Dusk Pot-au-Feu - Part One

Lately, fatigue has been accumulating inside me.

Overwhelmed by marches in cold regions, battles, and work, I couldn’t manage my physical condition well.

As a result, I caught a cold.

Hello, I’m Shuri.

I am thoroughly suffering from a cold.

My throat hurts, my body hurts, I’m cold, I’m hot…. I don’t really know what’s what.

In this kind of state, I don’t really know how my food tastes either.

After all, my nose is stuffed and my mouth is dry…. The taste is completely ruined.

“I’m sorry. I should have hired an assistant for you sooner.”

Gungrave-san apologized to me while I was being nursed in the tent.

He had an apologetic look on his face.

“No… if I had managed my health properly… it wouldn’t have turned out like this, so…”

“It’s also my responsibility for neglecting our stockpile of medicine…. We relied on your cooking too much…”

“Having you rely on me… is something that makes me happy, so…”

It’s my work as well, and having people say it’s delicious makes it worthwhile, you see.

“More importantly… everyone…? Are they taking… proper meals…?”

“Yeah. But the taste is the absolute worst. Everyone is praying for your recovery.”

“You exaggerate…”

It was just something that would heal if I slept.

Even so, Gungrave-san’s face remained sad.

“It’s no exaggeration. There’s no doctor nearby either. Nor medicine. If something were to happen to you, it’d be terrifying.”

Well, it would be terrible if it turned into pneumonia.

Even so, he was exaggerating too much. I ended up laughing.

“I won’t… die that easily, you know…”

“I believe you. Truth is, everyone is trying to storm in here wanting to nurse you.
Because you’ve got everyone behind you.”

“Ahaha… thank you… please tell them that…”

Gungrave-san left the tent with a reluctant expression.

I lit the burner beside my futon, poured in sake and an egg, and stirred it round and round.

Eggnog sake. When you catch a cold, this is the thing to have.

“…There’s no taste.”

Even so, I couldn’t taste anything.

Still, I drank it down and lay down.

At times like this, what did I used to do back on Earth?

My dad and mom would surely have made that dish for me.

Things like rice porridge, or thick rice soup.

There was one more thing that was made in our household.

“Dad… Mom…”

When a person gets weak, words like these slip out, don’t they?

I thought I had no lingering attachments left.

It had already been half a year since coming to this world.

Dad, Mom, my friends, my boss, and my peers.

Bit by bit, I’m forgetting their faces.

Without knowing a way to return, before I knew it, I might have been trying to adapt to this side, trying to forget.

Even if just for a single glance, I want to see them….

It seemed I had fallen asleep before I knew it.

My body was in good condition. The fever, sluggishness, and pain had all subsided.

“…Gotta go to the bathroom.”

Nature called.

Stepping out of the tent, it was a beautiful moonlit night.

After relieving myself against a tree trunk and returning, someone was in front of the tent.

“Oh, Teg-san?”

“Ah, yeah, Shuri. You doing okay?”

“Yes, much better.”

It was Teg-san, the bow unit captain.

He was a guy with brown dreadlocks who had a playful air about him.

However, his archery skill was hitting the mark every single time. He was a man with outstanding skill.

“It’s cold, so won’t you come inside?”

“Ah, no, I’m good. You should get back to sleep soon too, Shuri.”

“I’m feeling fine, so I don’t mind. Besides, I want to talk to someone for a bit.”

After all, these past six months had been filled by noisy days.

If it suddenly turned into a quiet time, lonely thoughts felt ready to overflow.

“Is that so…? Then I’ll take you up on that offer. There’s something I wanted to talk about too.”

Oh, what could it be?

Sitting down inside, Teg-san had a solemn look on his face.

“Shuri. Don’t you want to go back to your hometown?”

“Huh?”

What was this all of a sudden?

“I do want to go back. Of course.”

“Right…”

“But I might not be able to return.”

Teg-san had a puzzled look on his face.

“It’s hard to explain so I’ll skip it, but it’s far. So far that it can’t be reached easily. It’s not on this continent.”

“Not… on this continent?”

“Well…”

I see, Teg-san said as his face turned sad.

This wouldn’t do; I couldn’t let everyone make faces like that.

“I’ll make a little late-night snack.”

“Ah, then I’ll be off…”

“No, could you eat together with me?”

He looked a little surprised.

“This dish. It’s a dish my family used to make for me when I caught a cold. So, I thought it might be better to have someone by my side.”

Eating this dish alone would bring back memories and make me lonely.

Setting a pot on the burner, the cooking began.

Just in case, I had brought ingredients along with me.

What I was making was pot-au-feu.

Mom made it for me, saying it would give me nourishment for my cold.

Pot-au-feu made with consommé soup, potatoes, carrots, Chinese cabbage, and sausage, which I had prepared long in advance to serve someday.

Ah, how nostalgic.

Even now, I don’t feel like I’ve caught up to Mom’s version.

That was how delicious Mom’s pot-au-feu was.

Transferring the completed pot-au-feu into a dish, I handed it to Teg-san.

“Here, let’s eat.”

“Is this… sausage?”

“Yes, it goes very well with this dish.”

Scooping it with a spoon, I put it into my mouth.

Ah, it’s warm.

Even so, I still haven’t caught up to Mom.

“It’s delicious. I used to think of potatoes as nothing more than filler ingredients.”

“They’re not filler at all. Potatoes are full of nourishment and good for the body. Potatoes that have soaked up flavor are exceptional.”

“I… see.”

“My mom used to make this for me.”

The words slipped out softly.

“It’s kind of nostalgic, or rather… sad…. Ever since joining this band, everyone has been kind. But it’s hard not being able to see my family.”

Ah, I really still have a cold, after all.

For me to let out such weak complaints.

“We are!”

Teg-san?

“Every single one of us is an orphan. Gungrave, Rir, Kuuga, Arius, and me—all of us. However, we think of each other as family. And among us is you, Shuri. So, if you’re lonely, you just have to rely on us. Because we’re a family bound together by fate.”

…I am a lucky person.

For someone to call me family after only being together for a mere half a year.

Tears felt ready to fall.

“Yes… thank you so much…”

“We’ll protect you without fail, Shuri. So Shuri, you just have to be the place where we belong. Such delicious food. If we had parents, I think they would have made something like this for us. The ones who should say thank you are us.”

“Yes… yes…”

“It’s delicious. This soup.”

I was happy.

For someone like me, a family was born.

The next day, having recovered my physical condition, I returned to being the cook once again.

I received kind words from everyone in the band.

Things like “That’s great,” or “Don’t catch a cold again,” or “We’re counting on your delicious meals again.”

Just as Teg-san said.

In this place, there were only people who accepted me as a comrade, as family.

Dad, Mom. I probably might not be able to return over there.

However, I am happy over here.

There’s no need to worry, so please stay healthy over there as well, everyone.

Looking up at the blue sky where the snow had stopped, I prayed for these feelings to reach my family.

From this day onward, Teg-san threw himself into training and became far stronger.

Teg-san, who always tried to soften the mood with a playful atmosphere.

In truth, he was a remarkably kind and strong person.