Chapter 18
It felt like Hailey’s tearful voice was still echoing in his ears.
Baron was reminded of his childhood, when he had wandered from one battlefield to another around the northern gates.
‘The so-called adults around me were always busy pushing me toward the battlefield.’
Yet Hailey told him not to grow up because it was dangerous. It was such a ridiculous thing to say.
Still, it was strange that the corners of his lips lifted on their own at the thought.
Bloden’s eyes turned violet.
Quickly returning to Baron, Bloden closed his book and put his fountain pen back into his subspace pocket. Then he looked toward where Hailey would be.
The wall blocked his view, but she was probably working hard on the other side.
‘It must be much easier to work now.’
While Hailey had been asleep the previous night, the earth spirit Kamen had done some work.
Following the order to make the land fertile “without leaving any trace,” Kamen lifted the surface soil that Hailey had marked and moved it aside.
Then he removed all the stones, gravel, and rough dirt underneath and took them somewhere else. After bringing in rich soil, he covered it again with the original surface and carefully pressed it down so no signs were left.
However, Baron had told him to leave the exact spot where Hailey had first started digging untouched. If the stones she had seen before sleeping suddenly disappeared, she would surely find it strange.
Baron stood up.
‘Let’s see how much progress she’s made.’
I had planned to work lightly on what I thought was rough land and then go to the shore to gather seafood.
But every time I swung the hoe, the soil turned over easily. I glanced at the sky.
The weather was clear, but the gentle sea breeze was growing stronger. The waves would soon become rough, so it wouldn’t be good to go into the water.
‘Crops grow better if they sprout even a day earlier, right? Okay.’
I decided.
Instead of going to the sea today, I would finish plowing the field.
Imagining the field soon filled with green sprouts made me smile.
“Noona.”
When I was almost finished, I heard Baron’s voice behind me.
I stopped hoeing, wiped my sweat with my sleeve, and straightened my back.
“Yeah, you’re here?”
“Looks like you’re almost done?”
I nodded and looked around at the field I had plowed. The neat rows made me beam with pride.
“Now that I see it, most of it is good soil. It just so happened that the part I dug yesterday had a lot of stones.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yeah. I think I just need to sow the seeds and water them.”
Baron glanced toward the stream.
“Then should I bring the seeds I bought from the market and plant them? Or should I fetch some water from the stream?”
Baron was so kind.
I had told him he didn’t need to do anything, yet he always tried to help.
“No, it’s okay. I have to prepare dinner now, so I’ll do it tomorrow.”
I put the hoe away in the shed, made a small fire in front of the house, hung a pot over it, and added soaked beans and water.
Soon, white smoke rose, and the smell of boiling beans filled the air.
“You’re boiling quite a lot of beans.”
“Yeah. I’m going to make tofu.”
“Tofu? What’s that?”
“If you grind the beans and strain them through cloth, you get soy milk and bean pulp. You boil the soy milk to make tofu.”
“Soy milk? Bean pulp?”
I explained what bean pulp and tofu were.
Baron listened with interest but kept tilting his head in confusion. Maybe because this was a romance fantasy world, Korean food seemed unfamiliar to him.
“I don’t think the Empire has food like that.”
“It’s something I used to eat where I lived before. It’s very good for your health and beauty.”
I rolled up my sleeves and began making tofu.
At the same time, I hoped Baron would like it.
‘I’ll make it really delicious!’
By the time the tofu was finished, it had grown dark.
When I went inside to light the lamp, Search, which was hanging on the wall, glowed softly.
It felt strange.
It was definitely inside a glass bottle, but when I had looked earlier during the day, I couldn’t see it at all.
“I thought it might have run away. But it’s still here.”
Baron chuckled at my muttering.
“Flash fireflies are really, really small. They’re so tiny you can hardly see them.”
“I see. But won’t Search get hungry? What should we feed it?”
Baron dragged a chair over, stepped on it, and opened the lid of the glass bottle.
“Huh? You’re letting it out?”
“Yeah. If we release it, it finds food nearby on its own and plays. Since it can already control its light, it seems fully tamed.”
“What? It’s already tamed?”
“We did train it. Even though it’s an insect, this species is intelligent.”
“?”
I had done as he said, but calling it training felt embarrassing. All I had done was gently stroke the bottle, praise it, and call its name.
“If you call its name when you need it, it’ll come to you.”
It was hard to believe. But since this was a romance fantasy novel world, such creatures probably existed.
Freed, Search circled in the air and then stuck to the ceiling.
The whole room brightened.
It felt like the LED ceiling light from the world I had lived in before I possessed this body, and I couldn’t help smiling.
“Thank you, Search.”
In the brightly lit house, I cooked rice with the rice I had bought, made stew with bean pulp and cabbage, and prepared rolled omelet.
When the freshly made warm tofu was placed on a plate, steam rising from it, Baron’s eyes sparkled.
“Wow, this is amazing. I’ve never seen food like this before. Even the smell is interesting.”
I wished I had the perfect sauce for tofu. Still, I had some spicy olive pickles, jalapeños, ketchup, and mustard sauce from the market, so it was enough.
“Let’s eat.”
Finally, a proper meal! It had been so long.
I happily picked up my fork. But Baron just stared at the table blankly.
Maybe I had only thought from my own perspective.
“Is it hard to eat? If it’s too unfamiliar, should I give you bread instead?”
“No, it’s not that. I just don’t know which one is the appetizer and which is the main dish.”
“Oh.”
Right. The way of eating was different.
“This is rice, and the others are side dishes.”
“This is rice… and the rest are side dishes?”
“Yeah. You can eat some rice first and then choose a side dish you like, or you can eat them together. Like this.”
I scooped a spoonful of rice and placed some tofu and sauce on top.
“Say ah~.”
“Huh?”
Baron glanced to the side, his cheeks turning peach-colored. But soon he opened his mouth like a baby bird.
I slipped the spoon into his mouth.
His cheeks puffed out.
“How is it?”
He carefully chewed, then his eyes widened.
“What is this?”
“Is it good?”
“Yeah. It’s light but nutty. It’s kind of like pudding, but the texture is different. It melts in my mouth.”
“Right? You can eat it like that. And also—ah~.”
I fed him another spoonful of rice.
“Ah, again.”
I tried to feed him some side dishes too, but Baron covered his mouth with his hand.
It seemed he felt it was rude to open his mouth again before finishing what was already inside.
“There’s also a way to put different foods in your mouth one after another and eat them together. Watch. Like this.”
I demonstrated, chewing well and swallowing. Baron finished the plain rice in his mouth while watching me.
“It’s tasty even when eaten alone, but putting more food in your mouth after that… that’s really unique.”
I fed him some rolled omelet as well. As he carefully chewed, his eyes began to shine more and more.
I didn’t need to ask. I could see he was happy, and that made me proud.
“You can eat like that.”
“Okay.”
I started eating. But Baron just sat there.
“What now?”
He tilted his head.
“I almost get it… but not quite.”
“Huh?”
“I just watched you, but maybe because the method is unfamiliar, I can’t remember.”
“……”
There was no way.
When I stared at him, Baron pouted.
“I think I might understand if Noona feeds me one more time.”
