punish me instead…!」
「Father…! World Tree-sama, the whole thing started with me! If anyone deserves punishment, it’s me!」
And so began, for some reason, a touching father-and-son scene.
Yggdrasil-san also seemed to be looking at us with gentle, loving eyes, or so I thought. But it turned out those eyes were only for Father, while I was getting a rather suspicious look.
…What’s with this difference? Did today’s small talk already make me someone untrustworthy in her eyes?
「Calm down. I have no intention of doing anything to you. Well, I would prefer if you stopped selling those Alec Brushes under my name though」
「I… I see. My apologies…」
「Ah, well, I suppose I didn’t explain enough either. …When I asked Alec to make the brushes, I should have explained things properly」
Yggdrasil-san glanced at me as she said that.
It looked like she was trying to go along with my story…
…What a kind god. I have no plans to join the Church of the Forest and World Tree, but I feel like I could personally worship Yggdrasil-san after this…
How should I express my gratitude? Maybe I should carve a little statue of Yggdrasil-san…
「I-I’m sorry… doll, I’ll carve your dol…」
「I have no idea what you mean…」
I blurted it out in a trembling voice, only to get a weird look from Yggdrasil-san…
「Are you done? More importantly, hurry up and eat」
Even after everything that just happened, everything that unfolded right before her eyes, Mother brushed it all aside with a simple “more importantly”. As always, she’s terrifying. That’s Mother for you…
◇
「There’s pudding」
Later, as our peaceful dinner continued, Mother suddenly announced it.
「Huh?」
「I made pudding today」
「Oh, I… see」
Pudding… As an isekai traveler, it’s my duty to introduce this dessert to the world. If you get reincarnated in another world, you have to make pudding. It’s a rule.
There are probably plenty of other dishes reincarnators are supposed to make, but since I was completely hopeless at cooking in my previous life, pudding was the only one I managed.
To be honest, pudding was pretty tough too, but I did my best. Or rather, Mother did.
Despite my vague explanations like “you caramelize some sugar?” and “you mix milk, eggs, and sugar and steam it?”, she still managed to pull it off perfectly. I can only admire her for that. Maybe she really does have some sort of cooking skill?
「But there are only three」
「I see」
So even in another world, pudding comes in packs of three.
「Two for me and Yggdrasil-chan. The last one is just one」
…Yggdrasil-chan?
For now, it seemed two of the three puddings were already claimed by Mother and Yggdrasil-san… Well, I guess that’s fine. Mother made them, and it’s only natural to serve them to guests first.
「Um, Father, you can have it, you know?」
「No, no, you eat it, Alec」
「But Father, you like pudding, right?」
「No, I’m fine…」
Somehow, Father and I started this back-and-forth of giving up the last pudding. A peaceful little standoff.
「So, what is this pudding thing?」
「I’ll bring it over」
To answer Yggdrasil-san’s question, Mother left the table and went to the refrigerator-like magic device.
Meanwhile, Father and I kept insisting the other should eat it. Father has quite the sweet tooth, so if I ended up eating it, he’d probably look sad the whole time. Honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to eat pudding while watching Father make that face.
On the other hand, he probably didn’t want to be the kind of father who steals his child’s snack either.
And so, the battle of politeness continued with no end in sight.
「Here it is」
「Hmm, I’ve never seen this before」
Mother placed the pudding on the table, served in a small wooden bowl.
「Did Alec make this?」
「Yes, Alec came up with it」
For now, it was credited to me.
By the way, when Mother asked things like “How did you come up with pudding?” and “Where does the name pudding come from?”, I panicked like crazy.
I had been so focused on making the pudding that I never thought about any of that.
As I was struggling for an answer, I realized the pudding bowls were wooden and blurted out something about “inspiration from my woodworking skill” to cover it up.
I was more surprised it actually worked. Just how versatile is inspiration anyway?
「I see, so Alec taught you this」
「Uh, well, yes… sort of」
「Was that from your previous――」
「Wait, wait, wait!?」
I told her so many times not to talk about my previous life! Why is she suddenly trying to spill it now!?
…Wait, is this because I repeated it too many times? Did she think it was some kind of joke?
「W-what? Your previous――」
「Stop, Ygg-san!?」
「Previous――」
「Hey!!」
「Pre――」
「Waaaaaaah!!」
‘Smack’
I slammed the rye bread I was holding right into Yggdrasil-san’s face.
I just had to shut her up somehow… My hand moved before I knew it. The rye bread flew.
Using food as a weapon would cause instant outrage back in Japan, but it couldn’t be helped.
And I’ll eat the rye bread myself later, so please forgive me,
「Alec!」
「What’s your problem, you brat!」
「Owwwwwwwwwwwwww」
It hurts! The Wood Claw again! And now Mother’s mad too!
So in the end, it causes outrage even in this world!?
Next chapter: A Heart-Pounding Cohabitation Life
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