Chapter 173: 157

My sister's downcast mood has returned to normal, no, it's now even better than usual.

But I still haven't been able to wrap my head around the current situation.

When the adventure is over, what? I'm going to get married to my sister? I wonder what kind of flag this is. Am I going to die soon? And what am I supposed to say to Rana?

「Ea, are you okay now?」

「Yup! I'm fine, fufufu」

When we returned to the ground floor, we saw that Rana had returned.

In a good mood, Ea broke into a giggle.

「Don't just rush off suddenly by yourself. You caused trouble for everyone」

「Yeah, I won't do it again!」

「………Dear, what did you do to make Ea so obedient?」

「I haven’t done anything yet!」

「That's right, he'll only start to from now on!」

「What?」

I ended up retorting Rana a bit more forcefully than I should have.

Ea's follow-up only made things more suspicious.

「Oh, sorry. I just remembered that Evetta-san wanted to speak with me」

For now, I'll just make a temporary retreat. I need to sort things out on my own.

If I talk to Rana now, I'm afraid I'll blurt out a whole bunch of stuff. The facts won't change, but I can present them in a better light once I've sorted them out in my head.

「Souya, is it alright if we have our dinner first? I'm sure that Ea and Rana are both tired after the adventure as well」

Lanseal said to me when I tried to make my escape.

「Yeah, go ahead and eat without me. Both of you, good work today」

When I turned around to answer, Lanseal smiled and ground a finger into my chest out of view of the sisters.

C, could it be………did she hear everything?

「Alright then, have a safe trip」

「Dear, I know you have a lot of work to do after the adventure ends. Good luck with everything」

「See you later, Onii-chan」

With the sisters and Lanseal seeing me off with smiles on their faces, I fled from my home.

I suppressed the urge to scream and ran as fast as I could.

「Oh, he's back」

When I spotted Melm again in front of Tyutyu's store………

「It's all your fault!」

………I took it out on him.

「What the heck are you talking about?」

「Come now, Souya. Calm down」

The baldy urged me to take a seat, which I did.

I grabbed the head with hair on it.

「What? Did you fail to persuade Ea? You can't blame me for that」

「I succeeded! She cheered up lots!」

「Then why……… Oh, I take it she proposed marriage then?」

「What!?」

I froze when her father hit the nail on the head.

「Good grief, she's really such a child. Well, it's easy for a woman to fall for kind words when she's feeling down」

「Hey, Melm, are you really okay with this? For Princess Ea to follow Princess Rauaryuna in marrying the foreigner………」

That's right. This baldy, he does say the right things sometimes.

「It's just the whims of a child. In time, she'll grow bored of a man like him」

「Souya, be warned. This guy intends to use Ea to devour all your technology and knowledge. You'll be dumped when the time comes」

No no no, Ea would never do something like that.

Besides, all I have is a trifling knowledge of cooking. Even if Ea learns all of it, she won't grow bored of me………………Hmm? Grow bored? Isn't that a good thing in the end?

「Tch」

Melm's click of his tongue showed that Lemuria had been spot on.

「But, Lemuria, haven't you also given Lanseal to the foreigner? What makes you any different from me?」

「Lanseal is not there on my orders. I told her to do exactly that in the past, but she refused. And right after refusing, she went to Souya's side on her own. Women, it's impossible to understand them」

That sounds deep coming from a king who plays around with women a lot.

King Lemuria turned to me and spoke cheerfully.

「So, how about it, Souya? Leave Lanseal. In exchange, I'll introduce a lovely beastkin girl called Karoro to you」

「Aren't you clearly giving me a spy who works for you this time?」

「………Fu」

Don't you "Fu" me. Just what the heck are you two trying to pull here?

「By the way, foreigner, can't you bake bread? Aren't you going to teach Ea how to?」

「The only bread I know how to make is beastkin bread」

「What a useless foreigner you are. It can't be helped……Lemuria, which of us gets to go first? In respect of the adventures we've shared in the past, I'll let you choose」

「Oh? O King of Elves, you'll just be handing me the win by letting me go first, you realize? Are you sure?」

「Handing you the win? What a funny thing to say. I've never failed to win over any woman I've set my sights on, you know?」

「No, I'm pretty sure you have. I can remember quite a number of them」

「You're wrong. I simply got bored of those women」

「That's probably what you say every time you fail to get the girl」

「………………」

What's with this childish logic that you're not the loser so long as you don't admit defeat?

How smile-inducing.

「Well, I’ll graciously accept your offer to let me go first. O King of Elves, I'll show you the techniques of the King of Adventurers. Heyyy, Lutz-kun!」

Brimming with confidence, the baldy called out for Rutsuko-san.

You guys are totally gunning for Rutsuko-san, huh? Sure, the bread she makes is delicious, but……if you guys do anything to make her cry for real, I'll have you both stabbed.

「Hey, here's your bubuzuke(tea over rice)」[1]

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One of the Gunmerrys arrived, bearing two bowls of ochazuke(see [1]).

The restaurant was full. Understandably, Tyutyu and Rutsuko-san were busy working, and the Gunmerrys, whose number had increased to about six, were also hard at work.

「What's this? We didn't order this」

「It's the traditional food of Kyoto, the demon world of Japan」

The Gunmerry, who had a bandanna on, set the ochazuke on the table and left.

The porcelain bowls were filled with fishman's rice that was covered by a heap of white vegetables and root vegetables that looked like they had been pickled, and it was all soaked in a liquid that looked like tea.

Actually, I kinda want to eat it.

Also, wasn’t the story saying that being served bubuzuke meant that you were being asked to leave just fiction?

「Isn't it all vegetables? I'm not much of a vegetable person though. Umu, it smells kind of fishy」

The baldy grumbled as he ate his ochazuke with a spoon. He ate scoop after scoop. Every once in a while, I would hear crunching sounds.

「My store sells these white grain-like vegetables and they're pretty expensive, you know?」

Melm also started slurping up his ochazuke.

I just heard something I couldn't quite understand. My store? Aren't you just a salesman?

I'm starting to get hungry too. I think I'll go home now that I've calmed down somewhat. I have this feeling that I've forgotten a lot of things though.

「Oh, Souya, what a coincidence running into you here」

「Oh, Evetta-san. Sorry about earlier」

The thing that I had forgotten came to me by herself.

「Ooh, Evetta. Are you done with work today?」

「Yes, King Lemuria. A very good day to you」

「No need for those sorts of greetings. Come, you should sit with us for a change」

「Then please excuse me」

Having agreed to join us, Evetta sat down next to me. Something about the weirdly tender tone that the baldy took with her creeped me out.

No sooner had she sat down than Tyutyu came to take her order.

「Welcome, Evetta-nya. What can I get for you today-nya?」

「Storekeeper, for today………………I'll have the curry fried rice and the shoyu ramen, both extra-large. I'm also in the mood for vegetables, so please give me a platter of today's recommendations. By the way, how goes the matter of the fish, Souya?」

She turned the conversation to me, so I answered.

「Please wait a little longer. It seems that the waterway used by the fishman I know is still impassable」

Lemuria has gotten warmer, but the cold still lingers in the areas near the ocean. It seems that due to this, some of the underground waterways that Geto-san uses to get around are unusable because the currents in them are too strong.

Really though, it's only for a short while longer.

「I was hoping to have a nice fish dish, but it can't be helped. Storekeeper, for drinks, I'll have milk」

「Okay, thank you for your order-nya」

After taking her order, Tyutyu glanced my way, then kissed me on the ear before disappearing back into the store.

It had happened so quickly that I was totally caught off guard.

『Oho~』

Exclaimed the two kings.

「Wh, what? It's just a greeting or something」

She does this all the time. It's not something that needs to be looked at seriously.

「You have no idea what it means for a beastkin to kiss someone on the ear, do you?」

「Huh?」

Even though Melm said that, nothing really comes to mind.

By the way, Lanseal has also kissed me on the ear before. It was a pretty intense one at that. I shiver whenever I remember it.

「Hahahaha, I can put my mind at ease, it seems」

For some reason, King Lemuria is relieved. It happens from time to time, but can you guys not just act like you've understood something and explain it to me?

「Souya, I have something more important to talk to you about」

「Yes, of course. Sorry」

I listened to my important person-in-charge.

「Congratulations on reaching the 40th floor. Once you've cleared 5 more floors, you'll be an advanced adventurer. You're the fastest party to become intermediate adventurers. At this rate, you'll also be the fastest to become advanced adventurers. That being the case, I have a favor to ask of you」

「Okay, what is it?」

It's rare for Evetta-san to ask for anything unrelated to food.

「Please hire me」

I have the strategy guides for up to the 45th floor. However, I also know that information alone is not always going to be enough.

I've been thinking about finding some help, so this is a godsend.

「Hold on there, Evetta」

It was a good proposition, but King Lemuria called for a pause.

「King Lemuria, because of the ramen request, Souya has obtained enough Shogaku tickets to hire me. There shouldn't be any problems」

Indeed, the priestess of the flame religion had given me a special bonus for the incident with the ramen.

It was a whopping 700 Shogaku tickets. As it happens, that's exactly the amount needed to hire Evetta-san.

「No, there's a problem, Evetta. I believe there's another party requesting your services right now. What do you plan to do about them?」

「It's simple. Souya will win me in a match」

「………………Huh?」

Win you? Huh? Why?

「Souya, as King Lemuria said, I'm now on the verge of being hired by another party. Therefore, you will compete with and defeat them. You will win me as your prize. Is that clear?」

「Ah, yes」

She gave me such an earnest look that I couldn’t help replying immediately.

Things had gone so quickly that I did it without thinking.

So I ended up agreeing to compete with another party without much resolve or motivation.

This is what's called "regret always comes too late".

It was only some time later that I realized this.

[1] Tea over rice is actually “ochazuke” in standard Japanese. “Bubuzuke” is Kyoto-ben, or the Kyoto dialect, for “ochazuke”. And in Kyoto, it’s said that offering someone bubuzuke has a hidden implication of, “Crude food like this is all we have for you, so leave.”

We’ve been getting more and more chances to learn about Melm recently, haven’t we? I do enjoy this kind of approach, where the author isn’t “explaining” the character to the readers, but letting you slowly learn about them via their actions and words.

The issue with Ea’s proposal hasn’t been settled yet and now there’s another problem with Evetta-san, huh? Souya is in for a tough time in this volume, isn’t he? There’s that ominous-sounding ending too…what will happen??!! Stay tuned!

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