When we returned to the base, the Mashiro group still hadn’t come back yet.

“Sousuke. While we wait for everyone, could I ask you for something?”

After we got down from Micron and were on our way to the entrance, Shion spoke somewhat modestly.

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, since we found soybeans, I want to make soy sauce and miso.”

“That’s all? If it’s seasonings, I can make them with my Crafting Ability too, so as long as we have the materials, it should work.”

But she looked troubled.

“I wanted to talk to you about those materials. For soy sauce and miso, we need soybeans, salt, and koji...”

“Koji... that’s mold, right?”

“Yeah. And mold is a microorganism, so I was wondering what would happen even if you could store it.”

“Yeah, that’s true...”

Living things couldn’t be stored as they were.

That was why beasts and such had to be killed first, but...

The two of us went, “Hmm...” and tilted our heads.

“Um, please forgive me if I am mistaken, but Master can store mushrooms, can he not?”

Roa’s comment made me realize it.

“Ah, right. You’re exactly right, Roa.”

That was true. Mushrooms were fungi too.

As for the whole living-thing issue, in the end, it came down to my perception.

“I am honored.”

There had been times when broadening my interpretation let me obtain bittern from seawater.

In that case, maybe I could get koji mold in the same way.

“By the way, where is koji mold found?”

“Um, in Japan, apparently it’s relatively everywhere...”

This wasn’t Japan, but there was no harm in trying.

“For now, I can’t store air itself, so... right. If I put barrels all over the house and store them, there might be something inside.”

If I could store water placed inside a barrel, then I should be able to store air placed inside a barrel too.

The point was that I needed a container.

We decided to try as many environments as possible. I placed barrels outdoors, indoors in sunlit spots, indoors in shaded spots, in the bedrooms, in the bath area, and in many other places, then stored them one after another.

“...Let’s see. Oh! I found it, Shion! Koji mold!”

“Wow...! You really are amazing, Sousuke!”

“To think you can even capture fungi... As expected of you, Master. What a wonderful ability you possess.”

I also managed to get yeast, so making bread would probably become easier too.

Shion was currently cultivating something for starter yeast, so we could make it with that afterward if we wanted.

For now, the priority was koji mold.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure... we had notes on how to make seasonings, didn’t we?” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The three of us headed to the living room.

“Yeah! The ones Minori wrote down!”

During our stay in the bonus area, each of us had worked hard to memorize the ingredients and production methods for things we wanted, then hurriedly written down notes after the dream ended.

Minori’s memory in particular was incredible. Her notes were less like notes and more like copied texts in their accuracy, which made them extremely helpful.

Apparently, miso and soy sauce normally used rice koji made from rice, but this time we would substitute soybean koji.

Processes like steaming or roasting the beans seemed like they would count as cooking, but my Crafting Ability seemed to value what I was making more than the process. If the finished product wasn’t a dish or an ingredient, then it skipped any process involved.

That applied to making koji, and to fermentation and aging too.

Even something that normally took half a year to make could be finished in an instant with this power.

A craftsman might lose his temper if he heard that, but I was only using it to survive on a deserted island, so I hoped they would forgive me.

Building a house in an instant was a cheat that shouldn’t be brought into reality either.

I did intend to carry my ability over to Earth, but I had no intention of using it to make a huge scene.

“All right, it’s done...!”

I put the miso into a wooden reproduction of the plastic containers you often saw in Japan.

The soy sauce went into a glass bottle with a spout.

When I placed them on the dining table, Shion’s eyes sparkled like a starry sky.

Then she clapped her hands together at high speed.

“Yay...! Thank you, Sousuke!”

Shion hugged me.

Just that alone made me feel rewarded, so I was a pretty easy man.

“It’s something all of us need, so don’t worry about it.”

Even as I said that, my cheeks were probably turning red.

“No, I will worry about it! Oh, right! Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Let’s see... Ah! Could you make ginger pork?”

“That sounds great! I can, I can! The ginger you gave me is already going to come in handy!”

Come to think of it, Shion had wanted seasonings, so I had gathered all kinds of things.

Ginger had been one of them.

“If we’re having that, I’d want rice, miso soup, and cabbage too... but other than the miso soup, that’s a little hard.”

“We can substitute another leafy vegetable for the cabbage, but rice is the difficult part...”

“In the case of miso soup, the ingredients are important as well. A classic would be tofu, perhaps?”

Roa’s words reminded me.

“Ah, right. We have bittern, so we can make tofu now too.”

But it wasn’t added to my Recipes.

Even if it wasn’t a dish, it was a proper ingredient rather than a seasoning or something similar, so generating it apparently counted as cooking.

“I know how to make tofu.”

Since Shion said that, I arranged the necessary items and left it to her.

“Crushing the beans is a little tough, though.”

“Ah, then I’ll help.”

“Of course, I will assist as well.”

For a while, the three of us diligently crushed beans.

“Thank you, both of you. I can handle it alone from here.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am prepared to assist until the end.”

“Hmm. I’m going to keep making the tofu, but I want to wait until everyone comes back before cooking... ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) And both of you are tired from gathering, right? Sousuke, especially, has to go out again this afternoon, so I’d like you to rest a little.”

If Chiyu used Basic Heal on me later, my stamina would recover, but I appreciated the thoughtfulness.

Besides, from her perspective, having several people in the kitchen might actually get in the way.

Two people might be fine, but three was a lot.

“I agree that Master should rest, but please do not concern yourself with me.”

“Really? Then, Roa, maybe I’ll ask you to give Sousuke a massage.”

It seemed like Shion gave Roa a meaningful glance.

...Huh? Wasn’t something strange here?

“No, Roa did the most work during the harvest. I can’t ask her to do something like that.”

“—Understood.”

“Wait, Roa...?”

“Hehe, then I’ll leave him to you.”

“Now then, Master, this way, please...”

As she took my hand, I was led upstairs.

This flow... Wait, Roa too?

After having that kind of experience with four girls already, even I started to feel a sense of déjà vu.

Besides, Roa should have heard from the other girls about my relationships with them.

If she was choosing to be alone with me after knowing that, then...

“Will your room be acceptable, Master?”

“Yeah... No, that’s not the point... Um, are you really okay with this, Roa?”

“I am a maid who serves you, Master.”

“No, no... That’s not right.”

A master-servant relationship turning into that sort of thing was something you often saw in dirty books, but still.

Roa had originally worked at a maid café, and she had interpreted the master-servant dynamic during work as “a job where you let people dream that sort of dream.”

If someone actually wanted that from her, wouldn’t she feel disgusted?

While I was thinking that, we arrived at my room.

Without being able to resist very strongly, I ended up alone with her inside.

“It is true that I would not do this sort of thing with just anyone. To begin with, I have never dated anyone before...”

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“Then all the more—”

Roa leaned against my chest and looked up at me from a distance where our lips could almost touch.

“Even so, I understood that, accepted it, and chose of my own will to serve you. ...Am I unwanted?”

Was there any man who could refuse something like that?

Even if there was, apparently I was not on that side.

I gently wrapped my arm around her waist.

Roa smiled softly, happily.

“Then, if you will excuse me?”