Volume 5 Chapter 6.2

Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes

In actually, Barold, who had operated behind the scenes in Forre, had attracted attention from everyone when he struggled at a banquet to get thrown into prison, and ultimately, as Hiroshi and the others were playing around in Crest Cave, Forre’s hero Melquod found Barold’s intrusion and pulverized him with a single attack that did not allow any chance for Barold to transform. Of course, this being something that happened during Crest Cave, Hiroshi and friends weren’t even aware of the fact that Barold had been messing about in Forre.

It would seem that Barold just couldn’t escape his pitiable treatment in this era no matter where he went.

「Well, Barold doesn’t seem to be involved, so I don’t care.」

「Agreed. Besides, even if Barold was there, until he directly comes for us we don’t have much we can do.」

Once again, Barold’s pitiable circumstances were highlighted by how little anyone really cared to think of him. By this point, there was not even a trace of the vestige of the boss who had once cornered Farlane one step before subverting the state.

「So it’s almost Hiroshi’s birthday, right.」

「Oh yeah, good point. What should we do？」

「That’s the thing. It’s Hiroshi we’re talking about, so it’s never easy to figure out…Even if we do give him a present, for the most part he’s the best out of all of us at making items with good design and performance.」

「At least Makoto-san has the option to draw a manga that Hiroshi-kun might enjoy. In our case, even we have our limits with cooking.」

「Well no, at least you still have your finesse when it comes to cooking. I think compared to His Majesty Layotte and Elle and Tatsuya, you have an advantage, wouldn’t you say？」

Hiroshi’s birthday, which no doubt boasted the greatest difficulty amongst all birthdays. Haruna and Makoto entered a briefing session to prepare for that day, which was approaching swiftly. While one might think they just barely touched on the topic right now, it was more like they hadn’t referenced it but were actually discussing it away from Hiroshi every time they met.

「We might as well just not order or limit anything for a week and just let him make whatever he wants, or so I’m thinking. Does that sound plausible？」

「I’m sure that would be the best present, but I can never relax because I never know what he’ll come up with……」

「Yeah, seriously……」

Azuma Hiroshi, the one man you could never trust when it came to manufacturing. He had a track record of making countless inventions like the worldshaker or the subterranean, so this wasn’t something that could simply be overlooked.

「Well, we do have our limitations with materials, so I doubt he can surpass anything he’s already made so far in terms of horrificness.」

「It isn’t like I don’t agree, but sometimes Japanese craftsmen get this amazing passion and inconceivable thought processes in order to overcome their limitations an an abnormal manner, so in a sense we can’t let our guard down.」

Makoto found herself quiet down at Haruna’s statement, which hit the bullet in the center. After all, she had been thinking that very thing in the corner of her mind.

「But he probably wouldn’t make anything that would harm us, so I say that’s one less thing to worry about…」

「Yeah, but even if none of it would harm us, it would be troubling if it affected the world in a drastic way……」

「Maybe so, but I think it’s a bit too late for that…」

Makoto made a sour face when Haruna pointed that out. There had been many a time up till now where she was surely able to interject a bit earlier and prevent anything from happening. Here and there were things that could no longer be taken back, such as the king-size poms, which once again served to make her hesitate to let Hiroshi do as he pleased. Currently this habit of Hiroshi’s had at most humiliated all the craftsmen in this world, but who knew when he would eventually uproot the structure of society itself.

Makoto inwardly had these concerns. She had already decided to ignore Hiroshi’s creation of the instant ramen factory and its mass production, mass consumption system that heavily deviated from the domestic handicraft industry. She apparently wanted to make sure she never thought about the possibility that this would turn into an unstoppable event because of them.

Then again, even if they were to say anything about this, things were already much too late now that they had accepted Farlane’s royal family’s request to hire and educate Teres and the others.

「At any rate, we’re not capable of procuring any actual presents, so I think it’ll be difficult to come up with other ideas.」

「Yeah, you’re right……」

Makoto nodded reluctantly at Haruna’s conclusion. Even she tried to fault-find, there weren’t any other ideas they could come up with, so there was no point in doing so.

「And, well, now we just do our best in making food, I say……」

「Yeah, that’s cool, but Haruna?」

「What？」

「Is it me or are you way more fired up than you were for my birthday？」

「That wasn’t my intention, but do you really think so？」

When Makoto pointed that out, Haruna tilted her head and questioned her back. In actuality, Haruna was much more than simply “fired up”, now feeling even a sense of duty in seeking to please Hiroshi in every area possible, but the person in question had no idea of this herself.

「Well, I guess it’s to be expected, given your feelings and all, y’know…」

「Well, it isn’t like that’s what drives me to do well in cooking……」

「No, no, don’t worry. It’s definitely impossible to treat everyone the same as the man you’ve fallen for.」

Makoto chided Haruna, who made a mixed, dissatisfied expression. Sure, Haruna loved Hiroshi, but there hadn’t been any time when she had established a lead in cooking as a result of those emotions. She had at most matched the flavoring to Hiroshi’s liking, but even that was because their palates were nearly identical, and it had nothing to do with romantic feelings. She had continued with this seasoning since getting thrown over here, so fundamentally there was no room for romantic feelings to be involved here.

Then again, though she wasn’t aware of this at all, as a result of living with Hiroshi for such a long time, Haruna’s preferences and flavor tendencies were already changing a great amount. It was no exaggeration to say that the current flavor of the food they made was a culmination of Hiroshi and Haruna’s households. Also, other than Tatsuya, everyone in Azuma Workshop thought of Hiroshi and Haruna’s cooking when they pictured “mom’s cooking”.

This was just another example of how Hiroshi and Haruna were unconsciously doing activities generally meant for couples. Had it not been for Hiroshi’s gynophobia and lack of trust resulting from it, the two of them would have probably been intimate long ago.

But unfortunately, this was also the best example of just how difficult it was for Hiroshi to fall in love.