Ch.117Reunion (3)

“I can’t get used to it every time I see it…”

I laughed awkwardly at Seria’s words.

I never expected things would turn out this way.

“You didn’t do anything weird to Irina while I wasn’t around, did you?”

Just last night, Irina declared she would marry me, which got me labeled as a pervert. As a result, due to Seria’s strong determination not to leave us alone, we ended up staying together until the end of my vacation.

I wanted to refuse, but it was awkward to do so considering the wrongs I’d committed against Seria.

In the past, I would have dismissed her, telling the little brat to wash her feet and go to bed.

But after leaving her alone for a thousand years, doing that again would only lead to ruin.

Initially, I had no intention of staying together, but now that she knows I’m Vladimir, she says there’s no going back.

On top of that, she declared she’d stick by my side to watch over me, claiming she didn’t know what I might do to Irina. But I knew the truth.

She was doing this partly to keep Irina in check and partly out of jealousy.

‘This is troublesome…’

Honestly, even if I were in my original form, it would be questionable whether she’d accept me. Becoming lovers with Seria while in Midir’s form…

That’s not right.

Hmm.

Even if someone likes me, accepting those feelings presents a different set of problems.

These worries didn’t disappear the next day either. As we walked, I continued to dwell on what Seria had said to me.

“But…”

Seria turned to look at Irina, who was walking beside us.

After a moment, she shot me a sharp glare.

“You really didn’t do anything, right?”

Come on, I already told you yesterday that I didn’t.

“Just think of it as a childish declaration…”

In response to my exasperated words, Seria puffed her cheeks in displeasure.

Then she clung tightly to my side.

Surprised, Irina’s eyes widened.

I was also caught off guard by Seria suddenly clinging to me like this, so I pushed her away with a slightly startled expression.

“Give me some space…”

“Why?”

“People are looking at us strangely…”

“Since when did you start caring about that? Besides, we’re both girls right now, aren’t we? Friends can be close to each other.”

“Well…”

When she puts it that way, I have nothing to say.

“You always tease me calling me a kid, and now you’re suddenly treating me like a woman?”

I was dumbfounded by her smirking expression.

As I pondered how to respond to her confident question, I realized she wasn’t wrong.

Before things turned out this way, back in the Hero’s party days, I had treated Seria like a child throughout our journey…

Plus, during those Hero’s party days, I was famous for not caring about public perception and engaging in all sorts of eccentric behavior.

Well, a lot of time has passed, and I’ve changed quite a bit since then, so it might make sense that I’m more conscious of such things now. But as Seria pointed out, it was strange for me to suddenly start caring.

Alright, if that’s how it is, I’ll do as you wish.

“Fine, fine… Let’s walk together like this, okay?”

“Yes! Let’s go have fun like this! I approve~”

“Huh?”

Irina cried out in dismay at Seria’s declaration.

“You two are being weird… Irina wants to join too!”

“Gah?!”

Irina puffed her cheeks in dissatisfaction before rushing toward us.

Now three girls were walking down the street with linked arms.

“H-how did it end up like this…”

Irina on one side, Seria on the other.

Someone who didn’t know the situation might think we were good friends, and someone who did might think I had a flower on each arm.

Either way, with weights attached to both sides, I felt like I was suffocating!

‘I want to go home…’

I came on vacation to relax, but somehow it feels even more uncomfortable.

If I had known it would be this uncomfortable, I wouldn’t have taken a vacation at all.

I let out a deep sigh.

I couldn’t let myself be swept along like this.

I needed something to change the atmosphere…

‘Ah, come to think of it, we haven’t eaten yet.’

I was starting to get hungry anyway…

“Now that I think about it, we haven’t had a meal yet. Shall we go eat something?”

While trying to divert their attention to food, I watched their reactions.

Fortunately, they both seemed willing to go along with my suggestion.

Of course, Seria seemed to realize I was trying to change the subject, but she let it slide.

I was grateful she did.

.

.

.

Despite my sudden suggestion to go eat, they were both seriously considering what to eat.

“I’m fine with anything…”

“Vladimir used to like things mixed with blood, like blood sausage soup!”

“Ehh? I don’t know what that is…”

They were enthusiastically discussing what I might like.

Meanwhile, Seria was mentioning something I had once casually suggested might be tasty.

But I’ve never actually eaten it since becoming this body…

Besides, blood sausage soup doesn’t even exist in this world, so how could I have eaten it?

Of course, I am curious.

Since blood tastes good to me, I naturally wonder what blood sausage would taste like.

But it was just curiosity, not that I actually wanted to eat it.

Well, to be precise, I wouldn’t mind trying blood sausage soup again, but I don’t mean it would be delicious in a vampiric sense.

Yet she’s talking as if I’ve actually eaten blood sausage soup before, which is ridiculous.

‘It’s not strange that she might misremember after a thousand years have passed…’

With that much time, it would be difficult to remember things accurately.

For me, it feels like it happened just yesterday, but Seria must have experienced many things during that time.

She’s probably gradually recalling what happened back then as she spends time with me.

“Do you like blood sausage soup, sister?”

Meanwhile, Irina, who had heard Seria’s story, asked me if I really liked whatever blood sausage soup was.

If asked whether I like it or not, of course I’d say I like it… After all, as a vampire, it would be strange not to like blood.

If I had to say, trying fresh blood sausage once would be enough…

However, I wasn’t tactless enough to say I just wanted to try blood sausage here, so I turned my head slightly and said:

“Just pick whatever you two want to eat… Please…”

I don’t really care about such things, so I’d prefer if either of them would just choose something they want.

Rather than wasting time arguing, it would be better to eat something slightly less tasty.

As I sighed deeply, Irina and Seria, who had been eyeing each other, finally seemed to reach an agreement and quieted down.

In the end, we found a suitable spot near the beach to have our meal.

Come to think of it, blood sausage soup probably doesn’t exist around here anyway, so it was a pointless argument from the start.

Nevertheless, Seria’s refusal to back down was probably due to her small pride from having spent so much time with me.

Still, being near the beach, everything tasted good regardless of what we ate.

One good thing about this body is that unlike before, when I could only taste blood, now I can taste regular food like I used to.

Thanks to that, I can taste everything I eat now, which has made me enjoy eating.

That’s why I mentioned wanting to eat blood sausage soup back then.

I thought I might be able to taste it. But that’s meaningless now.

“You haven’t changed at all…”

“Hmm?”

Seeing her devour meat without hesitation despite being an elf, I sometimes wonder if she really is an elf.

Of course, it’s just a matter of preference for elves too—they’re not strictly prohibited from eating meat—but until a thousand years ago, elves were still considered mysterious beings among people, which led to rumors.

Like elves being vegetarians.

The fact that I still remember this after living here for a thousand years is quite something.

As for Irina…

“Hmm…”

“Blood won’t come out from there.”

“Ah.”

Seeing her examining the meat for blood, she must be quite curious about blood sausage.

It’s not like blood will come out just by looking there.

Maybe I’ll show her sometime when I have the chance.

Looking at the two of them, I chuckled.

It wasn’t such a bad feeling after all.