“Another helping,” she said. I recalled the first time I’d encountered S’yne in my village—she’d tried to eat my food then. She always showed up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the village too. Maybe she was actually something of a glutton.

Anyway, it was Filo, Sadeena, Shildina, and S’yne who were eating the most.

“Naofumi, kiddo, can I stop now?” L’Arc asked.

“Hmmm . . . I guess I can just feed you again in a bit. I’d better start making preparations,” I said. The quality of the food seemed to influence how much levels increased, so getting the ingredients ready now would help out a lot later. I didn’t want everyone getting sick of eating the same food either.

“Gah . . . that mirror of yours is starting to look more like a tray to me . . . You’re the Food Hero,” L’Arc said. I wasn’t going to let a comment like that slip by.

“Right! It sounds like you still need some more! I’ve got a deluxe-size riz a l’imperatrice here that I was going to feed to Filo and the others as dessert.” I slapped the dish—basically a cake made using rice—down in front of L’Arc.

“Hey! Hey?!” L’Arc protested.

“I want to see that dish clean, L’Arc. Eat all of it. This is so you become stronger and ultimately to protect this world. You’ve been watching your power-up methods closely, I’m sure, so you can see the experience and bonuses my food is giving you, correct?”

“Okay! I’ll eat it! That’s what you want, right?” L’Arc raged and then tucked in with a roar, stuffing his face with my food. Before long though, he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Take that! Calling me “Food Hero”! It had reminded me of that soldier who once said my shield looked like a pot lid. Seriously!

“Filo, you take care of the rest of this!” I shouted.

“I’m on it!” Filo replied, heartily tucking in. Filo had already changed out of her humanoid form, and her bird tummy was looking pretty extended from all this eating. “Master, I’m actually starting to feel full! I’ve never felt this way before in my life!” Filo marveled. She had to be nearing her limits, as even her eating speed had fallen.

I continued the terrible-for-your-health food doping for a while longer.

Epilogue: A Responsibility to Justice

Epilogue: A Responsibility to Justice

It was around the time that almost everyone had gone off to bed, nursing their distended bellies and moaning about being force-fed. I sent Raphtalia off to bed as well, finished cleaning up the kitchen, and was just heading back to my room when I encountered Itsuki taking in the night air and the wonderful view on a terrace.