166-Chapter 11-1 Three years after that

It's been three years since she was born...

I muttered something like that as I watched the tiger-eared (...) child reading a picture book in the storeroom of the mansion, absorbed in it.

''Hmm?''

'It's nothing. For that matter, it's time for a snack, so go to your mom's.

Yeah!

The kid replied cheerfully and ran off with the picture book thrown out on the desk. I put it back in its original position and then headed to the cafeteria where the snack would be prepared.

In the cafeteria, a child was already biting into a snack, and the child's mother was also sitting next to her... while Shiroumaru and Solomon, who were begging for a snack as usual, and a few other people were sitting in chairs around the child.

Amidst the passing of a peaceful time, an intruder suddenly appeared in the cafeteria.

''Yoshitsune~!　Did you read the book properly by yourself~?

Whew!

The intruder is Blanca, the father of the child called Yoshitsune (...). The crying child tried to approach my child, Yoshitsune, breaking a strong face that would make her cry even harder, but Yoshitsune made a funny noise when she saw his face and hurriedly hugged her mother, Sana.

'Yes, yes, I'm not scared~. Your face is scary, but I'm not afraid of you~

Sana is patting Yoshitsune's back while saying something I don't understand. Although Yoshitsune has tears in her eyes, she is still managing to hold it together. Blanca, on the other hand, was depressed by the situation that she was about to cry just for smiling at her own child.

''It's always happened.....For goodness sake, Blanca should get used to it or wear a mask at all times!

Amur, who was sitting in a seat facing Yoshitsune and munching on a snack, is saying that while pointing at Blanca.

In the meantime, Yoshitsune moved away from Sana-san in an attempt to distance herself from Blanca and took refuge behind me.

''Phew!''

Amur laughed at Yoshitsune's behavior. In the meantime, Blanca wavers up and approaches Amur. Amur is probably distracted by Yoshitsune and doesn't notice Blanca's approach. And.

Whew!

Blanca gripped Amur's fingers, which were still thrust out against her, and bent them backwards in a firm grip. With his finger joints mastered, Amur screamed and tapped frantically on the table.

'That's why you're so scared of Yoshitsune,'

Sana complains in a disgusted voice about Blanca's behavior. Blanka looked up as if he had huffed at these words and looked at Yoshitsune, but it was already too late and Yoshitsune had fled to the corner of the room to get further away.

''No, no, Yoshitsune!

I don't know what the difference was, but Blanca was desperately trying to clear up Yoshitsune's misunderstanding, but before she could get close, Sana caught her.

'You stay out there,'

Uh, uh ... yes ...

Blanca, who had been kicked out by Sana, left the dining room looking exhausted. Yoshitsune checked two or three times to make sure that Blanca was gone, and then moved to Sana-san's side. Seeing Yoshitsune like that, Amur laughed as he fought back the pain in his fingers.

This Yoshitsune was born just before the tournament the year after I won.

He doesn't look like Amur and his friends (including Sana and Hana), and he doesn't look like Blanca either (Amur was most relieved to hear that, and he's been talking about it and getting fist-bumped by Blanca from time to time. (By the way, the second person I bring it up is Hana. ) Then who does he look like, he resembles Amur's grandfather, "Mr. Crow", who is the father of Hana and Sana. Although Crow is the son of Grandpa Kay (the King of the Bandits), he was a gentle man who looked and acted more like his mother. By the way, Yoshitsune's godfather was me.

We participated in the meeting to name him, but we couldn't come up with a name that Branca and Sana agreed with, and when we started coming up with names that looked like a joke (most of which were Amur's ideas), Sana said, "He looks like his father. When I said, "Maybe you can name your son after the "Crow", the first thing I thought of was "Yoshitsune".

When I uttered that name in a small voice, Sanah-san heard it, and for some reason it was mentioned as a candidate. And when asked the reason for the name, I said something like, "We're going to multiply Crow by 'hardship' and hope that 'good things' will always happen to her, so we'll call her Yoshitsune.

The reason why the three of them nodded their heads was because Crow was not a martial artist like Grandpa Kay (although Grandpa Kay was not a complete martial artist and could do a lot of things like a civil servant, it seems that Grandpa Kay was judged to be a complete martial artist because of his physique and anecdotes), and when he united the clan, he was able to He was having a hard time being compared to them.

After he built up and ruled the city of Nanao, everyone in the clan began to appreciate Crowe's kindness, and no one licked him anymore, but the three people who knew this thought it would be perfect to name their great-grandson a Crow-like character.

And in the middle of this story, Viscount Emeritus Lobo was kicked out of the battlefield early on, and Amur was kicked out as soon as he mentioned a name like the story.

Yoshitsune had heard such stories from Sana and the others, so he's grown fond of me. However, on the other hand, she is not very fond of her own father, Blanca...or rather, she thinks he is a scary person.

The reason for this, in my opinion, is because of the "martial arts tournament" that Yoshitsune has been watching every year since he was born.

In the tournament the year Yoshitsune was born, Blanca came second in the individual tournament, second in the pairs tournament and second in the team tournament. She teamed up with Amur in the pairs competition, and in the team competition, she teamed up with the top guys in the South.

Normally, I would have won any of them, but I was the most popular in the individual competition, me and my grandfather in the pairs, and 'Oration' with my grandfather and Amur in the team, with Blanca being the second most popular in all. And the tournament turned out to be just as popular. Incidentally, the next year's tournament, I came third in the individual competition, second in the pairs competition, and did not participate in the team competition.

This year, since I couldn't participate in the pairs tournament, the pair of Blanca and Amur was the most popular, but they didn't make the cut. I came in third again in the individual tournament, and the team of the southern high ranked players came in third.

The reason why this result frightened Yoshitsune was because of the problems with Blanca's fighting style.

He is a martial artist and a bloodthirsty man who enjoys fighting. And on top of that, he was more than eager to show Yoshitsune a good show and put more than enough energy into the tournament.

As a result, during the tournament, Blanca is wearing an atmosphere that could make you lose your will to fight just by facing your opponent. And it showed in the matches, which were so frustrating and one-sided that you felt sorry for the opponent. It was the same in pairs and teams.

It was probably Branca who sold his name the most in these tournaments. In terms of spreading fear... but he still lost to me in each of the finals.

Although it was a very close match in terms of content, if you only look at the results, it was a complete loss. After all, I've lost three battles.

With that frustration in mind, I challenged him to the next tournament, where he met me in the semifinals of the individual tournament and lost. In the final of the pairs tournament, he hit me and my grandfather in the final and lost. The team didn't play in the tournament because the rest of the team didn't get together.

This year, I had a chance to make it to the tournament, but I didn't participate in it as a pair. It wasn't because of the blanka, but because just before the qualifying round, my grandpa got a slipped hip. With only a few minutes to go in the qualifying round, my partner was not allowed to be replaced, and he had to retire. For some reason, there was a flood of complaints about this to the management, and the aftermath seemed to have reached the royal family, with my grandfather complaining to the kings, especially Ernest, about it.

In the tournament that took place in the midst of all this, he was defeated in the semi-finals by a knight in full black armor. It's a good thing that you're able to have a good time with them.

That person was Mr. Dinh, who is called the Black Lion and is said to be the strongest knight in the country. After all, he hadn't had his blood pumping for a while, so he forced himself to compete.

In the pairs of matches that I participated in after getting my mind back on track, Blanca and the others naturally became the most popular. Blanca was disappointed that I didn't take part in the tournament, but she was still determined to have a chance, but the opponent that Blanca and her teammates hit in the first round of the main tournament was a bad one.

The two opponents were a pair of guys who claimed to be a tiger mask and a masked knight... well, their identities were Hana-san and Chris-san... I had been aware of this since the qualifying round, but I had a chance to win and Blanca and Amur, who were in a buoyant mood, were caught by surprise and dared to lose. In terms of content, while Chris was holding Amur back, Hana beat Blanca and beat Amur two to one. They went straight to the final and grabbed the win.

Then, in the team match, they hit 'Oration' in the semi-finals and lost, which was a combination of bad luck and carelessness. If they had known the identity of their opponent in the pairs match, they might have been able to turn the tables on them...

So what are you doing in there?

With Blanca's departure, the atmosphere was returning to a more harmonious one with Yoshitsune resuming her snack time, but there were two people in a not so harmonious mood. One of them was a woman who had been drinking since the high hours of the day..................I called out to Chris-san, one half of the champion of this year's pair of matches. The other, by the way, is Amour, who is still struggling to hold back a finger that was hit by Blanca. Maybe there's something wrong with the bones in his finger, so I'll cast a spell on it later. Until then, I'll let him reflect on what he deserves.

'There are no good ones out there! I thought I was going to be able to pull it off when I won, but I'm not getting any good stories~!

Again....

The reason Chris participated in this year's tournament was, quite frankly, to find a girlfriend. In the past few years, many of his colleagues and peers have been getting married, and he is finally becoming the oldest single woman in the Order. By the way, the oldest so far is in her forties, but that woman is not counted because she has lost her husband, and there are four or five other unmarried women above Chris, but they all have lovers.

'Why are all the old men coming to me!　Sometimes people my age come in, but they have a bad reputation, or they're looking for money, or they're caregivers for their parents... they're really not all bastards!

'I just don't have a bodyguard... excuse me, you didn't have much to be proud of in the first place.

As I was wondering how to address her, Aina appeared quickly behind me and said something I shouldn't have said to Chris... well, I said it on purpose.

'You're just like Aina!　What's the matter with you, you're talking from on high!

Rude. I've got more than you do.

'I'm not going to change!　And you don't even have a girlfriend!

"...phew.

Aina snickers in response to Chris's point. Seeing that, Chris-san has a look in his eyes as if he's seeing something unbelievable.

''Well, no way, you........

It's like this.

What Aina showed me was the ring fitted on the ring finger of her left hand.

''Aina........''

Aina showed a rare smug look on her face as Chris's voice was lowered, but....

'I don't see the idea of buying myself an engagement ring for myself, no matter how much I can't have a girlfriend...'

Chris was donged.

'Even I'm not that depraved, even if I'm a quintessential stone... Aina, you're tired, gubey!　

Before Chris-san could finish, Aina slammed the tray in her hand into Chris-san's face.

'It's Chris-san's fault right now, by the way, it's true that Aina has a girlfriend. I promise not to mention her name, but I've met her.

Before Mr. Chris could start his rampage, I made the first move and revealed that Aina had a girlfriend.

'Nah ... God's dead ... or maybe God was a bastard too ...'

Rather, I might have turned her into an enemy with what I just said.

Ignoring Chris-san, who collapsed on the floor as if she was dead, and Aina, who was poking Chris-san with a victorious face, I decided to continue with my snack.

Incidentally, Aina's boyfriend is Din-san, who she hasn't been able to marry because of the age difference and the position she holds. And it wasn't only Chris who was damaged by the fact that Aina had a boyfriend, but also Aura, who listened to the conversation from a distance. And later, for some reason, Jeanne too.

'Thanks for the treat.

In the midst of all this, Yoshitsune finished his snack and headed towards the stacks.

'Speaking of which, how long do you plan to stay this year?'

'Well I'm thinking of going back to the South in less than a week. I'm thinking of showing Yoshitsune some things on the way back this year, and we'll be celebrating my sister's victory.

Last year and the year before last, they stayed for almost a month after the tournament, but this year, Hana-san won the tournament as a pair, so she could only stay for half of her usual stay.

I asked him if he wouldn't take Chris, the other half of the pair, with him, just to make sure he wouldn't go with us, but he said it would be difficult for him to go to another noble family's territory by himself because Chris belonged to the Kingsguard. I heard this is what Chris himself said.

(If you've achieved so much, you should be able to get a girlfriend in the south...)

In the South, where many of us have personalities that prefer talented people, it's not surprising that the winner of the tournament is treated as an idol. Moreover, it is even more so if it is someone who works with the top of their game.

''Really, Chris is out of it somehow. If you really want a girlfriend, you could go to the South now and choose one.

Maybe she read my thoughts, but Aina is looking at Chris-san like she's looking at an unfortunate child. Incidentally, Aura, who has received that look the most so far, is still frozen in place.

''I'm back.

As I was observing Aina and Chris, who was lying on the floor, I heard a voice from the doorway.

'Looks like Amy's back. Which means the other two are with you.

Almost at the same time as I muttered that, the door to the cafeteria was vigorously opened. It wasn't Aimee who opened the door, but Luna, who had been following Aimee.

''Luna-sama, it's hassle-free,''

Aina said so, but Luna didn't seem to mind it too much. Lately, Maria and the others were lamenting that their weirdness was beginning to resemble that of the king and Lyle-sama.

''Brother, we're hungry~''

Luna comes over to me at a moment's notice and goes for the snack on the table.

"Get dressed and go wash your hands first.

I moved the plate of snacks away from Luna and warned Luna, and she grumbled and went to the room she was reserving for herself.

'Sir, I just left. Your request was successful.

'That's good to hear. Go ahead and change, I've got a snack for you. And Tida, too.

With that said, Amy and Tida also headed to their room.

Aimee and Tida are receiving requests within reason, since they are old enough to register as adventurers this year, so they are receiving requests within reason. Well, aside from Amy, when Tida receives a request, someone from the Kinsmen's Guard goes to the guild ahead of her and selects a request that is safe and the identity of the client is clear. Tida is reluctant to do so, but she is reluctant to do so because it is a condition given to her by Caesar and others when she becomes an adventurer.

In other adventurer-related news, Jin and I have risen to S rank, Blanca to A rank, and Amur to B rank.

Jin's score in the past few years of competitions and his achievements as an adventurer, as well as the fact that the Sword of Dawn has reached the lowest level of Seigen's dungeon, have been recognized, and Branca and Amur's score in competitions and their past adventuring activities have been recognized.

As for me, I'm currently breaking my unbeaten record in the tournament, and in addition to defeating the dragon zombies in the past, I was also recognized for defeating the Earth Dragon three years ago and the Running Dragon two years ago, as well as conquering a dungeon that had never been discovered.

The running dragon was something I happened to encounter when I went to Nanao and defeated it alone, while the undiscovered dungeon attack was done last year when I visited Nanao again for another request and found a dungeon about ten stories underground on a mountainside a little ways away and conquered it.

It's a young dungeon (even so, it seems to be a few decades old) and there were no strong demons, and the boss demon (which was a humanoid golem) at the bottom level wasn't a big deal, but because it was an undiscovered dungeon and resources such as ores were untouched, the economy of the south (especially Enao) skyrocketed! The aftermath of the event spread to the capital. And that was the deciding factor in my promotion to S-rank. It was a rather hasty promotion, but it became difficult for other adventurers to raise their ranks if they didn't raise me to a higher rank, so every time I made some outstanding achievement, my rank went up.

''Oops~''

The first to return was Luna, as expected. Her height is in the mid one hundred and fifty centimeters, and although she has grown in appearance (other than her breasts) in three years, she hasn't changed much on the inside.......................or rather, I think she's becoming more and more like the King and Lyle-sama. Maybe that's why every time I see Maria and Isabella-sama, they even ask me if I can somehow train... or even educate them to become more ladylike. Well, every time they ask me, I tell them that I can't, please give up, but they don't seem to be able to give up.

'Luna, your mother and grandmother will be angry with you again!

Tida returned next, and he's grown into a handsome man who looks like a younger version of Caesar. The gap between my height and I is closing in on 170 centimeters, and it looks like I'll be surpassed soon. It's a good-looking guy who is popular at the school and at the nobleman's gatherings, but he still seems to be the only one interested in Amy and doesn't pay attention to other women (according to Luna), so it seems that the royal family, with the exception of Tida and Luna, has discussed the possibility of adopting Amy into a nobleman's family and getting her engaged to a nobleman (according to Master Lyle). Incidentally, I heard that the two people who leaked this information to me were chastised by Tida and Maria respectively.

Teacher, it's a present for you.

The last time Amy came back, she was carrying a basket of mushrooms from the forest she was headed to for her request. The last time he brought them back, they were all poisonous mushrooms, but this time they were all the decent edible kinds, so he's learned a lot since then.

Amy has grown a little less than six feet tall, but her breasts seem to be bigger than her age, and every now and then Tida glances at them. Luna seems to be quite jealous of her growth, and recently she has been eating a lot of dairy products and often has an upset stomach. Incidentally, she seems to be aware of Tida's interest in her, but for the moment, she seems to feel like a good friend (according to Luna). By the way, I heard that Tida punished Luna for leaking this information to me.

Thank you for that. Thank you, it's still early, but I think we'll have enough to eat. Maybe we'll have some of this for dinner.

As I received the mushrooms from Amy, thinking of several recipes with mushrooms, Shiroumaru and Solomon, who had reacted to the food, came to look at the contents of the basket, but seemed to decide that it wasn't something they could eat right away, and switched their goal to snacks for Amy and the others.

'Temma-sama, Albert-sama and the others are here,'

While I was helping Jeanne and Aura to sort and prepare the mushrooms, Aina came to inform me that Albert and his friends had arrived. I didn't think they were the kind of guests to be bothered with, so I asked them to bring me straight to the dining room, and it wasn't just the usual three idiots that appeared, but three related people behind Albert and his friends, and someone I've become accustomed to seeing recently.