Chapter 350: Future Daughter's Name

"Only two of them, at present."

"At present?" The smile on Yuiyui's face never wavered; she only leaned harder on the words. "Is it really wise to be this honest in front of me? You weren't planning to lie?"

"Auntie Yuiyui, I think that sometimes, when people talk to each other, pretty rhetoric doesn't come close to sincere words. Even if I could bluff my way past this moment, am I supposed to keep lying for the rest of my life?"

"They're all people who matter a great deal to me, so I'm not going to hedge about something like this."

Yuiyui picked up the teacup at her side, took a small sip, and said mildly, "You should know that being a philanderer is a serious mark against you among us Crimson Demon Clan."

"Even so, I'd still give you the same answer."

"Do you know what that girl wrote to us in her letters?" Yuiyui turned the conversation without warning, drifting onto something else entirely.

Jhin had no idea what sort of picture of him had formed in this mother-in-law's mind, but he followed where she led. "No idea. She never told me. "

"When she first left to go adventuring, every letter said the same thing: I'm doing well, please don't worry. The kind of thing anyone could see was a lie. Did she really think we didn't know how hard it is out there when all you can cast is Explosion magic?"

Yuiyui let out a long sigh. Naturally she hated the thought of her daughter suffering, but this was the road her daughter had chosen for herself, and as her mother she could hardly interfere. Her fingertips traced the rough surface of the teacup as she looked at Megumin, fast asleep and snoring softly, and something tender and pained flickered in her eyes.

"Then one day she suddenly wrote that she'd joined the Adventurer's Guild. She said one person there had a truly awful personality and liked to bully her, but everyone else was very nice."

"Ahaha." Jhin laughed. That letter had definitely been written right after he and Megumin met.

"In the letters after that she said less and less about how she was living, and more and more about a certain person's every. single. deed." The weight Yuiyui put on those last four words made Jhin sweat.

He asked carefully, "Which ones, specifically?"

"Let me think... playing back my daughter's most embarrassing history while forcing her to do all sorts of things she didn't want to do, and roaring with laughter about it. Always eyeing her feet around the house. Waiting until she'd fired off her Explosion magic and couldn't move a muscle, then tickling the soles of her feet..."

It took Yuiyui a solid four or five minutes just to list the sadistic things he'd done, and at the end she gave the sweat-drenched Jhin a look that wasn't quite a smile. "She complained about a great deal. But she never once said she hated you. All she wrote, very casually, in one letter, was this: 'I think I've found someone I can spend a whole lifetime firing off Explosion magic with.'"

Something soft in him gave way at those words. Jhin's gaze settled on Megumin, gentle as still water. "So that's how she put it..."

"She also mentioned she'd picked out a name for your future daughter. Would you let me see that slip of paper?"

"Of course." Jhin drew out the note he'd been keeping in the valuables section of his storage space and handed it to Yuiyui. "Please give it back when you're done."

Yuiyui unfolded it. The palm-sized scrap was crammed edge to edge with names, all of them struck through with a line. It was clear that Megumin had genuinely tried hard to come up with a good one, and in the end she'd gone with the simplest approach of all: split each of their names in half and stitch the halves together.

"Jhimin..." Reading the name aloud in a soft voice, Yuiyui felt both gratified and faintly wistful. She folded the note and handed it back, and when she saw how solemnly he tucked it away, she couldn't keep the remark in. "So an outstanding man really is hard for my idiot daughter to keep all to herself. If only she'd used the advantage she'd noticed right from the start and hooked you good and proper. I suppose I'll have a few more sets of socks custom-made for her."

"Auntie Yuiyui—"

"Hm?"

"Mother-in-law!"

"Mm."

"Megumin has plenty of socks already. There's no need to spend more money buying her any." Jhin managed a strained smile. He was reaching the limit of what he could hold together.

Why do I get the feeling Megumin tells her mother absolutely everything in those letters? She didn't write about the PLAY we get up to too, did she?

Show a little discretion about that sort of thing, you chuunibyou mage!

"Is that so? Looks like the girl has a tiny bit of sense after all. That means we can save the money and buy food for the house instead."

That brought up something Jhin could no longer keep bottled up, and he put the question to her. "The dividends you receive should be quite substantial, so why is the house still so... uh... modest?"

"Most of the money goes to Hyoizaburoo for his magic item research. There's hardly any left over." Yuiyui glanced cheerfully at her sprawled-out husband, then turned the question back on him. "Would you like to buy a few magic items to take home?"

"No... that's all right. But surely you should at least make sure Komekko eats her fill? She's still growing."

"You make an excellent point. But our family really doesn't have enough money."

Watching his mother-in-law raise the subject with such a troubled face while sneaking sidelong glances at him, Jhin got the message. He produced a pouch holding roughly two hundred thousand eris and handed it over. "This is Komekko's monthly food budget. It's only to be spent on food for her—don't let Father-in-law run off with it for his research again!"

"Komekko really does have a wonderful brother-in-law." Yuiyui's hand moved fast enough to leave afterimages as she took the money, and she stood up with a bright laugh. "Then I'll go buy some food. When I get back I'll cook for all of you."

"Mother-in-law, how about I take charge of dinner tonight instead?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly—you're our guest." The words were polite, but Yuiyui sat straight back down, and the smile on her face all but shoved him toward the kitchen. "Now, what should we have tonight..."

"Most of the ingredients I have on hand are meat, so how about hot pot? If you'd rather not—"

"Meat!?" A pair of glittering red eyes fixed on Jhin with naked hunger.

"Yes. Almost all of it from special ingredients."

Yuiyui rose, walked around behind him, and pressed down on his shoulders, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Let me show you to the kitchen."

"Right... thank you."

With hot pot settled on, Jhin called Pecorine into the kitchen to help. The two of them sliced meat and chatted as they worked.

"Having fun with Komekko?"

"Mhm. I really envy Megumin for having such a cute little sister."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself. Shall we go gather cherry blossoms tomorrow and make flower cakes?"

"No problem!"

Since the only wooden table in Megumin's house had broken, Pecorine had also filled in as a temporary carpenter and built the family a big new one. Staring at that new table, laden with every kind of sliced meat and a bubbling, fragrant pot of red oil, Megumin's entire family stood with their mouths hanging open, drool pouring down like a waterfall.

They gave that meal everything they had, and still they couldn't keep pace with the bottomless appetites of Pecorine and Jhin. His face contorted, Hyoizaburoo said, "Tonight... stay at our house. The food... the food..."

"Hyoizaburoo and I have business to attend to for the next few days, so we're leaving Komekko in your care!"

____

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