Published: September 9, 2025
September 15: Typo corrected.
This is Satou. When work gets busy, the days of living on calorie bars and supplements feel like a distant memory. It’s really difficult to eat a balanced diet, isn’t it?
â—‡
“Satou, does this taste weird?”
Mia was eating the hamburger with a puzzled expression.
“It’s delicious, isn’t it?”
“Don’t be rude to Mr. Hamburg!”
Tama and Pochi defended the hamburger. Before waving their forks, they carefully wiped the sauce off their tongues — perhaps a result of Lulu and Liza’s strict upbringing.
Today’s hamburger for Mia was an ordinary tofu hamburger with nothing special about it. Lulu and I were eating the same one — no odd flavors, and I thought it was a pretty good job.
“Does it not suit your taste? Try the one on this plate.”
I took out a spare hamburger from the heat-retaining magical container, prepared as a refill, and swapped it onto Mia’s plate. I used a different colored plate so it would be easy to tell them apart.
“Hmm, delicious.”
After taking a bite of the hamburger on that plate, Mia nodded with satisfaction and began eating heartily. The tofu hamburger she left was shared and eaten by Pochi and Tama. The vegetable sides, except for the potatoes, were firmly pushed onto Mia’s plate.
It’s about time for the announcement.
Waiting for Mia to finish the hamburger, I told her the truth.
“Mia, there’s something I have to tell you.”
“Hmm.”
I spoke to Mia solemnly, but for some reason, she closed her eyes and puckered her lips. I think she’s been too influenced by Arisa. To clear up any misunderstanding, I prefaced my explanation with, “It’s about the hamburger,” and continued. For some reason, she looked very dissatisfied.
“The hamburger you just ate contains meat.”
In fact, more than half was lean meat with the fat removed.
As expected, she made an exaggerated comic-style face, as if betrayed, just like Pochi did when he ate the fish meat hamburger before.
“Guilty.”
“Yeah, sorry. On top of that, the first hamburger you ate didn’t have any meat in it.”
“Hmm.”
Mia seemed conflicted about something, so I gave her a final push.
“Mia, which hamburger would you like for seconds?”
“Hmm, this one.”
Mia pointed at the meat-containing hamburger.
It seems she still can’t eat a regular meat-only hamburger, but I want to believe she’s less averse to it now.
The juicy hamburger that Pochi offered was pushed away reluctantly by hand.
It’s impossible all of a sudden.
â—‡
From the observation deck, the scarecrows suspended by the Lightship set off into the void.
This time, the scarecrows that rolled out were half of the planned number. The ones made later were improved by the Berinuan Clan and Bulinan Clan, according to the blueprints sent, so their enemy detection efficiency increased. The rest of the scarecrows were entrusted to Sotolineya’s workshop for creation.
Over these ten days, jellyfish were safely removed from five World Trees.
The Berinuan Clan had gone ahead and exterminated jellyfish sneakily but had recklessly done so to get ahead of their rival, the Bulinan Clan. As expected, eggs remained in the Berinuan Clan’s World Tree. Thanks to the information we shared later, they expressed gratitude for preventing secondary damage.
The same applies to the Biloanan Clan’s World Tree, which was cleared by fire—they also apparently had eggs remaining.
As a reward for this achievement, the Boleunan Clan will receive one Lightship each from the Baleonan, Zantanan, and Dawosanan clans. I was asked by the elder if I wanted one, but after much hesitation, I declined because I thought I couldn’t manage it. I’ll borrow one if it becomes necessary.
“Hey, Satou. After Arisa and the others conquer the Spriggan training grounds today, will they leave the forest?”
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
Lua wasn’t around today, unusually.
I answered clearly to Iarize, who was sitting cross-legged on the chair next to me, resting her face on her knees.
“Won’t you come along, Aze?”