Chapter 178: 163

【172nd day】

A night had passed since the huge fight between the sisters.

I was in the basement, brushing my teeth and thinking about last night's events.

Rana had gotten so worked up that she had asked the person she had already married to marry her again, but………

『But, Onee-chan, doesn't that mean that all the lewd stuff you've been doing up until now that you've blamed on the charm magic are actually just your own desires? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You perverted elf!』

『Hyaaaa!』

When my sister pointed that out, Rana screamed and covered her face while still hugging me.

Indeed, I think Rana is rather lewd. But I believe that ten out of ten men like lewd women. So long as they don't cheat on their husbands.

『So, Onee-chan, aren't you going to leave Onii-chan?』

『Eh, I'm not going to though? What's wrong with a husband and wife being intimate with each other? After all, we're husband and wife』

『You don't have to say it twice. And why the sudden emphasis on you and Onii-chan being husband and wife? Considering all that's happened――――』

『It's a very important fact, so I'll say it as many times as I want. We’re husband and wife! We love each other!』

It's really embarrassing, so please don't say that out in public.

『Right~? Dear, right~?』

“Right~?” she says……

When I replied, “Yeah, yeah”………

『That's kind of pissing me off!』

………my sister snapped.

Rana, however, was completely unperturbed.

『Listen well, Ea. Whether you fall in love with my husband or aim to be his second wife, well, you'll be after me in everything. All his firsts will be with me, and all you'll get are the seconds! After all, we’re husband and wife!』

『Arghh!』

Just like that, the fight between the sisters began anew.

It went on for so long that I don't remember anything from about halfway through the whole thing. However, when I woke up this morning, I found the sisters snuggled up together and asleep in the living area on the ground floor.

Is this a case of “the ground hardening after the rain”[1], or is this just the calm before the storm?

Does Rana think it's okay for Ea to be my second wife, I wonder?

I've heard before that polygamy is the norm for elves. Wait, Maria has declared herself my second wife though. Is there going to be another fight, this time between her and Ea?

Mmm, it's no use.

It's no use thinking about it. What will be will be. I don't have much experience with women, so it's not something I can figure out just by thinking about it. This is not me shirking responsibility. I simply have no idea what to do.

I cleaned myself up, got dressed, did the best I could to make myself look good, then went back downstairs.

The sisters were still in their dream world.

As a matter of course, Lanseal was in the kitchen making breakfast.

This is a familiar sight these days. She's really improved a lot in a short time. If I were to have a cooking match with her now, I'd probably lose.

「Souya, please have a taste of this」

「Alright」

I went over to have a taste of her signature dish, pot-au-feu. A quick look at the pot showed that it contained chunks of pork belly, cabbage, onions, and potatoes.

I scooped some of the broth onto a plate and taste-tested it.

「Hmm」

There's an accent to the flavor of the meat and vegetables.

「This is soy sauce and………something else I can't identify. It's got an unusual flavor」

「It's a seasoning called Shio-Koji(salted rice malt). I got some of the raw ingredients for miso from Heures-sama, and then Makina and I made it in secret by mixing those ingredients with some rice. Marinating vegetables and meat with it makes them delicious, and my father and Misuranika-sama both like them very much. What's more, it’s a wonderful seasoning that's good for health」

「I, I see」

What's shio-koji again? I know it was all the rage a long time ago. Is it something made from miso and rice?

「Is it not to your taste?」

「No, it’s delicious」

「I'm glad to hear that」

I found myself using polite speech with her.

This is bad, I have a feeling that she's completely surpassed me in Japanese cuisine. I'll have to make up for it in other ways……wait, I wonder why I'm being so competitive.

「Umm, there's something I wanted to tell you. I thought about keeping quiet about it, but in the end, I felt that it’s something you should know」

「Hmm? What is it?」

I had thought that after everything that's happened between us, we're close enough to not hold anything back anymore……

What is this about, I wonder.

「It's about your adventuring. Souya, you've reached the 40th floor. That's the floor where my father lost his second party member」

「His second………」

The king of adventurers had lost two party members in the dungeon.

The first was Alma Raua Heures, Rana's aunt.

The second was Verxina, Lanseal's mother.

「The fox and the bull used in the country's coat of arms and on its banners? The fox is a representation of my mother, and the bull is a representation of the Horns she fought and lost her life killing. And that Horns is also the monster with evil title from which Evetta, your person-in-charge, was born」

「What?! Huh??」

That surprised me.

I hadn't seen the two of them interact much, but I had heard from Otou-san that Evetta and Lanseal had been brought up together like sisters.

「By the way, I don't harbor any hatred or anger towards Evetta. It's impossible to hate someone who's been family to me for so long」

「Oh, I see」

While I was relieved, I also had mixed feelings about it.

「Following the death of my mother, it's become standard practice for adventurers to hire someone from the Adventurers' Guild to accompany them to the 40th floor. When I heard that Evetta would be taking on this role, I got worried」

「Worried about what?」

「Three days ago, when I saw her at the castle………umm, I apologize for saying something based only on a feeling, but I felt that she was being uncharacteristically overeager. I can't think of any good reason why she would go so far as to arrange a match with Elysium's apprentice hero just so you can hire her first either. ………………I'm sorry, I don't know how to put it into words better. If you could just put at the back of your mind that I hoped you might look out for her a little………umm, I apologize about that. Now that I've said it out loud, it sounds really weird」

「No, I got it」

Maybe it's her beastkin's intuition. To be honest, I don't fully understand Evetta-san's actions either.

Why is there a need to rush? Between the risks of "fighting" and "waiting", adventurers will always choose to wait.

For someone who was an adventurer long before I became one, it's an uncharacteristic choice.

I found out through fighting Arcane that he's not that bad of a guy. Even though his party members tend to run amok, as a leader, he does a good………oh, he scored zero points the moment Rana was hurt though.

He's a jerk. I can understand why Evetta-san doesn't like him.

Let's just say in summary that she chose me because I'm better than him.

If that's not the case………

「Lanseal, I'm going to see Evetta-san after breakfast to discuss our upcoming adventure. I'll ask her about it while I'm at it. We'll be putting our lives in each other's hands. She should know that there can't be any secrets between us」

「That's true. I'm counting on you」

「Got it」

「I’m hungry～」

Said my sister, who had woken up.

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「What's for breakfast? Is there any rice?」

Followed by her elder sister.

「I'm back～」

With perfect timing, a dark-skinned elf emerged from the basement.

「Oh, welcome home, Maria」

「Yeah, I'm home. Souya, here's a souvenir」

What the loli elf held out was meat wrapped in cloth. It was different from the pork we usually ate. It was fresh red meat that looked stringy.

「It's meat from a deer Dainsleif hunted. They're pretty rare in Ashtalia. He gave the liver to Regure, who's pregnant, but said he'd give the rest of the meat to you, Souya」

The sisters worship a deer god though. Is it okay doctrine-wise for them to eat this?

「Eh, Onii-chan, is that venison? Are you going to cook it in stew? Or in miso nabe?」

「Ea, make meat miso using the venison」

「Well, it's not like it can't be done……but will the flavors work, I wonder? I guess I could give it a try」

「Eh? You're gonna eat that?」

The sisters looked eager to eat the venison.

「Eh? Are you telling us to throw away such fine meat?」

「That's right, Onii-chan, in your country's language, wouldn't that be "mottainai(a waste)"?」

「But, you see, Ezusu-sama……」

……wears the form of a deer though.

「Dear, Ezusu-sama may have the form of a deer, but he's not this deer」

「That's right, Onii-chan, that's disrespectful of you」

「Uhh, I'm sorry」

Am I in the wrong here? I apologize, Ezusu-sama.

「How about marinating it in shio-koji? I've heard that it removes the smell and makes the meat more tender」

「Shio-what? Lanseal, when did you acquire a new seasoning? Hey, you should have let me try some」

「Lanseal, I'll taste-test it for you」

「I'm the one who brought the meat! Praise me more!」

「There, there」

I patted Maria on the head.

The sisters listened with great interest to Lanseal's explanation of the shio-koji's ability to remove odors from food.

I'm pretty sure that some of the knowledge Makina imparted to her is exaggerated though.

There are no such miraculous effects in Japanese cuisine. Balance is the key to everything.

Speaking of which, I don't see either of the two A.I.s.

「Lanseal, where are Makina and Yukikaze?」

「After helping with the prep work for breakfast, they went to the basement. They were singing some song about exploring the waterway and finding lots of mushrooms」

「What the heck?」

Where is this waterway? And are there shiitake mushrooms growing down there? Well, as long as it doesn't hamper my adventuring, it should be fine to let them do whatever they want, I suppose. Especially Makina, when she gets into something she's interested in, she tends to forget about her actual work. It's troubling. I don't know who she takes after……no way, is it me?

「I'm hungry~! I'm hungry~!」

Maria made a fuss, so the venison was set aside temporarily in favor of having breakfast.

Today's breakfast included pot-au-feu with the secret ingredients of shio-koji and soy sauce, as well as grilled onigiris. In addition, fried eggs and vegetables pickled in shio-koji.

The food is delicious, but it doesn't exactly have an alternate world feel.

It's time to find some food that feels like it's from an alternate world. It doesn't even need to be Japanese-style food.

Misuranika-sama joined us, and breakfast was as lively as usual.

I'm so used to this liveliness that the thought of ever going back to being alone makes me uneasy. I'm trying to live each day in such a way as to prevent that from happening, but the time to say goodbye will come someday.

Maybe it's just my nature, but when I'm having fun, I tend to think about sad things at the same time.

I believe I don't show these emotions on the surface. If anyone were to sense them, it would cause unnecessary worry.

If I'm just going to be a memory for these girls anyway, I want to give them as many days of joy as possible to remember.

「Ah, Onii-chan, are you thinking of something naughty right now?」

「No, I’m not」

Now that's really an unnecessary worry.

I finished my breakfast.

On my way to the Adventurers' Guild, I caught sight of Evetta-san at her customary spot in Tyutyu's store.

『Ah』

We both went at the same time.

It was too much trouble going all the way to the Guild, so we decided to have our meeting right there.

We knew each other quite well, so the planning process went pretty smoothly.

We would start the adventure the next day.

Evetta would be positioned at the forefront.

The duration of the adventure would be two days.

She promised to definitely guide our party to the 45th floor within that time.

In her, I could feel a firm determination. Along with a sense of desperation.

「Evetta-san, this is a lesson Otou-san often reminds me of,『When in doubt, go back. If you return safely, you can challenge it again and again』

Our party is certainly the fastest at clearing the dungeon, but we're actually pretty cautious, and when we think something is wrong, we go back immediately. Frankly speaking, there's no need to go to the 45th floor in one go this time」

「Souya, Medimu-sama is absolutely right. A rushed adventure is dangerous. But could you go along with what I want just this once? I won't let anything bad happen to you or your party members. And if it turns out that you guys find it too dangerous, I'll make sure all of you return home safely. I've already lined up someone for you to hire “the next time”」

I heard something I didn't like.

「Evetta-san, when you say "the next time", it sounds almost like this adventure is――――」

「Oh, I'm sorry. I totally forgot I hadn't told you yet and got ahead of myself」

Right then, I had a hunch about why she was in such a rush.

My intuition has always been very good when it comes to things like this.

「I'm nearing the end of my lifespan」

It’s truly as they say, bad feelings always come true.

[1] It’s a Japanese expression that means “the relationship got better and more stable after a dispute.”

……Evetta!!! Noooo!!! I’m sure you’ve noticed since this isn’t the first time, but the story can go from zero to a hundred at the drop of a hat this volume. That said, there have been plenty of hints about this. Evetta~~

Oh, as for the title of this arc and volume, it sucks but once again, I’m limited by how specific English is. It’s the city of 亡霊, which can mean ghost, apparition, departed spirit, soul of the dead, phantom, you get the drift. And once this volume is over, you’ll see the wordplay involved as many of its meanings come into play.

Well, stay tuned! There are so much more ups and downs to come!

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