Ch.373Side Story: Two Little Devils

Whoosh.

“It’s delicious!”

Aria Rius was munching on meat with her mouth full.

Elenoa sitting next to her also smiled brightly.

“This is really delicious!”

I was glad it suited even the princess’s picky palate. I suppose growing up eating only fancy foods would make one’s taste quite particular.

“Brother, you can give her anything. The other day she ate some weird dog food-looking thing from a street vendor and said it was delicious.”

“Hey! That was artisanal flavor! What would you know!”

Well.

I don’t particularly remember Elenoa ever complaining about food.

“Thank you for inviting us.”

Aria, skillfully ignoring Elenoa’s grumbling beside her, subtly moved closer to me.

Her bright smile was as innocent as a child’s, which was nice to see.

“Sorry for inviting you so late.”

It took time to put out the fire and clean up the surroundings, so I ended up inviting the two of them later than planned.

I originally wanted to invite Professor Per and Deia too, but Per was busy with establishing a new academic society, and Deia declined saying she had a matchmaking appointment scheduled for today.

‘She should be back by now.’

Since it was getting late, her matchmaking should have finished long ago, so I was thinking about calling Deia again.

Clunk.

Deia came out through the door from inside the house.

“Ah, shit.”

She looked impressive in a pretty dress, but her expression was clearly full of irritation.

[Oh, Deia’s here too?]

As Stella, who had taken back control from Vellica, welcomed her, Deia asked irritably.

“Got any beer? I don’t think I can handle this without drinking.”

[There’s a little left. Findenai drank most of it.]

Stella immediately handed Deia a bottle of beer, and she opened the cap and started gulping it down.

Such a magnificent way of drinking.

“Ooh.”

“I want to try that too.”

Little ones like Aria and Elenoa, who didn’t yet know the taste of beer, seemed interested in seeing someone drink like that.

That’s usually how it is when you’re young.

When you see adults drinking beer and exclaiming how refreshing it feels, it sometimes looks like some magical potion.

“Damn it. Why do I have to go on blind dates? Why do I have to cater to those good-for-nothing bastards!”

Deia made a gesture as if she wanted to throw the beer bottle. It seemed she had met quite a strange guy at today’s matchmaking.

“I heard you were invited to some kind of party? Was it that bad?”

When Erika, slightly tipsy with a flush on her face, carefully asked, Deia gave a hollow laugh and nodded.

“It wasn’t just bad. It was a party alright, but more like a masquerade ball.”

[Oh! That sounds fun!]

The Dark Spiritmaster chimed in while munching on skewers with meat in both hands.

Excited about eating meat after a long time, she had eaten the most among everyone.

“Fun? You think it’s fun? People wearing masks, strangers grinding against each other and kissing, and some even having full-on sex in the corners, those crazy bastards.”

“……”

In short, it was just an orgy.

It wasn’t hard to guess what someone intended by taking Deia to such a place.

“Huff, the moment I saw that, I slapped him and left. The fact that I didn’t pull out my gun shows I’ve grown and matured with age.”

I wasn’t sure if that was something to be proud of, but at least she didn’t escalate it into a major incident, which was commendable.

“Sigh, isn’t there a decent man out there who would take me?”

As she said this, Deia glanced in my direction and raised her voice again.

“Hmm? Isn’t there a decent man who would claim the beauty of the North?”

“……”

When I remained silent and pretended not to hear, Deia strode over and grabbed my collar.

Then she pulled me toward her and asked with irritation.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“…Just eat a lot of meat and go.”

“Hey, I said answer me.”

“The kids are watching.”

Aria and Elenoa were watching Deia with admiration, saying “ooh” and “wow.” Even Erika was staring with one cheek slightly puffed out.

“Ha, you coward.”

Deia grumbled and headed straight toward Stella, who was grilling meat. Stella smiled and handed her some charred pieces, as she had come to eat meat.

Stella was being cautious, but on the contrary, Aria and Elenoa gave Deia a thumbs up.

“She’s so badass.”

“Can I call you sister?”

They were whispering among themselves, finding it amusing for some reason, when the Dark Spiritmaster, with her cheeks full of meat, toddled over to them.

She eats more than Ppopsil but is useless. Maybe the Dark Spiritmaster should be ranked lower than Ppopsil now.

[Aren’t you two bothered?]

Anyway, at the Dark Spiritmaster’s question, the two girls looked at her with tilted heads.

Seeing their expressions that seemed to ask what the problem was, the Dark Spiritmaster hesitated, wondering if she had misunderstood.

[Ah, no. Don’t you two also have feelings for that person?]

“Yes, we do.”

“Why are you asking something so obvious?”

My disciples now confessing without any shame. For some reason, the embarrassment and awkwardness were pushed onto me, making me clear my throat and turn my head away.

The two girls were snickering, finding my reaction amusing, but the Dark Spiritmaster added a question.

[But you don’t seem to mind. Don’t you feel jealous? Look at Stella over there, she’s giving her raw meat now.]

As the Dark Spiritmaster pointed toward Stella and Deia with her skewer, Deia growled right on cue.

“How am I supposed to eat this!”

[It should be fine, right? Just chew it thoroughly and digest it.]

“Wow, so this is how she acts when someone touches her man, huh?”

[……]

I never thought I’d see the day when Stella and Deia would bicker.

Now that she’s become a spiritual entity and visible to the eye, these things happen.

[See? That’s the process women who love that man have to go through. Honestly, you’re such a pain, Shinwoo Kim.]

“Why are you adding your true feelings at the end?”

Sorry, but I heard everything.

[I’m sorry, my true feelings slipped outyou’reapain.]

“……”

Feeling like continuing the conversation would be a loss, I turned my body away, but from behind came the bright voices of the two girls.

“I’m still only 18.”

“We’ll wait until we’re 20.”

“…?!”

I turned back to look at the two, and they were making V signs and smiling brightly.

“See you after graduation, honey.”

“Wow, ‘honey’? That’s such an exciting term. Can I use something like ‘my lord’?”

My head started to throb.

Does becoming a spiritual entity come with headaches too? Whatever it is, I let out a long, heavy sigh.

“Aria, Elenoa.”

Both looked at me simultaneously.

I declared to them in a rather serious and cold manner.

“I don’t see you two that way.”

“……”

“You were my students, so I can’t see you like that. When you graduate, you’ll meet many people and find partners who are right for you…”

“I already told my brother.”

Elenoa raised her hand abruptly and cut off my words.

With quite a weighty declaration.

“That I’m going to marry Shinwoo after graduation. He was happy, asking if Shinwoo would become his brother-in-law.”

“Ah, Orpheus.”

My shoulders felt heavy at the mention of the king who freely issued royal decrees whenever his sister was involved.

“Take it or leave it. But I don’t know what situation might arise by then.”

As Elenoa declared with a bright smile, Aria chimed in from the side.

“If you reject me, I’ll become the princess’s sword and live according to her orders! If the princess tells me to sweep away Norsweden or the Bright family, I’ll go slash-slash right away!”

“…Are you threatening me?”

When I asked in disbelief, Aria and Elenoa grinned and answered.

“No! No! Absolutely not!”

“Just saying you should think carefully about your choices.”

“Sigh.”

Even if I wanted to say something, I had no words. Having already stepped down from the front lines, I couldn’t stop the two of them.

Of course, I knew they weren’t entirely serious with those words.

But it was as good as showing their determination.

Seeing my discomfort, Aria and Elenoa immediately attached themselves to both my sides and linked arms with me.

“Come on, brother. Honestly, what’s the difference between four or five?”

“Right. I don’t ask for much.”

“You’re students.”

I tried to raise my worn-out shield, but the two just smiled cunningly.

“That’s right. We are students. But not in a few years.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to accept an ex-student than an ex-sister?”

At their words, I unconsciously glanced toward Deia. She was chomping down on charred meat and drinking beer.

“All of us at the academy fully support Shinwoo marrying his sister Deia.”

“If you cross that line, it’ll be much easier to accept us later.”

The whispers of the two cunning little devils were quite dazzlingly ensnaring me, but…

“Huff.”

Sorry, but I’ve killed at least half a dozen archdemons with my own hands.

“Both of you, go home.”

The two little devils were thus expelled from my house.