Chapter 290

Thanks to Gieville's ironclad defense, it looked like they could enjoy a peaceful year-end.

"Well then... Reina, shall we pull ourselves together and start preparing for the New Year?"

"Yes, Clael-sama! Let's do our best!"

Reina responded cheerfully to Clael's words.

The two of them were in the dining kitchen located deep within the shrine. They were just about to start preparing for the New Year.

Just because he was a priest of the shrine didn't mean he did anything special.

It was the same as a Japanese New Year. They simply prepared mochi and osechi dishes.

(This is a world with a medieval European vibe. Normally, there wouldn't be mochi or osechi here...)

However... once the year changed, there would be a New Year's mass. People from all over town would visit the shrine nonstop from morning till night.

Since there would be no time to cook, the shrine in Eggbell made mochi and osechi in advance that could be preserved.

"Um, first we pound the mochi... Oh, looks like it's already being done."

"Kuu-ma, kuu-ma."

"Nya! Nya!"

On the table, the Bear and Cat plushies were pounding mochi with their tiny hands.

The Bear swung the mallet while the Cat flipped the mochi, skillfully working together to make it.

"Kuu-ma, kuu-ma."

"Nya! Nya!"

"Looks like we can leave that side to them, Clael-sama."

"Yes... Then I'll make the soba."

"I'll make the osechi... It's our first time cooking together in a year!"

"Hahaha, that's right."

Clael mixed buckwheat flour and wheat flour, added water, and began kneading.

Making soba had been a hobby of his in his past life.

There was no buckwheat flour in this country... but thanks to the Holy Spirits flying around Reina, who had brought it from somewhere, he had resumed making soba in this life as well.

"I really love the 'soba' pasta you make, Clael-sama."

"I mix in wheat flour to make it easier to eat. And since the Holy Spirits even bring soy sauce and bonito flakes, I can make dipping sauce too... It's really a big help."

"Fufufufu... That's true. Ah, I'll go boil some water over here."

Reina began cooking efficiently.

Standing in the kitchen with an apron on, she looked like an adorably perfect young wife.

If such a beautiful and devoted woman cooked for you, you'd surely live a fulfilling life.

(Seriously... she's way too good for that useless main character.)

Clael gathered the kneaded buckwheat dough into one and pressed it flat with firm strength.

"Woof woof."

"Tanupon."

"Shoebill!"

Apparently the first round of mochi pounding was done, and the plushies were rolling the finished mochi into balls.

The plushies who had free hands were also boiling red beans to make sweet bean paste.

"Somehow... it feels like I've come home."

Plushies moving around was abnormal, but... at this shrine, it was an annual sight.

Once again, the feeling of having returned to Eggbell welled up inside him.

"After Reina went to the Grand Shrine, I thought we'd never have a year-end like this again..."

"That's not true at all. This year, next year, the year after that... I'll always be by your side, Clael-sama."

Reina said with a smile as she packed food into the multi-tiered box.

"We'll always be together from now on."

"...You're going a bit overboard with the brocon... or maybe the dad complex."

Clael was about to be exasperated by Reina's words, but to say he wasn't happy would be a lie.

It was a feeling he hadn't experienced much in life—something between embarrassment and shyness.

('I'll never get married. I'll always stay by Daddy's side'... Is this what it would feel like to hear that from your daughter?)

"...Guess I'll make the dipping sauce."

Clael shrugged and added bonito flakes into the boiling pot.

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