"The chicken soup's here!"
Kevin blew on the steam as he trotted over and placed a large pot of chicken soup on the table.
"Ah! Chicken soup, chicken soup!"
"Hey! Master Kalpas! What about the bread you promised?!"
Kalpas, wearing a white apron, gently tapped the head of the boy who had spoken with a metal spoon:
"You brat! You just want to eat everything at once! The bread's for tomorrow!"
"No, no, Master Kalpas! We want it today!"
"Master Kevin, you sneaked into Master Kalpas's kitchen to bake bread during naptime, right!"
"Idiot! You can't say such schemes directly!"
Mikael rested his chin on his hand and watched, bored, as the group of children argued with Kalpas and Kevin. He then turned his head and made eye contact with Hua, who was sitting quietly at the table. They both saw a sense of relief in each other's eyes—
"Dealing with children is too much trouble!"
"Looking after children is a headache..."
Kalpas was naturally not the type of person who would spoil children. He raised the metal spoon and heavily struck it against the long table:
"All of you shut up!"
Such a threat had no deterrent effect on the children. They were young, but not stupid. In the beginning, some of them were intimidated by Master Kalpas's roar...
But he would never actually hit the children. He always said the same few words when scolding them. In the eyes of the children, Master Kalpas's "scary" level was much lower than Mom Aponia, who could talk about one small thing for over an hour.
However, the children at the orphanage were mostly malnourished and physically weak. After making a ruckus for only a short while, each of them started to feel exhausted.
They quickly quieted down and gazed at Kalpas with anticipation.
"Why are you all looking at me! Eat your own food! Uh... okay, I'll bake bread for you tonight!"
"Whoo hoo hoo! Long live Master Kalpas!"
"Now, I declare that Master Kevin is not our master anymore! Long live Master Kalpas!"
The children mimicked Kalpas and banged on their bowls and the table with their wooden spoons. The scene became chaotic, as if they were going to lift the entire roof of the orphanage.
Luckily, a cold cough sounded, saving Mikael's ears.
With that light cough, everyone quieted down.
But quiet didn't mean silence. In places that they thought others couldn't see, the children still winked and made faces at each other, or played rock-paper-scissors.
"Well... let's start today's lunch. Don't talk while you eat, okay, hehe."
"Ah, Mikael, and Kalpas and Kevin too, please come to my room after lunch."
Mikael drank a mouthful of the chicken soup that had a small amount of oil floating on it. He had to say, that Master Kalpas's cooking was not bad. It was much better than... than it was back then...
He rubbed his chubby cheeks. His mind was drifting off: "According to the bubble world's Mei, the Fourth Herrscher appeared in Southern Europe, and the Fifth Herrscher appeared in Eastern Europe, as expected. Looking at the time, there are almost six months until the Fourth Honkai Impact, but... this variable that is me will probably affect the Honkai's process, right?"
When he thought of that, the chicken soup didn't smell as good anymore, and he didn't want to eat the potatoes since they weren't peeled by Ellie. So he jumped down from his seat. Kevin also understood instantly. Combined with the rather idle Kalpas, the three of them stood in front of Aponia in a row.
Great, the old relic that was forgotten by the world was achieved.
"Uh..." Aponia was a little surprised at first, then she smiled helplessly: "You really can't wait, can you..."
She went into her room, opened a drawer. Other than a few pens and a book, the only thing left inside was a small cloth bag.
"I have some money saved up here. You guys should take it and go to the town to buy some butter."
"Butter? Master Kalpas brought back a big block of butter this morning, right?"
Kevin scratched his head. Due to some unknown reasons, he knew quite a bit about cooking. The large block that Kalpas had brought back this morning was definitely enough for baking bread tonight.
"Don't call me Master Kalpas!"
"Kalpas, refrain from anger."
"Kalpas, Master is clearly an honorific that others use for you. They're expressing kindness towards you."
"But I don't like it!"
"Kalpas, even if you don't like it, you can't face other people's kindness with that kind of attitude, because..."
Kalpas suddenly punched the wall. Mikael felt the entire orphanage shaking. That made him have to pull his attention away from eating his melon and wonder if he should reinforce this room with his spatial powers.
"You stop talking! I... I like the name Master Kalpas now! Okay! Are you happy now?!"
"...Sigh, Kalpas, look, isn't that problem solved? So, when you're angry, you must remember to communicate with other people..."
"Cough cough," Mikael glanced at Kalpas's flushed face and couldn't help but interrupt Aponia—if he didn't interrupt, Mikael felt that Kalpas was going to explode...
"So, Mom Aponia, you still haven't said why we need to buy more butter."
"Ah! Right! Actually, Kalpas is leaving this place tomorrow, and he wants to make a good butter bread for your last meal. But you saw what just happened, and I don't know how to tell that to the children... of course, it's not a big deal. We'll just buy some more butter."
The two of them looked at Kalpas in unison. Kalpas shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn't know what was going on either.
Although he arrived in this bubble world earlier than Mikael and the others, he knew nothing about what had happened before in this bubble world.
But... he didn't reject it. He didn't reject this... atmosphere.
"Then why make these two follow me?"
"Ah... about that. I saw that Mikael and Kevin were a bit distracted today. You can just treat it like going out to relax with them."
"..." Kalpas took a deep breath and crooked his finger at Mikael:
"Hmph! Kid, come over here!"
"Kalpas, you should say... [Please] come with me, Mikael."
"Aponia! It's none of your business to lecture me!"
"I'm not lecturing you, I'm just explaining to you..."
Kalpas used actions to interrupt Aponia's loving education:
"Mikael, [Please] come with me!"
"Kalpas, be a little gentler with your tone."
Amidst Kalpas's cursing and shouting, the group stepped into the snowy wind.
Kalpas walked ahead aggressively by himself, while Kevin and Mikael naturally gathered together.
"By the way, Mikael, this... Master Kalpas, who exactly is he?"
Kevin's question seemed to be purely out of curiosity, but his overly exaggerated tone made it seem like he had another motive.
In response, Mikael only said a few words:
"..." Kevin pulled his coat tighter, feeling chilled by that joke.
"Alright, Kevin. We're not exactly strangers, so you can feel free to ask me whatever you want... you're too straightforward... not really suitable for subtle and roundabout conversations."
"..." Kevin didn't know if Mikael was complimenting him or making fun of him.
But since Mikael had said so, he was no longer polite:
"Hua said that that man fought with you all night?"
"..." This time, it was Mikael's turn to be silent. He didn't know if it was his thoughts that were problematic, or if Kevin's phrasing was too ambiguous. He felt that the words from before had some kind of double meaning.
Seeing that he was silent, Kevin thought that he was just being too careful, and hadn't asked directly enough. So, he asked again: "So, this man can actually contend with a Herrscher?"
Mikael didn't answer his question directly. Instead, he asked: "So, is the fact that I'm alive and that I'm a Herrscher no longer a secret in Fire Moth?"
Under the influence of some mysterious force, Kevin turned his head and shrugged:
"Okay, Elvin, Fuxi, and Nuwa have been put on group confinement."
Well, although he didn't know how these three loudmouths found out about this, they must have played a crucial role in spreading it around. They managed to make a "rumor" seem more real than Mikael's cenotaph...
He knew what Kevin was going to say and resolutely shook his head: "You'd better give up on that idea. Not to mention the danger level of that man, or the fact that I've already set my eyes on him... Think carefully. With the current abilities of you and Mei, and without any way of guaranteeing his safety or concealing his identity, if you bring him back to Fire Moth..."
"Hehe, you think about what will happen to me."