Chapter 191 - The Aftermath of Three Days: Mizuki's Scolding and My Reflections
In front of the Knights, Marianne knelt and pleaded for Seym’s life. In response, I hurled every curse I knew at her, roaring that I wouldn’t forgive him. Yet, even after that, when she begged for his life again, I relented. It was all an act. By doing so, their resentment shifted to me, allowing Marianne to solidify her position as head of the Wanland family. I didn’t want to be hated by the dog-eared race, but it couldn't be helped.
With the feeling of a task accomplished, I returned to the inn. Then, I was made to sit formally.
"I truly, truly thought I'd been abandoned!"
Mizuki scolded me. Last night, she had returned to the inn and waited for us to return. However, Maira was dealing with the aftermath of the cathedral, I was in jail, Fam was put to sleep, and the only one who could have contacted her, Marmie, wouldn’t go to the inn myself since she'd assume one of her underlings would handle that job. In other words, she had no idea I was imprisoned until today. Currently in the room were me, Fam, Mizuki, Maira, and Marmie. Cecily and Aira had already returned to the Starunion estate.
"It's not Master Mash's fault. The problem lies with Maira for forcing him to do that, and with Moo for not trying to help Master Mash despite what happened."
Fam was acting on my side, but she didn't let me stop sitting formally.
"...Fam, are you fighting with Moo again? Just get along already."
"I-I didn't fight. But Moo is at fault."
Yesterday, when I was captured by the Knights, she tried to save me, but Marmie put her to sleep and resolved the situation. She seemed quite angry about that. And come to think of it, hasn't Fam been getting angrier lately? Or rather, maybe she's always been angry since we met.
"...In that situation, if you had resisted, we would have been captured as well, making things even more complicated. If I and Marianne had been with the person who destroyed the cathedral, the crowd might have rioted. I asked Father to mediate, and it worked out well."
Marmie replied as if nothing had happened.
"Moo doesn't understand how miserable and sad it is to be put in a jail cell! Master Mash was hurt in his dignity as a person!"
Hearing that, I straightened my posture. I should probably keep the time I spent with Marianne quiet.
"...A jail cell allows one to be alone. It allows for contemplation."
Their conversation wasn’t matching up. And then I remembered another person who had been in a solitary cell.
"Was Patricia forgiven?"
"...Yes. She went to clean our new home today."
Marmie nodded.
"A new home?"
I asked in response.
"...Yes, the new home Mash and I will live in. The Mateo Trading Company should have contacted us soon."
"Is that so? But it's not a mansion like Moo's family's place, right? It would be hard to manage."
"...It's fine. It's much smaller. And Patricia is officially mine now. I’ve decided to have her manage the house."
I felt a strange sense of discomfort at her answer.
"Hey, how are you planning to pay Patricia's salary?"
"...Patricia is mine, so I only need to guarantee her food, clothing, and shelter. She doesn't ask for a salary."
"Doesn't that mean..."
Mizuki interrupted. Her expression was grim.
"...Apparently, when I asked Mother about Patricia coming to work for me she said sometimes Transferees give concerning comments about these situations."
"If there are agreements, it might be difficult, but could you somehow get Patricia freed from being a slave? And then, if she agrees to serve you and manage the house, please ask her."
"...Okay. I'll ask Mother."
"Really?"
When I confirmed, she nodded.
"...Patricia knows about Patricia. I won't change, and Patricia won't change either. It's fine either way."
For her, Patricia's status didn't matter. It was only me and Mizuki who were so concerned. Maybe Patricia herself wasn't that invested in her status.
"So, Mash, are you going to see the house tomorrow?"
"That's right, I'd like to see it at least once."
I thought it would be bad if it was a mansion. I wanted a normal house. But I didn't really know what a normal house was in this world. I just wanted to check it out.
"Hey, this house isn't just for the two of us, right!"
After calming down, Mizuki interrupted again.
"...Don't worry. There’s a bath with hot water coming from the basement for Mizuki."
"Could it be an onsen? Ohhh happy day—!"
Mizuki celebrated. I didn't know she loved baths that much. And what about all the anger she directed at me earlier? It looked like Marmie’s words had helped fix her mood. I tried to seize the moment to get her to forgive me.
"Alright, even though the conversation went awry, you understand that today's events were unavoidable, right, Mizuki?"
Before getting her permission, I stopped sitting formally. A lingering tingling spread through my legs.
"So, what happened with your senior?"
"She said she'd been in this world for six years, but she hadn't changed much. She talked a lot about our original world."
"...I'm glad you had a good time."
While rubbing my legs to ease the tingling, Mizuki puffed out her cheeks.
"I still haven't forgiven you!"
"I'm sorry."
I hurriedly straightened my posture and bowed deeply.
"...Anyway, I also talked about my swimming club teammates. About who seems likely to be selected as a player, we got excited."
The stories about swimming club were something I couldn't relate to at all.
"And then, apparently we now have to go dungeon exploring together…"
I stretched and yawned. Even after Maira used healing magic on me, and then healing at the human territory church, I still felt mentally exhausted.
"Do you want me to go?"
Mizuki glared at me. I also felt that Mizuki had problems too since she didn't start talking about what I wanted to hear. Of course, I couldn't say that and stayed silent.
"I don't want you to go. I want you to be by my side forever."
"Not when I was abandoned..."
I tried to hug her, but the tingling in my legs hadn't subsided, and I couldn't stand up. I almost fell over and ended up on all fours. From an outside perspective, it probably looked like I was pointlessly despairing.
"Speaking of which, did Mizuki see Racshell's beam of light?"
"I think everyone saw it, didn't they? We were in the open-air market in the northern human district, and everyone was looking at it. Since it was such a strange light, people inside buildings came out bewildered."
Hearing that, I truly felt like despairing.
"But after that, wasn't the one riding on the spear Racshell? I knew it was her, but Mash looked so small riding on it I couldn't make him out."
"Mash, the Church is trying to blame it on Crystal Core malfunction. Luckily, few people saw Racshell, and only those involved saw where Mash was summoned."
Maira said. She helped me up from my position on all fours and let me sit on the edge of the bed. She sat next to me, and then Fam sat down on the other side.
"Isn't Crystal Core malfunction a bigger problem? I've seen them cause dungeons to appear, but I haven't seen them explode."
If it was something that would explode, then Marmie and I had been carrying around something terrifying. She had even decorated her room with it while she was in Heilong.
"Still, it is better than rumors spreading that Racshell-sama destroyed it."
"That might be true."
If the Gottfried, the God's representative, were to be known to be destroyed by a god, their prestige would plummet. The impact wouldn't be limited to Migul.
"Also, this is about the Archpriest, Erisha... she wants to apologize to Mash. And if possible, she wants to be allowed to meet Racshell-sama again."
"……"
Was she in her right mind? What did she intend to do by meeting Racshell again?
"Is that so..."
When I remained silent, she nodded as if she understood my feelings.
"No, I don't want to argue like yesterday. Maira too, right? I'll accept your apology. Please just get along. But I don't want to summon Racshell. I can't even begin to imagine what she might do."
I hurriedly conveyed my thoughts in case Maira went into a rampage.
"So, in the end, what happened with Yuuki?"
Since the conversation had gone off track so many times, I brought up the name.
"First, about Yuuki being suspected of attacking other adventurers."
Mizuki paused meaningfully, so I held my breath.
"I still couldn't really picture my senior as someone who would attack other Transferees."
It was an evaluation from someone within the group, so I couldn't take it literally. However, it also didn't feel right to disregard Mizuki's feelings. If she said that, then it was probably better to assume it was someone else for now.
"Did you talk about Chihiro?"
I asked, unable to help falling into an interrogative tone.
"No. I told her that I came to this world two months ago, and that I traveled from Richelle to Migul, but I didn't mention Racshell or the other Transferees."
Perhaps she was cautious in her own way. There was also the possibility that she didn't know anything after coming to this world for only two months.
"I see. Did she make any proposals or anything?"
"She said my partners were unreliable and useless in battle. So, she invited me to join forces, saying it would be a joint front between our parties."
"Only Mizuki?"
"No. She has a party too, so it would be a joint front between our parties."
When I think of unreliable partners, Shizuka's face is the only one that comes to mind. However, they are transferred from a world where there is almost no violence. It's not strange for there to be people who hate this world.
"Did you meet her partners?"
Mizuki shook her head.
"Did Yuuki say she wanted to return to our original world or anything?"
"I said I wanted to return to my original world, but my senior gave me an ambiguous answer."
If she was trying to deceive Mizuki, she could have just given her an answer that she wanted to hear. However, the fact that she was being ambiguous meant that she had something on her mind, and at the same time, she wanted to be honest with her.
"Anyway, we're currently raiding the Crystal Palace, so I told her to come to the human district if she felt like it."
I couldn't be negligent, but I didn't need to be overly cautious. Meeting her could wait until after Chihiro and the others arrived in the city.
"Mizuki."
I said and spread my arms.
"What?"
She pulled back defensively.
"Let's hug and confirm our love."
"…So you think you can be forgiven for abandoning me with something like that?"
"I do. And after we settle down in this city, let's go on a date just the two of us."
Mizuki hesitantly lowered her arms and approached. Maira stopped her from coming closer and Fam stopped my attempt to greet her.
"It's unfair to promise just Mizuki!"
"That's right! Mash is only being nice to Mizuki!"
"W-Wait. I understand. Alright, I'll hug everyone in turn now, and I'll promise to go on a date with all of you."
And then I hugged everyone in order.
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