Rurin's Grocery Shopping (4)

Even now, it’s a very common food in Greek City, so it would be familiar to anyone in this world.

It’s the same on Earth.

A slice of bread and a cup of coffee.

It’s a popular morning scene for office workers.

I started making pancakes while lost in unnecessary thoughts, using Palenque eggs. The milk used here is sourced from the ranch.

In fact, pancakes themselves are a very simple food.

Just make the batter well and then pour it onto the pan to cook it nicely.

The only skill needed is to cook it nicely. As long as you can flip it well, even Rurin could do it with a little practice.

Of course, my pancakes don’t end here.

If it ended here, something would be missing, so I prepare whipped cream and sweet and sour strawberries.

Sometimes I prepare various other fruits instead of strawberries. But since Rurin likes strawberries, most of the pancakes I make have strawberries on them.

I don’t know the girl’s preferences, but when I’m cooking, I often find myself making food according to Rurin’s tastes, which can be troublesome.

Well, maybe it’s not that troublesome.

Since I’ve admitted that feeding Rurin makes me happy, I just live according to that feeling.

Sizzling-!

With a good sound and smell, the pancake started to cook. Though not perfect, it was nicely round and pretty. I placed it on a plate, decorated it with whipped cream and strawberries, and brought it to the bar table.

Selly was holding onto Rurin’s sleeve and drooling, while Rurin, looking like an impressionist gangster boss, was glaring. The girl, however, was unfazed and kept looking at Rurin.

“Rurin, wipe her drool.”

“Why don’t you wipe my drool first!”

“Okay, but you show me how it’s done first.”

“Is that so? Then I have no choice.”

Rurin nodded and picked a napkin up from the table.

“Unnie?”

“Stay still, little human!”

“Heeheehee. Unnie.”

The moment Rurin brought the napkin to wipe the drool, the girl’s nose started running, covering Rurin’s hand. Rurin, with a look of utter defeat, began wiping it clean.

“Eww.”

Rurin, with a serious expression, was wiping the child’s drool and snot. Of course, her touch was very clumsy. It was forced, so naturally, it was awkward.

But somehow, the two-shot of Rurin and Selly felt nice. It was a scene I wanted to capture in a photo.

And for some reason, the girl was accepting Rurin’s touch with a very happy expression, as she wiped her drool and snot.

“Done?”

“Yes, it is.”

I answered for the girl, and then Rurin handed me the napkin, asking me to do the same for her.

“Then me too!”

“You don’t drool, so it’s invalid. Selly, oppa made pancakes. Try some.”

“How dare you!”

I placed a pancake in front of Rurin, who jumped up with a face that said, ‘How dare you!’

“Let’s talk after we eat this.”

In the end, Rurin succumbed to her appetite and brought a fork to the pancake. She had been saying she was hungry for a while, so it was a natural result.

Selly was still looking at the pancake with sparkling eyes, fascinated.

When I handed her a fork, she started shaking her head.

“What about unnie?”

She called for Rurin and threw the fork. The fork, of all places, hit my forehead. It was just an expression of her dislike for the fork I gave her, but why the forehead?

That hurts.

“Ha ha ha ha. You! What have you done to El… Ha ha ha!”

“You… Are you angry because I was attacked? Or are you laughing? Let’s pick one thing. Just one.”

“But… It’s annoying! Your forehead is red with fork marks. It’s funny! Ha ha ha!”

“Oh, dear.”

And soon Selly, unlike Rurin, lowered her head and made a crying face.

“I’m sorry.”

A girl with proper manners. I told her it was okay with a smile, picked up the fallen fork, placed it in the sink, and brought two more forks, placing them in Rurin’s hand.

“One is yours, and one you give yourself.”

“Why?”

“The pancake is getting cold. Don’t ask, just do it.”

Rurin looked at the fork, then the pancake, and then the girl.

Grumbling, she handed the fork to the girl, as if she had no choice. And she didn’t forget to threaten her.

“If you throw it at me too, I’ll eat you in one bite.”

But even without that threat, the girl probably wouldn’t have thrown the fork at Rurin. It was an empty threat anyway. Unless Rurin was in her dragon form.

And as I thought, Selly just looked at Rurin and smiled. I have no idea why she follows Rurin. It’s a mystery within a mystery.

Especially since Rurin is a dragon, a human shouldn’t be free from that fear.

So I wondered if she might not be human, but no matter how I looked, that didn’t seem to be the case.

So it’s a mystery.

Anyway, the girl holding the fork looked at the pancake and then asked Rurin.

“Is this good?”

“It’s delicious. It can’t be compared to that weird flower!”

“Really?”

“Of course, since El made it. Hoot.”

Rurin, next to the girl, boasted about the pancake as if she had made it.

Then she picked up the fork and precisely speared the pancake and strawberries, bringing them to her mouth.

The girl, watching Rurin, mimicked her actions, moving the fork. Then she pulled out a Hibiren flower from somewhere and placed it on the pancake.

The portion was a bit much for the little girl, but before I could point it out, she stuffed the pancake with the flower into her mouth, filling her cheeks.

With her mouth full of pancake, her cheeks puffed up, just like when Rurin pouts.

And the whipped cream started to ooze out of her mouth.

Still, with her mouth full, she mumbled something to Rurin.

And what was Rurin doing in the meantime? She had stuffed her mouth with pancakes and was chewing on strawberries, just like the girl.

The reason Rurin was holding the strawberry was simple. She liked to eat strawberries last.

Additionally, whipped cream was also spilling out of Rurin’s mouth.

The girl ate faster. Probably because the amount of pancake Rurin had speared with her fork was much larger than the girl’s.

So the girl brought the fork back to the pancake. Rurin, having barely finished eating the pancake and the strawberry, exclaimed to Selly, expressing the sour and sweet taste with a twitch of her eyes.

“That’s mine!”

“I’m not eating it.”

Is a fight finally breaking out between them? Like an interim truce between Sereina and Rurin? With that thought, I looked at the two, but the girl was not Sereina.

“Who said they’re not eating? I was eating it just now.”

“Okay. Then it’s unnie’s.”

Who’s calling her unnie?

“Yes, it’s mine. But I’ll give you some. Eat the small one.”

Surprisingly, she showed some mercy.

“Look at the whipped cream around your mouth.”

“Ho?”

Rurin tilted her head, brought her hand to her mouth, and naturally approached me, leaning her face in.

It was a sign for me to wipe it. The reason it felt so natural was that I always wiped her mouth when she spilled something.

Anyway, as I wiped her mouth as usual, she furrowed her brows and shook her head. Shaking her head was a frequent reaction when something displeased her.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s not it. It’s this, this! Like this!”

Rurin looked at the girl, approached her with a perfect expression, and stuck out her tongue. Then she licked the whipped cream off the girl’s mouth.

The whipped cream that had spilled out of Selly’s mouth was all licked up by Rurin’s tongue, and Rurin, giggling, approached me again and leaned her face in.

So, she wants me to lick the whipped cream off her mouth with my tongue? What nonsense is this in broad daylight, this dragon?

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Why, why, why, what’s so funny!”

Shaking my head, I quickly caught the whipped cream, causing her fuss, with a handkerchief and wiped it off. The fastest one always wins.

“Euuu, this is not it.”

Rurin dropped her shoulders with a defeated expression.

The girl looked at Rurin and then poked the remaining pancake with her fork, offering it to Rurin.

“It’s okay, unnie. Eat this.”

“Euuuuu!”

Rurin stomped her feet in frustration and looked at the girl. Then she noticed the whipped cream falling from the pancake and brought it to her mouth.

“Alright, I’ll eat it.”

Then she looked up at me, with a peculiar smile, indicating she would win this time.

“Well-played. Wipe the whipped cream yourself. I’ll leave a handkerchief here. I’ll go do the lunch dishes.”

“You’re leaving!”

I slipped away, ignoring Rurin’s shout as she bit into her pancake.

“Want to come here? If you want to do the dishes with me, come over.”

There was no response to my invitation. I could hear her complaining to the girl.

The girl was laughing, calling out ‘unnie, unnie’.

Reassured by the peaceful scene, I focused on the dishes. When I finished and came out, Rurin had already fallen asleep.

And somehow, she was asleep holding the girl, who was also asleep. The setting sun shone behind Rurin, sparkling. It was perfect weather for falling asleep.

When Rurin nodded her head, the girl did the same.

But they didn’t look alike. If Rurin was having a weird dream and giggling, the girl was just expressionless.

But it’s certainly a rare scene. Holding the girl while sleeping doesn’t necessarily evoke maternal feelings, but it was a good sight, so I stood watching for a while.

A dragon and a girl sleeping together.

Describing it like this makes it sound strange, but it’s beautiful anyway.

Of course, the beauty is secondary; now I need to solve the girl’s problem.

I can’t leave the girl as she is. I can’t raise her here. If she has a place she came from, she has a place to go back to.

If the girl was huddling alone in the market, there must be a reason behind it.

There must have been a cause that left her wandering alone in the market.

I don’t think she’s lying about her parents being dead, but I can’t take it at face value either. The priority is to find her relatives or someone who knows her.

“Then please, help me.”

“Yes, of course, if it’s your request.”

El left the sleeping Rurin and the girl behind and went down to the market. After taking a photo of the girl and printing it like a picture, he was asking acquaintances for help.

The first place he went was to Mrs. Rayne, the market’s socialite. Mrs. Rayne, who runs the butcher shop, is so well-connected that she knows everything that happens in the market.

And since the girl was found in the market, going to Mrs. Rayne first for any related information was the top priority.