#86: Spica, Teti, And Curry Rice — Exiled Hero’s Leisure Life (Slow Life) – I Also Got My Very Own Dearest Angel After Getting Free! (WN)

A forest night.

Since there was time before dinner, everyone handled their own plans.

Sophiecia cleaned up the shop.

Teti prepared dinner.

Liricia headed to the guild to finish the request for gathering medicinal herbs.

By the way, thanks to Teti searching together with Ciel the young pegasus, we had safely collected the required number of leaves.

I was in the garden, holding hands with Rāna.

I wanted to introduce her to Mireille-mama, and I also wanted to know how the young almiraj was doing.

She wasn’t in the garden anymore, so we went to the stable.

There, a white horse pegasus lay on a pile of straw, and near her belly was a white rabbit with a horn.

“Mireille, almiraj—how are you doing?”

“Oh, Alec-san. Welcome. Yes, we’re doing very well—oh my, and who is that child?”

Mireille’s eyes stopped on Rāna behind me.

Rāna hid behind my legs, peeking out with only her face, staring intently.

“This is Rāna, a Sacred White Dragon. Be nice to her.”

“My! Nice to meet you. I’m Mireille the pegasus.”

“Renuu! Kyui!”

“And this one is the almiraj’s—wait, I still never found out myself. Did you learn her name?”

“This child is called Spica-chan.”

“Pika! Kyai!”

As Rāna stepped out from behind me, she ran to Mireille.

Then she cautiously reached out toward the tiny rabbit near Mireille’s belly.

Spica jerked and froze.

Rāna became even more careful, and with the tip of a small finger, she gently stroked Spica’s white fur.

Spica squeaked and curled up, trembling.

“Be kind to her. Mireille, I’m counting on you to look after this one too.”

“Oh? Even if she’s small, isn’t that child a big sister?”

“Huh? Is she?”

“Kyai, kyui!”

Rāna put her hands on her hips and puffed out her flat chest.

Apparently so.

“So you weren’t getting along because I was treating you like a kid, and you were expecting me to treat you like what you said you are…?”

“Rek! Kyukyaito!”

She puffed her cheeks and looked up at me.

That was definitely a yes.

I smiled wryly and patted her white hair.

“Okay, okay. From now on, I’ll treat you like an adult woman.”

“Rāna, tōna! Kyai!”

Rāna raised both hands and cheered.

…No, really, her gestures were so childlike that she still looked like nothing but a kid.

I looked at Spica, who was trembling in fear.

She was trying to slip underneath Mireille.

“Rāna’s a good dragon, so don’t worry. But you’re way more energetic than you were this morning.”

“Yes, she’s doing wonderfully. She’s very obedient, and she works so hard. Right, Spica-chan?”

Mireille spoke softly.

Just that alone made Spica stop shaking, and she lifted her face with a happy look.

“Thanks to Mireille-mama~. She gave me lots of milk, taught me how to drink without hurting her… and she encouraged me. And she told me too—Mama didn’t hate me. There’s proof.”

“Proof? How did you figure that out?”

Mireille leaned her long face in and nuzzled Spica.

Tiny Spica happily let it happen.

“This child’s name is Spica. It means a special pearl, a specially sharp horn. If her mother truly hated her, would she give her a name like that? I’m sure she wanted to treasure her just like the other children. Because she’s such a good girl.”

“Feee… Mireille-mama… I’m so happy…”

Spica rubbed her cheek on Mireille’s belly—careful not to bump her horn.

In just one day, she’d learned a lot about handling it.

“I see. Then you need to get better soon, so you can go tell your mother, ‘I’m okay, so don’t worry.’”

“Yeah! I’ll do my best!”

Spica bowed her head neatly.

I said to Mireille.

“Thanks, Mireille. For saving Spica. Ciel might be unhappy about it, though.”

“Not at all. If anything, Ciel, who still wanted to drink milk, suddenly started acting like an older brother. He began eating vegetables and leaves on his own. Fufu, it’s been a big help.”

Mireille smiled, her big eyes sparkling.

It was easy to imagine Ciel’s earnest, childish effort, and it made me smile too.

He’d be a good big brother. And he seems to get along with Teti.

…Speaking of which, Teti had made a pretty rude request of Mireille earlier.

“By the way, I heard Teti said something unreasonable about wanting to ride you. Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Honestly, letting her ride wouldn’t be a problem. But Teti-chan has a weak body, and if she fell, it would be dangerous.”

“Weak? She looks healthier to me…”

“She looks energetic, but her body is unstable. Like she’s wasting away… I think you should have her drink more of that potion from this morning, and make sure she eats three proper meals slowly.”

“Hmm… Kou did say her power was only 5…”

She always eats in a hurry like she might have to run at any moment.

I hadn’t worried since she seemed healthy, but if she’s actually weakened, that’s obviously bad.

“Thanks. I’ll try that. And please keep looking after everyone.”

“Of course. It’s fun having more cute children around.”

After saying good night, I went back to the mansion with Rāna, still holding hands.

After that, we all ate dinner together.

Today, it was curry rice that Teti had prepared.

Brown sauce over white rice. The toasted scent of spices made my appetite surge.

The sauce was thick and clung to the rice.

One spoonful and a savory, spicy heat spread through my mouth.

“Mm. This is really good.”

“It’s my first time tasting this.” “So tasty~.”

“Yum, yum! Kyui!”

Me, Liricia, Sophiecia, and Rāna all widened our eyes at the new flavor.

“Right!? Gyūdon and katsudon were good too, but this curry rice shocked me the most!”

Teti laughed happily.

This curry rice had been made using the kitchen option Kou created—the “retort box.”

If you give Kou ingredients and select a dish from the menu, it produces rice and food from inside the box in a few seconds.

The taste was decent, but it offered a lot of unusual dishes.

Teti had been eating lunch using the retort box.

Apparently she was trying to clear every menu item.

That was how she found curry rice.

I took a second bite and said,

“But this isn’t a drink, right?”

At my words, Teti leaned forward across the table.

“Right!? It was under the drinks section! I ordered ‘curry rice’ and it came out as this! It’s obviously a rice dish, but Kou absolutely wouldn’t budge and kept saying, ‘Curry is a drink!’ Don’t you think she’s still kind of broken?”

“Kind of? That’s ‘kind of’ to you? She’s very broken.”

“Shouldn’t we fix her? —Munch.”

Teti shoveled curry into her mouth.

Even while saying it was delicious, she chewed maybe three times and swallowed.

“Hey,” I blurted. “Teti. Chew more before you swallow.”

“Ehh! Once it’s in your stomach, it’s the same, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s not. Chew properly. And drink one bottle of petit eli every day.”

“Wha—why!?”

Teti stared with her jade-green eyes wide, still chewing.

“Teti looks fine, but apparently her body hasn’t recovered. And if you want, you can use the elixir bath, not just a normal bath.”

At my words, Liricia paused her elegant spoon movements and stared at Teti.

“Teti-chan, the bath towels and bathrobes we prepared for you haven’t decreased at all… You are bathing every day, right?”

“Uh… I didn’t really have a bathing habit… and also, that bath…”

“What about it?”

“…It feels too good. Like I might melt. It scares me…”

Teti gave a cute little embarrassed grin like a kid caught misbehaving—but she also looked genuinely afraid.

Sophiecia spoke up like she was trying to help.

“Ah, maybe it’s my fault for using the bath too much. I’m always in it, so you can’t go in. Sorry, Teti-chan.”

“No, no, you can take mine too~”

Teti said it cheerfully, but I shook my head.

“That’s not okay either. …Alright. We’ll make a bath room, a simple kitchen, and a laundry area inside the dungeon.”

“Ehh…”

“Yaaay!”

Teti drooped her eyebrows in dismay, while Sophiecia lit up in pure joy.

I ignored Teti’s opinion, pulled out the handset, and called.

“Kou, I want you to add a bath in the dungeon.”

“Can do! How big you want it?”

“Everyone already has a private room in the back hall, so take that normal room in the front hall and convert it into a bath and water-utility setup.”

“Roger!”

“Oh, right. Kou—was that thing about Teti having power 5 true?”

“That was my joke.”

“Hey! You scared me!”

“But she really is super weak. Like… 15 to 30-ish?”

“That’s low. The weakest monsters were around 100, right?”

“Yup. In tier 1, that’s about average. Strongest would be clay golem at 150, weak ones like dolls at 75, animals like rats at 80–85, goblins at 80–90, snakes around 100, lizards around 120.”

“Isn’t Teti way too weak? At that number, even a human child would have around 50.”

“Yup. She’s weak.”

“Do you know why?”

“Mmm… I’ll explain it in a way Master totally won’t understand. Her base potential is like having a 5-speed or 6-speed, but the gear is stuck in neutral so the engine power isn’t getting transmitted at all. Like that?”

“Why would you explain it in a way I won’t understand!? …Trying to be confusing on purpose really is so Kou.”

“Yay, praised! Thanks! Okay, how about this: her potential and her body’s ‘gears’ aren’t meshing?”

“Yeah, that one’s a little clearer. —Anyway, build that room set: bath, simple kitchen, and laundry.”

“Aye aye, sir!”

I ended the call and told Teti,

“So there you go. There’s a chance your body and mana aren’t connecting properly. That’s just a guess, though.”

“Ohhh. I thought I was fine since I felt better. Can it be cured?”

Teti asked while keeping a bright smile.

But her long eyelashes twitched like they were spasming.

She was scared.

I couldn’t say something careless, so I looked to Liricia and Sophiecia.

Liricia slowly shook her head, silver hair swaying.