Resilient Shield

Chapter 4

Despite himself, Naofumi grinned.

He poured the medicine into an empty vial and wiping the mortar and pistil clean before attempting to make another medicine.

It was not always a success. Half of the time it ended up in black goo something and most of those black goo has a nasty smell, forcing Naofumi to dig a hole outside and dumped them there. He didn't write off the recipe, merely scratches the ratio, and tried a new one. The successful ones were either Poor, Fair, or Good. The first time the successful recipe was always Poor in quality. Despite the many failures, Naofumi found it actually interesting.

"Master?" Raphtalia called him. "The fish...*cough* was done... *cough*"

"Hm. Okay." Naofumi cautiously eats the fish.

To his displeasure, there's no taste. It's like eating tofu without any spices or even soy sauce. Soft, easy to bite off, and bland as hell.

It was like any other food. Somehow he had lost his taste bud. If he made it himself, he can faintly taste it, like severely underspiced and nearly bland food. However, if it was made by someone else, it has no taste at all. As a result, Naofumi had to be extra cautious when eating. With his tastebud goes numb, he can't detect if there's a poison in the food or not.

The only reason he didn't check for the poison in the fish was because of Slave Clause [Slave will not attempt to kill or harm the Master through any means]. There's a reason why he set that clause with high-level punishment.

It doesn't mean he enjoyed the food. Without the taste, Naofumi finds it hard to force himself to eat. His stomach tried to force the food out, so he had to take a pause once in a while and make sure he didn't puke the food back.

Seriously. He takes burnt food if only so he can taste anything. He was that desperate.

He then saw Raphtalia hasn't taken her bite.

"Here." He handed her another fish-on-stick. Seeing her surprise, he added, "eat slowly. Be careful of the bones."

Raphtalia hesitatingly nibbles the fish... before start taking big bites. It was after what left of the fish was only bones, she tried to reach out for another, before stopping.

"You can have it." Said Naofumi, somewhat amused. Raphtalia's actions reminded him of a video of how a child looks like when he was discovered taking out a cookie jar.

"B-but..." the raccoon girl twiddle with her fingers. "W-what about him?"

By him, she refers to her fellow slave.

"He'll eat other."

Looking dubiously, Raphtalia grab another fish and began eating it.

Naofumi finally finished the fish, as Raphtalia finished the third—and last—fish. Didn't realize it until she tried to pick another, and find out there's none left. Her eyes go wide as it is filled with guilt.

Oh no.

She ate everything. She leaves none for her master nor her fellow slave.

What should she do now?

"Hey," Naofumi called from his position. He has halfway goes inside the tree's hollow. "Are you gonna stand there the entire night or something?"

Raphtalia trotted after him guiltily. Inside, she saw her master get some berries and crushed them before mixing some water in. The mortar was full it almost overflowed and spill on the ground. Naofumi pours those into two empty vials.

Again, Naofumi shook the boy awake before feeding him the berry mix juice. The only reason why he wasn't annoyed at playing nurse, was because he got a new notification.