Chapter 9: Cleaning is Clam Digging?

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『Something』blue-black, slimmy and wriggling had been accumulated so much that the pile even almost reached my wrist. 

This… I don’t think a mere mop and dust cloth should make their appearance this early in the game. I should go get a shovel or a spade. 

I went back to borrow some appropriate tools and started tossed those 『something』in a bucket I had left near the door. Then I kept on going back and forth between the bedroom and the garden everytime the bucket was full. 

But still… This… 『Something』… No, maybe I should call it 『fragment of the sea』to be precise?

I scooped the pile with a shovel and the things like manila clam, orient clam, mussel, oyster, turban shell, barnacle kept on appearing and appearing…. It was really interesting to see I could get the kind of shellfish you wouldn’t be able to find on the beach. 

Truth to be told, I wasn’t really sure if I was cleaning or clamming. 

Whoa… Amazing! What a big and splendid orient clam….! T-this… This clam will definitely taste amazing if I just grill it a little bit… I can also make a great clam stock out of it.

I happily sorted my war trophy and put away the 『fragment of the sea』away.

Now that the floor had been completely cleaned, I went further into the bedroom…

Then I saw a figure of someone sleeping on what I assumed was the duke’s working desk. The desk was quite small and modest, considering it was the duke’s working desk and the chair was made from stone. 

The person who was dozing off there was actually… The duke himself. 

Oh, I see… If he sleeps on the bed, he’s going to get the bed soggy and wet then the bed will get moldy soon. So this is how he sleeps….

Even though he was sleeping peacefully, the wrinkles between his eyebrows still remained. I guess this was the testament to the stress he had to endure everyday.

“………. Ah.”

I quickly noticed another marine creature, something that resembled a sea urchin with sharp spines was about to fall from the duke’s scalp. But the duke was still fast asleep….

I’d feel bad if I were to ignore it as it was and the duke’s soft skin ended up pricked by the sea urchin’s spine.

Without a second thought, I grabbed the sea urchin to remove it from the duke’s skin. 

“……..!!”

At that moment, the duke, who was supposed to be still asleep, suddenly pushed my hand away. 

“?! You….? W-what…. Just what’s…?”

“M-my apologies… I was thinking of cleaning your bedroom and as I was cleaning… I saw something about to be shed from your hair and so… I thought it’d be dangerous if this thing were to fall on you…”

It appeared the sea urchin’s spines slightly wounded my hand because the duke suddenly pushed me away. Slowly, two small beads of blood began to form on my fingers. 

“Ah…”

The moment the duke saw my wound, he immediately became flustered. He tried to talk but then decided otherwise, he flapped his mouth open and closed repeatedly. He then started to inspect my whole body. His brisk and fidgety movement clearly showed his agitation. 

“I-I’m sorry… Are you alright?”

It turned out when the duke was flustered, the marine creature sticking to his skin also became flustered… I could see the tentacles that were growing from his arms began to wriggle in a weird way, as if it was feeling restless. 

“Yes. An injury like this is nothing serious.”

In fact, this level of injury was an everyday occurrence for me when I was living in my parent’s house. When my stepmother and stepsister were feeling emotional, they’d thrown any nearby tableware on my head, causing a more severe bloodshed than this small prick on multiple occasions. 

“……… But still…. Why would you even think of picking that disgusting thing with your bare hands…..”

The duke adjusted his glasses and then he started to frown when he saw the sea urchin in my hand. 

“Disgusting….. Thing….?”

But actually… This thing was super delicious and creamy though? You’d have to crack it open to reveal the yellow part first though. You could easily find them in the rocky area but… Those areas were infested with a lot of seaweed so it was actually pretty difficult to harvest them by yourself. 

Still, after you knew how delicious it tasted, you’d also find this spiky, thorny body as something charming or something cute even. Your attitude toward the sea urchin would definitely take a 180 degree turn after you tasted it.

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T/N: MC basically AYYY YESSS FREE UNI ╭(♡･ㅂ･)و ̑̑ But for real, sea urchin is hella expensive. If only the duke can focus on producing sea urchin…. (눈_눈)

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