Neta Chara Tensei Toka Anmari da! - CH 38

Aisha’s Reminiscence

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Translator: Luminisca

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She was absentminded and not even able to discern right or left.

Like trying to grasp a shapeless heat, in the meaningless and vague feeling, Aisha looked. In the small house with only two rooms on it, in the old house which draft would pass through, in the nostalgic house that would make Aisha almost shed tears even now, she looked at her father.

Her father was cooking, and Aisha looked at him absentmindedly.

His body was tempered and riddled with scars; Aisha swung her legs impatiently as she gazed at his back.

Behind those actions, she was actually slightly depressed.

She wanted to help.

But if Aisha held a knife, her father would become too worried and unable to focus on cooking. That would mean giving his father more work knowing he was busy. That’s why Aisha obediently sit and watched him.

She wanted to help his father.

But cooking was not possible. When she held a knife, she would always cut her finger and made the ingredients into a pulp, she was no help. What she could do was only simple tasks like drawing water or washing vegetables.

Crushed by the helplessness she felt due to her always causing trouble for her father, she hung her head.

She was frustrated.

She could not meet his eyes; she could only hide her own powerlessness.

Now could understand that her beating herself was the most his father did not want to see, but at that point of time, she was frustrated, sad,  desolate, and could not handle her own emotion.

And whenever Aisha hung her head, her father would always say.

“Aisha, sorry but could you bring the tableware? And also bring the wooden bowl—that’s right not the big one, please bring it here.”

It must be her father’s way of consideration.

He told Aisha to do what she could and let her grow up slowly.

But at that time Aisha did not notice.

Aisha was elated, to be relied on by her father, it was what was in her head as she nodded.

“Yes, I will take it, father!”

–In the bottom of pure white consciousness, a soft voice reached.

“—Sha—Aisha—”

It was a kind voice like any other time.

It brought peace to her heart, but the absentminded Aisha could not even discern whose voice it was, before she completed her thought her words already flew.

“Mm…Fa..ther…”

Was that because of her blurry consciousness or was it due to the dream she had about the past she said it? Her hands reached out toward the fleeting image and expected to catch nothing—and yet she could feel warm on her hand.

“…Huh…Eh…Nacht-ama…?”

The light appeared in her field of view, chasing away the blurry vision.

“Good morning, Aisha.”

“…Yes…Good morning…”

Aisha rubbed her sleepy eyes and quickly woke up.

Her field of vision grew. Aisha was sitting on the bed, in the inn’s room, which might have been bigger than her own home.

Looking at Nacht who hold her hand, and the warm-looking food on the table, she realized she has been oversleeping.

Nacht was smiling happily like always, but it made Aisha feel even more guilty. Aisha has a high sense of responsibility, that’s why she was in dilemma.

“Why did you not wake me up, Nacht-sama…! Aisha has been troubled you once again…I am a failure as a servant…”

She was angry toward herself and slightly angry toward Nacht, but the biggest feeling she has now was envy toward her master that could do anything better than her. That chaotic feeling turned into a whirlpool of emotion that crushed her.

Nacht could do anything flawlessly as if she would not need Aisha at all.

As if peeking at those emotions, Nacht said.

“I made the breakfast just for you, Aisha. Don’t just reject it, let’s eat together. Eating alone is tasteless. And the silver husk rice cooked in earthenware was your favorite right?”

It was a kind, and sweet word from her master, even if she tried to resist, she ends up smiling unconsciously.

“I need you” her master words would always make her delighted and almost cried with happiness.

But if she leave it at that, she would feel really miserable about herself so she force herself to open her mouth.

“But I am Nacht-sama’s servant, please left the miscellaneous matter to me!”

Her master has become so famous that none in the trade city would not know. Her contribution during the Dragon-Demon Conflict has been made public, and many townspeople adored her. And although as not much as her master, Aisha was also respected as the servant of the said hero, and she also work hard to not betray the expectation. Of course, it was not for the people around, she only wanted to be useful to Nacht.

Aisha said that with much vigor, but Nacht’s reply was calm.

“I will surely leave it to you when you could do it—but for now, Aisha should eat well and sleep well, so you could grow worthy of my servant, that is your job for now—”

That answer was unfair.

Right now, Aisha worked hard on many things. The first thing was to become stronger. At least strong enough to tag along on Nacht’s journey. For that purpose, she tried to control both the power she originally has and the power Nacht gave her. Both were tremendous and gaining control of them was not easy. She read the hard-to-understand basic magic book so she could use magic, swung her sword for thirty minutes before she become frustrated, and many more.

To read one simple magic book, she must use all her half-baked knowledge of alphabets and even redo studying words and letters. It was hell. On the other hand, Nacht was out of this world, the language she should have never heard nor spoken, she was able to understand it in just a few hours. Aisha changed from the lecturer to the lectured in just those few hours.

Nacht told her to accrue more knowledge. So Aisha learned arithmetic, history, and even the hard-to-understand philosophy. She felt the pressure to learn more, and thus there was no time to even learn cooking.

Additionally, Aisha felt she was not good at cooking. And to cook the high-quality ingredients Nacht brought with her less than mediocre skill might only ruin the ingredients. And thus, she could only rely on Nacht’s kindness.

Nacht smiled happily at the conflicted Aisha.

And then Nacht continued her kindness (attack).

“—So, here, Aisha, aaan.”

Nacht brought the cooked white rice with the chopstick to Aisha’s mouth.

“Fue…”

Aisha was troubled, but her appetite was stimulated by the fragrance. Her stomach rumbled and her face was turned into shame.

Aisha know that the slightly wet and shiny rice was not common rice.

In her village, although mostly farmed wheat, rice was not uncommon. Her father even made porridge out of it in the past.

But the rice Nacht prepared was not only sweet but also has a strange but pleasant mouthfeel texture.

That flavor was so delicious even made Aisha feel unworthy of it, after she ate it a few times, she become fully aware of it.

That’s why, the hungry Aisha could not even resist the temptation, and before she know it she had already eaten the rice that was brought near to her mouth.

She wanted to protest that she was no longer a child, but her mouth said something else entirely.

“…a, aan”

As she ate the white rice, she could feel the deliciousness that she has tasted many times, but she would never become tired of it, attacking her sense and completely dragging her guilt away.

“Haa—”

What left was happiness that could not be expressed in words.

Her master was so close as if it was when Aisha received the lap pillow. Although Aisha felt it was inappropriate, in the next second her dependent heart desired to not be separated, and following that she moved closer to Nacht.

“Was it delicious?”

“Yes!”

She answered without missing a beat.

“Then you should eat more. Here, aaan.”

Aisha has become completely on Nacht’s mercy.

“Yes, aan.”

She opened her mouth wide like a baby bird waiting to be fed.

The unknown taste brought to her mouth one after another only brought her happiness and a smile never left her face.

Occasionally Aisha brought the food to Nacht’s with the chopstick, and she felt extremely happy just looking at her Master who eat it. She even forgot her usual sense of responsibility and enjoy the moment. Because there were only the two of them, she has completely become spoiled.

“Aaan.”

How many times was it?

When Aisha just opened her mouth again. Clack, the door was opened.

And then the eyes of Aisha who was spoiled and being fed met with Crysta’s eyes who was about to enter the room.

“……My apologies, it seems I was interrupting…”

“—Wha-wha–!””

Aisha was unable to say any excuse. She who was too focused on eating did not register the sound of knocking on the door.