Chapter 97: Travel Plans

I managed to prevent Lyell and Maria’s departure for the time being. After that, the customary party was held overbearingly—Finia looked quite pitiable because of Gadius and Maxwell—and after midnight, they finally went home.

I had Cloud take a day off from the training too, so I was able to properly rest my body. I threw myself on my bed and sighed out all my worked up heat from earlier, calming down my heart with every breath.

“Overworking a child could ruin their body. It’s important to have him rest properly.”

I felt like the words I spoke came back and hit me like a boomerang, but let’s just ignore it. After taking a breather, I got up and made preparations to examine my equipment.

I approached the closet with a stool to stand on, then removed the inner board and took out the hidden tools from within.

I wrapped threads on my body during the training, so I wore a black leather jacket and kneesocks made from a firm material, and leggings. My shoes were also knee-high boots, so my skin was mostly hidden. In exchange, it emphasized my body lines quite a lot.

This was something Finia chose for me hypothesizing the hunting I did with Michelle. Frilly clothes would get in the way inside the forest. Showy colors would also catch the prey’s attention. That’s why it was made of mostly black.

“That said, I’ve had it quite tough lately.”

There were frays starting to show up here and there on the coat, and blood and dust were sticking to the threads.

“I guess I can’t handle the coat myself. Should I ask Finia to help me repair it?”

Passing the needle through the coat was impossible with my strength. The strength enhancement of threads didn’t reach down to my fingertips, after all. I wore it during my hunts so I could ask for its repairs without problems.

I removed the battle marks and bloodstains that could invite suspicion and moved on to the next work. The steel threads were twisted from thin metal, so the abrasions were quite extreme. There was also dust and blood stuck in its gaps so I had to carefully wipe them with the maintenance oil.

“Still, I suppose they are already close to their limit. I really should start looking for new piano wires.”

Rather, piano threads were quite inefficient because they wore down too fast. In my previous life, a certain blacksmith supplied me with Mythril threads and specially adjusted them for my use.

Moreover, I even had them make gauntlets for me with five of those threads equipped on each hand, able to span for over a hundred meters each. That weapon was something like a symbol of mine…

“Huh? That reminds me, I wonder what happened to those gauntlets?”

My equipment couldn’t have vanished after I died. In other words, it wouldn’t be strange for my favorite gauntlets to still be around somewhere. They belonged to one of the Six Heroes, after all. I don’t think anyone would demolish or melt them to make something else.

“Which would mean, they are in someone’s custody, huh?”

The most likely candidates were Cortina who should have rushed to my side during my last moments, and Maria who supposedly cast Reincarnation on me back then. But there was no such thing in either of their houses.

This was based on my experience as a spy. I was almost certain that neither of them had those.

“Did Cortina entrust them to Maxwell, I wonder?”

When it came to Maxwell’s treasure house, I had no way of confirming it. It was the most guarded place in this town. It might have been the safest place in the town, no, the entire world.

“But even I can’t get inside there… I suppose I have to settle for the piano wires for now.”

I showed myself only twice in the music room. Publicly I was simply attending the classes, but in reality, I was there to procure piano wires. I felt a bit apologetic to the music teacher when she tried to teach me how to play only to faint in agony from the produced noise.

“If I steal too much, they might get suspicious. I really have to consider a battle style that doesn’t rely on threads…”

While I was thinking that, I heard a knock on the door. Given the energetic knock, it didn’t seem to be Finia. Sure enough, I heard Cortina’s voice the next moment.

“Nicole, are you there?” “Ah, yeah. Give me a moment.”

The black hunting clothes and piano wires were scattered around in my room. The clothes were still fine, but I would have no excuse to give if she saw the threads. I winded the threads in a hurry, crammed them in the box and stuffed it under the bed. It was a good hiding spot, but it was only temporary since that wasn’t where I usually hid them.

“Come in.” “Sorry for visiting so late.” “It’s okay.”

Cortina, in her pajamas, opened the door and walked in. She looked far too defenseless in those loose pajamas, and I could catch glimpses of her chest. Were I still a man, I might have taken her straight to the bed.

“Oh, were you in the middle of maintaining your hunting gear? That’s admirable.” “Nah, this is nothing.”

I hid the threads but the black clothes were still lying there. I didn’t hide them since they weren’t particularly suspicious.

“It’s got fray spots everywhere.” “That shows your and Michelle’s hard work. Though I feel like you are overworking yourself.” “It’s okay, we have Letina with us too.” “I see, I see. You are an honor student, huh, Nicole.”

She stroked my head with her slender fingers. Her tail also cheerfully swayed around. It seemed that the previous discussion… the decision they reached to not search for me, hasn’t left her in a foul mood.

“So, what did you want?” “Ah, well. It’s about what we talked earlier…”

I thought she didn’t have any complaints about it, but was the reality different? My questions showed up on my face, so she hurriedly waved her hands in denial.

“Ah, that’s not it! I have no objections about the decision. But still, it would take time for me to sort out my feelings, don’t you think?” “Well, yes.” “So I was thinking. Why won’t we go on a little trip with everyone? The school’s about to have holidays, right? Our destination is the elf settlement nearby. They have a hot spring there.”

Now that she mentioned it, we had consecutive holidays from next week because the creation of the swimming pond tired us out. And there was a famous hot spring in the elven village nearby. Cortina decided to make use of that time and take us there.

“That doesn’t sound so bad. But are we all going?” “I’m thinking of me and you, Finia, Michelle and Letina.” “You aren’t inviting Ly—Daddy?” “Ah, well, if I invite them, it would turn out like today.”

Lyell wasn’t a bad drunk, but when he was with Gadius and Maxwell he tended to lose restraint. They were friends who were apart for a long time, so they probably had quite a lot on their minds.

“We have to arrange some time for Finia to rest too.” “Yeah, I agree with you.”

It was the same today, but Finia worked all the time behind the scenes, be it housework, cooking, cleaning or laundry. She was even taking sword lessons ever since we arrived in this town. And tonight’s dispute might have fatigued her quite a bit.

“It’s decided then. I’d like for us to depart next week, so let Michelle and Letina know, okay?” “Got it.”

I gave a quick salute of acknowledgment. As such, we made plans to depart on a trip next week.