According to Luke, it was undoubtedly true that they needed a refrigerator.
The reason was precisely because of Luke and Pyris.
The amount of food they consumed made it difficult to store ingredients with the current refrigerator they were using.
Luke ate more meals than an average adult male, and Pyris devoured even more food than him.
The synergy created by this combination was simply indescribable.
In fact, Luke had been eating significantly more than usual recently.
Could it be said that he was almost at Pyris’s level?
Whether it was due to growing or some other reason, one could think that the amount he had eaten before was somewhat restrained, as his meals had noticeably increased.
Because of this, Dayton had to prepare over thirty servings for each meal every day to match their overwhelming consumption, to the point where he was confused about whether he was a Forest Keeper or a restaurant owner.
Amidst all this, the original refrigerator was small.
Funds were tight for moving, so they couldn’t afford to buy new Magic Devices.
Yerna’s refrigerator, originally used when she lived alone, was naturally small, and Dayton’s situation was the same; he only needed to store food for himself and his sister.
Now, the refrigerator had transformed from a tool for long-term storage to something that merely kept food cool for a short period before eating.
Moreover, among the two refrigerators, Yerna’s occasionally had trouble maintaining the correct temperature, which compounded the problem.
For now, that refrigerator was used for items that needed to be consumed more quickly, but it was still inconvenient.
Given these circumstances, stopping by the grocery store on the way home had become a routine for both Yerna and Dayton.
Sometimes, when things got tough, it wasn’t uncommon for them to ask Luke to run errands, but checking the supplies for every meal was quite exhausting.
At times, they missed the sensation of casually making something with the ingredients in the refrigerator.
And now, a new refrigerator.
Dayton couldn’t help but extend his arms in welcome.
Moreover, just looking at the box suggested it was quite a large capacity.
The design on the box seemed adequately decent, and by visual estimation, it looked like it would fit perfectly into the available space.
After all, Luke wasn’t just an ordinary ten-year-old; he was likely very capable of making good purchases.
In fact, there were times when Luke showed even more sensitivity than Dayton in such matters.
Even though he had never consulted about the requirements for a refrigerator, this was still an impeccable choice in many ways.
Well, perhaps it was just that he was in a good mood from receiving an unexpected gift, making it hard to find faults.
Typically, Luke acted more mature than many adults, but occasionally there were glimpses of him acting like the child he was.
So, Dayton thought they still had a long way to go to enjoy such parental luxuries…
He never imagined Luke would exhibit such filial piety.
Usually, people say that raising kids for over 20 years and being able to buy them a pair of shoes means successful parenting, but what kind of success in parenting is it to raise a child for less than a year and buy a refrigerator?
Dayton smiled as he watched Luke speaking to the delivery person at the front door.
“A Majestic Refrigerator, ordered by Luke Riskind Genefer Irucci, right? What is your relationship with him?”
“That would be me.”
“Ah, I see… Sorry, that’s quite a unique name. You chose the self-installation option, correct? Please sign here…”
“Sure.”
As Luke was signing the paper handed to him by the delivery person, Dayton approached and asked.
“Did you really opt for the self-installation?”
“Yeah. Since both you and I are here, there’s no need to waste money. It’s not like a refrigerator is such a complicated Magic Device to install.”
“Well, you have a point there.”
Moving it was never an issue.
Being a Forest Keeper and someone trained in muscle surely made it easy to lift a refrigerator; Luke, even more so.
Even if he didn’t look like it, Luke was stronger than him.
In fact, Luke could probably move the refrigerator on his own, but it seemed he was putting on a bit of a show in front of the delivery person.
He didn’t want to draw any strange looks.
Moreover, although Dayton didn’t know much about Magic Devices, Luke likely found installation to be not too difficult either.
—
After bringing in the new refrigerator.
“Phew, haven’t even eaten, and I’ve already worked up a sweat since morning.”
Dayton wiped the sweat from his brow and loosened his body.
Luke, watching his efforts, handed him a towel and said.
“Is it tough? I told you I would move it.”
“It’s fine; it’s good exercise.”
However, the task of carrying the refrigerator was indeed quite excellent exercise for the upper and lower body.
Thus, while it was hard work, he had no complaints whatsoever.
And exercise, after all, is about deliberately pushing one’s body to build muscle.
If there was hard work to be done, one should pursue it.
Well, exercise and labor are technically different things, but still.
“So, what remains is… organizing the food taken out of the refrigerator and cleaning up the trash from the box.”
Since the refrigerator Luke had purchased had excellent capacity and magic consumption efficiency, they decided to dispose of Yerna’s refrigerator, which had performed poorly and often burst the user’s clothing.
Thus, the table they used for meals was now filled with items taken out for organizing the disposed refrigerator’s interior, and underneath it lay boxes and packing materials strewn about.
It would take quite a bit of time to clear and organize all this.
Dayton, draping the towel he had wiped sweat with around his neck, looked at Luke and said.
“Alright, Luke. Please help me with the organization.”
“Ah, sorry, but I have things to do. You’ll have to handle the organizing yourself.”
“Huh?”
Dayton’s puzzled expression surfaced at Luke’s firm refusal.
“What do you mean? Weren’t you waiting to help me? You have things to do?”
“No, I was just waiting because I needed this.”
“Isn’t that what we decided to throw away?”
“If we’re throwing it out anyway, I might as well make use of it.”
Indeed.
Luke needed the core of the refrigerator.
It seemed that the cooling device used in the refrigerator was necessary to manage the significant heating anticipated for the connection device he was planning for Arinseia.
Thus, he needed to buy a refrigerator…but thinking about it, recalling when Dayton had complained about his old refrigerator being subpar, it made sense to get something he needed while also contributing to the household.
That was the biggest reason for suddenly purchasing such a large refrigerator.
Soon, Luke picked up the large box that had contained the refrigerator, opened it, and put the old refrigerator inside.
It was a movement so light it felt as if the weight of the refrigerator had almost vanished.
“Alright, good luck!”
“Uh….”
Afterward, Luke cheerfully lifted it as a whole and headed towards the stairs to his room.
Dayton watched Luke’s lighthearted figure and thought.
Well, having bought the refrigerator, he had already received enough help one might expect from a child, so it wasn’t that resentful…
‘If he needed a refrigerator, why not buy a second-hand one instead of a new one?’
Given he chose the self-installation option to save money, it didn’t seem like he had extra to burn.
Then, there had to be something that could only be obtained new and not through buying second-hand—
Before long, Dayton recalled the reason.
Precisely, the box.
Now that he thought about it, among the things Luke had discarded earlier, there had been quite a lot of torn pieces of boxes.
Perhaps those were remnants of small boxes that Luke had suddenly outgrown and could no longer fit into.
So maybe Luke needed a new, large ‘box’ that he could still fit into.
And the refrigerator box would have met that condition perfectly.
Moreover, boxes, unlike other items, couldn’t be washed and reused.
So, a new one was indeed necessary.
“Ah.”
Thinking this way made everything make more sense.
All the various advice Luke had given earlier also started to make sense.
“Hey, Dayton. Don’t tear the box with your hands like that. Cut the tape carefully with a knife, be delicate.”
“Be careful not to damage the corners. It’s expensive.”
“Don’t squeeze it because it’s heavy; hold it steadily while supporting the bottom.”
What he assumed were words of caution for the refrigerator were actually related to the box.
Soon, Dayton looked up at Luke, humming a tune while climbing the stairs with the boxed refrigerator in his arms, muttering to himself.
“…He must really like that new box.”
He thought Luke had stopped behaving that way lately, but it turned out he was just doing it in his room where he couldn’t be seen.
