“Meow, meow, meow!”
“Dah!”
“Pongoro’s here too.”
“Aba!”
“Takeru-kun and Oruko-chan are here too.”
“Dah!”
Rouge and Jaja sang along with the opening of the usual toddler program recorded on the hard disk.
She sat on the sofa in front of the TV, with Jaja and Nana on her thighs, swaying from side to side.
“Ririka, Jaja and Nana are even better friends now, right?”
“Kyah!”
“Uah?”
Patting Jaja on the head, Rouge smiled wryly.
Whether she understood what he said or not, Jaja cheerfully raised her arms up.
Nana, who was holding her favorite stuffed cat, looked at Jaja curiously.
The twins are full of energy again today, one night after their first sleepover.
Jaja was watching her usual toddler show, and I can’t help but feel that her tension is higher than before.
I think she might be thinking that Pongoro-kun, the stuffed tanuki beast, is Ririka-chan.
I mean, there is a resemblance, but… Ririka-chan is a girl, right?
Today the twins were wearing matching cow-eared baby one-pieces. The black-and-white spots are so adorable.
They’ve been growing so fast these days that I’m going to have to replace the twins’ clothes when I go shopping for fall clothes in a little while.
As a father, I’m pretty nervous because they’re going to grow up so fast before I know it.
My financial standing is sad, to say the least, but I’m more afraid of missing out on the twins, who are growing up day by day.
The Jaja and Nana of today are only here now.
Every time they sleep, or even every time I take my eyes off them, they are doing something that they couldn’t do before.
I really want to capture it all with my own eyes, to witness every second of it, from the bottom of my heart.
Well, I can’t, can I?
I have school.
What if they crawl or get up when I’m not around?
When it comes to crawling, I feel like the twins could already do it if they wanted to.
It’s just that they rarely move on the ground because they can fly, and in terms of size and muscle mass, they’re already well past infancy.
I don’t like it. I want to see it.
I wonder if I can get them to do something during this summer vacation. No, but it would be a pity to force them to do so.
I want to let them grow up at their own pace, with as little pressure as possible.
I wondered if all the mothers and fathers of the world think about the same thing.
Thinking about this, I sat beside Rouge, resting my cheek on the armrest of the sofa and watching the twins.
Past the living room window, Aoi was hanging up all the laundry from the trip.
It looks like a lot of work, with clothes for the twins and shirts for me and my dad.
I couldn’t stand to see her do it, so I offered to help, but Aoi refused, and here I am.
Shouhei can do all kinds of household chores, so Aoi tries her best to do what she can.
Since the first thing she was assigned to do when she came to this house was laundry, she wants to do everything herself no matter what.
I wish she wouldn’t be so stubborn and would just take it easy on me. We’ll talk about it a little later. For now, I want to give priority to Aoi’s satisfaction.
Shouhei went to the library with his friends in the afternoon.
He said he wanted to finish his summer homework before he left for the Sphere Continent.
He’s the one in the family who’s looking forward to the trip the most.
Even though it’s a trip, it’s a trip with a purpose.
We don’t even know if we’ll be able to do any sightseeing yet.
I mean, I’m not even sure how many nights we’ll be staying.
Or when are we going to meet up with Alba? I don’t even know where we’ll be going or what we’ll be doing.
I’m worried. There’s nothing but anxiety.
At least Prince Atoll and the others have helped me secure a place to stay.
They have a house in the royal capital of Dailan just for Prince Atol, and they said that we can stay there as many nights as we want.
Considering our family’s financial situation, I couldn’t help but take him at his word.
If we had to pay for a week’s worth of hotels, we might be forced to live on nothing but edible wild plants after the summer vacation!
I’ll take what I can get without reservation. I can’t say I’m ashamed of myself!
After all, we’re a family of nine now.
Huh?
I thought there were only three of us before we came to this town, but why?
“It’s amazing! This place is really amazing!”
“Kunpei! This forest is amazing!”
The new members of this season’s team turned up at the garden, looking excited.
“Oh. You’re back. How’d it go?”
I got up from the couch and walked over to the window to sit down.
“It’s amazing! The magic is rich, and the spirits are plentiful! And the soil is so healthy! We’ll be able to grow good sacred herbs here!”
“Dragon Princess! Sky Dragon Princess! I like it here!”
Wera and Azui were delighted while wearing Shouhei’s hand-me-down T-shirt and shorts that became covered in mud.
They look like early elementary school girls for all intents and purposes.
“That’s good. But the only place you can garden is behind the house. Behind the fence is a dungeon, so stay as far away from it as possible, okay?”
“I’m not going near it! I’m scared!”
“I’m not going near it! I’ll die!”
It’s good to see you being so honest.
These little dragons are now under our protection.
After we left Ririka and the others, I asked them if they wanted to come to our house. It was so easy that I was really worried.
I’m going to teach her very well not to follow strangers.
I’ll teach them well from now on. They were sent far away from their village during the world clash, and since then they have been living secretly, avoiding beastmen, humans, and animals.
Herb dragons originally live by growing medicinal herbs and vegetables while being protected by other dragons.
I wonder if this is also the instinct of the dragon species that Alba was talking about.
It seems that growing plants is the greatest pastime and joy of these dragons.
There were many other wild animals living in those mountains, so it was difficult to grow plants in one place, and they have been frustrated for a long time.
The forest around our house was getting denser due to the expansion of the Tusk Crag dungeon, and more importantly, there was a being that could protect us from the threat of other creatures.
She is the daughter of the Earth Dragon King, the strongest of the dragon species. There’s Rouge, the Arc Dragon, and Aoi, the daughter of the Sky Dragon King, is much stronger than ordinary dragons.
I’m sure it’s safer here.
In addition, the little dragons were so impressed by the first human food they ate that they easily made the decision to move.
“Wera Wera! What should we do? What should we grow?”
“Calm down, Azui! What should we do? I want to grow medicinal herbs, but I also want to grow fruits and vegetables, don’t you?”
That’s why.
We have two new little girls in our family, but the fact is that our family’s finances are already in dire straits.
Shouhei had a bitter look on his face when he looked at the family account in the morning, and my dad had a bit of a headache before he went to bed. However, it was decided in a family meeting that Azui and Wera would be protected.
Both my father and Shouhei had agreed to it.
I’m sure they’re not overreacting.
I’m going to get a part-time job after the summer vacation.
“Wera-san! Azui-san! You can’t go into the house covered in mud like that!”
“Y-yes!”
“I’m sorry!”
Aoi’s thunderbolt struck the two of them as they squealed.
It’s not that she actually struck them, but that she scolded them.
That was a joke because Aoi can really make lightning bolts, but I don’t think ordinary people will understand it.
“I’m sorry, Sky Dragon princess…”
“We’re just a little excited…”
The two of them huddled together and reflect on the situation.
Both of these lesbian little dragons are supposed to be older than Aoi.
I’m a little confused because it looks like the little sister is being scolded by the older sister no matter how you look at it.
“No, no, no. As long as you wash your hands and feet properly, there’s no problem. You have Jaja and Nana at home, so please be careful about cleanliness, okay?”
“O-okay!”
“Yeah! Me too!”
… You’re really old, aren’t you?
“And you can call me Aoi, okay? I’m a lot younger than you and Azui. It embarrasses me to be called princess.”
“Hmm. You can call me Rouge, too. It’s not like I’m a princess.”
Rouge, sitting on the sofa, agreed with Aoi’s words.
Jaja and Nana seem to be obsessed with the stuffed animal show on TV.
“We can’t just say that! What should we do, Wera?”
“Hmm. Well, how about Aoi-sama and Rouge-sama?”
You don’t want your superiors to suddenly tell you not to be afraid. I remember that too.
I didn’t know what to do when the only senior I respected at my old school told me that I could call him by his name and that I didn’t need to use honorifics. I didn’t know what to do, though he did allow me to use ‘-san’.
“Well, it’s still a little embarrassing.”
“Hmm. Try not to say it too much in front of others, okay?”
They didn’t seem to be too convinced.
It’s not easy.
“You’ll get used to it and won’t mind it. But more importantly, Wera. How big do you plan to make the garden? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You’ll help me? Well, you can help me till the soil! The bigger the garden, the better, if you don’t mind!”
“Wow! Oh, my God! What should I do? What should I do? I’m so happy, so happy, so happy! Let’s go, Wera!”
The two of them, with their tensions suddenly swept to the max, joined hands and ran to the back of the house.
“Hey, hey. Wait a minute.”
I hurriedly put on the sandals I had prepared outside the window.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Ok, I’ll take care of the laundry!”
“Hmm, take care, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Rouge waved her hand with a flutter.
The summer sun was baking my skin, and it was so hot that my sweat would immediately seep out.
Every time a gentle breeze blew, the laundry that Aoi had hung out to dry swayed, making it feel a little cooler.
Let’s pretend for the moment that I didn’t see the swimsuit hanging in the laundry.
My first summer in this town is much more lively than last year.
“Dah!”
“Au?”
Jaja and Nana’s voices could be heard from inside the house.
◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆
I didn’t know that the garden created at that time would become the savior of the Kazamachi family’s finances six months later.
No one had even predicted it yet.