Chapter Twenty-Six: You Need to Go Train in the Land of Shadows / Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Holy Grail War?

She was a cooking teacher for children, though he had no idea whether these few had actually learned how to cook.

He glanced at the others and immediately felt regretful about that.

Jack wore an innocent expression and did not look like she had listened seriously in class.

Gretel was even more evasive, clearly having long forgotten Teacher Red's lessons.

Little Jeanne was full of enthusiasm, but Yuxian could see a trace of hesitation on her face. Unless something unexpected had happened, she probably did not have any cooking experience either.

The owner of the guesthouse had prepared plenty of supplies. After Yuxian said he wanted to make some pastries himself, the man quickly brought over everything they needed and cleared out a space for them, letting them fully enjoy the fun of doing it themselves.

Yuxian kneaded the dough with convincing flair, while Tohru, Kobayashi, and the others prepared different fillings. They made several flavors so everyone could enjoy pastries suited to their tastes.

Mash cleaned the molds. She had gotten many old molds from the guesthouse owner, and some looked as though they had not been used in a long time. They definitely could not be used without a thorough cleaning, and she was the best person for the task. She was the most meticulous among them.

Seeing that everyone had something to do, Martha could not keep idling around. She walked over to Yuxian and asked, "Master, do you need help?"

Yuxian looked at her, handed her the dough in his hands, and prepared to knead another batch himself. There were so many of them, including several foodies. They definitely needed to make more.

He gave Martha a simple explanation, then relaxed when he saw that she was doing it quite skillfully.

While the adults busied themselves, the children gathered around the table, waiting for the preparations to be finished so they could all make pastries together.

Elma sat among the children with an expectant look on her face. Well, they could count her as a child for now...

Once it was time to actually start, everyone's skill level was immediately laid bare.

Mash and Kobayashi were the most proficient. One look told him they had experience.

Yuxian considered himself experienced, but that was entirely his own wishful thinking. Once he actually got started, he was really just a beginner.

The children happily treated it as a fun game. Yuxian even saw Kanna secretly stuffing ingredients into her mouth...

The finished pastries came in all sorts of shapes, strange and bizarre in every possible way. But they had all made them together with their own hands, and everyone eagerly anticipated tasting the fruits of their labor.

Chomp—

"Not bad!" Yuxian nodded in appraisal.

Everyone agreed, declaring them the most delicious pastries ever, far tastier than anything bought from a store.

In truth, the pastries did not actually taste better than store-bought ones. It was simply that everyone felt a special attachment to what they had made themselves.

"Who made this snake?" Yuxian spotted a particularly unusual pastry among the others. It looked like a fat snake, so he asked curiously.

"This isn't a snake, it's a dragon! A dragon!" Little Jeanne was deeply dissatisfied that Yuxian had mistaken her creation.

She carefully picked up the "dragon" pastry, placed it before Kanna, and said, "I made this based on Kanna. It's for you."

Kanna never turned down food. She picked up the pastry and studied it carefully, then looked up at Little Jeanne in confusion. Is this me? Do I look like this?

Still, under Little Jeanne's expectant gaze, she finally swallowed the pastry in one bite. Chew, chew. It tasted pretty good.

"Kanna ate herself!"

"It only looks like her! It isn't really Kanna!"

"I don't think it looks like her at all."

"How does it not look like her?! How does it not look like her?! It looks exactly like her, okay?!"

Chomp! Chomp!

The children's laughter made Yuxian smile knowingly. They were becoming more and more like a family.

Their days at the seaside resort passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was time to go home.

Yuxian had plenty of free time and could have stayed there indefinitely, but Kobayashi could not. She still needed to work. She had only been able to come on vacation because of these few days off, and now that her leave had ended, she had to return to the company.

Everyone left reluctantly and returned to the city, bringing this trip to an end.

After returning home, Yuxian went to see Siegfried first. He had not gone on vacation with them this time, which Yuxian found regrettable, so he had brought him a gift when he came back.

"Thank you."

Siegfried thanked him after receiving the gift. He had remained at his post the entire time and had not had the chance to go to the beach with everyone.

Yuxian had also hoped Siegfried could join them, but the dedicated Brother Fei had refused.

As he put it, once he had agreed to do something, he could not casually shirk it. He had to see it through seriously and responsibly.

As expected of Brother Fei!

Siegfried was delighted by the gift Yuxian had brought him. Everyone had not forgotten him, and the hardship of the scorching summer was instantly swept away. He was filled with motivation.

The holidays were still far from over, and Yuxian did not keep everyone at home all the time. As promised, he took the children to an amusement park, fulfilling the promise he had made before.

They also climbed mountains to watch the sunrise and visited many tourist attractions. The children had a wonderfully full vacation.

Time always passed quickly, and before they knew it, the new school term had arrived.

This time, the children did not resist much. Perhaps they knew resistance was useless, and besides, they had enjoyed their vacation thoroughly. Going to school and sharing it with their friends was also an important part of it.

After the children went to school, Yuxian became idle once more. Elma had found a job and went to work, while Martha liked going shopping and spent little time at home. Only Mash remained constantly by Yuxian's side.

"Mash, is there still no news of the others?" Yuxian asked Mash, who was cleaning, as he lay on the sofa.

Even after all this time, there was still no news of the other Chaldea members, which disappointed Yuxian somewhat.

They had searched quite a few places, but the world was too vast. Finding someone was easier said than done.

Mash stopped and replied, "We can only hope Teacher Qiao has good news. He is so famous that more people will know of him. If anyone from Chaldea is in this world, they should take the initiative to contact him."

After thinking it over, Yuxian could only accept that. He had no better solution.

"There are still several months until Teacher Qiao comes to Akihabara for his photography exhibition!" Yuxian was growing impatient. Georgios's exhibition was scheduled for the New Year, and there was still nearly half a year until then.

Yuxian had no idea how to spend that time. After lazing around at home for so long, his entire being had become sluggish and listless.

He did not dislike that kind of life, but there was still something wrong with it, especially since Mash and the others had quite a few complaints about his state.

"Senior, you should find something to do!"

"No!" Yuxian immediately refused.

Thinking about it was one thing, but if he really had to go out and find something to do, he truly did not want to. In fact, there was not much he could do. Taking on temporary jobs would be far too unbecoming of a Chaldea Master.

Mash shook her head helplessly and did not try to persuade him further. She understood as well that they were merely passing through this world and would leave before long. There was little point in trying to fit in.

"Why not have Miss Martha teach you some martial arts, Senior? You should learn a few skills to protect yourself, so you can handle danger in the future," Mash suggested again.

"Mash, spare me. Martha isn't the type who teaches properly like Teacher Chiron. If I learn martial arts from her, I'll definitely be beaten to death!" Yuxian looked bitter. He did not object to learning some skills, but not from Martha.

He begged Mash for mercy, then winked at her and said, "Isn't Mash here to protect me? I won't run into danger. I trust Mash very, very firmly!"

Mash sighed helplessly again. It sounded like Yuxian was praising her, but she could not feel happy about it at all. She was always somewhat uneasy, afraid that one day she might fail to protect Yuxian because of some oversight.

"I really hope we can find Teacher Scathach soon. She is probably the only one who can keep Senior in line and make him study and train obediently," Mash muttered softly.

She had no ability to restrain Yuxian. She was always too softhearted and unconsciously went along with him. She understood that clearly herself, but personality was not something easily changed.

In Mash's eyes, Scathach was the most suitable person in all of Chaldea to teach Yuxian. He would have no choice but to listen to her, since the master was famously strict in this regard.

When it came to teaching disciples, Scathach was no worse than Chiron. Moreover, unlike Chiron, she was not kind and easygoing. Throughout training, Scathach never smiled.

Yuxian heard Mash talking to herself. He had never personally experienced Scathach's instruction, so he did not know exactly what level of strictness Mash meant.

He imagined a scene where the master was teaching him, and a chill immediately ran through his entire body.

"Um..." Yuxian hesitantly said, "The master isn't that scary, right...?"

Seeing Yuxian looking so pathetic before he had even met Scathach, Mash became irritated. She said fiercely, "It would be best if the master took you to the Shadow Land for several years of training and completely cured Senior of this lazy habit!"

"The Shadow Land? Several years?" Yuxian stared at Mash in disbelief. "The master... wouldn't really be that ruthless, would she...?"

Mash glanced at Yuxian and stopped talking to him.

Yuxian blinked and thought for a moment, then realized it was far too early to worry about that. Who knew when they would find the master? It would not be too late to think about it once they met her.

"Ta-da! I'm back!" Martha entered from outside, carrying bags upon bags of purchases.

"I'm exhausted!" She casually dropped everything on the floor, then flopped onto the sofa with a smack. Her utterly unladylike posture completely failed to match her identity as a Saintess.

Yuxian unconsciously shifted to the side, moving a little farther from Martha and giving her more room on the sofa.

Martha noticed Yuxian's little movement. After glancing at him, she drawled, "Master has no motivation again today."

Then she reached out, wrapped an arm around Yuxian, and pulled him to her side.

Faced with Martha's steel-like arm, Yuxian had no ability to resist and could only let her lock him tightly in place.

Yuxian's body pressed against Martha's, and he felt a trace of softness. But it did not give him any improper thoughts. This was not the first time Martha had harassed him like this.

Still, Yuxian refused to lose verbally. In a serious tone, he said, "Martha, be careful playing with fire. I have absolutely no resistance against a beautiful young lady like you."

"Oh my!" Upon hearing that, Martha tightened her grip even further, making it hard for Yuxian to breathe.

"I'm so happy to hear Master say that. Back in Chaldea, you were never this proactive."

Martha stroked her chin with her other hand and said thoughtfully, "Oh my, I can practically see the scene of being hunted down by all of Chaldea already. Just thinking about it is a little exciting..."

Yuxian surrendered.

Martha brought her lips to his ear and whispered, "Master should take Mash shopping sometime too. Girls all like shopping. Buy her some pretty clothes and coax her a little, then Mash will be yours..."

After saying that, she released Yuxian and continued lying sprawled across the sofa as though nothing had happened.

Yuxian moved the arm that Martha had squeezed slightly stiff and could not help glancing at Mash in the distance.

Martha's instigation did have some effect. Over the following days, Yuxian occasionally accompanied Mash on shopping trips.

But nothing he had expected happened.

Yuxian had considerable skill when it came to coaxing children, but he was a complete novice at coaxing girls. Perhaps that was the sorrow of being a virgin.

Mash, however, was very happy. Being able to shop with Senior made her delighted, and her complaints about his lazy lifestyle gradually lessened without her realizing it.

Time passed quickly. Day after day went by like this, and Teacher Qiao's photography exhibition drew closer and closer.

Before that, however, there was another extremely important day: Christmas.

With Little Jeanne around, every Christmas was bound to be the most important holiday. There was no doubt about that.

As Christmas approached, Little Jeanne became extremely active. She practically counted the days as they passed.

Yuxian could not bear to shatter her beautiful expectations, but he set boundaries for Little Jeanne's Christmas this year. She could only celebrate among people they knew well.

Little Jeanne had no objections. As long as she could fulfill her duties as Santa Claus, she was happy.

Meanwhile, Tohru and the others received an assignment to perform at a nursing home. After discussing it, everyone unanimously agreed to take part in the performance.

Everyone gathered together to discuss what they would perform.

"A stage play? Hmm, that works." Yuxian rubbed his chin and voiced his approval. He was not very knowledgeable about these things, so whatever everyone said was fine with him.

"Then what play should we perform?"

"Since it's Christmas, how about The Little Match Girl?" Saikawa, who had been invited by Kanna, offered her suggestion.

"Objection! Objection! Objection!" Gretel loudly rejected the suggestion as soon as she heard it. She did not want to perform that guy's story.

If there was anyone in Chaldea whom Gretel hated most, it was undoubtedly Hans Christian Andersen. He was clearly a writer of fairy tales, yet he always wrote such awful endings. Gretel had protested to him more than once.

"Okay, okay, we won't perform that one. We'll pick another," Yuxian comforted her.

"Then what should we perform?"

"How about Alice's adventure story?" Hearing that they did not have to perform Hans Christian Andersen's story, Gretel brightened up and offered her own suggestion.

Tohru asked in confusion, "Is Alice going to perform her own story?"

"How about Magical Girl? Magical Girl is really popular." Illya joined the discussion as well.

"How about performing a Santa Claus story?" said Little Jeanne.