CH 54

Chapter 54 - The Two Forest Girls

After freeing his pursuer, the Thief Rat, in the alleyway, Souya returned to the adventurer’s inn and, tired as he was, rented a private room and went to sleep early.

Rat was a Thief, but he was also an adventurer. It was highly unlikely that he would be able to track Souya down again and do anything resembling surveillance at an adventurer’s inn. The inn is affiliated with the Adventurers’ Guild and the Adventurers’ Tavern, and if he committed a crime and was blacklisted, it would be difficult for him to continue his career as an adventurer in the city of Ilstadt. At least while I’m here, my safety will be guaranteed.

The next day. Souya woke up to the sound of knocking. Outside, he could hear the chirping of early birds. It was probably still early morning.

“Souya, are you there?”

I heard a familiar girl’s voice from outside my room.

(…… Is this voice Merylou-kun?)

Souya yawned, and with a sleepy look in his eyes, he reached for his glasses on the side of the bed. Before he could do so, Merylou opened the door to his room.

“Hey, Souya. …… Ohhhhh, Mia. Come here. You’ll see something good.”

Mia followed Merylou into the room and found herself face to face with a naked Souya.

“Ahhhh ……! I’m sorry, Souya-san.”

When Mia saw Souya’s naked body, she hurriedly hid herself outside the room, and Merylou laughed.

“Seriously. After knocking, shouldn’t you wait for a response first? …… Well, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if you see me or not.”

Souya got off the bed and, at his own pace, put on the shirt on the hanger, put on his tie, put on his slacks, and put on his jacket. He continued to check his hair bed in the hand mirror. There didn’t seem to be any noticeable mess in his hair today. Merylou, who had remained in the room, watched him without embarrassment.

“Mia-kun, I’m done changing. How did you know I’ve come back to the inn, Merylou-kun?”

“Yesterday, when I was closing the window, I happened to see Souya coming back. So just now I asked the master which room you were staying in …… What, I thought you were going out last night to play?”

“In the end, I just spent one gold coin. It was supposed to be a fun chat, but I guess my attitude was a little too familiar, and I scared them off.”

Souya shrugged his shoulders as he recalled the exchange he had with Rat in the alley behind the red light district last night, and told a random story that was a mixture of truth and fiction. I don’t think I need to tell them about my contact with the Thief at this point.

“Merylou-kun, do you think my smile is scary?”

“…… What’s that question? There’s nothing scary about it …… But, you might look like a guy from a bad organization.”

“What do you mean by, “bad organization”?”

In response to Merylou’s analogy, Souya frowned and looked unhappy. If he looks like he’s from a bad organization, does that mean he’s given them a fright?

It was a normal business smile, but the world, the culture, and the situation were different, so it might have been necessary to take these things into account.

“…… Sorry for waking you up so early in the morning. I thought I had to say hello to Souya-san before I left.”

Mia came back into the room again and apologized to Souya apologetically.

“I don’t mind. But I didn’t know you were going out this early in the morning. Are you two planning to go hiking together?”

Mia and Merylou were both dressed as travelers, with their bundled luggage on their backs and their cloaks over their bodies. Mia had said she was going out, so they would probably be leaving the city of Ilstadt now.

“Souya, you won’t be taking any requests for a while, will you? I’m going to take a forest bath with Mia”

“Forest bathing …… in the Thrail Forest?”

“Yeah. Yeah. The only good forest near here is Thrail Forest, after all.”

Even though it’s close by, it takes about half a day’s walk from Ilstadt to reach the Thrail Forest. For Souya, it’s a tough distance to go for a spur-of-the-moment trip, but for the residents of this world, it might not be that far of a trip.

I wonder if her instinct to return to the forest is a habit of the wood elves born from Yggdrasil Forest. Even though she abandoned her homeland, she may not be able to completely abandon her life in the forest.

“Homesickness, I guess. How cute. It seems that Merylou-kun still has feelings for the forest.”

“…… Hey, don’t be silly. I have no longing for my hometown. But I think it’s the right thing to do for all living things to get out of the city once in a while and enjoy nature …… and forest bathing is what Mia wanted.”

Merylou countered Souya’s agitation. When she said that, Souya remembered that Mia once said that she wanted to take a walk in the forest. 

The previous request to rescue at the old fort had been a series of mentally taxing events. It might not be a bad idea to take a break in a calm place with a lot of nature, while exercising our bodies moderately.

“Souya-san, I’m going to go play with nature in the forest with Merylou-san. I’ll pick up some wildflowers and berries as souvenirs. But it was Merylou-san who strongly requested the forest bathing ……”

“Hey, Mia, you don’t have to say unnecessary things. I’m about 4 and Mia is about 6. So it being Mia’s want is correct.”

Merylou interrupted Mia’s words and began to make some kind of excuse. I guess she has a habit of wanting to go back to the forest periodically. She seemed to be more concerned about it than she thought, so it was probably best to refrain from pointing it out too much.

“It doesn’t matter who wants to do it. Rather than that, if you add more objectives to it, it will distract you from it. Mia-kun, I’m off the clock right now. Don’t think about souvenirs or anything else, just go and enjoy nature.”

Souya tried to smile back at the softly smiling Mia, but the thought of her being frightened by her smile last night crossed his mind, and his smile became somewhat awkward.

“…… What the hell, Souya? What’s with the weird expression? If you want, Souya, we can go to the Thrail Forest together. Do you not like nature?”

“I’ll pass this time. It’s not that I don’t like nature. But I have my own preparations to make during my vacation …… That’s right, I need to renew my broken weapon.”

As for why he wanted to stay in town, he thought of the rat that had followed Souya last night. If Souya was going to be stalked again, one of the things he wanted to do was to talk to him while the two of them were bathing in the Thrail forest.

After that, as Souya had said earlier, he needed to get a new weapon to replace his beloved saber, which had been broken by the Silver Demon. It was originally used by the leader of the thieves who had been attacking Mia, but it was a good length and weight to handle with one hand, so Souya felt strongly that it was a shame to throw it away now.

(To be honest, that saber was too good to be owned by a common thief. I just wish I could get something like it.)

There was a high possibility that it was a special order item, given its quality. If I want to get one of the same grade, it will cost a good deal more.

“Oh, right, I think the blade was crushed and broken …… Should I give you some too? It’s going to be pretty pricey, isn’t it?”

“I’ll give you some too. If Souya-san’s doesn’t have a weapon ……”

“No, I’ll just take your consideration. Merylou-kun will have to pay for her own arrows, and I still owe Mia-kun some money. You can think of it as your share of the money. “

Souya said no to the two who were trying to give him money. I’m not sure which weapon I’m going to buy, and if I’m going to get a good one, the price will go through the roof. If I don’t care about the money, the reward I got last time would be gone in a flash.

“I see …… Well, I’ll be back in three days. Don’t worry. I can assure you that there is no one in Ilstadt who knows the forest better than I do. I’ll take care of Mia.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about with Merylou-kun around, but be careful not to venture into the dangerous depths.”

In addition to Mia, who is a full-time cleric, Merylou is a shaman who can use the wind spirit Sylph, which is more than capable of fighting most monsters. Even in an emergency situation where there is a battle, there will be no problem. The age of the moon makes it unlikely that there will be any irregularities like the dire wolf we encountered in the Thrail Forest.

“Then, I’m off, Souya-san. I’ll look forward to seeing you again in three days.”

Souya also tried to smile at Merylou, who waved, and Mia, who smiled, but it turned out to be the same awkward and strange smile as before.

After seeing them off, Souya took out his hand mirror and reconfirmed the business smile that he usually did in the real world.

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