That evening.
I went back to the inn to pack my things and cancel my stay, then I went back to the residence of the duke. The duke and his wife were with a guest, so the maids first brought us to our respective rooms.
If I were to describe the guest room in a few words, it was like the suite rooms I often saw on TV in my past life.
I was surprised at how big the room was when I entered, but that wasn’t the end of it, as there were still two doors inside on either side of the room. As it turned outs, the first room was just the living room, and the door to the right led to the shower and the toilet, while the door to the left led to the bedroom. All three rooms were to be lent to me… Moreover, a maid will always be on standby in a room nearby, ready to answer my call at any moment.
But wait! There’s still more! The maids waiting in that room will either be Arone-san, Lilian-san, or Rurunez-san. All of the maids who will be attending to me are all people I’ve already been acquainted with. Clearly, they’re trying to make sure that I felt at home. Honestly, I thought this was all a bit too much, but the maids insisted that this much was a given for a guest of the duke… In the end, is it a difference in culture or a difference in wealth? …Oh? Someone came…
“Please enter.” [Ryouma]
“Excuse me. Takebayashi-sama, my husband and his three coworkers would like to meet you. Is it alright with you?” [Rurunez]
Hyuzu-san and his three coworkers… Could it be?
“Yes. Please let them in.” [Ryouma]
“Very well.” [Rurunez]
Her tail swayed as gracefully as she left through the door.
I waited by the entrance to greet them when they came. After a few minutes, she came back with the people in question.
She brought the four people I was expecting.
“It’s been a while.” [Ryouma]
“Long time no see!” [Camil]
“Are you well?” [Jill]
“It’s good to see you also doing well.” [Zeff]
Camil-san. Jill-san. Zeff-san.
The three of them stood there exactly as I last remembered them in our first meeting.
“Hey, hey. Aren’t you forgetting me?” [Hyuzu]
“We met yesterday, though, didn’t we? …And more importantly, why didn’t you tell me that you were getting married?” [Ryouma]
Because of that I was confused yesterday. I had no idea what Rurunez-san was talking about at the start.
“Actually, I was planning on talking to you about it… But we spent more time than I expected to get to the inn, and I just couldn’t bring myself to go all ‘I’m getting married!’ right before leaving you. I mean wouldn’t you find it weird if someone suddenly said that then left you?” [Hyuzu]
“Okay. I guess I would be confused if you did that…” [Ryouma]
“And also… The reason I can marry now is because you saved me that time, so I wanted to thank you properly. I figured I’d tell you my marriage at the same time.” [Hyuzu]
…Hasn’t the atmosphere about him subtly changed?
“Apparently, even Hyuzu starts thinking about stuff after almost dying.” [Jill]
“I’m sure being confessed to played a part too, but that’s probably the main impetus.” [Camil]
“H-Hey, Jill. Camil.” [Hyuzu]
Hyuzu-san panicked and tried to stop them.
“There’s no point trying to hide it now… And you two leave it at that. The wife is here.” [Zeff]
When Zeff-san said that, the two immediately remembered that Hyuzu-san’s wife was here.
“You don’t need to mind me.” [Rurunez]
Rurunez stretched her back by the open door like nothing happened. I don’t know if it’s because of her pride as a maid, but despite her tight expression, her face was beet red. I guess she’s bad at topics like this.
“Please come in. Let’s all take a seat and talk.” [Ryouma]
“Right! Sorry to intrude.” [Hyuzu]
“In that case, please excuse me.” [Rurunez]
I led the four of them to the sofa of the living room, but then… I suddenly remembered that I had been using the table.
“Oh! Sorry about that! I forgot to clean up.” [Ryouma]
“They were the ones who suddenly wanted to meet you.” [Rurunez]
“Yeah. It’s cool, really. We don’t mind.” [Camil]
“More importantly, what is with this washbasin?” [Jill]
“It seems to be full of sand…” [Zeff]
“The room is too luxurious and I couldn’t settle down, so I started making these.” [Ryouma]
What I took out from the container that didn’t match the luxurious room was a human-shaped doll figure.
I’m still in the process of making it, so it doesn’t look good yet, but it’s the prototype for the idols.
“There’s also this, this, this…” [Ryouma]
“Wow! You have a lot!” [Hyuzu]
“You had that many in there?” [Camil]
“I figured I had to decide on the design of the idols first before making them.” [Ryouma]
“Ho… I see you’re still particular with the details.” [Hyuzu]
“They’re all smiles, though.” [Zeff]
“When you line them up like this, it becomes a lot easier to tell the difference in their aura.” [Ryouma]
“It’s only been a few hours since you came here, and yet you’ve already made so many?” [Hyuzu]
“I’m making prototypes to decide the design, so I just made a rough mold, stuff it with sand, and then hardened it with magic. Like that I could easily mass produce these prototype statues. After that, all that’s left is for me to fill in the details… Ah.” [Ryouma]
I suddenly noticed that Rurunez-san was walking toward us with drinks for each one of us.
I quickly made space on the table.
“I brought drinks.” [Rurunez]
“Thank you very much. If you don’t mind, please take a seat here too. Let me know if you like any of the idols here. I’ll use that as a reference when making the real thing.” [Ryouma]
“Very well.” [Rurunez]
She sat beside Hyuzu-san with an indifferent expression and began gazing at the idols.
“How about something bright and cheerful like this one?” [Hyuzu]
The figure Hyuzu-san picked was Rurutia’s smiling idol.
“That’s not bad, but since it’s a wedding ceremony, wouldn’t something more dignified be better? Like this one.” [Rurunez]
As Rurunez-san said that, she picked the idol with a serious expression. The soon to be wedded couple had a difference in opinion, and they started talking in hushed voices between themselves. The aura about them as they talked was by no means sharp, but it was also not the kind of aura that made one feel welcome to interject. …Am I imagining things or are they flirting?