I found my horse while foraging for lunch. It was as healthy and safe as ever, and it lazily chewed on some grass while watching me with disinterested eyes. ...Well, I’m happy it was alive and all, even if it did leave me for dead.

For the rest of the day, I lectured Berry on how to show off his good points to his future partner. Whenever they’re in danger, save them dashingly. Protect them and make them feel safe and cared for. If they’re cold, offer to keep them warm; if they’re scared, comfort them. These were all basic forms of interaction that even children knew, but this was Berry’s first time hearing about them.

Furthermore, I firmly told him that when he traveled with the Maiden of Light, unless the circumstances made it inconvenient, he should always try to walk beside or near her. Don’t hover over her head while hiding in the trees, I told him. A girl walking with four handsome guys and a giant monster over her head wasn’t a good image for Berry at all.

Thus, the day ended. I applied another layer of ointment to Berry’s wounds, and we slept peacefully through the night. The next morning, after breakfast, I pulled out my lesson itinerary once more.

“Alright! For today, I’m going to be teaching you life skills!”

These were skills that were impossible to live without, such as:

• How to greet people
• How to have a conversation
• How to stare soulfully into the other person’s eyes to avoid talking
• How to gracefully escape a conversation if you can’t really stand it anymore

And so on. Berry listened diligently as I went over these essentials of social interaction. At the very least, he now knew how to greet someone “Good morning”, as well as how to say “Fair maiden, an urgent matter beckons me from thine embrace; though parting is such sweet sorrow, alas, I must depart.” I counted this as a success.

Next up, I had to start training Berry into a high-spec man. If he was going to be a match for the Crown Prince, who was good at fighting, orating, poetry, music, dancing, extorting blackmail from criminals, cooking, and cleaning, Berry needed at least a few more skills under his sleeve.

I ruminated deeply over what sorts of skills would best suit Berry’s personality, as well as what I had on hand to teach him with, and decided on a couple of options.

The first was -

“Alright, it’s lunchtime! Chop these vegetables up for me, Berry.” I dumped a pile of root vegetables into Berry’s hands. “I’ll be teaching you how to cook. What I’ll show you may be simple, but when you’re out traveling on the road, it’ll be sure to win over a girl’s heart.” Berry looked at me like a startled rabbit. He’d surely never cooked before, but thankfully, he had me to instruct him.

I instructed Berry to cut the wild vegetables into small chunks with his claws. His hands were too big to hold a knife, so it was simpler to let him use his natural advantages. In the meantime, I started boiling water over the firepit using a stew pot that I had brought with me. I showed Berry the different flavorings and natural ingredients he could forage around the forest.

“Though what you have on hand will differ depending on the environment you’re in, with your sense of taste and smell, you should be able to find whatever’s edible and delicious wherever you are.”

Berry nodded, hovering over my shoulder as he watched me add the vegetables, mushrooms, and herbs to the boiling water. A trickle of drool slipped from the corner of his mouth.

Along with the stew, I also showed Berry how to cut up and prepare a fresh fruit and vegetable salad, as well as how to roast vegetables and mushrooms over the fire. “Looks like it’s all ready,” I noted, stirring the stew and checking the color and firmness of the vegetables in the soup.

Satisfied with how it turned out, I ladled the soup into bowls and arranged the various dishes over a blanket.

“So!” I said, presenting the plates with flourish. “Here we have three simple dishes. The first is a fresh wild salad made of sorrel, chickweed, dandelion greens, and juneberries. You should gather the leaves in a swirl on the plate, making sure to have the chickweed flowers lined around the edges, then nestle the purple berries on top like this. That way, you have a refined plate with a delicate and cute appearance.”

Berry nodded, staring with sparkly eyes at the salad bowl. Suppressing my self-satisfied smile, I calmly set the bowl down and ignored the way Berry’s ears drooped.

“Next we have the vegetable, nut, and mushroom stew. You can usually throw anything into a stew and have it turn out good. Soup is a very versatile dish, and you can almost never go wrong with it. For today, we used some of the common plants around this forest. Mustard greens, burdock roots, wild onions, carrots, acorns, beech nuts, and some of the larger mushroom caps we found. It’s always good to add seasonings such as salt and pepper if you have any available.” I gestured to the two bowls of clear and steaming soup which were filled with large chunks of root vegetables, mushrooms, brown nuts, and dark green leaves. Berry looked at the stew with some curiosity.

“The leaves turned strange...” he said, leaning closer to look at the soupy leaves. When they were fresh, they were a bright and light green with a crispy, energetic texture. Once they had been boiled into soup, they became dark and soft, like they had wilted. Well, that’s just what leaves and greens looked like when they were cooked, you know? I guess this was the first time that Berry ever got to see cooked food up close.

“If you think that’s strange, what about this?” I held up the plate where the mushroom and vegetable skewers sat. Berry looked at their charred, darkened exterior with apprehension, seeming worried about whether it was really edible. “Hey, hey, don’t look like that. This is how most people eat their food, you know. We prefer to cook our food over fire rather than eating it raw. These are really easy to prepare, too. We used the ends of the mustard greens and paired them with some of the smaller mushrooms and some wild onions. That way, you get a nice variety of flavors and textures. Come on, try it!”

I handed one of the skewers to Berry, and under my expectant gaze, he reluctantly nibbled on a roasted mushroom. He chewed slowly, and then, after a few seconds, a light shone in his eyes and he took another bite.

I laughed. “See, I told you! It’s good, right?” When he finished his skewer, I handed him another. “Eat up, eat up.”

Resting my head on my hands, I watched Berry eat the food I’d cooked for him. He ate so enthusiastically. It must be delicious, right? Haha, I wonder if his heart thumped for me. Probably not, though. I wasn’t the Maiden of Light, and he wasn’t my destined warrior. Between he and I, there wasn’t any love that could bloom.

Still, it was nice to dream.

I picked up my portion of food and ate alongside him.

After we finished eating, we rested for a bit. I took the pot and plates to the river to wash them, and when I returned, I checked on the state of Berry’s wounds.

“They’re nearly healed up already, huh?” Surprised, I leaned closer to Berry’s chest to get a better look at one of the bites. The wounds had been gaping before, and had looked sort of like mincemeat. By yesterday, the injuries had closed enough that a normal human might’ve healed from them in about two months with some scarring. Today, they were shallow cuts. I traced the closed skin around the edges, feeling how smoothly the wounds were sealing. He wouldn’t scar at all.

When I came to my senses, I noticed Berry sitting stiffly as I practically draped myself over him with how closely I stood over his chest.

“Aaah, sorry. I was just checking on your wounds. They’re healing very well.” I stepped back and smiled genially. It didn’t escape my notice how Berry relaxed when I put some distance between us. “By tomorrow, you should be fully healed. Let’s apply the ointment one more time to be safe. This time, I’ll be teaching you how to make it on your own.”

I spread out several bundles of medicinal herbs and explained to Berry which ones went into the silverwort medicine. He watched attentively as I portioned out the amount needed for the recipe, and I made sure to tell him that this was for double the normal portion.

Each medicinal herb had its own unique properties, and special care was needed to draw out the best of each one. You couldn’t just toss all the herbs together and mash them into medicine; you had to follow exact steps and treatments to create proper medicine. I instructed Berry on how to make the silverwort medicine, and watched over him as he ground the leaves until the silver essence leaked out. He diligently followed my instructions until he had a bowl of silver ointment in his hands. “Good job, Berry,” I praised. Berry looked down at the silver ointment in amazement, and the corners of his jaw hooked up in what must have been a shy smile.

We applied the ointment to his wounds, and once that was done, I brought out more medicinal herbs to teach him how to make simple cures and medicines for other wounds. I demonstrated how to prepare poultices for flesh wounds, how to make medicine for fevers, and how to create cleansing ointments for infections.

Though Berry wouldn’t need to use any of this for himself, having these kinds of survival skills would come in handy when he was traveling with other people. He would be able to help out in an emergency, making him not only useful, but reliable.

The last thing I had Berry work on was to practice wrapping bandages. I held out my forearm, and Berry carefully wrapped gauze over my skin. He took great care to not slice the gauze or my skin with his claws.

Once he finished tying off the end, I lifted up my arm to take a look. The gauze was a little loose, and the wrapping a little sloppy, but it was serviceable. “Pretty good for a first try,” I said. It really wasn’t easy for him, what with how big and dangerous his hands were. “You’ll need to work on tightening the bandage a little more, but other than that - you’re a natural, Berry!” I patted his forearm with a smile.

Berry ducked his head. I caught a peek of a smile behind the veil of his hair. He raised his claws to my forearm again and asked, “Can I…?”

“Oh, sure.” I held my arm still as Berry undid the gauze to retie it. This time, he wrapped it with more confidence. When it was done, he held my thin wrist in the circle of his thumb and forefinger to look over his work.

The entire span of his hand was nearly as long as my forearm. Yet despite the difference in our sizes, I didn’t feel threatened.

Berry held my wrist gently, and when he was satisfied with his work, he let me go. But instead of dropping his hand, Berry slid it down so that my hand rested on his palm.

“...Your hand is… small,” he said, gazing down at the sight of my hand nestled comfortably in the curve of his palm. Yeah, yeah, I know. Even I could admit that I looked like a baby compared to him. The corner of my lips twitching, I opened my mouth to say something back. But then Berry closed his hand around mine, enveloping my hand completely in the warmth of his grip, and whatever I was about to say faded from my lips. “...?” Berry made an inquisitive sound. “Klue… your face is… red…?”

I snatched my hand out of his grip. Jumping to my feet, I laughed, “Haha, aha ha, looking good, Berry! This is, wow, such great bandaging!” I waved my bandaged arm around. “I’m going to go… wash up. Yep! See you, bye!”

I ran like hell toward the river. When I got to the riverbank, I sank to my knees and put my hands on my cheeks. Crap. My cheeks were as hot as a furnace, and when I looked at my reflection in the river water, I saw my face blushing bright red like a tomato.

What the [bleep]! I shouted at myself, splashing water over my face. You’re not some twelve-year-old boy anymore! Why’re you blushing over getting your hand held?! Idiot!!!

I collapsed in despair at the riverbed, my hands covering my face. I can’t believe I was defeated by some clueless virgin’s moves…

Without even knowing it, Berry dealt me a critical mental blow.

Author’s Note

As someone with no cooking ability, while I was writing the cooking scene, a constant flurry of ???? floated over my head. If you’re ever lost in a forest, please don’t try my recipes.