CH 187

Sazan brazenly declared his leech stance, but it seems like he doesn’t intend to leech off me that much for now.

That much…

He really is honest on that front, but at the very least, he once again promised that, after seeing the last of the Evil God Great War, he would help me obtain the Stardust Flare. 

That’s something to rejoice about, and I think it would be fine to be thankful to Sazan for that. 

However, there’s one problem because of it. 

That problem is…

“Did you know, Souma?! According to the legends, Hero Alex would encounter his future wife, the Moonlight Princess, in the town called Saruna. 

It is a historical event that has created many plays, but will that scene be shown in the 2nd chapter?

If I manage to see that, I would be witnessing history…” (Sazan)

—Meaning that Sazan was being awfully annoying.

No, Sazan is annoying as always, but he is even more annoying than usual.

He is completely in the excited state of a person that has just watched a movie they like, moreover, because he has knowledge of the source material -the story of the Evil God Great War- he is even throwing spoilers.

“Hey, are you listening, Souma?!” (Sazan)

Also, he is close.

Extremely close.

Sazan would normally sit opposite of me or diagonally when it is meal time, but he has now taken a spot at my side without hesitation, and has slid his chair even more while moving his face closer to me.

It would be one thing if it were a cute girl, but even if a suspicious masked man were to approach me, it wouldn’t make me happy. Or like, it is annoying to an unbelievable extent. 

“Hm? What is it, Souma? You still have a lot of your hamburger left. If you don’t like it, you can give it to m—” (Sazan)

“I love it. It is because I love it that I am leaving it for last.” (Souma)

“Y-You love it, huh. Mu…mugugugu…” (Sazan)

Moreover, he has begun to talk a lot more casually; it can’t even be compared to before. 

No, he has been way too familiar with me since way back, but the quality of it has changed a bit. 

Sazan is shaking his mask creepily, showing his anguish and…

“G-Geez! Just take it, you thief!” (Sazan)

He placed a piece of meat cut to around 5 centimeters in size on top of my plate.

“…Eh?” (Souma)

I was shocked by this, and Sazan said with a face filled with bitterness.

“You love it, right? I need you to do more in the future. This Sazan-sama, who is called the very embodiment of compassion and charity, shall bless you on this occasion. 

It won’t happen again, so taste it with relish.” (Sazan)

“…Tha…nks?” (Souma)

Even if you tell me you are blessing me, how can I taste this small fragment that I can’t comprehend how you even cut it.

No, this glutton Sazan sharing his food might be something incredible even if it is the size of scraps. 

“Be grateful to me with every bite you take.” (Sazan)

I ignore Sazan who is saying that, and I try my best to stab the hamburger piece with heightened effort, and bring it to my mouth.

Because of the size, there’s barely anything to bite, but well, it at least had the taste of a hamburger…I think.

I swallowed the small piece of meat, and a mask suddenly entered my vision.

“H-How was it? Tasty?” (Sazan)

“Eh? …Y-Yeah, probably.” (Souma)

When I answered, Sazan nodded as if saying ‘obviously!’, but it is not like you are the one who made it, you know. 

I was grimacing here, and Mitsuki spoke to us.

“Looks like you two have gotten pretty close.” (Mitsuki)

“Y-You fool! That’s not true! 

Who would…?!” (Sazan)

How in the world do you look at this and reach that conclusion? 

Also, that way of responding has the opposite effect, so stop it. 

“Fufu, it seems like you really are getting along better. 

Is it the result of your spell searching yesterday?” (Mitsuki)

“A-As I said, it is not like that!” (Sazan)

Mitsuki was loosening her cat ears as if watching something endearing at the pointlessly flustered Sazan, but her cat ears suddenly jumped up as if she thought of something. 

“Speaking of which, could the spell you were searching yesterday be—” (Mitsuki)

“…Souma!!” (Ringo)

Ringo suddenly cut off Mitsuki.

“W-What’s the matter, Ringo?” (Souma)

Everyone’s attention gathers onto Ringo who let out an uncharacteristically loud voice.

Ringo had her gaze wander awkwardly under the eyes of everyone and then…

“…I will give you…my hamburger…” (Ringo)

She gave me the hamburger she had remaining on her plate.

The atmosphere was reset with what Ringo did, but I felt something off here and tilted my head.

(Everyone’s been acting strange since this morning.) (Souma)

Mitsuki and the Bear are comparatively normal, but everyone else seems to be acting awkward.

Sazan goes without saying, but Ringo is also weird, and Ina seems to be ruminating about something. 

And the one that’s in the weirdest state is…

“Hnngh!” (Souma)

I ended up choking while I was thinking. 

I hurriedly smacked my chest and a cup with water was given to me from the side.

I take it with gratitude and drink it. 

“You saved me there, Sazan.” (Souma)

No matter how high level I am, it seems it is still painful to have something caught in your throat. 

I thank Sazan who gave me the cup, and he puffed his chest out proudly. 

“Hmph, well, I am your partner after all. Saving my clumsy partner is my duty.” (Sazan)

I don’t know when we became partners, but it is true that he did save me. 

I showed a wry smile and I was about to thank him again, but…

—*Katakatakatakata!*

I reflexively faced the opposite direction where that strange sound was made. 

(Uwa…) (Souma)

The sight that came into my eyes made me regret looking from the bottom of my heart.

“—MaSoumaSoumaSoumaSoumaSoumaSouma.” 

Leila was sitting at the opposite side of Sazan, but she has been acting weird since Sazan approached me. 

She tilted forward and was mumbling something with her long hair covering her face.

—*Katakatakatakatakata!*

I strain my eyes wondering just what in the world this sound is, and it was the sound of Leila hitting the plate with the knife she is holding. 

It is not like she is doing this on purpose. It is most likely because she is shaking at high speed to the point it is blurring. 

“SoumaSoumaSoumaSoumaSoumaSouma…” (Leila)

—*Katakatakatakatakata!*

Both the mumbling and the sound of the knife were echoing in the dining room.

To be perfectly blunt, it is scary. 

It is not only scary to a degree where it doesn’t lose to the residents of the mansion, but it is twice as scary because there’s no knowing where the Death Bringer might come flying. 

“L-Leila?” (Souma)

I have been acting as if I didn’t notice until now, but this is the limit. 

I hesitantly spoke to her.

“Wa?! Souma!” (Leila)

When I did, Leila responded with a shining smile that made it feel like the sight of just a few seconds ago was a lie.

…That makes it even scarier instead.

“Y-You see…you still haven’t eaten much of your food yet. It is the tasty food you worked so hard to make, so you should eat it before it gets cold…” (Souma)

“T-Tasty?! My cooking is tasty?” (Leila)

“Y-Yeah, it is really tasty.” (Souma)

I am telling the truth.

I answered with a stiff smile and her already shining face shone even stronger like the sun, and she sprung up from her seat.

“Got it! Then, I will add 20 more right this moment—” (Leila)

“No, that’s fine! Just eat! Okay?!” (Souma)

I somehow calmed down Leila who stood up and had her sit back down.

This is how I managed to safely finish my meal.

After that I was checking my own skills while Sazan followed me around, and instructed Ina on skills all the way to the night. 

Training in my skill comboing has been a daily thing for me since the game days, and there’s still main skill combos I can’t use after getting the 3x speed. 

I think that was a decently fruitful time, but the tough time came after night came. 

The stone slate recording of the Evil God Great War can be utilized again after 24 hours.

In other words, we can now watch the continuation of yesterday night. 

“Souma, so you were here!” (Sazan)

Sazan showed up as if natural, aiming for the stone slate. 

That’s fine and all.

I can take that much annoyance, but…

“Fufufu, I am completely prepared! I took a real good nap so that I don’t feel sleepy in the middle of it, and I gulped down an MP Potion just now to wake me up—” (Sazan)

“Ah, Souma!” 

Sazan was talking to me, and for some reason, Leila jumped in as if she timed it. 

Sazan looked blatantly peeved by this, but Leila didn’t falter at all at this and spoke to me. 

“Hm? What are you two doing?” (Leila)

“I-It is nothing! I am leaving now!” (Sazan)

It seems like Sazan wants to keep the matter of the stone slate a secret to everyone else, and walks off somewhere. 

After repeating that several times…

“Now that it has come to this, we are meeting up in the bathroom! 

Even that woman shouldn’t be able to get in the way there!” (Sazan)

Sazan said a weird thing in his overly excited state. 

Also, it is creepy, so stop blushing when you are saying we should meet in the bathroom.

Even if I can’t see your face because of your mask, I can still tell if your neck gets all red. 

“Hey, you can watch it with me if you are in contact with me, so it should be fine for other people to be there too, right? 

Is there a need to keep it a secret?” (Souma)

“N-No! I won’t be able to watch in peace like that!” (Sazan)

Looks like he feels a certain way about this that he doesn’t want to yield to. 

I was pushed by Sazan who was insistent about being just the two of us, and this time around we headed to the dressing room, but…

“Ah, you were here, Souma! What a coincidence!” (Leila)

Leila showed up there as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Sazan immediately jumped at her. 

“T-There’s no way this is a coincidence! In the first place, what business do you have here?!” (Sazan)

“Eh? There’s a washing place here, so I was thinking about doing the laundry.” (Leila)

Now that she mentions it, there certainly is a place like that at the corner of the dressing room.

So that space was for the sake of doing laundry, huh.

Clothes didn’t get dirty when it was a game, so I didn’t notice.

By the way, the clothes here don’t get too dirty most likely because it has inherited that trait from the game. 

It would be a different story if you were to dive into mud, but it seems like there’s no issue with wearing them for a bit of an extended time. You can do the laundry itself by just throwing water on it, and you can also dry them by just hanging them for 1-2 hours.

It is truly easy. 

“Gugugu…” (Sazan)

Sazan was groaning at Leila who had begun doing the laundry. 

It seems like even Sazan doesn’t have the courage to enter the bath together with me in front of Leila. 

I was thinking about having Sazan give up and convince Sazan to explain to her about the stone slate, but Sazan took my hand faster than I had the chance to. 

“Let’s go!” (Sazan)

He pulled my hand just like that and began walking.

“O-Oi, where are we going?” (Souma)

He didn’t answer even when I asked. 

Sazan walked on without a word and brought me to a certain room.

“This is…” (Souma)

It is not like I am aware of all the rooms in this vast mansion, but I remember this room all too well.

I found it hard to speak.

—Thief Shoo Shoo! 

Sazan brought me to the trap room I was trapped in with Ringo a long time ago.