We decided to go to the bandit"s hideout tomorrow, and ended the meeting there. I decided to give everyone else the "Good work" for after completing the quest safely.
Because tomorrow will take up too much time from me I will have to make up an excuse to tell mom. Normally I would just say that I"m going to "Monica"s house" or "Sarsan"s house" or "Melone"s house".
I haven"t said to my other friends that I"m in a party with Monicsan. Although I have been with Dean when training in the forest, that"s because there is a limit to keeping a secret that I"m doing quests with the others. It"s just that Mizer forest"s level of danger is high even though only weak monsters appear.
Monicsan of course, but Sersan and Melone-san too know about my circ.u.mstances, so they allow me to go out using their names as an excuse, and they cover for me. I have been invited to their houses, so it isn"t that strange, and I spent time healthy with them. My definition of healthy may differ from the conventional healthy though.
"I"m going to Monicsan"s house tomorrow. Mom, you should go to Monicsan"s house to thank her soon"
"It"s alright, I know Monicsan has been helping even though she has to go hunting"
I explain to mom while eating dinner in the living room. Mom"s cooking skill have gone over level 50 as a result of cooking for many years. And as a her cooking goes up each year my father becomes happier.
"Hiro-chan, will you go to Monicsan"s home again? You could come to Riona"s home too…"
"Sorry, another time. Please say h.e.l.lo to Sara.s.san for me"
"No matter how I look at Hiroto, he is way more accustomed to dealing with women than I was at his age… What do you think, mother?"
"You were like that too, that time at the banquet a lot of girls were fawning over you"
"T-That… I was still young, I was just promoted and so I was getting a lot of attention… I wasn"t doing anything weird, my heart belongs only to Remilia after all"
Although Sara.s.san stays at home almost all the time, she and Riona often come to play at our house. I learned weaving from my mom, and alchemy from Neris-san, so I could work even without leaving the town.
When Riona comes, she takes care of Sonia. So Sonia likes mom the most, then Riona and then me. I"m still quite liked even though I"m number three.
"Onii-tan, Sonia wants to play with Onii-tan too!"
Although Sonia is just a three years old, she is a clever girl and can even speak quite skillfully for a kid of her age.
As my dad Ricardo expected, Sonia is a fast learner like me, or maybe better than me? Her growth can only be called that of a genius for a child of her age.
But for me, she is still my little sister. Her height is quite low (as expected of a kid), it hasn"t reached 1 meter yet. Because she would just recklessly run around I had to be very careful and take care of her when she was a bit younger.
Sonia has her hair tied in a two pig-tails style, a twin-tail. There was another name for twin-tail, but I"m most familiar with twin-tail. She has the same flaming hair as mom, and when they stand side by side, it"s like looking at a younger mom. That"s why dad is too fond of Sonia.
"When Sonia grows a bit more I will take you with me"
"Onii-tan is an idiot! Sonia wants to go now! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
When she was younger she was so obedient, but lately she has become somewhat of a selfish princess. Recently, when I don"t do what she wants, she jumps down from the chair and comes at me to hit me with her small hands. Since I feel no pain I just pick her up and sit her on my lap.
"… Onii-tan, bring Sonia too?"
When she starts acting like this, everyone can"t help but smile. Riona also looks at me with a face that says "I"m glad" but she is putting her index to her lips, which gives out a feel of l.u.s.t. Although that"s a habit of hers, it"s strangely adorable coming from an eight years old girl, so it"s hard to point it out.
"Sonichan, when you grow up a bit more let"s play together. You can come to my house"
"Yay~! I"ll go with Riona onee-chan!"
"Hahaha, Hiroto is quite popular. Tomorrow is Monica"s house, and next Rionchan"s. Make sure you look out for Sonia too"
"Wait- dad, that"s not going to happen for a long time…"
"Hiroto, don"t be mean with Rionchan. Please go out to play with Rionchan next sunday"
At such timing mom decides to side up with Riona and Sonia. Dad isn"t going to help neither, it"s like they are approaching their rebellious age, wait, I"m approaching it too. Well, I"m not just obedient.
Although I tend to like being with the older ones, but Riona is just too cute. Recently, she has been letting her hair down to the side, and it looks way too similar to herself in the previous life. Although it"s Sara.s.san who is doing Riona"s hair, it was quite a surprise to me when I discovered that the same hairstyle exists in this world.
Her clothes too, she stopped wearing the simple clothes by young children to wearing frilly clothes for girls. That"s partially because Stellane went to pick up clothes for her. Although the Padle company handles quite a variety of materials, Mizer"s main business is clothing, to the point that this town imports cutting-edge clothing manufacture tools from the capital. Craftsmen who specialize in clothing are different in this world, and the clothes they make are made one by one. Of course, there is the possibility of ma.s.s-producing a simple design too.
Mom buys woven cloth from Elena"s shop and processes it into clothes. Mom"s clothes seem to be exported to the capital, the quality seems to be stable and it"s seems to be quite popular in the capital. Thanks to that, she got a stable job, and when she feels she is unable to complete an order, she asks Sara.s.san for help.
"Onii-tan, what"s wrong?"
"Hmm… Ah, no, nothing. Let"s finish dinner, so, Sonia, come down"
"Yes!"
Sonia gets off my lap and climbs up to her chair. Until some time ago she would need dad"s or mom"s help to sit down on her chair, but now she can do it alone.
"Dad, mom, can I enter the bath with onii-tan?"
"Aah, dad doesn"t mind. But, Sonia, you should enter the bath with dad some times too. Hiroto stopped doing it, so I have been lonely lately"
"Dear…… Don"t worry, why not go in together?"
"I"ll go with dad tomorrow. Today it"s with onii-tan and Riononeechan"
"Yes, with Riona… Eh?"
As I was absentmindedly answering her, I noticed that I was stepping on a land mine.
"… Hiro-chan, it has been a while, since we entered together. I think it would be embarra.s.sing to enter together"
"…… W-Well, I just said that without thinking, it was like going with the flow…"
"Hiroto, a man doesn"t go back on his words. Don"t make excuses, just go in together"
"Dear, that"s overdoing it a bit… Huhu. But, it"s not that bad either, both are still children"
"Hiro-oniitan, Riononeechan"s chest has grown a bit"
"He-Hee…"