Volume 1 Chapter 3: I Was Taken Care Of

Volume 1 Chapter 3: I Was Taken Care Of

“…I messed up.”

I muttered this while suffering in bed from a sore throat, dizziness, cramping legs, and fatigue.

If I were part of an upper-rank noble household, a servant would probably be looking after me by now, but I don’t have the luxury to hire someone to take care of me while I attend the academy as a lower-rank noble.

And perhaps the academy knows this, as the rooms in the low-rank noble’s dormitory are designed for solitary living.

To put it more meta, it’s probably set up this way for an event in the game where Fine has to make a bento during a date event.

Anyway, the day after that rainy day, I caught a nasty cold and ended up leaving class early to suffer in this small room of the dormitory.

At the Royal Magic Academy, you automatically graduate after three years without causing any trouble.

Those from upper-rank noble families seem to plot various schemes to create problems due to faction disputes, but that’s a story that has nothing to do with lower-rank nobles.

So, I should be able to rest without hesitation like this, but…

“I wish leveling up would improve my immunity…”

This is probably meant to trigger an event where I take care of Fine while she’s drenched in the rain, only to catch a cold myself the next day.

Thinking this way really makes me realize that this world revolves around Fine.

The center of the world, the protagonist. What kind of immense responsibility comes with being born into such a predetermined fate?

And how painful must it be to be cast out from that protagonist seat?

No good. My thoughts are getting weirder and weirder because of this cold.

For now, I should drink some water. Just as I stood up with that thought…

Knock, knock

Suddenly, I heard a knock at the door.

That’s strange. At this time, all the other students should be in class.

There’s no way the dorm manager came to check on me. That guy is only capable of pretending to take care of others while groveling for the favor of noble up-and-comers.

Knock, knock

While I was thinking about that, the knocking continued.

If it was a rough sort who didn’t care, they would have barged in already, so it seems I’m not in any danger of being attacked.

Not that I’m even in a position to get attacked, anyway.

“Hello, who is it—?!”

I opened the door drowsily and was shocked to see the person knocking.

“…Good afternoon, Ash. I came to return your jacket.”

Standing there was the beautiful girl with pink hair and jade-colored eyes, Fine Shutaut, holding my neatly washed and folded uniform jacket.

“…How do you know my name? And how did you figure out my dorm room—?”

“It was in this jacket.”

She said, pulling my student ID from her pocket.

On it, my face and name were printed using transfer magic.

“I was going to give it to the guard since it was during class, but I heard you were in your dorm, so I brought it directly.”

“O-oh, thank you…”

I had completely forgotten about the ID and was doing something really stupid by giving her my jacket.

As I exhaled a sigh of exasperation at my actions, I reached out to take the jacket from Fine—

“Huh…?”

Suddenly, I felt weak and started to lean towards Fine.

She gently caught me and touched my forehead with a serious expression.

“Um, you have a cold, don’t you?”

“…Yeah. But if I just rest for a bit, I’ll be fine, so you don’t have to worry.”

I tried to pull away from Fine, but my body refused to cooperate, and instead, I almost fell flat on my back.

Seeing this, Fine stepped into the room and pulled me up tightly to prevent me from falling.

“I’m taking you to the bedroom. Is that okay?”

“No, you really don’t have to go that far.”

“Is that okay?”

“…Fine.”

With Fine’s help, I somehow made it back to bed and collapsed onto it.

It’s really the most uncool situation ever, but for now, it seems better to just follow Fine’s lead.

“Do you have any painful spots?”

“My nose and throat, and also my head…”

“From a glance, it looks like you have a cold. Do you have any medicine?”

“…No.”

“I see. Understood.”

After my answer, Fine looked as if she had made some sort of resolve and raised both hands toward me.

“It might feel unpleasant, but please bear with me.”

After advising me, she began to chant the words of a state recovery spell, “Cure Condition,” only usable by saints.

As her hands glowed, a black mist-like substance floated out of my body and vanished immediately.

At the same time, the fatigue and sore throat I had been feeling faded away.

But what I felt more strongly was the beauty of Fine’s holy magic.

“It seems your fever has gone down. You should be fine now, but just to be safe, please rest for the day. Well then.”

Fine touched my forehead, and without waiting for a response, she started to leave the bedroom.

“W-wait! Let me do something to thank you—!”

“I’ll just accept your feelings. As I said yesterday, I…”

At that moment, a sound echoed from somewhere—my stomach growled.

At first, I thought it was my stomach since I hadn’t eaten anything since morning, but Fine’s bright red face hinted at the truth.

“H-hey? I was thinking of eating something since I’m hungry. Could you help me cook?”

“If that’s the case, Ash, is there something you want to eat?”

“Huh? Are you going to cook for me?”

“I can’t possibly make a sick person cook. So, what do you want to eat?”

“…Then, how about porridge?”

“Understood. Please wait here.”

“O-okay. You can use anything in the room as you like.”

Fine, albeit shyly, left the bedroom and walked towards the kitchen.

Since Kizuyoru is a maid-in-Japan style otome game, even though the setting is medieval Europe, Japanese food is included in the meals, and bathing culture is common too.

Thanks to that, I’ve been able to live here without feeling any cultural gap as a Japanese person.

While I was thinking about this and staring blankly at the ceiling, Fine returned to the bedroom carrying a tray with a clay pot and a bowl.

When she opened the lid, there was a really delicious-looking egg porridge.

“Thank you for waiting. I can’t say if it’s delicious, but…”

“No, this is super good!”

The warm, gently flavored egg porridge was exquisite, and the bowl was emptied in an instant.

“Hey, aren’t you eating?”

“…Can I eat too?”

“Of course! Since you made it, you should definitely eat as well! Go ahead, don’t hold back.”

“…Then, I will have some.”

After saying that as a preamble, Fine brought in a new bowl, served herself some porridge, and scooped it up with a spoon to chew.

Then, a droplet trickled down her right cheek.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I just haven’t had warm food in a while, so…”

Looking back at the game’s content, I remembered that in the bad ending route, Fine wasn’t even allowed to use the dining hall and had to survive on leftovers for her meals.

Considering that, having a proper meal now must be genuinely rare for her.

After that, we slowly took our time eating the egg porridge.

By the time the clay pot was empty, it seemed Fine had relaxed and had fallen asleep leaning against the bed.

“…She must have been tired.”

I carefully placed the dishes onto the tray while being mindful not to wake Fine and headed towards the kitchen.