"Speaking of which, Erina, you said you'd teach how to cook, but isn't that exactly what I'm doing right now?"
Setting aside other thoughts, Ryuji teased Erina, who was sitting in a tal tub, kept warm by a small fire. Erina froze for a mont before quickly realizing what he ant.
"You idiot!"
Her face turned bright red as she splashed so water at him. But as soon as she did, she quickly covered her chest, feeling embarrassed.
Even though things had already progressed that far between them, she was still shy about it. After all, they had only known each other for a few days, yet their relationship had already advanced to this point.
It was only natural for a girl to still feel bashful.
"You dare say sothing like that in front of a chef?! How outrageous!"
Erina pouted, puffing up her cheeks, her adorable expression making Ryuji chuckle.
However, this topic made him think of sothing else—sothing from Erina's world.
Specifically, a certain girl who was always talking about A5-grade at. A tanned, golden-haired, well-endowed beauty who wore very revealing clothes.
To be honest, her outfit was barely different from a swimsuit. If she walked down the street in just her underwear, the only real difference would be about twenty centiters of fabric.
And yet, despite all her talk about high-quality at, most people would probably just think that she was the real high-quality at.
That being said, Erina herself was certainly not lacking either.
"In terms of looks and figure, Erina would definitely be A5-grade as well, huh?"
The mont he muttered that, Erina splashed even more water at him.
"I told you not to say things like that in front of a chef!"
She glared at him, huffing in frustration. After all, wasn't it because of at that she sohow ended up with this useless old man in the first place?!
Not that it was all bad, but still—
There was no date, no wedding ceremony. Sothing just felt off.
Most importantly—
Ryuji wasn't even a little bit gentle!
Feeling the soreness between her legs, Erina snorted in frustration, completely forgetting how she had been the one refusing to let him go earlier.
"I was wrong, I was wrong. Alright, it's ti to change the water."
Ryuji quickly surrendered, raising his hands as he pointed toward a nearby bucket of clean, preheated water. It had been prepared specifically for Erina and was now at the perfect temperature.
"Hmph, I'll let you off for now."
With a little huff, Erina let him help her into the new tub, where she began rinsing herself off.
By the ti she finished and washed herself thoroughly, Ryuji had already prepared a fresh set of clothes for her. Now, it was finally his turn to bathe.
As he stripped off his clothes, Erina let out an annoyed huff. She had just recovered so strength, so she quickly averted her gaze, careful to avoid looking at him too much. Who knew if he'd suddenly turn into a beast again?
But despite herself, she couldn't help but sneak a glance.
After all, that thing had given her an entirely new experience of pleasure just monts ago.
"It looks so weird and ugly... but just now, it actually..."
With that thought, she glanced down at her lower abdon. It was still a little sore and swollen, but aside from that, her body seed just fine. She was amazed by how quickly she recovered.
anwhile, Ryuji wasn't thinking about anything too complicated. He was just exhausted. The mont he stepped into the hot water, he let out a deep, satisfied sigh.
"Ahhh… this feels amazing."
Hearing his relaxed moan, Erina—who was in the middle of buttoning up her shirt—imdiately blushed. She hurriedly covered herself with her clothes and sat down nearby, pretending to focus on tidying up Ryuji's laundry.
His underwear hadn't been ruined, so all he had done was boil a couple of shirts to disinfect them. He had already washed them beforehand, so she simply folded his spare clothes and placed them neatly to the side.
Then, she started keeping watch.
n typically didn't take long baths, so it wasn't long before Ryuji was done. When he stepped out, Erina frowned in disapproval.
"Did you even wash yourself properly?"
She poked him in the lower back, pouting. In her eyes, he had rushed through it way too quickly.
Ryuji simply shrugged and pointed at the sky.
"I don't have a choice. We need to get back before dark."
The sun was already starting to set—there was no ti to waste.
"Hmph, whatever. Next ti, if you rush your bath like that again, you're not allowed in my room!"
With a proud huff, Erina turned and walked away, leaving Ryuji standing there, speechless.
"Girls really do change once they beco won, huh?"
She was still as bashful as before, but there was sothing else in her attitude now—a kind of assertiveness. She was acting like the lady of the house.
If it weren't for the way her face turned completely red whenever she made eye contact with him, she might have actually been convincing.
The two of them quickly returned to their RV to prepare dinner. Since Erina wasn't confident in cooking in this world's conditions, tonight's al was left to Ryuji.
Under her watchful eye, he followed her instructions carefully. But when the al was finally finished, Erina took one bite and sighed.
"You completely wasted this at."
She looked at him with clear disappointnt.
"The heat control was off, your flipping technique was weak, and you didn't properly balance the seasonings. You just threw them in without blending them together during the cooking process. It's a ss. But… I guess it's edible. Just so you know, if we were in my world, I wouldn't even touch food like this! Hmph!"
Despite her harsh words, she still picked up another bite and ate it.
Ryuji scratched his head awkwardly. He had tasted Erina's cooking before, and while her dishes had so strange effects, there was no denying that her skills far surpassed his.
Still, watching her eat his food so earnestly, he couldn't help but smile.
What he didn't realize was that Erina was completely stunned by sothing.
Why doesn't it taste bad?
She chewed the at, confused.
Objectively, the flaws were obvious. Ryuji had absolutely failed to bring out the at's full potential—he had ruined it completely.
And yet…
Instead of tasting the imperfections first, she noticed the small bits of deliciousness before anything else.
It was as if her senses prioritized the good parts first, and only when she focused did she pick up on the flaws.
This was completely different from how her "God Tongue" normally worked.
This discovery left her astonished, yet at the sa ti, she felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
She didn't understand why such a change had occurred, but she knew one thing for sure—her past self would have broken down in tears over sothing like this.
Because this ant she wouldn't starve.
This ant her mother could be saved.
And most importantly, this ant she could finally enjoy food.
However, as she looked at Ryuji's awkward smile and the subtle defiance hidden in his expression, the flavor in her mouth no longer seed as important.
Instead, just watching his amusing reactions felt satisfying enough to make her keep eating.
"What a strange feeling… is this what it ans to be a married couple?"
She had no idea why this was happening, but she did know that it was a good thing for her.
And she absolutely wasn't going to tell Ryuji about it.
If he found out, his ego would skyrocket!
…Though, to be fair, sothing else had already skyrocketed earlier as well.
As Erina finished eating, Ryuji also had a realization. Unlike her, though, he chalked it up to the sheer quality of the at. Even he could tell—it tasted amazing.
It was essentially the purest, most ideal form of "at." If one had to describe it, it wasn't just at—it was the very concept of at, made real.
"As expected of a ga world."
With that thought, Ryuji found himself looking forward to what the future held.
And so, after dinner, despite Erina's reluctant and mildly disgusted expression, the two of them once again slept together in her room.
When Ryuji woke up in the morning, he found Erina nestled against his chest, her head buried in him. He couldn't resist reaching out and gently stroking her shoulder. That small movent was enough to wake her up—her face instantly flushed as she hurriedly moved her hand away from a rather questionable spot.
"Mm… good morning."
Ryuji greeted her with a lazy smile, and though her face was still red, Erina responded in kind.
"Good morni—mmph…!"
Her morning greeting was abruptly cut off, followed by a series of muffled whimpers.
Later, while Ryuji was outside roasting so at, Erina—who had just finished washing herself with the hot water from the night before—stord out with a flushed face and promptly smacked him on the back with his own coat.
"You bastard! Do you even know what ti it is?! Hurry up and finish breakfast already! We need to make up for lost progress today!"
She was furious.
Ryuji, still grinning, put on his clothes, and after breakfast, the two of them headed back toward the mine they had been working on the day before.
Just like yesterday, they split up to dig, collecting iron ore and converting it into robotic turret ammunition in their inventories.
For… reasons, their progress was a little slower than usual.
Occasionally, a few stray zombies would show up, but thankfully, none of the strange, white-colored ones made an appearance. That made things much easier to deal with.
At noon, they took a break and ate inside the massive pit they had dug. They managed to unearth even more materials—nitrate powder, coal, and even so tin ore. It was a classic ga-style mining vein, which saved Ryuji a ton of ti.
However, the most valuable thing remained the robotic turret ammunition made from scrap iron.
By the ti they called it a day, Ryuji had leveled up to fifteen. Yet, despite that, the ga system still didn't show any new changes. Worse, he was feeling an intense soreness in his lower back, and his arms were aching from all the digging.
Erina wasn't faring much better—she stretched her arms and waist with a wince, clearly struggling with the miner's life just as much as he was.
Ryuji had a feeling that tomorrow, they'd both be taking a well-deserved rest day at ho.
But when they arrived at the rchant's outpost, he ran into an unexpected problem.
After selling 3,000 rounds of robotic turret ammunition, the rchant stopped buying from him. However, when Erina tried selling the sa item, the trader was suddenly willing to buy more again.
That left Ryuji completely baffled.
"…Wait, so each person can only sell 3,000 rounds at a ti?"
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