Chapter 68 : Mother?
————————————————
“Ah! Those are the guys that were flirting openly in front of the restaurant just now.”
“Oh my… Upon closer look, he looks really adorable and handsome!”
As soon as we entered the restaurant, the ladies that were having a meal started to talk with each other while occasionally stealing glances in our direction. Ah… I wonder if they saw us hugging from inside the restaurant…..
“Come on. You guys are here for lunch, right? There’s an empty table over there so go and take a seat. All four of you are going to eat here, right?”
“Ah, yes… Umm… I’m sorry for showing you such an unsightly sight today and the day before as well…”
Eva-san led us to our seat, she was talking nonchalantly as if she didn’t mind the things that we’ve done in front of her restaurant before. Before sitting down, I apologized to her quietly so the other patrons wouldn’t hear us.
“Huh? Oh… You don’t have to worry about it, okay? Being young is so great, huh…”
Eva-san grinned and laughed merrily as she walked back to the kitchen.
“Oooh…”
I sat down on a chair and planted my face flat on the table in agony.
Ahhh why did I just stand there and let myself be hugged without any resistance in that kind of place!!
“Ren-kun? Are you alright?”
Fer-san, who was sitting across from me, gently stroked my head as I buried my face even flatter on the table.
“I’m fine but I’m not fine at the same time. If I could die from embarrassment, I feel like I’d die right here and then.”
“Ren, don’t fret about it. Maybe it’s different from where you came from but here, acting like that in public is completely normal.”
Sig-san, who was sitting next to me, laughed boisterously with his elbow propped on the table.
I just couldn’t understand the thing people in Alsar consider as normal and not!
“Uuugh…”
“Thank you for waiting~ Today we have a chicken tempura lunch set special!~ Ken said it’s a local cuisine from his previous world but… Anyway! Try to dip the chicken in this sauce.”
Chicken Tempura Set
The three of them were looking at me with a cheeky look on their face when Eva-san came to our table with her hands full of our food.
“… Thank you. Ah.. I’ve missed this meal… Thank you for the meal.”
Today’s main dish was chicken tempura. This meal originated from Oita Prefecture, a region in Japan. I’ve never went to Oita before but I’ve eaten chicken tempura quite often in a certain family restaurant back in Japan so this meal was really nostalgic for me.
“Wow.. This sour sauce feels so refreshing! It’s so delicious!”
Chris-san, who was sitting by my side, seemed to like it as well. He was chewing on the chicken and muttered to himself, enjoying his meal to his heart’s content.
“Yes. Eva-san, this chicken tastes so delicious!”
“I’m happy to hear that and more importantly, I’m even happier to see you guys have finally talked and set things straight.”
Eva-san said with a tender smile on her face. She left us to ourselves in order to attend to the other customers after we had told her our thoughts on the chicken tempura she had served to us.
“Whoa, that was good! Ren’s meal is so delicious but eating out once in a while is not bad either.”
Sig-san was munching on his meal with great gusto. He patted his stomach after he finished his meal, looking extremely satisfied.
“That’s right. After we get married, I think Ren-kun will be in charge of our meal but let’s still eat out every once in a while, alright? Ah. We also need to share the housework between ourselves too.”
“Yup, yup!~ We have to work together properly~”
Of course I’d be the one in charge of cooking after we got married. I originally thought I’d also do the other housework too since I honestly didn’t mind doing them but apparently the others already planned on sharing the other housework together. Sig-san grew up in an orphanage so he must’ve already used to do house chores but Fer-san was a literal prince and Chris-san was a nobleman. Do they even know how to do chores in the first place…? Well… Most of the housework could be finished with magic so I guess they could do it without any problem…?
“The other patrons have already left so let me chill down for a second with you guys, alright?”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for the meal today, it was delicious as always.”
Before we knew it, the other patrons had all already left. Eva-san had hung a ‘closed’ sign on the door before she walked to our table while carrying a chair in her hands.
“The chicken tempura is Ken’s specialty, you know? I also like it very much.”
“I see. It was very delicious indeed.”
“So? What happened after that?”
“Yes. ───────”
Eva-san began the conversation by talking about the chicken tempura before she jumped to the gun by asking about what had happened the day before yesterday after I left her restaurant.
“I see. Seems like everything is going well for you. Ren-kun, the thought of hating them never crossed your mind, right?”
“… Yes.”
Eva-san looked disinterested but as I thought, deep down inside, Eva-san actually cared about us. She had a relieved expression on her face as she laughed softly after she heard my answer.
She was someone who was overflowing with motherliness. I wondered whether this was what a normal mother was like? Eva-san was an elf so while she might look like a 20 year old, she was actually already 80 years old. I guess calling someone like her ‘mother’ would be weird, huh?
“Well then, thank you for the meal. Will it be alright if I come back here again?”
“Yes, I will welcome you anytime.”
We talked for a while before we decided it was time for us to leave Ken. Eva-san went out of her way to walk us to the door and she didn’t even stop waving her hand at us until we turned the corner.
“Do you think… It’s weird if I consider Eva-san as my mother…?”
After making sure Eva-san was out of sight, I asked Chris-san, who was holding his hands with me. My own birth mother wasn’t really affectionate with me. I couldn’t even remember having any memories with her that could be considered as the typical ‘mother and her child’ moment.
Physically speaking, Eva-san looked the same age as me but maybe because she was much older than me, Eva-san exuded this soft and warm feeling around her. It was not an exaggeration to say that Eva-san was the ideal mother figure in my eyes.
“Hm?~ I think you’re free to think whatever you want but I think she’d be delighted to hear that, you know?~ She did say she couldn’t have children with Ken-san and since Ren-chan was an otherworlder too, like Ken-san. Maybe she think of you as her child or grandson~”
“It’d be nice if she does… I’m still too embarrassed to say it upfront so I think I will keep this between us for now.”
I see… Come to think of it, I’ve never heard Eva-san mention anything about children… So turns out she and Ken-san couldn’t have a child…
“Fufu~ That’d be great if it’s true. Well now. We’ve finished eating and we don’t have any plans left for today. What should we do now?”
After leaving the store, we were walking toward Malik-san’s house since I thought we were going to head home. I wondered if they already had something in mind after this?
“Ah, right. The escort quest. To tell you the truth, I still didn’t know what the quest entailed… Accepting the quest before fully understanding the details might not be the best idea of mine but please tell me more about the escort quest…”
I remembered about the escort quest I had accepted this morning. Since it was an ‘escort’ quest, that meant we only had to protect the client and take them to their destination, right?
“Ah.. To put it simply, you just have to protect the client from any danger. There are many things involved. Like if the road to the destination is rugged here and there, you have to make sure the client can get across it in one piece. Or if there are bandits or monsters along the way, you have to defeat them while making sure the client is not harmed.”
Sig-san explained.
It was exactly like what I had in my mind. But they said the road to Lasserna was relatively safe. I don’t think there would be any dangerous things along the way…
“There shouldn’t be that kind of danger on the way to Lasserna but we still have to keep our guards up. The client is probably going to ride a carriage so we will have to follow the client using William and the others.”
Fer-san said.
“With this kind of quest, usually the guild will contact us a few days after we accepted the quest to tell us about the details because some of the escort quests have a pretty short deadline. Usually the adventurers don’t have a lot of time left to prepare but in our case, there are more than 10 days left before our departure. The guild will be the one who calls us and coordinates us together with our client.”
Sig-san added.
“Ooh… The guilds do all sorts of things, huh…”
It had been a while since I last rode William and the others! Chris-san and the others were going to move into the rental house two days from now. The rental house came with a stable so we would be able to meet with William and the others more often but still, we couldn’t just stay together with the horses all day long. I’m glad we took this quest since now we would have more time together with William and the others.
Ah, but… It wouldn’t be fair for me to be feeling this way. The client went all the way to request an A-ranked party as an escort so the client must be feeling they were in big trouble. And yet… I was feeling happy because I got to be with the horses all day long… I felt bad for the client for feeling this way…
“To tell you the truth, I want to be with Ren-kun forever but Eva-san told me to stop hogging you too much. Shall we part our ways here today, Ren-kun?”
“Yes. Ah, right. Tomorrow is Malik-san’s day off so I’m going to spend the day with him.”
We finally arrived at Malik-san’s house as we talked along the way.
While we were talking at Ken, Eva-san told them.
“Ren-kun must’ve felt tired being together with you guys all the time so make sure to give him a space every now and then, okay?”
After hearing that, the three of them wasted no time to implement that new notion right away. Certainly we had to go our separate way at night but we literally kept spending the whole day together.
Tomorrow Malik-san didn’t have to go to work so we’ve promised to spend our day together. I’d be leaving the house after I got married and although the distance between Malik-san’s house and our new house was only 20 minutes away, I still wouldn’t have many opportunities to spend a whole day together with Malik-san like this. Which was why, unless I already had made plans with Fer-san and the other, I wanted to spend time together with Malik-san as much as possible.
“I see… Well, it can’t be helped I guess. Then what about the day after tomorrow?”
“Umm… You guys are going to move into the rental house, right? On that day… Malik-san is on a night shift so can I stay the night with you guys?”
Sig-san looked disappointed knowing I planned to be with Malik-san tomorrow but more than his expression, the way his wolf ear went flat when he was feeling down was just… Too… Adorable!
Even though Sig-san was already 25 years old…
Even though Sig-san was 200cm tall and the difference in our height was more than 50 cm, Sig-san still looked so irresistibly adorable!!
When I saw Sig-san looking cute like that, I suggested staying the night with them without thinking much but now… Had I crossed the line by barging myself like this?
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Of course~ I can’t wait to have you with us~ Make sure you be a good boy tomorrow, okay?~”
“That’s right. We will come pick you up around noon in two days then?”
“Ah, no! I will come to your place so just wait for me there!”
The three of them looked more than happy to have me. They gave me the permission to stay with them almost immediately. They even offered to pick me up but that’d be double the effort since they had to come back and forth. It’d be more efficient if I was the one that came to their place instead.
Each one of them gave me a kiss on the cheek before returning to the guild.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Chris’s POV
“Hey. Where do you guys plan on taking Ren with later?”
“Hm? Why do you ask?~”
“Of course! It’s our first date, you know? I don’t want to take Ren to the same place as you guys so we have to decide now.”
As we were on our way back to the guild from Malik-san’s house, Sig mentioned the date.
Well…He got a point there…
In any case, the order for the date went like Sig, me and then Fer. The order was made in accordance with the quest we had taken.
“You’re right… Taking Ren-kun to the same place twice is certainly…”
“Well if it’s Ren-chan I’m sure he must be feeling happy even if he goes to the same place thrice in a row~”
“I’m thinking of going to ─────”
“As for me─────”
“Then I guess I will ─────?~”
We were relieved to know that each one of us had a different plan in mind.
“Before our date, we have to move into the rental house and check on the design of the vow cuff… Ah and we also need to check on the progress of the house’s design…”
“Hold your horses. Ren is going to get tired if we take him around like that. Stop that.”
“That’s right~ I’m going to feel lonely but I guess we shouldn’t pester him too much? I want to keep the cuff design as a surprise for him too~”
“Then I guess we’ll be on our own tomorrow.”
“Since Ren-kun is not available, there’s no need for us to gather. I will see you guys at the same place for breakfast in two days from now.”
It didn’t take long for us to reach the guild since the distance between Malik-san’s house and the guild was not far to begin with. We parted ways after we talked a little about our plan the day after tomorrow.
Tomorrow we couldn’t be with Ren-chan…
I wonder what I should do tomorrow?
Chapter 68 : Mother?
————————————————
“Ah! Those are the guys that were flirting openly in front of the restaurant just now.”
“Oh my… Upon closer look, he looks really adorable and handsome!”
As soon as we entered the restaurant, the ladies that were having a meal started to talk with each other while occasionally stealing glances in our direction. Ah… I wonder if they saw us hugging from inside the restaurant…..
“Come on. You guys are here for lunch, right? There’s an empty table over there so go and take a seat. All four of you are going to eat here, right?”
“Ah, yes… Umm… I’m sorry for showing you such an unsightly sight today and the day before as well…”
Eva-san led us to our seat, she was talking nonchalantly as if she didn’t mind the things that we’ve done in front of her restaurant before. Before sitting down, I apologized to her quietly so the other patrons wouldn’t hear us.
“Huh? Oh… You don’t have to worry about it, okay? Being young is so great, huh…”
Eva-san grinned and laughed merrily as she walked back to the kitchen.
“Oooh…”
I sat down on a chair and planted my face flat on the table in agony.
Ahhh why did I just stand there and let myself be hugged without any resistance in that kind of place!!
“Ren-kun? Are you alright?”
Fer-san, who was sitting across from me, gently stroked my head as I buried my face even flatter on the table.
“I’m fine but I’m not fine at the same time. If I could die from embarrassment, I feel like I’d die right here and then.”
“Ren, don’t fret about it. Maybe it’s different from where you came from but here, acting like that in public is completely normal.”
Sig-san, who was sitting next to me, laughed boisterously with his elbow propped on the table.
I just couldn’t understand the thing people in Alsar consider as normal and not!
“Uuugh…”
“Thank you for waiting~ Today we have a chicken tempura lunch set special!~ Ken said it’s a local cuisine from his previous world but… Anyway! Try to dip the chicken in this sauce.”
Chicken Tempura Set
The three of them were looking at me with a cheeky look on their face when Eva-san came to our table with her hands full of our food.
“… Thank you. Ah.. I’ve missed this meal… Thank you for the meal.”
Today’s main dish was chicken tempura. This meal originated from Oita Prefecture, a region in Japan. I’ve never went to Oita before but I’ve eaten chicken tempura quite often in a certain family restaurant back in Japan so this meal was really nostalgic for me.
“Wow.. This sour sauce feels so refreshing! It’s so delicious!”
Chris-san, who was sitting by my side, seemed to like it as well. He was chewing on the chicken and muttered to himself, enjoying his meal to his heart’s content.
“Yes. Eva-san, this chicken tastes so delicious!”
“I’m happy to hear that and more importantly, I’m even happier to see you guys have finally talked and set things straight.”
Eva-san said with a tender smile on her face. She left us to ourselves in order to attend to the other customers after we had told her our thoughts on the chicken tempura she had served to us.
“Whoa, that was good! Ren’s meal is so delicious but eating out once in a while is not bad either.”
Sig-san was munching on his meal with great gusto. He patted his stomach after he finished his meal, looking extremely satisfied.
“That’s right. After we get married, I think Ren-kun will be in charge of our meal but let’s still eat out every once in a while, alright? Ah. We also need to share the housework between ourselves too.”
“Yup, yup!~ We have to work together properly~”
Of course I’d be the one in charge of cooking after we got married. I originally thought I’d also do the other housework too since I honestly didn’t mind doing them but apparently the others already planned on sharing the other housework together. Sig-san grew up in an orphanage so he must’ve already used to do house chores but Fer-san was a literal prince and Chris-san was a nobleman. Do they even know how to do chores in the first place…? Well… Most of the housework could be finished with magic so I guess they could do it without any problem…?
“The other patrons have already left so let me chill down for a second with you guys, alright?”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for the meal today, it was delicious as always.”
Before we knew it, the other patrons had all already left. Eva-san had hung a ‘closed’ sign on the door before she walked to our table while carrying a chair in her hands.
“The chicken tempura is Ken’s specialty, you know? I also like it very much.”
“I see. It was very delicious indeed.”
“So? What happened after that?”
“Yes. ───────”
Eva-san began the conversation by talking about the chicken tempura before she jumped to the gun by asking about what had happened the day before yesterday after I left her restaurant.
“I see. Seems like everything is going well for you. Ren-kun, the thought of hating them never crossed your mind, right?”
“… Yes.”
Eva-san looked disinterested but as I thought, deep down inside, Eva-san actually cared about us. She had a relieved expression on her face as she laughed softly after she heard my answer.
She was someone who was overflowing with motherliness. I wondered whether this was what a normal mother was like? Eva-san was an elf so while she might look like a 20 year old, she was actually already 80 years old. I guess calling someone like her ‘mother’ would be weird, huh?
“Well then, thank you for the meal. Will it be alright if I come back here again?”
“Yes, I will welcome you anytime.”
We talked for a while before we decided it was time for us to leave Ken. Eva-san went out of her way to walk us to the door and she didn’t even stop waving her hand at us until we turned the corner.
“Do you think… It’s weird if I consider Eva-san as my mother…?”
After making sure Eva-san was out of sight, I asked Chris-san, who was holding his hands with me. My own birth mother wasn’t really affectionate with me. I couldn’t even remember having any memories with her that could be considered as the typical ‘mother and her child’ moment.
Physically speaking, Eva-san looked the same age as me but maybe because she was much older than me, Eva-san exuded this soft and warm feeling around her. It was not an exaggeration to say that Eva-san was the ideal mother figure in my eyes.
“Hm?~ I think you’re free to think whatever you want but I think she’d be delighted to hear that, you know?~ She did say she couldn’t have children with Ken-san and since Ren-chan was an otherworlder too, like Ken-san. Maybe she think of you as her child or grandson~”
“It’d be nice if she does… I’m still too embarrassed to say it upfront so I think I will keep this between us for now.”
I see… Come to think of it, I’ve never heard Eva-san mention anything about children… So turns out she and Ken-san couldn’t have a child…
“Fufu~ That’d be great if it’s true. Well now. We’ve finished eating and we don’t have any plans left for today. What should we do now?”
After leaving the store, we were walking toward Malik-san’s house since I thought we were going to head home. I wondered if they already had something in mind after this?
“Ah, right. The escort quest. To tell you the truth, I still didn’t know what the quest entailed… Accepting the quest before fully understanding the details might not be the best idea of mine but please tell me more about the escort quest…”
I remembered about the escort quest I had accepted this morning. Since it was an ‘escort’ quest, that meant we only had to protect the client and take them to their destination, right?
“Ah.. To put it simply, you just have to protect the client from any danger. There are many things involved. Like if the road to the destination is rugged here and there, you have to make sure the client can get across it in one piece. Or if there are bandits or monsters along the way, you have to defeat them while making sure the client is not harmed.”
Sig-san explained.
It was exactly like what I had in my mind. But they said the road to Lasserna was relatively safe. I don’t think there would be any dangerous things along the way…
“There shouldn’t be that kind of danger on the way to Lasserna but we still have to keep our guards up. The client is probably going to ride a carriage so we will have to follow the client using William and the others.”
Fer-san said.
“With this kind of quest, usually the guild will contact us a few days after we accepted the quest to tell us about the details because some of the escort quests have a pretty short deadline. Usually the adventurers don’t have a lot of time left to prepare but in our case, there are more than 10 days left before our departure. The guild will be the one who calls us and coordinates us together with our client.”
Sig-san added.
“Ooh… The guilds do all sorts of things, huh…”
It had been a while since I last rode William and the others! Chris-san and the others were going to move into the rental house two days from now. The rental house came with a stable so we would be able to meet with William and the others more often but still, we couldn’t just stay together with the horses all day long. I’m glad we took this quest since now we would have more time together with William and the others.
Ah, but… It wouldn’t be fair for me to be feeling this way. The client went all the way to request an A-ranked party as an escort so the client must be feeling they were in big trouble. And yet… I was feeling happy because I got to be with the horses all day long… I felt bad for the client for feeling this way…
“To tell you the truth, I want to be with Ren-kun forever but Eva-san told me to stop hogging you too much. Shall we part our ways here today, Ren-kun?”
“Yes. Ah, right. Tomorrow is Malik-san’s day off so I’m going to spend the day with him.”
We finally arrived at Malik-san’s house as we talked along the way.
While we were talking at Ken, Eva-san told them.
“Ren-kun must’ve felt tired being together with you guys all the time so make sure to give him a space every now and then, okay?”
After hearing that, the three of them wasted no time to implement that new notion right away. Certainly we had to go our separate way at night but we literally kept spending the whole day together.
Tomorrow Malik-san didn’t have to go to work so we’ve promised to spend our day together. I’d be leaving the house after I got married and although the distance between Malik-san’s house and our new house was only 20 minutes away, I still wouldn’t have many opportunities to spend a whole day together with Malik-san like this. Which was why, unless I already had made plans with Fer-san and the other, I wanted to spend time together with Malik-san as much as possible.
“I see… Well, it can’t be helped I guess. Then what about the day after tomorrow?”
“Umm… You guys are going to move into the rental house, right? On that day… Malik-san is on a night shift so can I stay the night with you guys?”
Sig-san looked disappointed knowing I planned to be with Malik-san tomorrow but more than his expression, the way his wolf ear went flat when he was feeling down was just… Too… Adorable!
Even though Sig-san was already 25 years old…
Even though Sig-san was 200cm tall and the difference in our height was more than 50 cm, Sig-san still looked so irresistibly adorable!!
When I saw Sig-san looking cute like that, I suggested staying the night with them without thinking much but now… Had I crossed the line by barging myself like this?
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Of course~ I can’t wait to have you with us~ Make sure you be a good boy tomorrow, okay?~”
“That’s right. We will come pick you up around noon in two days then?”
“Ah, no! I will come to your place so just wait for me there!”
The three of them looked more than happy to have me. They gave me the permission to stay with them almost immediately. They even offered to pick me up but that’d be double the effort since they had to come back and forth. It’d be more efficient if I was the one that came to their place instead.
Each one of them gave me a kiss on the cheek before returning to the guild.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Chris’s POV
“Hey. Where do you guys plan on taking Ren with later?”
“Hm? Why do you ask?~”
“Of course! It’s our first date, you know? I don’t want to take Ren to the same place as you guys so we have to decide now.”
As we were on our way back to the guild from Malik-san’s house, Sig mentioned the date.
Well…He got a point there…
In any case, the order for the date went like Sig, me and then Fer. The order was made in accordance with the quest we had taken.
“You’re right… Taking Ren-kun to the same place twice is certainly…”
“Well if it’s Ren-chan I’m sure he must be feeling happy even if he goes to the same place thrice in a row~”
“I’m thinking of going to ─────”
“As for me─────”
“Then I guess I will ─────?~”
We were relieved to know that each one of us had a different plan in mind.
“Before our date, we have to move into the rental house and check on the design of the vow cuff… Ah and we also need to check on the progress of the house’s design…”
“Hold your horses. Ren is going to get tired if we take him around like that. Stop that.”
“That’s right~ I’m going to feel lonely but I guess we shouldn’t pester him too much? I want to keep the cuff design as a surprise for him too~”
“Then I guess we’ll be on our own tomorrow.”
“Since Ren-kun is not available, there’s no need for us to gather. I will see you guys at the same place for breakfast in two days from now.”
It didn’t take long for us to reach the guild since the distance between Malik-san’s house and the guild was not far to begin with. We parted ways after we talked a little about our plan the day after tomorrow.
Tomorrow we couldn’t be with Ren-chan…
I wonder what I should do tomorrow?
