CH 17

Episode 17 – Working with the Princess Knight

Outside the camper on a sunny afternoon.

Naoto was washing the car. With a mop and bucket, he carefully scrubbed the car body from corner to corner.

It was the first time I had washed my car since I came to this world, and the water in the bucket was stained with dirt I had wiped off.

My hands were a little itchy from using the water outside, but I got a sense of accomplishment in return.

“Well, I guess that’s it. Is there anywhere else that’s dirty?”

Naoto wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and asked Patricia beside him. Patricia had used the open trunk room as a doorway to the mysterious space, and it was “growing” out of there.

Perhaps it was because she had just had her car body polished to a shining shine, but she seemed to have a smile on her face as well as her usual gentle smile.

“The roof is still up.”

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t do the roof. Can you get a stepladder?”

“Yes, Master.”

I answered immediately, took the stepladder that was offered to me, and carefully polished the roof – the solar panels that are the lifeline of this camper.

I wiped it carefully as a token of my gratitude.

“Come on, it’s clean now.”

“Thank you, Master.”

After being thanked, Naoto placed the bucket and mop on the ground and looked at it from a distance where he could see the whole thing from a little distance from Patricia 、、、、、.

A sense of accomplishment spread in my heart when I saw the cleaned up car body.

He said, coming back to stand beside Patricia.

“It feels good to shine, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Can I wash Master’s back later?”

“Yes, please.”

Naoto replied without thinking too much about the fact that he had washed her body and she would wash him back.

Somehow, I just thought that it would feel good to have a shiny new back.

As I handed Patricia a bucket and mop to clean up in the trunk room, I saw a princess knight and a little girl coming toward me from down the street.

The two girls who had gone to the nearby town to buy food seemed to be carrying their luggage, so they seemed to have achieved their goal.

“Master. She seems to be slumping her shoulders somewhat.”

“Yeah.”

Patricia was right, Sofia’s shoulders were slumped so much that you could see it from a distance, and she looked so depressed.

I wondered if something was wrong.

“I just got home from …….”

“I’m back.”

When they came back by the camper, they opened their mouths with contrasting tensions.

“Welcome back. What’s going on, Sofia?

When Naoto asked her about it, Sofia turned her head and looked more sad.

“It wasn’t there. ……”

“What?”

“There was no Natto……”

“Oh, …….”

Naoto smiled bitterly, it couldn’t be helped, I thought.

“It was a big town, so I figured there had to be one somewhere, but not only was there none, no one knew about it.”

“Well, well. It’s a specialty of a faraway land.”

“Ugh. ……”

I felt sorry for her because she was so disheartened.

“I wish I could have fed her. ……”

“It’s about doggies. ……

The princess knight’s wish was not for herself, and if possible, she wanted to fulfill it.

Naoto thought for a moment and said.

“Don’t be so downhearted, I’ll make you one.

“Can you make Natto, Naoto?”

Sofia bites down on her luggage.

“Maybe. You’ll need the same initial seed as you would to make your own yogurt, but …… should be stable enough to make it.”

“I don’t know what it is, but all I need is that tanekin.”

“And then there’s soy”

“Well, we wouldn’t be talking without soybeans, now would we?

Sofia is suddenly very excited.

I took the bag from Sophia and Mimi and carried it into the camper.

Of the food they had bought, they put the perishable items in the refrigerator and the long-lasting items in the trunk room.

After putting everything away, I took a breath and said.

“That’s a lot.”

“Yes, Master. Flour has increased by 1421 grams, leafy greens by 2188 grams, and root vegetables by 3989 grams.”

“Oh, you can figure it out?”

“It’s a camper’s dream.”

“Well, is there anything else I can do?”

“You can also manage the number of people in the room. We have two visitors in the room.”

Sofia and Mimi came into the camper.

“Also, Master’s total ride time is currently 312 hours and 48 minutes.”

“That’s amazing.”

Patricia said something that reminded me of a computer management system.

This is a pretty exciting exchange for Naoto, a gadget lover who has incorporated various functions into his camper.

It doesn’t mean anything, but it is a dream.

Patricia was, after all, the embodiment of Naoto’s dreams.

“Well, since we’re here, let’s make something.”

“Natto!

Sophia, who had been watching me, took a bite.

“Because I can’t do that yet”

Naoto chuckled, regained his composure and asked again.

“Do you two like sweets?”

“I love it!”

Mimi replied with great joy. Sofia nodded modestly.

“I’ll try to make something dessert-like then. Let’s see what we have. …… No baking powder, right?”

“No, sir.”

Patricia, who was standing beside him like a secretary, replied to Naoto’s murmur.

“I’ll have to make my own way. With the ingredients I have, I think I can make …… a tart dough. There are some things missing from the basic recipe, but I found some substitutes that will work. ……”

“Then I’ll get those materials out.”

“Oh, please. I’d like some fruit to go on top of the dough. Is there anything like that?

“Do you want some fruit, big guy?”

Mimi asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go get some fruit.”

With that, Mimi quickly stood up and dove into the mysterious space from where Patricia was growing.

He had taken a lot of white clover before, so Naoto was convinced that some kind of fruit was growing inside.

After waiting for a while, Mimi came back.

In her small arms, she held a large number of strawberries.

“Big brother, is this okay?”

“I didn’t know there was such a thing as strawberries.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot.”

“Okay, I’ll make strawberry tart then. Thanks, Mimi, I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Yes!”

“Naoto! What do you want me to do?”

Perhaps because she had seen Mimi work, Sofia offered to do something as well.

“You should be in the kotatsu.”

“I’m in.”

“Turn it on.”

“I got it.”

“Okay, just relax.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m saying I’ll help you.”

“Just get some rest, okay?”

I put my hand on Sophia’s shoulder as she tried to stand up and pushed her back into the kotatsu.

“You get the food, I cook it into something edible, it’s called division of labor.”

“But I still want to do something, I do.”

“Hmm, then– Patricia, give me something to put it in.”

“Here you go.”

I put the strawberries in the container Patricia had given me and handed it to Sofia.

“Now peel off the stump of this one.”

“Just take it. I got it!”

With great enthusiasm, Sofia began to remove the stems from the strawberries on the kotatsu.

Mimi saw that.

“Sounds fun, I’ll do it.”

So they both worked together.

“Now, let’s make this one here.”

“Yes.”

With Patricia’s support, Naoto made the tart dough.

It is a simple mixture of flour and sugar, kneaded, formed, and baked in a pan.

“Is it really that easy to make?”

“Sometimes it’s better to keep cooking simple than to take the time to arrange it. I mean, that’s basically what I cook.”

“As they say, that’s how it is when you roast meat or stew it.”

“It’s just basic Chinese food. But don’t worry, I’ve got the basics of taste down.

“Mm, I trust Naoto’s cooking skills.”

“Thank you.”

Naoto took the strawberries that Sophia and the others had peeled off and placed them on top of the tart dough with a fork and filled it with a simple custard that he had made.

Place it in the preheated oven.

“Bake this for twenty minutes and it’s ready. Patricia, count to twenty.”

“Yes.”

I asked Patricia, who is a …… camper herself, to know all of the camper’s instruments without touching the panel.

Then I crawled into the kotatsu where Sophia and Mimi were waiting and watching over me.

“All we have to do is wait for it to bake. I hope it’s good.”

“It’ll be good.”

Mimi said with an innocent smile on her face.

“Because we all worked together to make it.”

“Everyone?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Patricia said, but Mimi smiled even more.

“I picked the strawberries, my sister took the stems off, my brother made the dough, and my sister baked them.”

At Mimi’s words, Naoto and the other three looked at each other, and then nodded.

Just as Mimi had said, the strawberry tart baked by all of us was extremely delicious.

TN: This is the last chapter I will translate of this story. While I find it cute and all, it isn’t all that interesting to me.