Chapter 22 – Family Picnic

Family Picnic

——–

The Teria Temple, the largest temple in the empire and where the Saint resides.
In the Saint’s private room located inside, Saint Liste and a man were having a conversation.

“Lady Liste. I’ve compiled the sighting information of Lady Ariel as you requested.”
A priest wearing a deeply pulled hood handed me a thin stack of papers.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Your servant.”

The priest bowed his head to me and then left the room. He was a member of my direct guard, known to be as good at gathering information as the empire’s intelligence department.
‘Yet it’s only this much…’
A thin stack of papers. Maybe about five sheets.

There’s also a high possibility that none of these are actual sightings of Ariel. It was the same last time.

She disappeared mysteriously six months ago.
She left only a letter to other party members including me, without saying anything, and her whereabouts have been unknown until now.
Was it because she disliked getting involved in the empire’s dirty politics? Or did she leave feeling disillusioned with us?

Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door of my office.
“Saint. It’s Tred. Marian is here to see you, may I let her in?”
“Yes, please do.”

‘Marian to see me?’
It’s been three months since I last met Marian, who was in the same hero party.
It’s not that we were on awkward terms, rather we were on good terms, but we naturally couldn’t meet due to being busy.
As there was a lot of confusion in the process of normalizing the empire after the Demon King disappeared, it was natural for Marian, the captain of the Green Guard in charge of the empire’s public safety, to be busy without a moment to spare.

I was also busy with temple work and searching for Ariel.
“Liste. It’s been a while.”

Marian entered, her light green hair reminiscent of green meadows fluttering.
It seems she didn’t wear the helmet she usually wears around. Seeing her bare face.
I thought it was a shame—such a pretty face—but I didn’t voice it. It’s her choice after all.

“Welcome, Marian. Would you like to sit there? I’ll just finish processing this document.”

I wonder what brought Marian here when she must be busy with Green Guard work.
Marian naturally sat at the table in the reception room.
“For drinks… Something sweet would be fine, right?”
“…Please.”

For Marian who, contrary to her appearance, likes cute and sweet things, I placed rabbit-shaped cookies and a drink with chocolate on the table.
“By the way, what brings you here? Marian.”
Marian quietly stared at the rabbit-shaped cookies placed in front of her.

…Seems like she finds them too cute to eat. In the end, she gave up on eating them and just sipped the drink placed beside them, which looked a bit cute.
“I thought I’d see a comrade after a long time. I stopped by briefly. I also have something to tell you.”
“Something to tell me?”

Marian’s face wore a kind of smile. As if she was looking forward to my reaction to her words.
“Yes. Listen carefully and don’t be surprised.”

Thump.
What on earth is she going to say?

My gaze naturally focused on Marian’s lips.
After keeping me in suspense for a bit, she finally conveyed shocking news to me.
“…I found Ariel.”
“What did you say?”

What did she just say? Unable to believe what she said, I asked her again.
As if to confirm that I hadn’t misheard, Marian said the words I had been longing to hear.
“I said I found Ariel.”

——–

The day after completing the goblin subjugation request.
I was in the process of checking the contents of the reward pouch received from the village chief.

“One… two….. fifteen.”
Fifteen silver coins.
Considering that the original reward for the request was 20 silver, it’s like he gave about half a bonus to each of me and Airi.
I can’t remember the face of the village chief who gave the reward. All I remember is light.
With this much, I guess I don’t need to worry about money for a while.

‘Being an adventurer. Might not be bad.’
The reward is good, and the atmosphere of travel felt while carrying out requests made my heart flutter.
Enough to make me want to continue being an adventurer.
“Ariel! What are you doing?”
“These are… silver coins. I’m seeing them for the first time…”

While I was feeling pleased looking at the silver coins placed on the table, Saya and Puel approached me, peering around.
A thought suddenly came to me seeing the children.
‘The kids must feel cooped up being only in this house…’

Usually, children Puel and Saya’s age would play with friends their age, but these two can’t do that due to circumstances.
To begin with, our house is surrounded by forest, and Saya and Puel are a dragon and an elf respectively.
It’s also true that I’m a bit reluctant to show the children to others as bad people might harm them. Because I can’t always be by their side.
But they can’t stay in this house forever…

“Kids. Don’t you feel cooped up being only in this house?”
The children perked up their ears at my words.
“It’s okay! Because Puel and Ariel are here!”
“I’m.. okay too. I have friends in the forest. And like Saya said, because Ariel sister and Saya are here.”

My heart felt a bit heavy seeing the children’s faces answering with bright smiles.
The children who answered not that they weren’t cooped up, but that it was okay.

‘Eunha was like that too…’
My younger sister and I grew up in an orphanage from childhood as we had no parents.
Of course, the orphanage director who raised us was an excellent person, but the financial state of the orphanage was not good even as a polite expression.
Because of that, we had to give up many things in our childhood.

Even when something we wanted was visible, Eunha’s face smiling forcefully and telling me it was okay overlapped with the children’s faces now.
“Kids. Shall we go out to play?”
As old memories came to mind, making me feel a bit heavy-hearted, I suddenly proposed going out to Saya and Puel.

“With Ariel? Great!”
“Outside…? Will it be okay..”
Unlike Saya who seemed happy hearing my words, Puel spoke to me in a worried voice.
Puel knows that Saya is a dragon, so it’s probably words coming from concern.
Puel herself also stands out in many ways.

“…It’s okay.”
If I just hide Saya’s horns and Puel’s ears with disguise magic, these two are just ordinarily cute girls.
As a result of repeatedly researching disguise magic since living with Saya, it’s fair to say that now there are almost no people who can see through my disguise magic.
It’s not common to have people with extremely developed senses like Marian, or magicians of the same level as me.

“Let’s go on a family picnic!”
“Okay!”
“…If it’s okay with you, sister. I’m fine with it.”
Fortunately, Saya and Puel didn’t seem to dislike the idea. Rather, they had slightly expectant expressions.
“Form, change. [Transform].”

I lightly cast disguise magic on myself, Saya, and Puel. This much should be enough to prevent our identities from being discovered.
“Hold on tight, kids.”
“Okay!” “Yes.”
Holding Saya and Puel’s hands tightly, I cast teleportation magic with Lonzville as the destination.
It was the start of a sudden family picnic.

——–

“Magic is amazing…. Do all magicians use magic to this extent…”
“No, Puel. Ariel is special!”
‘There’s… no one.’

Right after teleporting to Lonzville. After confirming that there was no one around, I removed the perception interference magic cast on us.
If someone had seen us, it would have looked like we appeared from nowhere.
…It was an action to avoid causing unnecessary commotion by showing the use of teleportation magic.

Today we decided to go out suddenly so I used teleportation magic, but I thought it might be good to ride a carriage on the way back.
Wouldn’t that feel more like a family picnic?
“Kids. Let’s go!”
The weather with warm sunshine. It was a really good day for a picnic.
First, since it’s lunchtime, shall we look for a restaurant around here?

As we were walking on the street after coming out of the alley.
“Ariel. What’s that?”
Meanwhile, Saya pointed at something and asked me what it was.
What Saya pointed at was a warp gate the size of a building.

It’s the place Marian sometimes used when coming to Lonzville.
Warp gates connected to the capital exist in major cities of the empire. Of course, not everyone can use them, and they’re not only expensive but can only be used by those who have received permission or whose identity is guaranteed.
As it’s a strategic asset used for troop transport during wartime, it means not just anyone can use it.

“Hmm… That’s used by people to move long distances.”
“I see. Oh? Ariel. It’s shining over there!”
“Looks like someone’s coming, Sister Ariel.”

As Saya and Puel said, a soft light was emitting from the warp gate. Seems like someone is using the warp gate.
As the light from the gate subsided, what appeared was a person wearing a deeply pulled hood.
They look like a woman from the outside.. and they’re coming this way.
‘Can’t they see in front because they pulled their hood down?’

Bump.
In the end, I bumped shoulders with the person who came out of the warp gate.
“I’m sorry!”
I tried to check their face at the familiar voice, but the woman who had pulled her hood down deeply apologized to me for bumping shoulders and then immediately passed by me, running hurriedly somewhere.
‘Seems like they’re in a big hurry….’

“Sister. Are you okay?”
“…Ariel, are you okay? That person. Bad.”
Seeing that, Puel and Saya worried about me who had bumped into her. It wasn’t even a hard bump, but they’re such thoughtful children. Really.
“I’m okay. It was just a slight bump. Let’s go, kids.”

I held Saya and Puel’s hands tightly, then moved my steps towards the center of Lonzville.