CH 65

While I was walking, somehow there was an unknown uncle who suddenly pushed a little child to me with desperate expression.

Seems like the child is asleep. The child wears an ashen and inconspicuous clothes, but I can see a great and bright future from this child’s face.

With silky and neat shoulder-long blonde hair, bouncy and elastic baby-ish white skin, she’s still very young, but with such out of ordinary countenance she has, it appears she would grow into quite of a beauty.

But, that’s all. Her appearance is cute, I even think perhaps she might grow into quite a popular girl among opposite sex, but in the end that’s all. This child is nothing but a frail, very young, human.

She’s nothing but an existence I can easily kill, if I want to. Right now, the life-and-death of this child is laying on my hand.

“Kitsune-kun, what’s that? A baby?”

“Yeah, seems like so… seems like I just got dragged into trouble again.”

Leila-chan peers and looks at the little girl; who’s being held by me; from my back. I honestly think I just got pushed into the most troublesome trouble.

I’ve been struggling just to stay alive, moreover I also have overwhelmingly no paternity and experience to raise a child. But I do have the knowledge, when I was at elementary school, I once read a self-help book about raising a child, after all. I’d read the way to change diapers till the way to deal when the child’s crying, well, it’s just I didn’t have the chance to make use of it, though.

Either way, I can’t raise a child, and I also have no time to.

“It may seem cold but, should we take her to an orphanage or something, I wonder….”

“…can’t I eat it? I haven’t tasted you for quite a while, so I’m a bit….”

“Didn’t I just offer you to lick my finger?”

“B, but… that’s kind of embarrassing… or rather, when I’m about to touch you, my heart would suddenly beat very fast, so….”

“Are you a girl in puberty or something?”

Somehow Leila-chan kind of looks like a girl in love but, just what’s happening here? Come to think of it, my title also has changed into “One who’s loved by demon”, hasn’t it?

Could it be, has her impression about me turned from “the prey she’s interested at” to “the person she love”, I wonder? In the case with apostle-chan, I somewhat protected Leila-chan after all, did her ‘good will’ unexpectedly turn into ‘love’ because of that?

Well, that’s just my guess though, I’d experienced misunderstanding a girl’s suggestive behaviors and experienced an embarrassing experience, so I’d better not arbitrarily take a conclusion here.

At that time, the girl was arbitrarily showing such suggestive behaviors, and when I thought I got called to get confessed to, the one there was several girls who were sneering at me, after all. I was a fool to expect that perhaps they were all fond of me.

“But, you can’t eat her.”

“Eh~, muu… got it, I’ll endure it.”

She unexpectedly obeys me. If it were the usual her, I’m sure she’d say “Eh~! No way, I want to eat it!”, or something like that. Perhaps Leila-chan is gradually changing. Up until now she acted simply depending on her instinct and desire, but perhaps because she’s now able to make a choice of her actions after turning into S rank, perhaps she’s learned self-control and reason to endure her desire back.

Well, leaving that aside, what should I do with this child, I wonder? Perhaps, I should meet Rishe-chan first before deciding, huh. For her who had learning a way of knight, perhaps she’d know what to do to lost child like this.

Either it leaving her somewhere or taking her to the guards, none of the options would profit me, after all. I might get punished if I abandon her, and I if take her to the guards, this girl might be put into the so called health care center, either of it will leave bad aftertaste on me, after all.

“Leila-chan, for now let’s gather the necessity for our journey as we’ve planned first. We have to secure a mean of transportation, as well as food, camping gears, and tools that we may need later… we have to finish it first.”

“Okay… ufufu, now that I look at it, I think it looks kinda cute.”

“Didn’t you just say you want to eat her?”

Why do you suddenly awaken up such strange maternity like that?

◇

“Umm… seems like our budget won’t be enough to cover everything, huh….”

After that, using a cloth; that we bought at the general store around there; to fasten the child on my back, we continue searching for the necessary preparations for our next journey. Currently we’re in the shop that sells camping goods, however even the cheapest one is pretty expensive.

Here, I’m shoved the fact that the money I’ve been accumulating; ever since I became an adventurer; it’s enough to cover the food expense, but it’s not nearly enough to cover the camping gears and transportation expenses.

Currently, we’ve somewhat acquired preserved food enough for a week time, but as expected, securing camping goods and transportation would be quite hard. We’ve almost run out of money. I don’t even have the courage to touch the camping good before me.

“Ah, should I pay for it?”

“Eh?”

Then, Leila-chan unexpectedly says so from my back.

Taking out her guild card, she skillfully takes the portable cookwares and sleeping bags before us with her miasma. And then, taking all of it to the counter; where the shopkeeper is; she presents her guild card.

The shopkeeper receives it, somewhat processes the purchase, and then returns the card back to Leila-chan. After Leila-chan puts a signature on a kind of white paper, she returns to me along with the taken goods. Perhaps she’s purchased them all.

“Leila-chan, what did you just do?”

“Eh? I just purchased them with my guild card, though?”

When I curiously ask Leila-chan about it, she says that in this world, purchasing goods with cash is typical, but it’s possible for adventurers to store the reward money at the guild. Seems like there’s a similar system like bank here.

In that system, they use guild card to store and withdraw money.

Seems like guild card is a kind of simple magic tool, and reading one’s status is just a part of its ability. Because of that, as long as the registered name and the holder’s name aren’t the same, the guild card won’t show any information about the registered person.

However, there were the case when someone registered with alias, and in that case, the card would be set to show the registered information by injecting some magic power of the registered person. For one hour of time after the card was issued, if the card was always by its owner, it would automatically register the magic power of its owner.

There was no human who possessed no magic power, so more or less, as long as one carried the card, it’d sense the magic power.

Well, within the one hour time of registering the magic power, one had to be very careful so that the card didn’t get stolen, though.

And so, the card would only show the name and level with the consent of the owner.

Using that as the validation, the bank system was formed. By storing money at the guild, seems like we’d be able to purchase things using the guild card as a kind of credit card.

Well, the purchaser still had to sign on a receipt-like paper, but since we didn’t have to take cash every time we purchase something and we’d be able to smoothly pay with it, this system’s pretty convenient.

By the way, seems like the one who invented this system was the previous hero.

Seemingly excel at manufacturing and research, he mass produced powerful magic weapons to subjugate the demon lord. Even if they were similarly heroes, seems like it’s not a given that they’d posses “Ray of Hope” as innate skill.

“Hmm… I see. But, will it be enough?”

“Well, I haven’t used even a coin of my reward money up until now, so… perhaps, as long as it isn’t a very expensive one, I think I should be able to buy several houses with it.”

“That… sounds quite promising.”

I feel like a pimp who is taking advantage of Leila-chan but, perhaps that’s just my imagination. I’ll definitely pay her back later. Even if she posses a lot of money, my trifling pride won’t let me to become someone who’s only getting spoiled by her, after all.

“For now, I’ll pay for the preparations for our next journey.”

Dammit, to think I’d lose in economical strength against Leila-chan; who’s seemingly only a bum. Somehow it’s very mortifying, she refers it as her favor but, it’s just… her gaze is just as if saying ‘geez, it really can’t be helped then~’.

Perhaps that’s only what I imagine it to be but, this feeling of defeat is just too overwhelming.

“…please.”

However, I couldn’t shout it out loud. The power of money, this is the moment I remember just how amazing it is.

◇　◇　◇

After that, we purchased anything we deemed need one after another.

Food, cookwares, sleeping bags, lantern, but the most surprising one was the rental carriage. It was terrifyingly costly. I really am grateful to Leila-chan, to think that she wouldn’t even bat an eye when spending such amount of money, I spontaneously thought just who the hell she was. As expected of C rank adventurer, huh.

Seems like we can return the carriage at the carriage rental in the next town. Perhaps there’s one in every town around.

Thereupon, having somewhat finished purchasing what we need, we return to the weapon shop. By the way, we left the carriage in the stable. Well, it cost money but we can ask them to take care of the horse there. In front of the weapon shop, Rishe-chan is already there. Upon looking her with only her sword and no luggage, perhaps she’d reserved some lodgings.

“Rishe-chan.”

“Kitsune, Leila… looks like you’ve finished purchasing goods.”

“Yup, pretty much.”

The food and the camping gears are carried by Leila-chan using her miasma, so carrying it around is pretty easy. Honestly speaking, upon seeing the miasma, the reaction of people here is very light.

There are many possible explanations, like using wind magic to do it, or else, by telling them it’s a kind of innate skill, they’d easily accept this kind of phenomenon. Somehow, they’re very irresponsible around that part.

“I also have pretty much secured our lodgings, it’s around the same level with the one we reserved at Miniera.”

“That’s more than enough.”

“…then, who’s that child on your back? Playing with trouble yet again?”

“Well, yeah, I’ll tell you the detail later in our room.”

“…I see, then follow me. I’ll take you to there.”

Seemingly has understood how skillful I am at getting entangled in such troubles, Rishe-chan floats an astonished face when she sees the child on my back.

Well, the good part is the fact that it doesn’t look to be as troublesome as the case with “Red Night”, apostle-chan, or the fake hero. Getting pushed to take care of a child, it’s very cute in contrast. Well, it’s still not usual, though.

“Kitsune-kun, Kitsune-kun.”

“What is it, Leila-chan?”

“This kid’s cheek is very squishy~.”

“You sure you’re a demon?”

What is it? I really hope her not to just awaken her maternity like that. In a way, I don’t understand her at all.

While thinking so, I let out a big sigh again.