20 - A New Job
Aurelia placed the leaves she had dried a few days ago into the grinding bowl and carefully ground them.
Before her eyes, the leaves separated from their veins, and Aurelia picked out the veins.
She didn't seem to be throwing them away, so they must be used for something too.
Once the leaves in the grinding bowl were fine enough to be called powder, Aurelia handed the bowl over to me.
"Once you've turned everything in the hemp sack to powder, do this next."
I see.
So this was apparently a demonstration for the next task.
With Leonardo now doing the grinding at the stone mill, the work speed had increased dramatically.
Thanks to that, there wasn't much left in the hemp sack.
It would probably be empty by noon.
I took the grinding bowl and put a lid on it to keep dust out.
I now had my next task, but first, I had to finish grinding sand into powder with the mortar.
As I silently worked the mortar, Leonardo returned.
Today, rather than going out somewhere with Aurelia, he seemed to be hauling water from a water source a short distance away.
He had tied a large jar to the horse's back and was carrying another jar on his own shoulders.
...Leonardo-san, you're energetic today too, huh.
Watching Leonardo transfer the jar's water into the large pot, I thought.
It should be about time for the incubation period of the infectious disease that Aurelia calculated to end.
If he had been infected, it would be around the time for a high fever to appear.
...Well, in that case, I'd probably be the one to get a fever first though.
After all, Leonardo suspected he might be infected because he touched me, but I myself had been living in the disease-ravaged village the whole time.
The likelihood of infection was probably higher for me.
While I was thinking about that, Aurelia silently took my temperature.
When she finished measuring without a word the entire time, she then walked toward Leonardo, so I must not have had a fever.
The two of them went out in the afternoon and returned in the evening as usual.
I showed Aurelia the leaves I had ground into powder with the grinding bowl and received a passing grade.
Transferring it to another container was Aurelia's job, so I got straight to preparing dinner.
As I was cutting the vegetables I had prepared and putting them into the pot, Aurelia came to the kitchen carrying a small grinding bowl.
...Huh? That's rare. Is Aurelia-san making something?
This might have been the first time I'd seen Aurelia in the kitchen.
As I watched to see what was going on, she seemed to be looking for something.
She surveyed her surroundings, and her gaze stopped on a bowl covered with a cloth.
...Ah, that's the one with the pasta dough in it.
When she found the pasta dough inside the bowl, I felt like Aurelia smiled faintly.
She casually thrust her hand into the bowl and split the dough in half.
Then she left one half in the bowl and dropped the other half into the grinding bowl.
"...What are you, doing?"
When I peered at the pasta dough that had been dropped into the grinding bowl, the cream-colored dough had turned slightly green.
"Leaves? Today is, two-color pasta?"
When I asked if she had wanted to add leafy greens to color the pasta, Aurelia shook her head.
Coloring it apparently wasn't the purpose.
When the pasta had turned completely green, Aurelia seemed satisfied and, using gestures, conveyed that the green pasta should be boiled separately before she left the kitchen.
...She could just talk to me and it'd be faster though.
When Leonardo was nearby, Aurelia only spoke English.
Since Leonardo was in the living room using the grinding bowl right now, there was no way Aurelia would use words I could understand.
...Huh? The leaves she just mixed into the pasta, were those the ones Leonardo-san was grinding?
I had seen Aurelia hand Leonardo leaves that were different from what I had been grinding during the day.
I had assumed they were leaves that would become some kind of ingredient.
...So those were leaves for dinner, huh.
My question resolved, I followed Aurelia's instructions and boiled the green pasta separately.
When Aurelia came back to the kitchen at serving time, she put the green pasta only into Leonardo's bowl.
"Those, only for Leonyaldo-san?"
The green pasta in the stew was, from a colorful presentation standpoint, truly striking.
It was strange how the stew, with its peculiar taste that still needed improvement, looked more delicious than usual.
I must have had quite a longing look on my face.
Aurelia scooped up one spoonful of the green pasta and put it into my mouth.
"...What is, this. It's all rough. The taste isn't bad, but, the texture, is the worst..."
Thanks to the leaves being in it, the pasta had gained flavor, but the texture was awful.
Even after swallowing, a gritty sensation remained on my tongue, leaving an unpleasant feeling.
"It wasn't ground properly into powder, so the texture is bad."
Aurelia explained in a quiet voice, and I understood.
She had let Leonardo try grinding the leaves, but it must not have met her standards for a passing grade.
The scheme was to mix it into the pasta and teach his own body a lesson about what happens when you don't grind it properly.
Once the plating was done, Aurelia carried the dishes to the table with an innocent face.
She placed the dish with the green pasta in front of Leonardo and sat down at her own seat.
"Is it just me, or is the color different only on my plate?"
He was surprisingly observant, immediately noticing the discrepancy with the other plates, and Leonardo compared my plate with his own.
I figured this was something like a prank of Aurelia's, but I wasn't sure what to say.
It felt wrong to reveal the seed of the prank, but staying silent also felt wrong.
As I was agonizing over what to do, Aurelia muttered quietly.
"Today's older brother worked hard for water" your sister said "Special reward".
...Huh? What did Aurelia-san just say?
I felt like I heard words like 'brother' and 'sister.'
As far as Leonardo was concerned, when it came to a younger sister, that currently meant me.
At Aurelia's murmur, Leonardo turned his gaze toward me.
As for me, the moment our eyes met, I couldn't help but put on a forced smile.
It was almost like a reflex.
Maybe he felt reassured because, though the contents of his plate were different from the others, his younger sister who made dinner was smiling.
Leonardo pushed his momentary doubt far aside and picked up his spoon.
When Leonardo praised the pasta while making a truly complicated expression, I honestly told him that Aurelia was the one who put the green pasta in, and he sulked.
A little troublesome.
Apparently, Aurelia had told him something along the lines of "your little sister made this pasta specially for 'Big Brother.'"
...Come on, I've never once called Leonardo-san 'Big Brother,' have I? Believing that is his own fault.
Though I did not stop Aurelia from slipping it only into Leonardo's plate.
If he was being addressed in a way he's never normally called, that should have been grounds for suspicion.
When I finished cleaning up after dinner alongside Leonardo, Aurelia was nowhere to be seen.
Wondering if she had gone back to her own home, I peeked into Aurelia's house and saw a light in the kitchen.
...What's that? Is she preparing breakfast?
In the kitchen of Aurelia's house, there were only red and yellow seasonings.
Seasonings like salt and sugar were only in the annex.
Apparently, Aurelia had never been the cooking type to begin with, and if she wanted to cook properly, she had no choice but to use the annex's kitchen.
Rather than hauling seasonings to Aurelia's kitchen every time she cooked, it was easier to just come to the annex at mealtimes.
"That, is it breakfast?"
Hoping it wasn't another otherworldly-tasting soup, I nervously poked my face into the kitchen.
Aurelia seemed to have a large pot on the fire.
When I timidly entered the kitchen, Aurelia had set up a step stool beside the pot.
...Let's see, does she mean for me to look inside?
Doing as prompted, I climbed onto the step stool and peered into the large pot.
The pot was boiling vigorously, already seeming to have reached a full boil.
...Just water? It's not vegetable soup?
Finding it strange, I tilted my head, and Aurelia grabbed my hand.
And then, straight into the steam, my hand was—
"Hot!"
The heat was so intense that I pulled my hand back in surprise.
What in the world was she trying to make me do? I looked at Aurelia, whose eyes were now at the same level as mine because I was standing on the step stool.
"The temperature should be about like this. Learn it with your eyes and skin."
"Huh? Ehh?"
What in the world do you mean? As I stood there bewildered, she chased me out of the kitchen as if the conversation was over.
The meaning of Aurelia's words became clear the next morning.
Today's job while they were out was, apparently, watching the pot.
I was told that I didn't need to prepare dinner or grind leaves into powder with the grinding bowl, just focus on watching the pot.
At first glance, the pot looked like it contained nothing but water, but the water was apparently special.
If you kept it boiling at a constant temperature for about half a day, crystals would form on the rim of the pot.
What Aurelia had been boiling the night before had apparently already crystallized, and now a cloth was draped over the pot to keep dust out.
"...Crystals. What are they, used for?"
"They become an ingredient for the medicine your big brother figure wants. This water is precious too, so don't mess it up."
It looked like nothing more than ordinary water, but it truly seemed to be precious water.
No wonder Leonardo had been made to haul water since morning.
He had also been using the horse to transport water yesterday.
After noon, Leonardo returned with water loaded on the horse's back.
As for me, my job today was just to keep watching the pot, so I was unbearably bored.
Just watching the pot was dull, but if I carelessly let the firewood run low, the temperature would change immediately, so I couldn't let my guard down.
Aurelia had told me it was crucial to maintain the temperature that I had been taught last night by thrusting my hand into the steam.
"Want me to take over for a bit?"
"No. This, is my job."
Without turning to face Leonardo as he entered the kitchen, I kept staring into the pot, when he suddenly pulled my head into an embrace.
Since I was on the step stool peering into the pot, it was, frankly, dangerous.
I tried glaring at him, isn't that dangerous, without saying it aloud, but it didn't get through to Leonardo.
"...You don't have a fever, do you?"
From the hand patting my forehead, I understood what he was worried about.
Leonardo can be a bit rough in his actions, I think.
"Leonyaldo-san, your fever, are you okay?"
"I don't have any particular abnormalities. And if I'm going to become unable to move, I'll do what needs doing while I still can."
Since we knew a large amount of medicine would soon be needed, we had to prepare for it as much as possible.
All we could do to help was gather materials, but that should still save more time than leaving everything to Aurelia alone while doing nothing.
When Aurelia returned near evening, I was relieved from watching the pot and got to rest a little.
In the meantime, Leonardo would add firewood and apparently make dinner too.
When I offered to help with one or the other, I was shooed off to the bedroom, since I'd been standing and watching the pot for half a day.
I thought it would be hard to rest while the two of them were working, but a little girl's stamina can't be sustained by willpower alone.
On the bed where I lay down to rest just a little, I ended up sleeping straight through until late at night.
[Author's Note]
This is Aurelia's line, courtesy of machine translation.
"Today's older brother worked hard for water" your sister said "Special reward".
Next, I'd like to write a side story from Leonardo's perspective... but since that guy might currently be experiencing an internal little-sister fever, if it doesn't work out, I'll give up.