Sunrise

Frieren handed the sword to Fern beside her.

She was somewhat surprised that Rienta had managed to simplify Projection Magic in a single night.

Fern wasn't interested in swords. She hefted it in her hand, then gave it back to Rienta.

Rienta, still wanting more, rubbed his belly and canceled Projection Magic. He said to the two of them:

"There's still one crucial step left."

Fern said helplessly, "You're not going to add special effects to the sword, are you, Brother Rienta?"

"Correct!" Rienta looked at Fern excitedly and said:

"Have you finished reading the notes, Fern?"

"Were you amazed by my genius ideas?"

"I was amazed, yes," Fern replied.

With that, she hurriedly pulled Frieren out of the kitchen.

Rienta followed them out, planning to show off his cooking skills that evening.

He looked at the two of them and asked, "Want to go buy some ingredients together?"

"I'll cook tonight."

Rienta hadn't cooked in a long time, not since the start of winter.

The commission was complete, and Projection Magic had been a success.

Rienta planned to treat himself, though his skills weren't good enough to make anything too elaborate.

"You're going to cook, Rienta?"

"Then I want dry-pot spare ribs and steamed beef with rice flour."

"Those are the names, right?"

Frieren raised her hand, her face full of delight.

"Exactly right, Lady Frieren."

"What about you, Fern?"

Fern thought carefully for a while before saying:

"Mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork."

The vegetables and meat in this world were much the same as those in his original world, so Rienta wasn't worried about finding the ingredients.

"How about adding some stir-fried seasonal vegetables and tomato and egg soup?"

Both of them nodded in agreement.

After the three of them went out and bought the ingredients, Frieren read a grimoire in the living room.

Rienta and Fern got busy in the kitchen.

"Come to think of it, you should have just about learned how to make these dishes by now, right, Fern?"

Fern, who was helping prepare the ingredients, looked at Rienta with a slightly resentful gaze and said:

"If you could say things like 'an appropriate amount' and 'a little' less often when you're teaching me, Brother Rienta,"

"I should be able to learn very quickly."

Rienta: "..."

None of the dishes took long to make, so Rienta and Fern finished them quickly.

"Dinner's ready, Lady Frieren." Rienta brought the last dish, the stir-fried seasonal vegetables, to the table.

Frieren had already served the rice and was waiting for Rienta's last dish.

Seeing that he had finished it, she reached for the steamed beef with her chopsticks and put a piece in her mouth.

"Soft and tender. Delicious."

Frieren thought Rienta had once said something very well.

"The greatest compliment to a chef is to finish all the food."

At this moment, she intended to put those words into practice to the letter.

Fern refused to be outdone and launched an attack on the twice-cooked pork.

Seeing that the two of them were already too busy to pay him any attention, Rienta abandoned the idea of raising his cup and saying a few words and joined in the feast.

After dinner.

The three of them had cleaned their plates. Rienta had even gone and made an extra serving of sweet-and-sour pork and another of pan-fried tofu.

Frieren sipped her black tea contentedly and said to Rienta:

"Ever since we left Schtrahl, we haven't seen you cook much, Rienta."

"But your cooking hasn't gotten any worse."

Frieren gave Rienta a thumbs-up.

After Fern and Rienta cleared away the dishes, they each poured a cup of black tea and drank at their leisure.

"I've decided."

Frieren suddenly stood up and looked solemnly at Rienta.

Fern looked at the suddenly serious Frieren in confusion:

"What's the matter, Lady Frieren?"

"Let's eat like this once every week from now on!"

Rienta wanted to, but their wallets couldn't take it. He said helplessly:

"Lady Frieren, you'll have to ask Fern about that."

Frieren looked expectantly at Fern beside her.

Fern worked out how much they had spent on ingredients that day. It wasn't much, but it had still come to nearly three hundred copper coins.

She said with some reluctance, "I'm afraid we can't. Our travel funds won't stretch that far, Lady Frieren."

"Then how about once a month?" Frieren still wanted to try.

Fern nodded and agreed.

Soon it was time to watch the sunrise for the New Year's celebration.

Because Special Effects Magic had no offensive power and produced only visual effects,

it had been completed the day after Projection Magic succeeded.

Afraid he wouldn't be able to get up, Rienta chose to stay up all night in his Personal Space, studying poses.

Poses for casting Projection Magic, that is.

So far, Rienta had only come up with two.

The first was to summon a weapon in his right hand and hold it across his body, then form a sword seal with his left hand and slowly pass it over the blade to cast Special Effects Magic.

The second was to cast Special Effects Magic while summoning a weapon in his right hand, turning slightly sideways and holding his left hand behind his back.

Rienta felt it was about time, so he stopped puzzling over the matter.

He prepared to go wake Frieren and Fern.

Frieren and Fern shared a room.

Rienta had just reached their door and was about to knock when he heard Fern urging someone on inside:

"Lady Frieren, wake up. It's time to go see the sunrise."

Rienta had guessed Frieren would sleep through it, so he wasn't surprised.

Knock, knock. Rienta knocked twice, and Fern's voice came through the door:

"Just a moment, Brother Rienta."

"Lady Frieren is fighting the blanket demon."

Rienta shrugged, turned around, and went back to the living room.

As he left, he vaguely heard Fern say something like, "Who are you calling your mom?!"

Rienta suspected he'd misheard because he'd stayed up all night.

He cast the hot tea spell in the living room.

He prepared some for Frieren and Fern as well.

He drank his tea while waiting for them.

Before long, Fern came into the living room, pulling a groggy Frieren along.

Rienta handed them their tea.

After drinking it, Frieren woke up a little and said, "Thanks, Fern, Rienta."

Once they had finished their tea, the three of them headed for the shore.

When they reached the shore, the sun had yet to rise, so the three leaned against the railing and waited for the moment it did.

After a while.

The horizon first turned pale, then the sun slowly rose, tinting the sky and the sea a soft crimson and orange.

Rays of golden light stretched from the rising sun all the way to the three of them.

Looking at the scenery before him, Rienta was suddenly seized by poetic inspiration and wanted to recite a poem.

After racking his brains for a while, he found he couldn't come up with anything, so he gave up on the idea.

Fern gazed enthusiastically at the scenery before her.

Unlike the other two, Frieren watched the sunrise dispassionately and didn't think it was all that beautiful.

Not bad, but it still wasn't worth getting up so early to see.

Himmel really didn't understand me at all.

"Fern, let's go back and get some more sle..."

Fern interrupted Frieren: "Lady Frieren."

"What a beautiful view."

Frieren looked at the delighted Fern beside her and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Is it?"

"It's only a sunrise."

Fern looked at Frieren, whose lips were curled up slightly, and said softly:

"But you look very happy, Lady Frieren."

"That's because you and Rienta are both smiling..." Frieren froze, stopping her explanation mid-sentence.

Frieren understood a little of what Himmel had meant by those words.

She looked at the sunrise on the horizon, her smile growing a little wider, and said softly:

"If I were here alone,"

"I definitely wouldn't be able to see a sunrise like this."

"Of course not."

"After all, if it were just you, Lady Frieren,"

"you'd never be able to get up early."

"Brother Rienta probably wouldn't be able to get up early either if he hadn't stayed up all night, right?"