Chapter 89 – Millet Gets Miffed!
The next morning.
I woke up to Shiggy’s usual cries.
「ryaa ryaa」
「What is it? Hungry again?」
Almost as a reaction to what I’d said, Shiggy put out one arm.
It reached out and gripped my arm.
「ryaa」
「Hm? Toilet then?」
「rya ryaa」
I held Shiggy and took it to the toilet.
Even though I didn’t show it how, Shiggy remembered how to use the toilet. Maybe it learned from Femm or Moofy.
After Shiggy used the toilet, we went to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, everyone including the siblings were lined up.
「「「GOOD MORNING!」」」
「Oh…uh, morning.」
The Anton siblings all stood stock-straight and greeted me loudly.
I jumped a bit. Shiggy reared its wings back in surprise as well.
「Are you okay, being out of bed and all?」
「Yes, thanks to you. Our wounds have covered over. My sisters can move around too.」
Anton looked pretty healthy. The sisters nodded along as well.
「You were all pretty injured. No need to get up. Especially you, Liza.」
「Because of Yureena’s healing, I’m fine. Thank you.」
She was the most injured yesterday. The archer Liza bowed her head to Yureena.
Yureena looked a bit embarrassed.
「Even if your wounds are covered over, you haven’t gotten your strength back. While you’re healing you can stay in the guard house here.」
「No! We couldn’t trouble you with…」
「Don’t worry about that.」
「We’re thankful, but we have our quest to complete.」
Anton shook his head.
I guess the mission of gathering the herbs came with a deadline. Deadlines were very important to adventurers.
Yureena then spoke to the three gently,
「Even so, you MUST rest until tomorrow. You’ve lost a lot of blood so you can’t exert yourself too much.」
「If you say so, Miss Yureena…」
After being told that by the healer that healed their wounds, the siblings didn’t refuse her suggestion.
While we were eating our breakfast, Liza asked me,
「Um, the guard house…」
「Yes, it’s this building.」
「The house…it’s not a mansion, but a house, right?」
「Yeah.」
It seems that Liza didn’t really understand, but she didn’t ask anymore questions.
Maybe because she didn’t want to bug me.
Millet turned to Liza and said,
「It used to be a smaller house, but after it burned down one day, Al rebuilt it to this size.」
「…I see, with magic?」
Even with Millet’s explanation, Liza didn’t seem to comprehend.
Most houses aren’t built with magic. So I can see why she didn’t understand.
So I followed up with an explanation.
「Because it’s the country, there’s a lot of land. It’s easy to build a house like this with magic. And, I kind of made it bigger than the old one.」
「You really are an awesome wizard, Alfred.」
Anton said with a tinge of amazement.
That reminded me, Emmy actually was the one that saw me fight.
And Emmy followed up by saying,
「Alfred’s magic was out of this world! He killed five basilisks at once, ALONE!」
「Alone?」
Liza was shocked, even thought she was unconscious at the house the whole time.
Hearing Emmy, Cruz followed up, even more enthusiastically,
「Al really is great! He can kill dragons and demons, whatever! He could probably kill 100 basilisks with no problem!」
「Wow…that really is something…」
「Right?!」
Cruz seemed proud of me for some reason.
I don’t think that it would be easy to kill 100 basilisks, though.
…I could beat them, but it would be meticulous.
Cruz kept on happily blabbing about my stories. The three siblings listened to her with serious looks.
How embarrassing.
「Cruz, maybe it’s time you gave it a rest.」
「But…」
「No need to tell them everything.」
「If you say so, Al…」
Cruz finally toned down a bit.
However, Anton suddenly jumped and said,
「Cruz…you mean the holy hero… THE CRUZ CONRADINE!?」
「Yeah…you know who I am?」
Cruz had many other epithets…holy hero was one of them.
After Cruz confirmed who she was, the three lept from their seats.
「For us to meet the great hero!!」
「Please, let me shake your hand!!」
「Oh…okay…」
Cruz said nonchalantly.
I guess she was used to mingling with fans.
Emmy shook Cruz’ hand and asked her,
「But I thought you lived in the capital…」
「Well, during the day I’m there, but at night, I’m here.」
「…? I see?」
Emmy had no idea what Cruz was saying.
Vi-Vi suddenly was standing near us, having just woken up, and said,
「Heh heh heh, because of the magic ring I made, they can transport here from the capital.」
「Wow…that’s…convenient.」
「A transport circle, wow!」
「Right?!」
Vi-Vi was very proud.
The siblings looked Vi-Vi over but didn’t seem surprised.
It wasn’t illegal for devils like her to got to town or live among humans. However, there was quite a bit of bias against them.
There were also a lot of devils that worked as adventurers in human territory.
And as an adventurer, if you were good, it didn’t matter what your race or species was.
That’s why I guessed the three were used to seeing her.
「All of you are from the capital, right? Do you want to return together?」
「No, we’re not from the capital…but another town.」
We asked for more details, and it turns out they were from the town that we just went to sell meat in.
If someone here in Mulg asked for a large town that was close…that was it.
「So that means your friends, Cruz, are Alfred, Yureena, and Luka…and you killed off the Demon Lord, right?」
「Yeah, that’s right.」
「Oh my God…when you killed off those basilisks, I knew I wasn’t talking to just any adventurer…」
The three siblings seemed very moved.
Since they knew about us, I had to tell them something just in case.
「Honestly, me being here is kind of a secret.」
「Is that so?」
「Yes, so let’s keep it a secret.」
「I understand. Alfred, you saved our lives! We make an oath never to tell!」
They all looked very serious about it too.
After breakfast, the three siblings went to the hot springs. Probably for healing of their wounds.
Then, Cruz went back to the capital.
I went back to my work as a guard, but Millet stopped me on the way.
She seemed a little angry at me.
「Mister Al.」
「What is it?」
「Mister Al, why didn’t you TELL ME?!」
「Huh? About what?」
I had no idea what Millet was talking about.
So when I asked her what she meant, Millet suddenly got even angrier.
「That Cruz is the HERO, and that YOU’RE one of the people THAT KILLED THE DEMON LORD!」
「What, I didn’t tell you?」
「NO, YOU DIDN’T!!」
I thought she knew already.
Millet looked up at me with tears forming in her eyes.
「You couldn’t TRUST ME?!」
「No…that’s not the problem…」
「Then what is it?!」
Millet stared at me, seriously.
She was close…enough to feel her breath.
「Sorry…I just forgot to tell you.」
「HMPH!」
「No, I really am sorry… I thought it would make things hard for the chief so I didn’t say anything. I just thought that I had told you already.」
I apologized a bit.
Shiggy and Moofy and Femm looked back and forth at the two of us.
It was a bit embarrassing, but there was nothing I could do.
Millet forgave me, but it was a while before she visited me while I was guarding again.