Sevens

──There was a topic that could be heard sporadically in the royal capital Centralle.

It was the rumor that the palace was forming a force to subjugate monsters.

The merchants thought that they would be able to sell various goods like weapon or food and acted busily.

Rather than renowned adventurers, it was the jobless n.o.bles and normal citizens instead who jumped at this kind of story.

Houses that had no job even if the t.i.tle could be pa.s.sed down to the next generation and the knights whose t.i.tle was only limited to one generation were dreaming to be promoted. Other than them there was also the commoners who wanted to obtain achievement and became a knight. Those kinds of people partic.i.p.ated into this subjugation group. That was the state of the royal capital.

Aria was walking through the street of Centralle nostalgically.

She was looking around the food stalls since the morning.

「H~m, the price is a bit expensive.」

The owner talked to Aria who was looking at the merchandise.

「Young lady, you must be coming from other place. The price in the capital is high. After all, there is the transport cost of bringing them until here. I"ll sell them cheaper than other shop so buy some.」

Aria could only laugh at the shop owner"s words with a complicated expression.

In fact he was giving her a cheap price so he must be a kind person but…….

(I was born in Centralle though!)

And yet she was thought as coming from other place.

She couldn"t accept it at all but, it was also the proof that she had grown tough as an adventurer.

She wasn"t a tomboy n.o.ble daughter like in the past. She had become an adventurer whose true strength could be seen clearly just from her appearance.

Aria received the goods she purchased before walking back to the inn.

Then, she encountered a housewife who was in the middle of shopping standing in front of a shop.

It was a sight that could be found in any city.

She was moving to pa.s.s through her but,

「Did you hear? It seems the subjugation force is recruiting applicants.」

「I want to make the deadbeats in my place to join it too.」

「Oh, in that case I want to make the parasites in my place to go too.」

The housewives laughing with each other were quite old. It seemed they had sons. They were talking how they wanted their sons who wouldn"t succeed the family to join the subjugation force to earn money or to obtain success in life.

Aria pretended to look at the goods lined up in the shop while listening to their conversation.

「I heard it"s at a small town called Gioni.」

「I never heard about that place. Is it a countryside?」

「I wonder who will be leading the force. I want to give a kick at the men in the house to make them join up.」

The housewives were eager, but their att.i.tude changed drastically when they heard a certain name.

「You know, it"s Norma. That Norma Arnette. The female knight.」

「That Norma? So she was promoted.」

「I wonder about that. Isn"t this the army getting rid of a nuisance? Haa, then it"s no good. Even though I think that this is finally a chance for them to be successful in life.」

The housewives returned to their shopping.

(Norma? I never heard that name. Well, I"m not knowledgeable regarding that topic though.)

Aria came from Centralle, but she didn"t know about Norma.

When she moved to leave.

「Young lady, has you decided about what to buy?」

The shop owner talked to her with a friendly smile. Aria couldn"t say that she was only pretending to look around and bought some random item before leaving that place──.

Centralle"s inn.

When I became alone in the room, I sent my consciousness into the Jewel in order to talk with the ancestors.

I consulted them regarding the request but…….

『Heir candidate? What are you talking about? Do you seriously think that Ralph-kun will decide the heir in that way?』

The Third was exasperated.

「No, but you know. That Lionel guy was speaking that confidently so, I thought that perhaps it might actually be the case.」

『No way. It"s absolutely no way. Perhaps Lionel-kun thought that, but Ralph-kun didn"t say even a word about that. At best he was only making him to get such idea. In the first place see……the heir that Ralph-kun want will be someone with the mentality of civil official rather than a knight with strong physical strength won"t he』

When I thought about Circry House"s occupation, then certainly a heir whose strongpoint was physical strength would be unnecessary.

「Then, what"s the meaning of this request?」

The Third seemed to be not really interested.

『It"s just hippogriff right? Perhaps there isn"t any deep meaning to it and he is really just troubled?』

I pondered for a bit before asking the Third.

「I don"t understand that. There are knight orders in the kingdom, and other than them there are also soldiers right? Then, everything will be taken care of if they just send them as help right away.」

The Seventh joined the talk.

『Lyle, in the world there are also times when doing the right thing isn"t the answer. Naturally what you said Is correct but, at the same time it"s also wrong.』

The Seventh was slowly speaking in a way that was easy for me to understand.

『Do you know why there are jobless houses that don"t even have anything to do?』

「I think that they are spares though.」

『Right. They"re spares. But, don"t you think that it"s not good if the spares continue to increase in number?』

The explanation from the Seventh from there was the talk that the n.o.bles who could pa.s.s down their t.i.tle were also increasing in number. Naturally there were also houses that went extinct, but the problem was the number of n.o.bles still increased.

The second son and third son of prestigious n.o.bles went independent and formed a new house.

There was also case when a knight raised achievement in battlefield and got promoted to become a n.o.ble who could pa.s.s down his t.i.tle.

The number wasn"t just decreasing, it was increasing.

In that case, it was the palace that got troubled. They were paying annuity to n.o.bles who didn"t even work after all, so the cost was also increasing in proportion of the increase of n.o.bles.

In that case I thought that it would be fine if they stopped increasing the number of n.o.ble, but it seemed that was also wrong. The second son and third son who received education but couldn"t succeed their house, what would happen if they had no dream or hope?

It would be still fine if they became adventurer, but there was a possibility that they would take the wrong path and dirtied their hand with crime.

n.o.ble could use magic.

In a lot of case the damage would be bigger from them compared to commoner doing crime.

『Balance is important in everything. ──It"s necessary to decrease their number moderately while creating a chance for them to climb up. It also takes money to send knight order or trained soldiers.』

Rather than wearing away the important knights and soldiers, they wanted to wear away the n.o.bles who weren"t working. It seemed that was the motive of the palace.

The Fourth pushed up his gla.s.ses slightly to fix its position while saying.

『Being able to select the battlefield properly is a good thing. Lyle, consider the subjugation force as a force only in name. And then, try looking at your surrounding a bit. If you work with them who are different from adventurer, there should be something that you"ll be able to see.』

The Sixth also nodded.

『Yeah. After all the people around Lyle are all too capable. I won"t say that"s a bad thing but……it"s better to know this thing beforehand.』

There were still a lot of things that I was lacking in.

Setting that aside──.

「Come to think of it, this is a different topic but why is everyone hating capital n.o.ble? No, I understand the reason but……despite that some of you allow your daughter to be wedded by them or working together with them.」

Like Circry House"s relationship with Walt House.

I wouldn"t say that it would be fine to not have any relationship with them if it was unpleasant but, I couldn"t understand why their att.i.tude wasn"t clear.

The ancestors spoke the circ.u.mstance by turn starting from the Second.

『I guess. The best is to not a.s.sociate with them. But, we also can"t do that.』

『After all from the perspective of the palace, the feudal lords are also people that can"t be let alone to do as they please.』

『They"re unpleasant, but there is no choice of not a.s.sociating with them.』

『If we refuse to a.s.sociate with them, we might get attacked in the worse case.』

『Regarding this, it"s that. It"s what they called give-and-take.』

『It"s necessary. We have to a.s.sociate with them even if it"s unpleasant.』

I tilted my head.

「But……everyone hate them isn"t it?」

『I hate them. Completely hate them. I want to make them a target for my arrows!』

『It make you want to punch them when you see their face isn"t it? Or rather I hit them just once in the past. It was really refreshing at that time!』

『I want to slowly corner them. I want to see their crying face.』

『If I can cut them down without causing any future trouble……I think I"ll be able to make a mountain of their corpses.』

『They"re repulsing!』

『The word hate is insufficient to describe it. ……The urge to kill is welling up!』

It seemed the ancestors hated them more than I expected. Everyone was making a scary face.

I shouldn"t ask just what in the world happened when they were alive.

「Even so everyone get along with them?」

The Third shrugged.

『That"s right. Besides it"s often said isn"t it……that is that, this is this.』

Both sides hated each other, but if there was profit to be had then they would get along……being a n.o.ble was hard.

I thought that I would rather stay like I am right now.

Then, the Second raised his hand slightly. He looked somewhat embarra.s.sed.

『By the way……can I borrow Lyle?』

Everyone else made a really complicated expression.

『Ye, yep. Do your best.』

The Third too didn"t joke around this time. He even gave his support.

The Second looked embarra.s.sed.

『Sto, stop that! It"ll be a success for sure this time! This time I"ll absolutely pa.s.s down my Art to Lyle and vanish for sure!』

The Second……you still hadn"t given that up?

Inside the Second"s memory room.

The scenery of the territory that the Second once ruled was spread out. I could see the scene of tranquil and well ordered village.

For the Second who went through hardships to improve the messed up territory, this scenery must be his number one.

The village"s scenery looked like the representation of the Second"s precise character.

We walked in that village heading to the training place for bow.

Although I called it a training place, it was only a s.p.a.cious place with several targets lined up.

In front of the targets that looked used really frequently, the Second fired up himself.

『Yosh!』

「Err……we"re still doing this?」

『See here. Our role is to teach our Art to you! Even though previously I said my farewell to everyone as though it"s the end, and yet I returned together with you to that place. Do you understand my feeling? It was just extremely embarra.s.sing.』

Certainly it felt like I had done something bad. I felt responsible that I couldn"t inherit the Art. But, it was the ancestors who thought of their own that I"d be able to do it.

……It shouldn"t be my responsibility.

The Second fired up himself again and explained his Art.

『The third stage of the Art is Select. Originally it"s something to make you able to fix your aim at the target that you want to use the Art at but, it too will become like this if you use it in this way.』

The Second took out his bow from somewhere.

This place was a world of memory. Weapon could be summoned right away, and even inflicted wounds could be healed completely instantly.

With five arrows in hand, he faced a target and fired.

Then, the arrows changed direction midway. They were heading toward the targets that were lined up. The five arrows each hit the center of the five targets.

I made a small applause.

「It"s mysterious no matter how many times I see it.」

『Amazing right? It"s different from its original use but, it"s really convenient. Now then……Lyle, try it.』

The bow was handed to me.

The bow of the Second was solid and showed sign of frequent use. It made me felt its age.

The number of arrows handed to me was three.

I took a stance and focused on the Art.

It was like a mark was floating at the spot that I aimed at. It felt like the arrow would head there naturally if I let go……but, when I fired the arrows.

『WHYYYYYYYY!』

The Second held his head with his hands felt distressed seeing that the arrows only headed at the direction I was pointing at.

『You should be able to do it! Lyle, aren"t you holding back there?』

My shoulders dropped.

「I"m not doing anything like holding back. This is really difficult.」

『Really? You aren"t lying?』

The Second was doubting me but, a rustling sound came from a nearby bushes. The Second took the bow from me and then readied it right away.

The movement was flowing smoothly that my gaze was spontaneously stolen by it.

A one horned rabbit rushed out from the bushes.

──It was a monster that was considered as Walt House"s hated enemy, especially by the First until the Third.

『Haahh-!』

The arrow was fired and instantly pierced the heart.

『Yossha!』

The Second put away the bow.

「……Why is a one horned rabbit came out here?」

The Second replied vaguely at my question.

『Well, I strongly hate it, so that might be why. More importantly, what"s the reason for the failure? I thought that you would absolutely succeed though.』

The Second was obstinate.

──The night Lyle and others returned from Circry House"s mansion.

Clara piled up the ten books that she purchased in the royal capital and stared at them. She was troubled of which book to start reading first but, before that she threw a question at Novem who was in the same room with her about something that was in her mind.

「I heard that Lyle-san accepted a request from Circry House but, is Novem-san alright with that?」

There were few times when Novem objected to Lyle"s policy.

At best she would protest if it looked like there would be danger to Lyle.

「It"s Lyle-sama"s decision. I won"t object.」

Thinking from the monster"s strength and scale, it was unthinkable that they would lose.

Certainly, it would be a convenient request if they wanted to raise their fame.

「I heard that the circ.u.mstances in the royal capital is different from Arumsaas. Like how the majority of the partic.i.p.ants are n.o.bles and citizens rather than adventurers. Will it be alright?」

For Lyle and co, this was a request they didn"t have experience in.

At the same time, there was also the circ.u.mstances of the royal capital. Thinking of the essentials when doing work with adventurers like normal, Clara thought this request would become a painful experience.

Clara had understood just how troublesome n.o.bles were from Arumsaas.

Besides, there was a point that Clara was concerned about.

「It seems that Circry House said they won"t allow Mirandsan to come along.」

Don"t bring along your party member.

There was no adventurer who would accept being told that.

But, the reason was as it was.

Circry House was the house of Miranda and Shannon. Those words could be taken as them worrying about the two of them.

Novem replied indifferently.

「They didn"t mention Shannon-chan"s name, and from Lyle-sama"s story it"s the egoistic circ.u.mstances of the other side. There is no need to pay attention to that.」

Clara was also intending to do so.

Miranda had refused that demand and declared that she would bring along Shannon too.

But──.

(Novem-san"s evaluation standard for everything is a bit strange. She know who she faced, but she is still putting this att.i.tude even when dealing with n.o.ble. Isn"t she scared of n.o.ble?)

Even though she should have lived in the n.o.ble society until now, when she was judging about the right and wrong of everything she would consider it with Lyle as the center to a degree that could even be called absolute.

If she looked at Lyle"s upbringing and his relationship with Novem, then there was also a part that could make her understand Novem"s way of thinking. However, there was also parts that made her unable to understand at the same time.

Lyle might be formerly a n.o.ble, but right now he was nothing more than an adventurer.

The way he spoke was soft, and he also gave a kind atmosphere. Clara evaluated Novem highly, but that aspect of her still weighed her mind heavily.

(She is also not stupid by any means, she should understand that the possibility of Lyle-san being able to return being a n.o.ble is low, and yet)

Novem"s att.i.tude as though n.o.ble was something that didn"t worth it for her to pay attention to them strangely weighed on Clara"s mind.

Even while thinking that, Clara judged that it wasn"t something so serious that she had to express her opinion to the party"s reliable magician. Her hand reached to one of the piled up books──.

──The next day.

Aria and Sophia gathered inside a room in the inn.

Together with them was Shannon who was house-sitting.

Novem and Miranda were going out, while Clara was looking around the bookstore in the capital, so they weren"t here.

「Right, then we will start the cla.s.s now.」

Monica was acting as a teacher.

She was holding a small whiteboard in front of the three who were sitting side by side.

The word "tsundere" was written on the board.

「The lesson today is regarding tsundere. Everyone, don"t think that tsundere is something easy. Tsundere is extremely difficult to balance, and yet it"s a captivating──」

Sophia stopped that explanation of Monica.

She raised her hand slightly with reservation.

「Say……Monicsan.」

「Sensei. Call me that right now.」

「Se, sensei. What is tsundere?」

It was an unknown word for the three of them.

Monica made an exasperated face and answered.

「It means taking a cold att.i.tude to an opposite s.e.x who you like while sometimes also acting kind to them.」

Aria expressed her thought honestly.

「What"s that? Isn"t that just a troublesome person?」

Monica put her hand on her forehead and then she shook her head like that.

「You don"t get it. Now listen well, the att.i.tude of you three to chicken d.i.c.kwad. It can also be categorized as tsundere if you think about it.」

Shannon who was listening to the talk while eating sweets laughed with a mouth that was stained around it.

「That"s something unrelated to me. Because I hate that guy.」

Monica snorted.

「That att.i.tude is already tsundere you know, this little girl!」

「Wait, what do you mean by that!? More importantly, aren"t your att.i.tude to us really bad?」

Monica answered with a straight face.

「What about it? Then, we"re continuing the lesson.」

Aria who was listening to the talk thought.

(There was nothing to do so I tried talking to Monica by mistake but, this is troublesome.)

The three of them had nothing to do, so they asked for explanation at Monica who was using incomprehensible word like usual.

Because of that it turned into a troublesome thing like this.

Monica"s lesson continued.

「Tsundere, it"s a double edged sword. If you take a wrong step you will anger the other party and they won"t notice your fondness to them at all. That"s why, hopeless tsundere like the three of you should stop right away.」

Sophia got dejected.

「Ho, hopeless tsundere? So we are hopeless.」

The diligent Sophia was seriously dejected, but Shannon consoled her.

「You don"t need to mind that. Because, this is Monica. This girl is broken.」

From the perspective of Aria and others, Monica who was calling Lyle as chicken d.i.c.kwad even though he was her master only looked like a broken thing.

Even so, she wasn"t a bad person so they got along like this but…….

「It"s rude to call someone broken. Very well. This Monica will show you what a genuine tsundere is. Oh, nice timing. Chicken d.i.c.kwad is coming to this room.」

Footsteps came from the corridor.

Monica seemed to understand who was coming from that sound.

She immediately put away the whiteboard with tsundere written on it, but it looked like it got sucked between her maid uniform and her ap.r.o.n.

The three were always puzzled seeing how anything could be stored into that gap.

Monica"s own existence was too mysterious that no one asked her about it, but they were curious just what was with the gap between the maid uniform and the ap.r.o.n.

There was a knocking sound. Monica replied.

It was Lyle who entered.

「Eh? What are you all doing together here?」

Aria shrugged.

「There"s nothing to do so we"re playing. More importantly what do you need?」

Although she said that, in reality it was their turn to guard their items in the inn. They also served as Shannon"s guard.

The people of Circry House might come to take back Shannon. If it was Miranda she would be able to escape, but they were worried if it was Shannon in such situation.

「I"m thinking to go out buying food.」

Sophia tilted her head.

「I heard that we would go out for dinner though? Besides, Novem-san and Mirandsan said that they will arrange for things like emergency ration and the like.」

Lyle grasped the Jewel hanging on his neck.

「……Well, it"s for reserve I guess? I"m borrowing Monica.」

Lyle would take along Monica for this kind of time.

But, Monica brushed up her blonde twintail, and then she took a different att.i.tude from usual in order to put tsundere into practice.

「Oh, you are calling on this Monica? Allow me to refuse. Well, if you insist though──」

When she spoke until there, Lyle easily withdrew.

「You don"t want to come? Then, Sophisan, please help out.」

Sophia nodded and stood up. Then Monica clung on Lyle"s leg.

「Wait! Please wait! I"m lying. It"s a lie! I want to go shopping with chicken d.i.c.kwad. Don"t leave me behind!」

「What a troublesome girl.」

Lyle shrunk back from Monica who started crying, but he apologized to Sophia and then talked to Monica.

「If you want to go then say so from the start.」

「That"s not it. I only wanted to attract chicken d.i.c.kwad"s attention.」

Lyle was exasperated at the crying Monica. Even so he took her hand and made her stood up. Although he said "What a hopeless girl", he had a smile on his face.

「I"ll be waiting ahead at the lobby, so come down when you finished preparing.」

Lyle got out of the room.

When Lyle was gone, Monica turned around to the three.

「Did you see? This is tsundere. Oops, I can"t waste time like this. I have to hurry to where chicken d.i.c.kwad is. Well then everyone, sayonara~」

Monica hurriedly chased after Lyle.

The three were dumbfounded.

Sophia opened her mouth.

「So that"s tsundere. How should I say it……it only looked like their usual conversation.」

Shannon didn"t look bothered.

「Isn"t it pointless to pay that any mind?」

Among them, it was Aria alone who was falling into thought.

(……Eh? Just which one of them was the tsundere?)

Rather than the crying Monica, Lyle who was pushing her away at first before acting kind to her at the end even with some reluctance was the tsundere wasn"t it?

She didn"t speak out such doubt. And then the three of them deeply talked about tsundere with excitement. It was a deep talk for the three, however from the perspective of outsider it was a shallow talk without any meaning.

The conclusion that they reached was 「Tsundere is an abyss」 which was incomprehensible except for the three of them. The three of them pa.s.sionately talked together of that conclusion to Clara who returned back.

The one who was the most bothered must be Clara who suddenly got dragged into such talk──.

I who took along Monica in order for shopping looked at the bags that I got my hands full with.

Vegetable and fruits, then cheeses and other things. I had purchased various items.

Even after purchasing this many, considering our number it couldn"t be said as more than enough.

When I looked back, Monica was carrying a wooden box and a sack that was filled with items.

From the outsider"s perspective, it only looked like a man was making a woman carrying heavy luggage while he himself was carrying light things.

In fact it was exactly as it looked so it was troubling.

「For now, we"ll be alright for food with this I guess?」

Monica answered while holding up the great amount of luggage.

「Please don"t worry. I will at least secure the food for chicken d.i.c.kwad no matter what the cost. You can even leave procuring food on site to this Monica.」

This girl was really able to do anything huh.

But──.

「We are stocking up food because we don"t want to search for food on site though. Or rather, from your reply it means that this amount isn"t enough then?」

「Well, frankly speaking this amount is worrying when thinking about the scheduled period of the subjugation. In the first place, we also don"t really understand how long we will have to stay there.」

It was the ancestors" suggestion to stock up food.

Procurement on site. Monica was saying that in the sense that she would gather up foods like wild animal or edible wild plants at our destination, but with our deployment this time the place for the procurement on site would be──Gioni.

It was possible that the subjugation force that would be dispatched in order to protect the city would ransack the town because the food wasn"t enough.

We stocked up food in order to prevent that.

Besides, with the Seventh"s Art then it was possible to preserve fresh food.

It was a really convenient Art.

While I was walking into a deserted alley in order to throw the foods in my hands into the Seventh"s Art, I heard a familiar voice.

「Aa~, this is the worst.」

A girl──an elf was sitting on the ground. When I thought that I had seen her somewhere before, it was actually Evsan.

My reunion with this girl who I encountered in another city was in a narrow and dirty alley while she was sitting down on the ground……it was really hard to call it a moving reunion.

「Thank you Lyle!」

Evsan continued eating while saying her thanks.

The restaurant table had dishes lined up to an astonishing degree. Evsan who was eating them up one after another seemed to be really hungry.

She──Evsan was an elf who ran away from the forest where she was born and lived as a performer. She was also an unusual person who didn"t belong to a troupe and acted by herself.

Elf was a hunting people living in the forest, but at the same time they had strong curiosity and there were also a lot of elves who lived the forest and lived as a troupe of traveling performer.

They loved song and story, to a degree that people"s impression of performer was strongly attached to elf.

I met Evsan when I joined a dungeon subjugation previously. At that time she would perform her singing for us in exchange of taking care of her daily need in our tent.

Even I who hadn"t heard many songs and stories were enjoying her performance, so she must be skilled.

She was a person overflowing with energy as could be seen from how she was traveling throughout the country seeking material for her song. Her expression would frequently change with her various emotions becoming clear to see.

She cooperated with me at the dungeon subjugation.

Such Evsan right now was ravenously eating foods joyfully in front of me.

Monica was sitting beside me with an astonished look.

「What"s this woman who might break the image of elf? Even though I thought that elf will be a more fantasy creature, she is eating ravenously like this.」

This girl, just what kind of image she held about elf?

Evsan objected.

「When I"m on stage then I"ll sell as much dream and fantasy as you want. But, you can"t fill your stomach just with that! Lyle, can I order second?」

Evsan asked for second with a sweet voice, so I looked at the table. There that great amount of food had been finished up.

Just how much she was able to eat?

I asked for second serving and I asked Evsan"s story until the food came.

「By the way, why are you in the capital? Didn"t you say before about going around the west region?」

「I went to do that. And then I headed to the capital next, but I was unfortunate and couldn"t find a troupe who can go with me. When I entered alone all my money was used up.」

When I asked, it seemed that the place to perform in large scale town and city was fought for by many groups. Everyone would want to perform in a place with many people. It would be difficult for someone to suddenly come and performed their art in a city like this.

「When I sang my song without asking permission, I got my money taken away with various excuses like venue fee or whatever. The royal capital is an unpleasant place.」

Monica was tilting her head.

「So elf is traveling performer who display their song and performance. Well, it"s natural that there is that kind of rule for performer in a city this big, aren"t you the one in the wrong here? You should talk with the one in charge beforehand.」

Evsan couldn"t argue back.

Monica continued.

「Even so, a business of selling dream is it? For everything outside of that, you have it realistically tough. As an elf you should aim to be a more fairytale-like creature.」

「Why are you harboring such strange fantasy about elf huh?」

「Elf has an image of being fairytale-like, magical, n.o.ble, high-handed, and also frail.」

「How can elf be frail when they"re living in the forest or living while traveling everywhere! I"m telling you, elf is a hunting tribe! We can also use magic but physical strength is also important! Besides what do you mean high-handed! If you"re picking a fight then I"ll take you on!」

「What an elf who is easy to lose temper. Even though I thought that you"re a more intellectual creature, how unfortunate.」

「What"s with you? What"re you looking for from elf?」

When the dishes were brought, Evsan resumed her eating.

I asked Evsan about her plan forward.

「Then, after this you will talk to the people in charge and sing somewhere?」

「I was considering that, but in the end I couldn"t pay the venue cost so I have to earn money first.」

「Should I lend you money?」

「H~m, that"s an attractive offer but I"ll refrain from that. I want to manage somehow with my own strength.」

While I was feeling impressed by Evsan"s words, Monica was chuckling.

「You"ll persevere by yourself after sitting on the road hungrily and ended up getting treated food by chicken d.i.c.kwad? Elf"s sense of humor is really first cla.s.s. You should aim to be a comedian.」

No matter how you thought about it, that only sounded like she was making fun of her. Evsan"s eyebrows were twitching.

「I, I"ll repay this back properly. I"ve also obtained new song materials, so I can also sing.」

Monica snorted.

「That"s great. But, although you seem to be very confident……we don"t really have time so allow us to decline. Good grief, even though it"s my time to be alone with chicken d.i.c.kwad, it got stolen by this kind of glutton elf instead.」

「You, cut it out. I"m sorry, this girl is broken.」

When I apologized, Evsan seemed to be curious and stared at Monica.

「Broken? What, did she get her head hit?」

「Ah, no……well, this girl is like an ancient relic. She is an automatic puppet called automaton.」

Evsan"s eyes started to sparkle when I explained.

「What"s that how curious! Hey, tell me the story. I"ll do anything. I"ll do anything so tell me!」

Evsan pitched forward with great interest.

「Right now I"m a bit busy so──I"ll tell you next time.」

「You"re busy.」

「Yes. Actually I"m partic.i.p.ating in the subjugation force.」

I and Monica……and also Evsan returned to the inn.

「I"ll partic.i.p.ate in the hippogriff subjugation so please take care of me!」

Novem and Mirandsan who were in the lobby each showed different reaction.

「Long time no see isn"t it, Evsan.」

「Elf……will she be useful?」

「Long time no see, Novem! Also, the rude woman there. Even though I look like this I"ve been together with a troupe of travelling performer. I"m used to travelling, and I can also use magic and bow. I won"t be in the way.」

Mirandsan and Evsan started arguing for some reason.

Novem came to my side.

「Lyle-sama, you are making Evsan to join?」

「Yes. She said that it"s her thanks for treating her to food. Other than that, she said that she want to come along because she want to get song material and because she want to hear about what happened at Arumsaas.」

Elf who was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity would do absurd thing in their search for material or story topic.

It felt like she would come along even if I ignored her, then in that case it would be safer for us to act together.

「Elf is good walker after all. It will be helpful if she is with us.」

「You"re right.」

Evsan was still continuing her quarrel with Mirandsan. It seemed she didn"t get on well with her.

「It"ll be troubling even if you come along for playing around.」

「Playing around!? I"m serious here! I"m seriously wanting new song material!」

「……Elf is really troublesome.」

「What do you mean by that!?」

I wished they got along but, it seemed the two of them got the worst impression of each other.

We would join the hippogriff subjugation force with these members but…..would it be okay?