Around 1:00 PM, inside the study of the Sedona City castle, the beast-eared girls, along with Catherine, Lucy, and Nicole, were all gathered together in discussion.
"Master, today is Annie's birthday. How should we celebrate?" Nicole asked softly.
"Yeah!" Helen chimed in crisply. She had to go to school after eating and wouldn't be back at the castle until dinnertime, so she had prepared her gift in advance.
"I got one ready too, hehe..." Mina giggled from where she sat on the desk, her cat tail swishing back and forth.
"It seems everyone has prepared a gift," Lucas's eye twitched slightly as he looked at the beast-eared girls, who had completely abandoned any semblance of ladylike manners after finishing their breakfast.
"U-um... we didn't know it was Annie's birthday, so we didn't prepare any gifts," Lucy said shamefully. Although she and Catherine had been at the castle for a while now, they still didn't know anyone's birthdays.
"It's fine. Annie will be thrilled just to receive your well wishes," Lucas smiled.
"I can play a song for Annie," Catherine suddenly piped up.
"As long as the thought is there, she won't mind," Lucas chuckled. At that moment, Annie had already been sent away by him on an errand to inspect the goods at the Grand Market.
"Master, will there be cake?" Mina's eyes sparkled. Ever since she had eaten that birthday cake last time, she had been obsessing over it.
"Of course there will be. Every single one of you will get a cake on your birthday," Lucas said softly.
"Yay! This is great, I get to eat cake!" Mina's cat ears twitched non-stop in excitement.
Catherine and Lucy both looked at Mina and Lucas with bewildered expressions. They had no idea what a cake was, but they knew everything at the castle was delicious, so this birthday cake had to be pretty good too.
"Prepare these things," Lucas said, handing a menu to Nicole.
"Master, what are we eating tonight?" Mina asked curiously.
"Hotpot? Really?" Catherine's eyes widened.
During her time at the castle, she and Lucy had constantly heard the others raving about how amazing hotpot was. During this period of summer, the weather was sweltering, so the castle hadn't served hotpot, opting instead for lighter meals.
"No, we're having a barbecue tonight," Lucas chuckled lightly. The list he had given Nicole was a menu for barbecue.
"Understood." Nicole glanced over the list, knowing exactly what needed to be prepared.
"Huh? Barbecue? Charcoal barbecue?" Lucy blinked her eyes. She thought back to the roasted meat she used to eat in the royal palace; it was probably the only decent food there.
"Not charcoal. We're using electricity!" Lucas's eyes gleamed.
"Electricity??" The group was completely stumped.
"Bring the stuff over from the inner storehouse," Lucas instructed softly.
The item he asked Nicole to fetch was an electric barbecue grill he had bought off Amazon back on Earth. As long as it was plugged in, it was ready to use, making it incredibly convenient. After all, in this weather and being indoors, using a charcoal grill would just produce far too much choking smoke.
"Yes," Nicole nodded. Turning to Catherine and the others, she said, "Come on, Catherine, Lucy, go with me to prep the ingredients."
"Oh... okay." The two were dragged away before they could even fully process what was happening. There were a lot of things on the menu to prepare.
Nicole was very considerate; she knew the two felt bad about not having gifts, so letting them help prepare the birthday dinner would make them feel much better.
"Master, I'll go help too." Mina got ready to follow them out.
"No, you stay. We need to decorate the venue." Lucas pulled Mina back, flashing a mysterious smile.
"Decorating the venue?" Mina looked at the master in confusion.
She was dragged by Lucas into the dining room. In his hands, he clutched a bag of balloons, a pump, and some tape.
...
At 6:30 PM, Nicole, Lucy, and Catherine arrived at the dining room. The maids behind them carried plates of all sizes, filled with freshly picked vegetables from the morning harvest and slices of freshly butchered lamb.
Creak...
Nicole pushed open the dining room doors, only to see the entire room festooned with balloons. Lucas and Mina were currently sipping on cola.
"Master, what is..." Nicole stared wide-eyed with her eyes at the walls completely covered in balloons.
"Wow, it's so pretty! What are these?" Lucy exclaimed, her mind already logging this as material for her novel.
"They're so colorful. Beautiful," Catherine said, a trace of envy flashing in her eyes.
"The master and I decorated the place this afternoon! These are called balloons," Mina declared proudly, looking at the balloon-covered walls.
"Annie is going to love this. Even I'm a little jealous," Lucy said softly.
"Are the ingredients ready?" Lucas asked, looking at the food behind them.
"Yes. We can start eating as soon as Annie gets back," Nicole replied softly, taking the electric grill from a maid's hands and setting it on the table.
"What are you guys talking about? I'm starving," Annie's crisp voice rang out from outside the dining room.
Step, step, step...
"You worked hard today," Lucas said, feeling a bit guilty as he looked at Annie's exhausted, drooping posture.
"Yeah, I'm back... Whoa, it's so pretty!" Before Annie could finish her sentence, she froze, staring blankly at the balloons.
"The master set this up for your birthday," Nicole said gently, guiding Annie into a seat and immediately signaling the maids to start serving the food.
"The master decorated this for me? You actually remembered my birthday!" Annie exclaimed in pure joy. Her eyes misted over with tears as she stared at Lucas, biting her lip.
"Everyone helped out," Lucas said warmly.
"Thank you, everyone," Annie said, deeply moved as she rubbed the corners of her eyes.
"Come on, let's eat," Lucas said softly, plugging in the power supply to start the barbecue.
.
.
.
.
You can read advance chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon.com/GreenBlue17
200 power stones.
5 new reviews.