Since then, Arte began to cling to me even more than before.
"Oppa, Oppa!"
"Hm? Why?"
"Nnn."
She shook her head.
"Just calling, hehe."
Then she snuggled to me and rubbed her cheeks on my body.
'It doesn't feel bad, so it's fine, but…'
Somehow, she kind of reminds me of how I used to snuggle with Bianca in the past.
'That was a dark memory of mine.'
The result was good, but now that I think about it, I could probably achieve the same thing simply by being honest with Bianca at that time. Especially because Bianca can tell when people are lying.
But all of that already happened. So, rather than thinking about the past, let's think about the present.
"Hmm…"
I looked at the Vanilla Moo's corpse that we just hunted and tilted my head.
'What should I do with this corpse? Should I cook meat dishes? But, I already told Arte we were going to eat something sweet...'
After some thought, I decided to follow through with my promise to cook certain dishes for Arte. Fortunately, this monster does have something I can use to make sweets.
'It was a cow, after all.'
Although it has an aggressive personality and a horn, everything else is the same as a normal cow on Earth. So, of course, its milk would also taste sweet.
'As for the meat and its corpse... I can preserve them with cold spells and the special functions of my subspace.'
It was nice to be able to use magic and have a tool like this.
'Of course, I would make other dishes, too, but since I have a Vanilla Moo... should I make vanilla ice cream?'
I looked at the girl who was watching curiously as I was milking the cow. Remembering my previous resolve to let her try all sorts of food, I nodded to myself and decided.
'Let's make ice cream.'
That was the moment a legendary sweet in the fantasy world was born.
-------------
"Wow! Wow! It's so sweet and tasty!"
Arte gave a rave review of the vanilla ice cream I made. We were sitting side by side on the riverbank. Submerging our feet in the water while enjoying the cold sweet.
"It's the first time I made that dish since coming here, too, but how was it? Was it too sweet?"
"No! It's perfect! I like it so much!"
Arte swung her legs and watched as droplets of water splashed to the distance. She giggled playfully before she turned toward me and said.
"But Oppa, what is this?"
"It's called 'Ice cream'."
"Eh? 'I scream'? Why is the name so scary?"
"No, no. Not 'I scream'. 'Ice cream'."
"Oh! Yes, yes! It's "Eyes cream'!"
Somehow, the name was butchered so badly that it sounded like a beauty cream from a shady TV advertisement. Of course, there is no TV in this world. There is something similar, like a special crystal ball called "Cam Orb."
'With that, you can video call with others, but… it was so expensive and limited to the elites. So only super important people could use it.'
For normal people like us, the day we can watch TV and long-distance broadcasts will probably never arrive. Why was it so expensive? Because the longer the distance, the trickier it is to maintain mana.
So, even creating a cam orb that could send images and voices to another orb was too difficult for anyone except the highest-ranking of mages. That is why the price rose so high.
'Fortunately, there are other entertainments.'
The people in this world also need to relax from time to time. So they also have their own entertainment and leisure activities similar to Earth. However, while most of the entertainment was similar to Earth, there are differences from the modern world I used to live in.
Of course it would be different. This is a different world, after all.
If I have to compare it to Earth... This world is like the Middle Ages, and yet, every field besides technology is more advanced?
'Well, maybe not all, but it's true that everything was generally more advanced.'
Due to the presence of mana, aura, and gift, all kinds of performances and craftsmanship in this world are so much more flashy that they felt dazzling. And that's coming from me who had come from a world where the internet and smartphone exists.
"Anyway, I'm glad you liked the dessert, Arte."
"Yes! I like it so much! Can I buy this in the city when we arrive?'
"Well... It's a dish that only I can make for now, so they probably won't sell it."
"Wow! Oppa is amazing!"
Today, too, I had fun talking with Arte.
---------
At night, I helped Arte review the magic lesson I had taught in the day. We practiced a little, and Arte can even use combination magic now. Along with several other 1-circle spells.
"Good!"
Now, all that's left is to practice her magic spells on a real monster. I was worried whether I should really hunt a monster with Arte as early as tomorrow, but--
"Let's do it, Oppa!"
"Hm?"
"Hunting monsters. Let me do it!"
Arte looked fired up.
"I will definitely get my revenge on the moos tomorrow!"
The moos must be referring to the cow monster from before.
'I know what monsters to find tomorrow then.'
Was it because she was ashamed of her past failure? Arte clenched her fist as if she was feeling combative somehow.
'It's not a bad thing.
It would be good for Arte to learn how to survive by herself. After all, it would be bad if a stronger monster appeared after we parted and Arte wasn't capable of protecting herself.
'Please live a long life, Arte.'
It was my honest wish to meet her again after Arte had grown up so that I could invite her as a party member.
"Okay. Let's hunt a monster tomorrow."
—--------
"There's the monster. Did you see that over there, Arte?"
"Yes! I can see it!"
"It's a lone Chocolate Moo. It's similar in ability to the monster we met yesterday, but… are you confident?"
"Of course, Oppa! I'm ready!"
"Alright. Just call me if you need me, okay?"
"Okay!"
We were hiding in a bush a bit far from the monster. The monster was drinking water in the river and was looking down, so it hadn't noticed us just yet.
"Moooo!"
However, now that Arte had stood up and bravely walked out from our hiding place, the monster finally found her and immediately charged at full speed.
'How was Arte?'
Was she trembling in fear like yesterday? Was she drawing a blank and forgot to prepare her attack? I got ready just in case I needed to go out and save her, but–
"Hehe."
It was not necessary.
Arte was smiling so brightly.
'Just what was she thinking as she looked at the monster to make such a happy smile?'
That was the moment Arte shouted.
"Milk! Food! Eyes cream! Don't fight back and give them to me!"
Then, she shot several [Mana Thread] from both of her hands. No, not just her hands. [Mana Threads] also began to form from the mana in the air surrounding the monster.
The threads were not only strong and durable, but they were also strengthened further with 1-circle magic like [Harden] and [Sharpen]. It was to the point that, rather than calling them mana threads, it would be more appropriate to call them mana spears instead.
Arte finished all of her preparation in less than a second, and then–
"Mooo?"
The tens of [Mana Threads] flew and pierced the monster's body from all sides.
"Mooo…"
It struggled to escape, but even if it survived Arte's first attack, she had more than enough time and mana to launch several more attacks to kill it. Fortunately, the monster went limp and fell to the ground without Arte having to go that far. Its body spasmed for a while before finally, it closed its eyes for good.
"I did it…! I did it, Oppa!"
Arte ran back to me and hugged me.
"Did you see? Did you see it?"
She then looked up at me and jumped around in place.
"Of course! You did well, Arte. Congratulations."
"Yes! Hehe. Now we can eat more eyes cream and tasty food!"
Arte laughed sheepishly and drooled as if imagining the feast that was about to unfold.
'I heard food was the main reason countries go to war… I guess it was true after all.'
Food was so amazing that it could change even a trembling little girl into a seasoned hunter.
"I'll start to cook then. Today is going to be a feast!"
"Yes! Hehe!"
Though her motivation was quite different than what I thought, Arte managed to overcome her fear flawlessly. From then on, I began to teach and cook for Arte all sorts of delicacies that can be made from monsters.
By the end of it, Arte had become someone who was no longer afraid of monsters but actively hunted them whenever she saw one.
"Food…!"
"Mooo?!?!"
It was better than having Arte trembling in fear, but–
'Somehow… I wonder if I'm doing the right thing.'
That was the moment I realized how hard parenting could be.