355-Cold milk tea




 
Mr. Alfried, here are some cold towels and lemon water.

 As I was sitting on the ground from exhaustion at the end of my training, Saara brought me a chilled towel and a water bottle of lemon water.

 I thanked her and took the cold towel and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

'Hah, the cold towel feels so good.'

 There's nothing like wiping sweat off your face with a cool towel. The coolness is so comfortable that you want to rub your cheeks all the time.

 However, wiping the sweat off your face is not the only great use of the cool towel.

 I quickly wipe the sweat off my face and put the towel around my neck.

 Then, the heat around my burning neck is quickly taken away.

 It's a refreshing feeling, as if the heat that had been trapped inside me with no place to escape is being absorbed.

 Yeah, I hate sweating in the heat, but this feeling isn't bad.

 I wrap the towel around my neck in a circle so that I can feel its coolness to the fullest.

 This will keep the towel cold.

'Ha-ha, that's nice,'

Me too.

 My brother Silvio and sister Elinora saw me and wrapped a cool towel around my neck as if to imitate me.

 Huh? Why is that? What we're doing should be the same, but it looks completely different.

 Sister Elinora and Brother Silvio look like they have a stylish scarf wrapped around their necks, even with a towel around their necks, while I am at best an Erimaki lizard or an old lady plowing a field.

 Where in the world did this difference come from.......is it the face after all?

 I sip on my water bottle to switch my thoughts, as if thinking about it too deeply is going to hurt my own mind.

 A hint of lemon sourness mixed in with the cold water. It soaks into your body, which is tired from sweating.

 After all, I must drink this lemon water at the end of practice.

 However, as the summer passes and the temperature gets colder, we won't be able to enjoy this drink as much as we do now, will we? That's a little disappointing when I think about it.

 However, I can magically regulate the temperature no matter what the season is, you know. If I want to taste something cold in winter, I'll use fire magic to warm it up and taste it.

 I cool my body's heat with a chilled towel and exhale in relief as I moisten my throat with lemon water.

 A breeze blows out of nowhere, gently caressing our skin.

 My skin feels nice and smooth, freshly wiped of sweat with a towel.

 As I meditate on the comfort of the house, I hear the sound of silky leaves in the trees surrounding the house.

 After a while, I listened to the music played by nature, and after a while it stopped suddenly.

 I open my eyes, regretting this.

 Well, it's impossible to recreate this with my wind magic, isn't it?

 It's possible to do it, but I think it would be uncomfortable compared to the natural ones.

 After the heat buildup subsides, I'll be worried about the sticky skin next.

 Wiping your sweat off with a cool towel feels good, but the best thing you can do is to take a bath and rinse your body off.

 You feel like you've grown roots in your body and don't want to get up, but you'll have to use all your willpower to get up.

 And I am pleased to see Sister Elinora and Brother Silvio still sitting nearby.

 Alright, I guess I'll get the first bath now.

 With that in mind, I return to my room, grab a change of clothes and other things, and head down the stairs to the bathroom on the first floor.

 Just then, Meena comes up the stairs from the first floor.

''Alfried-sama, if you want to take a bath, Elinora-sama went in earlier, right?''

'Ew! Why? I was the first one to come back!

 Wait a minute. When I stood up earlier, sister Elinora was still sitting on the ground, resting, right?

'Yes, and then Lady Elinora came back to run in and went straight to the bathhouse, right?

 Hearing Meena's words, I guessed what sister Elinora had done.

'So, you mean that while I was preparing a change of clothes in a well-mannered manner, Sister Elinora went straight into the bathhouse and asked Meena to bring her a change of clothes?

I see.

 Meena laughs cheerfully as she senses this emptiness in me that I thought it was the best bath.

 It's unfair........but there's nothing wrong with sister Elinora's behavior as a nobleman, and it's a smart one.

 As expected of Elinora sister, she's used to ordering people around and making it easy for them.

 I have to learn to ask people to make things easier for me, not just with magic.

''When you have sisters and brothers, there's this kind of fighting for something.

Speaking of which, didn't Meena's family have a sister and brother?

 I've never actually met a sober person in the village, but I've heard that they have a sister and a brother.

'Yes, I have two sisters and one brother.

Heh, so you're saying that Meena is the first daughter?

Yes.

 Well, I have to admit that Meena being the eldest daughter doesn't fit the image at all.

'Hey, Alfried-sama! What is that questioning look in your eyes! Now you don't think I'm un-sisterly, do you? This is still a solid big sister at home!

What about at home?

No, not even in the house!

 As for the house, I don't trust the mansion part of it, though.

 Meena is more like a sisterly figure, and Saara, who is more like a junior, is more like a sister.

''I'm going to go get that change of clothes Elinora-sama asked me to get.

 As I turned my gaze to look at her patiently, Meena said that as if she were running away and went up the stairs.

 Now, what's going on? She said the bath was freshly bathed by sister Elinora, and she wouldn't be able to go in for a while yet.

 I don't want to roll around in my own bed still sweating, so I'll just have to wait and see.

 For now, I move straight into the living room.

 When I walk in, Erna's mother is sitting on the couch, looking a little lazy.

''Al, we're in a good place. Can you use a little ice magic to get some cold air out?

 As expected, Erna's mom seems to be having a hard time with the heat that reminds her of this heat wave.

 It's been cool lately, so I was high on the idea that it would be cool again today, so I didn't even have ice in my room.

 I don't want to wait in the heat while I wait for Elinora sister, so I honestly use ice magic to release cold air.

 As I released it to spread throughout the room, the air became vaguely cooler.

 As it is, I want to lower the temperature even more, but I'll do it in moderation because lowering the temperature any further will make my sweat cooler.

Thank you. It's starting to feel a lot cooler. I have some cold milk tea.

Drink.

 Oh, nice cold milk tea.

 I put down my clothes on the sofa facing me and sit down, and then Mother Erna starts preparing a tea set.

 In return for sprinkling cold air on me with ice magic, it seems that Mother Erna will brew the tea herself.

'Were you about to take a bath?'

Yeah, but Elinora's sister got in there before I did.

We're going to fight over it at the end of rehearsal, aren't we?

 While we were having a casual and peaceful conversation, Mother Erna poured milk tea from the pot and offered me a teacup.

 There were three cookies on the saucer.

Yes, if you want it sweetened, you can add honey and adjust it yourself.

Thank you.

 After lightly mixing the tea I received with a spoon, I sipped it without adding anything else.

 The subtle bitterness of the tea and the mellowness of the milk was a perfect balance.

 It's cold and delicious.

''This isn't your usual Royal Feed, is it?''

Yes, the stronger tea leaves are easier to balance with the milk. Well, it could be done with the royal feed, but it tastes better.

 I see, it's the balance between the flavor of the tea and the sweetness of the milk.

 I've learned how to brew a good cup of tea, but I don't have a deep understanding of the tea leaves, so this information is new to me.

The tea is very good. Did your mother make this tea herself?

Yeah, I wanted to find the right flavor.

 She's sipping her milk tea with a clear expression on her face, but she looks vaguely happy.

 I feel this kind of thing is vaguely similar to Elinora's sister.

 The enthusiasm for tea is amazing as always.

 The milk tea prepared by Erna's mother already tastes complete, there's no need to add honey to it.

 I drank the tea as it was, sipping it like I was savoring it.

 Ah, this mild sweetness soaks into my tired body.

I'm glad Al knows what it tastes like. With Elinora, no matter how much you adjust the flavors, you always end up adding honey or something.

'Yeah, sister Elinora is the kind of person you want to try when you have something like these toppings.

 Sister Elinora is tempted to try it if there's something to put on it with honey, sugar, or a slice of lemon.

 Even with tea that tastes of aroma and flavor, she would add sugar to the tea, saying that it is not sweet enough.

 People have their own taste buds, but I don't think it's okay to try to enjoy tea a little more calmly.

'Oh, it's cool!'

 As I was eating my cookies with that in mind, sister Elinora came into the living room, probably out of the bath.

 Maybe it's because she's out of the bath, but her skin is a little uptight and her reddish-brown has been lowered.

 I feel like it's been a while since I've seen her without a ponytail.

'What are you drinking?'

"Cold Milk Tea.

I'll have a drink with you.

 I replied, and Sister Elinora came to sit next to me.

 As she did so, Elinora's long hair swayed softly and I could smell the soap in the air.

 Why do women smell so much better after a bath than men?

 It's a mystery, even though they should be using the same soap or something.

 While I was wondering that, the milk tea that Erna's mother had prepared was presented to Elinora sister.

''Yes, if you want it sweetened, you can add honey or something like that and adjust it yourself.

Yeah, thanks.

 As a conversation, it's the same one I had.

 But if you look at the words and the expression on Mother Erna's face, it seemed like she was nailing me to not put any honey in my mouth.

 Now, I wonder if sister Elinora is aware of that.

 As we watched, Elinora stirred with her spoon and then tipped her teacup.

 She swallowed it down and froze, then ate the cookie in silence.

 Then, Elinora tilted her head slightly and reached for the jar of honey.

You're really going to put honey in it? You're really going to put the honey in there, aren't you?

Um, yeah, I just felt like the tea and cookies weren't sweet enough.

 No, I think I dare to adjust to this modest sweetness.

 There is enough sweetness in the milk tea. And yet, it would only be persistent if I prepared a sweet cookie.

 Mother Erna looked a little sad as she watched her sister Elinora drizzle honey in parallel.