534 Chapter 496.

What do you mean?

Mr. Zinal tilts his head at our conversation.

I opened the bag slung over my shoulder and looked inside, and my gaze met with Sora's.

Apparently, she had heard the conversation.

'Sora is very good at finding caves and rock holes. She'll find places out of sight, too.

Dad looks at Sola as she jumps out of the bag.

'Sola, I'm sorry, but I need your help.

"Pfft.

Sora purred happily at her father's words.

She seems to be in a pretty good mood, so I'm sure she'll find a good place for me.

'Sora, can you find a place for me, your father and your sister to hide?'

I think he heard me talking in the bag, but I have to ask him to look me right in the eye.

'Pfft~'

Sola still purred happily and looked around.

And soon, she began to move.

'Let's go. Will Jinal and the others come too?

When his father looked at Jinal and the others, Jinal let out a sigh for some reason.

'Thora ...... Oh, no, it's nothing. It's just Ivy's tamed slime. Yup. Can you do something like that?

Zinal looked at Sora and nodded at me.

What is this, should I be happy about this?

'Sora is not your average slime at all.

Garrit's words made me chuckle along with my father.

You are absolutely right.

''Pfft~''

I turned my gaze to the sound of Sora's cries.

I saw Sola jumping up and down in the same spot.

I wondered if they'd found her already?

You're early.

Sola, did you find it?

"Pfft.

A large rock with ivy tangled in it.

If you look closely, you can see that the inside of the rock is hollow.

But we couldn't get in because the ivy was tangled around the whole rock.

We'll have to cut through the ivy.

Dad took out a small knife and a small knife and cut the ivy.

As the ivy flapped away, a wide hollow appeared.

'Oh, great. Let's go have a quick look inside.

Mr. Zinal went into the hole, looking like he was enjoying himself.

He came out after a while and told me it was all right.

'Gullit, is this place okay?'

Gullit nodded at Zinal's words.

'It's okay. We've got the location.'

Okay. Well, we're going to Hataha village to have some fun.

Do you want to play?

Maybe it's about going to a bar?

For that, I'm a little concerned about the look on Jinal and his team's face.

What's the deal, they're just going to collect ...... gossip like they're up to something, right?

Don't go.

Mr. Zinal and the others wave their hands and I wave at them.

'What's up?'

My dad looks at my expression and gives me a strange look.

Did I see that much in his expression?

I was wondering about the look on Jinal's face.

Dad nodded at my words.

I knew my dad felt something too.

''Maybe he'll do something to get information about the royal capital.

Didn't you say you were just going to get lucky with the information on King's Landing?

Ivy's aware of this, right?

Does this mean that Jinal and his friends aren't just ordinary adventurers?

Dad nodded silently at my words.

That means there's more to it than just the investigators.

I stared at my dad and cowered my shoulders.

...... I guess that means I'm not going to go deeper.

'Well, let's get you ready for bed today.

I go into the rock hole with my sister who was watching me and my dad curiously.

It's spacious inside, and Ciel can lie down as well.

Let's make a bed first.

At dad's words, he takes out the necessary items from the magic bag.

My sister, who needed help in the beginning, can now prepare her bed by herself.

She doesn't have the strength yet, but she's gotten pretty used to the journey.

''Good. Let's make dinner.

Start a fire to cook dinner.

I pick up the branches that have fallen around us, but there doesn't seem to be much of them around the rock pit.

'Malia, stay here with Ciel. I'll go find some branches.

At Dad's words, his sister, who was on fire duty, nodded.

'Alright. I'll do my best to keep the fire going.

I'll pick it up as soon as I can. Ciel, take care of your sister. What about Sola and the others?

Meow.

Pfft~

Terryu~

Pfft.

I guess that means Ciel understands.

Well, do you think Sola and Flem will be coming with us ......?

Oh, Sol is on fire.

It's not that cold.

'Malia, I'm going to go. I'll be close by and you can shout if you need anything. Well, I'm sure you'll be okay with Ciel being here.

Meow.

Ciel wagged her tail happily at her father's words.

He stroked his head and his throat groaned.

'I'm going to go.'

He waved to his sister and Ciel, then looked for a branch that had fallen off.

'The branches around here would be nice and dry.

I nodded at my father's words and picked up the branches and put them in my magic bag.

I don't know how long we'll be in this village, but tomorrow we'll still be here.

We'll pick up tomorrow's, too, together.

'Ivy. You heard about me from Jinal and the others, didn't you?

Is this about your father?

If it was the old days of your father, I'd have heard about it.

...... Right.

Hmm?

Is your father's voice strained?

I turn my gaze to my dad, and he looks at me with a mixture of emotions.

'What's wrong?'

What did you think?

...... Does that mean you know your old dad?

I didn't think anything of it.

'What?　Well, you know, he's a terrible guy or something: ......

A bad one?

Oh, come to think of it, they said he was called a cold-blooded man because he was unusually quick to cut down his friends.

I didn't think so. I know that an adventurer's job is sometimes to make cruel decisions. I think the response your father took at the time was the best he could have done.

Sure, he may have cut down on his friends.

But I suspect it was to protect a lot of people.

Or there was some circumstance.

Because, you know, that master is watching over us, right?

I'm not going to let you do anything wrong.

'...... Not so much. If you'd thought about it more, there would have been other ways to do it.

I can see the regret on my dad's face.

If your father says that, then there must have been another way.

But who knows if that method would have succeeded.

'Maybe so. But it's possible that if we had done it any other way, it would have failed, right?

Is it possible that ......

There.

Then your father's decision is not a mistake.

'If your father cut people down for no reason, I'm sure Master wouldn't shut up about it: ......

Not only the Master, but Mr. Gothos as well.

'Indeed it is. When I'm about to do something stupid, for some reason, Master is always there for me. And he'll say sarcastic things and make fun of me, and I'll get extremely irritated, and then I'll take it out on my mentor .......

That's very typical of a master.

I'm sure he was deliberately inflaming his suppressed anger and letting it come out on him.

When Gotos-san becomes Gilmouth, he's going to make his father do something like a job where he can take out his anger.

'Come to think of it, the adventurers your father raised talked about it. Your father saved a lot of people's lives because of his work. I think people who understand that understand.

Three young adventurers who were truly worried about their dad when they first met him.

They said they met him when they were just starting out as adventurers and that he had drilled the basics into them.

I remember them happily talking about how their father's teachings had saved their lives many times.

They said that their father was an amazing adventurer.

They said that many people were saved because of their dad.

They went along with ...... my selfish regrets.

Regrets?

I look at my dad.

'I couldn't save them, I saved them because they had a similar vibe to me. It was self-serving.

'I don't know who they are, Dad, but I can see how sad they were, and I can see how sad he is now.

'Maybe at first, but you didn't want them to die, so you hit the basics, didn't you?

Well. Well, those guys were a mess. So I really got into the basics that my master taught me.

The trigger may have been your father's complacency, but the result was to save their lives.

When I said that, his father looked so relieved.

What in the world is he so worried about?

You didn't want people to know about your old dad?

No matter what rumors I've heard, it doesn't change the impression I have of my father as a kind man.

'Bad. For trying: ......

Somehow, I thought it was on the way.

I didn't realize it, but I guess I'm holding back a lot of anxiety?

In my mind, your father is kind and cool.

Is it cool?　I think you're looking pretty disgusting.

'No, it's cool. And too clumsy!

Dad looked surprised at my words.

You're holding on to too much of everything.