Re-employment life with unsociable untalkative magician

CHAPTER 44 - SIDE STORY : 3PM

Continuation of 7 AM.

Taking care of the flowerbeds in the garden. Picking up fallen leaves and buds, pulling out weeds. The sun was still a bit strong.

"Phew..."

Removing the hat she was wearing, Lucille fanned herself with it. She wiped her cheeks and forehead with the towel she had around her neck. When she glanced towards the house, the sunlight reflecting off the white walls was dazzling.

It's probably around 3 PM by now.

Lucille will just finish up a bit more work, then she'll call it a day. She also needed to prepare the bath and get dinner ready.

Touching the greenery reminded her of the fields back in her hometown. Memories of playing in the fields and forests around the house with her siblings came flooding back.

"~♪"

Nostalgic tunes naturally escaped from her lips. They were songs sung often during the time when they sow seeds and harvest back in her home.

Hearing something from the open door, Phyllis took his gaze away from his book and looked towards the balcony. There's only one person singing. Phyllis listened with interest.

It's an unfamiliar song.

That's what he thought after hearing the melody. However, after listening for a while, he does recognize the lyrics. Then, Phyllis lowers his gaze.

"...Hhm"

He couldn't help but let out a breath. He knows a similar melody with the same lyrics. But what Lucille was singing now is subtly different in tone from what he knew.

Though he couldn't see her from the room, judging from the tone of her voice, she must be in a good mood. Phyllis listened to Lucille's singing with an indescribable feeling as she occasionally captured delicate subtle notes of the song.

A little while after Lucille finished her tasks, she went back into the house and Sensei appeared. It was rare so she paused, thinking how unusual it is.

Sensei watched with an indifferent expression as Lucille meticulously removed the veins from the beans on the living room table.

Lucille assumed that he thought that it's a lot of beans. She nodded in affirmation.

"Today, I'll be serving you a dish from my hometown."

Driven by nostalgia from her singing earlier, Lucille yearned for the taste of the dishes from her hometown. Since she had the right ingredients in hand, she decided that the menu for tonight is a featured bean dish from her hometown.

Boiling a large quantity of beans, turning them into a paste, and mixing in various seasonings. It's interesting that this dish varies from household to household. Since the dish uses spices, she's sure that Sensei will enjoy it too.

"Today is bean day?"

"..."Lucille froze at the accurate observation. That's right. Despite serving a bunch of beans in the morning, here she is preparing a large amount of beans for dinner even though it'll be more like a paste. She was careless. Thunder sounded in her mind.

("W-What should I do?")

Her hands trembled, causing the beans to roll off the table. Before she could pick it up, Sensei bent down first.

"Quite a lot of work in cooking. I'm looking forward to it," Sensei remarks as he placed the beans he picked up back on the table and then he lays down on the living room sofa.

"...Your hometown, huh," Sensei added after a while.

For a while, the only sound in the living room is the faint popping of beans being prepared. It was a slow afternoon.