<Chapter 48. - Premature Family Plan - 3>
No matter how hungry Prince was, or how much Kratia wanted to study the Titan Core, there was something else they had to do beforehand. It was collecting the loot from the battle.
Lee Shin Woo's party safely got out of Bayran and then gathered with the android Chi Pauls, the Chi Pauls that had already withdrawn from the city, and the Giants; he praised them for their hard work and then reinforced them with the bones that were gathered.
[Thank you very much, Lord Paul Zero!]
"There's not much time left. Are you all ready?"
[We all saw the light that you unleashed, Lord Paul Zero. We're prepared to sacrifice everything for you at any time!]
[Glory to the Titan!]
"Alright, good. Those who haven't been reinforced yet, come forward!"
He first reinforced them, fully healing them and strengthening them. Then, they hid within one of their nearby bases and got back on track.
"What a huge army! No matter how I look at it, those Giants don't fit at all...!"
"Haha. They're just a portion of my army. Ah, some of my forces are also on the surface. This is a secret, but Jin Jin already knows about me and is doing something for me on the surface."
"Even Ye Jin Jin!? I'm the senior here, but I've never been to the surface before...!"
"All the citizens of the Underground Empire yearn to go the surface, yet you so easily..."
He'd managed to collect the thorn wall, the loot, as well as the forces he'd brought with him.
By the time he was finished with all that, Lee Shin Woo was about to activate the Heaven Door's Key but remembered that he had some things to do before going to the Metal Army's base. Therefore, he decided to visit the wine factory first, which was near the level 3 danger zone.
Plus, most of the materials that Kratia had studied had been left there, and above all, he needed to check on the progress of the wine.
"Junior, you're good at cooking food with oil."
"Well, this is how it turns out when a man cooks."
"...One more bowl."
Once the long, exhausting battle was over, Lee Shin Woo cooked meat fried rice over high heat (he called it high heat, but he was actually using his Lv7 High Rank Fire element) for his companions, who yearned for food more than anything else.
The best way to prepare delicious food when one couldn't cook well was to use delicious ingredients and prepare them in the simplest way! Of course, everyone liked his food.
"It's quite delicious, Hero. There's nothing you can't do."
"There're things Shin Woo can't do. Like fighting head-to-head."
"Jin, aren't you being too hard on me lately? Ah, we have soup too."
He also prepared a soup using a variety of vegetables from the surface; the soup's base tasted like something between soybean paste and soy sauce, and he let it come to a roaring boil. Because he prepared it so simply, it tasted good. It was quite mild compared to the rich fried rice, yet it was nonetheless filled with flavor, making the two dishes a good match.
"This soup is delicious! Why didn't you cook before, if you were so good at it?"
"I couldn't eat before, so I didn't really want to cook for other people."
"You're really honest... Ah, give me another bowl too!"
But now, he could enjoy food. He tried his best to ignore Jin's betrayed look and ate some more fried rice. Right now, he felt like he had made the right call to pursue a human body.
However, Jin wasn't the only one staring at him. He turned around, looked at the almost completely still woman, and tilted his head.
"What, you're not eating? You can eat too, you know."
"How can you be so... nonchalant about all this..."
She, the Elder Banshee Princess, Seira Von Retadane's hands shook in rage. But she couldn't just throw away her bowl of food, so she placed it onto the floor, pointed her finger at Lee Shin Woo, and said.
"We have something else to talk about! Because of you, I turned into this...! Plus, I turned into an undead! How can you be so calm and eat as if nothing happened when Lee Shin Woo has been hiding the fact that he's been undead this entire time!? How is that even possible? How can you eat his food without a care in the world!?"
"I already knew a while back, so it doesn't matter."
"Mm... I know he's not a bad guy, so there's no helping it. Moreover, he's my junior! Plus, he doesn't smell like he's dead! From the outside... oh, I guess it's the same on the inside too. He's completely human; more importantly, he's on my side!"
Kratia answered immediately. Prince, with her lips smeared with oily rice, also came to his defense, though she was extremely biased.
Whereas, Jin, who was likewise an undead hero like Lee Shin Woo, said nothing. The Immortal Princess Dana, who had been eating her third bowl of fried rice, looked at her close friend and former fiance's younger sister and laughed.
"Seira, you've been freed of the undead curse. You shouldn't waste your time being dissatisfied and throwing a tantrum. If it wasn't for the Hero, then you wouldn't be able to eat this delicious food. I'm in the same boat as well."
"Dana...!"
Although the two's species were completely different, one being an Immortal while the other was a Banshee, as well as one being alive and the other undead, their situation was the same. They were given another chance at life by Lee Shin Woo. And on the same day at that.
"It's a blessing, Seira. You're happy you're alive, right? Being able to move forward; it's such a precious thing. Moreover, didn't the Hero say that it didn't matter what we looked like? What matters is that we're here, alive."
"But thus far he's completely..."
"It doesn't matter if he's deceived you. You know why he had to lie to you, Seira."
"I... I still can't accept this. This isn't what I chose. This is contract fraud."
"Tch. She found out."
He figured she'd be happy that he saved her, but it seems like she was still going through puberty. Lee Shin Woo was about to say something, but Dana winked at him. She was telling him to leave it to her.
"The Hero was willing to go that far to save you and give you another chance. At the time, you couldn't make a rational decision, could you? Why don't you first think about why he saved you when he normally cuts down his enemies without mercy."
"...Dana."
"I know, Seira. There's too much that happened all at once for you to accept it. Mulling things over is a good thing. But Seira, let's take it slow, step by step and think about things together. There's no need to rush. We can be together from now on. ...Ah, but there is one thing."
Dana's motherly speech caused even Seira's expression to soften. Seeing that, Lee Shin Woo realized that not just anyone could be a princess. During that time, Dana's attitude changed.
Her emotions had intensified, signaling to him that she was instinctively gathering various types of elemental mana.
"One thing we can't take slow is our revenge. To be honest, I really don't care what happens to the surface from now on, but I must take my revenge on my father, who bound me for so many years and made me like this; as well as his forces and my fiance who abandoned me."
"Dana."
"Can you help me, Seira? Could you trust me and the Hero, and help us?"
He'd already formed an official contract with her, so he didn't need to check what she was thinking. But even knowing that, Dana still gave Seira the chance to make her own decision.
As she said, she was starting small; she was trying to resolve Seira's countless contradictions and aspirations one-by-one. Did she succeed? Seira soon sighed and shook her head.
"Stop speaking nonsense, Dana. I know already. That I already made my choice... At this point, I'm just spitting on my own face."
She's right. She was just wasting time. However, she picked up the bowl of fried rice and soup again, so Lee Shin Woo decided not to intervene. Dana looked satisfied with herself as she backed off.
"Hoo, hoo. If you already know, then there's nothing more I have to say."
"But I do have a question. Why are acting so close to Lee Shin Woo? I'm pretty sure you've only known him for a few hours, so why are you acting like that? Did he brainwash you?"
"Oh my."
Dana's eyes lit up. Jin, who sensed something unusual going on, kicked Lee Shin Woo, but he was actually innocent this time. He'd already formed an official contract with her, and there was no need to enter a relationship with her, so why would he be attracted to her!?
"He hasn't brainwashed me, Seira. I just felt fated to be with him, that's all. Think about it, Seira. It would be strange if I hadn't fallen for him; a brave hero saving me from all that pain and suffering."
"That kind of pure and beautiful love only shows up in fairytales; it doesn't often work out that way. Moreover, why are you calling him Hero? There's a limit to being old-fashioned."
"Hoo. You were always so pessimistic, Seira. That's why men didn't approach you."
"What... That goes for you as well!"
"I already had a fiance before I was even born, so I couldn't even dream of love!"
Ah, it was going so well, but they started arguing over an unexpected topic! The level 8 Banshee and Immortal were looking at each other so seriously! Lee Shin Woo stood up in a fluster.
"If you're done eating, then should I bring out the dessert? I've cooled some wine jelly, so I'll just bring it right up!"
"...Not yet. I'll soon finish eating, so please wait a little longer."
However, Seira herself stopped Lee Shin Woo. She glared at Dana, as if deeply unsatisfied (for her, it was quite the rare expression) and then began to eat some fried rice.
The fact that she was eating her food meant that she accepted the situation. He thought she'd throw a tantrum before calming down, but things had surprisingly gone better than expected.
Lee Shin Woo sat back down, and Seira looked at him with a satisfied, yet lukewarm expression, as though something was bland; her skin was paler now that she was an undead, making her lips more alluring than before. She pouted and said.
"The fried rice and soup were delicious."
"...I'm glad to hear it."
"Eut..."
While Seira was eating, Lee Shin Woo finished his work in the wine factory and called the Dryads, who were hiding due to the shock from unexpected visitors. He introduced them to Dana and as expected, they were really happy to see her.
"There really were living spirits left in the Underground Empire! Ah, what a joyous occasion..."
[It's nice to meet you, Princess.]
[It's the famous princess. She's not human, but she's still alive!]
[I smell Paul Zero from her. She must've formed a contract with Paul Zero!]
[So that's why she's still alive! She smells good.]
[Want to play with us? Want to imitate Paul Zero?]
Dana brightened up immediately. The others' mood brightened as well. Jin followed Dana and began conversing with the Dryads as well.
He'd wondered how this would go a while back, but it seemed like it had all worked out. Lee Shin Woo sighed in relief and drew in her empty bowl from behind. It was shining as if he didn't even need to wash it. Lee Shin Woo took it and stared at her. Then, Seira added in an unnecessary explanation.
"...In the Empire, eating everything off your plate is the greatest compliment to the chef. It's not because I was hungry."
"So that's why everyone ate everything."
"B-But... Didn't you used to speak politely to me?"
"We've formed a master-servant contract, so wouldn't me speaking politely be kind of weird? And it's not my style anyway."
"I see."
He played along with Prince because it was fun. Lee Shin Woo took the bowl and threw it into his inventory. Seira watched vacantly as he did so and added.
"My inventory's disappeared. How unfortunate; I wanted to brew a cup of tea for you in exchange for the meal."
"Eh, I can just buy you a teapot and some tea leaves later."
"...Is that so? Thank you."
Seira thanked him and nodded her head. He thought that'd be it, so he turned around, but she grabbed onto him once more.
"Now... I don't have to cling to the Retadane name anymore. It's all because of you."
"Man, you really have to pin everything on me?"
"...So, you can call me Seira now."
"Huh?"
"I'm going to try living as Banshee Seira from now on. ...That's all."
Seira turned around and left. He watched her, dumbfounded, and Jin, who'd come back secretly, kicked him once more. He couldn't tell why she'd done that at all.
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