Unfortunately, once things got busy, even though the evenings belonged to the old man, he still didn't have much time to prepare proper dinners.
For tonight, the dishes he could manage were only an extra serving of Yan Du Xian (salted pork and fresh bamboo shoot stew) and a portion of Lotus Flower Crisp.
However, there was one thing that surprised the old man a little.
The entire Kamisato family, along with little Sara, all really liked the Yan Du Xian.
So it couldn't exactly be said that their tastes were similar to little Eula's.
Little Eula disliked all foods with strong or heavy flavors, whereas the Kamisato family simply couldn't stand anything greasy.
Fortunately, the old man had deliberately planned the menu and made an extra batch of Lotus Flower Crisp.
Everyone still enjoyed a cheerful meal together.
Little Kirara the cat ate everything without complaint—as long as it wasn't troublesome to eat, she devoured it happily.
After dinner, they took a short rest and did whatever they liked.
Little Sara was like a human typing machine when it came to writing books—she wrote the fastest and produced the best quality.
The old man took a look at the story little Sara was writing...
How should he put it...
Although between the lines you could clearly see Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun's overwhelming dignity, and the tengu girl's pure, unadulterated admiration for Her Excellency,
anyone with eyes could tell that this was actually the story of a considerate yet strict wooden tengu girl and a complete idiot battle maniac of a Shogun.
In the story, it was all just the tengu girl's feelings of reverence toward Her Excellency, but Her Excellency didn't seem entirely unresponsive.
Everyone could see that the two of them didn't have that kind of relationship,
yet it was precisely this "not a couple yet feels exactly like a couple" vibe that made readers desperately want to ship them...
The old man looked at little Sara's endless outpouring of "admiration" toward Her Excellency and sucked in a cold breath.
Ma'am, you're terrifyingly good at this...
She was clearly just stiffly and formally writing about her own meetings with Her Excellency, along with a few tiny moments of contact...
You protect me, I take care of you.
What a beautiful lord-and-vassal relationship this is...
Combined with the polished writing style that little Kujou had honed in the Kujou family, the archaic prose revealed Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun's gentle and approachable side...
And now, with Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun in power...
The factors of the era were helping her too.
Full marks, nothing more to say—this book would definitely become an explosive hit the moment it entered Yae Publishing House.
Then there was little Ayato's story.
Under the guidance of his mother—an old-school otaku who had been immersed in the world of novels for years—this child had already settled on the overall outline of his story.
It told the tale of a young lady from the family named Hiraiwa Shizuku.
In the early parts, it described a beautiful noble daughter from a prestigious house: gentle, kind-hearted, deeply loved by everyone, with a warm and happy family, parents, and an adorable little sister.
Then one day, the family offended two despicable and immensely powerful clans. Those two clans secretly dispatched armies—without Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun's knowledge—to wipe out the family.
But young lady Hiraiwa Shizuku survived thanks to the desperate protection of the family's warriors. After witnessing the cruelty of the world and the loss of her family, her personality underwent a drastic change.
Under the moonlight, she disguised herself as a man, took up the samurai sword in her hand, and resolved to take revenge for her family and all those who had once loved and cherished her.
Up to this point, the old man still felt it was fairly average. The "tragic backstory full of bitter hatred" trope was something he'd seen plenty of times before.
Back before transmigrating, this kind of plot had already been played to death. The only slight novelty was that the protagonist was a woman cross-dressing as a man, and she seemed to be a very strong princess.
But in this current barbaric era, it was extremely fresh. The heavy tragedy served to hook readers, while a woman disguising herself as a man to become a military commander—combining feminine fragility with the toughness of a general—created an unexpectedly contradictory yet compelling fusion. The destructive power of that combination...
The old man gave it a nine out of ten. The one point withheld was only to keep little Ayato from getting too proud.