She Becomes The Hero In Another World 70 She Talks About Her Brother

"So, about that salad...." Gerard asked hungrily. "Can we eat it now?" He was already looking forward to how it was going to taste. His stomach growled in agreement.

"Let's wait until we arrive at the rest stop, first." Robin suggested.

"Awww. Don't we still have to wait for the cow herd?" Gerard asked, disappointed.

"Well, the truth is, the cow herd was pretty much finished a minute ago. By now, we're probably almost at the town square."

Robin pointed out the window. Gerard got up to go look outside. But, even standing, he could tell that the scenery outside the window was changing.

The carriage was so well-spelled that they hadn't even felt when the carriage had started to move. Since it was a small town, they were already almost at the town square as soon as they entered. Gerard's face blushed sheepishly.

"Then, I am okay with waiting." He said, as he sat back down. Robin laughed.

"If it's any consolation, the wait shouldn't be long." She said in encouragement. Although the others didn't say much, they also were curious as to what the spring flower salad would taste like.

"Ah, that reminds me, Robin." Gerard looked up. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Jasmine's heart trembled out of concern. She knew that Robin's home was a touchy subject, and watched Robin closely, worried that he might get angry or morose.

Robin simply looked out the window, a faint smile gracing her lips. At that moment, the sunlight falling down upon her face created a soft glow upon her face. In that moment, Gerard almost forgot that Robin was a man.

"Yes. I have an older brother." She replied quietly.

"Wow! Is he as good as you are at fighting?" Gerard asked, starry-eyed.

"Nope." Robin turned to wink at Gerard. "He's even better than I am. Of course, my master said that, if we had started at the same time, that I'd have surpa.s.sed him 3 years ago. For now, I can only fight on equal terms with him for half an hour before being defeated."

Of course, physique had something to do with it. While Robin was a genius at attack techniques, her brother's strength lay in defensive techniques. He was someone who had an eight year headstart, and had a chance to develope far more muscle and stamina. For a mere sixteen years old, to contend against her brother who was eight years older than her on a regular basis, and almost draw even? This was actually an impressive feat.

Keith and Christian were even more impressed, since they knew more about physical battle training than the others. Robin must have trained ceaselessly these past six years. Otherwise, she would not have been so strong and knowledgable.

At a certain point, Christian wondered how Robin even found the time to sleep. Otherwise, there would be no way the hero could be so strong.

"Wow! I wonder if your brother is so awesome, I wonder just how strong your parents would be!" Gerard exclaimed. Jasmine could only place her head in her hand.

'Kid, could you not touch upon topics that pain Robin so deeply? If I didn't know you were innocent, I would swear that you were doing this on purpose!'

At that moment, Robin's nightmare that morning flitted back to the front of her mind, occupying Robin's attention. If it wasn't for her brother, she would probably have...

Robin shook her head to clear it. Her brother was still alive and well. Robin also was alive and well. That was a good thing. All she needs to do is consult the demon king to find out the way to return.

At that moment, Robin made a decision. There would be no more gloom today. Today was a day to contemplate happier things.

"Come to think of it..." She said, slowly. "I recalled another recipe just now..."

"Does it include flowers?" Gerard asked. Robin grinned. "It can." She replied. "But flowers are usually included only if the dish is meant for a woman. For flowers to bedazzle this dish for a man, it would look quite odd."

Glancing out the window, Robin grin softened into a faint smile. "It appears we have arrived." She announced, as she stood up and walked to the carriage door.

The rest area was a house where carriages could stop. It had carved stone tables and chairs for the people to sit in, both on the outside, and on the inside of the building. Although the building itself was nothing special, looking like all the other grey stone houses, it had separate rooms for commoner and n.o.ble parties.

When Ponzu opened the carriage door from the outside, Robin was the first to alight upon the cobblestone ground. Turning around, she courteously held her hand out to help Jasmine down.

"Are you in need of a.s.sistance, milady?" She asked with a cheeky smile.

Jasmine laughed. "Why, thank you, young man. I'd be delighted to recieve your aid." She placed her hand lightly in Robin's as she stepped down onto solid ground.

Christian, seeing this, scowled as he observed the two together. 'Perhaps, could they be...?' He shook his head quickly to banish the thought into the depths of his mind. 'Impossible! There's no way that would happen.'

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm down. For some reason, he did not like seeing Robin together with Jasmine. He jumped down, and moved to subtly stand in between the two.

Jasmine seeing this, held back a laugh. It seemed that Christian was getting jealous. On the other side, Robin was too busy thinking about what kind of ingredients she would need to notice Christian's abnormal behavior.

"Ponzu."

She turned towards the carriage, where Ponzu was retrieving his luggage.

"Later on, I have another recipe to show you."

"Really!?" Ponzu exclaimed. "Hurray!" He jumped for joy, as he eagerly went to reserve them a table inside the rest house.

"A new recipe?" Christian asked. "More flowers?" Was she going to fry flower blossoms in oil?

Robin shook her head, smiling secretively. "Nope! You'll find out later. This recipe is for later on tonight."

"Tonight? Does it have to be at night?" Christian asked.

"No, but it's best to eat this one after dinner." Robin replied, cryptically. Though he was somewhat annoying, Robin found she enjoyed seeing Christian's somewhat dumbfound expression.

Inside the rest area building, the group plus the knights gathered around the table to try Robin's flowery Spring Salad. Robin was satisfied that there wasn't a sign of a bug anywhere. But she wouldn't take it out before her companions set up a scent barrier at the doors and windows. They quickly did so. Once that was done, she pulled out the colorful blooms, liberally sprinkling honey water over the whole large bowl.

"Lunch is served!" She laughed, as she plated the somewhat exotic eatable.

Since just a salad was a bit light for a travel meal, Robin also withdrew some boiled eggs and honeyed ham to eat alongside it. The salty sweetness from the pork, and the mild flavor of the eggs went well with the refres.h.i.+ng mild sweetness of the salad.

While the knights ate the salad, they thought it was a somewhat pleasant change from meat and root vegetables for every now and then. They were also somewhat surprised at the fact that many of the flowers, though sweet-smelling, tasted slightly bitter without the honey water.

After lunch, everyone agreed to go for a small walk through town to stretch their legs. Robin had Ponzu stay back to help her.

"Okay, first, I need you to find me three stones" Robin instructed. "No bigger than my palm, and I'd like them to be about 3 inches high. Try to get them as close to the same height as possible when sitting on the ground, okay?"

Ponzu was confused. "How is this going to help us make the dish?" He asked.

"I'll explain later." Robin said, as she pulled out some paper sheets, a small bowl, and some b.u.t.ter. "But, for now, please find me some stones, okay?"

While Ponzu was rather doubtful, he still dutifully went to gather the stones as asked.