Fairy Tale Chronicles

Volume 1, Chapter 5

Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

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「I’m home.」

「Welcome back.」

Three days had passed since they returned from the nesting area of Giant Spiders. In order to take care of the three survivors (who still haven’t come out of their coma), Hiroshi and Haruna were taking turns going to work. As for the five who didn’t survive, it wasn’t something they could take care of by themselves, so they took the bodies to the Adventurers’ Association for them to handle. When they had to carry them there, they had asked Randy and other adventurers they knew, after telling them what happened honestly. Of course, everyone involved were more exasperated than surprised upon hearing that Hiroshi and Haruna not only went down to faces the spiders just to save some money on clothes, but that they faced Piaranork and survived without wearing so much as an armor.

They had only been operating the food stand when Hiroshi returned early, or when Haruna was out working. Of course, the main reason was that Hiroshi could not work the front end, but another contributing factor was the fact that buying supplies was more difficult because they couldn’t go out at the same time.

The three survivors had taken over a bedroom. The flat they had rented was small, but still a two-bedroom. Needless to say that Hiroshi refused sleeping the same room as Haruna, and Haruna couldn’t allow one of them to sleep in the dining room (that sounded exhausting). After much debate, they had finally found a new room that met the criteria of being the cheapest flat in the city with at least two bedrooms in addition to the kitchen and dining room. They had to use a shared toilet for the floor, but there was rarely a crowd since there were only two other residents on their floor. They used the public bath house every day.

The flat was barely separated into three spaces (including the eat-in kitchen), each bedroom barely had enough room for a bed. Still, two woman could manage to share a room. Haruna slept on a futon, crafted by Hiroshi, in the dining room, which she managed to fit by putting the dining table away. Hiroshi slept in a sleeping bag on the veranda. Part of it was that he didn’t want to spoon an old dude, but even if he wanted to, that man’s build was too muscular. The kitchen was flooded with things like spices and treated herbs to the point where it was no environment for anyone to sleep at, let alone the fact that it was connected to the dining room, making it a deal breaker for Hiroshi.

While Haruna felt guilty that Hiroshi was taking the short ends of all the sticks, but even when they camp, Haruna was the only one in the tent, and he would be in the sleeping bag under the elements.

This may not be so different from that situation, after all. It wasn’t too long ago that she watch Hiroshi as he crafted a catalyst and treated his sleeping bag with some obscure enchantment called Rainproof, just to avoid being in the same tent with her. It was bittersweet, in a sort of way.

「How are ‘em folks?」

「They’re all breathing steady, but no one’s come out yet. How are you doing?」

「Work ain’t much different. I gathered up some food when I went to bunch of places for work, so look forward to that.」

「Okie dokie.」

Haruna answered, as she cleared the table. There wasn’t much to do when staying home, so she had been working on new menu items (as far as ingredients could permit) and preparing materials for Compounding and Metalworking as part of her practice.

While it was only three days (one of which she had gone out to work), it seemed that she had gotten enough practice in to solidify the knacks she was already beginning to grasp. She had even finished processing some that were quite tricky at a Novice level.

「So, anything interesting happen today?」

「Before I get into, I’ll go check on ‘em for a sec. They looked like they’d be comin’ out of it soon.」

「Okay.」

Nodding, Haruna prepared the tea set. Spreading out some sweet-potato-ish snack on the tray, she boiled some water to a perfect temperature for some Houjicha tea, using Hiroshi’s magical kettle. Just like the electric kettles on Earth, and kept the water warm after it was heated to the desired temperature, and best of all, it wouldn’t keep running on empty because it was powered by magic.

As for the Houjicha, they had found and purchased tea leaves that were not fermented, and prepared it themselves. Fermentation in this world had been developed rather lopsidedly. While there was barely any progress with bread or other foods, when it came to alcohol and tea, it was comparable to that on Earth during the 18th century. Apparently, black tea had been accidently developed during the process of trying to create herbal liquor, which meant that the history of tea here had followed a slightly different path than on Earth.

「How are they?」

「Lessee. This ol’ man would come out of it with some sort of trigger, at least. I just can’t be sure, so we shouldn’t go shakin’ him or castin’ spells on him, or tryin’ to get him to react to immediate danger or somethin’ like that.」

「Uh-huh. And the other two?」

「Toudou-san. You wanna kill me?」

「They won’t get on your case just because you check on them medically.」

「Nah-uh. That’s where you’re idealistic, Toudou-san. That’s only applicable to a specific species of god’s gifted men with the sort of face that counteracts any exudin’ eroticism. Watch ‘em wake up to my ugly, useless face. They’ll go berserk, no doubt. “What were you going to do to me, you pervert!?” they’d scream through the roof.」

「I-I don’t think that’s likely…」

Taken aback by his visceral reaction Haruna still attempted to dispute the core misunderstanding, but Hiroshi just shook his head, pathetically. This pansy seemed to have lived a life that lead to him losing all trust in women.

While it wasn’t polite, to say the least, to describe people he had only just met, with whom he hadn’t even spoken to, but imagining that he had gone through events that justified his remark to him, even Haruna couldn’t say much about it.

「In this world, ya see, there are a bunch of women who, despite a crowd of eye witnesses sayin’ you only picked up somethin’ they dropped, go ahead and cause a scene screamin’ “Did you steal this!?” treatin’ me like a thief.」

「No there aren’t.」

「Six times.」

「What?」

「That’s how many times that someone, even though they must have seen me pick it up, made a scene like that and called me a thief.」

Five of those incidents took place while Hiroshi was in middle school, and once after he entered high school. After that, even when someone would drop something right in front of him, he never picked it up unless he gathered eyewitnesses that would confirm he wasn’t a thief, first. “I didn’t expect to be nearly made into a thief with same pattern of events after movin’ all the way cross the country,” Hiroshi said with a bitter face, and Haruna couldn’t respond. Thanks to the fact that he either never attended school (or went to the nurse’s office when he did) for the majority of 9th grade, and to the school-wide scandal that caused his year-long absence in a way, the misunderstanding in his records that he had sticky fingers had been reconciled.

For the record, after the second incident while in middle school, Hiroshi had ignored anything that anyone had dropped, but once his homeroom teacher (a woman in her thirties to forties) saw him and reprimanded him for it, which lead to Hiroshi reluctantly picking it up. Which lead to him being called a thief once again. It was a painful memory for him that even the teacher, who saw the whole thing, started accusing him of stealing (whether she knew what was going on her was in it from the start). This event was the nail in the coffin for Hiroshi to stop trusting any woman under the age of forty.

The one incident in high school was caused by a classmate, who had heard from her friends that attended the same middle school as Hiroshi, starting a rumor. While he dodged the worst case scenario of being called a thief and having the school call his home, it was something that neither Hiroshi nor the school wanted to acknowledge that he nearly stopped going to school again.

The school, in particular, was aware that Hiroshi had been treated this way even by his teacher, and had expected a lawsuit. Truth be told, Hiroshi was only spared because all of the other classmates had defended him, and even accosted the girl who started the rumor (unlike his classmates in middle school). If a few more classmates had went along with it, Hiroshi would have walked straight out of the normal realms of society, never to return. Not to mention that it would have been a devastating scandal for the school.

While the atmosphere of his school saved him from that fate, it had nearly negated three years (in real life) of VR therapy. While Hiroshi had been able to manage his phobia at a level where it didn’t impede upon his day-to-day life, if things had occurred a little differently three years ago, even his current lifestyle would have been impossible.

「In any case, I couldn’t help it when I pulled ‘em out of the web, but I would like to go on without stickin’ my nose in places where it might get nicked off.」

「…I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…」

Haruna almost wanted to apologize for her gender. While people who would do such a thing were undoubtedly in the minority, that wasn’t much of a consolation to someone who was apparently destined to meet so many of these mentally unstable individuals.

After the explanation for each of the six incidents, no one could blame Hiroshi with any fault in them. The incident was put out after it flared up outside of his classroom, and as Haruna was in a different class, she was completely oblivious to this. Hearing the details of the other incidents, Haruna wanted to apologize again for having to be stuck together in this world.

At the end of the day, even the classmates that had defended him didn’t consider the incident a big deal, and as such had mostly forgotten about it. The only time they were reminded of it was when Hiroshi would insist upon witnesses when picking up something that had been dropped.

The majority of people who were in a different class in 10th grade, and who rarely talked to him, didn’t know about the incident at all, despite being in the same class as Hiroshi now. Besides, it only approached the realm of a big deal simply because of Hiroshi’s history in the first place. Isolated incidents like these had occurred occasionally in practically every class.

「So, at least until they get up, I’m never ever goin’ near ‘em.」

「I understand. Come to think of it, it wouldn’t be a far stretch if they wake up to a strange man tearing off their armor and changing them…」

「Even if they were smeared in spider webs, and couldn’t get ‘em down in the bed otherwise.」

Everything that they had been wearing had been neatly washed and fixed and now hung on their bedside. Unfortunately fixing the young girl’s dress was nothing Haruna could handle, so Hiroshi had taken care of that, along with the armor.

As for the weapons and armor, he had tinkered with them (without using Enchantments) while he was fixing them, which had turned some of them into completely different equipment that just happen to look the same as they used to.

「Anywho, I’ll tell what they told me at the Association and what I gathered over some tea.」

「Okay. I have some sort of… Sweet-potato-ish snacks ready. Hold on.」

With that, Haruna went to the kitchen and poured tea into the pot. Haruna had crafted this pot in her own time as part of her practice for Tool Building. She had finally created something she liked after a dozen or so of failed attempts. (The failed products, by the way, were reverted back into their materials by Hiroshi’s Metalworking, because they would be a waste otherwise). Starting with the giant fold-up table almost occupying the entire dining room, most furniture in the flat were crafted by Haruna for practice, and then modified by Hiroshi.

Truth be told, Haruna herself had no intention of mastering Crating, but she at least wanted to bump her Sewing to a decent level. So, she had Hiroshi teach her some pointers at least until she could acquire Making Mastery.

「First, what they told me at the Association.」

「Uh-huh.」

「They want us to say that we only found five of ‘em silk balls at Piaranork’s web. They already told the same to everyone who helped out.」

「That means…」

「They probably don’t want people knowin’ those people are still alive at this point.」

Haruna responded with a nod.

「This spells a pair of good news and bad news for us.」

「The good news is that the Association is trying to protect us, and… The bad news is that we’re already way too deep into this mess, huh.」

「Right. We can’t drop ‘em off somewhere now, and there’s only so long a gag order can last.」

「Our edge is that we flew straight back to this room with the Transportation Stones, so even a loose gag order can buy us some time.」

「You’re right. The other thing is that it won’t look weird if we borrow another room, since people know we run the food stand. We can make an excuse that we need it for our equipment and supplies.」

「It would be cheaper to rent two of these flats than renting a single one with enough rooms.」

With a nod, they decided that they would wait and see where things were going with this before taking any action.

「Now, though, it’s all good news.」

「Oh yeah?」

「I gathered up some seaweed, kelp, and nori.」

「What? What??」

Haruna couldn’t contain her surprise. She couldn’t find them at the seafood market, so she had dismissed that they didn’t exist in this world.

「It looks like seaweed, especially kelp and its strong flavor, weren’t too popular in Farlane. They’re only used in selected locations.」

「Ah, I see.」

That made a lot of sense to Haruna. It wasn’t uncommon for Japanese people to dislike kelp itself, even if they enjoyed kelp broth. Besides, even if a food source is available around the world, many of them may be part of the culinary culture in one continent but not in the other. In Farlane, for example, seaweed was available but still not a part of their culinary culture.

「To be honest, they probably didn’t feel like they gotta munch on seaweed when they got so much good food from the ocean and the mountains.」

「Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.」

「Although, they’re still eatin’ octopus and squid, so it’s a pretty intrestin’ culinary culture they got here.」

「Well, it’s not like octopus and squid weren’t enjoyed in some parts of Europe, either.」

Hiroshi chuckled to her retort. At this point, seaweed is treated pretty much like garbage in Farlane. If any viable cooking methods or uses were to arise, a pile of garbage would turn into a pile of money. Many fishermen were on the lookout for such a fortune. Apparently, since they had gotten to know Hiroshi through him fixing their boats and whatnot, they gladly sun-dried these for him.

「And on top of that, I got us a bowl of soba noodles.」

「Wha-wha-wha…?」

With that, Hiroshi spread out his spoils of the day onto the table. His choice seemed very intentional, considering items like a fresh shrimp prime for tempura. Haruna cheered upon seeing the treasure trove in front of her.

「Azuma-kun.」

「Yeah?」

「How are we doing on our soy sauce and bonito flakes?」

「Still a little green if ya ask me, but we could definitely give ‘em a taste today.」

Hiroshi was well aware of the state of their condiments in mid-production. If he didn’t, even if they could just keep them in their spoil-proof bag, he would have never bought these combination of foods. It’s worth mentioning that Hiroshi had no intention of spending more time than needed on any condiment that requires aging. The first cooking equipment he crafted was an accelerator for aging food. Many high-level potions required fermentation, so this particular piece of equipment was vital for crafting those potions in large quantities, anyway.

「So, maybe we should check the broth before we dive into cooking.」

「I agree. Don’t want to be disappointed if it turns out it ain’t ready.」

「So, do you want to make the noodles? I don’t mind doing it.」

「No no no, you can concentrate on the broth, Toudou-san.」

Hiroshi was quick to hold back Haruna, who implied that she really wanted to do it herself. In the end, Hiroshi lost a game of rock-paper-scissors, and ended up grinding buckwheat into soba flour before extracting the starch from some potatoes.

***

An unfamiliar, appetizing scent tickled her nostrils. The little girl rapidly climbed out of her deep sleep in reaction.

Where am I…?

In a room more simple than any other she had been in before, barely large enough for two people to sleep in, but on a bed strangely well-made for a such a room, she had realized that she had been lying there with the female knight, who had been guarding her. Even though she was starting puberty, her still childlike stature prevented her from being too uncomfortable next to an adult. However, considering their background, this treatment was utterly unacceptable.

A quick glance of the room showed that it was a very, very tight room. It was barely big enough for the bed they were lying in, with no room any other furniture. The room was clearly only meant for sleeping and no other activity.

Why am I here…?

She had never had any experience with such a room (smaller than a broom closet, she thought), and couldn’t comprehend her current situation. She sat up, careful not to wake the knight beside her, and observed the room some more.

It was still rather empty. Anything that belongs to the room, other than the bed, were the potted plant on the window sill, and a magic-powered lamp by the bed. Other than that, there were nice pairs of clothes (which they must have been wearing) on the coat hangers on the wall, and the knight’s set of equipment in the corner of the room.

While it couldn’t help but seem drab due to its spatial constraints, this room still exhibit various efforts to improve the comfort of its occupants. It was just strange that everything from the bed to the magic-powered lamp obviously outclassed the room itself.

The lamp, especially, while it was simply designed with little to no adornments, its quality was comparable to ones used in the castle, and in nobles’ quarters at that. The little girl wasn’t able to grasp the monetary value of it, but she could tell that it, at the very least, did not belong in this room. In fact, she had no grasp on such monetary concepts, but she wasn’t sheltered enough not to see the distinguishable quality in these things.

The little girl found herself more and more mesmerized as she observed the room.

What do I remember…?

Holding back her mind, panicking from being in a mysterious room, she focused on trying to recall what had happened before she came to where she was. Soon, she recalled a man (whom she had always pinned as suspicious) appear in front of them as they were finishing up their daily duties, and transported all eight of them to the Giant Spider webs.

The knights on guard were ensnared with powerful Binding spells, which caused them to be wrapped up in silk to be eaten, without a fight. Her servant that had been with her to take care of errands, and the scholar who had been following her to execute paperwork didn’t have any strength to fight back to begin with. Even without a Binding spell on them, they would have been preyed upon in a flash.

Only the older knight and the female knight (who was lying beside her) weren’t completely affected by the Binding spells, and could buy some time, but not much, in their conditions where they could barely move. The only one unimpeded in the group was the little girl, who possessed a high rank and high resistance for magic. Alas, just like the scholar and servant, she had no combat skills. To boot, excluding a certain set of spells classified as Hereditary Magic, all of her spells were not up to par.

Naturally, she had no hopes of dispelling Binding spells strong enough to overpower the nationally renowned fighters beside her. So, as a desperate last resort, she activated a spell that would stop the flow of time in each of them, which she was required to learn because of her status.

The fact that she was alive signified that her gambit had resulted in some success, the three of them must’ve survived. However, as long as she didn’t know what kind of person this room belonged to, she couldn’t tell how much this small victory was worth.

First of all, it wasn’t too easy to dispel this particular spell. The fact that she was out of her coma meant that there was someone here powerful enough to pull that off. It was too early to call them an enemy, but she was not so na?ve as to assume that just because this person saved her life, that they would be her ally.

Let’s see if I can move without hindrance, at least.

Whatever she would decide to do, she didn’t have much options if she was still incapacitated. She didn’t know how they dispelled her magic, but if it wasn’t the official method, she could have been out of it for days even after her body was healthy again. She presumed that, since she could get up rather easily, that she hadn’t suffered much physical deterioration, but she couldn’t be too sure.

Quickly checking the state that she was in, and confirming that she hadn’t lost much muscle mass at least, she climbed out of the bed as quietly as she could. Perhaps because of her immaculate upbringing, she subconsciously stepped into the pair of slippers by the foot of the bed.

Judging by the room, the building itself couldn’t be too large either. It was possible that the moment she opened the door she could face the residents of this place. If they were on her side, or at least not an enemy, this would be fine, but it would only spell trouble if they were a villainous figure.

***

「…Yeah, this one was a little too premature.」

「Well, there’s a first time for everything. It can’t be helped.」

「Guess you’re right. It ain’t all too bad, and the next one’s promisin’.」

「That’s the spirit.」

As the little girl eavesdropped through the door, she could hear this conversation between a young couple. Quite ominous, she thought. She imagined what any girl on the brink of her teenage years might, which lead to all colors being flushed from her face. Her body didn’t feel any different, but since she was growing up, it wasn’t unthinkable.

「In any case, I’m feelin’ confident to move on to my next conquest.」

「Conquest?」

「We got nori and bonito flakes, and they sell octopus everywhere… That only makes one recipe in my book.」

「…That’s your first thought right now?」

「Why not? We ain’t got rice, anyhow, so anything we make’s gonna be flour-based.」

「No, I meant… With everything else that’s going on, that is your first thought…?」

Now, the little girl didn’t know what to make of their conversation. Considering the mention of octopus, they seemed to be talking about food… But she was puzzled by “premature”… It could be code for something, but they seemed rather lackadaisical for that kind of conversation. The man had an interesting accent. Truth be told, she couldn’t imagine these people doing to her what she had feared they had, but even good people can be tempted into crime.

As she let her thoughts wander, she could smell another appetizing scent (that of a fried dish, she presumed) accompanied by a festive, bubbling sound. She carefully cracked open the poorly built door and peeked through. She could see a blond woman working in the kitchen, and a sheepish looking man clearing up this and that from the giant table, who, despite his perfectly ordinary outfit, looked shabby, somehow.

「Tada!」

The woman joyfully laid bowls onto the table. That seemed to be the source of the mysterious scent from earlier. In the center of the table, she could spot a plate with some kind of fried dish loaded onto it. Taking the bowl, the man gleefully shoved a pair of thin sticks into it. As she watched with anticipation, some dark-colored noodles emerged from the bowl. They pulled that up to their mouths without hesitation, and loudly slurped it down.

「This is what I’m talking about!」

「Sure, it’s a little early, but boy, does it hit the spot!」

「You said it!」

Continuing their conversation as such, they bit down on the fried goods that seemed to be in the bowl from the start. As the little girl watched them intently slurp down the noodles, her hunger and appetite were approaching their limits. Despite the obnoxious violation of table etiquette, the way this couple devoured this dish was clear evidence of the quality of the food. One could only watch for so long. Finally, when the couple had held the bowl up to their mouths directly, the little girl’s empty stomach made an adorable growl in protest.

「Hm?」

「Huh?」

While it wasn’t particularly loud, it echoed more than expected in the room, where the loud slurping of noodles had just stopped.

「Hey, she’s awake.」

When her eyes met the sheepish-looking man’s, she finally gave up and entered the dining room. At the end of the day, as small as these rooms were, she had no hope of escaping without them stopping her, unless they were completely asleep.

「…What are you going to do with us?」

「We don’t know what we’re into, so we ain’t sure yet.」

「Oh, we have food… But first…」

The woman put something in a cup, and put it down in front of the girl. Perhaps to show that there was no ill intent, the little girl thought, the woman took a spoonful from it in full view of the girl before putting it in her mouth. After waiting long enough to show that there was no fast-acting poison, she continued:

「I don’t know if you can go right back on to solids, and I don’t want to risk you being allergic to buckwheat, so try a sip of this, won’t you?」

While the little girl had never heard of the word “allergic” before, she knew that some people’s bodies reject certain foods. She presumed that the food on the table were one of these foods that can cause a particularly visceral reaction. Nodding, the girl took a small sip of the dark brown liquid in her mouth, as if she was being lured in by the savory scent. Controlling herself from swallowing it in a gulp, she first silently counted to fifty. Making sure that there were no physical reactions, she gradually drank the rest of the soup from the cup.

「…It’s delicious.」

「Good to hear. How’s ya stomach?」

「Are you in pain at all?」

「…No.」

「Okay. I’ll go boil the noodles, hold on.」

「Oh, I’ll do that.」

The man didn’t seem to want to be in close proximity to a girl he doesn’t know well. He reheated the water and boiled the noodles, and plopped them into a bowl with the reheated soup, before sprinkling some tiny toppings into it before placing it on the table with a fork and spoon.

「I don’t think you can handle eatin’ it with chopsticks, so this is all we got. Oh, and obviously, it’s hot. Watch out. And we don’t know how well your stomach’s doin’, we’re savin’ the tempura shrimp for next time.」

「Thank you for your generosity.」

「Ah, we just wancha to know a taste of our homeland. Don’t sweat it. Some of the ingredients were a little premature, so I hope ya like it, still.」

The man said, keeping some distance from the girl and the woman. The girl was more confident of her first impression that, these two didn’t lay a finger on her. In fact, this man was actively avoiding women. However, she put aside her observation to focus on the product of a vastly different culture in front of her. She surmised that the soup was the origin of the savory liquid she just drank, and was relieved that, at the very least, this wouldn’t taste so bad to the point of being unstomachable. Concealing her anticipation, the girl carefully stuck the fork into the bowl, and twirled some noodles on it.

With her heart pounding, she blew on it to cool it down, and timidly put the pasta in her mouth with anticipation and nervousness. A sensation spread in her mouth, which the girl didn’t have the vocabulary necessary to describe, combined with the bonus of her hunger, the noodles oozed of supreme taste. She couldn’t hold back anymore. The only thing she was able to do was keep a semblance of etiquette as she desperately held back from chowing down the bowl in a breath.

Watching the girl intently eat the soba without a word, albeit with excellent etiquette, Hiroshi and Haruna sipped on their soba tea. While they were in Japan, neither of them would have drank the broth, worrying about their sodium intake, but life on this side could get a little rough to the point where they were depleted of sodium from time to time, so they had stopped depriving themselves of that.

「Ya good?」

「…Yes.」

The girl nodded, after sipping every last drop of the soup with her soup, and now looking at the completely empty bowl. She seemed like she wanted to have more, but she also seemed to understand that she shouldn’t eat too much after coming out of such a long sleep. After praying to the Goddess in thanks for the meal, the girl sighed and bowed to Hiroshi and Haruna.

「I guess she liked it.」

「That’s dandy. I’ll gather up somethin’ a little unique tomorrow, too.」

The girl’s eyes gleamed with obvious excitement. She seemed to have really taken to their cooking. Watching her joyful expression, they ponder their recipe for the next day.

「Lessee. She likes the broth, how ‘bout some oden?」

「Ooh. That’s good. Once it gets colder, we can put it out on the food stand, too.」

「Food stand?」

「Uh-huh. In between our adventuring gigs, we sell some food out of our stand.」

「I’ll show ya what we got tomorrow. You’d wanna eat it if I showed ya now, won’t ya?」

The girl nodded up and down in agreement. She was hitting her growth spurts , after all, and it seems that the controlled portion given to her was a little more than a little too small.

「Wow… You’re adventurers but you have a food stand, too…?」

「I wanna place big enough suited for a workshop. Truth is, it ain’t very efficient if we were to try and do that with just adventurin’. So we do a bunch of odd jobs ‘round the city, and gather some side income from the food stand.」

「We could use the facilities at the Association, but long story short, they have their eye on us… So we want an environment where we’re as isolated as possible.」

The girl’s expression froze. Noticing this, Haruna explained:

「It’s not like we made something illegal or anything like that…」

「Then why do they…?」

「I’m hoping you have a good eye for things when I ask you this… Don’t you find this room strange?」

「The room…?」

With that, she looked around the room. She had nearly forgotten while she was busy satiating her hunger, but now she could recognize the same odd sensation as the one she had felt in the bedroom. Everything from the table she ate on to the chair she sat in, the magic-powered lamp illuminating the room, to the equipment and the kitchen and everything else she could see in the room were, albeit simple, created with an incredibly rare caliber of craftsmanship. Save for the materials, they were on par with the best she had ever seen. If they could have a set of furniture like these, it seemed to the little girl that they should be able to easily afford a workshop.

「Wow, you two have wonderful furniture.」

「Weird that they’re in a flat like this, huh?」

The little girl didn’t know how to answer Haruna’s question, asked with a chuckle. Seeing this reaction, Haruna skipped to the answer:

「They’re all homemade. I didn’t make them, though. Azuma-kun did. This guy right here.」

「…」

The girl was speechless. She couldn’t believe it. On the other hand, the girl understood why they “had eyes on them” now. It was only natural if he could craft magical tools of this caliber. Come to think of it, at least one of them had the power to dispel the girl’s magic. What was weird was that they were completely unknown to her until this point.

「Well, we got sidetracked there. Let’s introduce ourselves, shall we?」

「Oh, please excuse my transgression.」

「You don’t gotta be so uptight. I’m Hiroshi Azuma. Azuma’s my surname. Hiroshi’s my first name. Class 10 adventurer. Call me whatever ya like.」

「Haruna Toudou. Toudou is the surname, and Haruna is the first. I’m also a class 10 adventurer. And you can call me anything you like, as long as it isn’t too weird.」

「Hiroshi-sama and Haruna-sana. My name is Aearis.」

After reading the adventurer cards to check that they were not lying, the girl started out by stating her name.

「There is something I want to ask you.」

「What is it?」

「How did you find us?」

「Y’all remember gettin’ attacked by a Giant Spider?」

「Yes.」

The question concurred with the girl’s recollection, so she nodded.

「Every single one of y’all were trapped in that spider’s ball of web. As prey.」

「If we had found you a little later, you may not have survived…」

「I see. What brought you two to the lair of Giant Spiders?」

Hiroshi and Haruna looked at each other, chuckling in response. While this may not affect the story, Hiroshi had situated himself on the farthest point of the room from Hiroshi and Aearis, and remained on his feet. This was a cause of some uneasiness for Aearis (unlike Haruna who understood his conundrum), but she didn’t know whether she should mention it or not.

「Our goal was simple, ya see.」

「We wanted thread to make some clothes.」

「Clothes…?」

「Uh-huh. I couldn’t get the stains out the outfit I had been wearing at the food stand anymore.」

「Curry and oil stains… No ordinary detergent’s gonna take care of that.」

While Aearis didn’t know what curry was, she had heard from a servant that oil stains were very difficult to get out. Still, Aearis fell speechless learning that these two had gone all the way to a layer of Giant Spiders just for a pair of clothes.

Why didn’t you just buy some? She wanted to exclaim (naturally) but Aearis knew that, if these two hadn’t gone down there following their peculiar thought process, it was very likely that her and her company would have been melting in a spider’s stomach by now. She had no choice but to be thankful of this stupid, stupid motivation.

「Can I ask ya a question, too?」

「Yes.」

「It was eight of y’all that were trapped by that spider. Yeah?」

「Yes, that’s right. I…」

「As for the most of ‘em, it’s not good news.」

Aearis understood that not all of them had survived. Her chin fell.

「Only three of y’all had survived, includin’ you. The lady you were sleepin’ next to, and a buff, older dude.」

「I saw Rayna… I see. Lord Douga made it, too.」

「I’m sorry. It was too late to do anythin’ about the others by the time we got ‘em out of the web.」

Aeris shook her head. Truth be told, she never felt like her spell had reached the other five. She assumed that they were already dead by the time they were entrapped in the web.

「You don’t need to apologize, Hiroshi-sama. That fact that any of us made it out alive is a miracle in and of itself…」

She was right. It was miraculous. It would be too greedy of her to ask for more, Aearis thought. What sort of ungrateful lowlife would accuse someone, who not only had saved her life but fed her, that they should have been able to save the others as well.

And yet, Aearis couldn’t keep it all in. Tears started rolling down her cheek.

「Scoundrels! What have you done with the princess!?」

As they watched Aearis, who was sniffling in tears, the woman jumped out of Haruna’s room.

「R-Rayna!?」

Aearis’ tears cut dry, surprised by her guard jumping in out of the blue. Her mind was reset from the absurdity of her intrusion at this very moment.

「You!」

With a single flourish, she hurdled over the table, drew her sword and slammed Hiroshi against the wall without hesitation, as she held her blade against his neck.

「Rayna, stop it!」

「Princess! Don’t let them deceive you!」

Aearis was looking to and fro, unsure how to deal with Rayna (who was clearly misunderstanding something). She had completely forgotten her sorrows from a moment ago.

「Rayna, let go of Hiroshi-sama!」

「I’m afraid I can’t obey, Princess!」

Glaring at Hiroshi as she said so, she continued with a harsh tone:

「I know you’re colluding with him! What do you want!?」

「Rayna!」

Rayna continued to ignore Aearis’ reprimand as she continued to threaten Hiroshi. Haruna was losing blood from her face watching this take place. Hiroshi didn’t look good. All color had drained from his face, and she could see that goosebumps covered him all over. His eyes were out of focus, and his entire body was clearly shaking.

Haruna was afraid that he would break at this rate. But if Haruna were to jump in between them, she could put more stress on Hiroshi. No matter what she did though, unless this woman named Rayna backs off, it would keep hurting Hiroshi unnecessarily.

Hiroshi Azuma had developed inhuman mental strength since coming here. Still, like Siegfried, who despite being baptized by dragon’s blood to gain immortality was slain by a single leaf, some mental scars were difficult to heal, regardless of mental durability.

While Hiroshi’s had improved through living with Haruna, for someone like Hiroshi (who, quite frankly, was a miracle that he readjusted to normal society at all) a strange woman ignorantly accusing him of a crime he hadn’t committed was an act that dug deep into his mental trauma.

「Your face looks scummier and scummier by the second. I don’t know what kind of evil conspirator you think you are… This is all it takes to make you quiver like a bird, you coward? You underestimated us, since we were women…」

But Rayna couldn’t finish. She was forced to parry an attack, deployed with terrifying rage. Just as Rayna barely parried Haruna’s piercing blow, she took an overwhelming blow, and flew across the room.

「I’m sorry, Aearis-san. I’m really regretting saving you guys, now.」

「…I’m terribly sorry, Haruna-sama…」

「Why should you apologize, Princess!?」

「…Rayna. How much disrespect do you intend to display against those whom we are indebted to?」

Rayna saw Haruna, who despite her cool expression, was radiating rage from her entire body, and Aearis who looked at her as if she despised her. A shiver ran down Rayna’s spine.

「P-Princess! They are deceiving you! That man must have toyed with our bodies while we were unconscious!」

「You don’t know Hiroshi-kun! Don’t you dare talk about him that way!」

Behind Haruna, Hiroshi was shaking, his eyes unfocused, as he mumbled incoherently in between hurls that turned into dry heaves. Keeping him directly behind her, Haruna approached Rayna with electrifying rage.

She still had no inkling of romantic feelings for this man, but she still liked him enough to share a flat, and trusted him as her partner, and perhaps was fond of him enough to call him her best friend. Haruna wasn’t well adjusted enough to hold back when a man like that had been humiliated, and even treated as a capital criminal with no evidence except this woman’s ignorance.

「Creepy young men, they’re all the same! You just happened upon coincidentally!? Impossible!」

「Silence!」

As Rayna continued to try and justify herself, the buff man around his fifties had come out of Hiroshi’s room to settle the wreckage.

「L-Lord Douga!?」

「Listen to yourself! Even if I did excuse your initial attack, it is inexcusable that you persist in defiance of the princess!」

「B-but…」

「Besides, what would you do if this woman turned her blade to the princess right now!?」

Rayna couldn’t answer. It was clear from Haruna’s prowess that she could easily strike Aearis before Rayna could get to here from this position.

「Rayna, I know that you have a difficult time trusting men. The thought even crossed my mind, so I don’t blame you for making that mistake.」

「Princess…」

「However, that issue is inconsequential in light of my orders to stand down.」

Rayna became completely sulky after being scolded by her two bosses. Ignoring her, Douga bowed to Hiroshi and Haruna.

「My deepest apologies. Any punishment you may offer, I will take.」

Sighing in response to Douga’s attitude, Haruna steadily sheathed her sword.

「This is your only warning.」

「My apologies.」

「Is Hiroshi-sama all right?」

「I’m not sure. I knew he’d get like this, so I tried to put as much distance between us as possible…」

As Hiroshi managed to get a grip on his irregular panting and failed to stumble back on his feet repeatedly, Haruna watched him with anguish.

「He had been through some terrible things. His life could have been threatened at one point.」

「…He seems like a nice man. That may be why people have tried to take advantage of him.」

When Hiroshi had just managed to get on his feet, and grabbed a rag from the kitchen to clean up his own vomit, Douga stopped him.

「I’ll do it.」

Taking the rag off Hiroshi as he shook his head, Douga began cleaning the vomit without another word.

「Azuma-kun. Here’s your change of clothes.」

Placing a set of clothes she took out from Hiroshi’s bag in the center of the table, Haruna, along with Aearis, dragged Rayna to the front door in attempted to gain as much distance between them as possible. Hiroshi silently took the clothes, and changed in his room before dragging his sleeping bag out onto the balcony, as if to shut out the rest of the world.

「I’ll sleep out there tonight.」

Said Douga.

「Just leave me alone, will ya…?」

Hiroshi replied, with a hoarse voice as he turned his worn out back. He climbed right into the sleeping bag, and closed the sliding door before jamming a stick in it to keep it from opening. As if to kick him when he’s down, rain started sprinkling, and turned into a decent downpour in no time. The three watched with guilt and pity, as Rayna finally seemed to grasp the repercussions of her accusations, and began to turn blue.

Not only did she disrespect the man who had saved her life, she had dug into the wound of his trauma nearly to the point of no return. This incident had set in stone the power balance between the two adventurers and the three rescued individuals. In some sense, this incident would linger long into the days ahead of them.

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