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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
After confirming that Shrein had evolved into a true ancestral vampire, Kousuke returned to his adventurer activities.
At that time, Kouhi and Mitsuki offered to follow him, but Kousuke refused.
It would end up being difficult for them to move since their faces were generally known to the public as messengers, and their inhuman good looks were noticeable, no matter how they tried to hide their beauty.
Just being in the company of Cecil and Arisa was enough to attract attention, but what would it be like to walk around with both of them?
At the very least, it would not be good for Kousuke.
Above all, he explained to them that if something happened at the Tower, they would definitely need the two of them, especially when it came to combat power.
He added that if something happened to him, he would simply flee to the Yurino Shrine.
The two were reluctant to accept Kousuke’s argument until the very end, but eventually Kousuke settled the matter by forcibly convincing the two.
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“So, please take care of me again.”
Kousuke bowed to Cecil and Arisa, but they were not surprised, since they already talked about it before Kousuke returned to the Administration Floor.
“Please take care of us as well.”
“Same here.”
Cecil and Arisa both bowed to him at the same time.
“I know I’m going to be a nuisance, but please let me stay a while longer.”
“You were never going to be a nuisance to us!”
“That’s right! It’s true that it might become a little dangerous for us if we get used to Kousuke-sama’s presence, but I don’t think of it as a nuisance at all.”
What Arisa said about danger was true in terms of combat, but was also in terms of position.
Although they were technically supposed to be guards for the noble, they had become a little more relaxed when they were not in the public eye.
Kousuke was more easygoing in this situation, but it was not a good thing for the two, considering what would happen in the future.
Kousuke was not pushing the issue any further because they both had their own circumstances.
Kousuke knew that it was natural for those around him to be concerned about it, since he had gained the position of a God, whether he wanted it or not.
Thus, Kousuke once again threw himself into adventurer activities.
The adventurer’s day-to-day activities consisted of obtaining materials from monsters and gathering natural materials.
So, he spent a few days as usual, without any events taking place.
Then one day.
On a whim, he went to the temple in town.
He wanted to see what the temple was like at normal times.
When he told Cecil and Arisa about it beforehand, they naturally went with him because they didn’t know what to expect.
They knew that if they let Kousuke go alone and something happened to him, they would be the ones to blame, but they didn’t stop him either.
And Kousuke would soon be thankful that they followed him as soon as they arrived at the temple.
“Ko… Fugafuga.”
Cecil hurriedly covered Lirica’s mouth when she saw Kousuke when she suddenly attempted to shout his name.
At that moment, Kousuke thought to himself, “Well done, Cecil!”.
Lirica was fumbling around for a bit, but then she calmed down and raised her hands in surrender.
Cecil, seeing this, finally let go of her hand that was covering Lirica’s mouth.
“… I’m sorry.”
Staring at Cecil and Arisa, Lirica apologized.
Reflexively, she tried to say Kousuke’s name, but then understood what would have happened if she had uttered his name at that place.
“Please be careful. Really.”
The exchange so far had drawn some attention, but it was far better than being called by his real name.
Stopping Lirica, who was about to apologize again, Kousuke mentioned the question he had been thinking about earlier.
“If you’re here, does that mean you’re not working as an adventurer today?”
“Well, you could say that I am on a day off….”
Kousuke, expecting a normal reply of yes, tilted his head at the nuanced response.
“? Are you skipping work to come here?”
“No, I’m not! It is true, the party is currently on hold! Or rather, we won’t be able to work as a party for a while.”
The unexpected response prompted Kousuke to ask for more details.
Lirica’s Party had been inactive for the past few days.
It was not because of any discord within the party, but because two party members decided to leave suddenly to get married.
The departure of the two friends did not cause any trouble, and a small celebration was held to send them on their way.
The remaining members of the party, however, could not continue to work as usual.
After all, with two members suddenly leaving the party, the coordination during battle was greatly disrupted.
However, it was not possible to suddenly add another member, especially a man to the all-female party, and the leader had been busy for the past few days trying to recruit new members.
“Well, I think it will be difficult to find someone out of the blue, so I think we will have to deal with this by lowering the difficulty of requests we take for a while.”
Lirica concluded the conversation.
“I see. Let me ask you something… That would naturally reduce your income, wouldn’t it?”
“Well, to put it bluntly, yes. Many parties break up because of that.”
For the leader of a party, there was no greater headache than when a member leaves the party.
That was not to say that they shouldn’t get married, though.
“But maybe I could find new members for you in a little less time.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Lirica had just said it would take time to find a member.
“It’s simple. We may find a new member quickly, but we don’t know if he or she will stick with our party.”
Activities at the Tower are a great place for adventurers to earn money, and it should be easy to find new talent.
Except, of course, when there were special circumstances, such as the case with Cecil and Arisa.
However, even if they could find someone to become a party member temporarily, as Lirica explained, whether or not they would remain was another matter.
As the activities continued, there would inevitably come a time when they would not fit in.
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“Oh, what is this? Is Lirica leaving the group for good by any chance?”
As Kousuke and the others were talking, a woman came up to them.
“Ah, leader…. What are you talking about? It’s not like that with him!”
When Kousuke wondered who it was, Lirica spoke to the woman.
It was Sally, Lirica’s party leader, who approached them.
“Well, that would make sense…”
Sally said and turned her gaze toward Cecil and Arisa.
“Mm. What do you mean by that? Ah, wait, you don’t have to say.”
“I see, so you understood what I meant.”
Sally smiled at Lirica, who looked a little dejected.
“Just so you know, he has even more women around him, and we’re not even that close to him to begin with.”
“Wait, there’s more…”
For some reason, Cecil and Arisa added information about Kousuke that was unnecessary to them.
Hearing this, Sally widened in shock and looked at Kousuke.
“These two are not even close to you… Even though they were that great?”
Kousuke, who did not understand what was so great about it, was at a loss as to how to respond, so he ended up not answering anything.
No matter what answer he gave, the result was going to end up being a bonus to his situation.
“But more importantly, what are you doing here?”
Lirica interrupted as if in a panic, seeing Kousuke in trouble.
Sally tilted her head at the situation, but answered Lirica.
“Of course I came to see Lirica, didn’t I? I’m here to tell you that I’ve managed to get the temporary members together, and we’re moving out the day after tomorrow to see how things are going.”
“Oh, I see. I understand.”
Lirica didn’t bother asking about it, knowing that if she waited at the inn, she could have met them there.
Knowing her leader would go out of her way to come all the way here was one of the nice things about this leader.
“Well, I’ll be off.”
Sally slightly raised her right hand and waved before she left.
She really only came to tell Lirica about the new members.
“She really was a good leader.”
Kousuke said as he watched Sally leave, and Lirica smiled and responded.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
Her answer was a reply that clearly expressed her thoughts that Sally is a good leader.
