Volume 2 - CH 8.2

Then, two weeks after the Aldon forest events…

“Hey Roa! We’re here!”

“Come on in!”

Roa welcomed Nostalgia’s members, who came to visit him.  Roa had built a simple stone stove in a corner of the garden and was roasting a whole boar.

It was a normal boar, not a magic beast, but it was about as large as Roa was tall. Its hair had been cleanly shaven, a skewer piercing its stomach as it was leisurely roasted over weak fire.

“Whoa, this house is bigger than I expected!”

Dietrich looked at the nearby building and expressed his surprise.

The request Roa made to Coralde was for a house: his room in Coralde’s trading company was too small to live with servant beasts. Because of that, Roa hoped he could rent a house from Coralde, or that Coralde would help him find a house, but, because of various circumstances, they finally decided to buy a house, located within the Coralde company’s premises.

Roa was opposed to letting the servant beasts inside the company buildings and Coralde did not want to let go of him, so they agreed to compromise. The building was present since before Coralde established his company and was used as a stable for horses at first, but, after it became too small and they built proper horse stables, it was used as a stockroom.

Roa bought it, made it fit for living and moved there. The house had two floors: the ground floor had the servant beasts’ bedroom and the kitchen, the first floor Roa’s alchemy laboratory and living space.

It also had a garden and field, though small, and being inside the Coralde company’s tall walls, the servant beasts could move around plenty without causing trouble to the townspeople.

“I didn’t know you were rich, Roa…”

“You had enough to buy a house this big…?”

“…..”

The other members looked at the house too. Bernhart was as quiet as usual, but he looked at it too. Roa planned to borrow the money to buy the house from Coralde, but the latter saved part of the money earned from selling Roa’s recovery potions, so he used it for the house.

Roa regularly sent part of the money earned through selling his recovery potions, through Coralde’s company, to his grandmother in the countryside. The remaining money was saved by Coralde, to prevent Crack of Dawn from finding out about it and stealing it from Roa.

Roa didn’t think it was a lot of money: on the contrary, he thought there wouldn’t be much, but it was actually much more than he expected, so he could buy the house with just a small discount from Coralde.

<Brat!! It’s not ready yet!?>

Grandpa Gry’s voice echoed. The gryphon was stationed in front of the stone oven, uncaring of the smoke and sparks, staring at the roasting boar.

“Grandpa Gry, you could at least greet them.”

<Welcome! There! I’m busy!>

The gryphon replied bluntly, without even looking at them, but it had grown familiar enough with Nostalgia to greet them. They had spent 10 days outside the town gates together, after all.

“Grandpa Gry!?”

“….never mind. It would be kind of creepy if it got polite all of a sudden anyway. Here, this is a gift from us.”

Dietrich stopped Roa from scolding Grandpa Gry and gave him a basket of fruits.

“Thank you so much!”

<Hmm…there is no meat?>

“Woof woof!”

“Woof woof!”

As soon as Roa took the basket and Dietrich’s hands became free, the wolf twins jumped out. With a splendid combination, they rolled Dietrich up and pushed him towards the grassy field. They had aimed for the moment he let go of his luggage.

“Whoa!! Wait!! I said wait!! Whahahaha!!”

They started playing together, rolling on the grass. Dietrich looked like he was having fun too, and it had become a ritual at this point, so no one stopped them.

The magic wolf twins had become better friends with Nostalgia than Grandpa Gry. They were better friends with Dietrich than even Roa. Their games, which looked more like they were fighting, happened pretty much every day.

“…er, could we see inside the house?”

Cornelia sighed while looking at Dietrich and the twins, then asked this question to Roa. Despite the sigh, Cornelia was thankful that Dietrich and the twins had formed such a relationship. Ever since he started playing with the twins, Dietrich had stopped chasing the skirts of suspicious women. 

It was one of Dietrich’s bad habits that she couldn’t stop, but he didn’t try to hit on any beautiful woman he saw like before. The twins were wonderful playtime companions and stress relievers, probably because their mental age was close.

“Sure, just let me finish cooking this meat first. There’s not much inside, though.”

“Alchemy tools and stuff, right? I’ve never seen a magic beast dwelling either.”

“A-are we truly allowed to lay our eyes on lord Grandpa Gry’s chambers!?”

“Oh yeah, what kind of place do gryphons live in? No one has ever seen their nest, so I’m curious.”

Cornelia, Bernhart and Kristoff seemed interested in Roa’s house. Roa knew there really wasn’t much to show, but he was happy they wanted to see it.

<The meat…>

“We’ll eat after Mr. Coralde arrives, you know that. The company closes in one hour, so wait a little while.”

<One more hour…?>

Grandpa Gry’s gaze was glued to the roasting boar, dripping delicious-looking fat.

“Yes, be patient.”

<…don’t treat me like an impatient child. I am a master of patience!>

“What are you saying? Don’t even try to take a bite, by the way. Or you’ll have a special serving of Crispies, only for you.”

<Gh….>

Grandpa Gry furrowed its brow in utter disgust. Roa didn’t know why, but the servant beasts seemed to wholeheartedly hate Crispies, as if their parents had been killed by them.

The threatened Grandpa Gry continued staring at the boar, as Dietrich and the twins’ happy yelps could be heard in the background.

About one hour later, a crowd was gathered outside Roa’s house. With Nostalgia’s members’ help, Roa brought a table outside and set out the prepared food he received from Coralde’s employees. There was also alcohol available, inside glass bottles in a large wooden crate.

Other than Nostalgia, the group consisted of people working in Coralde’s company. Craftsmen, coachmen, cafeteria workers, and other sorts of people. 

In the past two weeks, Roa had made friends with many craftsmen. They were all older than him, but some of them admired him like a mentor. The twins were especially popular among female workers for their cuteness.

Grandpa Gry was feared by the workers, who always kept their distance from it, so even now only Nostalgia’s members were close to the gryphon.

“Are you ready, everybody?”

Coralde called for the group’s attention. Everyone took a glass in hand and waited for Coralde to continue speaking.

“Let us thus celebrate this new start for Roa’s life. Cheers!”

“Cheers!!”

Coralde’s cheer was followed by loud cheers and the sound of clinking glass. 

Roa’s new life started in a lively, cheerful atmosphere.