As Milka had called us, we all went to the dining room.
Eric and Goran were waiting for us there.
Both of them had been drinking before the sun had even gone down.
“Locke, you’re awake!”
“Were you tired? Maybe it means you just look young, but you’re really the same as us inside!”
Goran said a little too happily.
“Not sure what I should say to that.”
Eric and Goran had also returned in the morning and taken a short rest before going about their days work.
And then they came to visit me when they were done. It was very impressive.
“Have you been drinking a lot?”
“No, not much.”
“Lightly. Very lightly. Just like we would drink water.”
Eric and Goran looked a little red.
They were at least a little drunk.
Serulis looked worried.
“Daddy, I wish you wouldn’t drink so much.”
“Bah, don’t worry.”
“And you still have to eat your dinner.”
“Ah, I know. Sorry.”
Drinking during the day was not exactly a praiseworthy thing, I guess.
However, Eric was the king and Goran was the guild master of the Adventurer’s guild.
Their work was very stressful. So I didn’t see why they shouldn’t relax like this once in a while.
“Dinner, huh? How exciting.”
“You can sit down, Kathe.”
“I know.”
I went to help Milka and the others.
When there were a lot of people like there was today, you needed more people to carry the food.
After that, we all sat down at the table.
Food had also been prepared for Lord Gerberga, Tama and Grulf.
“You can eat now.”
I had said, but they did not start to eat.
“Cluck.”
Lord Gerberga was staring at me.
Maybe he was thinking that my food looked better than his.
In any case, I decided to start eating my own food.
“Cluck.”
Lord Gerberga said. Then he began to eat too.
And he ate incredibly fast.
Lord Gerberga’s food was actually quite similar to ours, but with more vegetables.
He was able to eat the same types of food because he was the God Fowl.
“Woof.”
Tama started eating too.
Tama ate raw meat and boiled potatoes. He looked to be enjoying it.
“Groof.”
Grulf saw that the others were eating and started to eat too.
Being a spirit beast meant that he could eat human food as well.
However, tonight he had the same food as Tama.
It was kind of interesting seeing the smaller ones eat first.
Maybe they had their own ranking.
“This is very, very delicious.”
“I-is it really?”
“Yes. Milka. You must be a genius chef!”
Kathe announced.
The food was perfectly average, but Kathe had taken a strong liking to it.
Which was good.
While we ate, Kathe said,
“About the Ancient Ruins Protection Committee, do you have any requests?”
“What do you mean?”
The Committee was the name of the alliance between the dragons and the kingdom of Mendilibar. Well, it was a secret alliance, anyway. We could not make it public, and this was just a temporary name.
It wasn’t so much an alliance but a committee for the dragons and the kingdom to work together against the dark ones.
“Of course, I mean offices.”
“I think you should do as you like. What about you, Eric?”
“Aye, I will leave it to Kathe.”
“I see. Then I will take care of everything!”
We knew what we had to do and who was a part of it. Creating offices was not really important.
Kathe could call herself the chairperson if she really wanted.
“By the way, Kathe. Is it alright that you didn’t check the other ruins today?”
“But I did? It was around midday.”
That was just as I was sleeping.
“So was everything alright today?”
“Yes. I use this magic tool.”
So saying, Kathe put a large bracelet on top of the table.
“This tells me if anyone has been caught by the intruder detection magic that I cast.”
“Ah, how useful.”
“Yes. And it did not react at all today. And I did not see anything particularly strange from above, either.”
I had a look at the bracelet.
It looked quite well-made.
“Did you cast magic onto this yourself?”
“That I did.”
Kathe looked very clumsy, but was actually good with magic.
“Groof.”
“Woof.”
The two canines had barked quietly, and so I turned to look.
Grulf had put some of his share of raw meat into Tama’s plate.
Grulf was worried about how thin Tama was.
Tama licked Grulf gratefully and then returned the meat to Grulf’s plate.
“Grrr.”
“Woof.”
Neither wanted to back down.
“Neither of you need to worry. There’s plenty of food left.”
“Groof.”
“Woof.”
Grulf seemed to be satisfied with this, and returned to eating all of his meat.
“Are you full, Tama?”
“Woof.”
“I am slowly increasing the amount of food that I give him. But he still doesn’t eat much.”
Philly sounded worried.
“As long as he isn’t eating less. He would just get indigestion if he forces himself to eat.”
“Yes. Tama, you let me know if you’re hungry, okay?”
“Woof.”
By then, Lord Gerberga had finished his food and was riding on Grulf’s back.
Luchila’s Situation
Eric returned to the palace after dinner.
His wife and children were waiting for him. He was apparently going to eat dinner again once he arrived.
I wondered if he wouldn’t get fat.
“Goran. You will stay with us, won’t you?”
“Ah, thank you, Locke!”
“Though, you should send a message to your house.”
“Ah, that is fine. I already told them.”
While I talked with Goran, Kathe kept glancing towards me.
She was expecting me to ask her to stay as well.
“You should stay too, Kathe.”
“Are-are you sure?”
“Of course.”
Kathe’s wings flapped happily.
Her tail was also moving.
Nia then rushed towards Kathe.
Her tail was also wagging.
“Miss Kathe. Let us go take a bath!”
“A bath?”
“We have a very big one.”
“Yes! And it is very nice, because I clean it every day.”
Milka said proudly.
“Master Philly, you come too!”
“Hmm. Very well.”
Philly agreed.
“That sounds very fun!”
“We can all go together!”
“Yes!”
Shia and Serulis decided to join them.
And so all the girls went towards the bathing room.
Just then, Kathe turned to say,
“Are you not coming too, Luchila?”
“I-I am fine.”
Luchila said frantically as he held Lord Gerberga.
“But Luchila is a boy!”
Milka said with a laugh.
“Hm? Really? But I thought…”
“Miss Kathe can’t tell people apart.”
Milka said with amusement.
She couldn’t even tell humans and goblins apart.
The difference between men and women would be even harder to catch.
“Well, this is very strange indeed. I was quite sure that…”
“Oh, leave me alone and go take your bath.”
“But you really just smell like a girl to me.”
“…No I don’t!”
“Cluck-cluck.”
Luchila scowled.
Lord Gerberga shivered and looked around uncomfortably.
Milka’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Huh? Is that true? Is Luchila a girl?”
“No-no!”
“Cluck-cluck-cluck.”
Luchila became frantic.
However, it was Lord Gerberga who seemed the most strange. Like he was shaken.
Perhaps this meant that they were hiding this fact.
I couldn’t help but notice this.
“Luchila.”
“Ye-yes.”
“Cluck-cluck-cluck.”
Lord Gerberga jumped away from Luchila and ran towards me.
Then he jumped into my arms.
“What is it? Lord Gerberga.”
“Cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck.”
Lord Gerberga shook his head wildly.
Maybe he was apologizing for the deceit.
But male or female, Luchila was Luchila.
“It’s really nothing to worry about.”
“…Yes, thank you.”
“Cluck!”
“Alright, Lord Gerberga.”
Lord Gerberga clucked with encouragement.
Then Luchila’s mouth opened with determination.
“The truth is, I was hiding the fact that I’m a girl…”
“Oh, is that right.”
“I had no idea.”
Milka and Philly were surprised.
“I could tell because of the smell.”
“Me too.”
It seemed that Shia and Nia already knew, because they had a sharp sense of smell.
However, they had sensed that there was a reason behind it, and so they had not said anything.
“I also thought that it was the case.”
“You did? Serulis?”
“I’m not saying I knew. I just suspected.”
“And what made you suspect it?”
“Because she’s so cute. The face and voice is that of a girl!”
Serulis had also suspected it but not said anything.
“I see. I didn’t notice…”
“Aye.”
Goran and I had not suspected anything.
“As for why you had to hide it…is there a reason?”
“…I told you about how everyone in my tribe was killed…”
“Yes.”
Luchila’s tribe worshipped Lord Gerberga, and they were all killed in an attack by the dark ones.
Luchila was the sole survivor and had to protect Lord Gerberga.
“The area I was living in had meetings among the chiefs of each tribe, and only men were allowed to go.”
“Why?”
“The lord of the land said so.”
That seemed rather ridiculous. I would like to see what this person looked like.
They had similar meetings for chiefs among the beastkin as well.
“Shia. What about your tribe?”
“Women can go to the chief meetings without a problem. I have gone instead of my father a few times!”
Now that I think of it, she had talked about it before.
Shia had appeared at the meeting about hunting the High Lords in Danton’s place.
“Right? It’s normally like that.”
Luchila said seriously.
“While I am alone, my tribe still exists. I intend to go to the chief’s council when I am old enough…”
“I see. And so that is why you were pretending to be a boy.”
“Yes. I am sorry for deceiving you.”
“Don’t worry about it. And as for restoring your tribe, maybe Eric can help you with that.”
“Actually, Luchila. Weren’t you granted a knighthood?”
“Yes, I was.”
It was a reward for helping to fight the Vampire High Lords.
They had also been given to Shia and the chiefs of the beastkin tribes.
“Having a title means that you are the head of a household and should be able to join the council.”
“That’s true. This lord may be able to create such rules for commoners, but a knight is a noble.”
And so the lord of the land couldn’t force their own ideas onto a noble without good reason.
And if they fought over it, then the king would hear about it.
The king would likely let the privy council decide.
“And I happen to be a counselor there.”
“…That’s…that’s right…”
Luchila said. Then tears started to fall from her eyes