Ch.32Chapter 32 – Meeting Plaza (2)

The food was definitely good.

The soup was warm, and the meat was cooked just right.

What I liked most was that the price was reasonable, so there wasn’t too much damage to my wallet.

‘But why do I feel this strange chill down my spine?’

The weather seemed far from winter, yet I felt slightly cold.

As I was trying to ignore that feeling, Sera spoke up.

“What are you planning to do from now on?”

“Planning? For now, I just have to wait until the guild contacts me.”

All I could do at the moment was work while waiting for contact.

Unfortunately, I’m currently living day to day.

“Not that. I mean your plans for the future.”

Plans for the future.

Raise my rank to create an opportunity to contact the Magic Tower, and through the Tower, find a way to return home.

At present, I didn’t really have any plans beyond this.

“When my rank goes up, I’ll save more money, I guess.”

I might suddenly need money when I establish a connection with the Magic Tower.

Besides that, I need money to live anyway.

However, Sera seemed to interpret it differently.

“How sensible. Are you planning to get a house?”

“Something like that.”

I answered vaguely.

“What about you? What are you going to do now?”

“I’ll take on some adventurer requests while supplying medicines to the Alchemist Association.”

When I asked Sera the same question, her answer was exactly what I expected.

“I’d like to save up a lot of money and get a proper place to make my medicines…”

Sera’s words raised a question in my mind.

“Just curious, how do you make your medicines these days?”

“I borrow the inn’s kitchen. Since we’re long-term guests, they’re happy to lend it to me.”

It seems that paying the inn fees regularly has paid off.

Money really is the best.

“Still, it’s hard to properly make medicines with just kitchen heat. I wish I had a space where I could freely build up fires without worrying about bothering others.”

Sera started waving her fork aimlessly.

She was probably just expressing regret since she couldn’t afford such a space.

I quietly took a sip of water.

“My goodness, I happen to know where you could easily find such a place.”

“Keh! Cough!”

I choked on my water in surprise at hearing a voice I hadn’t expected to hear today.

“You should drink water slowly. Here, use this to wipe yourself.”

“Th-thank, cough, you.”

A soft handkerchief was offered to me, and I quickly wiped my mouth.

Sera, who had been frozen for a moment, seemed to regain her senses and spoke.

“Excuse me, who are you?”

“We haven’t met before. I’m Eve Ravencha.”

Eve greeted Sera with the same old-fashioned manner as when she first met me, then pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.

Sera looked at me as if demanding an explanation.

“This is the head of the Ravencha Trading Company I mentioned before.”

“The person who went to the blacksmith with you…?”

Eve smiled and answered Sera’s question.

“That’s me.”

Soon, Eve and Sera were looking at each other.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Eve was the first to break the silence.

“You two seem quite close?”

Sera glanced at me, then at Eve, before speaking again.

“We often go on guild requests together.”

“I see.”

Eve nodded with a serene face.

No, only her mouth was serene.

Her eyes were starting to grow cold.

They began to silently sit and stare at each other again.

‘This is awkward…’

As I was contemplating whether to escape, I saw another chair being pulled out and someone sitting down.

It was Rachel, Eve’s subordinate.

She didn’t look well, as if she had an upset stomach.

Wanting to escape this atmosphere, I spoke to her.

“Did you drink a lot?”

“Do people ever tell you that you’re tactless?”

I was concerned because her eyes looked a bit unfocused, but she responded quite coldly.

“Why don’t you do something about this atmosphere first?”

“But that’s…”

“Just do something about it.”

At Rachel’s words, I assessed the situation.

The two were still silently staring at each other.

I decided to try to get them talking.

“Sera, introduce yourself.”

“Oh, right. I’m…”

“Seraphina Medimaker.”

Eve said the name first, and Sera’s eyes widened in surprise.

“How did you…?”

“How did I know?”

Eve looked at me meaningfully.

‘This is getting complicated.’

Of course, I could guess the reason.

She probably learned Sera’s name while seeing the future at some point.

Judging by her slightly flushed face from drinking and her triumphant expression, it seemed like she was playing some kind of prank.

‘But why is she looking at me…’

It seemed like she wanted me to explain.

The problem was that I couldn’t explain it.

If I tried to explain that Eve could see the future…

People would think I was crazy.

“Miss Seraphina, how do you think I knew?”

“Kei, did you tell her about me?”

“…I might have…”

In my memory, I hadn’t done that, but I decided to go with it.

Rather than trying to convince someone with talk about seeing the future, it would be better if I just seemed like a strange person.

As Sera and, for some reason, Rachel looked at me in disbelief…

Suddenly, Eve pressed herself close to me.

“You did, didn’t you? When we were alone together.”

“Um…”

She seemed to be referring to when we talked in the reception room.

“While eating something sweet together in a nice atmosphere, right?”

“That’s…”

Come to think of it, we did eat the fruit I had brought as a gift.

‘Why does she keep saying things in such a strange way…’

Whether she had drunk too much or not, Eve kept saying things in a strange way.

No, I could tell she was deliberately trying to make things difficult for me.

Sera’s expression was growing darker.

“Kei…”

“No, it’s a misunderstanding. Eve is just teasing me.”

I tried to explain to Sera, whose expression was darkening, but she didn’t seem to be listening.

That was certainly effective.

‘But why do I need to explain myself?’

Just as I was questioning this fundamental point…

“Speaking of which, you ‘defiled’ me in the New Kingdom, didn’t you?”

I remembered joking that I had defiled her when she was covered in blood.

“No, don’t look at me like that.”

Sera started looking at me like I was garbage.

“It was really hard to clean up.”

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Eve kept teasing with meaningful looks.

Sera’s expression was growing colder.

At this rate, I’d be seen as trash.

I needed to explain properly.

My social life was at stake!

-BANG!

Suddenly, someone slammed the table hard.

“I’d like to hear more about that in detail.”

With an extremely cold voice, Rachel put her hand on my shoulder.

The effects of alcohol seemed to have disappeared, and I could feel a murderous intent in her eyes.

“Ah.”

This reaction seemed unexpected, as Eve’s eyes widened slightly.

Sera also looked surprised, her eyes wide as she stared at Rachel.

“Explain yourself.”

“Well, that’s…”

“Like a man. Straight.”

Rachel’s eyes stared directly at me.

I couldn’t bear to meet those eyes.

They were frightening.

‘But I didn’t do anything wrong?’

I wanted to argue that, but saying so would probably put me in danger.

“Why do you keep trying to avoid eye contact?”

“Well…”

I rolled my eyes and looked around.

I quickly scanned for anyone who might help me.

‘First, Sera…’

Sera seemed overwhelmed by Rachel’s intense aura and was just trembling, her previous expression gone.

She didn’t look like she would be of any help.

Fortunately, there was someone who offered assistance.

“Um, Rachel…”

Eve, realizing this was her fault, seemed to be trying to smooth things over.

Her eyes were slightly shaking, suggesting she hadn’t expected such a sensitive reaction.

‘That’s what you get for teasing too much.’

I looked at Eve with slightly resentful eyes.

I wasn’t sure if she could see them through my helmet, but I stared hard anyway.

Eve opened her mouth.

“Actually, the truth is…”

“Madam, please be quiet.”

Eve quietly closed her mouth and moved slightly away from me.

What should I do?

This isn’t working at all.

“As it is, I’m already under a lot of pressure from various quarters regarding Madam’s marriage prospects.”

“Rachel?”

“I’d like to focus on my own marriage first, but it’s so frustrating.”

As if she had been holding this in for a while, Rachel’s words became faster.

Eve quietly began to look away.

“I’m in my prime too, but I keep putting myself second to take care of Madam. It might be comfortable for you, Madam, but not for me. You know how old I am? It’s getting dangerous, but I still endure…”

Perhaps due to the alcohol, Rachel was rattling off complaints rapidly.

Then she suddenly looked at me.

Looking at me, she seemed to remember what she had been trying to do.

“So in that sense, would you care to tell me everything?”

“No, I—”

I wanted to run away from her killing intent and pressure.

I couldn’t handle Rachel on my own.

I looked at Eve and Sera, sending a desperate plea for help.

The two of them were amicably looking elsewhere.

‘…Traitors.’

While enduring Rachel’s killing intent, I could only condemn the traitors in my heart.

+

“…So that’s what happened.”

“Yes. I was just joking. The alcohol made me go too far.”

Somehow, I managed to finish my explanation.

Of course, I modified the events of our escape from the New Kingdom, changing it to an attack by bandits.

There probably aren’t bandits bold enough to rob people so close to where the New Kingdom’s soldiers could appear at any moment, but I couldn’t say we were attacked by the Emiris Order either, so I just went with that story.

Fortunately, Rachel didn’t seem interested in digging deeper into this point.

At first, she seemed unwilling to believe my explanation, but Eve also helped corroborate my story to make up for her prank, and Sera joined in to calm Rachel down, allowing me to safely complete my explanation.

“You should have said so from the beginning, Madam.”

“I-I’m sorry. I just wanted to play a little joke.”

“You shouldn’t joke about such important matters.”

The hierarchy between Eve and Rachel seemed to have reversed.

It was like an older sister scolding her immature younger sister.

“Our Madam sometimes acts like this. I’m sorry, Kei, Miss Seraphina.”

“N-no, it’s fine.”

Sera accepted Rachel’s apology with a tense face, probably still intimidated by her earlier intensity.

“But it seems you did learn my name from Kei’s explanation?”

“Y-yes. I just happened to remember something he mentioned in passing.”

“Then, do you also know that I aim to be an alchemist?”

“I didn’t know that…”

Eve answered with a slightly awkward smile.

“Well, I should be going now. I have some work left to do.”

“Working overtime?”

“Yes. It’s making me quite tired.”

Eve smiled at me.

In response to her words, Sera reacted.

“Oh, would you like to try this?”

Sera rummaged through her belongings and pulled out some small vials.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a fatigue recovery potion. I made it when I got the ingredients.”

Sera said with a smile.

“For you too, Kei. Here’s one.”

I also received a vial from Sera unexpectedly.

It’s amazing that she had already made something like this.

Eve rolled the vial in her hand and then bowed her head.

“…I’m sorry for the joke, both of you.”

“It’s alright.”

Eve and Rachel stood up from their seats.

“I’ll drink it well. See you next time, Kei, Miss Seraphina.”

Soon, the two of them left the restaurant.

After watching them leave, Sera spoke.

“She’s quite an unusual person.”

“Isn’t she?”

As I agreed with Sera, she nodded and said.

“Now, please explain exactly what kind of relationship you have with Eve.”

‘This isn’t over?’

Her eyes were serious.

I didn’t think we had any remarkable relationship worth explaining, but if I said that, I might be in big trouble.

“Kei?”

I rolled my eyes hard inside my helmet.

I needed to answer carefully.

Looking at Sera, who was gripping my arms tightly, I felt I really had to.