The next morning, Totorot stretched lazily as she crawled out of her tent. Last night, after returning to her tent, she hugged the fashion magazine Aoko had gifted her, so excited that she didn't fall asleep until the latter half of the night. As a result, even though she usually liked getting up early, she overslept a bit today.
As soon as she emerged from her tent, she saw Aoko floating cross-legged in the air, meditating, and not far away, Artoria was practicing her sword swings.
"Good morning," Aoko opened her eyes and smiled at Totorot from midair. "How did you sleep last night?"
"It was… it was okay…" Totorot blushed a little, scratching her head, embarrassed as she replied to Aoko, "I slept pretty well!"
"That's good. Is Toneriko still not awake?" Aoko closed the spellbook in her hands and landed on the ground. "I'm going to start preparing breakfast."
"Well, I heard her tossing and turning a lot last night, so maybe she didn't sleep that well…" Totorot said bashfully. "She probably fell asleep very late, so she's still not up yet."
"Hehe, understandable," Aoko said with a smile, heading to the center of the camp. She snapped her fingers, relighting the extinguished campfire, and took out the cookware and ingredients needed for breakfast. "Let her sleep a bit longer then, but once I finish breakfast, remember to wake her up, okay?"
Totorot nodded, sitting by the campfire and watching as Aoko skillfully combined magic with her culinary skills, deftly handling fresh, unfamiliar ingredients. For some reason, Totorot felt inexplicably content.
Unlike other fairies who lived off human imagination and creativity, Totorot never used to rely on such things. But now, watching Aoko preparing breakfast, she felt she could somewhat understand her fairy kin: seeing humans develop and accumulate ingenious techniques and create wondrous inventions greatly satisfied Totorot's spirit. She even felt her memory had improved, though she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination.
While Aoko was preparing breakfast, Pepe and Ector also came out of their tents. Both looked to be in good spirits. After exchanging morning greetings with Aoko and the others, Pepe even sat down and began putting on makeup from his portable kit.
Aoko raised her eyebrows but didn't pay much attention. If anyone was refined, she thought this big brother was far more refined than her. After all, Aoko never cared much about makeup and always went bare-faced; even her hairstyles were copied from fashion magazines using magic and arcane spells.
Still, Aoko wasn't completely clueless about girl things. Her sister, Touko, often took her to salons and such, but the two sisters usually just enjoyed massages rather than actual beauty treatments.
In the end, a magus's bodily functions, thanks to their magic circuits, were different from ordinary humans. In a sense, magi were like cultivators in fantasy novels who had cleansed and transformed their bodies, naturally possessing beauty and self-cleaning effects—female magi cared about this especially.
But of course, there were limits. Magi were still human, after all—no one would say that old worm Zouken Matou had rosy lips and bright teeth, right?
When Aoko had almost finished making breakfast, the last camper was finally woken up by Totorot, who stumbled out of her tent yawning.
Aoko grinned when she saw Toneriko because this thousand-year-old fairy of paradise had dark circles from staying up late. She'd been thinking about Artoria a lot last night, maybe even reminiscing with Morgan's memories.
"Good morning," Artoria sheathed her holy sword, wiped her sweat with a towel, and walked over to the still-groggy Toneriko. "Did you… not sleep well last night?"
"N-no! I slept great!" Seeing Artoria's concerned look, Toneriko instantly woke up, her face turning bright red and looking adorably flustered.
"Alright, alright, time for breakfast~" Aoko glanced at Artoria, who was unconsciously radiating her kingly charm, and thought to herself how this one's appeal transcended gender.
With everyone's expectant gazes, Aoko divided up the breakfast she'd made. In addition to the usual fried eggs, she'd also made hash browns with cheese, fried Italian sausages, and garlic bread—golden, fragrant, and irresistible.
For the hash browns, Aoko added a special finishing touch: chopped green onions to balance out the cheesiness—a secret trick of hers.
"This is so good!" After taking a bite of the garlic bread, Totorot's eyes sparkled with admiration. Speaking with her mouth full, Toneriko mumbled, "Mmm, how can there be such delicious food in this world? Even Morgan's memories never had anything like this…"
"Aoko, Aoko, is making delicious food your fairy domain?!" Totorot exclaimed.
"I'm human, you know," Aoko replied, glancing at her. "How could a human have a fairy domain? It's just my hobby, and, well, maybe a bit of talent."
"Your skills are top-tier even among Italian chefs," Pepe commented. He had indeed lived in Italy for a long time, so he was qualified to say so. "That's not flattery, okay? I even ran a restaurant in Italy~"
"I'm glad you like it," Aoko replied with a smile. "The greatest meaning of cooking is the heartfelt praise of the diners."
As everyone chatted, Artoria had already silently finished her entire portion and, with practiced efficiency, helped herself to the extra hash browns on the table.
After breakfast, everyone packed up and set out around ten in the morning. Despite the relatively strong sun, the temperature in Fairy Britain remained very stable, and the forest was still cool and pleasant.
Since no one in the team was an ordinary person, their travel speed was very fast. Aoko chose not to fly to Salisbury, because she wanted to see with her own eyes what this Fairy Britain, full of monsters and spirits, was really like.
After experiencing a series of events—fairy slaver squads, wild mosses, pursuing enemies, and more—Aoko finally gained a general understanding of the situation on this island.