Welcome Home
「Oh! Welcome back, Aldo-san!」
「……」
I froze when I heard Flora"s voice as I came home.
Her "Welcome back" had really struck a chord with me.
To have the woman I love say that to me with a smile when I come home- I"ve imagined a lifestyle like this many many times, but I was even happier than I expected when it happened.
I was delighted to be rea.s.sured by my partner that here is where I belong.
「…Aldo-san? What"s the matter?」
Flora asked when she saw me just standing here at the doorway.
And when I finally snapped out of it, I felt embarra.s.sed at the same time.
「Ahaha, hearing you welcoming me back really touched me and made me happy」
When I answered her honestly as I scratched my cheek, Flora smiled while slightly blushing.
「I have actually been wanting to try saying that for a while now. That"s why I came back so quickly and waited for your return」
As I saw the smile on her face, my pulse started to rise.
I was overjoyed to hear that she had similar feelings as me.
We both smiled at each other.
The time we spent apart was a bit lonely but when I think that it allowed us to have an interaction like this, it wasn"t so bad.
Perhaps she will be right here waiting to welcome me back home if I"m out for my hunting work as well.
When such a sense of security and trust exists inside of me, all the tough feelings of separation were blown away.
This absolute sense of security, I wonder if it"s because there"s a place I can call home?
「Here are your slippers. You have your hands full holding that basket, right?」
「Yeah, thanks」
Flora lined up a pair of comfy looking slippers and handed them to me.
How very smart and caring of her.
Does she have fun taking care of me? There is a happy looking smile on her face.
「I like these kinds of things. I"ve always wanted to do something like this whenever I saw my mother and father take care of each other 」
「I feel like I"m back to the place I belong when you did that. It made me happy」
Even though there are maids in the royal castle and the n.o.bles" homes I lived in before, I had never felt happy at all. As I thought, there is a big difference when it"s with a person who loves you and cares about you.
「Ehehe. Alright, I"ll come out to welcome you back every time I can」
Seeing how happy Flora looked, I wondered if I should go out every day from now on just to have her welcome me back. But if I did that, I guess I would be doing the opposite of what I wanted since it"ll reduce the time we can spend together, huh.
「Say, Aldo-san, what"s in that bag on your back?」
Flora asked curiously after I finished putting on my slippers.
「Ohh this? It"s fur that Kyle gave me when I ran into him out there」
「What kind of fur is it?」
I was lost for words when Flora asked me that simple question.
Even though I was considering discussing this with her earlier, would it be bad if I suddenly brought up the red bear? I"m worried that it would remind her of the horror once she sees the red bear"s fur.
It"s not uncommon for even tough adventurers to become traumatized after nearly losing their life to monsters. Their horrors would reawaken, knees would go weak, and they would become powerless to fight just from seeing raw materials of the same type of monsters.
Since I got to witness people like that up close, I could not answer her so easily.
「…Umm」
Flora tilted her head in wonder as she looked at me. Then, she looked as if she realized something and said,
「Ahhh, could that be the fur of the red bear?」
「…?!」
I was shocked that she guessed it right all of a sudden.
「Don"t worry, Aldo-san. I"m not going to get scared just from looking at the fur」
Flora looked at me with a gentle smile on her face.
「…Really? You sure?」
「Yes, I"ll be fine」
She"s not forcing herself because she"s thinking about me, right?
I"m worried that she"s just acting tough because of her thoughtful personality.
I looked right into her jade colored eyes and observed them.
It didn"t look like there were any hints of fear in them. It seems that she"s really okay with it.
Moreover, her eyes are gorgeous today too. Clear and shiny like gems, they are a gentle pair of eyes that represents her gentle personality.
「…Um, Aldo-san. I feel embarra.s.sed when you stare at me so much」
I snapped out of it as I heard Flora"s shrinking voice.
My face had become close to hers when I realized it. Our lips would be touching if we were any closer than that.
I was looking right at her big round eyes, flushed cheeks, and full lips.
「Ahh, sorry. I was captivated by your eyes」
I a.s.serted some self control and distanced myself a bit.
I wanted to kiss her but I felt like I wasn"t going to be satisfied with just that.
We"re going to go to the field of flowers and have lunch there today. T-those sorts of things have to wait till tonight.
Flora looked a bit sad with her flushed cheeks but I can"t. If I kissed her right now I wouldn"t be able to stop myself.
「So ummm, what should we do with the red bear"s fur?」
I asked in a loud voice as if I wanted to sweep away the awkward atmosphere.
I guess she really isn"t afraid of seeing the red bear"s fur, huh? She started unwrapping the cloth with no hesitation.
「R-right. Let"s store some of it since the fur of the red bear is warm. It would be hard to use it for clothes but it can be easily used as a carpet or some towels」
That"s right. Since the color of the fur stands out so much, it"d be hard to make use of the fur as clothes or a coat. I feel like it"d be tough to go into the mountains while wearing that fur.
「And then, I think we can use half of the fur to exchange for things with the other villagers since there"s so much of it. Households with lots of children should want something like this to prepare for winter」
If that"s the case, then we might want to trade the fur with those families that need it. This fur is quite hard to get so I"d rather have the villagers here put it to use rather than selling it.
Some villagers might be disappointed if we sold the fur to a traveling merchant.
I"m glad that I discussed this with Flora properly.
「Alright. Let"s do that」
「Okay!」
After seeing her nod, I began walking to carry the fur out to our storeroom.
However, I simply could not move on from the mopey feeling in my heart.
When I looked back, my eyes met with Flora"s while she was trying to bring the basket into the kitchen.
I continued to walked closer to her, then I gently kissed her lips.
「…Mouu」
She sounded like she had a word to say about that but she looked like she could not contain how happy she was.