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FICTION

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Chapter 10: Fatherly Talk, Motherly Glare

I think the other knows something has happened between me and Zenith.

To be honest, I would have picked up this matter if I had been a spectator through the lovey-dovey act the blonde took around me. It was too evident, too blatant- she was just being extremely nice and touchy around me. It doesn't take a genius to understand that whatever happened, it has to have put our relationship in a more intimate light. And that it was a permanent thing from the way this behavior persisted for a few weeks now.

Elinalise's knowing smile, Ghislaine's amused glint from her visible eye and Geese being more teasing than usual on how close the blonde was around me. Everything was just telling me they were aware and most amused by the circumstance. The two women were definitely more than just that due to what that implied in the long run. Plus, there was also something else to keep in mind.

"Boss, I can't help but pity you," Geese hummed one day as we were coming back home from training.

We had already gone through the monthly quota for missions, so we were just enjoying some days off to recharge our batteries. It was just the two of us, with Zenith having gone home earlier, followed by Elinalise, while Ghislaine remained behind for an extra hour of training. I gave the fellow man a look and blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"Three girls, all moving to get intimate with you. That has to be quite tough to handle," The guy pointed out. "Especially if it's you."

I frowned. "Many men would say that I'm a lucky bastard."

"And you would be lucky if it was just for fun and nothing more. But I can see there's more to it. And more relevance in multiple relationships means lots of difficulties."

"Heh."

"And don't take it as a jab, boss," Geese remarked with a serious tone. "If I have to be honest, you're doing something of a good job."

"Thanks?" I replied tentatively and he snorted mirthfully.

"You're welcome."

It was nice to know that this wasn't going to create troubles, but I also started to set up a small fund in case Geese needed help with any relationship. Would be nice and kind of fancy if he had enough money to provide a modest courting experience with whoever he was interested in, so I kept that in mind and decided to work on making it a reality.

Now, to handle a more serious topic, I will say that training has gotten us all quite far. Elinalise and Zenith spent a few hours together developing ways to make the elf move faster with the auxilium of magic, the girl actually picking up a new pace that provided some means to hold against speedster like Ghislaine. It wasn't enough to win, but it was something that promised a possibility in the near future. Geese and I took the chance to study some gadgets he could implement in his repertoire. The sort of equipment which would help him with infiltration and sabotage. His eyes were literally shining when I mentioned 'remote explosives', and he surely loved the concept of senbon coated in sedatives.

Ghislaine had made progress in getting her speed under control and her offensive capability was nothing short of destructive and deadly. Even during spars I found her eagerness in fighting quite dreadful in some instances. If the beast woman was excited mid-fight, then the best thing one should hope for is for her to tire herself out in the process. I suffered a bit during these brawls, but that was mostly because my reaction time could barely endure the kind of speed she was going for. Even as I used two weapons, her pace was just draining and tiresome for anyone to handle.

I was better myself, yet I now could tell I needed a teacher in case I wanted to get to the next step. Some things were just missing and I could tell I needed someone with experience to tell me what was missing. At first I thought I could have overruled the necessity of a mentor through books, but those didn't exactly provide much insight after a certain point, and I soon found myself stuck. So, that was one of the few things I would have to do to further expand my current training.

Things were going relatively well economic-wise, and we were definitely going to take a month-long vacation if things went well after this important quest we got at the guild. This time we were given our first A-Rank quest and... it was quite far from home. We were going beyond the Asura Kingdom's borders and reaching the Shirone Kingdom to solve some issues coming with some foreign merchants trying to scam the southern kingdoms.

Our goal was to escort and protect a representative from the Asura Kingdom that was dealing with the diplomatic ramifications of such a crisis. One would be confused to imagine how a high-tier B-Rank adventurers' group was being sent instead of someone with higher rank, but the truth was tied to something that has happened in the capital in recent days. Someone had tried to assassinate the King, the principal culprits being a rag-tag of nobles that was trying to replace the current monarch with a 'better-suited' ruler to impose their will with.

I wasn't following this kind of scandalous affair, focusing on thinking about what was needed to be brought with us for the lengthy trip. Geese helped as we all went through a quick shopping trip to get anything we were missing for such a journey. After all, from mere estimation from those that have already gone to Shirone for similar missions, the journey was going to take ten whole days. Which was the longest we have been out for a trip. And that was excluding how long we were going to stay in Shirone. From what the receptionist knew, we were up for at least a week of being in that place before coming back. We were literally going to be a month or so out of Asura, and this created a bit of a frenzy for the entire group.

In particular, I had to get the papers checked out as I decided to pay the taxes for the upcoming month in advance due to this circumstance and managed to get a written admission that the collectors got paid beforehand in that regard to avoid any 'miscommunication' between us and the tax revenue representatives. I gave a thorough look for anything to be worried about in the administrative front while Zenith and Elinalise made sure that the food situation didn't screw us over.

We had a non-negligible amount of edible stuff that was going to mold without a place where to keep those in and so we decided to hand over most of these to the local inn in exchange for a favorable price. Luckily enough, the owner liked us and was running low on supplies anyway. So, our move acted more as a blessing for him rather than a burden.

Everything was set and we were soon talking with the representative himself for the setup he was working with. Not gonna lie, I never thought I would have met a relative to Paul and thought well of him. Then again, Philip Boreas Greyrat behaved in a completely different way compared to his cousin, being a polite individual that made no crass comment about the group beyond, of course, noticing Ghislaine's current disposition but making little to no comment about it. He had the supplies needed for the long journey, but he was legitimately unsure on how to plan out the trip due to how long the trip was going to be.

He was accepting advice from me in that regard and soon we had set up a five-stops trip to reach Shirone. Philip was, by all means, a good-natured individual. While one would normally build a nervous stance around the guy due to the reputation his cousin had built with his actions, the brunet was actually a social and polite individual. The only thing that they both shared was the over-the-top friendliness through their favorite topics. Where Paul was known as a patented pervert with no filter in his mouth, Philip turned into a cheerful moron when it came to talk about his 'greatest treasure'.

"Ah, my little Eris is already playing with her toy sword. I bet she will become the greatest knight ever!" He half-squealed, and I had to hold back from facepalming.

The issue wasn't the fact he was getting so giddy about his own daughter's grand achievements, but because he was clearly missing the fact his little kid was already getting influenced by someone that I knew for a thing was going to get her the worst attitude possible a child should have.

I didn't know the Fittoa Region was administered by a branch of the Greyrat family, but I have heard of 'Sauros the Irate'. The old man, who was soon to give up the lordship of the region to his son, was renowned for his peculiar skill in getting pissed really fast and to get things done in moments one would consider as man-childish temper tantrums.

Now, I normally wasn't one that would get interested in that kind of stuff, but I found compelled to at least point out the bad factor of leaving a child as young as three to be taken care of by his stern but kind mother but also by her loud and boisterous grandfather. I could just smell the disaster even from this far.

"Lord Greyrat, with all due respect to your gentle parenting skills, but do you think it's good that your daughter is left around your father since he is known to be-"

"Quite quick to anger and displease?" Philip guessed, interrupting me. "Ah, I can't blame you for worrying about such a thing, but I can assure you I made sure my father dearest was busy with some more paperwork than usual while I was out. A bit of a punishment for indirectly teaching my daughter a foul word and threatening her purity."

I cracked a grin at that. "I'm glad to hear that, but I was also concerned about the long-term prospect of her being pampered like this."

"Hmm? You think it could be different?" The noble carefully inquired, making it clear he was willing to listen, but that he had set up a hint or two on reacting if my response wasn't of his liking.

"I normally don't bring any advice to parents since I'm not one myself, however I think that due to her behavior, her strong-minded personality, that there should be less complying and start giving her some more reason to be 'active' to gain some of the things she wants. If not, she might end up becoming too... demanding."

"You say you're no parent, and yet you sound like you speak like you have some experience in this regard," The brunet remarked. "Care to explain that much if possible?"

"...I have a little sister. I wouldn't say these two are the same in terms of behavior, but she was the kind of child that was quick to irritate, and even quicker to demand things. My mother was kind about it at first, but then moved to smooth things out about that flaw," I explained calmly, getting a nod from the man. "It can be good to be headstrong but... too much can easily be seen as a pompous and dislikeable behavior. People don't like those that tend to cling so much on their family's name to get their whims satisfied."

He nodded again, and we continued to talk for a while as the trip continued. It was a long journey alright, and the first two stops proved to be fairly tame, with the third one passing through 'Red Dragon Lower Jaw' and proving tedious due to how tight and steep the road was within the area. Then the fourth and fifth were once more smooth and soon we were walking through the gates to enter Shirone. We had the paperwork signed for the visit so we had no trouble getting inside the walls, exploring the city and then getting inside the castle where all diplomats and retinues were staying.

It was around the time we arrived at the castle and we spotted a few banners owned by the various representatives sent from the other southern kingdoms that I noticed Zenith's behavior. The blonde kept close to me much more than before, clinging by my arm a lot but, differently from before as she wasn't doing it out of affection, but for something that was unnerving her. And then it became clear what was going on in the form of a flag I had seen just rarely. That was the Holy Kingdom of Milis' Banner and... I had reason to believe the old woman that was giving me the deadliest glare possible while also looking at the blonde was none other than Zenith's mother.

Yep, this was really going to be a 'great' mission alright...

AN

That's awkward.

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