# 59. Sick Mister! Let's Take Care of Mister! (5)
8 AM.
Even after breakfast time had passed, Mister hadn't come out of his room.
Finding this strange, the three children made a decision.
"Mmm, I can hear sounds inside!? Why isn't he coming out!?"
"W-we need to open Mister's door... His eyes are hurt... He might have collapsed..."
"In the worst case, he might have been attacked by an assassin."
The children, excluding Estia who was confined to her room due to the high risk of escape.
They looked at each other and nodded.
*Let's go in.*
It meant they agreed with each other's opinion.
Crash—!!
The children who opened the door and entered the room shouted.
The loudest among them was Luna.
"Mister!! Are you hurt anywhere?! You're okay, right?!"
"You're loud, Luna..."
"I-is it because of me that you're sick?! Is that it?! I'm such a bur—"
"I said you're loud, Luna."
The night before.
Lee Jun-woo and Luna had gotten drenched in the rain, but for some reason, only Lee Jun-woo caught a cold.
It was the physical difference between a Hero and an ordinary person.
Toward the children looking at him with worried eyes, Lee Jun-woo spoke in a voice that sounded like he was about to die any moment.
"Kids... Please leave... You'll catch my cold..."
"N-no, Mister... M-Mister needs care... I-I'll stay by your side and watch over you..."
"That's not necessary, Hare..."
"Hiiing..."
The plan to spend all day with Mister under the excuse of nursing him went up in smoke.
Cough— Cough—
Lee Jun-woo coughed and said.
"...Since I've caught a cold, I won't be able to do anything today... So today, you'll need to work a little harder..."
Cooking, training, cleaning, grocery shopping.
Since Lee Jun-woo couldn't move a finger due to his severe cold, he had no choice but to entrust the children with the tasks he usually did.
Of course, they weren't exactly reliable, but...
Given the situation, there was no other choice.
"Keep that in mind... Saten?"
"...Yes, Mister."
"Cough— Don't hide behind the door, come here..."
"I wasn't hiding. I was just standing still. I never hide."
Saten made excuses as she cautiously approached Mister.
She seemed unwilling to admit that she had been hiding.
It was a matter of pride.
Toward such a Saten, Lee Jun-woo decided to hand over the authority to act in his place.
"Until I recover from this cold... Could you control the children for a while... Can you do it...?"
"Hmm, are you asking me if I can? There's nothing I can't do. That question was wrong from the start, Mister."
"I see... Then, since you're the most reliable among the children, I'll trust you this once."
Her confidence seemed ready to pierce not just the sky, but the entire universe.
Still, it was better than having no confidence at all.
Lee Jun-woo thought this as he checked Saten's expression.
Her eyes looked emotionless, but the corners of her mouth were twitching slightly upward.
*...Is she happy because I said she's reliable?*
It was an expression that didn't match her eyes, but anyway, it must mean Saten was in a good mood.
Lee Jun-woo thought to himself, and since the business was finished, he spoke to the children.
"For that reason, from today on, you should think of Saten's words as my words."
"N-no way!"
"I-I don't want to either...!"
"I won't hear any objections. I want to rest a bit..."
Now leave.
I don't need nursing.
Bang—!
And so the children were coldly kicked out by Mister and looked at each other.
Luna tilted her head and said.
"What do we do now?"
"R-right... S-since Mister caught a cold... We have to do Mister's work..."
How should we work?
The road ahead seemed bleak.
Meanwhile, Luna thought Mister had caught a cold because of her.
In a dejected tone, Luna muttered quietly.
"It's all my fault... If I hadn't gone outside, Mister wouldn't have caught a cold..."
Dejected—
Luna's shoulders slumped, unusual for a Hero.
Toward her, the two children agreed with Luna's words.
Though in a slightly off direction.
"Right, Luna... Mister caught a cold because of you... If you hadn't gone out, Mister wouldn't have gotten rained on..."
"You did something unnecessarily useless, Luna."
"Y-you mean girls...! Where did the comfort go...!"
Comfort.
What's that?
Hare and Saten didn't know how to comfort people in the first place.
Saten completely ignored Luna's outcry and spoke to take control of the children.
"Comfort is unnecessary in the current situation. The most important thing for us is to fill Mister's absence."
"C-can we fill it just because we try...?"
"No. We won't be able to fill it completely. Because Mister's presence is enormous."
"Th-then what should we do...?"
"We have no choice but to patch it up as much as possible."
To do that, first...
Meals.
We need to prepare from breakfast.
With the growling— sound from Luna's stomach as background music.
They headed to the kitchen to fill Mister's absence.
However—
—H-hey?! It's breakfast time?! Wh-when is the food coming?!
Of course, Estia's scream from the second floor didn't reach their ears.
The kitchen was full of ingredients Mister had bought the day before.
Onions, rice, green onions, meat, potatoes.
The basic ingredients for cooking could be said to be prepared.
"But who's going to cook?"
"R-right..."
"..."
Everything except the most important thing—a cook who could actually cook.
Saten confidently stepped forward and picked up a potato.
"What kind of fruit is this? I guess we just peel it roughly and make it into food."
"That's a potato, Saten! Not a fruit! You can't just eat it!"
"How annoying. Why can't I eat it? Hare, try eating this once. We need an experiment."
"N-no... Get that potato away from me..."
Saten rubbed the potato against Hare's cheek and tried to put it in her mouth.
However, since Hare knew how to eat potatoes, she desperately refused.
"I-I stole and ate one before... Y-you have to warm it up with fire..."
"Right! You have to make it hot with fire!"
"Hmm, is that so?"
So I just need to heat it with fire?
Then it's very easy for me.
Saten picked up a kitchen knife hanging on the kitchen wall.
It was to use Blood Magic.
Swoosh—!!
"Wh-whoa!! Wh-what are you doing, Saten!!"
"M-Mister's kitchen is getting dirty with blood...!!"
"Be quiet. Shut your mouths before I use your blood."
"Gasp!"
"Eep!"
The two shut their mouths.
They didn't have the courage to talk back to Saten, who was threatening them with a blood-stained knife.
Such a Saten drew a magic circle on the floor with blood from her wrist.
Then, she placed the potato on top of it and began to infuse it with mana.
"Blaze, power of fire. Make the potato hot."
"Huh?"
As soon as Saten finished speaking.
Whoosh—!!
Flames began to shoot up from the kitchen floor, and the potato's form couldn't even be found.
Luna and Hare screamed in horror at Saten's satisfied expression.
"This isn't cooking!!"
"Th-the house is on fire...! M-Mister is in danger...!"
Saten ignored their words and snapped her fingers in the air.
Snap—!
Then, the soaring flames instantly died down.
"Hmm, this should be hot enough."
Since they said to make it hot.
This should be a very delicious meal...
"..."
It should have been, right...?
Why is there a black object on the floor?
When the wind blew in through the open window, what had been in the form of a potato scattered into the air.
"It's a failure."
"T-total failure... Saten can't cook..."
"Can't...? You're saying I can't...? That can't be..."
Again.
If I do it again, I can do it well.
Because I'm a genius.
As if Saten felt she couldn't lose to a potato, she placed the potatoes back on the magic circle and deployed her mana.
Watching the flames shoot up, Luna and Hare muttered.
"But weren't those the last potatoes!? I think we had just enough for our number..."
"R-right... We won't be able to eat today..."
Whoosh— Whoosh—
After less time than before.
Saten snapped her fingers in the air again.
Unlike before, the potato's form remained, but it was still charred black.
She seemed unable to recognize that it was a temperature problem.
"...Was meat also done with fire?"
"D-don't do that! I'll do it! It's better if I do it! Saten, stop!"
"I'm the one in control. Mister said he trusts me. Don't order me around, Luna."
"Eh, eeh..."
And so Saten continued to attempt cooking with other food ingredients, but...
Naturally, it only ended in failure.
And no matter how strong Saten's pride was.
"I can't cook. Luna, you try."
"W-with only one green onion left?! Y-you want me to cook with this?!"
In the end, she had to admit that she had no talent for cooking.
"I heard loud noises from the kitchen... So that was the result of the food..."
"Hehe..."
Even in my room, I could hear the children's voices continuously.
Something about a fire, needing to do experiments, strange screaming sounds—I couldn't sleep properly.
Still, thanks to that, I was able to eat a meal, so should I consider it fortunate?
I turned my gaze to the plate Luna had brought before my eyes.
"You put green onions in water. And..."
There should have been plenty of ingredients.
But there are no ingredients at all.
The state of the food looked like green onions boiled vigorously in water.
No, could this even be called food?
In good conscience, there was a bit of a problem calling this food.
"Who did the cooking?"
"Well, I did it...! Saten burned all the ingredients, so I had no choice! Anyway, it's not my fault!"
"..."
So Saten can't cook.
I glanced at Saten sideways.
She was expressionless, but somehow seemed anxious as she fidgeted with her fingers.
Luna's words seemed to be true.
"Still, though it's hard to call it food, it will fill my stomach. Thank you."
"This much is basic!"
"That's not a compliment, Luna."
"Eh, it's not?"
As I put the plain water with the refreshing taste of green onions in my mouth.
I looked at the children.
They all seemed deflated from the cooking failure.
*No matter how sick I am, I'll have to make dinner myself.*
Since they don't even know how to cook, I need to designate one person for cooking and teach them too.
If there's this much to learn, when will we be able to leave this place?
I couldn't even guess.
*First, since they burned all the ingredients...*
A simple request.
Should I make just one?
I spoke to the Hero Party with their heads hung low.
"Cooking can be difficult. So this time, I'll ask you to do something simple."
"I-if it's Mister's request... I can do anything...!"
You don't need to do everything.
I wrote down the ingredients needed for dinner on paper and handed it to Saten.
What I was asking them to do was related to such food ingredients.
"Go to the market and buy the ingredients written on the paper. This much is simple, so you should be able to do it easily. Cough—!"
"M-Mister, don't die...!"
"I won't die... It's just a simple cold..."
Though my body feels chilly and I have a fever.
It's not enough to die, so I'll be fine if I rest.
Even Minerva, who gave me a problem to make a cure when I caught a cold with a high lethal dose, hasn't said anything in particular, so it must be a simple cold.
So...
"Go get Estia and go to the market once. Just you all. You need to do well even without me."
The Hero Party.
Watching their first mission from afar.
That was all I could do right now.