Don’t know if they couldn’t believe Sylvia’s words, or if they were just that happy, but the children, who were sick and weak, asked in cheerful voices.
“Really? Where will you buy the meat?”
“Sister, this is so sweet. I’ve never tasted anything like this before.”
“I want more of this instead of meat!”
“Sister! I want to eat now… Can’t we have meat now?”
The children began to speak all at once, as if they had been waiting for the chance. Sylvia laughed softly and replied.
“Eating something too greasy all of a sudden isn’t good. Let’s recover our strength first and then enjoy the meat! Got it?”
She burst into laughter, looking at the innocent pairs of eyes in front of her. The pure innocence of the children was too cute and lovely. Sylvia left the shack and created a makeshift treehouse with plant magic.
Although she had used magic in front of people in a hurry earlier, she thought it best to be cautious about showing it to others besides the mercenaries. The people marveled softly as the house was quickly completed.
Sylvia entered the makeshift house, followed naturally by Felix. And then the fairies who had come later also followed inside.
Felix took his place naturally, and Sylvia took out rice. She had previously washed and soaked the rice, then took out the coconut crab. She cut off one claw, peeled the meat, and chopped carrots and onions finely.
After putting a pot on the fire, she made crab meat porridge and then went outside again, followed in the same order by Felix and the fairies.
“Mr. Bernard, Mr. Bryan, and Mr. Ruth! Could you help me for a moment?”
The three people, who had been moving around nearby, quickly approached at Sylvia’s request.
“Could you come this way for a moment, Alan?”
Alan, who had been distributing water to the people, quickly came over. Sylvia took out three coconut crabs from her subspace bag.
“It’s a magical beast!”
The people were flustered and panicked upon seeing the coconut crabs. The parents of the children blocked the front of their huts and glared fiercely. Sylvia, feeling a bit embarrassed, hurriedly waved her hands and explained.
“This is not a magical beast; it’s food. Magical beasts are inedible and emit a terribly foul smell. If you smell these coconut crabs, you will realize that they do not have such an unpleasant odor.”
Sylvia looked around after finishing her explanation. Despite her words, the people remained wary. Thinking there was no helping it, Sylvia began to explain to the four men in front of her.
“You need to steam them with steam. Imagine boiling water and using the steam to cook these crabs, and please use magic in that way.”
“Excuse me?”
Bernard, Brian, Ruth, and Alan were surprised and widened their eyes. They had never thought of combining different elemental magics into one.
Sylvia floated a coconut crab in the air as a demonstration.
People were amazed and exclaimed in astonishment as they watched the crab being cooked with a combination of wind magic, turning around and around, and being cooked by fire and water.
“Now, please steam it like this. By the way, the shell turns from blue to red when it’s cooked with fire. It’s not strange, so just steam it as it is!”
Sylvia finished her request and went back inside the makeshift house, where she began making side dishes.
She busily prepared a variety of side dishes, including spinach salad, bean sprout salad, sautéed mushrooms, garlic chives salad, cucumber salad, and sautéed zucchini, and even added more rice.
As she had to prepare meals for over 70 adults in the mercenary group, plus children, totaling around 80 people?
“Phew, if I think about making lunchboxes, this is nothing! Right, Eryngium?”
Eryngium, who had naturally taken her place on her head, leaving other fairies behind, replied energetically.
[Of course! My Sylvia can make even more than this!]
The fairy was delighted to be spoken to directly, its pride soaring. Its violet eyes sparkled.
Felix, sitting beside her and peeling a hallabong, twitched the corners of his mouth slightly. Then, he spoke in a gruff tone.
“Why are you the only one calling her ‘my Sylvia’?”
Following his words, Clover, Daisy, Poppy, and Asta flew up, circling around Eryngium and shouting.
[Right! Why are you the only one calling her that? I want to call her that too!]
[Asta wants to call Sylvia ‘my Sylvia’ too!]
[Sylvia, can I call you that too?]
[I want to create a special nickname that only I can call Sylvia!]
The fairies chattered noisily. Felix, quietly observing and listening, perked his ears at Daisy’s last comment.
‘A special nickname only I can use?’
Felix pretended to be indifferent, his eyes lowered, and he fell into deep thought.
Sylvia felt awkward about the fairies’ requests. She was utterly distracted by Eryngium, who clung to her hair and cried out, and the four other fairies who flew around her, causing a commotion.
“Guys, hold on. Stop spinning! I’m getting dizzy!”
She was already overwhelmed with cooking, and she couldn’t understand why this trouble had arisen. She was about to scold them for not listening when she opened her mouth.
“You keep that……”
“Stop!”
Then, Felix slightly raised his voice and sent out a burst of magical energy. The fairies immediately distanced themselves from both him and Sylvia. It was his own way of handling the fairies, who often refused to listen. If his energy was strong, the fairies could not approach him.
“Ah… Thank you.”
She was relieved not to have to intervene herself. Felix called her as she was busy adding mussels to a pot and seasoning them with salt and pepper.
“Siri.”
In a short moment, he came up with her nickname and called out with a visibly wrinkled expression, feeling a rush of warmth up his neck. Sylvia turned her head towards Felix, puzzled by what she had just heard.
Blinking rapidly, Sylvia asked back.
“What?”
Somewhat embarrassed not to look at her, Felix replied with a voice tinged with slight annoyance.
“Why.”
“What was that just now?”
Thinking she might have misheard yet wondering just in case, Sylvia asked again. Felix, feeling a bit disheartened by her serious tone, answered.
“My mother used to call me ‘Feri’. It’s my nickname. You can call me that too.”
Hearing his words, Sylvia’s expression cleared up.
“Ah, you said ‘Feli’! I thought… you called me ‘Siri’!”
Sylvia frowned slightly, recalling a moment from her youth.
‘I mix up Feri and Siri, thinking of the unpaid phone bill.’
As she took oysters out of her subspace bag, Felix spoke again.
“No, you heard it right… Since you’re Sylvia, ‘Siri’ is correct.”
Having a nickname was something only his mother had done for him. So, he looked surprised as if breaking this rule would lead to some disaster.
Sylvia felt annoyed again at the mention of ‘Siri’. It seemed like the next thing she would hear would be something like that, right?
‘What’s the weather like today?’
Something like that…
While prying off oyster shells, Sylvia fell into contemplation.
Having a nickname felt like they had become closer, which was nice but…
Why pick the first letter for a nickname?
Was it a custom in the Kingdom of Capitis?
Sylvia looked at Felix with a complicated expression.
“Hey, does it have to be made from the first letter? Can’t we use the last letter?”
After finishing his hallabong and reaching for another fruit, Felix asked back.
“Then?”
“Since it’s Sylvia, maybe ‘Via’! Or…”
No, that’s not right either. It felt awkward.
“No, then how about ‘Silvi’…”
It seemed to have become a complete mess. Neither option felt nickname-worthy for her name. Sylvia twitched her lips and then said softly.
“How about ‘Sila’?”
Suggesting ‘Sila’, by removing the middle letters from Sylvia, she herself was not convinced.
‘Siri, no! Sila, no!’
Sylvia just sighed deeply. Felix called out in a flat tone.
“Siri.”
See? It feels weird.
Felix, looking at Sylvia’s peculiar expression, offered an empty fruit basket and said.
“Siri, give me more hallabong.”
The feeling was unexpectedly complex and nuanced.
★★50. Tender Flesh★★
Sylvia had set up a dining table in the clearing in front of the hut. She grew a large tree from within, which Felix then cut and floated in the air. Sylvia would then craft legs for the table out of vine. Only after repeating this process several times was an environment created where all the people could sit and eat.
Sylvia spread various side dishes, rice, as well as mussel soup, and clear oyster soup on each table. She also prepared the flesh of coconut crabs, carefully removing it from the shell to be easily eaten, and placed it in large bowls. She spoke loudly, ensuring everyone could hear her.
“This was not a magical beast. So, don’t worry too much, and try tasting it first! You will be truly surprised.”
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