~LFTV 04~
Chapter 4
“Sir Callius? You’ve grown taller!”
Daisy clapped her hands in genuine admiration at Callius’s more mature (?) appearance.
“You don’t look like a baby anymore—you look like a proper child now!”
The little boy who had looked around four or five years old had now grown into someone who seemed about six!
“What… the…”
Callius spent a long time scrutinizing himself, clutching his small hands and inspecting every corner of his body carefully.
Then, with a serious expression, he nodded.
“…So I really have grown. I can feel my magical power has increased a little as well. Though compared to my original strength, it’s still just a tiny fraction.”
“Oh! So your body size and magical power grew proportionally?”
“Seems that way.”
“But why did my body suddenly grow? Do you have any guesses, Sir Callius?”
Daisy asked with hopeful curiosity. Callius paused to think for a moment.
“Hm… there was only one variable.”
Muttering to himself, he suddenly picked up a spoon and began devouring the porridge placed before him.
Daisy was startled.
“Huh? You’ll get indigestion if you eat like that! Drink some water as you go!”
Callius ignored Daisy’s warning and emptied half the bowl.
Between bites, he would inspect his body here and there, nodding to himself.
After a while, he set down his spoon with a clatter.
“I’ve figured it out.”
“What is it?”
“The answer is your porridge.”
“Porridge? What do you mean…?”
Daisy asked in confusion, but all she got in response was a sharp counter-question.
“Slave. What have you done to my porridge?”
“Ah, nothing at all!”
“The ingredients?”
“I told you earlier. Since there weren’t enough ingredients, I could only add beef and rice.”
“Anything else?”
“…Just water and salt?”
“That can’t count as magical ingredients.”
“I thought so too.”
Callius groaned and held his head.
“…But each bite of your porridge seems to slightly replenish my magical power.”
Daisy tilted her head in puzzlement.
“That’s strange. I can’t use magic or anything like that.”
“Any guesses?”
“No. But hearing Sir Callius, there’s one thing I can say for sure.”
Callius’s eyes sparkled.
“What is it you’ve realized?”
“That…”
Daisy smiled slyly as she looked into his sharp, jet-black eyes.
“That I’ve become the one holding the reins now?”
“What… what did you say?”
“I fed you and made you grow. That means I’ve become a very important person to you, Sir Callius. Isn’t that right?”
Callius pinched his forehead in frustration.
“…Ugh.”
It was a fact he could not deny.
Daisy and Callius sat across from each other and signed their names on separate sheets of paper.
“Well then, I look forward to working with you.”
Daisy smiled brightly and extended her hand for a shake. Callius, of course, did not respond.
“Stop wasting time. Bring me food.”
Demanding food so bluntly was audacious, yet it warmed Daisy’s heart.
“Of course, leave it to me. I’ll handle it.”
The formal agreement between Daisy and Callius was simple:
Daisy would devote herself to helping Callius recover.
In return, Callius would put effort into treating Daisy’s illness.
Simple. They would each help the other with what they could do.
Of course, Callius could have chosen to eat meals prepared by someone else.
But fortunately, he didn’t want to reveal his condition to others.
“If anyone finds out, a bunch of people will rush in. Then the situation becomes unbearable. So you must take responsibility for my meals.”
Daisy nodded cheerfully.
‘You can sustain a great wizard’s abilities with just a few meals?’
She realized she could employ a powerful archmage at a bargain price!
In that case, his grumpy, intimidating attitude now seemed almost endearing.
Daisy pulled a blank sheet of paper in front of her. There were a few notes she wanted to make.
“By the way, what foods do you like or dislike, Sir Callius?”
“Why do you need to know?”
Daisy smiled.
“I just want to tailor the meals to the client’s taste as best as I can.”
Even though she had lived eighteen years as a noble lady, Daisy still retained some memories from her past life.
‘If it’s anything related to food, I’m confident!’
In her previous life, Daisy had plenty of experience working part-time in kitchens. She had even considered going into the culinary business.
After deciding to live as a commoner, she started working in a restaurant for the same reason.
‘I dreamed of opening my own shop and being called “boss”…’
But with this mysterious fainting illness, that would be impossible.
Daisy shook off the memories and grinned at Callius.
“Anyway! I give my all in everything I do! So, tell me your food preferences quickly.”
Callius frowned slightly at her cheerful persistence.
“Hm. I…”
“Sir Callius…”
“I don’t really like eating.”
“You don’t like eating…? That’s such a lazy answer!”
Daisy shouted in disbelief. But the shocking revelation didn’t stop there.
“Even before reaching the rank of archmage, I considered mealtime a waste.”
“Good heavens!”
Daisy had guessed he wasn’t enthusiastic about food from the way he picked at his meat porridge, but to think he outright found eating bothersome…! For Daisy, who lived to eat, this was incomprehensible.
She sighed.
“Nothing you like?”
“Hmm… sweet things. They wake me up when I eat them.”
“And?”
“I also eat bitter things sometimes. The nasty taste helps wake me up.”
“Ugh.”
She rubbed the back of her neck at his unhelpful answers.
Finally, Daisy waved her hand and stood up.
“Anyway, got it. My first task is to at least make sure Sir Callius doesn’t dislike eating.”
“Hmph. Then you’d better make the meals palatable.”
Daisy sighed inwardly.
‘So picky!’
She had thought it would be easy, but she had to deal with a finicky, picky archmage.
And so began the chaotic cohabitation of Daisy and Callius, the great wizard with a tiny appetite.
Daisy crossed her arms.
“What should I make first?”
Callius had no interest in meals, meaning he had no favorite ingredients either.
“If I had to guess, he seems to like sweet things… at least a little.”
Then targeting sweet flavors would be the best approach.
“Hmmm.”
Daisy pondered while wandering through the food storage room. Thanks to preservation magic, it was comfortably cool inside.
“There’s hardly anything here.”
The only ingredients she had managed to gather recently were a few handfuls of rice and a chunk of meat.
“Hm… is there anything else?”
Daisy explored the dusty pantry.
“If he doesn’t like food, why make the storage room so big?”
She muttered to herself as she rifled through the room.
- Rustle.
Something brushed against Daisy’s foot. It was the end of a rough sack. She opened it and found it filled with oval objects.
Daisy’s eyes widened.
“These are… eggs?”
The sack contained eggs of all sizes: striped regular-sized eggs, white fist-sized eggs, black head-sized eggs, reddish metallic watermelon-sized eggs…
They all looked suspicious, but none seemed inedible.
She didn’t have the luxury to pick and choose ingredients anyway, and some monster eggs were indeed edible.
“If they weren’t edible, they wouldn’t be in the food storage to begin with.”
Daisy inspected the eggs, her eyes sparkling with a brilliant idea.
