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Chapter 44
The next day, I get up in the morning and prepare breakfast with Ariamel. Iska and Fio have not woken up yet, and the little ones, Nina, Stella, and Ratz, are of course still sleeping. A child who sleeps well grows up, it’s a good thing.
“Gray-san, could you pass me those tomatoes over there?”
“Sure. Here.”
“Fufu… Thank you.”
Ariamel smiles softly, shaking her long hair tied back.
“Oh…. Hmm?”
At that moment, I felt a gaze from behind me, and when I turned around, I saw Ares looking at me with an extremely awkward expression on his face.
“Good morning Ares”
“Good morning”
“Uh… yes… good morning…”
When Ariamel and I greeted him, he returned it with busy eyes. Why are you acting a little suspicious?
“Breakfast isn’t ready yet, so go wash your face first.”
“Yes, I’m going!”
Ariamel and I tilted our heads as we watched Ares run with his back to us.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know”
Well, he’s a boy at his age, and I’m sure he’s going through a lot. It would be wrong to pry too much into his affairs. I concluded so and was about to resume cooking when Fio came into the kitchen.
“Good morning, Gray-san, sister Aria.”
“Oh good morning”
“Good morning Fio-chan”
“…Hey, by the way, Ares-san ran in a hurry just now, did something happen?”
When I explained what I had just done to Fio, who asked me curiously, she had a somewhat satisfied expression.
“Ah…I see.”
She said and looked at me and Ariamel alternately. …What?
“One more question, did you, sister Aria, sleep in Gray-san’s room last night?”
“Yeah.I thought it would be better for a while, since Nina and the others have to go to the toilet at night.”
Yes…Ratz is a boy too, he would be embarrassed by such a thing, and although he thought he hid it well, it was easy for Ariamel to find out that Ratz had leaked it.
The two of us talked about it and settled on sleeping together for a while as a precautionary measure.
By the way, I proposed the idea of using body enhancement magic to take him to the bathroom, but it was rejected because it would be completely pointless.
After listening to Ariamel’s story, Fio thought for a moment.
“Yeah, this is definitely a misunderstanding. Hmmm……… Well, I don’t mind. I’m going to go wake up the sleepyhead.”
After answering herself, she went up to the second floor to wake up Iska.
“What in the world is going on this morning?”
“Well…?”
“…Let’s just get on with the cooking.”
“Okay”
Then Ariamel and I went back to preparing breakfast. On the way, Iska and Fio were thrashing around upstairs, and the noise woke Nina and the others, half asleep, they came down to wash their faces, but there was another commotion.
Although there was a lot of noise in the morning, it was still very nice to have a meal with everyone around the table.
Iska gets mad at Fio.
Ariamel wipes Nina’s mouth.
Stella secretly puts things she doesn’t like on Ratz’s plate.
When I was alone, I often did not eat in the morning. If I did eat, it was usually because I had received a request from the Adventurers’ Guild, and on my way out of town I would buy some fruit or a skewer on the way…or something like that.
Now I can’t start my day without this noise.
I looked over at Ares and saw that he had stopped eating and was staring at everyone’s interaction. His eyes looked envious, lonely, and somewhat distant.
“Ares”
“… Eh, yes.”
“When you’re done eating, you and I will do the dishes. As long as you live in this house, you will do some kind of work as a family.”
“…family”
Ares looks surprised and so small.
“That’s right, Nina will help too!”
“That’s right. Nina, Stella, and Ratz are all good at carrying plates, so you can count on them.”
Nina made a proud face at my words, Stella gave a thumbs up saying “Leave it to me”, and Ratz nodded with a smile while still holding the fork in his mouth.
Iska and Fio both looked at each other and nodded. Surely these two would follow up with Nina and the others without saying a word.
Ariamel, who was watching the scene,
“I’ll leave it to you then. In the meantime, I will prepare your lunch.”
Saying that, she smiled.
And
“……Yes”
Ares replied with a bit of glee.
———-
Ares’s misunderstanding when he saw Ariamel come out of her room at night with a pillow and go straight into Gray’s room.