The Time-Stop Breeding Uncle Want’s to Retire

Translator: FusionX

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The Dwarf Republic passionately kept their promise.

As soon as we returned to Lionheart Fortress, they immediately sent the promised numerous pieces of equipment and top-grade supplies.

Thanks to that, the empty warehouse was almost full.

The only problem was the lack of a blacksmith to manage the weapons, but let’s think about that later and be satisfied for now.

Fortunately, everyone was said to know the basics of managing and maintaining weapons.

They said it was the basics of the basics for those who handled weapons.

Thanks to that, I felt a bit stung.

But with my experience of handling firearms in the military and the scraps I learned by watching over someone’s shoulder, I could somehow imitate it.

At that moment, Helia ran up to me and said,

“Teacher! I finished the maintenance!”

“Is that so? Good work.”

“Would you mind taking a look at it?”

Helia, oh Helia.

Why are you giving me such an ordeal?

I’m the one who couldn’t even do firearm maintenance properly and got scolded.

Let alone knowing about swords.

But I couldn’t ignore Helia, because Helia was sitting in front of me, looking up at me with sparkling eyes.

What was contained in them was none other than expectation.

I took the sword from Helia and looked it over.

Well, it was clean, but… I didn’t know anything beyond that.

I didn’t know if there was too much oil or if it was just right.

My head just hurt.

“Excellent. Have you done this kind of thing before?”

“I did it for the first time today.”

“You have a natural talent for swords.”

“Ah, right. Hasn’t Helia gotten really strong lately?”

“You’ve gotten weaker. You lump of ore.”

Putting aside Clara and Ruby, who started bickering, at some point, Helia began to speak casually to others.

Did they get along well with each other?

If so, that would be great.

As Clara and Ruby said, Helia’s growth had been shining lately, and Helia’s growth started to show in sparring as well.

If it used to be a clean defeat before, now, it was possible to have a somewhat even exchange of offense and defense.

Of course, both Ruby and Clara used swords instead of their main weapons.

Nevertheless, it was a tremendous achievement.

“It’s been about a year and a half since she started learning the sword, right? She has truly tremendous talent.”

“If it weren’t for you, Teacher, I wouldn’t have come this far.”

“She even has an eye for skill. She’s really dependable.”

“I just happened to find her and help her by chance. It has nothing to do with having an eye for it.”

Yeah, yeah.

You guys can chatter as you please.

I’ll be stepping down from the commander position in half a year anyway.

Right now, we were in the armory, maintaining and repairing the weapons received from the republic.

And at the same time, I instructed them to take one weapon of their choice.

They say a master doesn’t blame his tools, but if there’s a good weapon, you should use it.

Is there any reason to let it rust?

Clara chose a usable bow, Ruby chose a large hammer specially made in the Dwarf Republic.

Helia chose a longsword of the highest quality.

Cluna and Yuren didn’t choose any.

Why on earth?

“I’m too strong, so the weapons can’t withstand it. I can’t throw away precious weapons.”

“I prefer making and using them myself~.”

Yeah, you guys are so great.

Unable to say it out loud, I also chose a suitable sword and tucked it into my waist.

With this, naturally, the only one left was the one person our gazes couldn’t help but turn to.

Bayard was blankly staring at the object in front of her.

It was a whip made of chains.

According to Ambassador Viral, they sent it just in case.

I hoped that ‘just in case’ wasn’t what I was thinking of.

With that silly thought, I approached Bayard.

Noticing my presence, she was startled and said,

“Ah! C-Commander.”

“Do you want to use a whip? Then feel free to use it.”

I wanted to see with my own eyes the members choosing their weapons.

That way, the efficiency would improve in the next mission, and the psychological stability would increase a bit as well…

Comprachico was relatively okay.

Although the opponent was a blood demon-level, its stats weren’t particularly outstanding, but the slime we faced just before was the problem.

If I had made a single mistake, it would have been the end.

I could have lost my life, and that directly came back to me as stress.

It was scary to the point of crying while fighting.

Of course, I couldn’t whine about it.

Putting aside the fact that I was the commander of the Royal Knights for now, I couldn’t complain with the absurd cheat ability of time stop, could I?

“Ah, th-that’s. It’s nothing.”

“Is that so?”

“Y-Yes! Commander!”

“If there’s anything bothering you, don’t hide it and tell me.”

I wasn’t just assuring, I was certain.

That was 100% something she had a reason for.

Unless you were an idiot, there was no way you wouldn’t notice someone making such a gloomy face.

But that didn’t mean you should dig too deep from the start, because she might run away.

For now, I should slowly get her to tell her story.

With that thought, I said to everyone,

“That’s it for today. Good work, everyone!”

“Ah, I’m hungry.”

“Who’s on meal duty this week?”

“It’s Helia and the Commander.”

At first, Cluna was in charge of the members’ meals, but no matter how I thought about it, it seemed like too much of a burden for one person.

So I proposed that at least for meals, we should assign duty shifts.

Cluna said it was fine, but everyone must have felt guilty, so my proposal was accepted.

Thanks to that, I had to taste the charcoal-grilled meat that was completely burned last week.

So what did that mean?

I was regretting in full swing for suggesting to take turns with meal duty.

Ah, it’s so damn annoying… Fuck.

But unlike me, Helia had a very happy expression.

“Anything is enjoyable as long as I can do it with you, Teacher!”

Helia, oh Helia.

When you say that, what does that make me, who’s grumbling about how annoying it is next to you?

I felt like my body was being purified and disappearing at the girl’s dazzling smile.

Well, if I decided to do it, I should do it properly.

Besides, it was true that I felt burdened by Cluna managing the fortress all by herself.

We headed to the dining hall to prepare.

The dining hall of Lionheart Fortress had everything.

Not only various facilities such as ovens and griddles but even a primitive refrigerator was prepared.

I prepared the ingredients.

“First, the basics of cooking are hygiene. And next is a balanced meal.”

“I will remember it clearly.”

The problem was that I didn’t know anything beyond that.

After all, the Royal Knights were performing combat on the front lines.

Should I just make it similar to the military?

The ingredients I took out were vegetables and chicken.

It was a pity that there was no gochujang, but surprisingly, there was soy sauce.

I heard that since it was a multi-race alliance knight order, ingredients and seasonings that each race actually ate were prepared.

The dish I was preparing today was braised chicken.

Usually, braised chicken was made red, but there were quite a few cases where it was stir-fried with soy sauce added.

I prepared the cooking utensils.

“The spatula and griddle are harder to use than I thought.”

“Leave the physical work to me!”

“You just watch from the side…”

I dissuaded Helia.

The griddle, or in more familiar terms, the frying pan, was much harder to use than I thought.

Moreover, the fire was dangerous.

So I was going to just teach Helia, and then I was going to cook alone.

But what’s this?

She’s using the griddle much better than me?

Looking at Helia with a dumbfounded expression, Helia said,

“I asked Cluna and learned a lot about cooking.”

“You learned? By yourself?”

“Yes. There were even a few times when I made it myself and served it to you, Teacher.”

“I-I see.”

No wonder she would sometimes stick close to me and persistently ask how it tasted.

I wondered why she did that then.

It was because of this, but why cooking of all things?

“That’s when I first realized. Just by watching the person I like directly eat the food I made with sincerity, I could be this happy.”

While I was wrestling with the griddle, at some point, she had placed the fully prepared ingredients on the griddle, and she skillfully lit the fire and started grilling the ingredients with the griddle.

I ended up just watching from the side.

Fortunately, Helia occasionally asked me about cooking.

If not, I would have almost become a crazy bastard who completely relied on a kid.

Honestly, I wasn’t that much of a help either.

I made a lot of mistakes because the recipe was vague.

Helia faintly smiled and put the food on a plate from the griddle.

“It’s done. How is it?”

“Y-You did much better than me.”

“You flatter me, Teacher.”

It was a dish that couldn’t be thought to have been made by a 13-year-old.

Helia leisurely started cleaning the kitchen.

I could only blankly stare at that sight.

I felt like I was bewitched by a goblin.

Was this really the Helia who used to be violent?

It really made my heart swell with emotion.

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