CW96:

Sylvia was busier than usual. To distract herself from unnecessary thoughts and accommodate the sudden increase in people, she prepared food.

She mixed pork and beef in equal parts, adding minced garlic, minced onion, and breadcrumbs, and mixed everything with wind magic. She shaped the patties, pressed the center slightly inward, and fried them until golden in a pan with butter. She prepared a sauce with soy sauce, sugar, pear juice, apple juice, pepper, and a little wine, and cooked the patties in it once more, preparing vegetables as well.

She prepared lettuce, red onion, yellow bell pepper, and thinly sliced cucumber. She cut the round buns in half, grilled them on butter, and filled them with the prepared vegetables, patties, and plenty of cheese.

She topped the vegetables with homemade mayonnaise and ketchup, then wrapped the hamburger, the size of her two palms combined, in paper for easy eating. Next, she filled disposable cups with carbonated grape, apple mango, and pineapple ades.

Sylvia welcomed the Croban mercenary group and the knights of the Sabellisa duchy, who returned from dealing with the morning’s monster incursion.

“Have you arrived? Come on in, have some food!”

At her cheerful voice, the Croban mercenaries flocked to her.

“What do we have today?”

“It’s burgers. You’ve had them before, right? This one’s a bit different from last time!”

The Croban mercenaries washed their hands and approached Sylvia. She handed them burgers and cups filled with ade. Seeing the burly men lining up, Henry and his knights couldn’t hide their astonishment.

Even Felix stood quietly in line, causing them to be shocked.

Henry and his knights hesitantly followed the Croban mercenaries, washing their hands and lining up. As Henry’s turn approached, he felt strangely excited. Sylvia handed him a burger and aid.

“May I call you Sir Henry?”

With a round smile, she approached him warmly, and Henry had no choice but to nod. Sylvia was somewhat special to him, being different from the maids and servant women he usually encountered at the duchy.

Of course, he couldn’t forget the incident when she spoke informally to the crown prince…

“Yes, you may call me that.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sylvia Arbor. I look forward to getting along.”

“Ah, yes. Me too…”

He received the burger and ade, exchanged greetings, and stepped aside. Those who already had their burgers gathered to eat eagerly.

“Vice-captain, this tastes completely different from last time. The meat is so thick!”

“What flavor do you have?”

“I got grape.”

“I have apple mango, let’s trade the rest.”

Henry looked around at the Croban mercenary group eating in a very familiar manner, then spotted Felix standing dumbfounded with a hamburger and a makeshift cup in his hands.

“Your Highness hasn’t eaten yet, what will you do if you eat first?”

Felix had originally not dined with the Croban mercenary group, and lately, he had been eating with Sylvia, so Hubert, who hadn’t paid it any mind, widened his eyes in surprise and burst into laughter at Henry’s words.

“Sir Henry, our lord dines with Miss Sylvia. Don’t worry and try the taste first. It’s probably a flavor you’ve never experienced before. I assure you.”

All members of the Croban mercenary group, accustomed to Sylvia’s cooking, lit up their eyes in agreement with Hubert’s words. Henry, feeling uncomfortable under their gaze, hesitated before biting into the hamburger revealed after unwrapping the paper.

It was intriguing from its unfamiliar appearance, but the moment he tasted it, he realized that the appearance meant nothing.

“Ah!”

Seeing his blue eyes widen, Dennis added cheerfully.

“How is it? Our Miss Sylvia’s craftsmanship.”

The Croban mercenary group gloated more as the knights of the duke’s house were surprised by tasting the hamburgers and ade.

“Now you’re in big trouble. You probably won’t be able to taste other foods.”

“It sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? But it’s not. Now, Sir Henry won’t be able to eat anywhere. It’s incomparable to something like whole roasted boar.”

“Especially this ade and hamburgers are Miss Sylvia’s specialty.”

Looking down at his empty hands after quickly finishing his food, Henry nodded in agreement to Dennis and Hubert’s chatting as he regretfully swallowed the ade. Then, he heard a welcome voice.

“Those who need more, come back. There’s plenty.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Croban mercenaries who had eaten first rushed over. The knights of the duke’s house quickly lined up in an orderly fashion as well.

***

Felix had been waiting by Sylvia’s side all this time. But her avoiding eye contact made him particularly nervous.

Actually, it had been like that since this morning. She would answer when asked, but her attitude had changed so drastically from yesterday that it seemed suspicious.

Felix, feeling as if his feet were going numb with the thought that she might have learned about his imprinting on her, stayed even closer to Sylvia’s side.

If it had been like yesterday, she would have followed him to hunt demons, but today she refused, telling him to go as she would make food. That’s when he felt a discord that kept stabbing at his second heart.

Even now, as Sylvia distributed hamburgers without looking at him, he stared at her as if to burn her with his gaze, but she didn’t spare him a glance. Surely, if it had been before, Sylvia would have turned around with a bright smile at least once.

Felix tried to calm his boiling insides and waited quietly until she finished distributing hamburgers. Because he wanted to eat with Sylvia.

Just when he thought she had finished distributing them, Sylvia hesitated for a moment, glanced at Felix, and then shouted. At her call for anyone lacking to come back, Felix finally exploded.

He signaled his men lining up with his eyes.

Hurry up and take it and leave.

Hubert, catching Felix’s fiercely burning gaze, quickly took a hamburger and left. Following Hubert, from the Croban mercenaries to the knights, they all moved swiftly.

Sylvia, with a stiff expression, watched people swiftly taking hamburgers and looked puzzled. Only after distributing hamburgers to everyone did Felix finally grab Sylvia’s hand.

“Feri?”

At the habitually slipping nickname, Sylvia bit her lip. Felix, keenly observing her condition, climbed up a tree.

“What’s wrong.”

His voice hit Sylvia’s ears with a low growl.

“What’s… wrong?”

Sylvia, pretending ignorance, unwrapped the hamburger. Staring intently at the teal back of her head as she ate the hamburger without looking at him, Felix spoke.

“What’s really wrong? Why are you suddenly like this?”

Sylvia, who had spoken to him using formal language, annoyed him. Forced by his intense gaze, Sylvia turned her head slightly to answer.

“No… on reflection, it seemed right… that’s why.”

“Because of what that man said yesterday? What does it matter if I’m okay with it?”

Sylvia sighed softly and turned around at his growling tone.

“No.”

Finally giving him a direct look with her teal eyes, Felix trembled his lips and sighed. It was hard to bear.

“I’m practicing. Sir Henry was not wrong. It’s okay now, but when you go out into the world, or more precisely… when you return to the kingdom, it’s the right thing. So, I’m practicing, Feri.”

Felix felt a painful sting in his heart at her words, clearly meant as practice for him.

Why did it feel like a rehearsal for parting?

Despite explaining the reason, Felix still frowned. Sylvia and pushed her hamburger towards him.

“Aren’t you hungry? Eat. You said it was delicious.”

Recalling the hamburger that had received the best reaction among other foods and making it for that reason alone made Felix open his mouth easily. He bit into it largely without taking his eyes off her.

“Anything you make is delicious.”

Looking into her thinly smiling teal eyes, Felix couldn’t take his eyes off her.

But his heart, still filled with unease, started to beat faster.

***

“Sir Hubert! Monsters are approaching from this side too!”

“We’ve handled it over here!”

After a simple meal, the Croban mercenary group and the knights of the duke’s house were catching monsters. Due to the ever-increasing number of monsters, they could never let their guard down.

Sylvia had quickly prepared simple foods in advance so they could eat at any time. Felix vented his frustration by slaughtering the monsters. While Sylvia was busy cooking, a monster that moved through the ground and was the hardest type to detect approached her swiftly.

Henry swiftly hacked at the creature that emerged behind her. Sylvia, unaware of the danger, turned around with a start when she felt it. Henry shouted with a frown.

“How can you stay so isolated in a place like this?”

He then used water magic to bind another emerging monster and cut its torso with his sword.

“Thank you.”

Sylvia calmly offered her thanks and then gathered her things to put them all into her spatial bracelet. She then approached the mercenaries and knights who were dealing with monsters.

“It’s dangerous, stay here.”

Henry knew she was a plant magician, but he thought of her merely as a cook. Trying to protect her out of goodwill, he held her back, but Sylvia just smiled lightly at him.

“I’m fine.”

“What if you get caught in the midst of the monsters? It’ll be harder to protect you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a worm-like monster emerged from the ground. It seemed like just a taste of what was to come, as a mass of worm monsters started to flexibly swim towards her.

“Chef, please dodge!”

Not just Henry, but the knights around her also shouted.

Ignoring their calls, Sylvia floated into the air. She scooped up all the worm monsters with water magic and then used wind magic to sprinkle salt, taken lightly from her spatial bag, into the water containing the worm monsters.

She had always wanted to try this, considering they looked like giant worms. Sylvia had become so accustomed to seeing monsters that she no longer found them disgusting.

After confirming the twisting and wriggling reaction of the monsters to the salt water, Sylvia linked her wind magic with her water magic. Like blending fruits or vegetables in a blender, the worm monsters’ forms vanished without a trace, leaving only sparkling essences floating in the water.

Landing back on the ground, Sylvia neatly put the cleansed essences into the spatial bracelet given by Felix.

Astonished by her magical skills, the knights of the duke’s house and Henry froze as Sylvia smiled at them. She then raised the back of her hand close to her face, showing the black diamond ring, and performed a magician’s greeting.

“I am not a chef, but a magician who cooks.”

Sylvia wanted to be of help to Felix, no matter what. Her previously half-hearted mindset was no longer needed.

Sylvia, watched from afar by Felix, lightly waved at him and then infused her magic into a wind magic circle, lifting the monsters into the air. She caught the monsters with plant magic, growing stems to ensnare them.

Stepping lightly on the stems, Sylvia accurately unearthed the location of the essences and moved towards them.

She moved swiftly through the dense forest filled with trees. Intense sunlight dripped down through the gaps in the trees. Each time, Felix’s gaze was stolen by the brilliantly shining teal hair of Sylvia. The leaves and grass of the same color as her hair couldn’t catch his eye.

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