Manowa

「Hahahaha, you all are Jinrai"s companions? There are only young girls and boys, aren"t there? Also, Emily, Lyle, it"s been a long time.」

An older lady with a good physique said that while entering the inn.

That older lady was Chloe Hakua, Jinrai"s older sister. She was five years older than Jinrai, but she looked like she was in her 50s.

Kazane had heard that people with high Magic Power often aged slower, so that degree wasn"t so unusual.

「Nice to meet you.」「Much obliged to you for master.」「It"s been a long time, granny Chloe.」「Yo, granny. We came.」「I am happy to meet you for the first time.」「Nice to meet you.」「Kuee」

And they each exchanged their greetings. In addition, none of them touched on the object like a worn out rag that the older lady with a good physique was carrying. Louise was bitterly smiling from the side.

「This is why... I didn"t want to meet her.」

The worn out rag grumbled, but it was nonsensical, so it was ignored. Yumika was fl.u.s.tered and worried about it, but it seemed the rag was conscious and not resisting, so she decided to do the same as the surrounding people and not mention it.

Then Chloe said「Good grief, how many decades has it been since you returned?」while grinding the worn out rag"s head with her knuckles.「Eeh, I"m not a child any more」the worn out rag protested, but Chloe refuted「You"ve returned to being a brat, haven"t you?」In fact, the worn out rag not only had a rejuvenated appearance; there had also been times recently where it had been acting awfully merry like a child. Moreover, her statement could be taken as saying she noticed. As expected of a relative.

After that, Irisa informed them that the meal was ready, so the party left the room and went to eat at the dining room. Perhaps because Jinrai wanted to stay away from Chloe, he sat separately with the innkeeper and a man who resembled the innkeeper (probably a sibling?) and drank with them. They said things like「You"ve also had a hard time」and「Please think of us as brothers,」and Jinrai said「You guys already don"t feel like strangers.」It seemed the three got along. Is that perhaps as expected of people from the same village?

Chloe seemed simultaneously deeply moved and displeased as she stared at them for a while, but she left them alone and asked the youngster group about their journey.

Chloe roared with laughter when she heard about Jinrai being called The Cat Knight, but she was more often surprised by the eye popping anecdotes that came flying one after the other. The innkeeper"s daughter, Irisa, was also listening to them, but before anyone noticed, she was sitting beside Naoki, so Emily and Tiara couldn"t relax.

Lyle had thought「She"s pretty good, isn"t she?」about Irisa when he came to the village as a child, so he harbored some bloodl.u.s.t towards his close friend. Though recently, Lyle often talked with Kazane about Tatsuyoshi-kun Normal"s adjustments, so Naoki"s bloodl.u.s.t towards Lyle was slightly higher. As expected of close friends. It wouldn"t be strange for them to start killing each other at any time.

However, after that Kazane put the sleeping Tatsuo (wearing black dragon equipment) on Yuuko-nee and returned to their room. Irisa was also lured and followed them, so the impending crisis was avoided.

And in the room, Irisa indulged in enjoying Yuuko-nee"s fluffy fur, and she was also fascinated by the light touches from her four tails. Before anyone realized, Jinrai (Status Condition: Drunk) slipped into the room and was also fascinated as he touched Yuuko-nee"s squishy paws. They were fascinated over and over again.

(Mmm?)

Kazane simply watched from a distance, and she felt like Yuuko-nee was a bit fat. Yuuko-nee had recently been spending all her time napping on top of the carriage to supply Magic Power. There were rarely any signs of her moving.

「Did you get fat?」

「Funyaaaaa!?」

Yuuko-nee"s hair bristled after Kazane"s question. It seemed it was a bullseye.

And Kazane decided to make her run sometimes instead of letting her always lay on the carriage. Fat cats were also cute, but Yuuko-nee wasn"t a pet. Letting her get fat was dangerous. She had never heard of a summoned beast dying of obesity.

********

And the night grew late. When they noticed, it was already time for all the youngsters to return to their rooms and sleep. Because they did intensive training in the morning, the standard for the『White Party』was early to bed, early to rise. Except for Louise.

「It looks like Jinrai-kun is also already asleep.」

As Louise spoke, Chloe was pouring a drink into her stein.

「Hmph, he drank too much. That stupid younger brother. I mean, why didn"t he even notice he was in the girl"s room?」

「Oh, Jinrai-kun. He"s sleeping while using Yuuko-nee as a blanket. Together with Irischan.」

Louise laughed while thinking about how he would react in the morning. Chloe also laughed in reply. A cute and elegant grandmother also chuckled from the side. It was Jinrai"s childhood friend Mirua, who had just joined them.

「But when Jinrai-kun looked the same as before, I was surprised.」

「Well, that may be so.」

Louise replied while drinking the drink poured by Chloe. Well, being surprised was normal. It would be normal to think that it was a different person. There were ways to delay aging with enough money, but there were very few ways to rejuvenate, and almost no people who knew of their existence.

「But in the end, you only exchanged greetings with that idiot, didn"t you? Don"t you have something you want to say, Mirua?」

Chloe said while looking at Mirua. But Mirua shook her head.

「I"m just happy that I was blessed with Jiran. I think Mabel Nee-san had the same feeling.」

「That"s an admirable thing. You said the father was unclear, even though you two never got involved with any other man.」

Mirua laughed「Fufu」at Chloe"s words.

「That person staying the way he is is fine for me.」

Mirua said, and Chloe shrugged. It was an exchange that had been repeated dozens of times. Since Mirua and Mabel were in agreement, Chloe also didn"t say anything to Jinrai, but it irritated her, so she imposed punishment by fist on Jinrai.

「Besides, that man can"t be a father. He"s always self-centered.」

That was obvious at a glance from what happened after he married Cindy. It was like a miracle that Jiraid didn"t stray off the right path. That was also partially due to Cindy imprinting how wonderful Jinrai was on Jiraid. It was practically brainwashing. Mirua thought that was impossible for her.

As a woman, Mirua still loved Jinrai even now, but as a mother, she didn"t think a child would grow up properly with such a man as their father. So in a way, it could be said that Mirua cut off Jinrai the moment she got pregnant.

Furthermore, just like Mirua worried, her grandson Carl admired the village hero Jinrai and became an adventurer. And many other young people also imitated Jinrai and left the village. He left the village by himself and made his way up in the world, eventually marrying the daughter of one of Hyvern"s distinguished families. Many people were attracted by such a success story. However, none had become as successful as Jinrai, and some had died. She sometimes got a letter from Carl, but her grandson was one of Mirua"s worries.

「Well, it looks like he"s an excellent teacher, though.」

「Yumikchan, wasn"t it? That person"s beloved disciple...」

Mirua recalled the girl who was at this table until a while ago. And feelings that hardly sprang up even towards Cindy suddenly appeared. That would be the fire named jealousy.

「Miruchan, mischief is no good.」

Louise guessed what was happening and turned a sharp gaze to Mirua.

「Fufu, no way. There"s no such thing.」

Mirua replied with a smile to Louise"s words. But her eyes weren"t smiling. So Louise says.

「You"re making the same face as Cindy.」

Louise"s words made Mirua stare in wonder before she laughed again. That was to say, her perception wasn"t wrong.

This is a story from a little while ago.

The time when rumors about Jinrai"s harem and the like reached Hyvern.

Jiraid noticed that when the rumors reached Cindy"s ears, her mind didn"t seem calm. But it wasn"t because her heart was wounded by『rumors about Jinrai"s indecency』like he had worried.

Cindy didn"t worry about such a thing from the beginning. She would certainly feel jealous about another woman being with Jinrai, but she never thought for even an instant that her man would be stolen away.

What Cindy was really afraid of was that『Jinrai had taken a beloved disciple.』

Cindy had always been watching Jinrai and guessing his att.i.tude after he abandoned using two spears. Jinrai had become aware of his limits, so he took a beloved disciple and began teaching them everything he knew... Cindy was frightened of where that would lead.

Cindy was afraid that he was going to pa.s.s on everything to nourish his disciple... including his own life.

And Cindy"s worry was correct, at least at the beginning of Jinrai"s journey with Kazane and Yumika. Sooner or later, Jinrai was planning to have a death match with his disciple Yumika and die in battle as a warrior.

Although when Cindy reunited with Jinrai in Hyvern, that worry was already completely wiped away. The two spear usage had revived, he had regained his youth, and he was full of energy like before; he had returned to being Cindy"s beloved Jinrai.

If it wasn"t for that, Yumika probably would have been killed on the spot. Even if Jinrai cursed her or Kazane bore a grudge and tried to kill her, Cindy was prepared to do so. Jiraid didn"t accurately understand his mother"s state of mind, but they were parent and child, so he sensed her impatience. That was the reason that Jiraid went wild.

As a matter of fact, Louise wasn"t a problem from the beginning. Louise was the type to think about eating together, but she wasn"t a person who tried to steal away.

So her womanly instinct to eliminate the woman who would surely someday rob her man was actually directed at Yumika... that was all it was.

However, while that was avoided, it was absolutely true that even though it wasn"t in a form related to love, Jinrai chose the girl named Yumika. Cindy gave a Dragon Contract Bangle to Yumika out of an ephemeral desire to add part of herself to the chosen one, Yumika.

「Yumikchan? I want to get along.」

Mirua said with a smile, and Louise and Chloe shrugged. The girl beside the man so many women had fallen in love with; that Yumika was...

「I did it! I won against master...」

Snuggled up to Yuuko-nee"s fluffy fur and sleeping like Irisa and Jinrai. Yumika was smiling while having a happy dream. Without knowing the crisis to her life that she had narrowly avoided, she peacefully slept.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King"s Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 33

Health: 135

Magic Power: 260+420

Strength: 57+20

Agility: 52+14

Endurance: 33

Wisdom : 65

Dexterity : 41

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior"s Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog"s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』

Kazane:「……… (This time, the avoided death route for Jinrai-san and the episode about Cindy"s confession about planning to kill Yumika, which I forgot to put in an intermission, appeared for a bit.)」

Yumika:「What did you say?」

Kazane:「No, nothing. Come to think of it, Mirua is Jinrai-san"s childhood friend. She seems to be a small animal type of girl who elicits a desire to protect.」

Yumika:「Oh? It feels like she"s been glaring at me for some reason, though. Was it in my imagination?」

Kazane:「Who knows?」