Chapter 53

53 – A Second Breakfast with a Dog-eared Girl

After the meal, I change my clothes and head out first.

The apron-adorned Milla walked me to the entrance and saw me off.

「I’ll see you later.」

「Have a pleasant journey.」

This is…kinda nice.

Having a place to come back to, that is.

The reason I left the dormitory first was to meet Cashew.

She’s still a child, so she lives with her mother. It’s walking distance to the Demon King Castle, but I still worry about her so I’ve been picking her up and taking her home.

I’ve asked Milla to come with us before but she just says「It’s Cashew’s turn.」.

They both get along well. And lately, The Demon of Love Sitri has been getting along with them as well and I hear the three of them have been having some girl time together.

At those times, I’ve been training my endurance by running with the Chief of the Werewolves Marchosias in the Second Playing Field, receiving swordsmanship training from the Reaper Knight Furcus, solving the Eloquent Thrush Lord Caim’s riddles, etc, deepening my friendship with everybody in the Demon King Castle.

The lively, admirable, and lovely little Cashew is popular with those in the Demon King Castle as well. There are even those that I can talk to because of her.

I’ve been told many a time that they were cautious of a Human who newly became the Chief of Staff but as soon as they saw my relationship with Cashew, they concluded that I couldn’t be someone who hates Monsters and discriminates.

Putting that aside, it seems that there were those that harbored suspicions that they smelled a similar scent to one of the Big Four, the Time Demon Agares, self-proclaimed guardian of the hearts of children.

I’m not sure if I should be happy about it or not, but upon seeing Milla’s shameless approach towards me, all those fears were eradicated.

Having done that, recently there have been odd rumors saying「To make the queen be so flirtatious, just what kind of man is he?」and the like, but that, too, soon disappeared.

Around the time the rumors spread, I started seeing a lot of injured staff members. I wonder what happened.

My instincts told me that it was better that I didn’t find out.

In about a fifteen-minute walk, I think, I see a two-storied apartment building. Each floor had five apartments, to a total of ten. It’s not pretty, but it was a solid building.

Cashew’s home is in the middle of the first floor.

I walk up to the door and before I could knock, it opened.

「Good morning, Le~m.」

It wasn’t Cashew.

The girl with hair longer than Cashew and lively disposition was Maca. Cashew’s older sister.

「Good morning, Ms. Maca.」

「Geez, I told you just Maca is fine. I thought it was almost time for you to come so I was waiting for you.」

She says, looking up at me.

If I remember right, she’s twelve years old. She seems more mature than Cashew.

「Is that so? Is Cashew in?」

「Aww, you don’t wanna talk to little ole’ me?」

「No, it’s nothing like that…」

I don’t know what this girl is thinking. My closest guess is that she adores me but somehow I think there’s something more than that…

「Aah, it’s Rem!」[1. TL Note: Child-speak]

「You’re here again, huh, Lemi!」[2. TL Note: same as above]

The twins rush to the door with a pitter-patter. They were Cashew’s younger brother and sister.

The girl’s name is Mia, the boy’s name is Nuts. Mia acts like a young lady. They are both five years old.

Mia thinks of me as a nice older brother ever since she received things like clothes and sweets that I gave to Cashew and her mother.

Nuts, on the other hand, is cautious around me because I suddenly appeared and got along with his older sister and his mother.

「Morning, Mia and Nuts.」

Mia approached me and I pet her head. The laughing face she makes because it’s tickling really resembles Cashew’s.

Nuts bites my other hand. Ouch. But instead of out of hostility, I sense he’s doing this out of a will to「Protect my Mom and sisters at all costs」, so I don’t get mad at him.

I wish I could clear up the misunderstanding and get along better with him.

「Hey, knock it off, Nuts.」

Bonk, goes Maca’s fist on Nuts’ head. He stops biting me and starts crying.

「Maca hit me…!」

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While crying, he hurls himself into the arms of his kind older sister, Cashew.

「There, there. But Nuts, you know it’s not nice to bite Lem, right?」

Cashew strokes her little brother’s head while gently reprimanding him.

「All men just wanna get pretty girls. Even Lemi just wants to get with Cashew.」

It warms my heart that he calls his older sister pretty even at a young age.

And he even worries about her. A fine young man.

However, bad people who go after little girls as if they were women are few and far between, I was able to make him understand that I’m not like that.

「Welcome, Lem. I’m so sorry for all the commotion.」

Said their mother as she lines the dining table with breakfast and casting an apologetic smile my way.

「Oh, it’s quite alright. I was an only child so I’m rather jealous.」

「Hey Le~m, if you could have an older sister, what kind of would you like~?」

Maca goes right next to me and asks in a sweet voice.

「I wonder…」

「Maca, don’t put Lem on the spot like that.」

「I was just asking a question…」

Maca has the Chef Job and is training at her mother’s friend’s shop, currently.

「Please enjoy the meal today as well, Lem. My cooking’s delicious, y’know?」

Her cooking certainly is delicious.

You need a lot of food to generate a lot of Magical Energy, that’s why I can still eat after just eating breakfast.

「Is that so?」

「I mean, I’ve already cooked Lem’s portion. You’ve done a lot for us and Cashew’s salary increased by a boatload so living has gotten a lot easier.」

Considering Cashew’s household situation, the Demon King Castle matched her daily wages accordingly.

Somehow, lately, I’ve gotten into the habit of having breakfast at two places.

One time I was delayed and when I got to Cashew’s place, I found her waiting for me without eating. Since then, I’ve been visiting her for breakfast.

Cashew’s mother asks me how she’s doing in the workplace, Maca asks me personal questions, Mia begs me to use my magic and Nuts stays vigilant the whole time.

In the house, Cashew is the younger sister to Maca and the older sister to the twins. She mainly takes care of the twins, so she doesn’t talk much.

It’s kind of funny to see a different side of her.

After the meal, Maca was the first to leave the house, followed by me and Cashew. When it’s time for the mother to go to work, the twins are left under the care of an elderly couple that they know.

For a while, Cashew was walking quietly, but as soon as the house was out of sight, she instantly moved closer to me.

「C-could you…」

She hesitatingly stretches out her small hand, I smile and clasp it.

「Of course, wouldn’t want you to get lost, right?」

「Y-yeah… I don’t wanna get lost.」

Said Cashew, embarrassed yet happy.

「Lem, this morning you have a briefing session with Luci in your schedule.」

Like a proper secretary, she manages my schedule.

「That’s right. As soon as we reach the castle, let’s head straight to the meeting room.」

「The topic of the meeting is unknown. I wonder what it’s about?」

「I wonder. Maybe it’s about how to fix the broken tenth stratum.」

Originally, each stratum is made to suit the Floor Boss.

But in my case, there wasn’t enough time. Since it was already set up for my predecessor, we used it as is.

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Looks like this all happened at the perfect time to create a stratum that suits my tastes this time.

I’ve been asked many times for opinions on its construction, so perhaps I’ll bring it up during the meeting.

「I see, I see…what kind of stratum would you like?」

「Hmm…I’m not sure. Got any ideas, Cashew?」

And so we continue heading towards our place of work, hand in hand.