The Great Sage Who Did not Remain in Legend - 30.3

“I’ll eat this before the rice porridge. What about you?”

Mergin takes out soba noodles, which he and Misty created through trial and error.

“What’s that?”

“It’s called soba. We eat it on the last day of the year as a good luck food called toshikoshi soba.”

“Wow, I want to try it.”

So, Mergin quickly boils the soba and adds it to the hot pot. Without soba broth, he sprinkles some salt and slurps it.

“This is delicious.”

“Yes, even though I’m full, I can eat this.”

After eating some soba, Mergin adds rice, mixes in eggs, sprinkles chopped green onions, and finishes the fugu porridge. Despite saying she was full, Iris eats it all.

“I feel like I’m going to die…”

“Sleep in the bed if you’re going to sleep.”

“No, I don’t want to leave this kotatsu. It’s the best.”

Iris falls asleep while lounging in the kotatsu. Mergin clears the table and gets back into the kotatsu. Now, where should I sleep? I don’t want to sleep on the usual sofa. I don’t want to leave the kotatsu either.

He cast a cleansing spell on himself and Iris and fell asleep in the kotatsu with them.

—The Next Morning—

“Mergin! The New Year has come!”

The three kids burst in early in the morning.

“You guys are already here?”

The three kids had said last year that they would definitely come again this year, so they had been looking forward to today.

“Aaah! Mergin brought a girl home!”

“That’s not true, you idiot. Go take a bath first. You’re filthy.”

“Mergin, aren’t you going to bathe?”

Since I only used a cleansing spell yesterday, I suppose I’ll take the first bath of the year.

“Yeah, let’s go together.”

“Okay.”

Mergin bathed with the three kids and washed their heads. The bathwater quickly became dirty, which was a problem.

“Who is that girl? Your wife?”

“No, she’s an apprentice hunter. She’s staying with us for a while to train.”

“Wow, that’s nice. Train us too! We’re going to get our apprentice hunter licenses this year since we’re turning twelve.”

“You’re turning twelve already?”

“Probably around that age.”

The orphans had been abandoned at the orphanage as babies and didn’t know their exact ages. Their bodies and heights made them look younger, possibly due to malnutrition.

“What kind of hunters do you want to be?”

“We’ll probably start with cleaning the town, but when we’re adults, we’ll hunt monsters to earn money.”

“Monster hunting is dangerous.”

“What are you talking about, Mergin? Every day is dangerous for us.”

“That’s true.”

These kids could still speak like this despite their tough circumstances. It wouldn’t be surprising if they turned to theft and eventually real crime due to their environment.

“Alright, since we’re clean now, let’s make mochi.”