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While Mira continued serving the stew, Alfina was finally starting to show some movement, slowly turning to finally look at the salad stew she had refused to even glance at so far.
Her furious and resentful glare towards Frodina was gone, replaced by a warrior-like determined look as she firmly grasped her spoon.
Then, with the same impetus as an executioner swinging an axe, she scooped up a piece of tomato, bringing it up and staring at it with eyes wide open, ready to take the plunge without looking back, and then she put it in her mouth.
Slowly, she began to chew, while Frodina watched with bated breath. Frodina had a great amount of confidence in her cooking’s ability to change one’s opinion on tomatoes, but she could not quite shake off her uneasiness this time, as she was essentially up against the final boss of tomato haters. That was why she was silently praying, waiting for Alfina’s reaction.
Luckily, all of her worries were dispelled in the best way possible.
After swallowing, Alfina took another bite, and another, speeding up until soon she had finished her whole bowl of salad stew.
「Yes, it worked!」
Frodina celebrated in a low voice, glad that their plan had been successful.
The plan she came up with Mira did not involve a direct order to eat the tomatoes, but creating a situation in which Alfina would be compelled to do it of her own volition.That was how Mira ended up helping with making the dish. Alfina’s fervent devotion to Mira would never allow her to ignore a meal while knowing that Mira had helped cook it, and Alfina was aware that no one enjoyed watching others seem disgusted by food they had made. When put in such a situation, Alfina’s only possible action would be to eat the tomatoes herself to not disappoint her master.
At least, that was what Frodina had hoped, pushing Alfina to take her first bite, after which the food would do the rest, showing Alfina that tomatoes could be really tasty.
The two had planned to act out a whole skit about it, but Mira chose to improvise when Christina stood up, making the interaction much more natural and allowing Frodina to stand back at ease, as she was terrified of the fate that would befall her if Alfina figured out her plan. Now, Frodina did not have to worry about acting out their whole skit, or having to use their trump card of saying Mira had wanted to eat that.
After quickly cleaning her bowl of salad stew, Alfina jumped on her feet and rushed over to Mira, who was still next to the pot of stew.
(This isn’t quite the reaction I was expecting…)
All Mira had wanted was for Alfina to hear about the tomatoes so she would try them, but before she knew it, she had turned into something like a school’s lunch lady. All of the sisters requested a second serving, and even Bruce lined up with them. In the end, the contents of the pot decreased greatly by the time she was done.
There was roughly enough for one more serving, still with plenty of tomatoes, and many pieces of meat.
(Well, at least my plan worked out!)
There was another reason why Mira was so happy serving everyone. She wanted to control the contents of the pot herself, so that when she refilled her own bowl in the end, she would get the most meat.
But the other ploy she was carrying out ended up throwing a wrench into that.
「Master… May I also have a bit more?」
Alfina held out her bowl, looking slightly hesitant, but her eyes twinkled with hope.
Mira looked up, startled, seeing Alfina standing in front of her and Frodina a short distance away. That was when she realized their plan had been successful, especially considering the victory gesture Frodina made.
「Of course, hand me that. I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.」
In the end, Mira was happy she had been able to help Alfina get over her pickiness. So she took Alfina’s bowl, divided the remnants in the pot into two, and poured one half into the bowl.
「Thank you very much!」
Alfina was deeply emotional as she received the bowl, and then nearly fainted from bliss when she heard what Mira said next.
「But there isn’t much left, so we’ll have to share half and half.」
Mira said that as she poured the remaining meat on her bowl, which seemed to leave a deep impression on Alfina.
「Ahh, sharing half and half with Master…」
Alfina seemed to prefer sharing a portion with Mira rather than having a full bowl all to herself. When she returned to her seat, she ate eagerly, almost in a trance, her distaste for tomatoes gone like it had never existed to begin with.
(That’s one more thing taken care of.)
Mira surveyed the table, everyone enjoying their meal now, and began happily eating her meat too. Things continued peacefully that way, and breakfast came to an end.
「Thank you very much, Master!」
「I barely did anything. It’s your cooking that made it possible.」
Mira and Frodina gathered in secret after breakfast to celebrate their victory. Frodina would continue to incorporate small pieces of tomato to her dishes moving on, making sure that Alfina did not have any further issues with it.
When they were done cleaning up after breakfast, their regular routine resumed. Contrary to Christina’s wishes, Mira told the sisters to not mind her and train as usual, so they were all busy with that. They would start by going over the foundations of combat, before conducting practice fights in alternating pairings.
「Alright, we should get to work too.」
Just like the previous day, Mira went to the second training area together with Bruce, as he also had to practice his partial summoning.
「Thank you for teaching me!」
Bruce gave an energetic reply and he began to focus, a long staff in his hand. They began training right away, with Mira wanting to make sure he could use partial summoning in actual combat as soon as possible. They took no breaks either, relying on potions and various pieces of equipment to increase their mana regeneration speed to continue.
Mira was always observing how Bruce activated the various spells, pointing out his shortcomings and how to amend them constantly. She was only able to do that thanks to her own wealth of knowledge about summoning, and her precise instructions also meant that he was improving at a staggering rate.
(Good good, I knew I could count on a spellcaster from the tower. He’s quick to take in information, and he excels at everything!)
At that rate, Mira was convinced that Bruce would do really well in the tournament. She even began to dream of him winning the whole tournament. But then, she recalled that Meilin was likely going to be there, so that would be more difficult. Still, she was hoping he would get to the finals, and show the power of summoners to the world.
That made her focus on Bruce’s current strength again.
He could definitely squash any average adventurer out there. Merely being able to be admitted into the tower meant he was one of the best spellcasters out there.
But in this tournament, things were more complicated. Everyone across the continent had heard about it, attracting various adventurers with power far above the average.
「By the way, Bruce. How strong are the sisters you formed a Contract with yesterday?」
Mira decided to ask about that. Valkyries were some of the strongest summons one could obtain, and could serve as Bruce’s trump card if needed. But before that, they needed to know just how strong they were in their current state.
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