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「Okay you two, please stop fighting. I’m glad that the two of you like my cooking that much.」
There was a phrase in Japan that went like this:
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
But I understood from their argument that it was pointless to only please their stomachs.
After all, they weren’t arguing because they liked me. It was because they liked my food.
N-no, it didn’t hurt my feelings.
Mhm, it’s fine, and besides, I was already married.
Hah, hahaha. Good thing I didn’t get divorced yet. If I was single now, I think it would’ve hurt more.
「What are the two of you going to do after? Are you going to leave tomorrow morning?」
「Well, I left all my stuff at the intermediate dungeon. I’m going to head back tomorrow morning to grab them. I should be back by the evening.」
So Rofas-san would be eating breakfast and dinner here then. Maybe I should make him a bento too. But if he was going to leave for the intermediate dungeon around noon, maybe it wouldn’t be necessary?
Rofas-san seemed to eat a lot too, so I would have to make a lot of rice for him.
「I’m going to head to town with Rofas-san the day after tomorrow
 so I’ll be graduating from here then.」
Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun looked sad when Bryce-kun said that.
「I’ll drop by every now and then. Make sure you teach Yuuri-san all about the dungeon rules, raise your level, and do all your checks. Do your best, you two.」
Bryce-kun patted Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun on the head.
「What about the two of you? You don’t need to go to town?」
「Kurtz is from an orphanage, and Kirika only has a drunk dad waiting for her at home.」
Bryce-kun answered Rofas-san’s question.
Eh?
I see, so Kurtz-kun was an orphan. Kirika-chan wasn’t one, but in some ways was similar because she had toxic parents?
Before I realized it, I grabbed the two children and hugged them tightly.
「I’m so glad the two of you aren’t leaving. If you do, I’ll be left here all by myself. Thank you for staying. Let’s work hard to do research on the potion dishes. Tell me what tastes good and what doesn’t, okay?」
Kurtz-kun rested his hands on my arm.
「Leave it to us. Yuuri-neechan, you run out of breath just by going back and forth between here and the field, right? I’ll do my best to tend it.」
Oh? So he knew that I was having a hard time going to the field. One round trip dropped my HP quite a lot after all.
「Yuuri-oneechan, you’re like a mama.」
Kirika-chan’s words shot through my heart.
*ba dump*
She was just so cute.
Back when I was in Japan, I wanted children, but never had any.
Those two cute children I had been taking care of went back to their real mother, after all.
I was happy that Kirika-chan thought I was like a mother.
I wanted to rub Kirika-chan’s cheeks, but she was suddenly taken away from my arms.
「Hey, Kirika. Yuuri’s still young, you know? It’s kinda rude to call her “mama”. You should treat her more like an older sister.」
Kirika-chan was brought up to Rofas-san’s right shoulder.
She held onto Rofas-san’s head.
「Ehehe, Rofas-san is like a big brother.」
Kurtz-kun, who was sitting on the left shoulder, smiled.
「Kirika, at Rofas-san’s age, he can even be a papa.」
Bryce-kun nodded in agreement.
「No no, you guys, I’m still single, and my mind’s still young. Don’t call me papa, please!」
Rofas-san was kind and thoughtful towards children, so surely he would make a happy family.
I imagined Rofas-san playing together with Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun at a park.
Meanwhile, I would be sitting on a picnic sheet and watch the three of them in delight.
「I’m hungry~」
The three of them would come over, and then I would lay out the bento boxes I had prepared.
Wait, what on earth was I imagining here?!
I shook my head.
「Look, Yuuri-neechan’s shaking her head. I still think it’s hard for Rofas-san to be called “nii-chan” at his age though.」
No, that wasn’t why I was shaking my head

「Ah, no, but
 Well, I guess that’s true. By the time people are twenty-seven or twenty-eight here, they would be married and have children already
」
Ehh, so that was how this world saw it.
In Japan, not many men were getting married in their twenties, the last time I checked.