A Woman Who Bakes Sweets If You're in the Plus
“Anywhere hurting?”
I asked while touching Arvin’s legs.
“Nope.”
“Anything feel off?”
“Nope, nope. I even whipped some cocky rookie into shape the other day.”
Arvin had been one of the Black Shadows, after all, so he was strong.
Even with prosthetic legs, he probably wouldn’t lose to your average soldier.
“Don’t make them resent you.”
“It was proper training, relax.”
“Yeah? Then I’ll make the adjustments.”
I removed the prosthetic legs and checked to see if anything had changed.
“Here, tea.”
Angela handed Arvin some tea.
“Thanks. Your old man doing well?”
“Same as always, I guess? Dunno.”
“Good enough. Tell him we should go drinking sometime.”
“Okay. But don’t stay out too late. The atmosphere in the house the next day gets awful.”
Arvin drank like water.
If I got dragged along with that, I’d end up dead drunk.
“That goes for my house too. Eric, Mary doing good?”
Arvin asked.
“She’s fine. Went to the forest with Katrina again today.”
“Ahh, right, she became an adventurer yesterday? That’s gotta worry you.”
“Not really. She can do what she wants.”
“Heh…”
Don’t snort, An.
“Haha, having a daughter’s rough. Glad mine’s a boy.”
“Your little brat doing okay?”
“That’s the surprising part. Says he wants to join the army.”
Now *that* was surprising.
“Your influence?”
“No clue. Maybe because I taught him how great his old man is once.”
So you beat up your son.
“You’re too great for him to be any match.”
“I wasn’t serious.”
Obviously.
“My girl became an adventurer. I’d rather she helped in the shop or went off and got married somewhere.”
Marriage is still too early, though.
“If she said she was getting married, he’d oppose it, right?”
Arvin asked Angela with a grin.
“Oh, absolutely. Totally. He’d investigate thoroughly, and if he found even one flaw, he’d oppose it with everything he has got.”
I would not.
“You’re noisy.”
“Hahaha. Still, Mary becoming an adventurer, huh? She used to be so tiny. Time flies. I was shocked when you suddenly showed up with a kid.”
After the war, I’d made magic tools to earn travel money and came to this town.
I just couldn’t stop worrying about Arvin.
Back then, Arvin had recommended the place, so I decided to settle here. He also helped when I opened the shop.
No, it was not just Arvin.
A lot of people in this town helped me.
Especially since I had no clue how to raise a little girl, they really saved me.
“I’m grateful.”
“That’s my line. I got money from your shares too, and you even made these legs for me. Never thought I’d walk again.”
Bill and Roland, who’d gone on to heaven, weren’t coming back.
But I thought I had to do something for Arvin.
Luckily, I knew prosthetic legs existed, and after a lot of trial and error, I completed them.
“It’s fine. Honestly, I kind of got swept along and handed my money over to you.”
I just went along with the others.
And momentum.
After leaving the battlefield and reaching a nearby town with Mary and Rachel, I was completely lost and regretted it like hell.
“You really haven’t changed that blunt side of yours at all. Angela, you might have it rough.”
“I’m a great woman, so I’ll be fine.”
“Then yeah, you’ll be fine.”
Hmph.
“There. Adjustments are done. Hurry up and get back to work.”
I attached Arvin’s prosthetic legs.
“Tch. Tsundere old men aren’t trending, you know.”
Arvin said that and stood up.
“I’m cool.”
“With eyes that swollen? What are you talking about?”
Shut up.
“A bug flew into my eye yesterday. Arvin, why not become an adventurer and party up with Mary and the others?”
“You’re asking the impossible. I'm a military personnel. Side jobs are forbidden. Besides, people like that team up with others their own age.”
Yeah, with Arvin it’d feel way too much like bringing a guardian along.
“I see. Then get out.”
“Yeah, yeah. Oh right. Hey, you know someone called Fullface Maskman?”
Hm?
Why that name?
“What’s that?”
“Apparently some mysterious masked weirdo showed up in town yesterday. Heard he’s suspicious as hell.”
“Huh. First I’ve heard of it. You’re my first customer today.”
“Is that so? Don’t overdo it. Later.”
Arvin said that and left, so I looked at Angela.
“Your parents say anything?”
“Yeah. During dinner they told me to be careful because there’s some suspicious guy around.”
So it really became a rumor…
“I’ll protect you.”
“The suspicious person *is* you, Eric.”
An laughed in a very good mood.
“That can’t be helped.”
Well, I was registered as an adventurer now, so even if soldiers said something, the guild would vouch for my identity.
“I have no idea what can’t be helped. Anyway, work, work.”
We got back to work.
Customers kept coming in, placing orders, and there were requests for simple repairs too.
That used to be rough at first, but things had gotten easier after Angela, who’d come play here since childhood and often helped with work, officially became my employee.
We kept working, and once noon came, we ate lunch.
Then we worked through the afternoon, and a little before three, Mary came back with Katrina.
“I’m homeee~”
“Welcome back. You’re early.”
“Yeah, kinda~ Took it easy today. Strategy meeting time.”
Well, taking time to review things like that was good.
No matter the profession, if you charged in without thinking, you’d fail.
“Umm… excuse me for intruding, sir…”
Katrina greeted me in a voice so quiet it might disappear.
“Welcome. Mary hasn’t caused you trouble, has she?”
“I haven’t~”
I wasn’t asking you.
“She hasn’t. It’s something I wanted to try too, and Mary is dependable.”
Katrina becoming an adventurer, huh…
I’d assumed Mary dragged her into it by force.
“Eric~ come to think of it, where’s Angela? Out delivering something?”
“Ah, now that you mention it, Miss Angela isn’t here.”
The two of them looked around the shop.
“She’s in the back baking cake. Good timing for you two.”
Yesterday I got minus fifty points, so she didn’t bake any.
“Ohh, lucky! Angela must’ve had something good happen.”
“Miss Angela’s so easy to read.”
Is she?
“Angela~~~ we’re back~”
“Excuse us…”
The two of them headed into the living quarters in the back, so I resumed work.
What do you think about this chapter?
