CH 103

「So? What’s up with that secret passage? 」

Dinosso’s started on it again.

「Ah. The people living in the house behind also have their own reasons, so they asked if they can use that as an escape route in case of emergency. But then, it seems they’ll be discovered right away, so I want to improve it. 」

I want to buy them more time before they get discovered.

「Nah, I think it’s well-made. 」

「The house behind, so you must be referring to the house beside this one, right? Are they your friends, Jean? 」

Shiva wiped Vak’s messy mouth while asking.

「They’re probably inside. Wait a sec. 」

It’s just my hunch, but Ash and Butler probably went out to hunt bears first thing in the morning.

It’s easy to kill the bear, but searching for the places they appear takes a long time. The time Ash and Butler return depends on whether they found the bear quickly or not. If they’re lucky, they should be home around this time.

I knocked on the backdoor of Ash’s house.

「Jean-sama. 」

「Sorry, but are you free right now? The family I was talking about finally arrived, and they’re here. 」

「I will call Ash-sama and we’ll be there. 」

Luckily, they just arrived, so they agreed to come right away when I asked them to go to my house to meet Dinosso’s family.

「Ugh! Shadow Wolf! 」

Dinosso shouted, taken aback the moment Butler entered the room.

「Oh my, it’s been so long since I heard that name. 」

This Butler-guy smiling here is super fishy.

「Noth, do you know him? 」

「Yes, it was around the time when Ash-sama was born…」

Butler placed his right hand on his shoulder and made a slight bow towards Ash.

Er, isn’t Dinosso around 30 years old or so? Noth is approximately 70 years old, so when did they meet? Didn’t he supposedly become an adventurer when he was young, then worked as a butler ever since?

「During the period of temporary instability with the neighboring kingdom, my predecessor ordered me to return back to being an adventurer temporarily. That had been my code name back then. I believe we met once, when Dinosso-sama was just starting out. 」

「I thought you were a steward all throughout the time before my exclusive butler changed. 」

Yup, just like Ash said, Butler really seemed like a butler through and through.

See, he totally looks like one.

「My father had been quite advanced in age, but he was still actively serving at that time. When I was away, he raised my son to be quite worthless… 」

Somehow, it sounded like Butler was throwing his son out there, or should I say there’s a subtle feeling that he doesn’t care about whatever happened to him. Like, Ash is more like a daughter to him compared to that guy?

「The memories of you working us hard like horses is far more vivid than you being a steward of the Duke! 」

Dinosso was scowling.

「Thank you very much for your help at that time. The matters outside the country had been hard to obtain, you see. 」

Butler beamed as he thanked Dinosso.

I could keenly feel that it wouldn’t simply end with this. Sounds like Butler has some dirt on Dinosso while he was still a novice? Also, is it normal for the duke’s butler — steward — to do things outside the country?

Shiva was just letting everything slide, so she wasn’t a nobility from Ash’s kingdom, then? Besides, Butler probably has all the faces of the nobles of their country thoroughly memorized, right. Well, it might be just my own arbitrary prejudice.

So, how on earth did you meet a noble young lady, huh, Dinosso? Ah, no — come to think of it, there had been an instance of a young lady from the ducal house sitting by the well (T/N: ehem, Ash).

「Ash-sama, this is the Wolf King Valmour. It seems that he went missing for a while, but he is a very famous adventurer, and his rank is Gold. 」

Never mind that he’s Gold, but what’s up with that name? Wolf King Valmour, Wolf King, he said. Were wolves all the things you hunted back then?

I did my best hunting wolves instead of bear, but they only told me that ‘Wolf’ belonged to the northern adventurers…So you guys are the reason why my nickname never changed from bear, huh!?

「Ah~. This guy is sticking to you, so you must be that Ojou-chan, huh. Ah, that Duke really did it, huh. 」

Urk. Dinosso, you also knew Ash’s secret, huh. And even the fact that her father stuck that spirit on her to make her manly. You should’ve stopped him!

「…Jean, you look like you want to ask something? Go ahead, spill it out. 」

I was boring holes in him with my eyes, so Dinosso sighed and said that.

「Dinosso and Valmour, which one is the surname and which one is your name? 」

「That’s what you’re curious about? 」

Eh, that’s because the order of names change depending on the country you’re from. There are super long names that include the parents’ names, and there are also those who hide their true names by using common names. It’s just one big land but it’s a mess.

「Valmour is the name I gave myself, don’t remember the one my parents gave me. Shiva gave me ‘Dinosso’, so I’m using that as my name. 」

「I see. 」

Well, I guess I get it, since I’m ‘Jean’ right now, too.

The deities arbitrarily named me with a free knight’s name fashioned after this place, but I don’t use it, or I already forgot, to be precise.

「So? What’s your plan? Gonna live here? 」

「The neighbors behind us are quite a pain in the neck, but after seeing the interior, of course we’ll live there, right? 」

Dinosso glanced at Shiva before answering.

Thanks to Butler being here, Dinosso and Shiva grasped the reason why an escape route is needed, it seems. Well, it’s nice that things were moving fast and easy.

「Please take care of us. 」

「Same here. 」

Ash and Dinosso shook hands and it was settled.

「Yey! Jean is our neighbor! 」

「Neighbor-san! 」

「Nice to meet you~ 」

The kids that had been well-behaved up to this point started to frolic around.

They greeted and introduced themselves in turns to Ash and Butler. Ash looked baffled, and she was making a scary face, but the kids didn’t seem to mind it. How strong.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that there’s more people who’re in the loop regarding Ash’s gender? The number of people with which she can let her guard down increased, after all. Ah, no, she’s still almost the same in front of Retze and me, though…Core, is it in her core to be manly!?

***

「So, how did you notice that this is a jib door? 」

We left the children behind and are currently here in the attic room. I need to know how she discovered it first so that I can fix the jib door properly, so interrogation time.

「Based on the wind flow, and sound, too. Hollow spaces give off a different sound, after all. 」Shiva said.

「Other houses have a lot of crevices so you shouldn’t notice it, but there’s nothing like that in this house. Why is that? 」

「Ahh. Is it because I installed a window? 」

I installed a window on this roof, as well as on my house. The best way to let the light in is to open the window grills, since they don’t have any glass fitted.

Even now, the wind blows in through the window left open for light, and it is slightly rattling the boards behind shelves.

「There shouldn’t be any problems if we were to cover the crevices in this house. 」

Butler commented.

I made the bathroom of Ash’s house, but the rest was done by the contractor, so the attic was probably still full of holes like when we first bought it. Well, if the wind didn’t have any other place to pass through, then it would go to the neighboring space, huh.

「Then what’s left is sound, huh. 」

I opened the jib door and the gaping hole greeted me. If I cover it out, they won’t be able to get in or out, and even if I use thicker wooden boards, it won’t solve the problem.

I squatted in front of the hole and tried to rack my brains over it.

「Hmmm~. I wish that you make it seem like an ordinary wall except when passing through. 」

Couldn’t come up with an awesome solution, so I decided to just rely on the spirits that dwell in the stone and those who hang around the house.

The hole started to close-up in front of our eyes. Eh, it didn’t just block the sound, even the outward appearance totally looked like a stone wall. Was the way I made the request wrong — no, was it good?

「Oy, wait a sec…! You’re doing things like that in front of others again!!! Noth!!! How did you train this guy, huh!? 」

「…He is beyond my purview. 」

Noth froze, shocked by Dinosso’s yell, then he came to his senses and did a slight bow in front of him.