101. A Date
Ben wakes up in the morning before the sun rises like his usual wake-up time. But he didn't sleep in Elfman's room because Elfman moves around too much while sleeping. So Ben moved to the couch in the family room.
Mira & Bella are also still sleeping, so Ben is alone now. He decides to train like usual by running around the town and doing some physical exercises. It's really nice to have a location change in his training.
This reminds Ben of his past life where he exercised in a lively town. Although this place is very different from the Earth, it is very lively too. At least there are people here and not just trees like the forest where he usually trained.
Ben returns to Strauss' home after 2 hours. He doesn't have difficulties finding a way back as he has AI Chip to help him with it. AI Chip always mapped the location that Ben visited, so Ben can return there easily.
He enters the house and sighs as the others are still sleeping. The sun has risen and the town has started its activities. But these guys are still sleeping as they are very tired after finishing the job yesterday.
"And they wanted to play before sleeping? Sigh, they should've known their bodies' condition," says Ben while sighing.
Ben goes to the kitchen and checks every drawer. He tries to find food or ingredients to make food. But there's nothing there, not even a grain of rice.
The siblings never cook because they never stay in the house for too long. They always eat in the Guild building that sells food & drinks. That's why they never bother to fill their kitchen drawers.
Ben sighs before he goes out and goes to the market. He passed the market when he ran around the town before. He buys some food ingredients in the market to be cooked in the house.
After buying some ingredients, Ben returns to the house and cooks the food. The menus that he cooked are not some fancy cuisines. They're just normal food like toasted bread, fried eggs, stir-fried vegetables, etc.
Ben can just buy all of those and doesn't need to cook. But he isn't used to buying cooked food and often cooks them himself. He can control the nutrition of the food if he cooks them himself.
It's not like he never buys cooked food, he just didn't buy them too often. Besides, he can't buy cooked food in the forest. The people in his village always cook their food themselves and Ben has learned how to cook from them.
The smell of Ben's cooking wakes up the others. It's not the best food smell, but it's still good. Besides, they're very hungry, so the food smell wakes them up immediately.
"What a nice smell," says Mira.
"Wow, you can cook. I never expect that," says Elfman.
"My jobs often require me to stay in the wild for days. That's why being able to cook is very important. I won't say my food is good, but at least they're not bad," says Ben.
"Hmm, it should be better than our cooking though," says Elfman.
"You can't cook?" asks Ben.
"We-well, we can, but the taste is not very nice. Usually, Lisanna will cook for us, and her food is delicious," says Mira embarrassedly.
"Hmm, then you should learn to cook correctly because you'll need it in some situations," says Ben.
"D-Do you-" says Mira before stopping what she wants to say.
"What is it?" asks Ben.
"No-nothing," says Mira while looking away embarrassedly.
Elfman looks at her sister and knows what she wants to say. He scratches the back of his head before sighing. Elfman then gets closer to Ben and whispers something.
"Hey Ben, I'm curious about this. Do you like a girl who can cook or not?" asks Elfman while whispering.
"Well, if you ask it like that then I prefer the one who can cook. It's not a requirement, but a girl who can cook is better," says Ben normally.
Ben doesn't whisper back to Elfman, so everyone can hear him. Mira looked down before she get spirited again. But Ben doesn't realize this because he is looking at Elfman.
"Why'd you ask this? Do you have someone that you like and want to ask for advice?" asks Ben curiously.
"Eh? N-no, I'm just curious," says Elfman.
"Hmm, if you want to ask about love, then don't ask me. I don't have any experience with this kind of thing," says Ben.
Well, Ben actually has some experiences in his past life. But his love life is very bad and his relationships never last long. He was too focused on his career and his family that he didn't have time for his love life.
The longest relationship that he ever has is just 3 months. He has some girlfriends in the past, but they all left him for the same reason, he never had time for them. His military duties and family were number one for him, so he doesn't have time for his girls.
That's why he doesn't dare to give any advice about love to someone else. It's better to just say that he doesn't have any experience. Besides, he is 15 y.o in this world and, indeed, he has never had any girlfriend in this life.
But Ben doesn't realize that his answer actually makes someone happy. Mira gets very happy when Ben said he doesn't have any love experience. That means he is still alone and she has a big chance.
Ben tells them to wait at the dining table as he finishes his cooking. It doesn't take long for him to finish and he prepares it on the table. The menus don't look fancy, but they still look appetizing.
They start to eat and the Strauss siblings are surprised by the taste. It's beyond their expectations and tasted very good. They can't even say a word and can only enjoy the food.
It doesn't take long for them to finish their food. The siblings were very drawn by the taste and kept eating the food. Both of them ate almost 3/4 of the food on the table. Ben & Bella can only look at them with stunned expressions.
"I didn't know that you're this hungry. I should've bought more ingredients in the market before," says Ben.
"Ahaha, it's not that we're very hungry, your food is just too delicious," says Elfman.
"He's right, your food is beyond our expectations," says Mira.
"Oh, thanks then. So, what will we do after this? I assumed you already made some plans with Bella, right?" asks Ben.
"Hospital, Park~!" says Bella excitedly.
"Alright, let's just do what you want," says Ben.
"Ah, I can't join you. I have some plans in the Guild," says Elfman.
"Oh, alright then," says Ben while nodding.
Elfman looks at his sister before blinking his left eye. Mira blushed after knowing that Elfman just made up his plans. Now she can have a date with Ben, even though Bella joins them.
They leave the house after that and go to the hospital. Elfman joins them at the hospital as he wants to see his sister too. They go to Lisanna's room and see her still lying down on her bed.
Ben scans Lisanna with AI Chip and he's relieved to know that her body's condition is good. At least there's nothing to worry about her physical condition.
After that, they go to the park while Elfman goes to his guild. Bella is sitting on Ben's head while looking around excitedly. Many things excite her in this town like the food and toys.
Ben buys the food & toys that Bella wants as it's a rare chance for them to get these things. He also wants to buy some for Wendy & Carla, but not now. It's better to buy them later when they return from the park.
Ben also sees some book stores that sell magic books and he notes them to buy the books later. He still likes to buy magic books to be learned and collected. But it has become more difficult to find magic books that he doesn't have as the books in public stores are limited.
After walking for half an hour, they arrived at the park. This place is very calm, very contrast with the busy town. There are many people here, but they are quiet and just enjoy the scenery.
Ben's group goes to a small hill and sits on the grass. They play with Bella using the toys that they've just bought. They look like a small family on vacation.
On the park gate, 2 men are looking at Ben's group. One of them has short blue hair while the other one has brown pompadour hair.
The one with blue hair then says, "Isn't that Mira? Who is that boy? Hehe, this is interesting. We need to tell everyone in the guild."
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