Mr. Zinal tilts his head at our conversation.
I opened the bag slung over my shoulder and looked inside, and my gaze met with Soraās.
Apparently, she had heard the conversation.
āSora is very good at finding caves and rock holes. Sheāll find places out of sight, too.
Dad looks at Sola as she jumps out of the bag.
āSola, Iām sorry, but I need your help.
Sora purred happily at her fatherās words.
She seems to be in a pretty good mood, so Iām sure sheāll find a good place for me.
āSora, can you find a place for me, your father and your sister to hide?ā
I think he heard me talking in the bag, but I have to ask him to look me right in the eye.
Sola still purred happily and looked around.
And soon, she began to move.
āLetās go. Will Jinal and the others come too?
When his father looked at Jinal and the others, Jinal let out a sigh for some reason.
āThora ā¦ā¦ Oh, no, itās nothing. Itās just Ivyās tamed slime. Yup. Can you do something like that?
Zinal looked at Sora and nodded at me.
What is this, should I be happy about this?
āSora is not your average slime at all.
Garritās words made me chuckle along with my father.
You are absolutely right.
I turned my gaze to the sound of Soraās cries.
I saw Sola jumping up and down in the same spot.
I wondered if theyād found her already?
A large rock with ivy tangled in it.\n
If you look closely, you can see that the inside of the rock is hollow.
But we couldnāt get in because the ivy was tangled around the whole rock.
Weāll have to cut through the ivy.
Dad took out a small knife and a small knife and cut the ivy.
As the ivy flapped away, a wide hollow appeared.
āOh, great. Letās go have a quick look inside.
Mr. Zinal went into the hole, looking like he was enjoying himself.
He came out after a while and told me it was all right.
āGullit, is this place okay?ā
Gullit nodded at Zinalās words.
āItās okay. Weāve got the location.ā
Okay. Well, weāre going to Hataha village to have some fun.
Maybe itās about going to a bar?
For that, Iām a little concerned about the look on Jinal and his teamās face.
Whatās the deal, theyāre just going to collect ā¦ā¦ gossip like theyāre up to something, right?
Mr. Zinal and the others wave their hands and I wave at them.
My dad looks at my expression and gives me a strange look.
Did I see that much in his expression?
I was wondering about the look on Jinalās face.
I knew my dad felt something too.
āMaybe heāll do something to get information about the royal capital.
Didnāt you say you were just going to get lucky with the information on Kingās Landing?
Ivyās aware of this, right?
Does this mean that Jinal and his friends arenāt just ordinary adventurers?
Dad nodded silently at my words.
That means thereās more to it than just the investigators.
I stared at my dad and cowered my shoulders. \nā¦ā¦ I guess that means Iām not going to go deeper.
āWell, letās get you ready for bed today.
I go into the rock hole with my sister who was watching me and my dad curiously.
Itās spacious inside, and Ciel can lie down as well.
Letās make a bed first.
At dadās words, he takes out the necessary items from the magic bag.
My sister, who needed help in the beginning, can now prepare her bed by herself.
She doesnāt have the strength yet, but sheās gotten pretty used to the journey.
āGood. Letās make dinner.
Start a fire to cook dinner.
I pick up the branches that have fallen around us, but there doesnāt seem to be much of them around the rock pit.
āMalia, stay here with Ciel. Iāll go find some branches.
At Dadās words, his sister, who was on fire duty, nodded.
āAlright. Iāll do my best to keep the fire going.
Iāll pick it up as soon as I can. Ciel, take care of your sister. What about Sola and the others?
I guess that means Ciel understands.
Well, do you think Sola and Flem will be coming with us ā¦ā¦?
āMalia, Iām going to go. Iāll be close by and you can shout if you need anything. Well, Iām sure youāll be okay with Ciel being here.
Ciel wagged her tail happily at her fatherās words.
He stroked his head and his throat groaned.
He waved to his sister and Ciel, then looked for a branch that had fallen off.
āThe branches around here would be nice and dry.
\nāIf your father cut people down for no reason, Iām sure Master wouldnāt shut up about it: ā¦ā¦
Not only the Master, but Mr. Gothos as well.
āIndeed it is. When Iām about to do something stupid, for some reason, Master is always there for me. And heāll say sarcastic things and make fun of me, and Iāll get extremely irritated, and then Iāll take it out on my mentor ā¦ā¦.
Thatās very typical of a master.
Iām sure he was deliberately inflaming his suppressed anger and letting it come out on him.
When Gotos-san becomes Gilmouth, heās going to make his father do something like a job where he can take out his anger.
āCome to think of it, the adventurers your father raised talked about it. Your father saved a lot of peopleās lives because of his work. I think people who understand that understand.
Three young adventurers who were truly worried about their dad when they first met him.
They said they met him when they were just starting out as adventurers and that he had drilled the basics into them.
I remember them happily talking about how their fatherās teachings had saved their lives many times.
They said that their father was an amazing adventurer.
They said that many people were saved because of their dad.
They went along with ā¦ā¦ my selfish regrets.
āI couldnāt save them, I saved them because they had a similar vibe to me. It was self-serving.
āI donāt know who they are, Dad, but I can see how sad they were, and I can see how sad he is now.
āMaybe at first, but you didnāt want them to die, so you hit the basics, didnāt you?
Well. Well, those guys were a mess. So I really got into the basics that my master taught me.
The trigger may have been your fatherās complacency, but the result was to save their lives.
When I said that, his father looked so relieved.
What in the world is he so worried about?
You didnāt want people to know about your old dad?
No matter what rumors Iāve heard, it doesnāt change the impression I have of my father as a kind man.
āBad. For trying: ā¦ā¦
Somehow, I thought it was on the way.
I didnāt realize it, but I guess Iām holding back a lot of anxiety?
In my mind, your father is kind and cool.
Is it cool?ćI think youāre looking pretty disgusting.
āNo, itās cool. And too clumsy!
Dad looked surprised at my words.
Youāre holding on to too much of everything.