CH 232

When I went to the inn the next morning, Ivana greeted me with a smile to cover her sullenness and asked me about yesterday evening.

…As I thought, Indra is really incredible. Or am I simply too dense?

No, it’s because Indra’s incredible, yep. I mean, I should have mastered my detection and evasion skills when it comes to encountering honey traps. And yet I didn’t realize and was too casual with Ivana.

“…You didn’t come back yesterday, did you?”

“Yeah, in the end, I felt bad ’bout leavin’ Indra alone. …Sorry, but I’m gonna vacate the inn. I realized that it’d be bad to just toss my partner aside. Besides, we’re gonna dive into the dungeon, startin’ today. I’m really sorry since you went out of your way to refer this place to me,” I told her with a smile and checked out.

“…Mr. Sword, you’re a kind man, just as I expected. With partner you mean the pretty boy from yesterday who somehow looks like a noble, right?”

I looked at Ivana, “…You got all that from just lookin’. Ah, but all of it is wrong.”

“Eh?” Ivana was bewildered.

Yep, she’s probably wonderin’ what I’m talkin’ ’bout. I think so too, but I can’t put it in any way other than that.

“You see, Indra is a former noble. Now she’s a commoner. ‘Cuz of that she’s a super clean freak, though. Lastly, she’s a woman, even if her appearance suggests otherwise.”

Ivana was lost for words.

“…A girl, you say? I see, no wonder…”

“Hmm?”

What is 『no wonder』? Was there some miracle that she’d use 『no wonder』?

Ivana giggled, “…I already asked myself whether you got detained when you tried to come back to the inn yesterday. She must have felt lonely, right? Did she become all jealous?”

……

Such a miracle is beyond unthinkable. Or rather, I was the one clingin’ to Indra, hatin’ the idea of goin’ back.

“No, you got it wrong. In the first place, if not for her cleanliness illness, Indra would have stayed at the inn with me. That girl’s a lost case, though. She’s a former noble, so she can’t stomach inns. She always says that it’s better to camp out. Since I’ve got to somewhat watch my reputation and appearances, I’ve been stayin’ at inns, but well, recently I’ve stopped giving a damn and started to stay with her instead.”

＊

Ever since the house we rented in the capital got destroyed, I stopped usin’ that as a public reason to put on airs. When I told people, 『It looks like we’re bein’ targeted by the brave as he destroyed our rented house when we stayed at the capital, and since it’d cause trouble to you and others if the same happened here, we’ll lodge in the golem that comes with such a function』, they’d pull back

The brave’s barbarism was currently sweepin’ across the kingdom, and even the guild was on tenterhooks. As of yet, he hasn’t left this country and seems to go on a rampage wherever he shows up. If he wasn’t a brave, the guild would have put up a subjugation request for him, I hear.

Shadow must feel headaches from that. As far as that schemer goes, he probably wants to pit the brave against me to get him killed, but he’s scared of Indra so he can’t pull any such plots. He directly consulted me ’bout it with such a pathetic look that I wondered where his previous evil cunningness had gone.

I also know that I’ve done all kinds of evil things while thinkin’ of the kingdom and its king, so I’ll kill the brave if I meet him by coincidence, but that’s ultimately limited to 『meeting him by coincidence』. When I told him that Indra would gleefully destroy the royal castle if he should try to use any schemes, he meekly agreed.

＊

Ivana put on a doubtin’ expression again. She was coverin’ her unhappiness with an ambiguous smile.

…Would it be better for Ivana if I’d said that Indra was jealous? But why? Well, it doesn’t really matter to me ‘nyway, I s’pose.

“That’s why I think it’s bad news to neglect her. Indra…might be fine even if left to her own devices, but I hate it. She’s the partner I finally managed to obtain, so I wanna cherish her.”

Though I haven’t really done so. I grabbed her head and face, or ground her temples with my fists. Just yesterday I used both my fists to grind her temples when she told me, “Even if you didn’t realize, you promised, so go there, tiger, and confess to her that you can’t get it up.”