16 Chapter 16: Breakfast

*Chirp*

Waking up to the sounds of birds living on his window, Lacht immediately opened his eyes to check the brightly illuminated window.

*Yawn*

Rubbing his eyes in sleepiness, Lacht then immediately jumped down from his bed and looked at his newly made axe in the corner of his room.

'it's still there...'

Grabbing the axe from the corner Lacht then immediately opened the door to the room and went down the stairs.

*Step*

Looking at the living room and the kitchen, Lacht was able to see Throd, Eisen, and Tuli blackout drunk throughout the kitchen.

'This is why I don't drink...'

Sighing to himself, Lacht then used his mana to pick up each of them separately before making them go to their rooms and quietly tucked them inside of their beds.

*Clap*

Looking at the now filthy living room and kitchen, Lacht couldn't help but ask himself a question.

'Where's Greta?'

'Maybe she went to sleep at her grandfather's house...'

'She doesn't technically live here because it's too far away from the village.'

Grabbing a pint of beer from the table, Lacht then curiously took a sip at this world's version of beer.

*Bleh*

'It tastes a little bland, it needs a little more flavor...'

Putting the pint back on the table, Lacht then started to clean up the room with his cleaning spell.

*Swoosh*

*Creak*

'?'

Hearing the sound of someone's door opening, Lacht who was holding a vase of flowers then curiously walked towards the stairs to see who it was.

'Frieren?'

'This doesn't make sense? How can she wake up so early?!'

Looking at Frieren who was now tiredly walking down the stairs with her pajamas on looked at Lacht tiredly.

"Lapht teach mwee that spwel-'

Just as Frieren was about to finish the sentence her sluggish footing on the stairs caused her to slip and fall.

"Ah"

*Thud*

*Crash*

"Ouch!"

'...'

Looking at Frieren at the bottom of the stairs Lacht regretted ever being her caretaker.

'How is even she even still alive?'

Putting the vase of flowers back on the table, Lacht then immediately walked towards Frieren who was currently crying out in pain at the bottom of the stairs

"Alright, I will heal you so stop whining..."

Crouching at Frieren on the floor, Lacht then immediately cast his healing spell at Frieren.

"heawing spwel is so uwsful..."

Feeling her pain disappear suddenly, Frieren immediately returned to dreamland all over again.

'...'

'Why am I taking care of a 1000-year-old elf?'

*Sigh*

Using his mana to pick up Fieren, he then put her back in her room and calmly lay her on the bed.

Lacht then continued with his cleaning and made himself and the others breakfast.

*Crack*

*Sizzle*

*Crack*

*Sizzle*

'Only sausages, bacon and eggs... I should also probably get some bread at the village.'

Flipping the eggs by just moving his frying pan, Lacht then looked around the kitchen for his beloved spices.

'Where did Tuli hide her salt and pepper...'

Leaving his eggs on the flame, Lacht started opening all of the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen.

*Creak*

'Nope just plates'

*Creak*

'Forks and Spoons'

*Creak*

'Pans and pots'

*Creak*

'A recipe book'

*Creak*

'Knives'

*Creak*

'Cups, just where the hell are my spices?!'

*Creak*

'Found it...'

Opening a small drawer to his left, Lacht saw three pouches that looked to be filled with sand.

Quickly checking what was inside each of the pouches, he was able to find the white and black substances that are considered a treasure for any culinary chef.

'Jackpot'

Pinching a small amount of salt on his finger, he quickly sprinkled it on the eggs before adding some pepper to the mix.

After a minute of waiting he then removed the cooked eggs and put them on a plate before adding some of the sausages and bacon to the pan and adding some butter, he found on the drawers.

*Sizzle*

After properly cooking them into a perfect golden brown he then added the bacon and sausages to another plate.

Dispell the fire on his stove, Lacht then cleaned his hands on a sink with a simple wooden faucet and knob where a bluish gemstone is situated inside it.

'Interesting...'

Lacht curiously looked at the faucet before twisting it counterclockwise to stop it from exuding more water.

'How did I not notice this?!'

Lacht then made a surprised face, before putting the magic stone behind his mind and prepared the eggs, sausages, and bacon at the kitchen table.

'Breakfast wouldn't be complete without bread...'

Patting his pocket, Lacht was able to feel his coins and smiled before walking towards the door outside.

"I'm going to buy some bread!"

Lacht then shouted behind him, but no one answered back.

*Creak*

*Shut*

'Maybe Auntie Lorí has some newly fresh baked sourdough...'

Walking outside the house Lacht then nonchalantly went towards the village in the singular path from the forest.

After fifteen minutes of walking, he was finally able to see a village comprised of stone housing and a rich agricultural farmland.

A group of children who were able to notice Lacht moving towards the village entrance immediately ran towards him with excitement and glee written on their faces.

"Big Brother Lacht can you show us that cool spell you did yesterday?"

"No! It's my turn! Brother Lacht do you have a spell that makes my hair shorter?

"Brother Lacht! Can you make me fly again?"

"Brother Lacht! Which do you like more? Boobs or butts?"

"Brother Lacht! Do that spell where we watched a story!"

"Brother Lacht!"

Seeing the group of children showering him with many requests, Lacht can't help but be overwhelmed by their unnaturally active nature.

*Sigh*

"Okay!"

"Everyone line up!"

"One at a time!"

Hearing their brother's orders each of the children quickly nodded to each other while hastily and calmly made a straight line in front of him.

Looking at their mature behavior, Lacht then nodded proudly before smiling at them.

"Since you were able to quietly and calmly order yourself in a singular line, then I'm forced to do any of what you guys ask."

"Hurray!"

The crowd of children shouted gleefully for their good coordination before smiling at Lacht with anticipation.

"Big brother, can you make me fly again?" A girl with brown long hair wearing a simple dress in front of the line looked at Lacht with excitement in her eyes.

"Sure"

*Snap*

Immediately after Lacht snapped his finger, all of the children started to float into the air while some were still adjusting to the sudden zero gravity.

"Woah, we're floating!" A boy with short gray hair excitedly claimed while spinning profusely.

"Someone stop Rulët he is going to puke if he continues spinning like that!"

A blonde-haired girl with a keen sense of leadership immediately ordered her friends to fly towards Rulët to stop him uncontrollably spinning.

"Thanks, Julie..." After being able to finally control his flying Rulët immediately thanked Julie and her friends before flying a little higher.

"This is awesome!"

"Weeeee!"

"I can see my house from here!"

"Do you think we can play catch while flying?"

"Let's try!"

"Oh, You're on!"

"Catch me if you can!"

Looking at the children's experience flying the second time, Lacht then smiled at their interactions before sometimes cautiously observing them so that they wouldn't hurt themselves in the process.

After half an hour of playing, Lacht then clapped his hands and shouted at flying children.

"Okay! Times up! Everybody down!"

"AAAWW"

"But I was about to tag him!"

"You got saved by the bell, Sol!"

"Hehehe"

"Aww, It's over already?"

Hearing that their play time was over, some of the children made disappointed faces before calmly flying down in front of him.

'Let's see there are thirteen here... There's supposed to be fourteen, where did the other one go?'

Looking at the group of children, Lacht then quickly made a mental head count before realizing that one person was missing from the group.

"One of you is missing..." Lacht said worriedly while looking at the group of children.

Hearing their big brother say that one of them was missing, the group of children immediately looked at each other and head counted.

"Rikter is here"

"Sol is here"

"Julie is here"

"Üreil is here"

"Vras is here"

"Lotiv is here"

"Plór is here"

"Mav is here"

"Yuf is here"

"Ojal is here"

"Malís is here"

"Troft is here"

"Reyy is here"

One by one each of the children called out their names before suddenly Julie shouted from the crowd.

"It's Rübel!"

After a moment of realization, all of the children started chatting to each other.

"Where did Rübel go?"

Immediately after saying those words a girl with bluish hair girl shouted in the crowd.

"I saw Rübel fly towards the forest!"

"..."

Hearing what he needed to hear Lacht immediately ordered them.

"Okay, everyone stay here while I get Rübel."

The group of children nodded respectfully.

Seeing the children's worriedly nod, Lacht then quickly cast a flight spell for himself and flew up to the sky to survey the area.

"He must've not flown too far, maybe I can use my mana sense to find him..."

Closing his eyes, Lacht then used a fraction of a fraction of his mana to search the forest to the south.

*!*

"Found you..."

Feeling his particular mana signature on the boy named Rübel, quickly flew at him with supersonic speed.

*Boom*

On top of the green forest, Rübel is currently experiencing the wind on his face and seeing the view that he would've never been able to see if he couldn't fly.

"This is fun!"

"I wish Mom could see this too!"

Perking up his lips, Rübel suddenly heard a loud explosion behind him.

"What's that?!"

In fear for his life, Rübel immediately looked behind him and saw a black figure moving close to him at terrifying speeds.

"!!!"

"A monster!!"

Triggering his survival instincts, Rübel flew as fast as he could away from the black monster that was flying at him at supersonic speeds.

*Boom*

Hearing the sound of another explosion, Rübel's heart started to rise in fear, and looked at the approaching monster behind him.

"I can't move any more faster!"

"It is going to eat me!"

*Boom*

"Agh!!"

Rübel closed his eyes and screamed at his upcoming death.

'...'

Silence permeated the surroundings, He who fearfully closed his eyes, opened them slowly to see a black-haired kid the same age as him looking at him weirdly.

"Big brother Lacht?!"

Opening his eyes in surprise, Rübel blurted out who he saw currently flying in front of him.

'Why the hell did he scream?! That hurt my ears a bit...'

Lacht who was rubbing his ears then looked at Rübel who now has a surprised face, smiled kindly like an older brother.

"Rübel please don't go too far from the village, you won't know when a flying monster sees you and considers you their dinner for today..."

Hearing Lacht's kind nagging, Rübel nodded in understanding.

"Then let's go back, Julie and the others are waiting..."

"Yes, Brother Lacht "

Flying together with Lacht, Rübel was finally able to see their village after ten minutes of flying and quickly flew down towards the village entrance where Julie, Sol, Rikter, and the others were waiting patiently for them.

*Plop*

Landing in front of the group, Rübel immediately apologized to them and Lacht.

"I'm sorry big brother Lacht and everyone for making you worry"

Hearing Rübel's apology, the group of children cheerfully smiled.

"Don't worry about it Rübel, As long as Big Brother Lacht is here no one would get hurt!" Julie immediately assured Rübel while also worriedly looking at him.

*Clap*

"Okay enough playing for today, go help your parents with the fields and chores!"

Hearing their big brother clapping, all of the children immediately knew that they could no longer fly and thanked him for playing with them and went to each of their homes or places.

"Thank you Brother Lacht!"

Waving his right hand at the departing children, Lacht then inwardly thought.

'I'm only 10 years old... I'm technically the same age as them why are they calling me big brother?'

*Sigh*

'Maybe I'm just too mature for their age and they consider me a big brother for it...'

Looking at the village entrance Lacht then walked towards it before looking for Auntie Lorí's bakery and buying two baskets of sourdough bread for about 1 silver strahl coin.

"Thank you for playing with Rübel, Lacht, he hasn't made any friends since we moved here after the recent mana wave..."

"..."

Hearing Auntie Lorí's words, Lacht silently thanked the middle-aged lady with silky grey wearing a simple tunic and white apron.

"Thank you Auntie Lorí!"

Grabbing the two baskets in his right hand, Lacht immediately left the bakery silently while looking at each of the humans he encountered with regret.

'...'

'They were also affected by the mana wave...'

Walking towards the entrance and exit of the village Igelwide, Lacht then saw a grey-haired middle-aged man with a scar on his left eye sitting in a chair looking at him with kindness and care

"Good morning Lacht..."

"Good morning Uncle Gretel..."

"Did you buy bread from Lorí's?"

Gretel quickly saw the baskets of freshly made bread on Lacht's hands.

Seeing Gretel asking him the question, Lacht immediately took a piece of sourdough bread from his basket and gave it to Gretel who was waiting at the village entrance.

"Oh Thank you Lacht, you more kind than those brats..."

Taking the piece of bread from Lacht's hand, Gretel then immediately thanked him for his kindness.

"Are you still waiting for them?"

Lacht then asked Gretel a question.

"Of course, they promised me that they would visit me again after seven months..."

"I see..."

"..."

"Then I will be going now, Uncle Gretel"

Waving his hand at the lone villager waiting at the entrance, Lacht then requested his leave.

"Sure, see you again kid"

Walking outside and into the forest Lacht then continued his silent journey back home.

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