Volume 5

Chapter 68: Dragon Cutlets and the Catalog 

“Grrr…”

“Eight-niisan, why are you making such a serious face? If something’s bothering you, I’ll listen!”

As I sat in the living room, deep in thought, Rio—who had been watching Luka, Nor, and Amate compete against one another in a video game—walked over and spoke to me with a worried smile.

“Hmm… I’m not sure I should be discussing this with a child, but I’ve been thinking about the shop. I’m trying to figure out what to do while I’m away.”

“You’re going to the sea with Raphiel-neesan and Eve-neesan, right?”

“Yeah. Hijiri invited us. I need to come up with a good solution before we leave.”

“…Well, if that suspicious-looking guy is going too, I guess nothing weird will happen.”

Rio muttered something quietly under her breath.

I couldn’t quite catch what she’d said.

Just then—

From the household shrine displayed in the living room…

Hinoka suddenly emerged with her usual unnervingly smooth motion.

“If your concern is the shop, then leave it to me.”

“Ah, Hinoka-san. Leave it to you… what exactly are you planning to do?”

“Simply watch.”

With that, she calmly walked into the kitchen.

The shadows beneath her feet immediately sprang to life.

Dozens of dark tendrils stretched across the room, each one taking hold of a kitchen knife with uncanny precision.

“Here we have dragon tenderloin, which I removed from the refrigerator earlier and allowed to return to room temperature.”

“When did you do that!?”

“Just a short while ago.”

Hinoka sliced the dragon meat into steaks roughly three centimeters thick.

She lightly patted each piece dry with kitchen paper before seasoning both sides generously with salt and pepper.

Next, she coated each steak in flour, then beaten egg, and finally breadcrumbs.

She paid particular attention to the sides, making sure every surface was evenly covered.

Meanwhile, several of the shadow arms simultaneously poured a generous amount of oil into a deep pot and heated it to two hundred degrees.

The breaded dragon meat was lowered carefully into the hot oil.

After frying one side until perfectly golden, she flipped each piece over with cooking chopsticks and cooked the other side.

“Mmm… something smells really good! ☆”

“I was just starting to get hungry.”

“Raphiel-sama, please wipe the drool from your mouth.”

Drawn by the delicious aroma drifting through the house, Raphiel, Eve, and Grana wandered into the living room.

“Oh? Hinoka is cooking today?”

“Well, here’s what happened…”

By the time I’d finished explaining the situation to Raphiel, Hinoka had already lifted the dragon cutlets from the oil.

The rich, savory fragrance that filled the room was absolutely mouthwatering.

After allowing the residual heat to finish cooking the meat, she picked up a knife and sliced each cutlet into easy-to-eat portions.

Crunch.

The crisp sound echoed pleasantly through the room.

“Dragon Cutlet is complete.”

“Ooooh!”

All of us eagerly reached for the freshly made dragon cutlets.

“T-This is amazing!! The outside is perfectly crispy, while the inside is incredibly juicy! It’s delicious!!”

“It tastes just like the ones Oniisan makes!”

“This is… surprisingly excellent…”

“Hinoka-san! Since when did you become such a good cook!?”

“It isn’t that I was incapable to begin with. I have watched Eight live in this house every day. Replicating something of this level is child’s play.”

Amazing…

With skills like those, she could probably cook just about everything else on our menu.

And judging from the taste, customers wouldn’t notice any difference at all.

“But Hinoka-san… are you sure you’ll be alright running the shop while I’m gone?”

“I anticipated a situation such as this and have been storing up my strength. I can remain active without rest for approximately one month.”

“No, please take breaks.”

Working nonstop for an entire month sounded like the definition of a black company.

“…Hmm. Very well. Eight, I have one condition in exchange for looking after the shop.”

“A condition?”

“Take Amate with you.”

“I don’t mind, but…”

Why Amate?

Perhaps reading the question written plainly across my face, Hinoka gave a small shrug.

“She has only recently taken physical form. There are still many experiences she has yet to gain. A journey such as this would benefit her greatly. Once she leaves this house, however, she’ll become nothing more than an ordinary child. The Saint and the Demon King will need to protect her.”

“Protecting my younger sister is the duty of an elder sister. Leave it to me.”

“Yeah. I’d feel awful if little Amate got hurt, so that’s no problem at all.”

Neither Raphiel nor Eve seemed to have any objections.

“That solves one of my biggest worries! Thank you very much, Hinoka-san!”

“There’s no need to thank me.”

With those words, Hinoka quietly slipped back into the household shrine as naturally as she’d emerged.

That settled the issue of the shop.

Or so I thought.

From the corner of the room, Luka—who had apparently been listening to our conversation the whole time—quietly muttered something.

“Lucky… I wanna go to the sea with Eight-niisan too…”

Her voice had barely risen above a whisper.

Yet somehow, everyone heard it perfectly clearly.

One of those mysterious moments that happened every now and then.

Realizing everyone had heard her, Luka’s eyes widened in panic.

She hurriedly tried to explain herself, but the more flustered she became, the more her words tangled together.

Seeing her struggle, Eve decided to rescue her.

“Why not? That suspicious guy said he’s paying for everything anyway. Actually, instead of just Luka, why don’t Nor and Rio come too?”

“Huh!? B-But… I have to help take care of my mom…”

“Ah, Reina, right? Then why not invite all three of your moms too?”

“I-If that’s the case… N-No, wait… that’d be way too much trouble, wouldn’t it? Right, Eight-niisan?”

“Huh?”

Nor looked at me with hopeful eyes that sparkled with expectation.

There was no way I could shake my head after seeing that expression.

“W-Well… I don’t see why not.”

“B-But if our moms come too, there won’t be anyone left to serve customers at the restaurant. Wouldn’t that just make things harder for Big Sister Hinoka?”

As if answering Nor’s concern…

An arm suddenly emerged from the household shrine.

Hinoka silently gave us a thumbs-up.

Apparently, there was no problem whatsoever.

Nor immediately pumped her fist into the air, jumping around with pure excitement.

Her delighted smile was honestly adorable.

Thinking about it…

Considering what I’d just witnessed, Hinoka could probably manipulate her shadow arms well enough to carry dishes, clear tables, and handle all the serving by herself.

…Wasn’t that secretly ridiculously overpowered?

“Hmm. I would certainly be delighted if Luka and the others could accompany us to the seaside. However, with a group this large, it would be difficult for Eve and me alone to protect everyone if something were to happen. Grana…”

“My apologies, Raphiel-sama. I’ve received a summons from the Temple. They want to question me regarding the Dragon King incident.”

“Kind of strange to summon the Holy Knight who wasn’t even there, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. Nevertheless, this presents a problem. We have no other reliable fighting force to depend upon.”

“It’d feel kind of unsettling if even that naked old man left the village… Oh! I know! I’ll go bring one of my acquaintances!!”

“An acquaintance?”

As though struck by inspiration, Eve suddenly leaped to her feet and dashed out of the room.

I couldn’t help blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“…I’m honestly surprised Eve has acquaintances. I always assumed she was a loner.”

“Please don’t ever say that to her face. It’ll definitely start a fight. At least call her a lone wolf.”

“I’ll… do my best.”

Please.

For everyone’s sake.

Don’t let her hear that.

“Putting that aside, Eight… what are we doing about transportation?”

“I’ve thought about that already. The problem is… well… I don’t quite have enough points.”

I stared at the shopping app displayed on my smartphone.

My finger hovered over the purchase button.

But I simply couldn’t press it.

Displayed on the screen was the catalog for a very specific vehicle.

My secret plan for making the long journey as comfortable as possible—

A camper van.

Unfortunately…

A camper large enough to accommodate more than ten people cost a staggering thirty million points.

Even after taking into account everything I’d earned from running Tsurugi Saba, I could scrape together only a little over ten million points.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

“Hmm. In that case… why don’t we simply build the camper van ourselves?”

“…Huh?”

What on earth…

…was this Saint talking about?