Doctor Jayr said that an investigator was coming to town to ask about the meteor that hit the forest. It’s only natural since I’m a suspicious individual with no identification found immediately next to the disaster site. The investigator would arrive a week from now, so I would have to chill here for a while.

Normally I would question why an investigator would take so long to arrive, but I have some guesses. Although I relieved some of the pressure from the Kirelian pulsar’s meltdown with the Pandora Protocol, even if I reduced 99. 98% of the possible catastrophe, that 0.02% remaining would still be a devastating shock wave that would disrupt global communication and electronics worldwide. I bet the committee is also frantically searching for me right now. A town on a remote region wouldn’t be the first place they would think to visit. 

And so I passed my time in this quaint medieval styled town.

First off, food.

I frankly told Doc that his cooking lacked passion and that I would cook for myself. He was less surprised by the fact that I told him he sucked at cooking, but rather the fact that I wanted to cook in this condition.

I had to go through some difficulty. The countertops were almost chin-height for me when I sat on my wheelchair. I had to haphazard stack pillows in order to reach a barely workable height. Doctor Jayr strongly advised against doing this, but I have confidence in my balance. The quality of my meal is also non-negotiable. Its either as good as possible or I starve. 

I was allowed usage of the ingredients in the kitchen as some more payment for the wheelchair design. Though that’s probably just an excuse.

When I reach out my arms to slice tomatoes on the counters, I suddenly felt a burst of nostalgia. I remembered when I used to cook dishes for my mom and dad whenever they were incredibly fatigued from their work. This was probably the same thing I used to see whenever I did that back then.

The happy smiles they gave me when they tasted my hard work gave me strength.

I didn’t even realize that my cheeks were wet as I crushed almonds. 

Jayr was frightened by the fact that I suddenly started crying. He thought it was because I suddenly got bursts of pain again. I assured him that I didn’t feel any pain. I was just reminded of something.

I didn’t notice his complicated expression when I said that.

He didn’t let me handle the stove though. High heat could have adverse effects on my injuries, so he says.

I just told him to keep it at 350 degrees celsius for ten minutes, flip the fish, and cook for another ten minutes.

The result? Buttered garlic and tomato baked cod, topped with blue spinach and crushed almonds, a relatively simple recipe. I had to replace oil with butter because the oil they have here has too strong of a scent, it would overpower the mild flavor of the cod. It was more pricey, but Jayr said that they had some butter leftover that I could use.

The flavor of the garlic really seeped into the fish with the help of the butter. That made the garlic taste more subtle, and it gave a nice sort of flavor to the cod. The acidity of the tomato also brought out more of the flavor of the fish.

The oven the kitchen had was a very crude oven so the fish ended up being uneven on some parts, but overall it baked well.

The blue spinach was the kicker though. I wasn’t too sure of how to prepare it on the cod so I had just sautéed it with some of the oil and some salt and pepper. The strong power of the oil wouldn’t do too much to the spinach.

The spinach by itself was already a worthy dish. The blue spinach was different from the breeds of spinach that I knew in that it had this sort of subtly rich and cool flavor that just felt refreshing on the tongue. 

When I tried the fish and spinach together, they tasted incredible, but the oil I used definitely made some discord in the flavor. The mild and smooth flavor of the fish would definitely go well with the refreshing taste of the blue spinach, but the strong taste of the olive oil-like oil shook the synergy. Baking the spinach together with the fish would’ve been a better idea, so I noted that in my head. I’ll have Esme look through my mental log to record this recipe later. 

I had Jayr try the dish I made and he was surprised by how good it tasted. Its only natural of course. Cooking is one of my greatest prides. 

Lily also came over at that time. I let her try my dish and she was shocked. “This is even better than my aunt’s cooking…” she remarked.

Speaking of Lily, originally I just thought that she was scared of me, a foreigner who just suddenly bleeds out of his every orifice, but now I’ve realized. 

This girl has a crush on me.

Those sparkling eyes, boundless enthusiasm and rose tinted bias, I’m all too familiar with it.

I understand that my looks are quite good. I’ve even been solicited to play the part of a leading role in a certain popular international drama. Though, I refused. I like role-playing, but I hate professional acting. 

Its just that… it’s troublesome.

“Mm!” Looking at the cute girl happily eating, I’m reminded of the insane fanaticism exhibited by people who I initially thought were harmless, and the number of hearts being broken for both their and my sake. The amount of trouble those incidents caused, I shivered uncontrollably at the thought.

But then I was reminded of a certain platinum-blonde haired girl who was the biggest deterrent for those kinds of people, and I felt a twinge of guilt in my heart. She must be worried sick while looking for me. 

I’ll make it up to her when I get back.

This is what I told myself as I tried to hide the anxiety I had from this bad feeling nagging me.

As the days went by, I gradually explored more of the town since I had nothing better to do. 

The people were initially quite curious. They had never seen a wheelchair before, and they also haven’t seen someone who looks so injured moving around so easily. After some explanations from Jayr, eventually they got accustomed to me. They were pretty nice. They were happy to assist a handicapped person and they were sympathetic to my circumstances.

What was the most striking was the sort of subtle air of anxiety that grew as the days went by. I asked Amanda when I came by the Inn to visit. She said that it was because a large number of the local militia were sent out to fight somewhere over a month ago and a majority of them still haven’t come back. Normally they would only be out for a few weeks to a month at a time since they are after all, only local militia. 

This would’ve been a perfect way to narrow down which country I was in, but I don’t know which European countries exercise mandatory military conscription for its populace. 

Apparently those militia that did come back brought bad news too. They didn’t know why so many conscripts hadn’t come home yet, but they had heard rumors about many soldiers being injured and sent to hospitals in the nearby city. Amanda said she didn’t know much, and as frustrating as it was for the townspeople, the homecomers didn’t know much either. 

“Maybe we can hear a few things from the inspector when he comes.” Jayr said.

That’s what I was thinking too. 

_________________________