Enjoy the chapter~
TL: NyX
ED: Onihikage
Chapter 27 – Misunderstanding
The dinner with Klusan lasted for about an hour.
She… really drinks a lot, even though she knows she"s weak with alcohol. Well, I"ve also gone along with her a bit, so…
「Oooh, Reliusss… I"m not even a little drunk, you know… Hehehe…」
I didn"t know what was so funny, but Klusan was laughing anyway.
Man… It"s just as troublesome as when Oji-san drank too much. I remember Obsan always nursed him with disgust. I wonder who will take care of Klusan? For that matter, how will she get home? Oh, this is bad, I don"t even know where her house is…
Klusan drank every bit of the fruit wine. There"s not too much alcohol in it, and it"s easy to drink. It"s like juice. I still didn"t like the taste of most alcohol, so I didn"t drink much, but that stuff was fine. As for the bill, it had apparently been taken care of beforehand.
We left the store, with me lending my shoulder to support Klusan.
I looked her over while we walked. She seemed completely smashed.
I wonder if she can even walk properly without me.
I"d put the half price meal voucher that we got earlier into Klusan"s pocket. She"d never have remembered it anyway, she was already getting silly by that point.
All that because of a little alcohol…
「Umm, Klusan, can you tell me where you live, so I can take you there?」
「Ehehe… I"m with Relius~!」
She was clinging onto me, rubbing, even. B-b.o.o.bs! Getting slapped on the cheek by them stunned me for a moment.
What a defenseless person.
I quickly regained my wits.
That"s no good. Didn"t she start complaining about perverted craftsmen as soon as she took a drink? I can"t afford to be guilty of the same thing.
「Relius, Relius.」
So, why was she even getting so close to me? My heart was practically doing flips inside my chest. It was shocking enough to destroy my sense of reason, I"d never dated a woman before.
But… there"s already a good professional relationship between us, as craftsman and merchant! Yeah, that"s how it is.
In that way, my worker"s soul began to awaken as I walked around the city.
What do I even do now? Where should I carry Klusan? The only place I know about is her warehouse, where many of my products are stored. If I carry her there, I might be able to manage things somehow.
But if I carried her there, and no one was around, what could I do about it?
No, no, I didn"t at all mind carrying her around, because her breast was constantly hitting my cheek, but she needed to rest as soon as possible so she wouldn"t get sick. I wanted her to lie down and sleep it off.
「No other option, huh?」
Bringing her to our inn just makes the most sense. Oji-san and Obsan may give me a hard time, but I"ll counter them as best I can.
I sighed, and then headed to the inn with Klusan.
We arrived about 20 minutes later.
Originally, Klusan chose that particular restaurant because it was close to my house. It certainly helped, but it didn"t much matter if there weren"t any spare rooms. I wished we had some left, but we"d been so popular lately.
In the old days, it would have been no trouble at all, but things were different now.
I guess she can stay in my room, and I can just sleep in the employee breakroom.
When I entered the inn with that resolution, I found Mear-san cleaning.
「Huh? Oh, it"s Relius…? W-wait, who is that?」
「Oh yeah, Mear-san. I hope you"re available, I wanted to ask: Could you help me deal with her? I"ll make it up to you later.」
「H-her!?」
「Uh, yeah?」
Could she possibly have mistaken her for a man?
「H-help you take care of her, huh…? Wh-why don"t you do it yourself? She"s your girlfriend, isn"t she?」
「No? That"s why I"m asking you to do it.」
「Whwhat do you mean!? So that"s it, huh? You just want to show off, huh!?」
Show off? What"s that supposed to mean?
I took a glance back at Klusan… She was indeed a very well-endowed woman. I mean, Mear-san had a pretty big chest herself, but Klusan"s were still bigger. Maybe, as a woman, she was paying too much attention to that.
I don"t know. If I compare that to myself… I"m kind of short, so I"m a little jealous of people who are taller than me.
「No, it"s nothing like that, I just thought coming to you was my best option.」
「O-oh, that"s all it was…」
「I"m sorry. I should have thought more about your own feelings…」
When I bowed my head deeply, Mear-san opened her eyes in shock, then covered her face as it turned red.
Dust scattered around me as I bowed. If Obsan saw that, she wouldn"t be happy.
「Y-you noticed… my feelings?」
「Well… sorry about that…」
I wish I hadn"t said so much. I"m a man without tact. Lynn had scolded me for that before. Mear-san"s blush even went up to her ears as she wagged her tail and shook her head.
「I-I never thought… I never thought you"d notice.」
「Mear-san?」
「N-nya!?」
Weren"t you a dog-kin?
I checked her ears and tail. Yeah, there was no doubt she was a dog-kin beastman. Then Obsan came down the stairs to check out the commotion.
「Mear-san, what"s going on?」
「Oh, uh, that!」
Mear-san panicked and pointed in my direction. Obsan turned her eyes to the dust that scattered around me, before settling on the woman that was leaning on my shoulder.
「My my, your girlfriend? You"ve grown up, huh. I"ll have to prepare a room for you!」
「No, Obsan. Don"t you recognize her?」
「Goodness, I can"t believe you"d introduce me to her… Lilina, Lugis, your son has already become a fine adult!」
Why would I introduce her to my parents without permission?
「As I thought… She is your girlfriend.」
Mear-san slumped in place. With that timing, Obsan winked at Mear-san.
「Oh yeah, that"s right, she"s a colleague of his, for his craftsman work. If I"m not mistaken, she"s a merchant, right?」
If you remember that, why would you say something so unnecessary beforehand?
「Yes. She accidentally started drinking and ended up like this. I"d like to lend her a room.」
「My, it"s no good if it"s your room.」
「No good, huh?」
「Alright, I get it, I"ll prepare one for you.」
「Please.」
Obsan went up the stairs as if in a hurry. Mear-san looked at me in surprise.
「So… you really aren"t dating?」
「No, she"s my business partner.」
「I see… it was just a misunderstanding, then.」
「Where was the misunderstanding?」
「N-nothing. Don"t worry about it.」
Mear shook her head happily and ended the conversation.
And at that moment, Obsan looked at her from the stairs and said…
「You will finish cleaning properly, won"t you?」
That smile was scary.