Volume 5 - CH 5.17
On the morning of the next day, Sherry told me to come to the kitchen, and when I did that, I saw that the dumpling that has been left there bore the mark of being bitten, so the plan to have that thing eat it must have been a success after all, and once again proves that the wisdom of mankind has triumphed over the brutality and mindlessness of simple beasts.
Take that, you black creature! You will not be seizing control of the world just yet! Mankind is still going to be here for a while longer, and we are going to continue to foil your plans of world conquest, no matter how many times we have to do this!
After that, we waited until the night to confirm whether or not these suspiciously-looking shadows have truly disappeared, and once Roxanne has reported to me that she did not see any suspicious activity in the kitchen throughout the entire night, only then was I able to finally breathe a sigh of relief, but ever since then, I made sure to develop a habit of not drinking excessive amounts of water in the evenings or at night so that I would not have to go to the toilet in the middle of the night ever again.
Say whatever you want about it being nothing but a primal, irrational fear, and something that not even the kids in kindergarten are afraid of anymore but I absolutely cannot deny that seeing that black thing scurrying about our house in the middle of the night had left me with a sense of intense trauma that might just stick with me for a good while longer.
Of course, now that I have regained full control over my house and can be absolutely sure that no pest or evil spirit or any other kind of meddlesome gremlin is going to be disturbing the safety and tranquility of my bedroom, I am once again free to engage in nighttime activities that kindergarteners are not allowed to engage in and cannot even begin to dream of without running the risk of suffering from a heart or anxiety attack caused my being aware of the presence of unwanted guests in the house and that they might just randomly pop up somewhere in the bedroom or in my bed itself when I am going to least expect it.
But now that the vermin that threatened us have been swiftly dealt with, there is nothing stopping me from indulging myself further in the sweet nighttime debaucheries.
On the morning of the next day, I continued with my routine of delivering Palmasque Mirrors to the Duke of Hartz Duchy in Bode exactly like I was doing for a past few days. Before I knew it, this had become a part of my new daily routine, but I am glad that it will soon be over and done with, because I definitely do not want it to turn into a habit, because I have not been able to cook breakfast in the morning myself because of it lately, and that is a habit that I am starting to miss greatly.
That, and it also makes me feel a little bit guilty that Roxanne and Sherry always have to wait for me for God knows how long before they could eat because they always want the three of us to eat all meals together and it never even crossed their minds that they could eat by themselves without waiting for me, for which I am grateful to them, because now that I have gotten used to eating my meals together with them, I would certainly feel lonely if I had to go back to eating my meals alone. However, as bad as I am feeling about having them wait for me, it is a necessary sacrifice that I have to make, because the alternative is much too frightening for me: alternatively, if I did not want them to wait for me with breakfast, this means that I would have to take them with me to Bode and Bode’s castle, and both of these locations are literally crawling with handsome Elven pretty boys.
I know that both Roxanne and Sherry already stated that they have no particular interest in Elves, and Sherry seems to dislike them just as much as she dislikes brokers and middlemen from the Merchants Guild, but who is to say that her mind wouldn’t change if she saw how ridiculously pretty all of the Elven ikemen really are? So yeah, there you have it. If the three of us would go from Bode to Palmasque together, we would have been able to carry three Palmasque Mirrors instead of one Palmasque Mirror at a time, but if taking only one Palmasque Mirror to Bode per day means that I can protect myself from being cucked to death, then I will gladly take that option every time.
Just like it has been up until now, I arrived at the castle in Bode, announced myself in the castle’s lobby, was guided to the Duke’s office where the Duke and Gozer were engaged in their paperwork, delivered the mirror and received the payment of one gold coin from Gozer for my troubles. Yup, all in the day’s work, just as usual.
「I assume that you are quite used to getting around the castle by now? If that is so, perhaps you could come straight to my office without having any of the Knights or servants guide you here?」
「Well, I guess you have a point there. But is it really going to be all right for an outsider like myself to be coming and going as I please?」
「I think it should be fine, since most of the staff working in the castle remembers you from the relayed supplies distribution operation and from your everyday mirror deliveries.」
Even Gozer seemed to agree with the Duke’s words. However, I still had some difficulty believing that the residents of the castle would accept my continuing presence just like that.
「Besides, your coming here is not going to be cause for alarm, unlike the situation that we have on our hands now.」
「A situation?」
「Yes, precisely. The Knight Order is going to be busy like never before from now on, because a third Labyrinth has just been found in the Duchy’s territory, and since we found the second one just the other day, we need to move forward with our exploration of it and proceed to this new one immediately.」
Gozer added an explanation to the Duke’s words. A new Labyrinth has appeared, huh?
It is one of the Lord’s responsibilities to exterminate Labyrinths that pop up in their territories as soon as they appear, because the safety of his subjects depends on it. Even so, I cannot possibly imagine such an endeavor to be an easy one, even if he does have both people and resources to spare for these efforts.
「I see.」
「The number of Knights in the castle is surely going to decrease, and I do not want to thrust any additional duties on the shoulders of those who will remain here.」
You do not want to add to your Knight’s duties as their numbers in the castle decrease, but you are fine with letting a strange, unverified Adventurer like myself into your castle? I have to say, these are surely some strange priorities that you have there. Oh well, as long as Gozer and the Duke are fine with me being here and walking around freely, then I guess there is nothing for me to worry about.
「That is what our current situation looks like.」
「All right, I think that I understand.」
「With that being said, I would like to extend a request to you, Lord Michio. Would you be willing to offer us your assistance in the exploration of the new Labyrinth? Having someone like you aid us would be a huge help.」
The Duke presented me with a request. Oh wow, he wants my help with the exploration of their newest Labyrinth? Once again, are they really going to be all right having someone like me, an outsider not affiliated with the Hartz Duchy in any way helping them out with their internal problems? I am somewhat hesitant about this…. But also kinda flattered and embarrassed at the same time. I mean, who would not be if they were in my shoes? The Duke of the entire Duchy and the leader of the Knight Order, asking me to fight side-by-side with them? I imagine that a chance like that does not happen all that often.
Take that, you black creature! You will not be seizing control of the world just yet! Mankind is still going to be here for a while longer, and we are going to continue to foil your plans of world conquest, no matter how many times we have to do this!
After that, we waited until the night to confirm whether or not these suspiciously-looking shadows have truly disappeared, and once Roxanne has reported to me that she did not see any suspicious activity in the kitchen throughout the entire night, only then was I able to finally breathe a sigh of relief, but ever since then, I made sure to develop a habit of not drinking excessive amounts of water in the evenings or at night so that I would not have to go to the toilet in the middle of the night ever again.
Say whatever you want about it being nothing but a primal, irrational fear, and something that not even the kids in kindergarten are afraid of anymore but I absolutely cannot deny that seeing that black thing scurrying about our house in the middle of the night had left me with a sense of intense trauma that might just stick with me for a good while longer.
Of course, now that I have regained full control over my house and can be absolutely sure that no pest or evil spirit or any other kind of meddlesome gremlin is going to be disturbing the safety and tranquility of my bedroom, I am once again free to engage in nighttime activities that kindergarteners are not allowed to engage in and cannot even begin to dream of without running the risk of suffering from a heart or anxiety attack caused my being aware of the presence of unwanted guests in the house and that they might just randomly pop up somewhere in the bedroom or in my bed itself when I am going to least expect it.
But now that the vermin that threatened us have been swiftly dealt with, there is nothing stopping me from indulging myself further in the sweet nighttime debaucheries.
On the morning of the next day, I continued with my routine of delivering Palmasque Mirrors to the Duke of Hartz Duchy in Bode exactly like I was doing for a past few days. Before I knew it, this had become a part of my new daily routine, but I am glad that it will soon be over and done with, because I definitely do not want it to turn into a habit, because I have not been able to cook breakfast in the morning myself because of it lately, and that is a habit that I am starting to miss greatly.
That, and it also makes me feel a little bit guilty that Roxanne and Sherry always have to wait for me for God knows how long before they could eat because they always want the three of us to eat all meals together and it never even crossed their minds that they could eat by themselves without waiting for me, for which I am grateful to them, because now that I have gotten used to eating my meals together with them, I would certainly feel lonely if I had to go back to eating my meals alone. However, as bad as I am feeling about having them wait for me, it is a necessary sacrifice that I have to make, because the alternative is much too frightening for me: alternatively, if I did not want them to wait for me with breakfast, this means that I would have to take them with me to Bode and Bode’s castle, and both of these locations are literally crawling with handsome Elven pretty boys.
I know that both Roxanne and Sherry already stated that they have no particular interest in Elves, and Sherry seems to dislike them just as much as she dislikes brokers and middlemen from the Merchants Guild, but who is to say that her mind wouldn’t change if she saw how ridiculously pretty all of the Elven ikemen really are? So yeah, there you have it. If the three of us would go from Bode to Palmasque together, we would have been able to carry three Palmasque Mirrors instead of one Palmasque Mirror at a time, but if taking only one Palmasque Mirror to Bode per day means that I can protect myself from being cucked to death, then I will gladly take that option every time.
Just like it has been up until now, I arrived at the castle in Bode, announced myself in the castle’s lobby, was guided to the Duke’s office where the Duke and Gozer were engaged in their paperwork, delivered the mirror and received the payment of one gold coin from Gozer for my troubles. Yup, all in the day’s work, just as usual.
「I assume that you are quite used to getting around the castle by now? If that is so, perhaps you could come straight to my office without having any of the Knights or servants guide you here?」
「Well, I guess you have a point there. But is it really going to be all right for an outsider like myself to be coming and going as I please?」
「I think it should be fine, since most of the staff working in the castle remembers you from the relayed supplies distribution operation and from your everyday mirror deliveries.」
Even Gozer seemed to agree with the Duke’s words. However, I still had some difficulty believing that the residents of the castle would accept my continuing presence just like that.
「Besides, your coming here is not going to be cause for alarm, unlike the situation that we have on our hands now.」
「A situation?」
「Yes, precisely. The Knight Order is going to be busy like never before from now on, because a third Labyrinth has just been found in the Duchy’s territory, and since we found the second one just the other day, we need to move forward with our exploration of it and proceed to this new one immediately.」
Gozer added an explanation to the Duke’s words. A new Labyrinth has appeared, huh?
It is one of the Lord’s responsibilities to exterminate Labyrinths that pop up in their territories as soon as they appear, because the safety of his subjects depends on it. Even so, I cannot possibly imagine such an endeavor to be an easy one, even if he does have both people and resources to spare for these efforts.
「I see.」
「The number of Knights in the castle is surely going to decrease, and I do not want to thrust any additional duties on the shoulders of those who will remain here.」
You do not want to add to your Knight’s duties as their numbers in the castle decrease, but you are fine with letting a strange, unverified Adventurer like myself into your castle? I have to say, these are surely some strange priorities that you have there. Oh well, as long as Gozer and the Duke are fine with me being here and walking around freely, then I guess there is nothing for me to worry about.
「That is what our current situation looks like.」
「All right, I think that I understand.」
「With that being said, I would like to extend a request to you, Lord Michio. Would you be willing to offer us your assistance in the exploration of the new Labyrinth? Having someone like you aid us would be a huge help.」
The Duke presented me with a request. Oh wow, he wants my help with the exploration of their newest Labyrinth? Once again, are they really going to be all right having someone like me, an outsider not affiliated with the Hartz Duchy in any way helping them out with their internal problems? I am somewhat hesitant about this…. But also kinda flattered and embarrassed at the same time. I mean, who would not be if they were in my shoes? The Duke of the entire Duchy and the leader of the Knight Order, asking me to fight side-by-side with them? I imagine that a chance like that does not happen all that often.
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