Chapter 102: TRPG and Homemade Pudding

After returning to Papel Village, I decided to introduce Francesca to the village children at once.

“And that’s how Francesca came to stay at our house for a while. Make sure you all get along with her.”

“Whoa! Unlike Raphiel-neechan, she has this aura that makes her seem like a real princess!”

“I am a real Saintess.”

“What normal Saintess rolls up her sleeves, puts on sunglasses, and drives a trailer?”

“Please stop attacking me with arguments so sound I cannot even respond.”

Luka’s flawless logic left Raphiel crushed.

Ignoring the dejected Raphiel, Luka turned to Francesca and greeted her.

She wore her usual boundlessly cheerful smile.

“I’m Luka! Nice to meet you, Francesca!”

“N-Nice to meet you too…”

Perhaps Francesca had lowered her guard, because she emerged from behind me and shook Luka’s hand.

“I’m Nor. Nice to meet you!”

“I-I’m Rio. You can just call me Rio, Francesca-chan.”

“I am Amate. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Mea is Mea!”

“Ah-Ahhh…”

After Luka, Nor, Rio, and Amate all crowded forward to shake her hand, leaving Francesca flustered.

What a peaceful world.

“Hmm? Onii-san, aren’t you opening the restaurant today?”

“The adventurers will be away for another month or two helping with the port town’s reconstruction, so I thought I’d take it easy for a while.”

“I see. By the way, Onii-san, what’s Dragon King-chan doing?”

“Oh, I think the long journey wore her out.”

Ryu was sleeping peacefully with her head on my lap.

The trailer had shaken so badly that she apparently had not been able to sleep.

Her drowsiness must have finally caught up with her.

At that point, Raphiel made a wildly unexpected suggestion.

“Then let us hold a gaming tournament as a welcome party for Francesca. The winner shall receive the right to request tonight’s dinner from Eight.”

“““““Yeah!”””””

“This time, let us compete in Puyo Puyo, a game simple enough for beginners.”

““““““No!””””””

“…Why?”

Raphiel tilted her head at the children’s categorical rejection.

Even I understood their reason.

“Because you’re ridiculously good at puzzle games, Raphiel-neechan.”

“Exactly! A game where we already know the winner won’t be any fun!”

“I-I think we should play something fairer.”

“Yes! There is something I would like to play!”

Amate energetically raised her hand.

“I want to play the Call of Cthulhu TRPG!”

“For Amate, a god, to suggest that particular sort of game…”

“If we’re playing Cthulhu, I’m in too.”

“Then I shall serve as the game master—the GM.”

Hinoka abruptly crawled out of the household shrine and volunteered to run the game.

Naturally, Francesca’s eyes went wide at Hinoka’s sudden appearance, and tears welled in them.

Luka and the others scolded Hinoka.

“Hinoka-neechan! We’ve told you before to stop appearing like that because it’s scary! Look, you frightened Francesca!”

“Urk… I-I apologize…”

“Don’t apologize to us. Apologize to Francesca.”

“I-I am sorry, Francesca.”

“N-No, it’s all right.”

I had the sense that Luka had become more dependable lately.

She had always been the type to take the lead among the children, but she had grown while I was away.

And so, the Call of Cthulhu TRPG began, with the right to request dinner hanging in the balance.

“First, each of you shall introduce your player character, or PC. State your character’s name and occupation.”

“My PC’s name is ‘Raphikawa Elko.’ Her occupation is ‘Leader of the Gourmet Cult.’”

“My character is ‘Mao Maou Eve,’ and her occupation is ‘God of Destruction.’”

They were the sort of joke occupations at least a few players brought to every gathering…

“My PC is ‘Rukawa Luka!’ She’s a police officer!”

“I just used ‘Nor’ for my PC’s name. Oh, and she’s a detective.”

“I am ‘Rio Tsurugi,’ and my occupation is ‘Eight-onii-chan’s bride.’”

“Mea is ‘Mea Tsurugi,’ and her job is ‘Eight-nii’s wife!’”

““…Hehehe.””

Rio and Mea looked at each other and smiled.

It was an adorable sight, so why did a chill run down my spine?

“I am ‘Amate Tsurugi,’ and my occupation is ‘Father’s daughter!’”

Rio and Mea patted Amate on the head, smiling as they told her, “That means Amate-chan is our daughter.”

Rio’s smile seemed to resemble her mother Tifana’s a little more every day.

More importantly, did “bride,” “wife,” and “daughter” really count as occupations?

“M-My PC’s name is ‘Fran.’ Her occupation is ‘First Princess.’ …Should I change it?”

“No, that will present no problem. We already have a Gourmet Cult leader and a God of Destruction.”

“I-I believe we have several very large problems…”

Francesca spoke uneasily.

Once everyone finished introducing their characters, Hinoka began the scenario.

“You awaken to find yourselves standing in an unfamiliar place—”

Raphiel and Eve repeatedly fumbled their rolls and lost their characters, while Amate and Rio landed critical success after critical success…

A lively, cheerful atmosphere filled the living room, and I watched them with a smile.

Then a question suddenly occurred to me.

“By the way, how are you going to decide who wins at Cthulhu?”

“““““…”””””

At my casual question, Raphiel and the others fell silent.

They had not thought about it…

Then Raphiel shot her hand into the air before anyone else and energetically declared:

“Eight, I want pudding!”

“Hey, that’s not fair, Raphiel-neechan!”

“In this world, victory always belongs to the first to act, Luka.”

“Then me too! Umm… Ah, I want pudding too!”

After the two of them, Nor, Rio, and Amate requested pudding as well.

Even Ryu, who should have been sound asleep, suddenly sat up and demanded pudding.

Well, I could buy pudding from online shopping in no time. And since we were at it, perhaps I should get some expensive pudding instead of the kind you flip onto a plate—

At that point, Rio looked up at me with an adorable, pleading expression.

“S-Since it has been so long, I’d like to eat your homemade pudding, Eight-onii-chan…”

“Whaaat?”

“Father, you can make pudding too?”

“What? Oh, now that you mention it, when I first came to this village, I may or may not have tried making pudding from scratch and failed spectacularly…”

“You were so cute when you failed to make delicious pudding for us and looked terribly sorry.”

Rio smiled as she spoke.

They say children remember striking experiences, but I never imagined she would remember even my failed pudding.

“What am I going to do…?”

I stood in the kitchen and held my head.

As I have said many times, I am hopeless at making sweets, which require precise measurements.

I normally estimate quantities by eye and adjust the flavor as I cook. Food that demands accuracy down to the gram simply does not suit me.

But ignoring a child’s request would be…

“…Ah, I know.”

Struck by inspiration, I bought something through online shopping.

It was pudding mix—a product that turned into pudding merely by mixing it with warm milk.

“Pudding made with pudding mix still counts as homemade!”

After finishing my excuse, I quickly prepared the pudding mixture, poured it into molds, and placed them in the refrigerator.

Easy as could be.

A little over an hour later, just as Raphiel and the others finished their TRPG session, I served the pudding on the table.

Everyone dug in at once.

“Delicious. It is rich and smooth, with the vanilla essence working wonderfully.”

“Yummy!”

“Sweet and delicious!”

“Luka, you’re spilling it! Eat more neatly!”

“Mm… It melts in my mouth… I… like this…”

The children’s reactions were good too. However—

“You didn’t fail today… What a shame.”

“Did you want Father to fail, Rio?”

“No. I wanted to see how cute Eight-onii-chan looks when he fails and gets depressed.”

Rio appeared to be discussing something with Amate, but I could not hear them clearly.

Had all that machine-gun and cannon fire damaged my hearing?

Well, I would not be firing machine guns or cannons again for a while, so it would probably recover on its own.