CH 31

“Um… did I say something bad…?”

Fio asks worriedly, seeing that I’ve spit out my tea.

“I…no, I don’t…”

“Here, wipe with this.”

“Oh, thank you”

I accepted the hand towel offered by Iska and thanked him.

But lovers…do Emilia and I still look like that?

“What made you think that?””

I reply as calmly as possible. (Completely too late)

“The eyes…”

“eye?”

“When Emilia came before, the way she looked at Gray-san was very different from the way she looked at other people…”

Hmm… Well, it’s not something to hide.

“…We used to date when we were at the same party. But we broke up a long time ago, so I’m an ‘ex’ lover.”

We talked it over when I left the party.

Emilia’s fans and some nobles who are in and out of the adventurer’s guild don’t know about it. Is that really something to be concerned about?

Fio seemed to want to know why we broke up, and Iska looked at her with a dumbfounded look on his face.

…… I’m not going to talk about this any more..

At that time, a flustered looking Ariamel came down from upstairs, after waking up from a nap.

“I’m sorry! I’ll make lunch right away!”

“Sister Aria…haven’t we all eaten together already today?”

“Eh… Oh, wow, I was sleepwalking…”

Ariamel froze for a moment, then gradually blushed and bent down before slowly standing up.

“I’m going to go wash my …… face ……”

With that, she hid her face and trotted towards the kitchen.

The three of us were looking at Ariamel with a smile on our faces.

“Ariamel, you’ve got a habit of sleeping…”

“Gray-san, you can’t say that, right? Sister Aria is a maiden.”

“Oh, yes”

No, but how about not telling me…?

In the evening, Ariamel started preparing dinner, and when I tried to help her, her face turned bright red.

“Let me do it alone today.”

That’s what she told me, so I watched Nina and the others play right in front of my house.

Ariamel… I guess she’s in a rebellious phase.

“Oto-san!”

I answer Nina, who calls me smiling, waving her hand.

“Oh, you’re a father!”

Then, for some reason, the innkeeper’s father arrived with a small pot.

“What’s up? What the hell did you come here for? Did you finally get kicked out by Rina?”

“Oh no… I’m here to share some soup with you. Wow, this is your house…Isn’t it a nice house?”

He looked at me with serious eyes while talking in such a playful tone. He approached me and handed me the pot. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and said in a small voice

“…There are guys going around asking about Ariamel-chan at the inn and guild taverns. They looked like mercenaries or adventurers, but they were very well behaved. Watch out.”

Not the hero, but mercenary-looking guys… what do you mean by “Ariamel”?

“…Okay, I appreciate it.”

“I don’t need your thanks. Ariamel is Rina’s friend and your family, so it’s only natural that I should help her.”

Saying that, the innkeeper father left, waving his hand. …He’s shy, isn’t he?

After this, I take the pot to the kitchen and explain the situation. Except for the information from the innkeeper father.

The soup was very tasty. Next time I’ll bring some of this too.

After finishing dinner and taking a bath, I was relaxing in the living room when there was another knock at the door. I stopped Ariamel from trying to deal with it, and told her not to show her face while I got the door.

I told her that I would be back a little later after I left and that she should go ahead and get some rest. She looked a little surprised, but immediately nodded as usual.

…… I’ll protect you, I promise.

The sword is ready to be pulled out at any time and the magical tool given to Emilia is activated.

“Who the hell are you, at this hour?

“… I’m sorry for being late at night. We belong to a mercenary group called ‘The Hawk of the Night Mist.’ A nobleman has asked us to find a girl named Ariamel…do you know her?”

Tch…whitewashed.

It’s not war, so why should the nobility use mercenaries to find people? If they were going to use mercenaries, they should use private soldiers or high ranking adventurers who are bound by law.

…There is a possibility that this guy knows I am an adventurer. He might have figured it out if he pretended to be an adventurer and said some random thing.

I don’t know the relationship between these guys and the hero, but it’s certain that I can’t trust them.

“……I’ll open it now.”

I cautiously opened the door slowly.