The treasure hunters approached the magic bubble, and the soldiers handed them food. A lot of people were skeptical at first, thinking that the food was poisoned, but after they saw the food was being taken directly from the grill and even the soldiers were eating from it, they accepted the food and inspected it with their magical treasure and detection spell.
Aldred could only laugh at their action. It was good that they were being wary, so he didn't blame them at all. In fact, he would mock them if they didn't even do such a basic thing. Kindness was rarer than a gem. It was foolish to think that a stranger would give you something for free without any hidden intention.
A lot of people live by this rule, so a lot of them didn't even consider accepting his offer and ate whatever they had left. A few of them were so desperate that they took some seaweed from the sea tomb and ate them.
Most people that came here were very poor, so they couldn't afford spatial bags to keep their food safe. Now that their bags had been flooded with water, it was impossible to eat their food. Some of them had special packing cases or non-elemental spells to protect the food, so they still could eat.
The food tasted terrible though.
The ones who accepted Aldred's food on the other hand were in heaven. Someone even joked that even if the food was poisoned, he would eat it again and again.
"Hahaha!" The people laughed when they heard that.
Aldred laughed as well when he heard that.
He looked at the silver-haired girl and approached her. "So, what makes a girl like you eat alone in the corner?"
"None of your business."
"Wait, I want to show you something." Aldred took out a clam. "Hello, magical clam. Should I talk to this girl?"
He shook the magical clam and it opened like a chest. "No," the clam said.
"What? I cannot hear you. Let me shake you again. Magical clam, should I talk to this girl?"
Aldred shook the clam again, and it opened before saying: "Yes."
"Ah, I finally heard you," Aldred said. "Well, the magic clam told me to talk to you."
The silver-haired girl chuckled. "You're so stupid."
"I heard that a lot."
She chuckled again. "When I see you for the first time, I thought you were a stupid, dumb, perverted man."
"Ohh, and what do you think of me now?"
"Turns out that's exactly what you are."
"Ehh…" Aldred blinked. "That's not the answer I expected."
Aldred summoned something on his hand. It was a wrapped kebab. "It's for you. Don't worry, it's still warm."
"Hmmm, are you trying to poison me with a love potion and bring me to your bed?"
"I am just a nice guy offering food to a beautiful lady."
"Yeah, right. Is this how you get your women to stick with you? By giving them food?"
"I fill their belly with something else other than food too."
The silver-haired girl laughed.
Mareona walked towards him. "Aldred, are you hitting on a girl again?"
"What? How can you keep hitting on a new girl when you have us?" Kiara looked at him with both her arms on her waist.
"Are we not enough?" Zafrina jokingly asked. In truth, she didn't have any problems with Aldred making more women join his harem. It was normal for a man to have more than one woman anyway. It was also seen as a sign of competence and confidence. Besides, she loved it if her family could become bigger and bigger.
"I don't mind," Sophia said. "Are you really going to make her join our family, Aldred?"
"Of course not. Do you think of me as a perverted boy?"
Mareona rolled her eyes before looking at the silver-haired girl. "Sorry if he bothers you."
Zafrina smiled at her. "He can be naughty at times, but he's a good guy."
"It's fine." The girl smiled. "At first, I was annoyed, but he's kinda fun."
"See. She said I am fun," Aldred replied. "Anyway, my name is Aldred. What about you?"
"Richa."
"Beautiful name."
"Is this his way of hitting on girls?" Richa asked Mareona.
Mareona shrugged. "I don't really know how he does it, but suddenly our family grows bigger and bigger as time passes."
"I love big families," Aldred said. "By the way, I am not hitting on her. I just cannot stand when a girl eats alone with no friends."
"I don't need friends," Richa bitterly said. "They are nothing but a burden." She looked at the wrapped kebab in her hand with desolation in her eyes.
"Did they betray you?" Aldred asked. "Did they treat you terribly even when you tried your best to become a good friend? Did they never come to your side even though you were always there for them? Did they turn their back on you after everything you had done for them?"
Richa widened her eyes. "H—how do you know?"
Aldred cleared his throat and told the system to make her status panel disappear. He knew this because Aldred read her history just earlier, but he wouldn't say that he could read people's history anytime he wanted.
"I can see it in your eyes," Aldred said.
"You can tell that much by looking into my eyes?" Richa was shocked.
Richa's past was a dark one. When she was young, she saw a girl the same age as her being bullied by everyone else. Richa protected her and invited her to play all the time, but a week later, the girl she protected became friends with the bullies. Eventually, all of them, including the girl she protected, began to bully Richa.
But even after that event, she never shed her kindness. Years later, she found out that one of her friends was in a financial crisis, so she bought food for her whenever she could, but when her friend became rich, she looked at Richa as if she was a mere insect, and didn't acknowledge her as a friend.
She didn't give up her kindness even after this. She was heartbroken of course, but she kept making friends and helping those in need until she came at the age of 18 when a man she loved stole her savings and ran away.
Those savings were supposed to be used for paying her parents' debt.
And now here she was. Using cold expressions and rude comments to make everyone stay away from her.
With that past, Aldred couldn't help but approach her and make her friends. He couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. He had it rough when he was young as well. Not only from his past parents, but also from his friends.
Recalling that, Aldred couldn't help but tear up and feeling grateful that he was reincarnated to having new parents and to be on this journey while meeting a lot of friends on the way.
It was a dream come true. Lovely parents, epic adventure, good food, great se—cough, great sleep, and lovely wives.
Recalling his parents made him miss them.
"Richa," Aldred called before reaching out with his hand. "Let's be friends."
