episode_0067

“Princess, so what are you going to do now?”

“What are you doing?”

I stared blankly at Cosette, who suddenly spoke up.

“Now you’ve come to Ayla’s hometown. Didn’t you come here to do something?”

“No? Not really. I came because I thought it would be more fun than just sitting around at the academy.”

Cosette’s gaze became strange. When she glanced at Agnes next to her, she saw that he was sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall, reading a book, as if he had no interest in our conversation from the beginning.

“Ah.. Didn’t I say that from the beginning? I’m just going because I have nothing to do. I came because I thought there would be something fun to do if we all went together rather than being bored alone.”

“You just said that, I thought you had some kind of purpose. When I heard that, I lost all my strength..”

Cosette threw herself on Agnes’ bed. The swaying motion lifted Agnes’ body up. Cosette rolled around and began to cling to Agnes.

“Ugh~ I’m bored~ I’m bored~”

“Ha..”

Agnes put down the book he was reading and glared at me with a face full of anger. Shouldn’t he be glaring at Cosette now instead of me? It was an extremely unfair situation.

So, in order to avoid being treated unfairly, I also participated.

I threw myself onto Agnes’ bed, clung to Agnes, and groaned. As I was harassing Agnes, who didn’t hide his annoyance and frustration, there was a knock on the door and it opened.

It was Mathias. Mathias came in quietly and stood by the door, but I somehow felt that I had to save face, so I quietly stopped bothering Agnes and remained quiet. Of course, Cosette did not stop.

“Mathias, how far have you come with your morning training?”

“I ran to the empty lot where Ayla used to be when she was young, and instead of practicing, I just sweated a little. The mountain scenery was pretty great.”

Mathias answered my question right away. It seemed that Ayla hadn’t done anything ‘sassy’ while we were away, which was a bit reassuring, but also a bit boring.

“Then later, we can all go play in the mountains together. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Now you’re going to call me that too? Please don’t. And don’t go. It’s so hot I’m dying. What are you…”

“Yeah, if you leave it like that, I know you’ll be upset and complaining for a few days, right?”

While waiting, listening to Cosette and Agnes grumbling beside her, the door opened wide and Ayla appeared, her hair still slightly wet. Unlike the clothes I had seen before, she was wearing a sky blue sleeveless one-piece dress with not many decorations, but she looked quite lovely.

“Okay! Praise Ayla! First, Cosette!”

When I suddenly shouted, Cosette looked at me in surprise, but soon a smile appeared on her face.

“The dress is similar to my hair color, so it’s really cute!”

“Next time no!”

“..Your legs look long and cool.”

Agnes made a face like he was an idiot, but answered honestly anyway.

“Mathias!”

“Oh.. You’re cute because you’re different from usual.”

“The last one is me. I think it’s good because it shows Ayla’s liveliness well.”

“..This is really ridiculous.”

I thought it was quite cute to see Ayla blush and blush, and I was proud of myself for coming up with such a joke in my spur of the moment.

Ayla, blushing, slowly walked over and sat down on the bed. But… what should I do now?

“Aila, what about your parents? Shouldn’t you go and say hello to them?”

“It’s okay to say hello in the evening. The store closes early anyway.. Let’s do it when everyone is there. Rudiger has to come back too..”

Thinking about it, I remembered what my younger sibling said yesterday morning, telling me to be quiet because I had to go out. I know he was a commoner and worked hard to learn various things, but when my parents saw the store, I wondered where my younger sibling had gone.

Cosette raised her hand, her face looking like she was wondering if I had similar thoughts.

“Question! Where did your little brother go?”

“I guess he went to the mountain. I mentioned it briefly last time, but my house is a bit different from a herbal medicine shop. Anyway, you can think of it as processing and manufacturing various herbs and selling them. That’s why he went to the mountain.”

“That’s a pretty good explanation..”

Agnes, who had been listening quietly, muttered as if she was a little tired. Ayla didn’t show any sign of being proud or proud of her family business. Well, even if going around the mountains to collect various herbs and teas suited Ayla’s nature, she probably didn’t like the process of quietly staying in her room, trimming and organizing them one by one, and mixing them in some way.

Still, considering that Ayla had paid for her own tuition and that her family had acquired such a large building, the profits themselves must have been quite substantial.

“But isn’t it pretty dangerous if it’s a mountain? Like wild beasts or monsters.”

“I don’t know,” said Mathias, who had barely been involved in the conversation, to Ayla. It was probably the same thought that everyone else was having as they listened. Ayla shrugged.

“Well, that’s true. It’s dangerous, isn’t it? Since Rudiger learned to use a sword like me, he can catch suitable animals on his own. But I can’t hire mercenaries every time I go to the mountains.”

Well, then the belly button will be bigger than the stomach. There is a limit to investing to make money.

“Of course I’m worried, and if Rudiger gets hurt, I’ll probably draw my sword and turn the mountain upside down to wipe out all the monsters. But I can’t stop my younger brother who’s trying to take over the family business just because he’s dangerous.”

As she spoke, Ayla seemed to have already prepared herself mentally in many ways. I was very touched by her respect and love for her younger sister. Ayla seemed like a very grown-up person.

In Cosette’s case, she was absentmindedly clapping her hands, and Agnes was also looking at Ayla with eyes as if she had seen a person again.

“Hey, what’s so great about it.. Anyway, let’s go eat something. Honestly, while living at the academy, there was only one time when I missed this neighborhood, and that’s the food I’m going to eat right now.”

“Oh, that’s quite something to look forward to, Aila?”

In that moment, Cosette’s eyes lit up. It was a natural reaction for Cosette, who was the most serious about eating out of all of the group. Of course, Cosette would have stuffed the food into her mouth without any particular thought, even if it didn’t taste that good, but she was interested in delicious food anyway.

No one opposed the decision, as not only Mathias and Ayla had been sweating since morning, but we were also quite hungry, having eaten a simple meal while traveling by carriage yesterday and passed out.

We left the room right away, and Ayla started down the stairs on the other side, not the ones she had come up yesterday.

“Oh, there are several stairs?”

“Yeah. If you go down there, you have to cross the store, which is a bit much if there are customers.”

We went down the stairs on the other side, which led us to the back of the building. After locking the door, Ayla continued to guide us.

As we had been told that Ayla was not a particularly interesting place, the town was not very big. The residents all knew each other’s faces, so there were quite a few people who would talk to Ayla or greet her from afar.

The place we arrived at with Ayla’s guidance was a fairly large store for the size of the town. It was a little early for lunch, but judging from the noise, it seemed to be quite popular. Ayla opened the door naturally and went in, and as I followed her, I glanced behind me and saw that Yugram had disappeared.

I’m used to showing up and disappearing whenever I’m doing something with my friends, but is it weird that I think it wouldn’t be a problem if we had a meal together? Is it weird for me or is it weird for Yugram?

The store was filled with a fragrant aroma. Rather than a scent that stimulates the appetite, it was more of a calming aroma that calmed the mind and body. It felt like I had entered a greenhouse rather than a restaurant.

As we sat down at the large round table, a woman who seemed to be a waitress approached us. The woman slowly approached the table, and when she saw Ayla, she opened her eyes wide and clapped her hands in surprise.

“Oh my, Ayla! Ayla?”

“Long time no see, Aunt Linnette.”

“Oh my goodness, I heard you went to the academy.. It’s true! What the… No, come to my senses. Should I order food first?”

“Yes. You haven’t forgotten what I always order, right? Just 10 servings each. Please.”

“Of course. Right? For 10 people?”

The clerk slowly scanned the table, which only had five people in it no matter where you looked. Ayla giggled and waved her hand.

“Ma’am, just do as I say and give me 10 servings. I won’t have any leftovers.”

“Yeah.. Well, yeah. I guess my friends have good appetites.”

The old woman tilted her head and left. Ayla giggled, but Cosette was busy analyzing what the restaurant’s main menu was while watching the food being eaten at other tables.

I was curious as well, so I took a quick look around without being noticed. From the aroma that filled the store, I could guess that it was a restaurant that used various spices, like herbs.

Depending on the type, some spices were actively used in other regions, while others were completely unknown. Considering that, it seemed likely that we could expect to find dishes of a type that we could not find in restaurants within the Academy branch.

I’m quite looking forward to it.