Chapter 16

“I need money. And not a small amount, either. Rather, I need a large amount of money coming in periodically.” (Renya)

“E, ue!? Ah? Eh, how much?” (Shion)

After receiving the suicidal attack of Rona with her life on the line, she had tragically surrendered in the morning of the next day.

Shion’s group showed up in the dining hall to take their breakfast. They sat down at the table Renya was already located at. After short introductory remarks, Renya rushed Shion into such a conversation.

As one would expect after suddenly being told such a thing, she only managed to reply with strange groans in the end due to being thrown into confusion by his words.

In the seat next to Shion, Rona was sitting. She didn’t show any traces at all of the suicidal attack she had attempted the night before. Nonchalantly she was watching how the matter would unfold.

Renya understood that Shion would be thrown into confusion after being told such a story out of the blue.

Even so, steering the conversation in such a direction on purpose and how he reached the conclusion to do so, naturally would bring forth doubts. Therefore he decided to make it seem like he was intending to finish the conversation he had with Shion before.

“After thinking about it for a long time by myself, I can somehow state that my prospects can’t be called very promising. Thus I concluded that I need someone to help me out.” (Renya)

“Ha, haa…” (Shion)

“However, I, as a Lost, don’t possess much knowledge about this world either, nor am I confident in my skills and neither have I any acquaintances. Because of these circumstances, I think it will be quite troublesome for me to look for companions with the goal of earning money.” (Renya)

“That may be so… but it isn’t certain either.” (Shion)

As she still didn’t recover from the initial shock and likewise wasn’t able to keep up with flow of the conversation, Shion only managed to to give an inoffensive and harmless reply.

“In line with Shion’s invitation yesterday, I can certainly say that it is quite attractive and thus I am thinking about going along with it in the end. Given that I am taking it into consideration, my main purpose is to earn money, and if Shion approves of this then there is only negotiations remaining. How do you want to earn it?” (Renya)

“Eh? Eto?” (Shion)

“For what purpose are you planning to earn money?” (Rona)

Renya demanded an answer from the panicking Shion.

Rona interjected with a composed voice from the adjourning seat.

This action served the purpose to give the confused Shion some time to sort out her thoughts. It was plainly visible that she used the flow of the conversation of Renya talking about money to direct it in such way. Likewise it was a gentle guidance.

But as far as Renya was concerned in regards to her helping with the flow of the conversation, he judged Rona to no more than trying to direct the conversation in a way that would be convenient for herself.

‘You female fox with the eyes of a female tanuki’giving her only such a glance, Renya chose his words while seeing Shion returning to the current circumstances.(ED: Basically, ‘Seductress with the eyes of a criminal.’)

“I want a base. Concretely, I prefer a single house with an attached workshop. To make it absolutely clear, I want it to be at a location where no one will bother me, too.” (Renya)

“This, for what reason, again?” (Rona)

“In the pioneer’s village the circumstances were as they were, thus I endured various things. As far as returning to the city is concerned, there were too many dissatisfying incidents for me no matter how you look at it. I am unhappy and while it may be true that it isn’t the fault of those accompanying me, I want a space where I can do whatever I like.” (Renya)

“So you would like to have a house with a reasonable plot of land, huh? If you even attach a workshop to that, something along the line of one platinum coin would be necessary.” (Rona)

Upon hearing Renya’s words, Rona stated her impression and in addition, albeit secretly, she informed the two, Renya and Shion, of the estimated amount of money needed while feigning that it was a spontaneous conduct to the bitter end.

‘Renya not knowing the market price of a house is only to be expected, but I fear that it’s likely that even Shion, who wants to fulfill Renya’s wish, isn’t aware of the matter of how much money must be saved to do so. Really, there is no knowledge in stock at all.’(T/N: POV Rona)

“Well, the amount of money required can be examined later. It feels like that would be the appropriate response to such a difficult topic, do you agree?” (Renya)

“E, eh? Ah ah … ah, un. You are right.” (Shion)

Not being given the spare time to think up too many arguments, Shion, who was still in a flustered state of mind, gave a nod to the subject Renya brought up without collecting her thoughts on the matter.

“Understood. As for myself, any kind of livelihood is fine, even if that might be a dark way of thinking. The objective is to purchase a house. With this I think it is worth it to work towards that objective. I think it’s fine this way.” (Shion)

“That’s my goal though …” (Renya)

“Earning one platinum coin by yourself is quite difficult. Since we’ve already become friends, we might as well use the house as base of the party, don’t you think?” (Shion)

Shion declared quite readily.

Without saying anything, Renya directed his eyes towards Rona. Rona sensing Renya’s gaze upon herself quickly turned her line of sight away and directed it towards another direction.

‘Isn’t it yourself who brought up this impending crisis?’Renya wanted to complain to her, but Renya himself understood as well that voicing his complaints towards Rona in her current state would be a mistake.

Even though he understood it, since he wasn’t able to complain to person herself, naturally he didn’t expect Rona to say anything nor could he do anything about it.

Because Rona understood it for sure as well, she averted her eyes from him.

No matter how long he would stare at her, Rona would continue to avoid his gaze by forcefully looking away. Reluctantly Renya resumed choosing his next words as much as possible while Shion was talking.

“Ano na (Look here), there is no one in any age who doesn’t understand what it means to talk about men and women living under the same roof, don’t you think?” (Renya)

“Isn’t it fine? We are companions after all. Isn’t that kind of like a family?” (Shion)

‘Completely believing in the good nature of others combined with a lack of knowledge about the relationship between a man and a woman, such features by themselves can be called very beautiful. But that poor self-awareness lacks any sense of danger as usual.

In a meaning very different from the time with Rona, I think it’s very unlikely I will be able to win this’Renya raised both his hands in defeat while affirming so within his mind.

‘In order for this to work out, I think I have to take it to the limit as a joke at least once before it becomes a situation which will be impossible to bear, huh?’He thought.

“…Well… when that time comes, let’s discuss this once again. Now then…” (Renya)

Postponing the problem.

You could also say that he did his best to lock the problem away into a far corner of his mind.

Shouting within his mind “There is nooooothinng I can do about it!”(T/N: Do-ni demona-re-, da)

“Fumu? I don’t quite understand, but anyway, there is no objection towards making the matter of earning money our main goal. Let’s cooperate. Isn’t that fine?” (Shion)

That phrasing, yea yea it was a rather anticlimatic ending.

For some reason it was similar to the situation of Shion inquiring about Renya’s countenance.(In ch. 7)

Rona donned her usual smile however, once again, it didn’t reach her eyes at all. Her cruel gaze adamantly told Renya that refusing here wasn’t allowed.

“That’s true. Although I don’t know what lies ahead of us, for the time being please take care of me, to say the least.” (Renya)

No sooner than when Renya finished speaking, Shion bent herself forward across the table and grabbed both of Renya’s hands tightly. With a joyful expression she shook them up and down.

“I see! Thank you, Renya! I’m sure we will become good companions, the three of us!” (Shion)

“Eh, ah, un?” (Renya)

Shion’s sudden excitement didn’t connect with Renya.

Without realizing Renya’s state of mind, Shion continued to raise her tension.

“You are really saving us! I was worrying all night what to do if you were to refuse. If Renya had refused in the end, I would have to go straight to the guild to do my utmost in calling out to unknown male adventurers in order to invite them…” (Shion)

“Usually that would be very annoying, to the other party…” (Renya)

“What would you do if you made a mistake with your invitation!” Renya muttered. But that didn’t reach Shion’s ears at all.

“I am really glad… Thanks to that I can continue my adventuring life. With this the family won’t…” (Shion)

“Shion!?” (Rona)

Aggravated by what she was hearing, Rona suddenly jumped at Shion and covered her mouth.

Shion, who was still grasping Renya’s hands tightly while Rona covered her mouth, made an expression that could be summed up in “Shit!”

‘How am I to deal with this?’while showing a vague smile, Renya screamed within his mind with a great feeling of trouble.

Shion was far too close for Renya to realistically pretend he didn’t hear it.

Taking advantage of the system of deafness commonly used by romcom protagonists, smoothly pretending they didn’t hear anything. Such acting wasn’t anything Renya was capable of doing, and neither did he want to try.

Having said that, it was clear without any doubt that it was a topic he wasn’t supposed to have heard about at all.

During the time of a mere instant.

Even though it didn’t happen until now that he had to use it, Renya accelerated his speed of thought processing and thus said.

“Is there anyone else you want to become a companion?” (Renya)

“”Eh?”” (Rona & Shion)

Rona and Shion synchronized their questioning voice.

Without showing it on his facial expression and without sweating, he behaved in an ordinary way without changing his usual atmosphere. While persuading himself of this, Renya managed by something like a miracle to squeeze out those words with a strong tone of voice.

If he wasn’t able to pretend not having heard about something he wasn’t supposed to hear, he decided that he had no other choice but to act like he misinterpreted what he had heard previously.

“Err, by family… you meant getting another companion to join us, no?” (Renya)

“W-well… s-such as th-three people isn’t…” (Shion)

“Haven’t you misunderstood, Renya-san? Isn’t that right, Shion?” (Rona)

“That’s true, Renya must have misunderstood. I won’t say anything.” (Shion)

“Is that so? Misunderstood, huh? That’s quite rude…” (Renya)

Although he was certain he had heard something, he pretended to think about it while making sure to have his gaze wandering about in the air and thus removed his line of sight from Shion and Rona.

Even if Renya appeared to be nonchalant and although it wasn’t a good time to look over at them again, he felt it was okay if he did not look at them directly. Just as he thought, Shion’s forehead was thinly covered in sweat, her face was red and her eyes were swimming, all that was reflected for a fraction of a second at the edge of his view.

Next to her Rona was wiping the sweat on the forehead in panic while whispering something into Shion’s ear in such a low voice that it wouldn’t be audible to Renya.

Worrying about the pros and cons of joining this party, he didn’t expect anyone to comprehend his mental strain either.

While it may be true that he was able to resolve the tension by giving them a sense of security about how much he heard of what slipped from her mouth, Renya felt an unusual anxiety about joining this party for a different reason.

“I need money. And not a small amount, either. Rather, I need a large amount of money coming in periodically.” (Renya)

“E, ue!? Ah? Eh, how much?” (Shion)

After receiving the suicidal attack of Rona with her life on the line, she had tragically surrendered in the morning of the next day.

Shion’s group showed up in the dining hall to take their breakfast. They sat down at the table Renya was already located at. After short introductory remarks, Renya rushed Shion into such a conversation.

As one would expect after suddenly being told such a thing, she only managed to reply with strange groans in the end due to being thrown into confusion by his words.

In the seat next to Shion, Rona was sitting. She didn’t show any traces at all of the suicidal attack she had attempted the night before. Nonchalantly she was watching how the matter would unfold.

Renya understood that Shion would be thrown into confusion after being told such a story out of the blue.

Even so, steering the conversation in such a direction on purpose and how he reached the conclusion to do so, naturally would bring forth doubts. Therefore he decided to make it seem like he was intending to finish the conversation he had with Shion before.

“After thinking about it for a long time by myself, I can somehow state that my prospects can’t be called very promising. Thus I concluded that I need someone to help me out.” (Renya)

“Ha, haa…” (Shion)

“However, I, as a Lost, don’t possess much knowledge about this world either, nor am I confident in my skills and neither have I any acquaintances. Because of these circumstances, I think it will be quite troublesome for me to look for companions with the goal of earning money.” (Renya)

“That may be so… but it isn’t certain either.” (Shion)

As she still didn’t recover from the initial shock and likewise wasn’t able to keep up with flow of the conversation, Shion only managed to to give an inoffensive and harmless reply.

“In line with Shion’s invitation yesterday, I can certainly say that it is quite attractive and thus I am thinking about going along with it in the end. Given that I am taking it into consideration, my main purpose is to earn money, and if Shion approves of this then there is only negotiations remaining. How do you want to earn it?” (Renya)

“Eh? Eto?” (Shion)

“For what purpose are you planning to earn money?” (Rona)

Renya demanded an answer from the panicking Shion.

Rona interjected with a composed voice from the adjourning seat.

This action served the purpose to give the confused Shion some time to sort out her thoughts. It was plainly visible that she used the flow of the conversation of Renya talking about money to direct it in such way. Likewise it was a gentle guidance.

But as far as Renya was concerned in regards to her helping with the flow of the conversation, he judged Rona to no more than trying to direct the conversation in a way that would be convenient for herself.

‘You female fox with the eyes of a female tanuki’giving her only such a glance, Renya chose his words while seeing Shion returning to the current circumstances.(ED: Basically, ‘Seductress with the eyes of a criminal.’)

“I want a base. Concretely, I prefer a single house with an attached workshop. To make it absolutely clear, I want it to be at a location where no one will bother me, too.” (Renya)

“This, for what reason, again?” (Rona)

“In the pioneer’s village the circumstances were as they were, thus I endured various things. As far as returning to the city is concerned, there were too many dissatisfying incidents for me no matter how you look at it. I am unhappy and while it may be true that it isn’t the fault of those accompanying me, I want a space where I can do whatever I like.” (Renya)

“So you would like to have a house with a reasonable plot of land, huh? If you even attach a workshop to that, something along the line of one platinum coin would be necessary.” (Rona)

Upon hearing Renya’s words, Rona stated her impression and in addition, albeit secretly, she informed the two, Renya and Shion, of the estimated amount of money needed while feigning that it was a spontaneous conduct to the bitter end.

‘Renya not knowing the market price of a house is only to be expected, but I fear that it’s likely that even Shion, who wants to fulfill Renya’s wish, isn’t aware of the matter of how much money must be saved to do so. Really, there is no knowledge in stock at all.’(T/N: POV Rona)

“Well, the amount of money required can be examined later. It feels like that would be the appropriate response to such a difficult topic, do you agree?” (Renya)

“E, eh? Ah ah … ah, un. You are right.” (Shion)

Not being given the spare time to think up too many arguments, Shion, who was still in a flustered state of mind, gave a nod to the subject Renya brought up without collecting her thoughts on the matter.

“Understood. As for myself, any kind of livelihood is fine, even if that might be a dark way of thinking. The objective is to purchase a house. With this I think it is worth it to work towards that objective. I think it’s fine this way.” (Shion)

“That’s my goal though …” (Renya)

“Earning one platinum coin by yourself is quite difficult. Since we’ve already become friends, we might as well use the house as base of the party, don’t you think?” (Shion)

Shion declared quite readily.

Without saying anything, Renya directed his eyes towards Rona. Rona sensing Renya’s gaze upon herself quickly turned her line of sight away and directed it towards another direction.

‘Isn’t it yourself who brought up this impending crisis?’Renya wanted to complain to her, but Renya himself understood as well that voicing his complaints towards Rona in her current state would be a mistake.

Even though he understood it, since he wasn’t able to complain to person herself, naturally he didn’t expect Rona to say anything nor could he do anything about it.

Because Rona understood it for sure as well, she averted her eyes from him.

No matter how long he would stare at her, Rona would continue to avoid his gaze by forcefully looking away. Reluctantly Renya resumed choosing his next words as much as possible while Shion was talking.

“Ano na (Look here), there is no one in any age who doesn’t understand what it means to talk about men and women living under the same roof, don’t you think?” (Renya)

“Isn’t it fine? We are companions after all. Isn’t that kind of like a family?” (Shion)

‘Completely believing in the good nature of others combined with a lack of knowledge about the relationship between a man and a woman, such features by themselves can be called very beautiful. But that poor self-awareness lacks any sense of danger as usual.

In a meaning very different from the time with Rona, I think it’s very unlikely I will be able to win this’Renya raised both his hands in defeat while affirming so within his mind.

‘In order for this to work out, I think I have to take it to the limit as a joke at least once before it becomes a situation which will be impossible to bear, huh?’He thought.

“…Well… when that time comes, let’s discuss this once again. Now then…” (Renya)

Postponing the problem.

You could also say that he did his best to lock the problem away into a far corner of his mind.

Shouting within his mind “There is nooooothinng I can do about it!”(T/N: Do-ni demona-re-, da)

“Fumu? I don’t quite understand, but anyway, there is no objection towards making the matter of earning money our main goal. Let’s cooperate. Isn’t that fine?” (Shion)

That phrasing, yea yea it was a rather anticlimatic ending.

For some reason it was similar to the situation of Shion inquiring about Renya’s countenance.(In ch. 7)

Rona donned her usual smile however, once again, it didn’t reach her eyes at all. Her cruel gaze adamantly told Renya that refusing here wasn’t allowed.

“That’s true. Although I don’t know what lies ahead of us, for the time being please take care of me, to say the least.” (Renya)

No sooner than when Renya finished speaking, Shion bent herself forward across the table and grabbed both of Renya’s hands tightly. With a joyful expression she shook them up and down.

“I see! Thank you, Renya! I’m sure we will become good companions, the three of us!” (Shion)

“Eh, ah, un?” (Renya)

Shion’s sudden excitement didn’t connect with Renya.

Without realizing Renya’s state of mind, Shion continued to raise her tension.

“You are really saving us! I was worrying all night what to do if you were to refuse. If Renya had refused in the end, I would have to go straight to the guild to do my utmost in calling out to unknown male adventurers in order to invite them…” (Shion)

“Usually that would be very annoying, to the other party…” (Renya)

“What would you do if you made a mistake with your invitation!” Renya muttered. But that didn’t reach Shion’s ears at all.

“I am really glad… Thanks to that I can continue my adventuring life. With this the family won’t…” (Shion)

“Shion!?” (Rona)

Aggravated by what she was hearing, Rona suddenly jumped at Shion and covered her mouth.

Shion, who was still grasping Renya’s hands tightly while Rona covered her mouth, made an expression that could be summed up in “Shit!”

‘How am I to deal with this?’while showing a vague smile, Renya screamed within his mind with a great feeling of trouble.

Shion was far too close for Renya to realistically pretend he didn’t hear it.

Taking advantage of the system of deafness commonly used by romcom protagonists, smoothly pretending they didn’t hear anything. Such acting wasn’t anything Renya was capable of doing, and neither did he want to try.

Having said that, it was clear without any doubt that it was a topic he wasn’t supposed to have heard about at all.

During the time of a mere instant.

Even though it didn’t happen until now that he had to use it, Renya accelerated his speed of thought processing and thus said.

“Is there anyone else you want to become a companion?” (Renya)

“”Eh?”” (Rona & Shion)

Rona and Shion synchronized their questioning voice.

Without showing it on his facial expression and without sweating, he behaved in an ordinary way without changing his usual atmosphere. While persuading himself of this, Renya managed by something like a miracle to squeeze out those words with a strong tone of voice.

If he wasn’t able to pretend not having heard about something he wasn’t supposed to hear, he decided that he had no other choice but to act like he misinterpreted what he had heard previously.

“Err, by family… you meant getting another companion to join us, no?” (Renya)

“W-well… s-such as th-three people isn’t…” (Shion)

“Haven’t you misunderstood, Renya-san? Isn’t that right, Shion?” (Rona)

“That’s true, Renya must have misunderstood. I won’t say anything.” (Shion)

“Is that so? Misunderstood, huh? That’s quite rude…” (Renya)

Although he was certain he had heard something, he pretended to think about it while making sure to have his gaze wandering about in the air and thus removed his line of sight from Shion and Rona.

Even if Renya appeared to be nonchalant and although it wasn’t a good time to look over at them again, he felt it was okay if he did not look at them directly. Just as he thought, Shion’s forehead was thinly covered in sweat, her face was red and her eyes were swimming, all that was reflected for a fraction of a second at the edge of his view.

Next to her Rona was wiping the sweat on the forehead in panic while whispering something into Shion’s ear in such a low voice that it wouldn’t be audible to Renya.

Worrying about the pros and cons of joining this party, he didn’t expect anyone to comprehend his mental strain either.

While it may be true that he was able to resolve the tension by giving them a sense of security about how much he heard of what slipped from her mouth, Renya felt an unusual anxiety about joining this party for a different reason.