Chapter 59: Lit has coffee, Ruti has cocoa
Translator: Tseirp
While Ruti and Tise were working at the storefront, I had Lit make an inventory by counting the type and number of medicine we had in the storeroom .
We did normally manage our inventory but Lit and I discussed and we decided that it was a good opportunity to properly check our inventory .
“Good work . ”
I visited the storeroom with two cups of coffee in hand .
Lit was holding a pen and paper and seemed to be struggling with counting the massive number of medicine …
“Ah―! Sheesh! I can’t remember where I counted up till!!”
She shouted in despair .
“Sorry sorry, I’ll help out later so why don’t you take a break?”
“Okay, I’m a little tired . ”
We moved to sit at the chairs in the living room .
I could hear Ruti and Tise interacting with the customers at the storefront .
“Are you sure you don’t need to watch that side?”
“There wouldn’t be any meaning in having them help out if I still had to stay there, right? Ruti is a child who would notice that . ”
“You understand her very well . ”
“Well, she’s my younger sister after all . ”
Lit and I took a sip of the coffee at the same time .
“Nn, today’s coffee is rich, there’s plenty of sugar and milk . But it’s still delicious . ”
I took a little more effort in brewing today’s coffee .
I added hot water to roughly ground coffee and filtered it through three metallic filters with small apertures .
Since the apertures of the filter were blocked by the coffee ground, the coffee was deliberately extracted over a long time .
As the flavor of the resulting coffee was very strong, I could still make a strong coffee even after adding milk and sugar to it .
“Here’s some herbal tea to cleanse your palate . ”
“So it’s a coffee to enjoy during the moment and not for the aftertaste . ”
“Yup . ”
“Thank you, it’s delicious . ”
It was a brewing style to make rich coffee meant to be drunk slowly .
The herbal tea next to it was meant to suitably reset the palate and allow one to experience the refreshing first taste once again .
We enjoyed a calming time together .
“Thank you for the treat . ”
“You’re welcome . ”
Lit placed the cup down with a satisfied look .
We stared at each other silently just for a while .
But Lit immediately stood up .
“Well then, I’ll go over to the storefront . ”
“The storefront?”
“It’s about time we let Ruti and Tise have a break too . ”
“Then I’ll go to the storefront . ”
“No . ”
Lit said with a wide smile .
“Obviously Ruti looks forward to having an enjoyable time drinking coffee together with you too . ”
Lit left the room before I could say anything .
I played with the coffee cup with my finger . It made a nice sound .
The tableware that Lit chose that even kept within the budget were excellent .
“Well then, I guess I’ll prepare drinks for the two of them . ”
I placed the cups on a wooden tray and moved to the kitchen .
“Good work, the two of you . ”
On the table were three cookies and three cups of sweet-flavored cocoa .
“Thank you . ”
“Thank you for the treat . ”
Ruti’s eyes shined after she grabbed the cup and took a sip .
Tise started with the cookie .
“These are preserved rations that adventurers eat, right?”
Tise showed a surprised expression .
“This is … amazingly delicious . ”
“I mixed in some tree nuts that I gathered in the mountain . The taste is similar to cinnamon . ”
“Cinnamon … I have never eaten that . ”
“Really? Then, I’ll make cinnamon pie for tonight . ”
Oh right .
“Also, here, cloth soaked with syrup . ”
“Eh?”
“I figured it would be a good snack for that spider . ”
I said as I took out a dish with small cut pieces of cloth on it .
The spider on Tise’s shoulder hopped off .
The spider was well-behaved as it raised a hand to greet me before starting to drink the syrup .
“Thank you very much . So you noticed . ”
“This child? Of course, since you are on such good terms with it . ”
“Ugeuge-san . ”
“Ugeuge?”
“Its name is until the ‘san’”
Tise showed a faint smile of happiness as she looked at me .
(Both Gideon-san and Ruti-san gave the same reply when they heard Ugeuge-san’s name . As expected of siblings . )
She lacked facial expressions but the girl called Tise was probably an ordinary girl on the inside just like Ruti .
“Onii-chan . ”
“Hn, what is it?”
“Can we have lunch together too?”
I pat Ruti’s head .
This girl, even though I have just been talking about dinner with Tise .
“Of course . That was the original plan after all . ”
“Okay . ”
“Not just lunch, you’ll be having dinner as well right?”
“Yup . ”
Ruti smiled softly .
“Actually, I love Onii-chan’s cooking . ”
It was an extremely natural smile . It sparkled and was a lovely smile that others could see that it originated from her heart with just a glance .
“Yeah, I know . ”
“Yep!”
“Do you have any requests?”
” … I want to drink honey milk . ”
“All right . ”
Her request was different from what I expected to hear .
But it was fine .
There was still an hour and a half before lunch .
Maybe I’ll make something delicious which goes well with honey milk .