Part 2: Getting Drunk (2)

I wondered how it would taste like.

What was it that made her so eager to feed it to me?

Holding the question in my mind, I slowly chewed the mushroom. A black mushroom. Unlike truffles, which are only black on the outside but different on the inside, this mushroom was black on the outside and black on the inside as well.

It wasn’t a type like wood ear mushrooms; it looked like a pine mushroom but was completely pitch black.

The taste was subtle.

I wondered if there might be cooking methods other than grilling. If the Kuns were the ones who gave it, there must be some unique way to prepare it. But right now, taste wasn’t important.

Rurin had prepared a meal timed for my return for the first time. Just that fact made me happy, so honestly, whatever schemes or tastes it had didn’t matter.

“How is it?”

Rurin gave me a very intense gaze as I ate the black mushroom. It was an expression overflowing with interest, about to burst.

“It’s tasty.”

“Is it tasty? Uh… Is that all?”

When I gave my impression, Rurin tilted her head. She looked somewhat embarrassed. She poked the black mushroom with her fork and brought it close to her nose.

“Ugh, the smell is strange.”

The smell, huh.

It smelled somewhat like balsamic vinegar. Well, that’s a kind of flavor, so I didn’t mind.

“You try it too.”

“Me?”

At my words, Rurin glared at the black mushroom for a moment, then gently put it down.

“No! It’d be bad if I ate it! I have to keep my wits about me! Hup!”

Keep her wits?

Rurin hurriedly covered her mouth with both hands.

Then she shook her head from side to side. Suspicious indeed. Covering her mouth with both hands and making a startled face was very cute, so I thought, whatever.

“You’re not going to eat it?”

Nods nods nods.

Rurin nodded while still covering her mouth.

Then she frowned and picked up her fork again.

“I’ll eat meat!”

Rurin stabbed the meat deeply again.

“But you eat one more first. You need to eat a few more. One isn’t enough.”

With one fork in hand, she picked meat and put it in her mouth; with the other fork, she picked up a black mushroom and put it in my mouth.

Very busy indeed.

“Hey! You said you’d rest below the hill? So I came!”

At that very moment.

Sereina barged in.

“Hello.”

Elena stuck behind her like glue.

“Um, you two? If you said you were resting, doesn’t that literally mean the restaurant is closed?”

“Huh? That’s why we came.”

“You come even if it’s not closed.”

When pointed out, Sereina wagged one finger and shook her head.

“At that time, you come as customers to buy food. Elena pays properly every time.”

“So now?”

“Now we came to hang out.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Coming during rest means no charge, so it’s better. Hehehe.”

“Uh, uh… Sorry. But there’s nothing to eat!”

Elena chimed in beside her. Lately, I felt Elena had changed a bit from before. Like she was becoming more like Sereina.

She’s still polite and kind, but sometimes she says things like Sereina now.

“And! Do you know how much Elena dug herself into trouble when you were gone for a week?”

“Huh? Elena? Why?”

“Th-that th-th-th-thing is!”

At Sereina’s reveal, Elena standing behind was shocked and ran off to Sereina.

Once upon a time, she couldn’t even straighten her back in front of Sereina, but now she covered her mouth and started shaking her head. Her ears were red.

“I didn’t dig any trouble! Th-that’s because I was hungry! Because I didn’t have a regular restaurant. Yes! That’s it!”

“Oh, really?”

Well, then it can’t be helped. I’d better grill more meat.

I turned my gaze to Rurin. At the moment Sereina appeared, Rurin should be fighting and making a fuss, but today she was surprisingly quiet.

She kept her mouth shut tight and just sat in the chair. She had a thoughtful expression. After about three seconds, Rurin suddenly jumped up from the chair.

“Good! Sit here.”

“Huh?”

Rurin pulled out a chair at the table, and Sereina seemed more flustered. Of course, I was flustered too.

“Today’s meal was made by me. Hehe.”

“…What?”

Though flustered, seeing the meat in front of her, Sereina hesitated and said as she tried to sit at the table.

“You?”

“Yes.”

“…Elena. Let’s go back. This was a dangerous place. We shouldn’t have come here!”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why, you stupid elf? Do you want to eat food equivalent to a bomb?”

The moment Sereina said that, a bomb exploded. Rurin finally flew and delivered a flying kick toward Sereina.

Yes, it finally returned to a familiar scene.

“Stop it, we’re just grilling meat, so don’t be picky and sit down.”

“Yes!”

Elena answered simply and quickly took a seat at the table.

“Hey, you traitor!”

Sereina shouted at Elena. One hand was holding Rurin’s cheek.

“And don’t touch Rurin’s head and face, it leaves handprints!”

She walked over, hugged Rurin, and pulled her away from Sereina.

Sereina made a groaning sound, got up, and reluctantly went to sit at the table.

“Hehe.”

Rurin just struggled happily with a joyful expression. Sereina poked the meat with a fork with a wronged expression.

“Well, fine. Since it looks like just grilled meat, I’ll eat it.”

“No, I won’t give you meat. Eat this.”

“Huh?”

Rurin quickly snatched and ate the meat on her fork, then plunged a black mushroom onto Sereina’s fork.

“What’s this?”

Sereina asked a reasonable question, but Rurin ignored it and put black mushrooms in front of Elena as well.

“You don’t usually eat meat, so obviously eat this!”

“Yes, I’ll eat well!”

Elena nodded and looked at the black mushroom. She speared it with her fork. Then, after examining it for a moment, she looked surprised and dropped the fork.

“Thi-this is…”

“Huh?”

She had a look like she noticed something. Of course Elena could. She was well-versed in various medicines, studied botany, and elves had their own botanical encyclopedias in their minds.

“Isn’t this the legendary Curia? Th-that’s impossible!”

“What’s impossible?”

“That Curia is a legendary mushroom that if you eat it even once in your lifetime and then die, you could say you had a blessed life.”

“Legendary? This?”

Sereina asked Elena again,

“Hmm, there’s no way something like that is just lying around on our table, right?”

So I gave a realistic remark as well.

I made a very realistic point, and Sereina nodded.

“Exactly. Seeing Curia piled up right in front of me is too unreal a sight. But no matter how I look, it has the exact traits I saw in books, including the smell…”

“Huh?”

Rurin, who brought this mushroom, tilted her head and shouted,

“This was cultivated by the Kuns. It’s not that strangely named mushroom called Curia!”

Well, if the Kuns were involved, it might be Curia after all.

“By the way, what effect does that Curia have?”

So I asked Elena about its effects. What effect did it have to be called legendary?

“If it’s Curia, it’s very famous for increasing lifespan cells. Since ancient times, there has been much interest in longevity foods, and this mushroom is called the ultimate one…”

“Lifespan extension? Big deal? What’s the use of extending it more…?”

Sereina said very selfish words.

“And it completely regenerates skin, like a snake shedding its skin…”

The moment she said that, Sereina already had the black mushroom in her mouth.

“Kuaaak, I almost ate it without realizing!”

Even Rurin, hearing it was good for the skin, brought it to her mouth but showed superhuman restraint and stopped the fork. Shocked, she threw the fork down.

“Really? Hmm, well, the Kuns did have a lot of mysterious mushrooms, so I guess that’s possible.”

If so, I should eat more. My lifespan is already inferior compared to Rurin’s.

“Is it really okay to eat this? Wow…”

Elena uttered a pure exclamation.

In the end, I ate mushrooms, Elena ate mushrooms, and Sereina ate mushrooms.

Surprisingly, Rurin hadn’t brought a mushroom to her mouth all this time. I didn’t know why. She must have some scheme, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

If Elena was right, it didn’t seem that the black mushrooms had some strange effect that made her refuse to eat them.

“Ugh, ughhh. Hooouk.”

While thinking that, an incident suddenly occurred. Elena, who was eating the black mushroom, began to cry.

“Wh-why! Whyy! Whyy, I ask you! Hooouk. Waaah!”

She was sobbing loudly.

“Da-da-dad, wh-why…hiccup, waaaah!”

“Ms. Elena?”

Suddenly seeing that, I was startled and checked her condition. Sereina also looked at Elena with a surprised face.

“Elena? Hey?”

“You’re Sereina, Ms. Sereina, you do that too! Get up earlier in the morning! And and why did you eat my pudding yesterday! Mr. El made it for meee! Waaah!”

“……”

I looked at Sereina. She looked at me too.

“She looks drunk, doesn’t she?”

“Right?”

“Did you drink before coming to the restaurant?”

When I asked seriously, Sereina jumped and answered.

“No? No way Elena would drink enough to get this drunk before that.”

“True, that’s even less likely. So, she got drunk from the mushrooms?”

When I said that, Rurin muttered quietly to herself.

“Uh, um, it works on elves, but why are you still fine?”

“Huh? What did Rurin just say?”

When I asked again, she waved her hands and shouted to Sereina.

“Ah, no! Hehehe. Hey, Red one, take that drunk elf and go home quickly!”

“I’m not listening to you, but I guess that’s what we have to do. If we leave her alone, she’ll say nonsense, and if we don’t stop her, she’ll have to move out.”

“Huh? Move out just because of that?”

Sereina made an incomprehensible sound and grabbed Elena’s hand.

“No! Why are you grabbing me! I still have a lot to say! Mr. El too! Hiccup.”

“L-leaving?”

And at that moment, Sereina teleported away holding Elena. Rurin, looking satisfied with the experiment result, began stacking black mushrooms in front of me again.

“You.”

“Huh?”

“Eat more! You have to live longer.”

“Oh? Yeah, that’s true.”

“Come on, aaah! Eat it!”

So I ate the black mushrooms again and again.