To-school Morning In Another World (1)

In the modern world, there's this habit that most people practice which is to pick up a phone and check for any messages. Well-- that's true for this world too.

When I brought up my system, I noticed a notification on my UI, and it was from Princess Siesta-sama. The message was from 4 pm yesterday.

We totally miss out on that huh?

She even tried to call us a few times. Too bad I had this habit of permanently turning off notifications. I need to change the settings later. I think it's default for everyone else too.

"Eh.. there's an emergency at the church? Why does she need to inform us?"

"Perhaps it's a guise? Curiosity kills the cat, as one says."

"No, let's make sure not to go to church today. Let's stay clear, our first agenda for today is to kill some.. what do you call those horned rabbits again?"

"I think it's called a Hoppin."

"Hoppin it is then."

"Frost thorn, a dozen stalks of it and a Hoppin's horn."

After a short discussion with everyone awake and our usual morning preparation, asides Prune and Liliath who busied themselves cooking, Nine and I stepped out the door.

Cold. Dark.

It was currently 5 in the morning.

That was the only thing I could say. The dull plaster wall of this room looked like frost crystals had entangled it's thorns upon it.

Are the mother and daughter alright? I just realized how there's no heater or anything here, so how does one keep warm?

"Cold.. are you not cold Noel?"

"I'm a demon lord, so I'm alright."

"You cheat," he frowned.

On top of the black coat Nine was wearing, he also wore the brown temperature retention mantle. No gloves on his hands, so he rubbed them together for a while and blew a warm frosty breath on it.

We exited the dummy room, the lights in the corridor were on. Downstairs, you could hear someone doing something, my spatial sense was telling me the said person was Miss Margrett.

"Morning Miss Margrett-san."

"Morning Miss Margrett."

Am I using honorifics wrong?

"Oh my, you two sure are early."

She seemed to be tossing wood chunks into the blazing kiln. You could practically feel the heat from here.

"How was sleep?"

"It was alright. You miss? Is it not cold?"

"Still within tolerable limits. I kept a warm bucket in the room you see."

That actually makes scientific sense but it isn't really practical in RL, I think. A bucket alone won't really help increase the temperature of the room, can it now?

Heaving the same metal bucket of water-- probably-- on top of the klin, she let it soak under the heat. It was different from the wood bucket we used yesterday, and different from the basin-like clay bucket for washing hands. Buckets of various sizes and shapes are commonplace here I guess.

I actually find it surprising that Miss Margrett wakes up so early.

"When does your daughter's class start?" I asked, moving to sit on the table. Nine followed suit, looking around the place with curious eyes, especially the frosty window.

"Around the time the sundial reaches 7."

"Oh, it's just like ours then.." Nine said.

Since Miss Margrett was curious, we went on to explain how we were also supposed to go to school before 7. About the sundial, it's something we overlooked because there was one close to the statue of Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, where the fountain was.

Liliath then came down, tittering with a warm smile and greeting.

"Miss, breakfast has been prepared, do you mind if we share a breakfast together?"

"Oh, that would trouble you wouldn't it?"

"It would be more troubling if Miss rejected the invitation instead," said with a troubled smile-- that I could only think of as sly.

I don't know if I can keep up with this sort of fanciful speeches in the future. I might have to practice.

"Good morning everyone~" Jennifer-chan greeted in a slurred voice.

"Good morning Jenn-chan, how early you are today."

"I'm excited. I smell something nice."

"Sorry to trouble you, I will take up your offer for breakfast in that case," Miss Margrett said with a light bow. Picking up the metal bucket, she beckoned Jennifer using some sort of mysterious sign language to retreat to their room.

"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" Nine saw their backs disappear upstairs.

"And what exactly are you thinking of?"

"You know, the fantasy way of cleaning yourself, wiping down your body with a heated cloth."

"That is typically the way how commoner's do it. Some upper nobles, however, should have a similar bathing method of washing themselves in place," when Liliath finished her sentence, Prune's sneeze resounded upstairs.

Yikes.

For breakfast-- it was decided that we would bring the food to the main kitchen, not the one in the apartment. Main reason being the space. The table in the main kitchen was larger and had just enough seats to hold all of us.

"Wow!"

"WOW!?"

Two short figures screamed in awe at the same time.

One of them screamed because of the food prepared on the wooden table.

Yesterday, while walking around the marketplace, Prune bought some meat, appraised to be Tuffkan meat, goblin meat and a block of squid. A block of squid you say? Yeah, the appraisal said that it was from a small portion of the fleshy part of a baby Kraken. Let's not mind the details shall we.. for a block that size, it cost less than a silver so why not?

As for the vegetables.. surprisingly. There were a number of them we recognized. Like beets, carrots, koreander, watercress-- and a few others. Fermented cabbage in salt or chilli paste were also found. Like, wow.

Even condiments like soy sauce, brown sugar and mayonnaise could be found.

So the dishes Prune whipped up was chopped up squid cubes sauteed in Imagi-made soy sauce, a side of mixed vegetables, a bowl of soup made from watercress and natural sea salt for flavor. Of course, we had a meat dish sauteed in sweet soy sauce.

And with that, the daily quest for cooking using 100 percent Imagi ingredients was completed.

As for the other wow, Nine was looking towards Jennifer-chan wearing a sailor uniform. It feels less like cosplay than it does an actual school uniform. The sailor uniform was the navy-blue-white kind with a red scarf, it reminded me of my sister, Novelle. Hah.. I feel homesick. Did Liliath feel this way when she first arrived in my world? I wonder if she was honest about her feelings back then.

"Amazing.. "

Jennifer-chan who noticed Nine's ogling staggered backwards in retreat to her mother who was standing behind her. Miss Margrett only smiled wryly. Just a heads up, it would be an error on my part but Jennifer was blushing. Is this a flag? Like who the hell knows right?

"Nine."

"C'mon, this is a fantasy world you know?! Sailor uniform in a fantasy world, it must be some past heroes doing.. oh wait, you're the creator of this world so it's your doing. Don't you have a sailor uniform festish?!"

"Nine, I suggest you be more prudent with your words," Liliath spoke in a soft but sharp tone.

Mid way through Nine's machine gunning, something very odd for male Nine to do, a sound barrier formed around us. Liliath's doing.

"My bad, but seriously though, what's with the sailor uniforms, it amazingly doesn't fit this scenario."

"But didn't you wear those during primary school?" I'm referring to the modern world, back before we came here.

"Yeah sure, but this is different! It's a fantasy world!"

Prune didn't know how to respond but went over to explain the situation to the confused Miss Margrett and Jennifer. I heard something like a boy's fetish.

"""Thank you for the meal."""

The breakfast mood was in, Jennifer-chan admired the white plate and metal utensils as much as the food itself. On the other hand, Nine admired the sailor uniform. Really now, who's the creep here?

We explained our plans for today to Miss Margrett, the four of us would attempt to go rank up to F by today at least, so we would be back by evening at latest.

That was also when we realized some cultural differences.

"Excuse me, Jennifer-- chan, can you use the spoon on the plate instead of your own?" Prune said as Jennifer-chan was about to take the kraken cubes with her own spoon.

"Ara, now I understand why additional spoons were used. My apologies," Miss Margrett said.

"Sorry," Jennifer-chan also said in response.

"No, sorry for not saying it earlier."

"Out of curiosity, is there any particular reason as to why this practice is performed in your world?" Miss Margrett asked.

"To prevent disease, it's unhygienic," Prune explained.

"Is that so?"

"Unlike this world, disease is an issue that shouldn't be taken lightly in their world," Liliath said.

"Is that so?" Miss Margrett flashed a weird expression.

I looked at Liliath, her eyes met mine. She's hinting about her identity huh? I wonder why.

Jennifer-chan kept switching her gaze between the food and her mother's face, it was only until Miss Margrett gave the consent that Jennifer started to take her share of food using the shared spoon on the dishes. Of course, we were eating rice.

Just as Jennifer-chan was about to take a bite, she stopped, lowered the spoon and looked to the flat concrete floor.

"Mommy."

Like monkeys, everyone followed her line of sight--

And there it was. Like a dog.. sitting there..

The ultimate disgusting creature, detested by all households, except-- this was twenty times larger than the usual.. or even more? And it had a blue sheen to its body. You could almost call it beautiful. The leg hairs that wiggled about and antennas that shook. It's black beady eyes stared into my soul.

I couldn't believe my eyes. It exists in this world.

Not to mention..

BAAM.

Steam rose from Miss Margrett's index finger, her hands shaped into a gun.

"My apologies," She said, "Please continue, I'll clean it up."

She promptly stood up from the seat. Taking a towel from behind her, she proceeded to the creature in question. A hole blown into it, green-yellow liquid spilling from it's head. A clear wind barrier was erected between the table and us, the caster was Miss Margrett, not Liliath.

"Noel," Nine called out after a short silence. At the time, Miss Margrett had already dragged the creature out through the backdoor.

"You sit here, I'll clean the stain," Jennifer-chan said, got down from her seat and used some water and life magic to blow the stain outside.

"Wow, this feels amazing," Jennifer-chan was surprised by the sudden improvement of her magic due to the magic related skills that had been upgraded to S grade… probably

As elated as she was.. Prune was shivering to the point where even convulsing wouldn't be a wrong term to describe her movement. Likewise, I had goosebumps all over my body.

That was..

"How rare, a small blue roach," Liliath said nonchalantly, a hint of surprise laced in her voice.

Wait-- did Liliath just say 'small'?

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After breakfast, Margrett went to the backyard, her routine to check on the flowers before moving to the front of the store. There she unlocked the lock and pulled the metal grill open with a creak. Huh!? They have metal grills here as a safety measure against robbery?!

"Is there anything wrong?" Miss Margrett called out, noticing how I was staring at the entrance like some bumpkin.

"No.. I'm just surprised how different this world is from my imagination.. "

"It seems our position has come to a reverse," Liliath chuckled beside me.

It's no longer me teaching Liliath how to live in a modern world, but Liliath teaching me-- us how to live in a medieval world where sword and magic are the norm.

"Yup, it's totally reversed."

"It is my duty to teach you the ways of this world then."

"Could it be that you were from this world, Liliath-sama?" Miss Margrett asked.

"I was."

"I see.."

Miss Margrett didn't ask any further.