“Ten?! Isn’t that a bit much?!”
Five children were the average for a farming village family. In tough times when it was hard to survive to adulthood, this number would go up. In the city, this number was usually less, with the help of priests to cure diseases or the use of contraceptives.
So, a woman to giving birth to ten children wasn’t a bit much, it was way too much.
“What’re you on about? Ten’s pretty normal for us goblins.”
“We’re not goblins!”
“Alright, point taken, our races have our differences… but still, you gotta have lots of kids to make Ane-san happy.”
“…All right, I can’t deny that she might be happy with a house full of children… but it still seems kind of wrong…”
“Really?”
Nfirea was at a loss for words as he saw Kaijali looking at him with his head tilted at an angle. But on the whole, he was still grateful for their assistance. .
“Then, let’s head out, Ani-san. I hope you make a move soon. Although keeping her waiting for too long might cause problems… well, I think a steady, tactical advance on the main objective is a strategy worth pursuing.”
“Where did you learn all of this?” Nfirea shook his head. “Oi, Obaa-chan, I’m going to Enri’s for breakfast, what about you?”
The reply that came from the house was a refusal to Nfirea’s question.
Most likely, she was in the middle of repeating an experiment, and had no time to bother with trivial things such as eating.
Nfirea could relate to that feeling.
The alchemical tools and other paraphernalia in the house were of an extremely high grade, and they didn’t know how to use most of them. The maid in the service of the great magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown had brought them over. The two of them had been ordered to use these materials to produce new potions and alchemical items. Oh, and the maid had even brought some sort of cure-all herbs.
When he asked her about the solvents and the proper usage of the instruments, all he got in return was a “figure it out yourself su~”, which didn’t help things.
So, the two of them had foregone food and sleep in their ceaseless quest to learn how to use these devices for experiments. It was a slow process, but they had finally made some progress. Of course, they had made mistakes as well ― Nfirea had been guilty of lots of those ― but the past two months had been some of the busiest moments in Lizzie’s long life. The fruits of their labor stood on the table, that bottle of purple potion, which Lizzie examined endlessly and filled Nfirea with excited joy.
“I’ll take care of the food, then,” Nfirea spoke as he closed the door behind him. Then, turning to Kaijali, he said, “Let’s go.”
Although everyone was supposed to eat together, Enri’s house wasn’t anywhere near big enough to accommodate them all. As such, they usually ate outside when the weather was good.
Because they were outdoors, a certain amount of rowdiness was expected and tolerated. Had they been inside, it might have been unbearable, but even under the present circumstances, the situation had quickly turned aggravating.
“That’s why I’m saying, Enri-nee-san is going to be my wife!”
“Hey, punk, are you forgetting the agreement we all made not to touch Ane-san?!”
“That’s right, if you try and pull a fast one on us then I’ll make my move too!”
“You what mate? I was first!”
Several goblins kicked over their chairs as they suddenly stood up, and some even jumped onto the table. Suppressing her anger with sheer force of will, Enri spoke in a gentle tone.
“Everyone, please settle down.”
That had about as much effect as a snowball on the sun. The rancor in the goblins’ eyes had not abated in the slightest.
“Just give it up, lads. The victor has already been decided. Behold, this hunk of marvelous, radiant meat!”
One of the goblins, Kuunel, raised up his spoon to prove his point, displaying a piece of chicken meat that onlookers might well have mistaken for a pea. It was nothing more than a tiny bit extra that Enri added while portioning out the food to everyone.
“I finished my meat, yet there was more at the bottom of the soup! Do you have anything like that? I didn’t think so! This is nothing less than the proof of love!”
“You must be kidding me! That’s nothing more than a piece of meat Ane-san mistook for a chunk of vegetable!”
“Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on your part? Maybe the “meat” you ate was just potatoes or something, and the actual meat you got was that miniature thing. You’d better watch out, it’s proof that Ane-san doesn’t like you. Plus, my god clearly told me, “You must make Enri happy.”
“Isn’t the god you believe in an evil one, Cona?!”
Half the goblins were standing, and the other half were seated and squabbling, fanning the flames of conflict. Even Nemu had somehow joined the squabbling party. Only a few people weren’t participating in this battle royale. Those people had their heads lowered to the table, and the most prominent one of them was Nfirea.
“…Powdered ruby… arcane feathers… ashwood pestle… mor… mortar… tar… tatas?”
Nfirea was muttering to himself as he spooned the food into his mouth, but the food in the spoon hadn’t even reached his mouth before it went back to the bowl. His eyes weren’t visible due to his long hair, but in all likelihood he was walking on the thin line between dreams and reality.
“Enfi, are you alright?”
The goblins were still arguing, and although it probably wasn’t safe to leave them alone for too long lest the conflict spiral out of control, Nfirea was really out of it, and she couldn’t ignore him. He was most likely suffering from sleep deprivation, judging by the way he’d begun wobbling the moment he sat down, as though he’d fall over to his side at any moment. When he actually started on breakfast, he looked like a zombie, completely bereft of life or animation.
“Ah… don’t… worry… about… me… Enri…hu…”
“Hey, Enfi, get it together!”
“Weren’t you the one who said ‘Nemu was mai waifu’ and all that earlier?”
“That was then, this is now. I only just realised it recently. I used to think since Nemu-san was ten and was about the same height as us, that she was of a marriageable age. But humans… they only consider them adults at fifteen!”
“Eh? Is that true….? Ane-san isn’t a species like hob-human??”
The goblins leapt from topic to topic with incomparable speed. Enri wanted to ask them what a
‘hob-human’ was, but before she could open her mouth, the goblins had already gotten tired of the discussion and started a whole new argument for everyone to participate in.
“Ah! You stole my bread!”
“My wolf’s still hungry, don’t be such a tightwad!”
“Everyone!”
Although Enri was shouting at this point, her voice still couldn’t carry over the racket the goblins were generating. Spoons and plates were flying, while shouts and angry roars rose and fell like waves in a storm-tossed bay. Of course, everything being thrown was empty, because none of the goblins would even dream of wasting the food Enri made for them. Still, it was utterly inexcusable.