That Convenience, You Know…

“Alright then! Let’s eat!”

“Huh? Ah, okay. Should I go somewhere so I’m not in the way?”

“We’re eating together, you know? And just so you’re aware, I absolutely won’t accept any money for the meal.”

“Uh. Thank you?”

“Alright. Then help me with the cooking.”

Told that, and swept along by the flow of things, Kikori stood in the kitchen with Aria.

A sink, a stove, a refrigerator… in this world, there were appliances like these that used magic stones.

It was probably a natural progression for a culture to develop such things.

However… somehow, Kikori also suspected the existence of other reincarnated people.

He didn’t think he was so special as to be the only reincarnated human.

Well, magic stones were expensive, so in the village where he’d been born, only places like the temple had them…

“Now then, what should we make? Ah, there’s meat. This will do.”

With a thud, Aria brought out a slab of meat and cut it into two thick slices.

“Kikori, get the plates ready, please.”

“Yes.”

He searched the shelves and took out two suitable flat plates.

The sizzling sound of meat cooking was wonderfully robust.

With nothing to do, Kikori stood there holding the plates, staring down at his hands.

“What is it? Are you surprised by how domestic I am?”

“It’s just… convenient, you know. All this stuff that uses magic stones.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s true. I think it was even before my mother was born? Apparently there was someone who laid the foundations for these kinds of household magic-stone tools.”

“Really? That long ago…”

“Pretty amazing, right? Apparently they also tried improving carriages and weapons, but that side of things didn’t go very well.”

Cars and guns, Kikori thought.

He didn’t know why it hadn’t worked out… but in any case, it wasn’t something Kikori could imitate.

“I wonder why it didn’t work.”

“Who knows. In biographies, it seems they kept saying ‘the laws are different.’ Well, maybe there was a world only a genius could see. Apparently in their later years, they died saying, ‘I was wrong all along.’”

“That’s kind of scary.”

“Yeah. If you’re interested, I’ll let you read those books sometime too.”

Honestly, he was a little interested. While he nodded vaguely, the meat finished cooking; once it was cut into bite-sized pieces and plated with salad, a steak set was complete.

“Alright, let’s eat! Thanks for the meal!”

“Thanks for the meal.”

The well-done meat, seasoned simply with salt and pepper, and the fresh salad.

Both were incredibly delicious, and Kikori thought that a meal this enjoyable was probably… his first in this life.

That was what he was thinking.