Volume 5 Chapter 235, A Little Commotion Before Leaving_1

Translator: Nonon

Proofreader: Silavin

 

When I woke up in the morning, I felt warmth.

It was a comforting warmth that one couldn’t feel with heating magic tools that used fire magic stones or blankets.

It felt similar to my own body temperature, the same as my own skin, yet somehow younger than my own body.

 

“—Mmm…”

 

And then there was that faint sigh and the rustling of clothes, sounds that weren’t my own, but could be felt somehow close, as if belonging to somebody else.

 

“Oh right, last night, I…”

 

Recalling last night’s events, I understood my situation.

After we all went to the hot springs, the incident happened, and as a result, it became hard to keep emotions under control, leading to this situation.

I wasn’t used to it either. No, it was my first time, and I was anxious about what to do, but I somehow managed to make it to the morning.

The person sleeping close to me and holding onto my arm, was now letting out a calm voice, unlike the frightened, tense one from last night, and it was soothing to my ears. Now, they slept peacefully beside me with a calm expression that made me nostalgic for the fearful way they looked yesterday.

 

“Well then.”

 

However, things can’t continue like this.

No matter how peaceful this looks, at this rate I won’t be able to get up, and since I’m on breakfast duty today, I need to get up soon.

Considering the loud noises and physical exertion from last night, they’re probably still sleepy from exhaustion, but I need them to get up even for a moment.

 

“Sorry, but…”

 

Then, looking at the two showing the sleeping faces befitting their ages..

 

“—Hey, Gray, Silva. I need to prepare breakfast so please wake up for a moment.”

 

I said so to Gray and Silva, who were sleeping beside me and holding onto my arms.

 

 

◆

 

“…I’m sorry for losing my composure yesterday.”

 

During breakfast.

Silva, who was suffering greatly from self-loathing, apologized to me while sitting down without even eating breakfast.

I don’t know how to put it, but I felt like if I left him like this, he would’ve been so ashamed of himself, he might have gone on a journey. The reason was simple. It was the thing that caused Silva (and Gray) to sleep on my bed.

 

“Ahaha, so you’re afraid of thunder, Silva.”

“… I’ve always been afraid of thunderstorms…”

 

The cause. That is, lightning.

After soaking in the hot spring and returning to the mansion, the weather changed not long after; It became cloudy and thunder rumbled repeatedly.

I was a little worried about Canary, who had gone into the hot springs just as we were leaving, so I went back and found her crouching in the woman’s bath, mumbling, “Thunder… is scary…!”. I retrieved her as she tried to act tough upon seeing me. Then, before the weather got completely worse, we returned to the mansion together.

 

“Thunder… is scary…!”

 

Silva, who was muttering the lines that sounded like something I’d heard just a few minutes earlier, was crouching in the corner of the room, being comforted by Ms. Mary.

It seemed like he was fine with lightning magic, but he wasn’t good with naturally occurring lightning. If I recall correctly, in Ring Of Fire…after being persecuted, Silva ran alone to a dilapidated building, where he was caught in a thunderstorm and unable to leave, forcing him to spend the night. This became a traumatic experience for him.

 

“Then would you like to sleep with me tonight?”

 

And Ms. Mary, who probably had no ill intentions and was worried about him, suggested something similar to what had happened in that game.

 

“Wow, you’re so bold Mary! Though I’m certainly worried about him being like this.”

“H-hehehe, you can sleep with me too. After all, I’m an Elf.”

“Ria, I don’t think being an Elf has anything to do with it. Also, you’re trembling.”

 

Between everyone else’s concern, their playful teasing, and some self-interest, things started to look like Silva and the others weren’t just going to sleep in the same room, they were going to end up sharing the same bed, but…

 

 

“… No, adults who aren’t even dating shouldn’t sleep in the same bed.”

 

With that single remark from Lady Violet, the plan to sleep together was scrapped. However, Silva wasn’t in the right frame of mind to sleep alone, so for some reason, he ended up sleeping with me. Then Gray, who had some strange feelings toward Silva, declared, “In that case, I’ll join in too!”, competing with him in a strange way, which led to this morning’s situation.

 

“Still, this snow is pretty amazing—”

 

Looking out the window, Ms. Kriemhild commented on the weather outside.

I don’t know if yesterday’s thunder was the kind that preceded snow, but in any case, it was a blizzard outside at the moment.

 

“We were planning to leave today, but it seems impossible at this rate.”

 

Ms. Mary spoke worriedly while eating breakfast.

It would be difficult to send out the carriage in this situation. It’s not impossible, but it’s risky, so it would be best to avoid it if possible.

 

“Kuh, if I was stronger, I’d easily neutralize snow of this level…!”

“If you could manipulate weather over a wide area, you would be a world-renowned mage.”

“For me, becoming a world-renowned mage is but a stepping stone!”

“You can definitely do it someday, Lady Apricot!”

“Y-yeah, that’s right. You understand me well, my disciple!”

“…”

 

Also, this has nothing to do with the weather, but I feel like Apricot isn’t as edgy as usual.

She seems energetic, so it’s probably not a cold or anything of the sort, but her reaction to Gray seems different. …If my hunch is right, there might be something going on, but for now, I’ll just watch over her quietly.

 

“Would you like Robot to take you if it comes down to it? It would be impossible for her to carry you all at once, but if you split in groups, she can take you to the next town in a few trips even in this blizzard.”

“What?! I can ride on Robot’s back?! I’d love to!”

“Ms. Mary, you sure love that strange life form(?), don’t you?… I’m not exactly interested in riding(?) it…”

“Haha, Robot is a good girl. She’s just a strange Robot covered in metal.”

“What do you mean by a strange Robot? Is Robot a proper noun now?”

“Oh, won’t she rust or short circuit in a blizzard?”

“She’ll be fine, she’s protected by some mysterious powers.”

“If it’s some mystery power it’s okay then!”

“No it’s not?! What the hell is this incomprehensible mysterious power?!”

 

An incomprehensible power is, well, an incomprehensible power. Robot herself doesn’t understand it, so there’s nothing we can do about it.

 

“No, yesterday Robot was saying something about ‘needing maintenance’.”

“Ah, then it’s impossible. The outer casing has to be removed during maintenance.”

 

Anyway, I figured Robot would be alright, so I was just thinking about going to go ask for help once the snow let up a bit when Lady Violet told me as if she had just remembered.

I think with that technology, it would be possible to do the maintenance without removing the outer casing, but apparently, she had to completely cast it off and serviced it once every few months. And since Robot dislikes (due to a trauma) having her real face be seen by anyone, the rule in Shiki is that you must not meet Robot during maintenance unless she comes out on her own once it’s finished.

 

“I see. As expected everybody has something they don’t want others to see.”

“There really was a person(?) Inside…”

 

When I told them about it, Ms. Mary and the others seemed to understand and continued drinking their after-meal tea. Silva didn’t seem to have fully come to terms with Robot’s existence yet, but since Ms. Mary seemed convinced, he seemed to be trying to convince himself as well.

 

“Robo’s real name is Blonde.”

“Wow, what a pretty name. Since you guys have been referring to her as a “she” I guess she’s really a girl.”

“Robo said it herself, and she also sounds like a girl too, right?”

“Well, I can’t see inside so I can’t tell. It looks like she can change her voice and stuff too… hmm, that means you haven’t seen what… Ms. Robot looks like either, have you?”

“Haha, well, yeah. We did go to the hot spring together before, but she went in as she was.”

“So she went in…”

 

Oh, come to think of it, with all these guests coming and going, we’re about to run out of tea. I should buy some next time.

As I thought this to myself, I sipped my coffee while listening to everyone’s conversation.

Still, everyone here seems to prefer tea. Even though tea is more popular in the Kingdom, the only ones who actively choose coffee over tea are me and Apricot. Lady Violet prefers tea too.

 

“Actually, has anybody ever seen her real face?”

“Oh, in that case—”

 

Just as I was thinking it was about time to start tidying up and was about to down my coffee in one gulp…

“It must be only Lord Clo who has seen Lady Robot’s real face. I heard he saw Lady Robot completely naked while she was undergoing maintenance.”

 

Hearing Gray’s words, I choked up,

 

“Lord Clo, is it perhaps because you’ve been used to seeing naked women that my body wasn’t satisfying for you…?

“Gh?!”

 

Lady Violet’s questioning almost made it go up my windpipe,

 

“Well, it’s true that Clo rejected me even when I tried to approach him naked in the past, so maybe he’s really used to it.”

“Ghht!?”

 

And Canary’s comment made me cough violently.

What the hell!? Is today the day I’m going to be questioned by my Family as a punishment for the happiness Lady Violet gave me?!