kscans

Chapter 125 - Devotion to His Sister

The day after they decided to mass produce the ingredients for the Super Eclairs, the base was crowded with people.

For Hayato, the more hands the better, but there were unexpectedly more people than he anticipated.

First, Lunaria and the members of the Black Rose were no problem. He was the one who had asked them. Rosalie didn't have the Cooking Skill, so she was just there as a chaperone, but the other three had decent skill levels, even if they weren't at 100.

One wore an eye patch with a rose on it, another had black bandages wrapped around her face, and another was in a gothic lolita dress that looked like a restraint, but as long as they had the Cooking Skill, there was no issue.

And the unexpected part was the maids who could be called Esha's colleagues. Esha and about ten other maids were at the base.

During her real life work, he had told Esha he needed people to make the Super Eclair ingredients, and she had replied, "I have connections, so I'll bring them over." This must be the result.

Hayato had thought they were probably people from the Maid Guild, but there were more of them than he expected.

"There are quite a few of you, huh?"

"There are a surprising number of maids on standby at the guild, you see. Well, unlike me, they'll get jobs again soon enough. Even short term work like this is helpful, so please hire them. I'll get praised for bringing in work, too. By the way, I can't cook, so please don't count me among them."

"There's no way I'd include someone with minus 100 Cooking Skill."

"However, I will do the taste testing. It would be no exaggeration to say my taste testing skill is 100."

"Yeah, no, the item information tells you how many stars it has, and a taste testing skill hasn't been implemented."

After finishing his conversation with Esha, he looked at everyone.

"Um, well then, thank you all for your help today. As for the details, I've explained everything to Ren-chan here, so please follow her instructions."

"I, I'll do my best!"

Ren greeted them, looking a little nervous. Everyone welcomed her with applause.

Normally, Hayato should have been the one to do it, but there were various circumstances.

Right now, there were far too many women in this place. Being the only man here was unbearable.

It was possible to call Ash here, but it would probably be painful for him to just stand there without cooking. Besides, Ash was handsome. There was also Hayato's desire not to see a situation where he was the only other guy in a place full of women with a handsome man, a situation that made him want to click his tongue.

"Um, I have to make the ingredients too, so Rosalie-san, could you look after Lunaria-san and the members of the Black Rose, and Esha-san, could you look after the maids? It would be a great help if you could proceed with the work as team leaders."

(Ren is responsible, so I thought she would give instructions to each person individually, but it seems she won't do that. With this many people, I think that's the right call.)

Perhaps because Ash was the leader of a mercenary group, Ren also seemed to understand how to manage a large number of people.

Hayato was relieved that he could leave it to her, when Rosalie, who had been appointed a team leader, raised her right hand.

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but would it be alright if we worked in the shop area? It's not that we don't want to be together, but it seems a little cramped in this dining hall."

"Oh, yes. Besides, if there are a lot of people she doesn't know, Lunaria-san gets shy—no, I mean, she can't perform at her best... That's fine, right, Hayato-san?"

"Of course, it's fine. We're not selling anything at the shop right now, so use it as much as you like."

Lunaria, still wearing her helm, nodded vigorously.

(There are a lot of maids she doesn't know, so Lunaria-san has been acting suspiciously ever since. She hasn't even shown her face. Maybe she's reaching her limit. There were quite a few people in the plaza during the Underworld Dragon Subjugation, but I wonder if she's okay when she's in the right mood.)

"Then we of the Maid Squad will cook in the dining hall."

"Yes, I'll be making chocolate here too, so I'll be in your care."

(What's a Maid Squad...? Well, whatever. It looks like Ren-chan is getting along well with the maids. Maybe she has a protective instinct or something.)

"Master, are the ingredients in the storage?"

"The flour, cacao beans, eggs, and all that are in the storage. Relic-san will also be doing the shopping, so feel free to make as much as you want without worrying."

"Understood. Then, commencing Operation 'Super Eclair Mass Production'."

When Esha said that, for some reason, the maids all grabbed the hems of their skirts with both hands and did a curtsy. Seeing that, Ren hurriedly did the same.

(What is this?)

While Hayato was wondering, the maids each took out cooking utensils from their item bags. And then they started cooking. The long tables in the dining hall were soon covered with the ingredients for the Super Eclairs.

The utensils they took out ranged from frying pans to giant meat cleavers, but in this game, you could cook with any kind of utensil, so it wasn't a problem.

(From an outsider's perspective, it looks incredibly strange. I make coffee with a knife, though.)

He watched for a while, but Ren and the maids seemed to be fine, and Rosalie, who occasionally came to get ingredients, seemed to be handling things without any problems, so Hayato decided to move to another location.

"Alright then, Ren-chan, Esha, I'll leave the rest to you. Make sure to cooperate with the Black Rose members in the shop too."

"Yes, I'll do my best!"

Ren replied with a beaming smile.

"Are you going back to your room, Master?"

"No, Ash seems to be practicing with his sword in the multi purpose hall on the third floor, so I'm planning to make the recovery items there too."

"May I come and watch later?"

"I don't know what you plan on watching, but I absolutely refuse. The only one who can come is Ren-chan."

"Understood. But Esha-san, to feel jealousy even towards my brother, you really are...!"

"Ren-sama is gravely mistaken. It is a misunderstanding on the level of calling the sea a mountain—see, because you say things like that."

Before they knew it, Esha and Ren were surrounded by the other maids. And they were all talking excitedly. Furthermore, Rosalie, who had come to get ingredients, saw that, grasped the situation, and Lunaria and the members of the Black Rose joined in.

Hayato immediately fled and moved to the third floor.

(They'll probably get the work done, but it might be impossible for a while. Well, we got more help than I expected, so it should be fine.)

On the third floor, Ash was doing practice swings with his Dragon Eater.

In this game, there was no system where your proficiency level would increase and your attack power would rise just by doing practice swings. The action of landing an attack was influenced by one's own physical abilities.

He was probably doing practice swings so that he could move before his mind consciously thought about it, Hayato thought vaguely as he watched Ash.

When Ash noticed Hayato, he stopped his practice swings and approached.

"How was it? Does it look like the cooking will work out?"

"They're doing something else right now, but I think they'll do their best once that's over."

"Then I'm relieved. By the way, how long do you think it will take to prepare them?"

"Let's see... depending on how today goes, I think they'll be ready by tomorrow. We should probably be fine if we make about 200 of them."

A five star Super Eclair had an effect duration of 30 minutes, a four star one 20 minutes, and a three star one 15 minutes. Two five star ones would be enough, but you would need four three star ones. And if they were to prepare enough for all the members of the mercenary group and Kokuryu, Hayato thought that about 200 should be enough for one battle.

"Then let's pray that a Stampede doesn't happen in the Spirit Country today and tomorrow."

"If it does happen, we'll have to defend against it. The Spirit Country only has one facility, right? That big tree."

"The World Tree. That's treated as a facility. Having only one facility is easy to defend, but it's also easy to be attacked, so it's surprisingly troublesome. I feel like it would be better to have multiple facilities. Are you going to make the recovery items here, Hayato?"

"Yeah, I won't get in your way."

"There's no way you'd be in the way. Oh, right, I've been meaning to thank you again, Hayato. Thanks for letting us live at this base."

"What are you talking about? It's for my protection, right? I should be the one thanking you."

Hayato wouldn't be targeted by the hardliners. As long as Veru had told them to stay by Ash's side, the hardliners wouldn't do something like kidnap Hayato. But that was something of a secret pact between Hayato and Veru, and Ash and the others didn't know.

Because they didn't know, if they were willing to live here and protect him out of concern for his safety, then he was the one who should be thanking them, Hayato thought.

"It's not that. Ren's been having so much fun every day."

"Ren-chan is?"

"Since we started living at this base, we've been having all three meals together, right? It seems she used to have lunch with Esha before, but lately she's been eating with everyone a lot. It seems like every day is fun for her."

Since Ash and the others had moved in, it had become a daily routine for Hayato to eat with Ash and Ren right after logging in in the morning, before logging out at noon, and right after logging in at night.

"Ever since we parted ways with our old man, it's always been just me and her for meals. And for a time, because of the dragon's curse, there was no one around her at all. But now she can eat happily with everyone, and I think living together and all the new things are fun for her. I wanted to thank you for that."

"You're as devoted to Ren-chan as ever. You thanked me for the meal with Veru-san because Ren-chan seemed to be having fun, too."

"I'm Ren's big brother. Besides being devoted to my little sister, it's also because of a promise I made to our mom."

"...I see. Just make sure you don't overdo it and make her hate you."

(This probably isn't an implanted emotion. Something similar probably happened in reality.)

Just as Hayato thought that, he heard the sound of someone running up the stairs at full speed.

It was Ren.

"Ha, Hayato-san! Help me! Esha-san took out her Beelzebub! Lunaria-san is holding her off now, but I don't think she can last much longer!"

"What in the world are you all doing?"

"Girl talk is scary... I thought it would be a sweeter, more bittersweet kind of thing, but it was surprisingly violent. This is a Stampede of love...!"

"You're the one who's been running wild lately, though, Ren-chan? Sigh, Ash, sorry, but help me out."

"My apologies. I'd rather not participate in that Stampede, but..."

"You're my bodyguard, right?"

Having steeled their resolve for various things, Hayato and Ash headed to the dining hall with Ren.