"Ahem, Thoma, calm down, calm down. I know how good your cooking is. The Tenryou Commission's work meals could never compare to your food."
Seeing Thoma getting more and more worked up, even talking about resigning, Su Bai hurriedly tried to calm him down. If Thoma actually resigned, Su Bai would be the one to blame.
"Kageroumaru, why do you think Thoma's cooking is not good? Thoma wakes up really early every day to make food for you all."
Kageroumaru glanced at Thoma. It did seem like that was the case, which made Kageroumaru a bit embarrassed. The guy woke up so early to cook for them, and then they badmouthed him and got caught.
Taroumaru, lying nearby, also looked a bit sheepish. To be fair, although Thoma's cooking was not great, he really did try his best. They probably should encourage Thoma a bit. However, the straightforward Kageroumaru did not give Taroumaru a chance to speak.
"Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof." (Every time we go help the Tenryou Commission find people, their boss lady specifically has someone prepare meat for us. Several whole wild boars, and we can eat as much as we want.)
Kageroumaru's words left both Thoma and Su Bai feeling a bit incredulous. They both knew what kind of place the Tenryou Commission was. Under Kujou Sara's management, the food at the Tenryou Commission had improved somewhat, but it was hard to believe they would let Kageroumaru's pack of dogs eat meat to their heart's content.
"It seems I should find some time to visit the Tenryou Commission. Regardless of the reason, Sara would not do anything to harm Kageroumaru and the others."
Su Bai trusted Kujou Sara's character quite a bit. This was probably because Su Bai used to invite Sara out to hang out, but the head of the Kujou Clan refused to allow it, which led to Yae Miko personally paying the Kujou Clan a visit. After that, the Kujou Clan's restrictions on Sara became effectively meaningless.
This also meant that although Sara was adopted by the corrupt Kujou Clan, she was not influenced by them in the slightest. She only did what she believed was right and carried out the Raiden Shogun's orders. Oh, and she also bought clay figurines of the Raiden Shogun.
"So you are saying it is not that my cooking cannot compare to the Tenryou Commission's meals, but that I did not give you enough meat?"
Thoma found this reason hard to believe, but Kageroumaru honestly nodded. In the world of dogs, as long as there was enough meat, it was a good meal.
Seeing that the expression on Kageroumaru's face did not look fake, Thoma just felt a bit embarrassed. How had he not considered that Kageroumaru and Taroumaru were dogs? You could not judge a dog's dietary standards by human measures.
"But Thoma, if Kageroumaru keeps coming to the Kamisato Estate to mooch food, you should make more vegetables for him. If Kageroumaru keeps getting fatter, he might end up getting stuck in a small hole just like Taroumaru, unable to get out."
Su Bai patted the fat on Kageroumaru's little belly. Kageroumaru let out a low whine but did not object to Su Bai's arrangement. Compared to eating less meat recently, getting stuck in a hole was far more distressing for a dog.
"By the way, how come I have not seen Ayaka? I can understand Ayato being busy running around all day, but it is pretty rare for Ayaka to not be at the Kamisato Estate."
After sensing around and not detecting Ayaka's presence within the Kamisato Estate, Su Bai was a bit puzzled. Thoma just chuckled and lowered his voice.
"The Young Lady heard that you returned to Inazuma, Su Bai, so she personally went to Inazuma City to pick up some newly made clothes. If I calculate the time right, she should be back in a little while."
"Do you want to have dinner together at the Kamisato Estate tonight? Consider it a welcome-back feast for you. Also, if I remember correctly, the Clan Head should be returning tonight as well."
"I also recently learned a few new Liyue dishes. You can help me critique them when we eat tonight."
By convention, Thoma did not have the authority to invite others to dine at the Kamisato Estate. It seemed that the invitation for Su Bai to stay for dinner must have been Ayaka's idea.
Two years apart and Ayaka had actually become shy. Back in the day, Ayaka had literally dragged Su Bai from the Grand Narukami Shrine to the Kamisato Estate as a guest. During meals, she would put all of Kamisato Ayato's favorite dishes in front of Su Bai, earning him quite a few glares from Ayato.
Time really flies, and everyone has grown up. Since Thoma has invited me, I might as well stay for dinner. No need for Thoma to go out of his way to make Liyue dishes; whatever he is good at will be fine.
"Alright then, since you have invited me, I will stay for dinner. You do not need to make any Liyue dishes, Thoma. Just make whatever you are best at."
"Haha, sure. I will go start preparing then. The Clan Head has been busy outside lately. I should make some soup to help him recover."
...
Watching Thoma's back as he headed toward the kitchen, Su Bai thought that Kamisato Ayato must have accumulated some serious karma in a past life to find such a subordinate who could fight on the battlefield and cook in the kitchen. If he remembered correctly, Kujou Sara had taken a liking to many capable people, but not a single one of them followed her orders.
"Sara really has it tough. Ordinary people do not meet her standards, and extraordinary people do not like being tied down. Tsk, I wonder if two years have passed and she still has not found a single reliable subordinate."
"If that is really the case, then Sara is just pitiful."
Just as he was thinking about how to tease Sara when he ran into her, Paimon's very distinctive voice rang out from the front gate of the Kamisato Estate.
"Wah, wah, wah! Dogs! So many dogs! Lumine, help me!"
"Paimon, you are flying in the sky. These dogs cannot bite you even if they wanted to. What are you afraid of? Besides, these dogs are obviously raised by the Kamisato Clan. Even if you are Emergency Food, these dogs are not going to break the rules and bite you."
"Oh, right. Wait, Paimon is NOT Emergency Food! Paimon is Paimon!"
Hearing Lumine and Paimon bickering again, Su Bai suddenly thought that if he ever went traveling in the future, having a goofball like Paimon along would probably make the journey a lot more fun.
"Huh? Su Bai, why are you here? Were you not at that Grand Shrine or whatever?"
Lumine, who never let a single chest within her line of sight go unnoticed, immediately spotted Su Bai in the gazebo. Paimon, seeing that Su Bai was not at the Grand Narukami Shrine but had instead run off to the Kamisato Estate, scratched her head in confusion.
"Su Bai, is the Grand Narukami Shrine that boring? Lumine and I just went to the Grand Narukami Shrine earlier and accepted an invitation from a shrine maiden named Yae Miko. We were thinking about going to visit the Grand Narukami Shrine if we had time. It seems there is nothing interesting there after all."
An invitation from Yae Miko? To go have fun at the Grand Narukami Shrine? Good grief, if Miko sold you, you would probably help her count the Mora. Paimon was still way too naive.
"When you go to the Grand Narukami Shrine in the future, if you need to ask Miko about something or need her help, you absolutely need to be on your guard."
"Huh? Why is that?"
"Paimon, about this matter, I can only say that those who know, know. And for those who do not know, I cannot say any more."
For the sake of their friendship, Su Bai decided to give little Paimon a warning. Whether Paimon could grasp the meaning was up to her.
"Traveler, you are back. That is great. I have something very important that I need your help with."
"Huh? Could you be the young lady Kamisato Ayaka hiding behind the screen?"
---
New fanfic out:
Honkai Star Rail: Chara Becomes a Gacha Character